Mysterious Revival: Starting by Taming the Person-Hiding Ghost

"I originally planned to pay for the ghost, but now I've changed my mind."

"I want information on every ghost tamer in the Friend Circle, especially Fang Shiming and Jiang Shangbai. As long as you can provide it, I can go and bring your ghost back right now."

Without spending any money or giving up any supernatural items, he only needed to provide information on a few ghost tamers in exchange for help like charcoal delivered in a snowstorm.

The deal sounded very tempting.

This time, however, He Tianxiong did not immediately agree. He frowned and asked in confusion:

"What do you want their information for? They should have nothing to do with you. Instead of their information, I could give you the files on the people in charge at Ghost Tamer Headquarters."

"I heard you had an unpleasant encounter with them some time ago. I have no objection whatsoever to you taking revenge on them, and I can even offer you tangible help."

Hearing this, Jiang Li smiled.

Of course he still remembered what Wang Xiaoming had done before, and he also understood how utterly rotten the headquarters' operations were at their core.

For now, though, the fire at headquarters could not reach him. Even if the wooden box's existence were exposed, those in charge would not have the time to deal with him specifically, much less have any means of bringing him to heel.

What truly deserved his attention at the moment was Fang Shiming's pair of Ghost Scissors.

Originally, he had been an ordinary ghost tamer who had tamed only one fierce ghost, so naturally Fang Shiming had not paid him much attention.

Under his original plan, he had intended to fish in troubled waters within the Friend Circle, making more money to buy ghosts and exchange them for supernatural items.

But now there was no need for that. And once he successfully tamed the Corpse-Dragging Ghost and became a ghost tamer with three fierce ghosts, Fang Shiming's suspicious and ruthless nature meant he would never sit by and watch Jiang Li rise.

A tree that stood above the forest was bound to be battered by the wind.

If Fang Shiming realized he could not control him, he would surely resort to some vicious means to strike at him. Those scissors meant for Yang Jian's head might well snip at his own ahead of time.

That was only the worst-case guess, but he still needed to be on his utmost guard against such a scheming man.

The question now was no longer whether to join the Friend Circle, but how to turn the tables and kill Fang Shiming before he noticed him.

For now, He Tianxiong was the turning point.

He had to thoroughly sound out He Tianxiong's attitude in this cave. If he submitted, things would be easy enough; but if he was determined to sleep under the same blanket as Fang Shiming,

then Jiang Li would make sure he never walked out of this cavern, making the cave filled with rot and stench his grave.

He had already thought of the exact spot: he would stick him back upside down where the hanging corpse had been wedged.

Sensing the chill in Jiang Li's smile, He Tianxiong could not help breaking out in goosebumps, vaguely guessing what Jiang Li had in mind.

"I understand. You want to make an enemy of Fang Shiming, but you can't possibly succeed. He's the best ghost tamer in all of Asia right now. I doubt there's anyone in the world who can be sure of beating him at his peak. Going against him is courting death."

"Nothing is absolutely impossible,"

Jiang Li said.

"After all you've said, you're only expressing your fear of Fang Shiming. You're afraid of him, but aren't you afraid of me?"

"No matter what Fang Shiming can do, he has no say over what happens in this cave. I, on the other hand, am standing right in front of you in the flesh. You should know which of us to choose right now."

"..."

After some internal struggle, He Tianxiong spoke again:

"If you understood my situation, you'd know I have no choice at all."

"So you're still choosing to be Fang Shiming's diehard loyalist and intend to be killed by me here? That really is a shame," Jiang Li said.

As they spoke, a deathly pale hand had silently reached toward He Tianxiong's ankle, almost ready to drag him underground the very next moment.

He Tianxiong, however, kept shaking his head and said in a low voice:

"No, that's not what I mean."

"I can't speak of any loyalty to Fang Shiming. Our entire relationship is based on cooperation as businessmen. Even as the Friend Circle's third-in-command, I'm just a pawn he's enslaved, one he can replace at any time."

"It's not that I don't want to resist. I simply have no standing to resist him."

