The night was deep, but... not quiet.
Night had already settled over the camp, yet Hou and the others huddled together, unable to contain their excitement. Their fates were bound tightly to Fan Domain, and this was the first time any of them had stood at such heights to witness Fan Domain's meteoric rise. Naturally, they were ecstatic.
Lying in his room, Chen Fan heard the commotion outside. Resting in bed with his hands pillowed behind his head, he chuckled softly without speaking. Gradually, his gaze grew distant as his thoughts drifted away.
This time, five hundred thousand ghost stones in cash had come in.
Another two million plus ghost stones were on the way, due within a month.
Was it a lot?
A tremendous amount.
Compared to when he had first arrived in this world, walking on eggshells just to obtain a single ghost stone, or trembling with excitement over digging up one of Weiwei's dung pits during the rainy season, this sum was undoubtedly astronomical.
Yet it was not enough. Still not enough.
Defending Jiangbei was merely a small goal in his heart.
His greater ambition was not just to hold Jiangbei, but to forge Jiangbei into an iron bastion—packed with high-level buildings so impregnable that no one could breach it. Including... that man.
There existed someone who could smash clean through a mountain with a single hammer strike.
His camp had to be able to withstand someone like that.
He admitted that someone who had guarded this remote corner for decades on behalf of the Eternal Night Continent did not seem like an evil person. Even so, Chen Fan could not allow himself to be left completely defenseless before such power.
He didn't particularly care for having his life in someone else's hands.
Extend his lifespan, plus forge Jiangbei into an iron bastion.
These were his two greatest goals—or rather, his dreams.
"Tsk."
Chen Fan shook his head, amused at himself. Back when he was dirt-poor and down on his luck, thoughts of prolonging his life had never even crossed his mind. Now that he had finally made some money, longevity was already on his mind.
No need to worry about that for now; he still had decades left to live.
Hopefully, the Heavenly Dao blessing from guarding the land would grant him a bit more longevity. If possible, it would be best if it could also extend the lifespans of Sick Monkey and the others. That way, as he grew old, he wouldn't have to watch the familiar faces around him die off one by one, leaving him in dreary loneliness.
"Time to sleep..."
He rolled over, turned his back to the wall, and drifted off into a deep slumber.
There would be plenty to do when he woke tomorrow.
The next morning, dawn broke.
The camp was already deserted. Everyone had hurried off to Fan City to get to work—except for Shao Qiu. That fellow remained inside the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion, drilling the thirteen recruits. Originally seventeen, four had already been eliminated.
A month had passed.
The training seemed remarkably effective.
The most notable achievement was that every single recruit had reached Level 3 cultivator!
That was rapid cultivation progress, made possible by many factors: the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion running day and night, and the Cultivation Pills seized from Dan Sect. Speaking of which, standing at the doorway on inspection, Chen Fan couldn't help letting out a soft sigh.
He would need to purchase a fresh batch of Cultivation Pills from Medicine King Valley.
Their supplies were nearly exhausted.
When would he finally have his own alchemists?
Inside the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion, everyone's demeanor and vigor were like night and day compared to before.
"The Seven Apertures Shadow Kill Art, third section," Shao Qiu said, standing before them with an icy expression.
"Instant Kill."
"Thunder rises from the earth, lightning descends from the heavens."
"Before the shadow arrives, the blade has already—"
After watching at the doorway of the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion for a moment, Chen Fan walked out of the camp. At present, many buildings in the camp could not be upgraded further; they required specific materials to advance.
He had already posted buy requests in Fan City.
After all, mourning lanterns, the material required to upgrade to a Level 5 cannon tower, were dwindling with each use, with nowhere to replenish them. Such items were crucial strategic reserves.
Likewise, the Sea Embryo needed to upgrade the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion to Level 5 was missing.
After taking a turn around the camp, he made his way to the Vehicle Workshop inside Cave No. 2, intending to raise its level a bit and see if any rarer vehicles might appear to fill the somewhat vacant high-end market.
Upgrading the Vehicle Workshop from Level 4 to Level 5 cost ten thousand ghost stones.
In the past, he certainly would have been reluctant to spend that much.
During the rainy season, ghost creatures assaulted the settlements, so defensive buildings naturally took priority. But now, with over six hundred thousand ghost stones neatly stacked in the warehouse, there was no heartache in spending it.
"Vehicle Workshop upgraded to Level 5."
"Please select an upgrade path."
"1: Slightly reduce vehicle manufacturing time."
"2: Slightly reduce vehicle manufacturing cost."
"3: Slightly reduce vehicle energy consumption."
Option one, without question.
That went without saying.
And after reaching Level 5, a new craftable vehicle became available.
