The Torn Curse

After bringing the ghost child out, Yang Jian prepared to leave the dark and eerie house. He didn't want to continue fighting an unknown ghost here. After all, this ghost could even suppress the ghost child, so the level of danger was extremely high. It wasn't impossible for him to be killed in this small house if he wasn't careful.

But after he quickly returned to the first floor and prepared to leave the house as soon as possible along the corridor...

The sound of hurried footsteps rushing downstairs echoed behind me in the dark, stench-filled house, as if someone was chasing after me at high speed.

Yang Jian didn't stop; instead, he quickened his pace when he heard the noise behind him.

"The fact that the ghost followed me means that I have met the ghost's killing pattern. It is going to attack me. My previous guess was correct. The fact that the ghost child was taken into the closet by the ghost was actually a clever way to maintain a balance, so that the ghost had no time to deal with me. That's why I was able to get to the room on the second floor without any obstacles."

"Now that I've brought the ghost child out, the thing that was suppressing that ghost is gone, so the ghost has become active again."

In just a moment, Yang Jian roughly analyzed the reason for the matter.

This is a terrifying ghost on par with the Ghost Child, or even more terrifying.

Yang Jian quickened his pace, but the corridor in front of him seemed to stretch infinitely. The way back was even stranger than the way he came. No matter which way he went, he could not see the door. He was always in this house.

"The entire house is affected by ghosts. Anyone who enters this house will get lost. It's like an alternate Ghost Domain. Moreover, even though my Ghost Eye can clearly see the right path, my body can't leave. My Ghost Eye see the real scene, but my body is still inside the house affected by ghosts."

"What I see and what I touch are not synchronized; this is the first time I've encountered this situation."

Yang Jian suddenly stopped walking.

There's no point in going any further unless he uses his Ghost Eye's Ghost Domain to forcibly break free from the house's influence. But if he does that, he'll have to leave Kobe City, then he'll have to re-invade the Door-Knocking Ghost's Ghost Domain, and then find the people who were with him outside the door.

Since there's no one named Mishima, it will be quite difficult for Yang Jian to find the Door-Knocking Ghost here in a short time.

Going back and forth, plus finding the person, would take too much time. Yang Jian didn't want to do that, after all, he still had the curse of the Ghost Chest's transaction on him, so it was best to strike while the iron was hot.

"Then let's withstand the ghost's attack head-on. With the ghost's hand and the rotting human head in the ghost child's hand, I refuse to believe we can't suppress this ghost. Two against one, my chances of winning are still very high."

A cold glint appeared in Yang Jian's eyes as he decided to withstand the ghost's attack head-on.

There's no reason for me to have come to this point where I have to slink away at the slightest paranormal event. Can't I stand up for myself this once?

The hurried footsteps behind them grew closer, and the stench of death in the air grew stronger.

A corpse seemed to be rapidly approaching him from the unseen darkness ahead.

Yang Jian turned around, his Ghost Eye peering ahead with an eerie expression. His cold, black hand, resembling that of a vengeful ghost, was poised to strike. Beside him, the ghost child, holding a dead man's head, tilted his head and also stared into the distance.

It felt like a father and son were playing together.

Time passed second by second.

About five seconds later, the ghost that had been lingering over the house finally revealed its true form.

The first thing that caught Yang Jian's Ghost Eye was a pair of legs. He didn't know if they were human legs; he could only see the shape of two human legs wrapped in various dirty, smelly old clothes, as if they had been peeled off a corpse, because most of the clothes were stained with blood.

The upper body was a rotting corpse, cold and emitting a foul stench, yet it was dressed in several different clothes, including shirts and coats, covering its body completely.

"Ghosts dressed in all sorts of clothes?"

Yang Jian's heart skipped a beat. "Then what are the ghost's attack methods?"

He was no longer interested in knowing the pattern of the killings, since he had to withstand the ghost's attack head-on. So he was curious about how this ghost actually killed people.

The next moment.

Yang Jian sensed something was amiss. He discovered an unusually cold aura surrounding him, not invading his body, but enveloping his clothes. His clothes seemed to be under some kind of curse, becoming strangely distorted, as if they had come alive.

Then, the clothes, which had been corrupted by supernatural forces, began to tear open on their own, as if being forcibly ripped apart by something.

It seems that not only Yang Jian's clothes were torn apart, but also Yang Jian life.

An intense pain surged through his body. Despite having no visible wounds, it felt as if his skin, flesh, and even bones were tearing apart. If this continued, he would undoubtedly be ripped apart and die. However, due to the influence of the ghostly shadow on his body, this tearing sensation was limited, reaching a certain point before it could continue.