As he spoke, He Tianxiong pointed at the dark bloodstain on his chest and continued.

"This ghost flesh is part of the supernatural power of ghost flesh that Fang Shiming planted in me. At its core, it's a fierce ghost he tamed, but it controls whether I live or die. Whenever his fierce ghost is close to reviving, the ghost flesh planted in us transfers the pressure of its revival onto us, sacrificing us to prolong his own life."

"Telling me to resist him is no different from telling me to take a knife and slit my own throat. No matter which of you wins in the end, I'm bound to die."

Hearing this, Jiang Li shook his head.

"Your horizons are too narrow, and that's led you completely down the wrong path."

"Rather than wait for Fang Shiming to use you up as nourishment, you should find someone who can neutralize the ghost flesh in your body and free you from his control. Just because you can't do something doesn't mean nobody else can."

Hearing this, He Tianxiong let out a long sigh and said helplessly.

"I can't beat you. What you say goes."

"Apart from providing information, what else do I have to do to prove my allegiance?"

Jiang Li took out a small piece of crow feather and transformed it into a tiny Ghost Crow, then said:

"It's simple. Eat this crow, and we'll be grasshoppers on the same rope."

"Crows feed on carrion. At the crucial moment, it will eat the ghost flesh inside you while maintaining your original supernatural balance."

"After we get out, you'll still be Fang Shiming's third-in-command on the surface. You only need to provide me with information in private. It won't put you in too difficult a position."

He Tianxiong stared at the pitch-black little Ghost Crow in Jiang Li's hand and could not help swallowing, utterly unwilling.

Once he ate this Ghost Crow, there would be no turning back.

If Jiang Li failed, he would die without a place to be buried. Even if Jiang Li succeeded in killing Fang Shiming in the end, it would only mean exchanging the person who controlled him for another; overall, it seemed little would change.

At the same time, however, He Tianxiong knew full well that he had no other choice. If he did not eat the Ghost Crow, he could not walk out of this cave alive.

At that thought, He Tianxiong reached out, took the Ghost Crow, and swallowed it in one gulp.

The moment it passed down his throat, the Ghost Crow turned into an indescribably strange substance and merged into He Tianxiong's body. Yet when he tried to sense it carefully, the Ghost Crow seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no effect whatsoever.

He Tianxiong's expression was grim, and his suit was soaked through with bloody water and cold sweat, but he maintained his outward composure and said in a low voice:

"I've done what I had to do. It's your turn to honor our earlier agreement and get my ghost back for me."

"Naturally. Time will prove that your choice today was the right one."

"You and the others can stay here. I'll act alone."

Having achieved his goal, Jiang Li stopped pressing He Tianxiong. He got up and approached the Corpse-Dragging Ghost, which was still wandering about.

Inside the dark, damp cave.

Having lost the hanging corpse, the Corpse-Dragging Ghost could no longer drag corpses without limit. It was now dragging only He Tianxiong's Person-Treading Ghost, searching everywhere for traces of the hanging corpse.

Its instincts told it that this Person-Treading Ghost had a relatively high level of terror and was a fierce ghost suitable for dragging.

But it had only the instinct to judge levels of terror, not the ability to identify a fierce ghost's killing pattern.

This led to an extremely awkward situation.

The Corpse-Dragging Ghost had inherited the killing pattern of the Person-Treading Ghost it was dragging, but the Person-Treading Ghost required people to look up to kill them. The cave's rock ceiling was low to begin with, and everyone was essentially moving forward with their heads lowered and backs bent. Nobody would look up at the Corpse-Dragging Ghost.

So until the Corpse-Dragging Ghost found another ghost with a higher level of terror and abandoned the Person-Treading Ghost in its hand, it had little ability to actively attack anyone.

Even so, Jiang Li did not let his guard down too much.

He silently approached the Corpse-Dragging Ghost from behind, his pupils beneath the mask contracting slightly as his gaze finally settled on its deformed arm.

Starting with the arm responsible for dragging corpses might reduce the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's level of terror as much as possible.

