Chapter 395 - 173: "I am Chen Fan, from the Jiangbei Mortal Realm.

Chapter 395: Chapter 173: "I am Chen Fan, from the Jiangbei Mortal Realm.

After all was said and done.

Elder Qi walked up to the City Wall. He stood alone, gazing at the rows of Soul-Devouring Sculptures installed at the base of the wall and the altars arranged upon it. He let out a long breath, his eyes fixed on the depths of the Guandong Plain.

He didn’t know which faction or region that gentleman came from.

But...

...he was truly grateful for the man’s support.

Thanks to this batch of Soul-Devouring Sculptures, not a single section of the No. 7 Defense Line had fallen during this rainy season.

Most importantly...

...casualties had been drastically reduced. The Copper Pipes connected the Ghost Fire to the Sword Rain Towers, which meant that when the Ghost Tide arrived, fewer people had to risk their lives filling the towers with Ghost Stones on the City Wall. The death rate would naturally plummet.

The No. 7 Defense Line was home to hundreds of thousands of people.

But in truth...

...most were displaced refugees with nowhere else to go. They were taken in by the No. 7 Defense Line and spent their days scavenging Ghost Stones from the Ghost Corpses outside the walls.

...

He looked at the mountain of Ghost Corpses piled up in the Wilderness and murmured to himself, ’The rainy season is almost over. The High-speed Rail should be running again soon...’

He had stockpiled a massive number of Ghost Corpses.

As the weather grew colder, they wouldn’t rot. The rain wouldn’t cause the Ghost Corpses to bloat, either; the rain during the rainy season was different from ordinary rain.

’I hope he’ll like them.’

Besides that...

He glanced at the two Exotic Treasures in his pocket. One was a rough, heavy, stone-like object—the kind of thing no one would spare a second glance at if it were lying on the ground.

The other was a small, Banner-shaped item.

Both Exotic Treasures were unopened, so he didn’t know what their effects were. He hadn’t asked the No. 7 Defense Line’s Appraiser to open them.

Instead, he had kept them.

Last night, an incredibly powerful Great Ghost had assaulted the No. 7 Defense Line. Thanks to the altars, the destroyed section of the City Wall was quickly repaired, preventing the creature from breaking through.

They had then successfully killed it.

These two Exotic Treasures had dropped after the Great Ghost died.

He planned to give them to the gentleman as a small token of gratitude. He didn’t have them opened to see their effects because he was worried that if he knew what they did, he wouldn’t be able to part with them.

’It’s better not to look at all.’

Just then—

A searing heat suddenly emanated from his pocket.

Elder Qi’s expression shifted slightly. He pulled a small, hole-riddled stone from his pocket and cupped it in his palm. A voice, audible only to him, echoed in his mind.

"The No. 7 Defense Line didn’t fall during the rainy season. What were the circumstances?"

A hoarse male voice spoke.

Devoid of any emotion, the question was brutally direct.

...

Elder Qi hesitated, his gaze drifting to the Soul-Devouring Sculptures at the foot of the City Wall. This was a message from the Eternal Night Hall. He knew why they were asking—the Hall had been stretched too thin and had been unable to support the No. 7 Defense Line before the rainy season.

Although they hadn’t said so explicitly, they had essentially abandoned the No. 7 Defense Line.

Or rather...

...they had likely abandoned the entire region, including the Guandong Plain, the Guanxi Plain, the Four Areas Jiangbei, and even the parts of the Eternal Night Interior closest to them.

But now that the No. 7 Defense Line had survived the rainy season, the Eternal Night Hall would naturally deduce that something unexpected had occurred.

"Just before the rainy season began, the No. 7 Defense Line was fortunate enough to discover several high-yield Ghost Ore mines nearby. That’s how we managed to survive."

’I originally wanted to say that the Ghost Tides were smaller this rainy season.’

’But I was worried that would affect the Eternal Night Hall’s judgment of the overall situation.’

’Then I thought about saying we received aid from the factions in the Guanxi Plain, but it’s obvious that even if all of them gave everything they had, it wouldn’t be enough to hold a defense line.’

’That would expose the gentleman.’

After careful consideration, he settled on this explanation.

His lips moved slightly, making no sound, but his voice traveled through the Mother and Child Stone in his hand to the Eternal Night Hall member responsible for contacting him thousands of miles away.

"Understood."

The cold, emotionless voice quickly responded in his mind. "What is the yield of the Ghost Ore? Is it enough to build a 170-kilometer-long Jiangbei Defense Line in Jiangbei?"

"If it is, the Eternal Night Hall will dispatch a group of Architects as soon as possible."

"Not enough."

Elder Qi shook his head without the slightest hesitation.

’How large would a Ghost Ore deposit have to be to build an entire defense line?’

’It’s completely impossible.’

"Acknowledged."

The other party’s tone remained completely flat. It hadn’t wavered upon learning that the No. 7 Defense Line hadn’t fallen, nor when told of the Ghost Ore discovery.

"The aura left behind in Jiangbei will dissipate in two years."

"The Eternal Night Hall can no longer support Jiangbei."

"Order for the person in charge of the No. 7 Defense Line, Elder Qi: You are to take all core members of the No. 7 Defense Line, along with as many Ghost Stones, Exotic Treasures, and other resources as possible, and travel east to the Yellow Springs Entrance Canyon on the edge of the Eternal Night Continent after the end of this year’s rainy season."

"Abandon the No. 7 Defense Line."

"What!?"

Elder Qi’s face went deathly pale. He knew of the Yellow Springs Entrance Area. It was a region on the Eternal Night Continent near the Guanxi Plain. Its unique terrain nearly split the continent from the Guanxi Plain completely, which was why it was called the "Yellow Springs Entrance Canyon."

’This means...’

’...the Eternal Night Hall has completely given up on all territories west of the Yellow Springs Entrance Canyon.’

’That includes the Four Areas Jiangbei and the Two Areas of Guanxi.’

"Then what about the people in the territories west of the Yellow Springs Entrance Area?"

"They wait to die."

The voice remained as flat as ever, not even cold, but rather as if stating a perfectly ordinary, unremarkable fact.