A King Descends from the Heavens, Furious and Hideous!

On the New Continent. Very few people had the luxury of being idle. Nearly everyone had tasks to attend to. The once-desolate continent was now bustling with people, and countless horse-drawn carts shuttled back and forth transporting ghost stones. Aside from Quehou, the only other one who found itself somewhat bored was Weiwei. To be precise, Weiwei was only idle from a human perspective; Weiwei itself did not feel bored in the least. Given its massive frame, it could not sit inside the railcars and could only hitch a ride by clinging onto the rear of the carriage, suspended in midair. Lately, ever since Weiwei learned how to take the high-speed rail, it constantly shuttled back and forth between the New Continent and Fan Domain. One moment it was back looking for Chen Fan, and the next it dashed over to the New Continent to check on its monkey brood. When visiting Chen Fan, it did not really do anything either. It simply lay beside him, following wherever he went. The same was true on the New Continent—dashing a few laps into its depths one moment, checking whether its monkey kin were working hard the next. In the past, it had spent years holed up inside Nameless Mountain, too fearful to venture anywhere. But ever since its congenital illness was cured, it had grown far bolder, frequently ambling about in all directions. Soon, the next day arrived. There was only one day left before the rainy season descended in early November. Chen Fan stood atop the ramparts of the Rainy Season Defense Line, gazing into the distance. The people in Fan City had dwindled noticeably. With the rainy season imminent, no one was wandering about; everyone was finding a secure place to hide and weather the storm. This year, the rainy season had not arrived early anywhere across the four regions of Jiangbei. Thus, although people harbored a faint undercurrent of anxiety, there was no widespread panic. So long as the rainy season did not strike ahead of schedule, it was something they had experienced many times before. Barring particularly unlucky factions, most would manage to survive safely. During this time, quite a few people had sought to stay in Fan City, offering steep sums of money. He had rejected every single one. Fan Domain accepted no outsiders during the rainy season. Today was quiet. After months of relentless hustle, a moment of peace had finally arrived. This world offered little in the way of entertainment. For the poor, entertainment was unnecessary—earning an extra ghost stone was what mattered most. If boredom struck, crawling under the covers with one's wife once night fell was entertainment enough. For the wealthy, carnal pleasures served as pastimes as well. Yet Chen Fan had little interest in such things. For him, the only form of leisure was standing atop the ramparts to admire the foundation he had forged with his own hands. Every meter of the wall, every single cannon tower—all had been built by him personally. Even standing here, watching for a full day and night, he would never grow weary of the sight. This sense of fulfillment was something outsiders could hardly grasp. Just as most people in Fan Domain assumed his contemplative posture meant he was racking his brains over the domain's future direction, he was, in truth, merely taking quiet pleasure in admiring the empire he had built. Right then, Wang Kui came jogging up. "Domain Lord." "The recount is complete." "Fan Domain currently holds 16.27 million ghost stones. Mining operations on the New Continent are completely on track, and an uninterrupted supply of ghost stones will continue to arrive over the thirty days of the upcoming rainy season." "Good," Chen Fan nodded slightly. The Rainy Season Defense Line was fully prepared. Ammunition was plentiful. Logistics were secure. Unlike last time, when he had been forced to face the rainy season utterly unprepared, he was now thoroughly ready. Everything was set, lacking only the east wind. After Wang Kui took his leave, Chen Fan retrieved a whistle from his robes, blew it, and simultaneously opened the ocean-blue silk pouch before him—the reward for lighting up ten max-level buildings in the architectural compendium. Lucky Bag: Upon opening, grants a 50% chance of obtaining a blue-grade exotic treasure, a 30% chance of a blue-grade heavenly material and earthly treasure, a 10% chance of a blue-grade building blueprint, a 9.5% chance of a blue-grade wonder, and a 0.5% chance of other rewards. The probabilities were identical to those of the yellow-grade lucky bag. As long as it was not a blue-grade heavenly material and earthly treasure, he could accept it. At this tier, if a heavenly material were meant for upgrading buildings, it would surely apply to structures of extreme caliber. If meant for alchemy or artifact refining, Fan Domain