Chapter 1276 - 1243: Clash Before the Painting

Although Ping’an Tower has split into two, the remaining structure still stands several stories high, shrouded in a supernatural force that defies easy observation, necessitating a personal investigation.

However, taking such a risk carries significant danger.

The supernatural presence within Ping’an Tower includes that terrifying ghost painting, with ghost envoys lingering within it.

Encountering any malevolent ghost here could mean death, even for the captains.

More importantly, the tower now seems to be harboring unfamiliar ghost tamers, possibly targeting the ghost painting, likely connected to Zhang Xiangguang, who might even be present himself.

“If Zhang Xiangguang is here, not even a team of captains might come out unscathed. He crossed paths with me through a medium and is quite a formidable entity.”

Yang Jian felt a rising sense of caution.

But now, he was teamed up with Li Jun, Li Leping, Leuk San, and Cao Yang as a precaution.

They descended along the collapsed floors.

After just one level, everything turned dark as if all light had been absorbed, and even the bright sunlight above only penetrated slightly more than one level.

But soon.

Flickering green flames appeared in the air around them.

These flames could disperse the darkness and bring light. Though eerie, they illuminated the path, preventing people from getting lost in the darkness.

Everyone understood that this was Li Jun’s ghost flame, dispelling darkness and lighting the way.

However, the flame was weak, providing only a minimal amount of light.

“This darkness isn’t normal, like a ghost domain of the ghost envoy.”

Yang Jian frowned, “I suspect the ghost envoy might have escaped the ghost painting. If that’s the case, the suppression quota of the ghost envoy might be beyond imagination now, and its killing pattern could have resumed after so much time.”

Previously, he had temporarily misled the ghost envoy by altering its memory, causing it a logical conflict, making it incorrectly believe its suppression quota was zero. This crippled the ghost envoy, restricting its attacks to ordinary people, unable to assault ghost tamers, and halting its growth, fixing its suppression of malevolent ghosts at nine.

Moreover, the ghost envoy was confined within the ghost painting, where there were no ordinary people, perfectly resolving this S-level supernatural event.

Yet, the ghost envoy had been in the ghost painting for so long. Yang Jian wasn’t sure if any other supernatural forces had overwritten the logical conflict he originally set.

If the ghost envoy had indeed overcome that logical conflict, it would be terrifying now.

“I’ve read the ghost envoy incident files; it’s indeed an unsolvable-level S-class supernatural event. Though I wasn’t involved then, it was the most horrifying supernatural event I’ve ever encountered. The training facility was attacked by the ghost envoy, and your survival, Yang Jian, was truly miraculous.”

Leuk San was amazed.

The ghost envoy’s pattern of killing lone targets was suffocating, its unsolvable suppression utterly despairing.

Most frightening, the number of stronger entities the ghost envoy suppressed kept increasing.

“The ghost envoy is indeed a huge threat, but now that we know its killing pattern, staying together keeps us safe.”

Cao Yang said seriously, “But we don’t know at what quantity the ghost envoy’s suppression is now, or if there have been new changes.”

Li Keping spoke up at this moment, “If the ghost envoy’s been released, it’s the intruders of Ping’an Tower who should be worried.”

“Leuk San, send a paper man to scout.”

Yang Jian thought staying together wasn’t safe enough and had Leuk San send a paper man down first to gather intel.

“Alright.”

Leuk San didn’t refuse. Soon, another Leuk San appeared atop the collapsed building—this one a pure paper man—and it leaped down, jumping off the roof.

The paper man swiftly fell, soon passing beneath the floor where Yang Jian and the others were, and disappeared into the darkness below.

The fall continued for a long time without any sound of landing.

Leuk San’s paper man seemed swallowed by the darkness, with no sound emanating.

“It doesn’t seem effective,” Cao Yang peered down.

“No rush, let’s wait,” Leuk San said.

“Quickly, our pace is too slow.”

Li Jun felt impatient, eager to understand the situation and accelerated his pace.