It was also the fifth vehicle craftable by the Vehicle Workshop.
"5: Giant Tortoise. Large vehicle. Can carry up to several hundred passengers. Slow movement, extremely high load capacity. Manufacturing cost: 1,000 ghost stones."
"Hmm..."
Chen Fan gazed at the information for this newly unlocked vehicle, pondering in silence. He couldn't quite see what use it would serve.
Worth noting was that when the Vehicle Workshop had reached Level 4, the rare vehicle Nine-Five Dragon Carriage had appeared, replacing the regular craftable vehicle that normally came with Level 4. It had been swallowed up entirely, leaving him somewhat curious about what vehicle would normally have unlocked at Level 4.
"Weiwei!"
He immediately called over Weiwei, who was basking in the sun nearby. "Dig this Cave No. 2 a bit deeper."
Weiwei, lounging comfortably on the ground, whimpered softly, then hauled itself up and crawled into Cave No. 2 to begin working. The creature excavated and hauled earth automatically—a true master at digging tunnels.
A moment later, Chen Fan expended one thousand ghost stones to craft a Giant Tortoise.
The manufacturing process for this vehicle differed from the others. The exit of the Vehicle Workshop suddenly opened, and countless beams of light shot out from inside, slowly constructing a "Giant Tortoise" of white lines in the air outside the cave.
As the lines solidified, a Giant Tortoise formed entirely of skeletal framing gradually materialized. It had no flesh or skin; its shell was a dense, hollowed-out lattice of bones.
It looked a bit like... a giant hollow computer mouse.
A full thirty meters wide.
An absolute behemoth.
He tested its crawling speed. It crawled at roughly the pace of an ordinary horse—far slower than a Skeleton Horse, yet considerably faster than a human walking on foot.
"Uh..."
Chen Fan looked at the vehicle before him with a trace of hesitation. Its utility was obvious: immense load capacity, able to haul massive shipments of goods in a single trip. But would anyone actually buy this thing?
With this speed, it was simply too slow.
He would put it on the market first and see if anyone took the bait.
He wanted to upgrade the Vehicle Workshop to Level 6 as well, but could not do so yet.
Upgrading to Level 6 required twenty thousand ghost stones and one of several heavenly materials and exotic treasures, such as Bone or Blood Demon Bone. He didn't have any right now, but it didn't matter; he would soon.
Chen Fan smiled with satisfaction at his Silk Road initiative. The plan was not merely about earning ghost stones; searching for the heavenly materials and earthly treasures needed for upgrades on his own as a single faction based in Jiangbei would have taken who knew how long. But with so many factions helping him search, the situation was completely different. The speed would increase drastically.
"Domain Lord!"
Just then—
Wang Kui, who hadn't gone straight to Fan City that morning and had instead been taking inventory in the warehouse, came rushing out of the camp out of breath. He jogged up to Chen Fan and said, "The ghost creature bones in the warehouse are almost gone! There aren't many left."
"We're out of ghost bones?"
Chen Fan paused in mild surprise. He had never really considered this material. Crafting a Skeleton Horse required one hundred ghost stones and a small amount of ghost creature bones, but he had rarely paid attention to that second requirement—much like crafting a ghost fire required three ghost stones and a handful of dry grass; no one ever worried about the dry grass.
During the rainy season, he had obtained massive quantities of ghost creature bones and stored them all in the warehouse.
He never imagined the day would come when they would run out.
His brows furrowed slightly. "Make a list of everything in the camp that's running low and give it to me. I'll post buy requests in the Fan Domain marketplace."
"Understood!"
Just then—
Weiwei poked its head out of the cave. As if it had overheard their conversation, it tilted its head in thought for a moment before padding over to Chen Fan's side, repeatedly nudging his thigh with its head.
"What do you mean?"
Chen Fan asked in surprise. "Are you saying you know where to find a large cache of ghost creature bones?"
"Let's go!"
Unable to hold back a grin, he climbed onto Weiwei's back and let it carry him out of the canyon. Had this creature buried that many good things in the mountains?
"Wait!"
After charging out of the canyon, Chen Fan looked back at Nameless Mountain receding in the distance and asked in bewilderment, "Weiwei, did you take a wrong turn?"
It hadn't headed up the mountain. Instead, it was barreling toward the coast.
He admitted he was a bit afraid of water and couldn't swim well, so he rarely visited the seashore. Weiwei carried him along in a furious sprint, quickly arriving at the shore. Setting him down, it immediately began digging furiously with its front paws.
Chen Fan leaned on his emerald cane, standing alone by the sea. He gazed out toward the horizon. There was no end in sight, and he had no idea how far away another continent might be. After the rainy season, the ocean was calm and tranquil. The wind was gentle, the waves small; it looked quite suitable for travel. He waited patiently as Weiwei dug, wondering what it could possibly unearth.
