Mysterious Revival

After experiencing a nightmare, Yang Jian dared not sleep, and he withdrew the Headless Ghost Shadow back into his body.

Without a shadow, he was now actively enduring the influence of the fierce ghost.

In this state, Yang Jian was extremely rational, did not know fatigue, and at the same time, human emotions were suppressed to the minimum, almost non-existent, making him indifferent, not like a normal living person.

Usually, he wouldn't be like this.

But Yang Jian wasn't sure whether he would inadvertently enter that nightmare again in the dead of night.

The night passed.

In the early morning, the free-range roosters in the countryside crowed.

Yang Jian had been sitting quietly on the bed for most of the night, he didn't even close his eyes.

And next to him, Jiang Yan had long since fallen asleep, even snoring, because she was just an ordinary person who had not been affected by any supernatural influences, naturally succumbing to sleep when it was time.

Attracted by the crowing in the village.

Yang Jian looked at the sky outside, which was already bright, and immediately got out of bed and left the room.

He planned to go downstairs and take a walk outside the village to check on the three suspicious locations he learned about yesterday, to explore the situation.

However, as Yang Jian was preparing to leave, he suddenly noticed that the door of the next room was open.

The faded wooden door wasn't entirely open, but half-concealed.

Yang Jian's expression darkened, he walked over to take a look, then peered into the room.

It looked the same as before.

The room was empty, with only a wooden table and a simple shrine. On the shrine was a photo of his deceased father, whose features bore a strong resemblance to Yang Jian's but had a sunnier and sportier temperament, lacking Yang Jian's somber, indifferent feel.

"I closed that door yesterday; although I didn't lock it, it wouldn't be possible for the night breeze, or rodents, cats, and dogs to open it. It must've been opened by someone."

"Since waking from the nightmare, I haven't slept at all, which means it's impossible for someone to have come upstairs."

"Then the only possibility is... there's something in the room."

Yang Jian's gaze flickered, and his rational self quickly eliminated various possibilities and pinpointed the issue.

He walked into the room once again.

Perhaps he hadn't been thorough enough yesterday, so he had to confirm it again today.

At this moment, Yang Jian did not skimp, and directly activated his Ghost Eye.

Ghost Domain unfolded, simply covering the entire village.

In an instant.

The sky turned red, and all the crowing and barking in the village disappeared, the whole world seemed to have fallen silent.

Ordinary people did not realize they were within the Ghost Domain; they were no different from reality.

Because Yang Jian hadn't altered reality, they couldn't feel it.

But this room…

"Still no problem?" Yang Jian's face turned grim.

Within the Ghost Domain, he had changed some things, even making attempts, and even dared to check his father's photograph, despite the taboo, yet still couldn't find anything suspicious.

"If there's nothing wrong with the room, then there's only one possibility. Something happened in this old house while I was dreaming, but I was not lucid at that time and didn't realize it."

After pondering for a moment.

Yang Jian didn't waste any more time. Although there were no signs of recovery after he unfolded the Ghost Domain, he tried not to use the ghostly power if possible. It wasn't a superpower but came at the cost of life.

Before closing his Ghost Eye, he vanished from the room.

The next moment.

Yang Jian arrived at the southern side of the village.

To the south of the village was a fish pond, which was once connected to a nearby river and later was artificially transformed into this fish pond by Yang Jian's father.

The water in the fish pond was crystal clear and flowing.

In the past, it was used to irrigate the nearby fields and served as a natural reservoir. Although it might not seem like much now, back in the day, countless would have coveted this fish pond.

Yang Jian had asked his mother about it yesterday.

After his father had set up the fish pond, they had bred fish for a while but failed to generate any substantial income, and before long, it was abandoned and left to be used by relatives and villagers.

At first listen, it sounded exactly like the behavior of a prodigal son not engaged in proper business.

Yang Jian was standing by this fish pond at the moment.

