Fixed ways of thinking can be lethal.
We always think of ghosts as tangible entities, terrifying but at least visible and touchable.
But Yang Jian fully understood after he entered the Ghost Coffin and merged his consciousness with the Ghost Domain, enveloping the entire Huanggang Village.
The ghosts here are just like his situation lying in the coffin.
They're not ghosts in form, but in concept.
As long as Huanggang Village exists, this ghost will never vanish and cannot be imprisoned.
That's why Feng Quan, after entering the coffin, could control the villagers, and why Yang Jian, after entering the Ghost Coffin, could abandon his physical form to become nearly a purely conscious existence.
In reality, they had only temporarily experienced the existence of this ghost after entering the coffin.
However, Feng Quan didn't think in this direction; he regarded the coffin as a special tool, one that could perfectly transform people into ghosts.
Or rather, he was only half right.
The coffin indeed could nurture a ghost, but not Feng Quan, not Yang Jian, but... the ghost of Huanggang Village. This coffin was tailor-made for this ghost.
But now the ghost has left the coffin, and Feng Quan has taken over it.
It can't return to the coffin, and Feng Quan, wary of the ghost's power, dare not leave the coffin either.
So a balance has been formed.
This is actually a stalemate.
After much struggle, three people paid a price to detain this ghost.
But when the sound of footsteps once again came from outside in the Black Night, it brought with it a sense of despair and helplessness.
"How can you be so certain that all of this is as you say? I don't believe you," said Feng Quan, his numb face showing a trace of fright and anger.
Yang Jian stared intently at him, "You've been here quite a while and could have guessed it; you just really want to become a real ghost and have subconsciously ignored the things you don't want to think about."
"What's wrong with becoming a real ghost? Once I succeed, I'll be able to control other ghosts, fearless of the Resurrection's side effects. This city, no… the entire nation, maybe even the whole world's fate will change because of me. I will be the only conscious, truly terrifying ghost."
"Do you know what that would mean? It would mean that this psychic disaster could be stopped, even pacified... I would be a hero, a savior," Feng Quan said, his numb face taking on a strangely crazed expression.
Is this really what he was thinking?
Indeed, it seems quite unbelievable.
"Although your idea is good, reality is cruel. You stay in the coffin for a day, the ghost guards you for a day. You won't let it enter the coffin, and it won't leave for a second," Yang Jian said calmly; "Even if someone sees the value in the Ghost Coffin and sends rescue, it'll just be one dead body after another. You can't leave; how can you be a savior?"
"If the ghost is resolved, there will be no problem," said Feng Quan.
"How will you resolve it? This ghost simply cannot be detained; it can be an amalgamation of all the villagers' appearances, a weed, a stone, a building... If we're to be accurate, the entire Huanggang Village is a ghost. You made the file on the Huanggang Village paranormal incident, you should be clear: when the paranormal incidents occurred, the whole village mysteriously vanished for three days."
"After three days, the village reappeared."
"By that time, the village was no longer the same village… but a ghost, yet still in the process of gestation and perhaps not perfect in some aspects. So Huanggang Village resumed the life of an ordinary village as before, with no hint of anomaly, which I consider to be a kind of imitative ability, like a child mimicking an adult's behavior. It can also mimic the operational routine of a village."
"Having just the village isn't enough; you need villagers too. Hence, the villagers who had disappeared reappeared, and those ghost villagers, not being controlled, lived according to their previous lifestyles. When someone died, they knew to hold a funeral, set up a mourning hall; when guests arrived, they knew to receive them, greet them, but they would never leave the village by half a step."
"Because they are already a part of the village, but as you entered the Ghost Coffin, you indirectly gained some control over the villagers. This is actually your influence over the ghost here, so you cannot fully control a villager since they are also a part of the ghost. The influence you have is already the limit; to control, you must dominate the ghost within the Ghost Coffin."
Feng Quan's face was changing unpredictably at this moment.
He couldn't believe Yang Jian's terrifying conjecture.
Yet, reality was before his eyes, and Feng Quan had no choice but to believe it.
Because, just as he said... the ghost was still there.
Footsteps once again approached from the darkness.
A figure was gradually nearing the spirit hall.
All these signs seemed to announce the ghost's return.
If there was to be a fight, it would be the second round.
But you people are already severely wounded, while the ghost is fully resurrected.
If Yang Jian and Feng Quan teamed up again to defeat the ghost,
a third round would begin.
A never-ending confrontation,
until all the ghost controllers are worn down and die from the ghost's resurrection.
And as the number of ghosts in the village increases, this ghost's power would also grow stronger.
This has become a deadlock.
"No, even if your guess is right, I still have a chance to turn things around, that is to return to the Ghost Coffin and continue the previous balance..." Feng Quan's numb face was tinged with madness.
However, he didn't finish his words.
A Ghost Shadow suddenly stood behind him.
A hand, condensed from thick ink, grabbed Feng Quan's head.
Feng Quan's head was plucked off, held in the hands of the Headless Ghost Shadow.
Even with his head severed, Feng Quan wasn't dead, but stared at him, both angry and frustrated.
"No matter what you want to do, right now I won't allow you to disrupt my plans,"
Yang Jian said icily, "There's actually only one way to leave this place."
"That is to send the ghost back into the Ghost Coffin. Only then will everything here disappear, and the supernatural events of Huanggang Village will end. Such a dangerous thing is not something you can control."
Separated from his body, Feng Quan was immobilized and spoke angrily, "Since you already understand that the ghost needs to return to the Ghost Coffin, what if one day it continues to grow inside the coffin, reaching an unimaginable height of terror before emerging again?"
"Who will be able to deal with it then?"
"You keep the ghost outside for your own sake, so why can't I send it back into the coffin for the sake of my own life?"
"The day that ghost leaves the coffin, that's no longer my concern. By then, I suppose the ghost controlling department will have a solution. If the ghost successfully returns to the coffin, I'll do a favor and send the coffin away for someone capable to worry about it."
Yang Jian was unmoved: "You should feel lucky, if I weren't worried about the ghost in your body escaping, you would already be dead by now."