The Ghost King Emerges

The Jiangbei Wasteland. The final night of the rainy season. Near the scarred ruins of Pingcheng, a Blood Sacrifice Grand Array pulsed slowly like breathing, waiting patiently in the dark for its master's arrival. Before long, a man cloaked in black, crimson triangles spinning wildly in his pupils, strode into the center of the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array step by step, flanked by a throng of ghost creatures, a manic gleam on his face. He placed the Mountain Skeleton Embryo in his hands onto the array platform. The array was set! The next instant— An intensely dense beam of scarlet light suddenly flared from the entire Blood Sacrifice Grand Array, piercing the clouds as if tearing through the dark. The pillar of light began to revolve relentlessly. The ghost materials, ghost stones, blood of Pingcheng's living souls, and departed spirits within the array dissolved rapidly, transforming into a thick crimson torrent that surged into the body of the man standing upon the platform. A few breaths later, everything gradually settled into stillness. The man on the platform was enshrouded in a dense crimson glow radiating a terrifying aura. The crimson triangles in his eyes slowly ceased their rotation as he savored the boundless power coursing through him. His pupils brimmed with the fury of learning of Qiu Kui's death and the exhilaration of breaking through to ghost king. The two emotions clashed and churned, lending an unhinged edge to his bearing. He whipped his head toward Nameless Mountain. "Avenge Qiu Kui," he rasped. "Reclaim the God-Slaying Spear!" "King!!" Guarding the array from outside, Qianxi and Qianqiu dropped to one knee to celebrate the birth of their king. *** Nameless Mountain. Within the mountain canyon at the northernmost edge of the Jiangbei Wasteland, a place rarely visited under normal circumstances. Chen Fan stood atop the wall, his gaze quietly sweeping over each structure in the camp one by one. Every single detail here had been designed and built with his own hands. He seldom spoke of his past life; there was nothing in it worth reminiscing over. In his previous life, one of his occupations had been that of a game designer. Before a game launched, it always had to undergo a final test. And now, he felt like a creator examining his own work, quietly awaiting the ultimate stress test. One month of the rainy season. It was also his first month in this world. This world had granted him ample time to develop; now, it was his turn to submit his answer sheet. Beneath his calm exterior, his thoughts turned ceaselessly. In his experience, no matter how thorough the preparation, unforeseen accidents would still arise at the critical moment. All he could do was prepare as much as possible to counter any contingency. "Copper pipes checked." Cold-white flames flowed from the Level 5 ghost fire in the camp, coursing through the copper pipes that connected each cannon tower. "Copper pipes intact." "Wall checked: wall intact." "Ghost stones checked: ghost stones intact." Just then— In the endless dark, he clearly saw a scarlet pillar of light pierce the sky in the distance. Even from so far away, the sight was unmistakable, and he could feel a terrifying menace radiating from that crimson beacon. "The Blood Sacrifice Grand Array succeeded." Standing on the wall, Chen Fan gazed calmly at the distant spectacle. He did not know what means the ghost king had used to secure another Mountain Skeleton Embryo, but he knew one thing with certainty: the array was finished. The ghost king... had successfully broken through. And right at that moment. Weiwei, who had been lying beside the farmland inside the cave snoring softly, suddenly jolted awake as if sensing something. Its body began to shudder violently out of control, eyes filled with terror, and it let out a low growl. Then, with virtually zero hesitation, it took a rapid running start. Leaping into the air, it squeezed through a gap between the wall and the mountain rock, vaulted out of the cave, and bolted toward the depths of the canyon, vanishing into the darkness in the blink of an eye. "..." Chen Fan's brow furrowed at the sight. This was the first time he had ever seen Weiwei so terrified, and the first time he realized the creature could jump so high—ordinarily, it seemed incapable of hopping at all. He had been about to shout that inside the camp was safer than outside, but before he could utter a word, the fellow had already vanished. "So be it," he muttered softly. The ghost king's primary target ought to be this camp; it wouldn't waste effort hunting down Weiwei. "Come on, then." His fingers tapped rhythmically against the parapet, the steady sound matching the cadence of his heartbeat. Standing beside him, Zhou Mo's breathing grew ragged. Gripping his broadsword tightly with both hands, his mind was consumed by the Water-Severing Saber Technique he had practiced relentlessly over recent days. He naturally knew that in a battle of this caliber, his clumsy skills were practically useless, but he had to do something. Monkey stood beside Chen Fan as well, holding the God-Slaying Spear, his head lowered as though lost in thought. In the corner of the wall, Da Yu clutched the hem of his shirt so tightly from nerves that his knuckles turned white. *** At that very instant, everyone in Jiangnan Water City who was still awake turned their heads to gaze toward the Jiangbei