Chapter 423 - 177: Ruling the World, the Ghost Tide Lands

Chapter 423: Chapter 177: Ruling the World, the Ghost Tide Lands

But speaking of factions...

Their Eternal Night Hall hadn’t sent any reinforcements. Did this mean a new power had risen in the Four Areas Jiangbei or the Two Areas of Guanxi, one capable of defending Jiangbei on its own?

"What else did he say?"

"Nothing else, but his tone didn’t sound desperate. It was like he was full of confidence."

"..."

After a long silence, the middle-aged man spoke in a low, hoarse voice, "Then let’s just wait and see if any Ghost Tide manages to break through to the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line after the rainy season begins."

...

Time ticked by.

At the base of the 170-kilometer-long Jiangbei Defense Line’s City Wall, three High-speed Rail tracks had been constructed. These tracks would handle rapid wartime logistical support and the collection of Ghost Corpses.

Each faction was assigned its own numbered section.

They would be responsible for the post-battle cleanup in the area outside their section of the City Wall.

The supervisors were the leaders of the various factions.

Along with some Mortal Realm Members.

All the excavated Ghost Stones would be reinvested into the Jiangbei Defense Line. After all, the landing of the Undersea Ghost Tide wasn’t a battle that would last a single night, or even a single rainy season.

The fighting would be constant.

As long as the defense line held, the battle would rage on.

It was possible it could last for three, five, or even ten years.

During this period, the turrets on the Jiangbei Defense Line would remain continuously active, consuming Ghost Stones as relentlessly as a flowing river. The Mortal Realm’s reserves alone wouldn’t last long.

The primary source of Ghost Stones would be those excavated during post-battle cleanup.

「As dusk approached.」

Rain drizzled down on the Jiangbei Defense Line. The Mortal Realm Members and the people from the various factions huddled somewhat nervously behind the City Wall, watching as the waves in the sea before them grew steadily larger.

Few of them had ever personally been to the No. 7 Defense Line.

And even fewer had ever witnessed a Ghost Tide making landfall.

This was a first for most.

It was natural to be nervous.

"..."

Chen Fan stood beside the Port, gazing at the hundreds of Celestial Pillars standing tall on the nearby Wilderness. ’If the intensity of this Undersea Ghost Tide doesn’t change,’ he thought, ’we probably won’t need to use these Celestial Pillars.’

It had been nearly two years since the Earth Gold Line was completed.

In those two years,

a large number of Celestial Pillars had finished charging.

Among them, 98 Max Level Celestial Pillars were fully charged. He still hadn’t had a chance to test the power of a Max Level Celestial Pillar.

’When I get the chance, I’ll have to use one to test its power.’

After another round of inspections, he, like everyone else, ascended the City Wall to gaze at the sea under the twilight sky and began to wait patiently.

...

「On the eve of the great battle.」

Zhou Mo led the members of the Mortal Battle Pavilion, addressing the assembled combat personnel sent as reinforcements by the various factions. With a serious expression, he instructed, "Our mission is simple: we are responsible for cleaning up any stragglers that manage to get onto the City Wall."

"The Jiangbei Defense Line has more than enough firepower."

"It’s virtually impossible for anything to slip through, but just to be safe, each person is responsible for one area. If you find you can’t hold your position, use a Sound Transmission Talisman to call for help immediately."

"Understood?"

"Understood."

The personnel below responded in unison.

The Jiangbei Defense Line was a full 170 kilometers long. Normally, real-time communication would be a problem over such a vast front, but with Signal Towers ensuring full coverage, instant communication was possible.

...

"Our mission is also simple!"

Mortal Realm, Xiyang City!

Countless large cooking woks had been set up. Qi Chong, the Hundred Valleys Pavilion Master, waved a spatula in his hand and roared at the members of the Hundred Valleys Pavilion below.

"Our job is to make sure everyone gets a hot meal!"

"We had you all take special advanced courses at the Yunling Pavilion for a while, so you should all be bursting with strength now! Get those spatulas swinging!"

"Our mission: serve food, and serve plenty!"

...

On the Jiangbei Defense Line, in a section at the very end.

This wasn’t a core area of the defense line; it was adjacent to a mountain range.

A disciple from the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land stationed here was understandably nervous. He clutched his Big Saber, his legs trembling as he peeked his head over the City Wall to look at the churning sea not far away.

There weren’t many people on their section of the wall.

Only seven or eight in total.

To be precise, apart from the core areas responsible for coordination, the manpower spread across the City Wall was sparse. It was too long, after all—a full 170 kilometers.

"Hey."

A Mortal Realm Member standing beside him couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. "That scared, huh?"