The extent of the tear in the garment was also affected.

Now.

Yang Jian understood then that if his clothes were torn, he would surely die; his life was now inextricably linked to the clothes he wore.

Would taking off your clothes help?

He tried to remove the coat that had been corrupted by supernatural forces, but the process remained unchanged. The feeling of his clothes tearing and his body being torn apart continued. Despite the resistance of the ghostly figures, he could still clearly feel the power of the two ghosts clashing.

Clearly, getting rid of the vengeful ghost won't be achieved through opportunistic methods like taking off your coat.

In other words, once this ghost has its eye on you, the attack begins. Your clothes are no longer the key factor. The only way is to use the power of other ghosts to resist the attack, or to avoid being targeted by the ghost in the first place. And is the way to avoid ghosts in the first place simply to not wear clothes?

Without a triggering medium, the ghost's killing pattern cannot be satisfied, and naturally nothing will happen.

Through this small probe, Yang Jian had already roughly figured out a lot of information about the ghost. Although the information seemed easy to obtain, he actually risked being attacked by the ghost. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have been torn to shreds and died here after the first attack.

If he couldn't fight back, he would be killed like everyone else who entered the house, because although the ghost was fighting, it was being defeated and suppressed as time went by. The tearing sensation in his body was intensifying.

But Yang Jian couldn't just sit and wait to die; he had only been cautiously testing the ghost's attack methods.

The next moment.

Yang Jian's ghost hand picked up the coat from the ground, and immediately the ghost hand's suppression took effect.

The coat that had been possessed by the ghost immediately returned to normal, and its function as a medium was completely lost. At the same time, the feeling of being torn apart from the body also disappeared.

Yang Jian easily defused the ghost's attack.

This is the skill of a top-tier Ghost Tamer. Not only can they easily withstand a demon's attack, but they can also quickly devise countermeasures, turning a passive, attacked situation into one where they gain the upper hand.

"Do it."

Yang Jian gave the ghost child an order.

Immediately.

The rotting human head in the ghost child's hand immediately turned around, its gray-white dead eyes staring eerily at the other side of the dark corridor.

The longer the dead man's head stares at you, the more pronounced the suppression becomes.

Yang Jian immediately saw the corpse, dressed in tattered clothes, freeze in place, its clothes falling off piece by piece. At the same time, the darkness in the corridor began to recede rapidly, and he could even feel the light shining in from the main entrance behind him, no longer as pitch black as before.

"Huh, the gate is working normally now?"

At this moment, Nagazawa, who was trapped by the door and nearly killed, clearly felt the strange power on the door disappear, and he instantly felt relieved.

The middle-aged man named Sakai was also helping out. Because the ghost in the house was being suppressed, he pulled the door open with force and almost fell to the ground.

"Mr. Sakai, are you alright?" Mishima called out anxiously from a short distance away.

"Hehe, looks like we're saved."

Nagazawa sat on the ground, feeling somewhat exhausted. He looked around the house and saw Yang Jian and the ghost child's back in the now somewhat brightly lit hallway.

"I... I felt that if this continued, I would definitely have to use the demon's power. Luckily, we stopped, otherwise..." the middle-aged man named Sakai said with great relief.

He was just an ordinary Ghost Tamer; if he really stayed here and wasted his time fighting the ghosts, he would be the one to die.

A person who has mastered a ghost only has a few brief margins of error in paranormal events and lacks the resources to fight against a vengeful spirit, because if they continue to fight, the vengeful spirit will revive, and they will surely be the ones to die.

Soon.

Yang Jian saw that the corpse in front of him, dressed in various tattered clothes, began to make a strange movement after being suppressed by the rotting human head. The ghost, like a living person, slowly sat down on the ground and then lay back down.

Finally, he became as still as a dead person, without any movement.

"Suppression was successful."

Yang Jian glanced at the rotting human head in the ghost child's hand.

This thing certainly didn't disappoint. A ghost that even five layers of Ghost Domain couldn't get rid of is indeed terrifying. It's just a pity that this ghost is incomplete, with only its head remaining. If this thing were to collect all the pieces of the puzzle, I really don't know how ferocious it would become.

"However, under these circumstances, I don't have the means to imprison this ghost, and I don't want to waste manpower and resources on it, so I have no choice but to give up."

Although Yang Jian felt it was a bit of a pity, he did not put the ghost into a body bag and take it away.

First, there's a risk of it getting out of control if it stays nearby; second, my main target is the Door-Knocking Ghost, not this thing.

