Time had passed since he hung himself, and it had been nearly four hours, Yang Jian's body had already started to show signs of livor mortis.
Perhaps it was because he used a Ghost Rope to hang himself, the lividity on his body was more pronounced than that of a person who dies normally.
It spread across his entire body.
However, more eerie and terrifying events were unfolding.
Yang Jian's body, facing this man-high Ghost Mirror, was firmly adhered to it, and from one corner beside the mirror, one could see numerous terrible hands suddenly appearing within the mirror.
Some hands were highly decayed, some seemed as if they had been soaked in water for several days, swollen and blackened, dripping with the stench of corpse fluid, some hands were pale and stiff, others charred to black...
These hands were of various sizes, the smallest like infants, and the largest like Evil Ghosts, with pitch-black nails.
Each hand was impatiently slapping and striking the Ghost Mirror, as if trying to reach out and pull Yang Jian's body on the mirror into their midst.
According to the rules of the Ghost Mirror, as long as one left their reflection within it, they could resurrect inside the mirror after death.
But Yang Jian's situation was different, he had died, but his body was controlled by the Ghost Shadow, unable to resurrect smoothly.
Being unable to resurrect within the Ghost Mirror meant that the ghosts inside the mirror couldn't escape their trap.
From the previous situation, one could already tell that behind these ghostly hands in the mirror were each representative of terrifying and mysterious Evil Ghosts.
And the number was astonishingly large.
The Ghost Mirror was mysterious and strange, the countless hands of Evil Ghosts slapping and striking the mirror were unable to inflict even the slightest damage. The actions seemed as futile as mere reflections, no matter how ferocious they appeared, they could not affect any real object.
But in the center of the Ghost Mirror, a person identical to Yang Jian also closed his eyes peacefully, standing there as though he had died.
The body of Yang Jian outside the mirror and the person inside seemed to overlap, yet they were separated by a thin pane of glass.
The shadow in the mirror seemed to be the reflection of Yang Jian's body.
In fact, it was not at all.
The Yang Jian in the mirror had transformed from a fierce ghost. It needed to swap Yang Jian into the Ghost Mirror to free itself and leave the mirror.
However, neither the countless Ghost Hands in the mirror nor the Mirror Ghost that took the form of Yang Jian could pull Yang Jian's body into the Ghost Mirror.
Because of the presence of the Ghost Shadow.
At some point, the black liquid that had dripped from Yang Jian's body had covered the entire room.
This was part of the body of the Headless Ghost Shadow.
At the moment, these black shadows writhed on the ground, like the outline of a person struggling to crawl.
The black shadow gradually began to stand up, covering the stand of the Ghost Mirror, then creeping over the mirror surface itself.
It wasn't enough for the Ghost Shadow to take Yang Jian's body; it greedily wanted to take the ghosts within the Ghost Mirror as well.
It seemed that, compared to Yang Jian's body, the fierce ghosts within the mirror were more in line with what the Ghost Shadow desired.
But after the Ghost Shadow covered the Ghost Mirror, it couldn't enter the mirror itself.
The mirror isolated everything.
The fierce ghosts couldn't come out, and the Ghost Shadow couldn't go in.
However, Yang Jian was an exception.
At this moment, his body became the only medium connecting the Ghost Mirror to the outside.
The Ghost Shadow was struggling, and the ghosts inside the mirror were also vying for control.
Time passed, little by little.
Yang Jian's body still lay dead in front of the Ghost Mirror, with no sign of resurrection.
This indicated that the Ghost Shadow was still prevailing; it was not affected by the Ghost Mirror before it.
But a temporary advantage did not mean a lasting victory.
The Ghost Shadow had resurrected; it was terrifying enough to recklessly take over the bodies of other fierce ghosts and to assemble its own form. But at the moment, it had not grown as successfully as the Ghost Infant outside.
Although there were many ghosts inside the Ghost Mirror, it couldn't get in, unable to use its advantage.
So, for now, all the Ghost Shadow could control was the body of Yang Jian.
Yang Jian's body suspended in mid-air underwent another change.
