Chapter 367 - 168: Guanxi Plain, the Jiangbei Mortal Realm Has Arrived.

Chapter 367: Chapter 168: Guanxi Plain, the Jiangbei Mortal Realm Has Arrived.

"Ah..."

Wang Mazi stood there, even more baffled. ’Who the hell could tell that waving a paw meant to keep it a secret?’ Not only had he not understood, but even if he had, there was no way he could’ve kept it quiet after seeing the search party back at the base.

"Let’s go!"

Chen Fan patted Hey Hey on the head, a little peeved. "Come on, we’re going back to Jiangbei to build high-speed rails. Honestly..."

Suddenly, he felt the heavy sensation of something being dropped into his palm.

He looked down to see Hey Hey timidly spitting a piece of Earth Gold into his hand. His voice trailed off. After a brief pause, he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Forget it."

"No matter what, this really is the first birthday present I’ve ever received."

"Thank you, Hey Hey."

Hey Hey grew excited, its tail starting to beat against the Flying Ship Deck from side to side, just like it always did.

After finding Hey Hey, Chen Fan’s mood improved considerably. Still, he very seriously told Hey Hey that in the future, no matter what it did, it must not leave its Identity Token behind, and it was not to act on its own.

...

Three days later, the group returned to New Continent Base One.

"..."

Wang Mazi watched the retreating figures of the Domain Lord and Hey Hey as they walked into the Mortal Realm High-speed Rail station. He sighed emotionally. "It’s a long way from here to the Deep Pit. Hey Hey really put its heart into it."

But just then—he slapped his forehead as he suddenly remembered something. Annoyed, he said, "I almost forgot! I came to report my findings from exploring the New Continent. With this whole delay, I completely forgot to mention it."

"What is it?"

Lame Monkey looked at Wang Mazi. "Is it important? If not, I’ll pass it on to the Lord. If it is, you should take the high-speed rail right now, follow him back to the Mortal Realm, and report it in person."

"It’s not that important."

Wang Mazi scratched the back of his head. "It’s just that I discovered that because the New Continent’s Celestial Dao has died, the continent is gradually breaking apart. It probably won’t be long before it completely disintegrates."

"..."

Lame Monkey stared at Wang Mazi with a deadpan expression. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pulled a red Sound Transmission Talisman from his robes. This was the highest grade of Sound Transmission Talisman in the Mortal Realm; activating it meant the situation was extremely urgent!

"No, no, no..."

Wang Mazi hurriedly pushed Lame Monkey’s hand down. "Don’t be so hasty! When I said ’it won’t be long,’ I was speaking relative to the continent’s lifespan. The cracks haven’t even reached us yet. I’d estimate we have at least another seventy or eighty years."

"By then, we’ll have long since finished mining all the Ghost Stones here."

"Just calm down."

"You’re the one who made it sound so terrifying."

"Was it scary?"

"What do you think?"

"I guess it was a little, huh."

...

Chen Fan sat inside a car of the Mortal Realm High-speed Rail, speeding forward through an Undersea Tunnel. From time to time, he could hear the WHOOSH of another train passing in the opposite direction.

He turned and smiled, seeing Hey Hey with its paws propped on the rear of the train car. Then he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.

It would take about another four hours to get back to the Mortal Realm.

They wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon.

Once he returned, he could officially begin laying the tracks for the high-speed rail and setting up signal towers on the Guanxi Plain. He had already received the message from Lame Monkey.

Wang Mazi had scouted that the New Continent was predicted to completely crumble in seventy to eighty years.

Unless a new Celestial Dao was supplied during that time, which might prevent the New Continent from crumbling.

He laughed.

’A Celestial Dao isn’t some Barbie doll you can just replace whenever you want. Where am I supposed to find a new Celestial Dao?’

However... he looked pensively at the Eternal Night Lord Panel deep within his soul.

-

「Ruling the World」: Your Ghost Fire will draw energy from the darkness, requiring no Ghost Stones for daily maintenance. When you have lit a Ghost Fire in every region of a continent, you will receive the special reward: Ruling the World.

-

This was the Max Level Effect for Ghost Fire.

And the condition for it, which had never been triggered.

It was clearly written: "in every region of a continent." That didn’t just count the Eternal Night Continent; the New Continent also qualified. Because of this, he had actually considered blanketing the New Continent with Ghost Fire to claim this reward.

The Eternal Night Continent was impossible. There were too many factions and too many Ghost Tides. He would just finish setting up Ghost Fires in the West before the ones in the East were all but destroyed.

But the New Continent was a different story.

No one would interfere.

Upgrading Ghost Fire to Level 7 and above required Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. Level 6 Ghost Fire did not. Its range wasn’t very large, but its advantage was that it didn’t consume too many Heavenly and Earthly Treasures.

So—

he had actually considered waiting until Wang Mazi had more or less finished exploring the New Continent, then blanketing it with Level 6 Ghost Fires to claim the "Ruling the World" reward.

Of course, even if he were to do this, it would have to be after the Undersea Ghost Tide made landfall. This undertaking would consume a massive amount of resources, and he couldn’t possibly risk squandering so many Ghost Stones on a gamble right before a major battle.

If it were a desperate gamble, he might have taken it.

But now, the advantage was clearly his. As long as he continued to develop and accumulate resources, he was guaranteed to win when the Undersea Ghost Tide arrived in two and a half years. There was no need to take such a risk.

Still, he was curious about what the "Ruling the World" reward was. Once he had some free time, he would carefully calculate how many Ghost Stones it would require, and then go claim that reward on the New Continent.

"Receive the special reward: Ruling the World."

He muttered the phrase to himself. ’Just from the name alone, the reward has to be extraordinary. If it turns out to be garbage, I’ll definitely lose my shit.’

...

「After returning to the Mortal Realm.」

Chen Fan had just stepped into Nameless Mountain when Wang Kui strode up to him and said hesitantly, "Domain Lord, the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land just sent another letter of apology."

"What’s wrong?"

He glanced at Wang Kui and said casually, "Didn’t I tell you that you can just put their letters away after you’ve read them? They’re full of nonsense apologies. What’s there to see?"

"This time it’s not an apology..."

"The Slaughter Immortal Holy Land says they discovered that someone, at some unknown time, stole all the treasures from the ruins of Hentian City. They claim those were spoils of war belonging to the Mortal Realm, and that some audacious villain had the nerve to covet them."

"They have already begun to gather all their forces and have even brought out their Sect’s Exotic Beast. They are determined to follow every single clue to find out who stole the treasures from Hentian City."

"And they plan to personally escort the thief to the Mortal Realm."

"..."

Chen Fan took the letter of apology from Wang Kui with a blank expression, scanned it quickly, and then spoke.

"Reply to the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land. Tell them the Mortal Realm accepts their apology. We’ll let bygones be bygones. Have them cease the investigation immediately."

"Unclaimed items belong to whoever is fated to find them. There’s no need to find out who took them."

"Cease immediately."

"Just say that I am not pleased with this matter."

He hadn’t wanted to deal with the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land. After all, as long as he didn’t accept their apology, they would keep sending gifts. He was actually quite curious to see just how many gifts the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land was willing to send.

But now he had no choice but to accept.

’If they keep investigating, they might actually trace it back to me.’

’That would be a little awkward.’

...

ps: A 10,000-word bonus Chapter to celebrate Boss Kong Ling becoming a patron.