Chapter 301: Give Me The Human Skin Paper
Yang Jian felt the supernatural conflict within his body. He knew very well that if he couldn’t quickly find a way to balance it, death would soon hunt him down like a hound.
But all the methods he could think of had already been exhausted. The conflict between supernatural powers was no different from solving advanced university math problems. There were many ways to solve it, but it required sufficient direction and ideas.
Without those two, no matter how many methods were used, the final outcome would be futile.
And the dilemma Yang Jian faced now was exactly this.
“Am I going to die?”
As time slowly passed second by second, Yang Jian’s already pale and blackened body became increasingly unreal. His entire person was like a paper person coated with dye, weird and terrifying.
The Ghost Painting’s supernatural seemed to have undergone an unpredictable change due to the fierce ghost on the Ghost Bride. It, already on the verge of imbalance, was eroding Yang Jian’s body.
For Yang Jian, this was absolutely not a good sign.
He could clearly feel his body gradually losing sensation, his consciousness becoming increasingly muddled. His entire person, from body to mind, was completely numb, like a walking corpse.
The erosion of the Ghost Painting Supernatural lasted only half a minute.
No one noticed that Yang Jian, sitting on the chair, had eyes on his already blackened head that had become deathly still at some unknown time, without a trace of vitality.
He seemed to have already died.
But weirdly, the sound of a music box at this moment echoed in Yang Jian’s mind like thunder. This sound seemed to possess some inconceivable ability, waking him from the slumber of death once again, just like a normal person being roused by an alarm clock.
Gradually, his eyes regained a bit of luster.
The vanished consciousness was returning.
Heavy, exhausted, chilling—various sensations from near death began to dissipate.
A thought and consciousness belonging to Yang Jian himself gradually awakened, and that faint music became increasingly clear.
Protected by the Music Box Curse, Yang Jian had survived again.
“Have I already died once? It seems the Music Box Curse saved me again. But how long can this survival last? The Ghost House is gradually stripping away my senses from the fierce ghost in my body. Ghost Eye and Ghost Shadow cannot be used. Once the Music Box Curse disappears, I will undoubtedly die.”
Even after being pulled back from the Ghost Gate, Yang Jian still felt despair about his own situation.
He had entered the Ghost House with the mindset of a desperate gamble, wanting to use the Ghost House’s supernatural to shield him from the Ghost Bride and Ghost Painting’s supernatural.
Even before entering, he had anticipated that this method carried great risk. After all, neither he nor Jiang Shan had fully figured out the Ghost House’s supernatural. But in that situation, he had no time to hesitate.
A dead horse must be treated as a live one.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t save himself.
Because Yang Jian couldn’t guarantee if he could find the way back to reality from the Ghost Painting World again, nor did he know what anomalies would occur after entering the Ghost Painting World.
Moreover, his instinct as a Ghost Wielder told him that even sitting here waiting to die, he absolutely could not enter the Ghost Painting World again.
Because Yang Jian was originally akin to a Ghost Slave of the Ghost Painting. Entering the Ghost Painting World again would make him no different from a puppet controlled by others.
Not to mention escaping.
By then, he might not even be able to control his own actions.
After all, Yang Jian was now completely a product sustained by supernatural. His body had already died due to the supernatural of the Ghost Painting and Ghost Bride. Only the music box was protecting his remaining consciousness.
Now, the only thing Yang Jian could do was sit on the luxurious leather chair in this Ghost House, quietly listening to the ethereal melody in his mind, then quietly waiting for his death.
After experiencing countless cycles of consciousness death and resurrection.
At this moment, Yang Jian had lost all sense of time. He didn’t know how much time had passed since he fell into coma and woke up again. His current state was no longer like a living person, but more like a dead soul.
If it were just passive muddled behavior or mental haze, perhaps due to certain events, that person might perk up. But Yang Jian was different—his consciousness was annihilated by the Ghost Painting, then reshaped by the Music Box Curse’s supernatural.
Just like a ship.
