Cold, deathly silence, unable to move.

This is the feeling of everyone after sinking into the Ghost Lake.

It felt as if their bodies were bound by something, no longer their own, drifting along the lake like lifeless corpses.

Yet, bizarrely, their consciousness remained clear, and they could still see everything in the water.

But they could only watch helplessly, powerless to act.

The situation was worst for Li Jun.

He was entangled by the hair of a corpse around his feet, sinking rapidly, with the dye on his human skin dispersing, and the Ghost Flame inside unable to burn as before, seemingly about to extinguish under its influence.

Li Jun was left with nothing but a piece of lifeless skin as he slowly withered away.

Ah Hong wasn’t in a good situation either; she wasn’t a supernatural being, just a ghost tamer.

After the ghost she commanded was suppressed by the Ghost Lake, her life was on a countdown.

She was going to drown, suffocate…

Leuk San was sinking slowly; he was still conscious, with his paper body sustaining him. He could see everything around but was unable to move.

His body was incredibly heavy, unable even to lift a finger.

“If I continue sinking in the Ghost Lake, my paper body will disintegrate in the water like before, but I remember there’s a chance to float up after sinking into the water,” Leuk San hadn’t given up, still thinking of a way out.

“To escape, I must seize that chance to float up; perhaps the paper boat that floated up from the water earlier is an opportunity, an item Yang Jian brought from Ghost Street, suspected to be related to a paper crafting shop.”

His mind was clear.

He paid close attention to all the information around him, looking for a suitable opportunity.

Leuk San even glanced down at Yang Jian below him.

“What’s wrong with him? He hasn’t moved or spoken since the beginning, not even struggling when the boat was sinking. This is unlike him. Could it be that there’s a serious issue with him?”

“At this critical moment, has his luck run out too? If so, I can’t concern myself with him.”

Leuk San withdrew his gaze.

He excluded Yang Jian from his next actions.

The sinking continued.

They’d reached a deep part of the water, submerged with many corpses, scattered and incomplete, ordinary people who died in the Ghost Lake. There were many, as if passing through a sea of floating corpses, their bloated skin and hollow, white eyes made one’s scalp tingle.

The ghost tamers couldn’t stay here; they continued sinking.

But at that moment.

The skin on Leuk San began to peel and scatter… no, it wasn’t his skin; it was the paper adhered to him, layer by layer, indistinguishable from flesh for a moment. But under the water, it finally lost some supernatural support and fell away.

Yellow paper peeled off.

Another appearance of Leuk San gradually emerged, his body more genuine, devoid of that cheap paper texture.

It seemed this person hidden within the paper figure was the real Leuk San.

But no one dared to be sure.

“It’s now.” Leuk San felt his body regain movement at this moment.

He abruptly raised his head and frantically swam upwards.

“The opportunity is singular, and the surface position is crucial.” Leuk San fixated on a spot on the lake’s surface.

That spot.

A small paper boat drifted on the surface, gently swaying.

Perhaps it was a lifeline for the drowning.

Leuk San ascended quickly.

He wasn’t alive, needing no breath, so there was no worry of drowning, giving him ample time to act.

“This guy, he really has a way to escape here.”

This scene was witnessed by Yang Jian; he was immobilized but could see and hear.

As Leuk San fled, Yang Jian harbored no resentment.

At this moment of failure, leaving by one’s ability was understandable.

“But right now, the most dangerous is Ah Hong. As a ghost tamer, if she sinks too deep and the ghost in her gets fully suppressed, she’ll drown here. If she dies, Li Jun will be buried here afterward, triggering a chain reaction.”

“Right now, I can’t move. Rather than worrying about others, it’s better to care for myself first.”

Yang Jian kept trying to move his body.

But to no avail.

From the start, his body was ice-cold and numb, even the Ghost Shadow trapped inside, unable to struggle or move.

This was not due to falling into the Ghost Lake, but a condition from before.

The descent continued.

After passing the first layer of corpses, the lower water held more scattered bodies, not as many, some belonging to ghost tamers. Among them was a corpse of a previous Zhongzhou City’s manager.

Yet Yang Jian did not halt at this layer.

He kept sinking.

The deeper he went, the colder the water became, enveloped in darkness, impenetrable by light.

But Li Jun stayed nearby, his Ghost Flame still burning, albeit with an extinguishing feel, yet casting an eerie glow like a candle, illuminating the surroundings.

Li Jun was stuck here, unable to continue descending.

Yang Jian observed the surroundings.

Most here were no longer ghost tamers but true ghosts; Yang Jian saw many bizarre and intact corpses, unchanged from when they were first dead. Their bodies weren’t waterlogged, unyielding, simply in a sleeping state, with potential to awaken.

“The deeper one sinks, the more terrifying the supernatural power possessed. Li Jun staying at this depth indicates that in the Ghost Lake’s determination, he is no different from a real ghost.”

Yang Jian understood.

“Wait, that is…”

Suddenly.

He spotted a familiar corpse.

The familiarity stemmed from the clothes on the corpse.

That was a uniform of a person in charge, indicating the corpse was once a Ghost Tamer from headquarters.

As Yang Jian continued sinking, his perspective subtly altered.

He saw the identity of the ghost tamer in the uniform.

It was… Cao Yang.

Cao Yang’s body lay motionless, fate unknown, but in his slightly rigid hand, he still clutched a black-haired, eerie pair of scissors.

It was the Ghost Scissors, once in Fang Shiming’s possession from his circle of friends.

Clearly, Cao Yang used the Ghost Scissors in a past struggle against the Ghost Lake but was still drawn into it.

As Yang Jian gazed at Cao Yang’s body.

Cao Yang’s eyeballs eerily shifted, seemingly looking towards Yang Jian.

“This guy… is he still alive?”

Instantly, Yang Jian realized.

Cao Yang wasn’t dead; he was still alive, trapped in the Ghost Lake, unable to escape, much like himself now.

His consciousness was clear, but his body couldn’t act.

Nonetheless, Yang Jian’s descent continued.

This indicated the third layer of the Ghost Lake couldn’t fully trap him; thus, he needed to sink deeper.

But passing this layer, with Yang Jian’s continued descent, the icy and numb sensation slowly faded from his body…

This wasn’t an illusion; it was real.

Yang Jian’s fingers twitched slightly.

The scarlet Ghost Eye gradually opened a sliver.

Gradually.

He sank into the fourth layer.

Here lay the bottom of the Ghost Lake.

Yang Jian had reached the bottom.

It was pitch black, impossible to discern the surroundings.

But through the slight opening of his Ghost Eye, he glimpsed the lake bed.

Some rubble, some sediment, nothing extraordinary.

Yet his Ghost Eye locked onto something.

A black coffin.

The coffin was large, lying silently at the lake bottom, with its lid partially ajar, a few strands of eerie black hair drifting out, swaying in the water like aquatic plants.

Besides that, there was nothing else.

“Is that the source that created this Ghost Lake? A black coffin, similar to the coffin that once imprisoned the Ghost Envoy.” Yang Jian’s Ghost Eye fixated on that place.

The cold and numbness in his body faded a bit more.

Vaguely, he seemed to sense something within the coffin.