This endlessly repeating cycle seemed like a bizarre alternation. With every contraction of the lake water, the next surge of lake water that appeared would be diminished by a portion.
The four-layer Ghost Lake was at a disadvantage in its supernatural clash with that female corpse, but this gave Yang Jian an opportunity.
Under the collision of supernatural forces, all the risk was being borne by that terrifying female corpse. At this moment, Yang Jian could, within this brief window of time, use the supernatural power of Ghost Lake almost without restriction.
It was precisely because of this that Yang Jian dared to alter the contents of the eerie marriage contract before him.
This was an alternative form of supernatural opposition. Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for such a situation to occur—where the ghost within one’s own body was reviving, yet the one being attacked was another target.
Such a state defied common sense, but right now, through the bracelet and Ye Zhen’s deeper application of the substitute-death ghost, it had been forcibly maintained.
Yang Jian knew it would not last for long,
because a living person would never be a true ghost.
Whether Ye Zhen or Yang Jian, both had their limits.
Yang Jian was pondering how to write the next course of action onto this marriage contract.
The two people who had suddenly appeared had made him aware of the existence of an eerie post office. This gave Yang Jian a new direction for his actions.
But now there was only one chance. If he failed, both he and Ye Zhen would die here.
The ghost hand wearing the bracelet picked up the pen. Even within Ghost Lake, the dense ghost blood still condensed like ink; Ghost Lake’s suppression had no effect on it whatsoever.
The tip of the pen lightly touched the marriage contract, and one blood-red character after another began to emerge.
“In order to complete the Post Office’s mission, Liu Qingqing entered the coffin in the bridal chamber after Ye Zhen completed the third bow, searching for the bride.”
Yang Jian did not know what Liu Qingqing would do at a certain point in time. He could only write the sequence of events more vaguely, guiding the future toward the direction he needed.
Then, through his own actions, he would fulfill the contents written first, and finally borrow the power of this marriage contract to complete the last part.
Yang Jian continued writing, and a second line of blood-red words slowly appeared.
“The one who enters that coffin in the bridal chamber after the wedding bows conclude is the bride.”
Yang Jian had deliberately blurred the definition of the bride. He had not tried to directly replace the identity of the female corpse.
After the wedding bows ended, the “bride” would enter the bridal chamber. This did not violate the established text already written on the marriage contract. Rather, under the existing rules, it used vague guidance: whoever entered that coffin after the wedding bows ended would be regarded as the bride.
Yang Jian’s current actions were like walking a tightrope. The slightest misstep would mean total defeat, his body smashed to pieces.
However, it was obvious that this marriage contract was not something that could be altered easily.
At this moment, with every stroke Yang Jian wrote, his consciousness began to blur rapidly. His body rotted at a speed visible to the naked eye, flesh peeling away to reveal ghastly white bones.
Yet every time his consciousness was about to dissipate, a dense red light would spread from within his body to cover him entirely, restarting him back to an intact state.
As Yang Jian wrote, red light kept flaring in the cold lake water, like a flame in the night on the verge of going out...
Just as Yang Jian was about to continue writing, the blood-red bracelet suddenly let out a crisp cracking sound, then split into two.
“It’s reached its limit...”
Yang Jian looked at the shattered bracelet before him. Without the bracelet’s grafting effect, he could no longer continue using Ghost Lake’s supernatural power without restriction.
But he still had to write one final sentence. He had to ensure that what happened next would, with a high probability, develop in the direction he hoped for.
A tattoo slowly sank into the marriage contract. One character after another appeared on the paper like embroidery.
He had already reached the final step. At this moment, Yang Jian simply had no time to care about what abnormalities might occur in his body after losing the ghost tattoo.
Bluish-black words began to appear bit by bit.
“Liu Qingqing has always kept the letter on her. After entering the coffin, the Post Office’s mission has already been completed, and Liu Qingqing chooses to immediately return to the Post Office.”
Yang Jian did not know how the marriage contract and the Post Office would judge things when written this way.
He was gambling.
He wanted the rules of the Post Office, this marriage contract, and that female corpse to clash because of this, thereby achieving the result he had envisioned.
The lake water gradually receded, and Yang Jian’s figure appeared once more. Dripping water all over, Yang Jian looked at Ye Zhen.
“Don’t resist. Let it kowtow.”
The next moment, the buzzing around Ye Zhen’s body came to an abrupt stop. That female corpse, which had remained motionless all this time, suddenly moved. Kneeling face-to-face with Ye Zhen, the red bridal veil atop its head swayed slightly, and then its head smashed straight toward the floor.
At the same time, Ye Zhen also mechanically lowered his head, bowing to that female corpse.
The entire process was eerie and silent, without the slightest sound. Only a suffocating, hair-raising oppression filled the room.
Ye Zhen and that terrifying female corpse moved in perfect unison, kowtowing together.
Looking at Ye Zhen again, he was expressionless at this moment, his gaze vacant as he held the female corpse’s hand.
Behind Yang Jian, on the enormous headless black shadow, eight scarlet ghost eyes had already opened. Yang Jian was waiting for the change to occur.
Suddenly, that terrifying female corpse released Ye Zhen’s hand. It paused for one second, then stood rigidly in place, completely motionless.
At the same time, outside the bridal chamber where Liu Qingqing was, a strange, twisted path could be vaguely seen gradually approaching the room, as though it had invaded this place from some incomprehensible, eerie location.
But that was as far as it went. Once the path extended to outside the room, it could no longer advance even the slightest bit.
At this moment, Liu Qingqing inside the coffin had already fallen silent. Strangely, she was now wearing a dark red bridal dress, with an eerie red bridal veil over her head. She lay quietly inside the coffin, and beside her hand was a piece of letter paper that had not yet finished burning.
A moment later, the door of the bridal chamber was pushed open. Li Yi carried Liu Qingqing out of the room, stepped onto that eerie path, and finally disappeared at the twisted end.
The scene returned to Yang Jian’s side.
The instant he saw that female corpse let go, Yang Jian knew the first step had succeeded. An extreme scarlet edge of light instantly surged outward. He was going to restart Ye Zhen.
Previously, in the graveyard, this female corpse had been completely unaffected by the restart. This was also why Yang Jian had dared to let Ye Zhen make the third bow.
As long as the first step succeeded, he could save Ye Zhen.
Amid the red light, the taboo of reversing life and death began. Within the entire room, aside from that female corpse and the marriage contract, everything was enveloped in scarlet.
Ye Zhen slowly retreated, then gradually rose from his kneeling posture. His vacant expression quickly disappeared, and the aura of a living person rapidly returned to his face.
Then the red light abruptly scattered in all directions. Ye Zhen stood quietly in place, looking at Yang Jian.
“Your condition is improving.”
Ye Zhen keenly discovered that Yang Jian’s body, which had originally been close to ghost resurgence, now showed no signs of resurgence at all. The area-wide restart just now was the best proof.
Yang Jian nodded. Just now, because of the bracelet and Ye Zhen, after the reviving source of Ghost Lake had been grafted onto the ghost bride, it had been thoroughly suppressed by the ghost bride. As a result, Yang Jian could now control Ghost Lake more perfectly.
“This isn’t over yet. I can’t guarantee my method will work completely.”
Yang Jian pointed at the ghost bride beside Ye Zhen. The ghost bride, which had originally stood motionless, began to move again.