Mysterious Awakening

A meeting that was originally intended to heavily praise Yang Jian and celebrate his achievements, also providing him an opportunity to make an appearance among other international ghost manipulators, to be groomed as a key figure for the future.

Yet these ghost manipulators turned out to be more difficult to deal with than imagined.

Not only were they untamed and unruly, but they also had an air of arrogance to the point where they looked down on everyone.

Although ghost manipulators hold a special status and have formidable, eerie abilities that surpass those of ordinary people, maintaining such an attitude in the face of Yang Jian was incredibly foolish.

Set aside the fact that Yang Jian was a newcomer; he himself was someone who had tamed two ghosts.

Among the ghost manipulators present, he was far from the weakest, Lin Long might look down on Yang Jian's status as a newcomer, but he absolutely couldn't afford to underestimate someone who had tamed two ghosts.

"Can't stop him?" Li Jun's face was grave at this moment.

His Ghost Domain was actually being suppressed by Yang Jian's, and it was a complete suppression from all directions.

Find exclusive stories on empire

It had not been long since the incident with the Ghost Coffin in Huanggang Village, no more than three months; Yang Jian had already grown to this extent, which was truly remarkable.

"Unable to invade his Ghost Domain, we can't bring Lin Long out from it; without the ability to suppress Yang Jian's Ghost Domain, any action we take will fail." Li Jun's gaze flickered, and he contemplated using the abilities of his second ghost.

However, Wang Xiaoming on one side stopped him, "It's already too late. With Yang Jian's capacity for action, the matter might have already concluded by now. What we're seeing is probably just an illusion. Besides, there's no guarantee you could lock onto Yang Jian, and we cannot afford to drag you down because of Lin Long."

Based on his understanding of Yang Jian, Wang Xiaoming knew that this guy had a volatile temper; once he made a move, he was ruthless and would go all out in a confrontation, lacking the maturity and restraint of an adult to stop when he should.

However, it was precisely this sharpness, which had not been dulled by society, that made him stand out from the rest.

Following Li Jun's retreat,

And the others' choice to not intervene, opting instead to wait and see,

The minor scuffle in the meeting room quickly came to an end.

The crowd saw Lin Long within the Ghost Domain, his body eerily controlled by the Headless Ghost Shadow, unable to move freely, and in the end, he walked into the box and locked himself in.

When Lin Long, looking utterly desperate, had locked himself in,

The box, along with the person inside, disappeared.

Yes, it vanished right in front of everyone's eyes, no longer within the meeting room, nor inside this gymnasium.

"Yang Jian, where did you take him? I have no objections to you teaching him a lesson, but you can't just make a person disappear like that. It would be very difficult for me to explain this to headquarters," Zhao Jianguo exclaimed in shock and anger.

Yang Jian glanced at him, then said, "I think that this Lin Long will definitely try to retaliate against me in the future; this guy is petty. So, I've sent him to a very safe and secretive place. Don't worry. I haven't killed him. I'm not that narrow-minded. Just because someone cursed me a couple of times, threatened me a few times, how could I possibly kill them?"

You still have the nerve to say others are petty, aren't you the petty one?!

Thought the others watching internally.

But thoughts aside, everyone was profoundly shocked by the conflict between Yang Jian and Lin Long.

There was no epic battle of three hundred rounds between the two; it was a direct collision of ghosts against ghosts. Lin Long, being of insufficient Terror Level, was simply overpowered without any pretext.

If Yang Jian were a ghost, he'd be dead by now.

"Since you haven't killed him, what do you plan to do?" Hearing that Lin Long was unharmed, Zhao Jianguo finally let out a slight breath of relief.

Yang Jian replied, "I just want him to stay out of my sight for as long as possible. The box is just a precaution, in case his ghost escapes and poses a threat to me one day. So you see, I had to be thorough. Don't worry, Lin Long is nearby, hmm, probably about ten thousand meters away."

Ten kilometers away?

Upon hearing this distance, the eyelids of everyone present twitched involuntarily.

While ten kilometers might not seem far, the extent of Yang Jian's Ghost Domain reaching such a range was utterly astonishing.

A ghost with influence over such a large area would, upon awakening, certainly cause an A-grade paranormal event, or even an S-grade.

"Quickly dispatch someone to retrieve Lin Long."

At this moment, Vice Minister Cao Yanhua, who was shivering in the corner and not daring to join in the conflict between ghost manipulators, urgently suggested.

Yang Jian replied, "No need. When I said ten thousand meters, I didn't mean on the surface, but rather..."

After saying this, he looked down at the ground.

Underground?

The crowd was taken aback momentarily, only to nearly burst out of their skin the next second.

Sent to a depth of ten thousand meters underground, how could that be done?

Cao Yanhua also froze in place.

If the person were ten kilometers away, they could still be retrieved, but how could one search underground?

With an excavator? Please, that was utterly impractical. Although humanity's technological level could achieve it, who would go to such lengths?

"If you can rescue him from down there, I'll consider today's incident as it never happened. I won't hold it against you, as you all saw, he started it, and I was just defending myself. Even if we go to court, I have a strong case." Yang Jian said.