The consciousness eroded and annihilated by the Ghost Painting was the damage to the wooden ship’s body, while the music box’s reshaping of his consciousness was equivalent to newly repaired wooden boards.
The current Yang Jian was no longer the former him. It could be said for certain that now Yang Jian was a resurrected dead person. He had died countless times, for an unknown duration.
And in this half-alive, half-dead state, Yang Jian, who had woken up once again, suddenly heard a crisp sound of footsteps. He was startled, then abruptly stood up, wanting to walk toward the source of the footsteps.
But just a few seconds after standing up.
“Bang~!”
Yang Jian’s fragile consciousness was once again annihilated by the Ghost Painting. His entire person seemed to instantly lose his soul, falling straight to the ground with a dull thud.
“Hm?”
This loud bang instantly let Jiang Shan know Yang Jian’s approximate location.
Although the Ghost House appeared as a five-story luxurious villa in reality, its interior actually only had two levels, up and down.
Jiang Shan, who had already searched the entire first floor, quickly found Yang Jian lying unconscious on the ground.
At this moment, Yang Jian looked almost indistinguishable from a paper person painted with colored dye. Even the touch felt extremely similar.
The only difference was that both Yang Jian and He Yuelian, whom he had been holding hands with, had bodies that were incredibly shriveled, resembling “paper persons.”
Moreover, these two paper persons seemed somewhat shoddily made. Their bodies seemed to lack the framework supporting a paper figure body. From a distance, they looked like two paper-wrapped mummy corpses.
Jiang Shan first checked Yang Jian and He Yuelian’s bodies.
After confirming several times, it matched his judgment: He Yuelian was dead. Without supernatural protection, she had died completely in the confrontation between fierce ghosts, with no possibility of resurrection.
Yang Jian’s body had obviously suffered the same supernatural erosion. Not yet having become an anomaly, it was no surprise that his body had also entered a state of death. The only thing Jiang Shan was certain of now was that Yang Jian was still alive.
This was because he saw several blackened blood words on the ground under Yang Jian’s right face:
“I’m still alive, supernatural balance.”
“Still alive, but the body is completely dead. It seems the Music Box Curse saved his life. The plan to control Ghost Painting has gone seriously wrong. According to the Human Skin Paper’s plan, Yang Jian should have successfully transferred the Ghost Bride’s curse through He Yuelian by now.”
“But obviously, his corpse-like body is proof that not only did the Ghost Bride’s curse not transfer, but he replaced He Yuelian and bore the Ghost Painting’s supernatural.”
Through the information from the Human Skin Paper and Yang Jian’s current appearance, Jiang Shan quickly analyzed his general situation.
“No self-consciousness? No, he fell because he heard something and reacted. It seems Yang Jian still has consciousness, but there’s a problem with it. He can’t maintain a normal state.”
After trying to call out to Yang Jian a few times with no response, Jiang Shan didn’t hesitate any longer and immediately took out a Ghost Mirror Shard from his pocket.
The reason he had specifically gone to the traditional Chinese medicine shop to find Zhang Bohua was precisely for unexpected situations like this.
Although the Human Skin Paper told him how to help Yang Jian regain control of the Ghost Painting, “can a diamond only rot in one place?”
And supernatural imbalance was the most likely to occur and the most severe.
Without obtaining this medicine, helping Yang Jian regain balance in such a short time would be impossible.
The only way was to first use this medicine to get Yang Jian through this hurdle, then, under the premise that his condition wouldn’t cause the plan to fail, find a way to regain control.
In helping Yang Jian control the Ghost Painting, Jiang Shan had been involved from start to finish. He absolutely would not abandon him at this final moment.
The Ghost Painting issue didn’t just affect Dajing City or Headquarters.
For every Ghost Wielder and ordinary person living domestically, it would be a massive upheaval. The entire Supernatural Circle might lose control, and supernatural hazards would affect everyone.
Jiang Shan took out a packet of medicine wrapped in yellow paper from the Ghost Mirror Shard. Without hesitation, he tore it open in his hand.
The yellow paper was just ordinary oiled paper, nothing special. But when Jiang Shan opened it, inside was a lump of grayish-white medicinal powder.