currently lacked the means to craft items of such high rank. Anything else was fine by him. The next instant, a faint pale-blue glow burst from the silk lucky bag. Reaching inside, his fingers closed around a sheet of paper as thin as a cicada's wing—a blueprint. Exotic Treasure Name: Reincarnation Tower. Exotic Treasure Quality: Blue. Exotic Treasure Type: Building Blueprint. Any living creature slain by defensive structures within the camp's range will have its soul thoroughly scattered, rendering it incapable of resurrection. Chen Fan's brow twitched slightly. Decent luck—he had hit the 10% chance for a blue-grade building blueprint, an auxiliary structure. Presently, he had no use for it. To this day, he had never encountered a ghost creature capable of reviving itself. Still, it was better to be prepared than caught off guard; one could never have too many such precautions. He crushed the blueprint. The Eternal Night Lord interface gained a new craftable option: Reincarnation Tower. He intended to erect it inside Nameless Mountain in Fan Domain. As for now, he looked toward another structure. Soul-Devouring Sculpture. A building blueprint he had obtained from the master of Tianxia Pavilion. Its effect accelerated the stamina recovery rate of anyone within a hundred-meter radius of the sculpture. That was merely one of its traits. Its max-level effect was: Max-Level Effect 'Meticulous Calculation': Ghost stone consumption for offensive structures deployed within the sculpture's range is further reduced. A top-tier auxiliary sculpture. Along the base of the wall, he had placed a Soul-Devouring Sculpture every hundred meters inside the fortification, erecting a total of 148 sculptures. This structure was remarkably cheap. A max-level Soul-Devouring Sculpture cost a mere 2,800 ghost stones. All 148 combined came to only 410,000 ghost stones. And the savings it yielded would far surpass 410,000 ghost stones. Erecting such a building was pure profit—an impossible loss unless there were too few enemies. With this, the Rainy Season Defense Line was completely finished. Every structure he could build had been built. The 14.8-kilometer defense line was armed to the teeth; he had done everything within his power. The rest was left to the heavens. Chen Fan stood upon the wilderness, looking toward the Rainy Season Defense Line that encircled Fan Domain entirely. Rows upon rows of cannon towers lined the ramparts in neat formation, while Soul-Devouring Sculptures sat at the wall's base. After watching for a long while, a satisfied smile touched his lips. He turned and walked toward the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage nearby. Once he returned and built a Reincarnation Tower, all preparatory work would be concluded. All that remained was awaiting the rainy season tomorrow. *** On the Eternal Night Continent. In a forgotten corner utterly swallowed by pitch-black darkness, not a sliver of light could be seen. Only heavy, rasping breaths echoed through the air. After a long while, a panting voice finally sounded. "Boss, all done. We're finished." "You can bring out your lamp now." The next instant, a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged on the ground slowly opened his eyes. With a light snap of his fingers, the surrounding gloom was instantly dispelled, and a pale-yellow luminescence enveloped him like an eggshell. The man glanced at the two panting crocodiles nearby, let out a soft sigh, and massaged his temples with a throbbing headache. "Couldn't you two do that a little less often?" "We're bored, after all." "Besides..." The distinctly larger male crocodile sprawling on the left mumbled in a daze, "We were also hoping to have another child. Surely this next one won't have an innate ailment." "An innate ailment isn't necessarily a bad thing," the middle-aged man replied calmly, closing his eyes once more to resume cultivation. "A Heaven-Swallowing Crocodile born with an innate ailment is, in a sense, a genius envied by the heavens. "Though it cannot recover from any injury, where the slightest scratch could kill it... "It possesses extraordinary suppression against formations, wielding peerless array-breaking techniques. And the stronger it grows, the more absurd those methods become. "Aside from a Heaven-Swallowing Crocodile with an innate ailment, no one can replicate such array-shattering feats. "If nothing else, had that little fellow been here, I wouldn't be trapped in this place—I'd have walked out long ago." The middle-aged man sighed softly. Back then, had circumstances not been so dire, he would have waited for the Snow Lotus to mature, cured Xiaohua's innate ailment, and taken it with him, rather than remaining trapped here for decades on end. "The moment you finish, you start pining over Xiaohua," the female crocodile sprawled beside him grumbled, slapping her