The still surface of the mirror, like the water of a lake, suddenly rippled, and his body began to slowly sink into the mirror as if it was being devoured.
Inside, countless terrifying hands seemed eager to grab his clothes, pulling Yang Jian's corpse closer to this horrific Mirror World. Meanwhile, the Yang Jian in the mirror began to move as well; his legs were walking as if he were about to break free from the Ghost Mirror.
The black shadow covering the Ghost Mirror started to slowly recede.
The black Ghost Shadow quickly integrated into Yang Jian's corpse, which was being eerily pulled back just as it was about to sink into the Ghost Mirror.
The Ghost Mirror and Ghost Shadow were actually using Yang Jian's corpse as a medium for a tug-of-war contest.
Such a terrifying scene was unfortunately witnessed by no one.
Because the mobile phone had run out of battery and shut down automatically, it couldn't capture the moment.
Inside the villa, it was completely empty, frightfully quiet nearby, with only the occasional passerby, but they were definitely not residents of this community—they were Ghost Infants from who knows which stage, aimlessly wandering over.
So it was even less likely that anyone would accidentally enter this room and witness such a scene.
Meanwhile, as the struggle between ghosts continued,
Inside the safe house.
Wang Xiaoming was desperately holding onto the nearly out-of-battery mobile phone, incredibly frustrated.
He wasn't frustrated about whether Yang Jian's attempt was a success or failure.
It was the agony of not being able to witness the outcome of this terrifying ritual with his own eyes, which was very painful for a professor who studied evil spirits.
But Yang Jian's actions opened up a completely new method for Wang Xiaoming to control evil spirits.
A method with a very low success rate, but one which, if successful, could give birth to an entity even more terrifying than a ghost tamer.
Only Yang Jian's method was too unstable; no one could imagine what kind of result would come from the collision of multiple ghosts.
"Although his actions are unconventional, the effect he aims to achieve seems to align perfectly with my Ghost Coffin research in the Second Stage," Wang Xiaoming's eyes flickered, and he surprisingly felt a sense of admiration for Yang Jian.
There was actually someone so clever in this world.
As for Wang Xiaoming's psychological change, no one cared.
The others in the safe house had heavy hearts.
Jiang Yan was huddled in a corner, her mind filled with thoughts of Yang Jian's situation.
"Big sister, don't worry, with Brother Tui's skills, he will definitely be fine," Zhang Wei consoled her.
Jiang Yan turned her head and glanced at him, only to see a bulge in Zhang Wei's crotch, then looking at his earnestly concerned expression for her, she slapped him hard, "Pervert~! I belong to Yang Jian, stay away from me."
Zhang Wei, touching his sore cheek, looked utterly bewildered.
"Dad, did I say something wrong?"
Zhang Xiangu saw Zhang Wei's bulging crotch rise and fall, and hit him with another slap, furious, "You wretch."
This damn kid, what was he thinking, getting aroused by Jiang Yan at a time ? Who was Jiang Yan? Someone who had been living with Yang Jian for a month; Zhang Xiangu refused to believe there was nothing between them.
"What's wrong with me?" Zhang Wei wanted to cry, covering both sides of his face.
Especially the slap from his own father, which stung terribly.
Zhang Wei sensed something, and suddenly reached into his crotch.
A golden box was pulled out.
"Did this box open on its own just now?" Zhang Wei was somewhat perplexed, as if, just moments before, the lid of the box had popped open, as if something was trying to come out.
However, the motion had ceased.
But when he observed the box, he discovered the lock was broken and the gold foil wrapped around it torn.
One corner revealed a small piece of dark brown paper.
It was the corner of a piece of human skin paper.
Zhang Wei hurriedly stuffed it back in and closed the box.
The human skin paper sank back into silence within the box.
But at that moment, in the darkness of the box, a line of text appeared on the human skin paper: He is going to succeed, but why didn't he take me with him? I missed a great opportunity... I'll have to wait for the next time.
The text quickly disappeared into the darkness again.
The golden box ceased to make any further disturbances.