“Yang Jian, whether you can survive depends on you. If you die, the Ghost Painting will completely lose control. Then Ghost Wielders might still have ways to protect themselves, but ordinary people will have slim chances of survival.”
While pouring the medicine into Yang Jian’s mouth, Jiang Shan spoke.
Although he didn’t know if Yang Jian had consciousness at this moment, he knew Yang Jian could never let go of his mother. The purpose of these words was to make Yang Jian’s desire to survive stronger.
After all, Jiang Shan was not Yang Jian.
He didn’t know what Yang Jian had gone through before this moment, whether he still had the obsession to keep living. Even if the Yang Jian in the original work showed incredible resilience.
But this was a new world. Jiang Shan wouldn’t fully trust any Ghost Wielder from the original work—their displayed personalities and abilities.
He could only reference them, not rely on them.
As the powder was completely poured into Yang Jian’s mouth by Jiang Shan, in the blink of an eye, a weird scene appeared. Yang Jian’s body seemed to regain some human luster, and his entire person began to return to normal, no longer shriveled, but with a bit of color.
“Am I alive again? No, I was saved by someone. Consciousness is no longer groggy, body is no longer stiff. This is—”
Having regained clarity, Yang Jian keenly noticed the anomaly in himself. He felt there seemed to be a piece of ice in his mouth.
But he knew the thing in his mouth was definitely not ice, but some unknown supernatural power. Due to not yet fully regaining control of his body, he could only keep his eyes closed, lying still like a dead person, quietly feeling the changes in himself.
Soon,
Yang Jian discovered that the chilling aura in his mouth was now spreading everywhere, rapidly permeating his entire body.
“This smoky smell, is it Jiang Shan? What did he feed me? This chill seems to be filling my whole body. If this thing completely breaks the balance—”
Yang Jian felt the chill slithering through his body like a poisonous snake. He thought the situation would worsen, with the fragile balance between the Ghost Painting and Ghost Bride in his body broken by the weird thing in his mouth.
But unexpectedly, as the chilling aura eroded his body.
The out-of-control supernatural of the Ghost Painting and Ghost Bride in his body gradually calmed down, as if the ghosts within had fallen asleep. This was absolutely not supernatural balance.
Not only that,
The music box’s sound even became lighter. Yang Jian could hardly hear that weird bell anymore.
“What a joke? Where did Jiang Shan get this thing? This ghostly thing he fed me doesn’t balance the supernatural in my body, but uses a suppression-like effect to make the fierce ghost dormant.”
Feeling the changes in himself, Yang Jian was shocked, finding it somewhat unbelievable.
He knew his current state was because Jiang Shan had used some more forceful supernatural means to suppress all the supernatural in his body, including the fierce ghost, in one go.
And the supernatural power in his mouth was very stable, without risk of losing control or eroding him.
Instead, as time passed, this terrifying supernatural power in his mouth was slowly dissipating.
This sensation meant that before this supernatural power dissipated, he had no risk of fierce ghost revival for a period of time.
“The origin of this thing is definitely not simple. No matter what, I owe Jiang Shan a lot of favors.”
Yang Jian had now fully regained control of his consciousness and body. He had originally given up all hope, even prepared to die.
Even hearing Jiang Shan’s footsteps, he didn’t think Jiang Shan had any good way to save him.
After all, the supernatural of the Ghost Painting and Ghost Bride was too terrifying. Only by experiencing it personally could he feel that powerless despair.
But the desire to survive still made him write those eight words before dying.
However, Yang Jian never expected that the thing Jiang Shan stuffed into his mouth would forcibly pull him back from the edge of fierce ghost revival and supernatural imbalance.
Although it didn’t completely solve the problem.
But in the current state, at least he wouldn’t die in the short term.
As time passed, Yang Jian’s vision became clearer. He even saw Jiang Shan standing nearby, and then his mouth recovered, able to sense again.
The first words out of his mouth were:
“Human Skin Paper, give me the Human Skin Paper.”
