Stagnation and Confrontation

Yang Jian had not expected that Fang Shiming's ghost attack method would be so bizarre.

Without warning or alert, and even his three-layered Ghost Domain couldn't isolate him, it was as if suddenly he felt a weight behind him, and then Yang Jian discovered that a cold corpse had appeared on his back in such a bizarre way, lying there lifelessly without making a sound.

The corpse was incredibly heavy, so heavy that it not only crushed Yang Jian's body but also suppressed the ghost within him, forcing it to lie sprawled on the ground in a sorry state.

His sternum was shattering, his internal organs were splitting open, and Yang Jian felt as if he was about to be crushed into a pulp.

At this moment, Yang Jian's first reaction was not to struggle or resist, but to activate the sixth level of the Ghost Domain the instant his body was crushed.

Fighting back is the best option.

Under the curse of the music box, he is not going to die, at least not for now, so there is no need to worry about his physical condition.

The six layers of the Ghost Domain opened in that instant.

The entire top floor of the Ping An Building was covered in a dense red light, as if it wanted to melt and disappear everyone and everything.

However, this is just an illusion that arises after venturing deep into the Ghost Domain.

In essence, the Ghost Domain is merely an incomprehensible supernatural space constructed by the influence of vengeful spirits. However, when the Ghost Domain reaches a certain level, it can affect things in reality.

For Yang Jian's Ghost Domain to reach a point where it could directly influence reality, it had to be activated to the fifth level. That's why he could make people disappear from this world directly, and also make ordinary vengeful ghosts disappear. But disappearance is not death, as Yang Jian saw after activating the sixth level of the Ghost Domain.

He saw the top floor of the Ping An Building that had disappeared earlier, and he saw the people who had disappeared from the conference room earlier. Their bodies were mutilated, lying there motionless. Most of them were dead, but a few were still alive.

The living were terrified, wandering aimlessly, isolated by Yang Jian's Ghost Eye, unable to see anything of reality.

They can only return to reality after this strange phenomenon disappears.

Based on time estimates, they wouldn't live to see that point.

Yang Jian could also sense that he seemed to be able to pull the people and ghosts who had been sent away back to reality ahead of time.

"So, this is the secret of the fifth layer of the Ghost Domain? They didn't die, nor did they disappear; they were completely isolated, like being imprisoned. But what is the sixth layer of the Ghost Domain? What changes will it bring?"

He was observing his surroundings.

Everything around seemed unchanged.

No, that's not right. The biggest change is the lack of change itself.

Everything here seems to have stopped.

Yang Jian was shocked to discover that everything around him was frozen in place. Fang Shiming in front of him, the corpse pressing down on his back—everything was still. Even he himself couldn't move. The only thing that could move in this sixth-level Ghost Domain was his Ghost Eye.

The Ghost Eye continued its restless rotation, still peering in, unaffected by anything.

"Therefore, the sixth level of the Ghost Domain forcibly halts everything and everything around it, including ghosts."

Yang Jian's mind is active, which seems to be the only thing besides the Ghost Eye that is not restricted. Perhaps it is because he was once corrupted by the Ghost Eye and has acquired some of Ghost Eye characteristics.

"No, the music box's curse is still there, but the music... has slowed down."

The cursed bell from the music box still echoed in Yang Jian's mind, but the bell was very slow, as if a note only jumped every two or three seconds, giving it a discontinuous feel and making it impossible to connect into a strange piece of music like before.

"A curse that's too powerful, or perhaps a demon, can only be delayed, not stopped?"

He had a general idea in mind, but the more he thought about it, the more astonished he became. "This ability, if taken to the next level, might be a reboot."

Pause everything around you; if it could be reversed, it would be like returning to a previous time period, a kind of reboot like a starving ghost, and that reboot would also come with the ability to foresee the future.

However, Yang Jian knew he couldn't do it at the moment.

The sixth layer of the Ghost Domain is already isolating the music box's curse. If the Seventh Layer is opened directly, the music box's curse will most likely disappear. Without the curse, Yang Jian feels he might die. Even if he doesn't, the resurgence of the Ghost Eye will directly take his life.

Therefore, the music box's curse could only support Yang Jian in opening the sixth level of the Ghost Domain.

Pause everything around you.

"But the pause seems to have a flaw. Even I can't move. Sure enough, the Ghost Eye is just one piece of the puzzle for the demon. Before finding the other piece, the demon's abilities are too limited. Moreover, gradually uncovering the Ghost Eye's abilities is like further dismantling the demon's already limited abilities. But how long can this pause last without the music box's curse? Three seconds? Ten seconds? Or a minute?"

Yang Jian made his estimate.

Twenty seconds have passed since the stop, and he hasn't reacted at all.