"Aren’t you scared?"

The member of the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land replied, his voice trembling.

"Nope." The Mortal Realm Member shrugged and patted the Godslaying Cannon next to him. "There’s one of these things every 20 meters. The firepower is more than enough."

"If you’d ever seen one of these fire with your own eyes, you wouldn’t be scared either."

"We basically won’t have to face the Ghost Objects ourselves. Almost nothing can get past this kind of firepower to reach the City Wall. What’s there to be afraid of?"

"We’re just responsible for cleaning up any stragglers that might make it onto the wall and reporting the battle situation here."

But the disciple from the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land was still afraid, his legs still shaking uncontrollably.

"If you’re so scared, why did you even come?"

The Mortal Realm Member couldn’t help but laugh.

"The Saint Master dragged me here."

The disciple’s voice was choked with sobs. "He wanted to display his righteousness, so he dragged me along with him."

"Tsk, you’re honest, I’ll give you that."

The Mortal Realm Member stood up and looked out at the sea from the Jiangbei Defense Line with a sigh. "Relax, it’ll be fine. As long as you listen to my commands and don’t run around recklessly, the Mortal Realm can save you from anything short of death."

"See that Copper Pipe behind you?"

"If you’re about to die, just grab it and chug. It’s an all-you-can-drink buffet during the war."

A Copper Pipe was laid on the ground along the City Wall. The people from the Logistics Pavilion had drilled numerous holes in it, and several altars had been set up along the middle section of the wall.

Once the battle started,

the altars would begin to operate continuously. A large amount of Holy Water from the altars would gush out of the Copper Pipe, splashing onto the City Wall and the guards stationed there.

It would rapidly heal their injuries.

Originally, the plan was to store the Holy Water in porcelain jars and distribute a few to each person. But then they considered that during the chaos of battle, someone seriously injured—say, with a severed hand or knocked unconscious—might not even have time to drink a potion.

So, in order to minimize casualties as much as possible,

they had arranged for this Copper Pipe.

It automatically sprayed Holy Water. Injured or not, you could just take a couple of gulps first and ask questions later.

After all, these altars didn’t consume many Ghost Stones.

The cost-effectiveness was extremely high.

For the current Mortal Realm, there was more than enough to go around. They could drink it for several hundred years without issue. Only the resources used to repair the City Wall and turrets would be a greater drain on the altars.

...

Finally—

As eternal night descended and infinite darkness swept in from the horizon, completely enveloping all of Jiangbei, Chen Fan faintly felt a cracking sound coming from Nameless Mountain.

The next moment!

The sound of the churning waves in front of the Jiangbei Defense Line vanished in an instant. It was as if the sound had been sucked out of the entire ocean; the water suddenly became utterly calm.

A calm they had never seen before.

Immediately after,

the reefs along the shore began to tremble slightly. It wasn’t an earthquake, but a rhythmic vibration conducted upward from the deep sea, as if countless slumbering Ghost Objects were awakening on the seabed and beginning to stir.

The surface of the sea remained as black as ink.

But soon, large patches of a viscous, dark-green liquid began to bubble to the surface.

The first Ghost Object broke through the water.

Standing on the Jiangbei Defense Line, Chen Fan narrowed his eyes. He saw it: a Ghost Object resembling an octopus, with no legs, only countless writhing tentacles at its base.

But...

this was merely the prelude, like the prologue to a story.

The true terror followed close behind.

At that moment, the entire sea level suddenly rose. An incredibly terrifying wave swelled up and crashed violently against the Jiangbei Defense Line.

As countless splashes erupted,

innumerable Ghost Objects rode the waves like a black tide, covering the entire Jiangbei coastline in the blink of an eye in an unstoppable onslaught.

"The Ghost Tide is here!!"

Countless roars echoed along the Jiangbei Defense Line.

The Ghost Tide, suppressed at the Jiangbei Sea Bottom for hundreds of years, began to awaken and make landfall the moment that being’s aura dissipated.

But what greeted them was not a delicious, unguarded Jiangbei.

The Mortal Realm was here.

And it had been waiting for a long time.

...

ps: Thank you to patrons "Lost Forest River" and "Book Friend Fat Bear" for your Alliance Leader support. The bonus Chapters for both Alliance Leaders will be released gradually this month. This extra-long Chapter is to fulfill half of the bonus update for "Lost Forest River"; the rest will be posted in the coming days.

ps: Thank you to all the patrons for your donations, monthly tickets, and subscription support. The Chapters for today and the next few days require more thought, so my writing is a bit slow. I really can’t finish it all in one day... I will catch up as soon as possible.