Kuang Feifan also realized the critical nature of the situation. Feng Tian had initially believed that drawing out one or two spirits would be relatively normal and safe; the variable had emerged from the knife-wielding figure, or perhaps, from the knife itself.

The current predicament was that even if Kuang Feifan reached the gap in the red string on the balcony, he would lose the rope's protection. While the doll placed at the gap could attract a spirit to possess it, it might not be more attractive to them than Kuang Feifan himself.

This would be his most dangerous moment. Facing the evil spirit wielding the knife then—could he handle it? Suddenly, Feng Tian felt utterly uncertain.

He slowly retreated, moving toward the balcony, the branch in his hand pointing directly at the knife-wielding figure, his eyes darting towards Kuang Feifan intermittently.

Kuang Feifan cautiously approached the section of the red string on the balcony, step by careful step. He knew that once he reached that spot, he would have to step over the four earth dolls arranged in a diamond pattern.

Just as he neared the gap, Kuang Feifan hesitated, looking towards Feng Tian.

In their previous arrangement, Feng Tian had said that he should first cross to the balcony via the gap, and only then should Kuang Feifan follow. Now, the reality was that Kuang Feifan was closer to the gap than Feng Tian was.

Kuang Feifan stopped, his gaze locked onto Feng Tian. Seeing Feng Tian look back, he used his eyes to signal for Feng Tian to cross quickly.

Feng Tian frowned. As Kuang Feifan halted his advance, the three evil spirits closed the distance to him by another step. He gently shook his head, but to his surprise, Kuang Feifan shot him a fierce glare.

Taking a deep breath, Feng Tian gritted his teeth, rapidly stepped back a few paces, and crossed the gap ahead of Kuang Feifan, positioning himself beside the balcony railing outside the red string perimeter.

At that moment, the three evil spirits had surrounded Kuang Feifan, forming a triangle with themselves in three different directions. The headless female corpse began relentlessly waving the hand that wasn't holding her head, her five fingers clawing through the air towards Kuang Feifan. If not for the restriction preventing her from getting too close to the red string, Kuang Feifan would surely have been struck.

It wasn't just the female ghost; the decaying corpse also spread its arms in a posture ready to lunge at Kuang Feifan. Only the knife-wielding figure did not rush forward immediately, yet the small knife flashing with cold light was constantly aimed at him, seemingly ready to stab at any moment.

“Try not to step off the red string onto the balcony, as it can easily disrupt the rope's ability to block spirits.”

Kuang Feifan remembered Feng Tian’s words. He glanced back at the red string behind his feet, sighed inwardly, but still sidestepped a few quick paces to the gap. Turning, he raised a leg and stepped over the four earth dolls. The moment his foot touched the balcony floor just past the dolls, he felt something amiss behind him.

The balcony area wasn't inherently small, but because the red string had been laid out, the space available for him and Feng Tian to move was extremely limited. Now, the knife-wielding figure behind him struck first, stabbing towards his back.

It was too late to dodge sideways; Kuang Feifan’s expression instantly soured. He twisted his body and raised a hand to block.

Clearly, attempting to perform an Empty Hand vs. White Weapon maneuver against a ghost was not very feasible. At least, Kuang Feifan discovered that he could not grip the ghost's wrist.

Almost simultaneously, Feng Tian, standing nearby, flung the loop formed by the red string towards the knife-wielding figure, while tossing the branch held in his other hand towards Kuang Feifan.

“Catch this, and whip it...”

A branch against a knife?

Kuang Feifan didn't have time to think. He reached out and caught the branch. Just then, he felt the tip of the blade about to pierce the arm he held up to guard himself. Instinctively, he swung the hand holding the branch. The thick branch let out a whistling sound—wū—as it snapped towards the wrist holding the knife.

Unexpectedly, the branch, which seemed so thin it might break with a touch, actually struck the knife-wielding wrist. Although there was no audible thwack sound of impact on flesh, nor did the knife fall to the ground because the wrist was hit, the blow still managed to slightly deflect the trajectory of the stabbing motion.

However, it was still a fraction of a second too late. The knife tip had already grazed the skin of Kuang Feifan's arm. Because of his deflection, the knife skewed, still slicing a gash across his arm.

A wave of sharp pain caused Kuang Feifan to gasp. He felt an icy coldness, beyond mere pain, seeping into his body from the wound, an intense chill that felt as if it were penetrating to the bone marrow.

But this sensation was fleeting. Soon, a warm current flowed from the prayer beads wrapped around his wrist, instantly neutralizing the internal coldness completely.