Yang Jian stated, “Speed isn’t always beneficial; being too hasty invites trouble.”

“We’re five here, and there are several captains outside too, no need for excessive caution. If many captains can’t handle it together, then no degree of caution matters, would you agree?”

Li Jun said, glancing at Yang Jian.

“You do have a point. If you want to take that risk, then speed up.”

Yang Jian thought for a bit and didn’t refuse.

Li Jun made a valid argument.

There were 11 captains in and around Ping’an Tower; if that wasn’t enough, then caution was futile.

Immediately.

Their movements hastened.

The five plunged deeper into the floors below.

They passed several levels without danger or signs of abnormality, not even bodies—a place of ordinary objects like dusty tables, withered plants, and shattered glass—all remained in the state when Ping’an Tower was sealed.

“Not even footprints, very odd.” Yang Jian furrowed his brow.

His ghost eyes ignored the darkness, seeing everything clearly.

If someone had walked on the dusty ground, there would be clear footprints, but all this way, not a living soul’s footprint was visible.

Yet, someone had indeed intruded on this Ping’an Tower.

The only explanation was that the intruders stayed within a ghost domain, leaving no footprints, or they knew of Yang Jian’s Firewood Knife method of killing and deliberately avoided leaving prints.

They continued downwards.

Another floor passed.

At this time, they found something.

At the stairwell entrance, they saw a mangled corpse—no, not a corpse, it was Leuk San’s paper man.

The paper man was torn to pieces, losing its supernatural qualities, becoming a pile of waste paper.

“My paper man was attacked and killed here.” Leuk San knitted his brow.

He surveyed the surroundings.

Very clean.

No traces left behind whatsoever.

“Do you think it was killed by a ghost or a person?” Cao Yang examined it carefully.

Yang Jian glanced, “The paper man was killed by a person, not a malevolent ghost. The area is too clean, like someone deliberately erased any evidence, which a ghost wouldn’t do.”

“Hurry, the attack on the paper man signals we’ve alerted them.”

He wanted to catch them off guard and needed to seize the initiative.

Though this darkness was full of danger, their adversaries faced the same issues.

“Follow me, don’t stop.”

Yang Jian reached out, and a fractured gold spear appeared in his hand.

His ghost eyes opened, ghost domain expanded, completely dispelling the surrounding darkness.

Yet the ghost domain’s coverage was limited to just one floor, struggling to expand further downward.

“The supernatural influence of the ghost painting is diminishing rapidly.” Yang Jian thought, alarmed.

He began to have a bad premonition.

Immediately.

Red light enveloped several people and started invading layer by layer downward.

Eleventh floor, tenth floor, ninth floor, eighth floor…

The red light was like an elevator plummeting rapidly in the darkness.

Quickly.

When it reached the seventh floor, the red light flickered a few times, then abruptly went out.

The Ghost Domain was forcibly interfered by some supernatural force, rendering it directly unusable.

“The ghost painting is on this floor,” Yang Jian’s low voice sounded.

The only supernatural force that could directly nullify his ghost eye was the ghost painting.

“I understand.”

Before Li Jun finished speaking, small flames appeared around them, then gradually grew into fireballs floating in mid-air. The fireballs emitted a green glow, illuminating this floor and everything on it, dispelling the darkness here.

He was equally decisive, setting the place ablaze first and foremost.

After all, there were no ordinary people here, only murderous ghosts and enemies, so he had no scruples.

The flames were ignited.

In the middle of the empty floor stood a huge oil painting.

A woman in a red dress was painted on the canvas, her figure blurry, but her pale hands appeared exceptionally vivid, as if they had reached out of the painting.

The painting was originally hidden in the darkness but was revealed by the ghost flame’s light.

Yang Jian just glanced at it, and his ghost eye immediately shut, not daring to gaze further.

This was not a derivative painting but the true source of the ghost painting.

“Don’t look at that painting recklessly. The killing pattern of the ghost painting is memory. Once you see it, do not recall the appearance of the ghost painting in your mind, otherwise, you will be targeted by it,” he warned in a suppressed voice.

