Chapter 391 - 172: "He... Why Didn’t He Run?

Chapter 391: Chapter 172: "He... Why Didn’t He Run?

Especially...

This wasn’t about repairing a defense line; it was about building a brand new one. Even with so many Ghost Stones, where would one find that many Architects?

Building a defense line required a significant number of Architects.

It was also incredibly time-consuming.

A project so demanding of time, effort, and resources was simply not something a single faction could accomplish. But... the Jiangbei Mortal Realm had done it.

The 170-kilometer-long Jiangbei Defense Line stood guard over the Jiangbei Coastline.

In the months before the rainy season, many people took the High-speed Rail to Jiangbei every day just to witness the breathtaking scale of the Jiangbei Defense Line for themselves.

Beyond the shock, there was a pang of pity. It was like building a massive, immovable Sea Ship on land. No matter how magnificent the ship was, it was useless if it couldn’t be activated.

After a long while, the Saint Master finally heaved a long sigh. He slowly closed his eyes, his voice low and weary. "Before last year’s rainy season, the No. 7 Defense Line asked us for aid. Many factions ignored them, but I gritted my teeth and gave them five million Ghost Stones.

"I did it because I didn’t want to see the No. 7 Defense Line fall.

"I thought I had been quite bold.

"But...

"I truly never imagined that a faction, upon losing a regional Node, would just go and build an entire defense line themselves. This is completely beyond my comprehension."

"Could it be..." the Grand Elder hesitated. "Could it be aid from the Eternal Night Hall? Otherwise, the numbers don’t add up, right? To build a 170-kilometer-long defense line, entirely with Level 5 City Walls, would require at least two billion Ghost Stones, wouldn’t it?

"Where would the Mortal Realm get that many Ghost Stones?

"The High-speed Rail?

"Even if they ran the High-speed Rail to death, they couldn’t earn that many. The fare is only one Ghost Stone per ticket. How much could they possibly make?"

"Impossible."

The Saint Master shook his head firmly. "The Jiangbei Defense Line has an exclusive and extremely distinct feature of the Mortal Realm’s architecture: it is made entirely of Ghost Blood Patterns. Do you have any idea how terrifying that is?

"The Eternal Night Hall would never build a defense line made entirely of Ghost Blood Patterns.

"With those kinds of resources...

"They could build several fucking defense lines!

"Even the No. 7 Defense Line isn’t made entirely of Ghost Blood Patterns.

"This could only have been built by the Mortal Realm itself. As for where the Ghost Stones came from... that, I don’t know. But I suspect they might have discovered a Ghost Ore deposit left behind in an Ancient Battlefield in Jiangbei."

"Impressive."

The Saint Master suddenly shook his head with a wry smile. "If I had been the one to find that Ghost Ore deposit, I probably would have just taken it and run. I definitely wouldn’t have built some defense line.

"After all, a defense line isn’t something you just build and forget. Activating it and maintaining it in the future will consume a massive amount of Ghost Stones.

"That’s a responsibility no single faction should have to bear.

"It’s too heavy. It’s unbearable.

"Besides...

"A while ago, many people saw the Mortal Realm extending the High-speed Rail tracks deep into the Guandong Plain. There were no registered stations, and people from the Guanxi Plain were not allowed to take the train into the Guandong Plain.

"Over the past few months, almost no merchant guilds from the Guandong Plain have come to the Guanxi Plain. This implies that the No. 7 Defense Line in the Guandong Plain may have been breached during the last rainy season, leading to many deaths there.

"Even if the No. 7 Defense Line ultimately held, it must have suffered catastrophic losses.

"The Mortal Realm built that High-speed Rail line deep into the Guandong Plain to support the No. 7 Defense Line. Didn’t many people see an extremely long train carrying a large number of statues deep into the Guandong Plain last time?

"Those must have been the structures the Mortal Realm sent to support the No. 7 Defense Line.

"Don’t you feel like a failure?

"The Mortal Realm is the strongest faction in Jiangbei.

"And our Slaughter Immortal Holy Land is one of the strongest factions in the Guanxi Plain.

"The Mortal Realm is already thinking about the entire world, while we’re still worried about whether we can survive this year’s rainy season and earn a few more Ghost Stones after the next one ends."

"No."

The Grand Elder shook his head firmly. "The greater the responsibility, the greater the ability. The fact that we could support the No. 7 Defense Line with five million Ghost Stones is already quite impressive.

"We’re useless. This is the limit of what we can do."

"...Um, the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land is *one of* the strongest factions in the Guanxi Plain."

"Doesn’t that still include the words ’one of’?"

"..."

The Saint Master’s expression grew strange. The word "useless" was a bit jarring, but for some reason, once he accepted it, the tight feeling in his chest seemed to gradually fade.

He had always placed himself on the same level as Chen Fan. They were the hegemons of Jiangbei and Guanxi, respectively.

But now Chen Fan was looking at the whole world, while he was still cowering in Guanxi, which caused him great pain.

Yet, once he admitted he was useless, the pain seemed to disappear.

"I guess so... What you’re saying seems to make some sense..."

"But you got that saying wrong just now. Isn’t it ’with great power comes great responsibility’?"

"Saint Master, let me ask you: when the Undersea Ghost Tide makes landfall in two years, are you going to support the Jiangbei Defense Line?"

"Isn’t that a given?!"

"Exactly. The Mortal Realm has taken on the responsibility of guarding Jiangbei, so it will receive support from all over. Isn’t that ’the greater the responsibility, the greater the ability’?"

"What kind of twisted logic is that? When the No. 7 Defense Line asked for help, hardly any factions responded."

"..."

The Grand Elder said hauntingly, "That’s because the No. 7 Defense Line can’t move out. The Jiangbei Defense Line, on the other hand, is not only mobile, but the Mortal Realm also has a hundred fully-equipped Flying Ships. If the Mortal Realm asks for aid, I’d have to respect any faction that dares not to respond.

"It’s also obvious that the Mortal Realm hasn’t established contact with the Eternal Night Hall yet.

"When the Eternal Night Hall finds out that a faction has built its own defense line, what do you think they’ll do? You think they won’t support them?

"The Jiangbei Mortal Realm took on the responsibility of guarding Jiangbei, and resources from all sides will flock to them like snowflakes. They’ll just keep getting stronger. That’s ’the greater the responsibility, the greater the ability’."

"Wait, let me process this. This is the first time I’ve heard this theory. It sounds like twisted logic, but it also seems to make some sense."

The Saint Master of the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land frowned, deep in thought.

"Are you saying that if we took on the responsibility of guarding Jiangbei, we would also become stronger?"

"No, we would die."