Time had passed for too long, and the nearby scenery had undergone significant changes. When he was a child, there were wild grasses everywhere, and the mountains and waters were verdant, but now the pond had shrunk somewhat, and the water was not as clear as before, appearing somewhat murky.

He surveyed the fish pond left by his father.

It was nothing special, indistinguishable from any other rural fish pond, with no oddly shaped things in sight.

"There are very few fish, the pond is too calm."

Yang Jian had only stood there for a while when he came to this conclusion.

In the early morning, a fish pond with fish would always have bubbles surfacing, even fish jumping out of the water, but the pond in front of him was eerily calm, without a ripple, like a stagnant pool; yet clearly, this could not be the case.

A fish pond not stocked with fry would be thriving after a decade or so regardless.

Yang Jian squatted down, his hand reaching into the cold water of the pond. A chilling cold seeped through his skin.

His face changed slightly, and he quickly withdrew his hand.

"The pond's water temperature is too cold; fish simply cannot survive in such cold conditions. Even if they could, their breeding rate would not be quick, so this temperature is the reason this place cannot be used for aquaculture. It can only be abandoned here, becoming a water reservoir."

"Strange, isn't it?"

Yang Jian pondered for a moment, then immediately opened one ghastly red eye to peer into the pond.

There was no need for Ghost Domain; the vision of a Ghost Eye was unique in itself.

Darkness cannot cover it; it can even see through walls to observe people and objects. If this capability is extended, it becomes Ghost Domain.

Yang Jian disregarded the water of the pond, searching for any possible bizarre things that might be lurking within.

The water got murkier as he moved downwards, reaching a level of murkiness that seemed abnormal because it exuded a hint of strangeness. Although it was deep and not very obvious, Yang Jian's Ghost Eye could see it because the murkiness interfered with his vision.

"There is something underneath the pond."

Yang Jian looked toward a clump of silt in the deepest part, uncertain what it was, only knowing it was a dark mass.

"Sure enough, there is something there. What was my father thinking, digging a fish pond just to bury something? If he wanted to bury it so deep, why didn't he just dig a hole? Why go to such great lengths? Or did he think sticking it in a fish pond would be safer?"

It was incomprehensible.

Yet, instinctively, he sensed that whatever was wrapped in that silt was related to the supernatural.

As for how dangerous it was, Yang Jian could not be sure.

The likelihood of it being highly dangerous was low.

After all, the fish pond had been there for years; if there were any problems, they would have arisen by now, not wait until today.

The villagers of his hometown are all living well, which speaks volumes.

After pondering for a moment, since the Ghost Eye could not see through it, Yang Jian decided to find a way to dredge it up.

He did not use Ghost Domain but instead took off his gloves, placing his blackened, stiff palm into the pond water.

Dead palms started to float up in the slightly murky water, densely packed and making one's scalp tingle at the sight. But as these dead hands emerged for a while, they gradually sank below the surface again, quickly disappearing from view.

The silt at the bottom of the pond was stirred up, and the dead palms writhed underwater.

Gradually, a clump of silt was brought out.

In a short while, the silt rose to the surface; as the water rinsed it, the original appearance gradually became visible.

An old wooden box.

It was soaked black, rotting, yet still intact, whether because of the special material of the wooden box or because it contained something that led to this result.

"Is this the secret left by my father?"

Yang Jian's gaze slightly darkened.

The reason he used Ghost Hand to dredge was out of caution, after all, Ghost Hand has the power to suppress other ghosts, allowing him to handle any unexpected events.

However, as he picked up the object, the surface of the entire fish pond actually sank half a meter, which was astonishing.

"Should I open it to take a look?" Yang Jian didn't notice anything unusual, and he picked up the wooden box.

It felt somewhat heavy, confirming that there was something inside.

What he did not notice, though, was that when he picked up the wooden box, Yang Jian's reflection on the water's surface suddenly tilted its head and stared at him intently with hollow, bizarre eyes, like a lurking ghoul beneath the water.