Wasteland, where that scarlet pillar of light pierced the heavens, faintly visible through the dark. "That's... the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array!" Still seated in the teahouse, the feminine-faced man's expression changed instantly. "A ghost creature in the Jiangbei Wasteland broke through to ghost king during the rainy season." "Are we still going into Jiangbei?" "Jiangbei might be slaughtered clean by this ghost king." "No. We return to the valley." The old man seated beside him remained largely unruffled. "The intelligence was flawed. The Valley Master did not anticipate a ghost king emerging in Jiangbei either. He just sent orders for us to withdraw to Medicine King Valley immediately." "With you here, what are our chances of surviving an encounter with a ghost king?" "Ten percent." "Not bad. At least there's ten percent." "That ten percent is if the ghost king is already full." *** In the darkness outside Jiangnan Water City, a youth in white carrying a heavy ruler walked forward slowly with his eyes closed. His ears twitched; he swung the heavy ruler violently toward a corner of the darkness, followed immediately by the wail of a ghost creature. With practiced familiarity, the youth dug a ghost stone out of the corpse's head and continued on his way. Perhaps sensing something, he suddenly opened his eyes. Through the thickest dark, he saw the crimson pillar rising from the distant horizon. After a long moment, he scratched the back of his head. "The Blood Sacrifice Grand Array..." "Looks like another ghost king has broken through." "Hmm... Guess Jiangbei is off-limits now. Where to go then? The rainy season is about to hit Jiangnan, Jiangdong, and Jiangxi. Where can I find a place without a rainy season to kill ghost creatures...?" "What a headache." *** "Old Demon Jiangbei, what is that?" Inside the inn, Gongyang Gao's daughter leaned against the windowsill, gazing out at the scarlet pillar with eyes full of curiosity. "..." The green-robed man standing beside her fell silent for a long time before murmuring, "That is the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array. Many people will die in Jiangbei tonight. A ghost creature used that array to break through to ghost king." "Are ghost kings very strong?" the girl asked, tilting her head. "Very strong." "How strong?" "A Level 10 human cultivator is called a 'Martial King.' A ghost creature that breaks through to ghost king is what people commonly refer to as a Level 5 ghost creature." "Hmm..." The girl pondered seriously for a moment before speaking. "Then it sounds much weaker than you, Old Demon Jiangbei. Father said you're a Level 9 cultivator and on the verge of breaking through to Martial King." "Heh." Old Demon Jiangbei chuckled self-deprecatingly. "One ghost king can fight three Martial Kings. "In terms of individual combat power, humans are far inferior to ghost creatures. Cultivators are not the masters of this world. To put it bluntly, if this ghost king launched a night raid on your Gongyang clan, your Hidden City would cease to exist after tonight." Only now did the girl grasp the gravity of the situation. "Are we still going to Jiangbei then?" "No. We'll wait until Jiangnan's rainy season ends. By then, this newly ascended ghost king in Jiangbei should have moved on. Only then will we go." "But..." the girl muttered indignantly, "that sounds unfair. Why do humans have to reach Level 10 to be called 'Martial Kings,' while a ghost creature is a 'ghost king' at Level 5? It makes it sound like ghost kings advance much faster than humans." "It is unfair. That is why your father is right—the Eternal Night Continent has already fallen to the ghost creatures." *** The Blood Sacrifice Grand Array had appeared. A ghost king had broken through. In an instant, it drew the attention of various factions and threw countless plans into disarray. "The Blood Sacrifice Grand Array?" Inside Jiangbei City, within the Jiangbei Chen family compound, Chen Quan's mother sat in her wing room, her expression twisting into horror as she saw the spectacle outside the window. She had calculated everything, but never this. This meant that tonight, all of Jiangbei faced a bloody slaughter by a ghost king. Even she would not be able to survive. Death was certain. Although the wall defending the core area of the Jiangbei Chen family was a Level 3 wall, even a Level 3 wall could not hold out for long against a ghost king. How could this happen?! Why would a ghost king come here to make its breakthrough? *** Jiangbei Wasteland, Nameless Mountain. "They're here," Chen Fan said calmly atop the wall. He could sense it: the unmanned outposts outside the canyon and the old camp were being rapidly destroyed, and the enemy was closing in on the canyon at terrifying speed. The old camp had finally been smashed. Well, so be it. The rainy season was over anyway, and he had no immediate use for that qualitative change upgrade path. A mere few dozen breaths later. He saw them. He saw a ghost creature that looked uncannily like an armored human, holding an oiled bone umbrella as it emerged from the darkness of the canyon, stepping slowly into the bounds of the sinkhole camp illuminated by the ghost fire. One, two, three. Their numbers multiplied. More and more ghost creatures held oiled bone umbrellas, arrayed in ranks as they marched out of the canyon's dark. At this sight, he suddenly recalled the verses Qiu Kui