Cao Yang’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly withdrew his gaze after only glancing at a corner of the ghost painting, not daring to take in the whole picture.

Li Jun also quickly made the ghost flame shield the ghost painting, obstructing everyone’s view to avoid triggering the killing pattern.

“So that’s it. No wonder you wanted me to act together with you. It turns out this is the reason,” Li Leping said expressionlessly.

He controlled the Forgetful Ghost, capable of erasing others’ memories. Once the team’s leader triggered the ghost painting’s killing pattern, he could immediately erase its image from memory, avoiding a lethal targeting by the ghost.

“Who is over there?”

Suddenly, Li Jun shouted, sensing something.

Behind the ghost painting was a patch of darkness that not even the ghost flame could fully illuminate, yet the flame shielding the ghost painting still revealed several vague figures, concealed there with only a short distance from Yang Jian and his group.

“You’re late; we’re taking this painting with us.”

A hoarse, raspy voice emerged, and from the dim light, a cold, stiff hand stretched out and rested on the frame of the ghost painting.

“Pretending to be mysterious, courting death,” Yang Jian retorted coldly.

Almost at the moment he spoke, a cracked spear whistled through the air.

The ghost painting blocked him from using the Ghost Domain; even so, he had to throw the spear, attempting to nail someone down.

But in the next moment,

A metallic clang rang out, the thrown spear was deflected away, falling to the side.

In the darkness, a vaguely aged, rusty style of a large knife appeared.

“Zhang Xiangguang? As expected, it’s you.”

Yang Jian squinted slightly, staring at that large knife.

At the same time, a shadowy figure behind the ghost painting tried to approach the fallen spear, attempting to take it away.

“Don’t touch it, that thing is cursed; this guy is cunning, trying to lure us,”

An aged voice stopped the person from touching Yang Jian’s weapon.

“That voice is… Chen Qiaoyang?” Yang Jian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Move,” Cao Yang also shouted at this moment.

The surrounding wind swept up, carrying a strong odor of corpses as the ghost flame flickered and swayed, while his body bent slightly downward, shorter than one of the figures behind the ghost painting.

This is Ghost Suppression.

He had to be shorter than the other party for the ghost to press down on them.

Thump!

A figure suddenly staggered, nearly falling.

Li Leping remained expressionless, avoiding one side, and walked toward the group, unnoticed, with no presence, forgotten by all.

“It’s not the time for a showdown yet; our objective is achieved, we should leave,” a cold voice ordered.

The ghost painting was grabbed, and several vague figures swiftly retreated.

“Stay behind for me,”

Li Jun roared, charging forward, ghost flames burning to engulf everything ahead.

He was determined to fight to keep the enemy behind.

If these people took the ghost painting away, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But in the next moment,

An eerie corpse walked out of the darkness, blocking the ghost flame, its whole body engulfed in flames yet remaining unmoved.

This was some ghost, driven by someone. It was not presented for counterattack but to resist Li Jun’s assault.

“Chen Qiaoyang, it’s you indeed,” Li Jun exclaimed angrily.

There was no doubt that this manipulation of the ghost was the same person encountered in Dadong City.

“Bite him.”

With a murderous voice, Yang Jian ordered, as the low growl of an Evil Hound echoed in the darkness.

A giant Evil Hound lunged forth, rushing towards where Chen Qiaoyang was.

In the next moment,

The Evil Hound vanished, invading someone’s mind.

“Ghost Dream? Don’t delay, retreat immediately,” that cold voice, now tinged with surprise, said.

The surrounding darkness began to swirl back, and the hidden figures quickly disappeared along with the ghost painting.

At this moment,

The forgotten Li Leping acted.

He revealed a creepy smile at the corner of his mouth, reaching into the darkness and catching hold of someone moving sluggishly.

At that instant, the inevitable lethal rule was triggered.

“What? Who is this person?” A voice of surprise came from the darkness.

But then, someone was forcibly dragged out from the darkness and thrown to the ground.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com

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