Chapter 448 - 182: Mortal Realm Guards Jiangbei, Emerald Rain Descends, Celestial Dao Blessing

Chapter 448: Chapter 182: Mortal Realm Guards Jiangbei, Emerald Rain Descends, Celestial Dao Blessing

Mortal Realm, Nameless Mountain.

Outside the cave, the rain drizzled on, and the rainy season had yet to end. There hadn’t been much change at the Jiangbei Defense Line these past few days. The Ghost Tide that landed from the sea was held firmly at the coastline, unable to advance a single step further.

Chen Fan lay on the bed inside his cave dwelling.

The Mortal Realm had grown to a considerable size, yet this dwelling remained just as it was at the very beginning. Even the bed hadn’t changed much.

"..."

Night gradually fell.

Lying on his side, Chen Fan gazed at the calendar hanging on the wall. He gradually drifted off to sleep in a daze.

Sleep was a blissful thing, especially when one could rest soundly.

All this time, what he wanted had been very simple.

He didn’t seek to dominate the world and make everyone fear him. All he wanted was a safe enough sanctuary, plenty of food and water, and to sleep a little more soundly each night.

That was all he needed.

The only reason he was stockpiling so many Ghost Stones was because, to achieve these simple things, one needed fists that were hard enough.

...

Chen Fan slept very soundly this time.

It was as if he had slept straight through to the end of the rainy season.

When dawn broke, the long-absent sunlight burst forth from the sky. The dark clouds scattered, and the endless drizzle finally ceased.

The rainy season... was over.

"..."

Chen Fan stood on the still-damp Jiangbei Defense Line, gazing out at the distant, azure sea. He stretched with a contented yawn. The rainy season was over. He had taken it easy for the last ten days of it.

He didn’t think about much.

He simply enjoyed a period of leisure that was all his own.

Once the rainy season was over, it would be time to get busy again.

A person couldn’t stay busy all the time; one had to make time to relax.

The Jiangbei Defense Line was bustling with people, and the smoky aroma of cooking food hung in the air. This would be the last meal these people would eat here. Now that the rainy season had ended, the forces that came to offer support had to go back.

After the rainy season, Ghost Tides would still emerge from the sea, but they would be fewer in number and less frequent.

There was no news from the Eternal Night Hall either.

That meant the Eternal Night Frontline had held strong through another rainy season, which meant another year of stable development.

’This Eternal Night Hall...’

He muttered to himself.

’Every year, the Eternal Night Hall claims they’re on the verge of collapse, as if they’re about to be breached and the Eternal Night Continent is about to be destroyed. And yet, every year, they manage to hold on.’

’He could sort of understand now why the Ghost Race was in such a hurry, even though they clearly had the advantage.’

’It was like a video game. You have a massive advantage, you’ve broken all three lanes, and victory is right in front of you, but you just can’t make that final push. Your opponent’s resilience is just ridiculous. The longer the fight goes on, the more anxious you get.’

’The bigger the advantage, the greater the anxiety.’

’After all...’

’...if you can’t push through with such a massive advantage, and that advantage starts to shrink even a little, wouldn’t that make it an even match? If it shrinks any further, they’ll launch a counterattack. How could you not be anxious?’

"We’re off."

"Domain Lord Chen, we’ll take our leave now."

"We’ll be back next year, Domain Lord Chen."

The leaders of the various forces, passing below the City Wall, spotted Chen Fan standing atop it and shouted their goodbyes, waving their hands.

"Alright."

Chen Fan smiled and waved back.

Nearby, Lame Monkey was in charge of sending these forces back to their respective territories on the High-speed Rail. He would also provide them a subsidy of Ghost Stones, as they had offered considerable manpower during the rainy season.

Meanwhile, Commerce Pavilion Master Wang Mazi led a group of Commerce Pavilion members on Flying Ships to clear out the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide on the Jiangbei-Guanxi Plains, which would reduce the pressure on the other forces during the rainy season.

The number of people on the Jiangbei Defense Line dwindled.

One by one, the various forces departed.

Many of these forces hailed from the Guanxi Plain and had a history of conflict with one another. However, after eating and living together on the Jiangbei Defense Line for a month, that friction had lessened considerably. While they might still snort coldly when they saw each other, at least they no longer came to blows.

...

「Nameless Mountain, Cave No. 1.」

Wang Kui was surrounded by members of the Celestial Granary Pavilion, all of them flipping through files from the various warehouses and clacking away on abacuses to tally the accounts. It was a tedious job.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Wang Kui wearily rubbed his dry eyes, looked up at the ceiling, and said with a sigh of resignation, "I started handling the books during one of the rainy seasons, back when it was just me and the Domain Lord."

"It was so much easier back then."

"We’d kill a Ghost Tide, see how many Ghost Stones we got, and then figure out what was left after construction. The biggest project was just phases one and two of the Meat Grinder. The math was done in no time."

"We only had one Warehouse back then."

"But look at it now."

"The Mortal Realm has dozens of Warehouses now. The incomes and expenditures are countless. We have income from the Jiangbei Defense Line, the New Continent, the High-speed Rail, and Mortal City. Then there are the expenditures for supporting the various defense lines, personnel costs, and the daily operating expenses for the Mortal Realm. All these scattered accounts... my head hurts just looking at them."

"I’m just supposed to be a warehouse keeper!"

"The Domain Lord said a long time ago he was going to set up a dedicated accounting department. What happened to that?"

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the Celestial Granary Pavilion members beside him leaned in with a sly grin. "Vice Domain Lord, it’s as they say: the more capable you are, the more work you do."

"Vice Domain Lord?"

Wang Kui paused, stunned for a moment. "Who taught you to call me that?"

"Everyone says it privately. Pavilion Master, you not only manage all of the Mortal Realm’s expenditures and strategic reserves, you’re also responsible for reporting to the Domain Lord directly. Your authority is much greater than the other Pavilion Masters’. Everyone says that out of the group of people who’ve been with the Domain Lord since the very first rainy season, you’re the one who’s done the best."