had penned: "Suddenly the ribs of bone umbrellas echo through heaven and earth, As the ghost tide sweeps the wasteland, falling into line. Turns out an old friend comes treading through the rain, Yet we meet as strangers, faces white as snow." The ghost king had arrived. Without warning. He had not even seen the ghost king show itself, nor was there any exchange of threats. The moment the ghost creatures stepped into the camp, the Level 5 cannon towers embedded along the wall lit up in unison. Beams of blazing white light pierced the curtain of rain, disintegrating ghost creature after ghost creature, while chain lightning surged outward, rapidly slaughtering the fiends that flooded into the sinkhole. The Level 3 wall at the cave entrance slowly rose, formally shifting into full tortoise-shell defense mode. Chen Fan and the others retreated from the wall. Nor did they head along the Meat Grinder Passage to watch from high on the cliff walls. Chen Fan looked into the depths of his soul at the Eternal Night Lord panel. Over recent days, he had built quite a few Level 3 wooden cabins and selected the upgrade path "Shadow-Projecting Formation." He had dismantled the formation plates and concealed them throughout the sinkhole and around the cliff faces, using them as surveillance monitors. The canyon was shrouded in darkness, leaving him unable to see inside, but he could clearly see the ghost creatures multiplying within the sinkhole. The eight Level 5 cannon towers on the wall were gradually falling behind. More and more ghost creatures swarmed beneath the wall of Cave No. 1, tearing into the fortifications. "Still no sign of the ghost king." Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. Just as he suspected, Qianhu had transmitted information about the camp's defenses before dying. If so, the ghost king must know about the cannon towers placed around the sinkhole cliffs. Out of caution, it had yet to enter the sinkhole. Then let's show our hand a little first. "Meat Grinder, Phase One, activate." The next moment, the walls at the entrances of the thirty-eight caves high on the cliffs surrounding the sinkhole faded away. Thirty-eight Level 5 cannon towers activated simultaneously. At the boundary where the sinkhole met the end of the canyon, a wall shot up, completely walling off the sinkhole from the canyon. The ghost creatures inside the sinkhole were cut off like water without a source, deprived of reinforcements. In an instant, blazing beams of light poured down like a torrential storm from different angles and elevations along the surrounding cliffs. The ghost creatures were wiped out at an accelerated rate. But immediately after! Boom! A streak of crimson detonated in the canyon. The Level 2 wall he had raised between the sinkhole and the canyon lasted a mere few breaths before collapsing entirely, crumbling into rubble in the rainy night. The ghost creatures in the canyon surged into the sinkhole once more like a tidal wave. Amidst the ghost tide, the cloaked ghost king strode slowly into the sinkhole. He looked toward the Level 3 wall of Cave No. 1, then glanced up at the cannon towers mounted high on the cliffs around the sinkhole. The crimson triangles in his pupils rotated slowly. In a frigid voice carrying a chilling smirk like millennial ice, he said coldly: "Is this the source of your confidence? "You little rat hiding behind a wall." The next moment! The crimson triangles in the ghost king's eyes accelerated abruptly. Crimson beams of light shot from his pupils, blasting the thirty-eight Level 5 cannon towers mounted on the cliffs until most were shattered in the blink of an eye. Behind him, the ghost creatures rushed like a flood past both sides of his body, hurtling madly toward the wall. The ghost king turned his gaze back to the wall. Crimson beams shot repeatedly from his pupils. Every time a crimson beam struck the Level 3 wall, it gouged out a crater nearly a meter deep, though it was quickly repaired back to full integrity. "Interesting." The ghost king chuckled. "Considerably sturdier than an ordinary Level 3 wall, and possesses impressive self-repairing capabilities. But I wonder: how many waves of my ghost tide army can you withstand?" More and more ghost creatures poured out of the canyon, slamming violently into the wall. "About time." Inside the cave, Chen Fan glanced at the three altars in the corner. Fearing that the altar's supply rate would fall short when the ghost king struck, he had deliberately constructed two extra altars. Judging by the situation now, that decision had been spot-on. Otherwise, he really might not have held out. However, the ghost stones were draining rapidly; he couldn't hold on for too long. He needed to take the offensive. Taking a deep breath, he felt the tremors rocking the cave. He looked up at the wall, his gaze seeming to pierce through the stone to meet the ghost king's eyes as he murmured softly: "Meat Grinder, Phase Two, activate." The instant the words left his mouth, cold-white ghost fire coursed rapidly through the copper pipes. Twenty ghost fires buried beneath the canyon passage ignited almost simultaneously. The ghost king seemed to sense something and instinctively looked behind him. The thousand-meter-long canyon that had been swallowed by darkness was suddenly illuminated. The light radiating from the ghost fires blanketed the thousand-meter canyon, exposing the vast hordes of ghost creatures within.