"He's a tough one."

A smirk tugged at the corner of the Necromancer Cao Yang's mouth.

Something about ten thousand meters underground was clearly a display of power, confident that no one here but he could save Lin Long.

"Li Jun, can you do it?"

Although Zhao Jianguo's face was unpleasant, he couldn't blame Yang Jian for being wrong but instead turned to look at Li Jun.

"I can't reach ten thousand meters, at most eight thousand," Li Jun said candidly.

Yang Jian smiled without saying a word. He had previously assessed Li Jun's limit in the Ghost Domain. His own single layer of Ghost Domain could not withstand Li Jun, but two layers could crush him. And he had used two layers to send something to the extreme distance he could reach. Li Jun couldn't possibly do it, or he wouldn't have been forced to retreat just now.

Zhao Jianguo became even more at a loss upon hearing this.

The distance of two thousand meters, how could they possibly retrieve someone?

"Yang Jian, won't you reconsider and let the person go as a favor to me?" Zhao Jianguo had to continue negotiating with Yang Jian, hoping to resolve the issue through discussion.

Yang Jian said, "Of course, I'm not unreasonable. How about this, for one Ghost Candle, I'll release him. That's a fair price, right?"

He agreed so readily.

Why does this move feel so familiar?

Zhao Jianguo thought for a moment and realized that Yang Jian had used a similar method to sell the first international Necromancer of Dachang City, Feng Quan, outside Huanggang Village before, for several hundred million.

This guy must be addicted to selling out his teammates.

"I don't have the authority over that item; it requires an application, and without a sufficient reason, it won't be approved. How about we change the terms? I can increase your gold quota, the normal quota for a Necromancer is one hundred kilograms, I'll increase yours to five hundred kilograms," Zhao Jianguo said.

Talking about increasing the gold quota was essentially buying a person's freedom with money.

The additional four hundred kilograms of gold was the price for the person's release, and this was not a one-time deal but a long-term one.

Yang Jian said, "That does sound quite good, but it's still lacking something."

After the construction of the safe house, he didn't have a significant demand for gold, and with a forty percent share in the Guanjiang Residential Complex, he could afford not to worry about money for a while.

"Professor Wang, could you think of something?" Having no other options, Zhao Jianguo turned to Wang Xiaoming for help.

Now that Yang Jian had established his authority and taught someone a lesson, only the final act was left.

He believed that as long as they gave the right price, Yang Jian would choose to release the person. But if they missed this opportunity and couldn't produce the chips, then Lin Long would truly be done for.

Wang Xiaoming thought for a moment and said, "I've already made too many promises during the Hungry Ghost incident, and I don't have anything valuable at hand right now. As for the Ghost Candle, I've promised to give one away before. If I have to use another one to ransom someone, it would have to be on credit, would you agree to that, Yang Jian?"

On credit?

He actually had the audacity to say that.

"I have no idea when you'll make good on that credit; maybe you'll wait until I'm dead and use the Ghost Candle to decorate my grave," Yang Jian said.

"Two months," Wang Xiaoming said.

Yang Jian replied, "In that case, let Lin Long hop around outside for two months."

His implication was clear: if Wang Xiaoming defaulted after two months, Lin Long would still need to be buried.

"However, I don't want to see that guy ever again. Make sure he stays far away from Dachang City in the future. If he dares to step one foot in, or if I happen to see him, I'll deal with him before any supernatural incident."

"Zhao Jianguo, you vouch for him."

There was no discussion, only a forceful arrangement.

"Fine," Zhao Jianguo agreed, his face grim.

If something happened to Lin Long in the future, he, the guarantor, would also have to deal with Yang Jian's retribution.

Yang Jian then said, "But I'm curious, is Lin Long's worth that high? Is he worth your protection? I wonder if the headquarters would rescue me the same way if I were in trouble."

"No, you're mistaken; I'm not trying to protect Lin Long."

Wang Xiaoming said, "His worth isn't equivalent to a Ghost Candle. The only reason I agreed to this condition is because the trade partner is you. With your abilities, adding a Ghost Candle, you should be able to solve most Class-A and below supernatural events on your own. Even if you don't trade, future requests for Ghost Candle allocations would still be approved."

"The value of Ghost Candle is immense, but it also depends on whose hands it's in. It's a waste to use it just for self-preservation. Ghost Candle only realizes its true value when dealing with supernatural incidents."

"And as for your question, if something happens to you later, as long as you're not dead, the headquarters will dispatch everyone to rescue you, even if it means sacrificing some people, it's worth it."

Hearing this from Wang Xiaoming, everyone else looked at Yang Jian with surprise and suspicion.

Was his value already this high? In case of danger, they would sacrifice others to save Yang Jian, and he was also qualified to apply for Ghost Candle allocations, with his gold quota easily increased, all in front of a deputy minister.

Moreover, while handling the situation with Lin Long, Li Jun only dared to rescue people and avoid direct confrontation with Yang Jian, in order not to escalate the situation.

All signs indicated that regardless of how Yang Jian's action reports might exaggerate, his status at headquarters was likely second only to Wang Xiaoming.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!