But Yang Jian knew that this limit would soon be reached, and he needed to figure out how to use the six-layered Ghost Domain in the shortest possible time.

No one taught us this process; we had to figure it out ourselves.

But just as he was thinking this, Yang Jian discovered that he could move his hands, but they were not entirely his own hands; they were the ghostly hand on his body and the dark-skinned arm.

However, it seemed that he wasn't the only one who could move at this moment. Yang Jian also saw Fang Shiming's eyes blink slowly after that.

"The state of complete stillness can only last for thirty seconds, after which the vengeful ghost will gradually resume its movements." Yang Jian calculated a roughly accurate time.

Whether it's him or Fang Shiming, the ghost will definitely act first. However, Fang Shiming is too close to the resurgence of the vengeful ghost. He is almost half a ghost himself. He cannot be stopped after thirty seconds. Yang Jian's ghost hand is a bit special, so he can resume his actions first.

"If that's the case, I don't have much of an advantage."

"No, that's not right. Although my body can't move, I can still control the Ghost Domain and change its position."

Yang Jian almost overlooked the most important point.

Realizing this, he shifted his position and broke free from the incredibly heavy corpse pressing down on him.

The corpses did not continue to appear on his body. Clearly, even the ghost attacks within this sixth-level Ghost Domain had ceased, and even the curse of the music box had been affected to some extent.

He went straight to Fang Shiming's side.

Instead of attacking the immobile Fang Shiming, he tried to take the Ghost Scissors from his body.

This thing is a huge threat to me. If I take it away first, at least I won't have to worry about those bizarre attacks that I couldn't resist before.

However, just as he reached out to touch him, Fang Shiming, who had only been able to blink a moment ago, suddenly turned his head to look at him.

However, Fang Shiming's eyes were filled with doubt and confusion at this moment, as if he had not fully regained his consciousness. He certainly did not recognize Yang Jian, who suddenly appeared beside him; it was just an instinctive reaction and vigilance in the face of a supernatural being approaching.

But this is definitely not good news.

This indicates that the stagnation period is almost over. Yang Jian doesn't even need to consciously maintain it; the Music Box Curse in his mind is already intervening, and the ringing in his mind has returned to normal.

The curse prevented the Ghost Eye from reviving further, and at the same time saved Yang Jian's life.

Otherwise, if the six-layered Ghost Domain continues to be maintained, Yang Jian will definitely die.

This is a battle between ghosts and curses.

For now, however, the curse has a slight advantage.

"Should I retrieve the Ghost Scissors, or seize this opportunity to kill Fang Shiming?" This thought flashed through Yang Jian's mind.

The next moment.

Yang Jian's ghostly hand changed direction and grabbed Fang Shiming's neck from behind.

He gave up on taking the Ghost Scissors.

Now that Fang Shiming's supernatural object is destroyed, it will naturally be his. If he can't destroy it, taking the Ghost Scissors will be useless, as he won't know how to use them and won't have time to figure them out for himself.

The thought flashed through Yang Jian, and he concluded that he was right.

The only mistake was not taking action the moment his arm was still movable, wasting about ten seconds. If he had more experience, he could have done both things at the same time: both stealing the Ghost Scissors and attacking Fang Shiming.

The six layers of the Ghost Domain disappeared, and the process of recovery stalled.

Moment.

Fang Shiming saw Yang Jian suddenly appear behind him. Where Yang Jian had been pinned down, there was only a pool of blood and a cold, lifeless corpse.

"Snap!"

The crisp sound of bones breaking rang out one after another. Fang Shiming had barely reacted when his neck was snapped. His head drooped limply, losing its support, but his bloodshot eyes were still moving, indicating that he was still conscious.

"What on earth is going on?" Fang Shiming asked incredulously.

Just a moment ago Yang Jian was clearly pinned to the ground by the ghost and unable to move. Why did he suddenly feel something unusual beside him and then realize that Yang Jian had broken free from the ghost's control and was now grabbing his neck?

"Is this a reboot?"

Fang Shiming couldn't understand this phenomenon, but his first thought was to restart.

But when he looked down and saw Yang Jian's sunken chest, he realized that this was not a reboot; the injuries from when the ghost pressed down on him were still there and had not disappeared.

But even without restarting, a similar effect has already been achieved.

"This guy is even more special than I imagined; he's growing very fast," Fang Shiming said, his eyes filled with a terrifying ferocity, no longer willing to hold back.

He had a premonition that one mistake he made today could very well lead to his death at this guy's hands.

However, Yang Jian's counterattack was more ferocious than expected, like a real ghost attacking. This ghostly hand did not simply snap Fang Shiming's neck, but used three suppression slots at the moment of contact.

This was to suppress the demon within Fang Shiming's body in one fell swoop and eliminate it directly.