Just as Kuang Feifan managed to deflect the stabbing attack, the snare Feng Tian had thrown also landed perfectly around the neck of the knife-wielding figure.

Feng Tian’s face brightened momentarily, but the joy vanished just as quickly. After being snared, the figure visibly paused, its movements seemingly slowing down instantly. But before Feng Tian could prepare his next move, the figure whipped its hand back, and with a flash of steel, the red string was severed mid-span.

This startled Feng Tian. Although spirits that died tragically carried immense resentment, this one, which could apparently manifest its resentment into a seemingly solid knife, had surprised him when he first saw it. Now seeing the knife cut through the red string, he immediately realized that conventional methods probably wouldn't suffice against it.

Yet, the red string looped around the figure’s neck seemed to have exerted some effect, acting like a restrictive band. Even Kuang Feifan could see that the knife-wielding figure’s movements were growing progressively slower, and its posture was becoming unsteady, as if it could no longer support its own weight.

Since the gap in the red string was limited to about the width of one person, which was the size Feng Tian had arranged for, as the knife-wielding figure slowed down, the headless female corpse behind it began to push forward.

Kuang Feifan had finished inspecting the wound on his arm. Fortunately, the cut wasn't too deep. After the coldness receded, although blood was still flowing, the injury was not severe.

Seeing the headless female corpse push to the front, Feng Tian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle, opening the cap with his thumb—it was actually an atomizer.

He turned to Kuang Feifan and said, “Use the peach branch in your hand to block them.”

Only then did Kuang Feifan realize that the branch in his hand was actually peach wood. Seeing several loops of thin red thread tied to one end, he guessed it was another of the magical implements from Feng Tian’s supply pack.

However, the peach branch didn't look thick, and he genuinely feared it would snap if he swung it too hard. He could only carefully raise the branch and whip it towards the lunging hands of the headless female corpse.

Almost in sync with him, Feng Tian raised the atomizer in his hand and pressed the button.

The contents of the bottle sprayed out in a mist.

While swatting away the ghostly hands reaching for him with the peach branch, Kuang Feifan pondered: could the contents of the bottle be Holy Water?

In fact, the fine spray ejected from the bottle was similar to Holy Water; it was pure water steeped with willow branches, also known as Guanyin Water, mixed with ingredients like incense ash containing the powers of Yin, Yang, Five Elements, and other objects. This water, when sprayed onto evil spirits, could injure them intangibly.

Mist-like water droplets shot out from the nozzle, spraying directly at the headless female corpse. At the same time, the peach branch in Kuang Feifan's hand batted away the ghost hand reaching for him.

When the tiny water droplets landed on the female ghost, a piercing shriek that seemed to drill into the eardrums immediately erupted. Simultaneously, all the bronze bells hanging in the room swung without wind, and their originally crisp chimes sounded exceptionally grating at that moment.

Kuang Feifan involuntarily shrank back, strongly tempted to raise a hand to cover his ears. He saw an expression of extreme agony etched on the face of the severed head the female ghost was carrying.

Expecting the female ghost to vanish into thin air after Feng Tian’s action, the scene that unfolded was even stranger. The female ghost began to writhe uncontrollably, and in the blink of an eye, she spun in the air like a top, her speed so great that the eye could no longer track her form.

Suddenly, like a puff of smoke, the female ghost was seen drilling into one of the earth dolls on the ground. The doll shook twice on the floor, then collapsed with a soft ba ji, trembling slightly.

Kuang Feifan stared in astonishment, his eyes wide. This was the first time he had witnessed such a sight. He looked at the doll, then back at Feng Tian.

Feng Tian stared solemnly behind the red string gap, and sprayed a second burst of misty droplets from the atomizer held high in his hand.

This time, the target was the decaying corpse.

Almost identically to the headless female corpse, the decaying corpse also unbelievably transformed into smoke and dove into another earth doll.

Kuang Feifan finally seemed to grasp Feng Tian’s intention: all his measures were aimed at forcing the ghosts to possess those dolls.

However, his gaze fell upon the ghost still frolicking not far from the red string gap. The red loop around its neck seemed to cause it pain. The hand holding the knife continued to swing wildly, while the other hand was attempting to pull at the red loop. But whenever it touched the rope, it would recoil as if scalded by fire. This appeared to cause it even greater agony, and the pain made the spirit look somewhat crazed.

Kuang Feifan stared at the nearly frenzied ghost. Its footsteps were moving extremely slowly and seemingly without purpose; sometimes it just spun in place. But the knife in its hand was not swinging slowly, which made it look quite dangerous.

“What about this one?” Kuang Feifan asked Feng Tian, unable to help himself.

PS: Merged into one.... Hehe...