Chapter 329 - 163: This Is Clearly a Long-Range Cruise Missile

Chapter 329: Chapter 163: This Is Clearly a Long-Range Cruise Missile

Its cross-section was square, and its surface was covered in raised patterns, like carved murals. The pillar itself wasn’t straight, either.

Instead, it seemed to twist and struggle as it reached for the sky.

He found it difficult to describe.

The progress bar had reached 100%.

A panel appeared before him.

The panel displayed an overhead schematic of the Jiangbei Wilderness, a wireframe map formed by countless white lines. He gazed at the semi-transparent map floating before him, pulsing with a slow, steady light.

He tentatively tapped a location in the Jiangbei Wilderness.

The next moment—

A line of crimson text suddenly materialized on the semi-transparent map.

"Coordinates selected. Launch?"

"L-launch?"

Chen Fan froze on the spot, utterly bewildered.

The description on the Celestial Pillar’s panel was perfectly clear.

It could store the Power of Thunder and Lightning and be used for defense.

He had assumed it would function like a Light Prism Tower, unleashing lightning attacks. But what did the word ’launch’ mean?

His gaze fell upon a line of fine print on the Celestial Pillar’s panel.

-

"Attack range can extend beyond the camp’s perimeter."

-

After a long moment, he took a deep breath.

He glanced again at the location he had selected. It was a patch of barren land in the Jiangbei Wilderness, a good ten-plus kilometers from the Mortal Realm’s Rainy Season Defense Line. There was absolutely no one there; nobody would venture out to a place like that during the rainy season.

’Wait.’

Chen Fan pulled the Ghost Map from his robes and scanned it carefully. He only relaxed after confirming that not a single Ghost Fire was burning in the Jiangbei Wilderness.

He was a little worried about hitting someone by mistake.

After all...

If someone had suddenly launched a few thunderbolts at him last rainy season while he was painstakingly building the City Wall at his old camp, he’d have been pretty bewildered too.

’How can you even launch lightning that far?’

’Is there enough power for that?’

He raised his finger and pressed the word "Launch" on the semi-transparent map.

Just then, the ground on the peak of Nameless Mountain began to vibrate. The tremors weren’t strong, but he could feel them clearly travel up from the soles of his feet. The Celestial Pillar, hundreds of meters tall, also began to vibrate at a high frequency.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

Chen Fan swallowed hard, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed the Maid beside him, dove into the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage, and sped away.

A few moments later.

As if building to a climax, the ground gave one final, violent shudder.

Immediately after.

He watched as the patterns carved into the massive, several-hundred-meter-tall Celestial Pillar began to illuminate. The light started at the base and shot upward, and in the blink of an eye, the entire pillar was aglow.

Amid the downpour, it was blindingly bright.

’It’s like someone raised one of those magical girl transformation wands.’

’He could almost hear someone screaming the word "Tiga!" in his ear.’

The next moment—

When the light from the patterns reached its peak intensity, the Celestial Pillar’s outer shell began to rapidly crack and peel away, the fragments crashing down onto the base of Nameless Mountain.

It revealed a much more slender, perfectly straight Cylinder floating in the air, roughly ten-plus meters tall.

At this moment.

This newly-hatched Cylinder was entirely translucent, and he could vaguely see innumerable bolts of lightning rampaging madly within it.

And at the Cylinder’s base...

...countless bolts of lightning began to erupt, providing thrust.

The Cylinder began to rise.

It accelerated, faster and faster, until it vanished into the clouds.

But soon, he saw the Cylinder again.

It was already over ten kilometers away, arcing at a steep angle before rocketing down toward the ground at incredible speed.

The rain obscured his vision, preventing him from making out the Cylinder’s details.

But he could see the violent storm of lightning erupting from its base.

Like a Long Spear hurled by the Thunder God, it carried world-ending power. With the unstoppable momentum of a suicide attack, it pierced the curtain of rain and slammed into the earth.

The first thing he saw was...

...blue.

An utterly pure, elemental blue, shot through with veins of ghastly white.

Countless bolts of lightning erupted within the downpour over ten kilometers away, surging toward the heavens.

Then came the sound.

A deafening peal of thunder, deeper and more resonant than any storm, as if all the thunder of the season had been saved for this single, explosive moment.

"..."

Chen Fan stepped out of the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage. He stared, somewhat dazed, at the storm of violent lightning still crackling in the distant rain, then at the wreckage of the Celestial Pillar scattered on the ground nearby.

He truly hadn’t expected it.

’So "launch" means launching the entire Celestial Pillar.’

’And here I was thinking it just launched the lightning.’

’So...’

’The huge Celestial Pillar was just a charging station. The actual payload was stored in that smaller, translucent Cylinder at the core.’

Just then.

The Sound Transmission Talisman in his robes grew warm. Wang Kui’s anxious, hurried voice came through.

"Domain Lord."

"South of the Rainy Season Defense Line! There was a massive explosion of lightning about ten kilometers out, incredible power, the sound was immense! I suspect it might be..."

"That was me."

Wang Kui’s voice cut off abruptly. When he spoke again, his tone had completely changed, now tinged with an "ah, that explains everything" sort of understanding.

"Oh, never mind then. I figured it was probably just one of your new tricks, Domain Lord."

...

Chen Fan boarded the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage and flew down from Nameless Mountain, heading straight for the area south of the Rainy Season Defense Line. The entire Mortal Realm had an Anti-Air restriction, but it didn’t apply to him.

A watchdog, after all, doesn’t bite the hand that feeds it.