Without ghosts to sustain their lives, Ghost Tamer would be even more vulnerable than ordinary people.

Will it work?

Yang Jian was uncertain, so the ghostly figure behind him also invaded Fang Shiming's body at that moment.

"You think you can suppress me? With just a few scattered puzzle pieces you got from the Ghost Messenger? The coffin nails Wang Xiaoming made are flawed. If they were comparable to the one on the starving ghost, do you think you'd even have a chance?"

Fang Shiming's drooping head was still moving, and he could even speak. A cold wind swept around him, and his face became even more ferocious.

"This guy knows a lot about me." Yang Jian's expression changed drastically.

It's one thing that the information about the coffin nails traded with Wang Xiaoming was known, but Fang Shiming even knew the Fang Shiming of the Ghost Messenger incident at the training base that day?

Who leaked what happened that day?

Or, to put it another way, who are the people in your WeChat Moments?

Zhang Lei? Wang Jiang, or Huang Ziya? No, Huang Ziya is impossible. If she were someone from my WeChat Moments, she wouldn't have saved me in the first place. Maybe it's Zhang Hui, who died mysteriously afterward.

There's no point in thinking about this now.

Yang Jian quickly brought his thoughts back, and then the attack and invasion continued.

However, the eerie, cold wind that was blowing around them was getting stronger and stronger. This wind was even causing the ghostly figure on the ground to sway back and forth. No one could get close to his body; as soon as they did, the shadow was blown back.

The ghostly attack was blocked.

And the wind shows no signs of stopping.

The next moment, Yang Jian and Fang Shiming were both swept up and flew off the high-rise building, then plummeted straight down.

"If you don't let go, I'll make you fall to your death." Fang Shiming seemed to be thinking of taking Yang Jian with him, intending to fall from this nearly 100-story building together.

"You think you can kill me by falling? You think you can't?" Yang Jian said coldly.

Ghost Hand only suppressed one ghost in Fang Shiming's body, which surprised him. Just what kind of ghost was Fang Shiming controlling that required three of Ghost Hand's abilities to suppress it?

Is it on par with Ghost Shroud?

No, that shouldn't be the case. He just mentioned that the coffin nails Wang Xiaoming made had flaws.

Yang Jian did mention this when he made the deal with Wang Xiaoming, but he didn't pursue it further at the time.

Has that so-called flaw become apparent now?

Fang Shiming lowered his head slightly, his expression blank. "Do you think I'll die from this fall?"

"Let's take a gamble and see who survives." Yang Jian was completely unafraid and didn't even use his Ghost Domain to teleport away.

He'd never back down from falling from a hundred-story building; he'd risk it all.

Fang Shiming's expression changed slightly at this moment.

He was just bluffing Yang Jian. At this moment, he was being suppressed by a ghost, and with the restrictions of the ghost hand and the mutual influence of the Ghost Domain, he also had to resist the ghost shadow. Under such dire circumstances, if he fell like this before Yang Jian let go, he would die.

There's nothing we can do.

Fang Shiming couldn't afford to gamble, because he had a premonition that Yang Jian wouldn't die from the fall. Without further hesitation, he immediately threw a strange rag doll from his person.

This is a scapegoat doll.

The scapegoat doll can not only deflect ghost attacks but also block damage.

"Trying to take my place? Did you really think I wasn't on guard?"

Yang Jian's Ghost Domain was still usable, so he activated five layers of Ghost Domain, directly covering the substitute doll and sending most of its body away, leaving only a small part in the air, thus destroying the doll.

The fifth level of the Ghost Domain couldn't send Fang Shiming away, but sending this thing away would be no problem at all.

He was certain that Fang Shiming had reached his limit, otherwise he would never have used this scapegoat.

Using this thing sends a clear signal.

I'm dying.

Two people were falling at an extremely high speed from the 100th floor of a building.

"Why won't you just obediently die?" Fang Shiming asked angrily, his gaunt face contorted in a particularly ferocious and terrifying manner.

A strange, chilling wind blew around them, growing stronger and stronger. The wind carried a strong stench of corpses, causing Yang Jian to involuntarily close several of his Ghost Eye.

The area of Ghost Domain is rapidly shrinking; all three layers of the Ghost Domain can no longer be maintained.

However, even two layers of Ghost Domain are difficult to sustain.

Ultimately, due to interference, only one layer of the Ghost Eye's Ghost Domain remained.

However, the strange, cold wind around them also subsided.

"I'll drag you down with me even if I die. Don't struggle, I won't let go." Yang Jian's ghostly hand still gripped his neck tightly.

The suppression is still in effect.

In the clash between the Ghost Domain now, Yang Jian won slightly, and the wind did not take Fang Shiming away.

And just like that, without any doubt, the two of them plummeted from the high-rise building to the ground.