Jiang Li took out the Ghost Crow he had yet to subdue and murmured to himself:

"A quarter of the Ghost Crow doesn't seem like quite enough, but I can send it over to test the waters first. If the plan goes smoothly, I'll commit the other Ghost Crows in my body."

With that, the lifeless Ghost Crow was tossed motionlessly into the air like a dead bird, soon landing on the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's back.

Although it had not landed directly on the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's hand, it could still serve as a test.

"Will it work?"

Jiang Li stared fixedly at the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's reaction, his heart full of anticipation.

But the Corpse-Dragging Ghost merely continued taking heavy steps, showing no sign of anything unusual and paying no attention to the Ghost Crow on its back.

After landing on the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's back, the Ghost Crow also remained motionless, hanging on its bare back like a dead bird.

"What's going on? Could it be that contact between the Ghost Crow and the Corpse-Dragging Ghost didn't cause a conflict, so the two are leaving each other alone?" Jiang Li pondered. "Perhaps contact isn't enough. I also have to actively create a conflict between them."

If that were really the case, using the Person-Hiding Ghost and the Ghost Hand to actively create a conflict did not seem impossible.

But soon, Jiang Li noticed a change in the Corpse-Dragging Ghost.

Black feathers gradually grew from the skin on its back where the Ghost Crow touched it, covering part of its twisted back and concealing the abnormally protruding spine.

At the same time, the Ghost Crow underwent an extremely noticeable change.

Its feathers began to spread onto the Corpse-Dragging Ghost. As it lost them, its form gradually broke apart, until none of its body remained; it had all become ghost feathers covering the Corpse-Dragging Ghost.

At this, Jiang Li reached a conclusion:

It was working, but it was not enough.

More Ghost Crows needed to enter the fray before he could attempt to cover the Corpse-Dragging Ghost completely and restrain it.

At that thought, Jiang Li hesitated no longer. He manifested two of the three Ghost Crows inside him and had them stand on his shoulders.

"Go. Restrain this Corpse-Dragging Ghost for me."

The Ghost Crows he had subdued no longer needed to be forcibly thrown. With a slight spread of their wings, they immediately flew toward the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's arm and back.

With the addition of these two Ghost Crows, the black feathers covering the Corpse-Dragging Ghost became much more prominent.

The thick corpse hand hanging down to the ground was now affected by the Ghost Crow feathers. Its grip on the Person-Treading Ghost gradually loosened, and it was clearly close to losing its hold.

The rustling sound of friction against the ground became intermittent, as though it would stop the next moment.

Even so, quite a few parts of the Corpse-Dragging Ghost remained exposed; its entire body had not been covered by the Ghost Crow feathers.

Once its entire back, arms, and legs were covered in ghost feathers, the Corpse-Dragging Ghost finally released the giant hand gripping the Person-Treading Ghost's ankle, leaving it on the ground.

The deathly pale Ghost Hand left on the ground swiftly reached out and dragged the Person-Treading Ghost's entire corpse back to Jiang Li.

Jiang Li instinctively moved to toss it into the wooden box, but the instant he opened it, he suddenly remembered the hanging corpse.

Looking inside, he saw that the hanging corpse was still completely motionless, silently curled up beneath the old wooden table in the basement.

After tossing He Tianxiong's Person-Treading Ghost aside, Jiang Li had a few thoughts about the hanging corpse inside the box, then returned his gaze to the Corpse-Dragging Ghost.

The Corpse-Dragging Ghost had stopped moving and stood quietly in place, its body hunched.

Too much of its body was covered, completely preventing it from acting on its fierce ghost instincts.

Seeing this, Jiang Li nodded slightly.

"That's about enough. As long as I cover the Corpse-Dragging Ghost's entire head with Ghost Crow feathers, it should be sufficient."

Chapter 70: The Result of Taming, the Soul Returns in Seven Days (Please Keep Reading)

"This is the last part of the Ghost Crow. Hopefully it can devour the Corpse-Dragging Ghost completely."

Jiang Li spoke as he looked at the last Ghost Crow on his shoulder.

"Go. This time, the target is its head."