Underfoot lay not a sandy beach, but gravel flats. The ground was hard; only Weiwei could dig through it. He certainly couldn't.
After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Weiwei crawled out from the opening and eagerly beckoned him down.
"Let's go!"
Chen Fan followed Weiwei down into the hole. Every time he dug with Weiwei, he couldn't shake the feeling of grave robbing. This tunnel wasn't very deep, and they soon reached the bottom, where the space suddenly opened up.
It seemed there had already been a cavern underground. There were no luminous objects around, only the natural light filtering down through the entrance, barely illuminating the ground enough for him to see ghost creature bones beneath his feet.
As for the surroundings, they were completely invisible—pitch black. He had no way of knowing how large the cavern was, or what lurked in the dark.
"Weiwei..."
Chen Fan gripped his emerald cane warily and patted Weiwei beside him, finding a bit of reassurance in its presence. Sweeping his gaze across the surrounding darkness, he whispered, "Take me back up. I'm not fond of venturing into the unknown. Something feels off about this place."
The next instant—
A blinding glare suddenly lit up the cavern. A formed pillar of light forcefully thrust Chen Fan and Weiwei out of the hole, and just as it was about to shoot toward the heavens—
*Smack.*
Weiwei raised a foreleg and swatted the light pillar down with a single slap, causing it to condense into a person-sized screen of light hovering over the ground.
Words appeared upon the screen:
"The world called me the Immortal Heavenly Master. Ordered to guard Jiangbei, I was overwhelmed. The city fell, its people perished, and I was defeated."
"Countless ghost tides flooded Jiangbei, plunging all living things into misery and devastation."
"A native of Jiangdong, I had no face to return to my elders and kinsmen across the river. Thus I took my own life in Jiangbei, leaving behind my legacy. Should future generations have the fortune to set foot here, may what remains be of use to you."
"In three days' time."
"The legacy trial shall open, accessible to all. The primary legacy is that of an architect, with minor touches in other disciplines, though few."
Chen Fan stared at this abrupt turn of events, taking a moment to process what had happened. This was actually the "ancient ruin" recorded in the Dan Sect jade slip! He had stumbled across it—or rather, Weiwei had dug it up.
By now, a barrier of light sealed the cave entrance. Clearly, entry was impossible for now; one could only enter three days later.
However...
With an odd expression, he looked at the Sky-Swallowing Crocodile beside him. That pillar of light was supposed to shoot straight into the heavens and blossom across the sky, announcing to the entire world that a legacy trial was opening here. Yet the moment the beam emerged from the tunnel, the crocodile had swatted it down with a single paw?
As a result, it never reached the sky.
He was the only one who had seen the message on the screen.
Just as he was about to say something, the Sky-Swallowing Crocodile lounging beside him suddenly opened its gaping jaws and swallowed the floating light screen full of text in a single gulp!
"Hey!"
Chen Fan yelled out instinctively, dumbfounded. But it was already too late; the creature even smacked its lips as if wanting more. Before Chen Fan could recover his senses, Weiwei scrambled back to the cave entrance, brought a claw down, and shattered the barrier of light blocking the opening with a single strike.
Only then did it turn its head toward him, wagging its tail persistently, as if signaling that he could go down now.
Chen Fan stared at the scene blankly, at a loss for words. After a long silence, he climbed onto Weiwei's back and descended into the hole once more. Now he finally understood why "that man" kept two Sky-Swallowing Crocodiles by his side.
Did this creature... have an innate ability to break formations and wards?
An ancient ruin meant to screen legacy candidates had turned into a solo expedition for him after two slaps from Weiwei.
This ancient ruin had existed for a very long time. Since Weiwei could find it, there was no reason Weiwei's parents couldn't have. Having descended into the cavern, where the surroundings had now grown brighter, Chen Fan carefully surveyed his surroundings while pondering the question.
Could it be that that man looked down on this ancient ruin?
Ancient ruins came in many varieties.
From the information he had obtained from Dan Sect, they generally fell into a few categories:
The ruins of a sect, clan, or other faction, with no inheritance rules whatsoever. They had simply been annihilated by a formidable enemy. Such ruins might retain some treasures and generally posed little danger, as few mechanisms or traps could endure for so long; they were classified as disordered.
Another kind was the legacy left behind by a faction or powerful figure before their demise, intended to benefit future generations.
Most of these were orderly and carried no great danger.
A small portion were orderly but perilous, left by figures of foul temperament.
A tiny fraction were left by people who refused to die alone, laying traps before their deaths so that anyone who entered would perish.
Chapter 128