"Come with me and leave this place."

Yang Jian quickly led the ghost child back.

Without the influence of supernatural forces, the house briefly returned to normal, and after only a few steps, they had crossed the gate and successfully evacuated.

But just as Yang Jian was leaving with the ghost child, the suppression stopped working.

The demon resumed its activity.

The corpse lying in the corridor suddenly sat up, and as its tattered clothes fell away, the corpse's original attire was revealed.

It was a black, dirty, smelly suit; the style of the suit belonged to Spirit Extermination Society.

In other words, this person was a deceased member of Spirit Extermination Society, but his vengeful spirit revived after his death, causing the paranormal events.

"Bang!"

The next moment, darkness enveloped the house again, and the open door was slammed shut by a tremendous force.

The ghost continued to linger in the house.

However, since there were no suitable targets for the ghost to kill in the house, no one else continued to die.

"You two didn't run away? Not bad." Yang Jian, who had come out, rarely praised Nagazawa and the middle-aged man named Sakai.

Nagazawa wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "After all, it's something my senior instructed me to do, how could I dare disobey him?"

"Then keep it up. I hope you all have the same courage and determination." Yang Jian, "I have no interest in dealing with the ghost in this house. Leave it here. I need to find the source of this incident, so let's move on."

"Okay, okay."

Nagazawa and the middle-aged man named Sakai responded.

But as he left, Nagazawa couldn't help but look back at the eerie house shrouded in shadow, thinking to himself, "How long have we been inside? And the paranormal events inside have already been resolved? It's overwhelmingly powerful. If the target hadn't intervened, that ghost would definitely have been imprisoned. After all, it had already come to that point, just needing the final finishing touches."

Thinking about this, he felt incredibly regretful.

Nagazawa believed that if he, Sakai, and Mishima were to deal with the ghost in the house, they would probably all be wiped out.

Once they reached the street, Keiko rushed over, her anxious and frightened face instantly transforming into a joyful smile. "Mr. Yang, it's so good to see you safe and sound! What happened just now must have been very dangerous!"

Yang Jian remained silent, his expression still calm, as if what had just happened was merely an appetizer at the banquet, utterly insignificant. He then turned his gaze to the woman in her thirties hiding not far away.

"Come here."

Keiko reacted immediately. "Miss Mishima, Mr. Yang wants you to come over."

"Yes, yes." Although Mishima was scared, she was filled with fear of Yang Jian, and she walked over.

Yang Jian, "Continue leading the way to the next place where you sensed a ghost. I hope your senses are accurate this time and that you don't waste everyone's time. Otherwise, if we keep searching like this, many people will die here. You probably want to leave alive, right?"

"I, I understand. I will try my best to lead the way for Mr. Yang. Please don't abandon us," Mishima said hurriedly.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yang Jian.

Mishima suppressed her fear, her eyes slightly closed, sensing the terror of the place.

Soon, Mishima pointed ahead again. "Over there, over there."

"Let's continue."

Yang Jian didn't delay and immediately strode towards the direction Mishima pointed out. Although she couldn't distinguish what the ghost in the perception area was, this ability to detect danger was still quite useful, especially in such a large-scale paranormal event, where someone like this was needed to determine the ghost's location.

"Mr. Yang, wait for Keiko."

Keiko hurriedly ran over. As an ordinary person, she dared not hold Yang Jian back; only by staying close behind him could she survive safely.

"They really don't rest for even a minute. But following someone like that might actually make this matter much easier."

Nagazawa sighed, smiled softly, and followed along with the middle-aged man named Sakai.

Although they didn't encounter the Door-Knocking Ghost this time, Yang Jian's ease in and out of the haunted house, and his calm and composed demeanor as he walked out, was indeed very captivating.

At least, Yang Jian has established his authority among the people here.

The most obvious sign was that Mishima, who had been too scared to go any further, had now quickened her pace and was following closely behind.

But as they continued forward, Yang Jian noticed some unusual changes in their surroundings.

The nearby buildings seemed to have aged suddenly, becoming old and mottled, completely different from the brand-new and clean houses before. It was as if this place had become the old district of a city, with traces of time remaining everywhere.

"The changes to these houses are due to the influence of the Door-Knocking Ghost. In other words, that ghost was here before and knocked on the doors. It's even possible that the ghost is still wandering around here." Yang Jian looked at the doors of the houses.

The door remained closed, because Ghost Knocking to kill them.

He died upon hearing the knocking.

Sorry, I went to a wedding for the May Day holiday. That's why I missed an update for a day.