tail in annoyance. "When you were mounting me just now, I didn't see you thinking about Xiaohua." Even so, it was her own flesh and blood after all. The female crocodile's tone turned subdued and downcast. "I had barely birthed Xiaohua, before it even opened its eyes, when we were forced to leave. It never got to see us. If we ever meet again, who knows if it'll even recognize us. "I don't even know if Xiaohua is still alive." The middle-aged man raised his head, glanced at the female crocodile, and said softly, "As long as you don't open your mouth and speak, it should still recognize you. Under normal circumstances, Heaven-Swallowing Crocodiles don't talk. "So long as it didn't recklessly wander out of Nameless Mountain, it will be fine. "Perhaps by now it has already consumed the Snow Lotus, dominated Nameless Mountain, and become the hegemon of Jiangbei." With that, the middle-aged man fell silent. He merely raised his head and gazed into the distance toward Jiangbei. He had no inkling of the state of the Eternal Night Frontline outside, nor did he know whether the Eternal Night Hall had dispatched anyone to Jiangbei to reconstruct the Jiangbei Defense Line. The aura he had left in Jiangbei could only deter the undersea ghost creatures for three more years. Three years from now, a massive undersea ghost tide would make landfall in Jiangbei. When that time came... He remained quiet and spoke no further. The rainy season was fast approaching—the most chaotic time of every year. Not merely for humans, but for ghost creatures as well. *** At the Eternal Night Frontline. Defense Line No. 7, which guarded the Guandong Plain along a ninety-seven-kilometer stretch, was constructed entirely of Level 6 walls. Dawn had only recently broken. Yet no sun was visible. The sky had turned overcast, and a fine drizzle drifted through the air—the prelude to the rainy season. Tomorrow, the rainy season would officially commence. The wall stood a full thirty meters high. Spanning ninety-seven kilometers, Defense Line No. 7 resembled a natural chasm anchored along the coastline of the Guandong Plain, keeping every ghost creature attempting to make landfall from the sea barred on the outside. At this moment, numerous figures hurried back and forth atop the ramparts—some repairing the wall, some loading ghost stones, others hauling logistical supplies. Dark clouds bore down on the ramparts as if to crush the fortress. The suffocating atmosphere of an imminent battle hung thick in the air. During every rainy season, the power of all ghost creatures received various enhancements. It was also the period when the Eternal Night Defense Line weathered its greatest trials. "Hurry, hurry! Ghost stones for my cannon tower are running low, I need a refill!" "Over here, and here too! My ghost stones are out!" Thanks to personnel dispatched by the Eternal Night Hall, Defense Line No. 7 had collected a sizable stockpile of ghost stones from the Guandong Plain. Under normal circumstances, they should be able to weather this rainy season; after all, Defense Line No. 7 was not the primary front. The main host of ghost creatures was not directed at them. They were merely a secondary line of defense. The young architect who had once grumbled now stood atop the ramparts with a solemn expression, gazing out toward the sea, bracing for the rainy season's arrival tomorrow. Defense Line No. 7 must not fall. While humans prepared, the ghost creatures naturally did the same. The impending rainy season poured fuel onto the contest between both sides; each had reasons they could not afford to lose. *** Deep within an unknown darkness, inside a great hall. A shadowy figure seated upon a throne had crimson pupils flickering unsteadily. A year had passed, and the rainy season was finally here once more. A year ago, he had used a pseudo-human ghost disguised as an ancient book to pass word to Fan Domain that an undersea ghost tide would land in three years. His original intent was to force Fan Domain to withdraw. Yet to his utter shock, the other party showed not the slightest inclination to leave. Instead, they thrived more and more in Jiangbei, even developing a structure they had never seen before called 'high-speed rail.' Over the past year, they had continuously sent pseudo-human ghosts to gather intelligence on Fan Domain, all to ensure that once this year's rainy season descended, they could annihilate Fan Domain with thunderous force. Three years from now, when the ghost tide made landfall, the Jiangbei node would shatter, allowing passage from that point onward. The first wave of ghost creatures to invade Jiangbei and conquer it entirely would reap immense Heavenly Dao blessings. Conversely, the humans garrisoning Jiangbei would also receive substantial Heavenly Dao blessings—provided they could hold it. Ghost Emperor Sanqian, who now commanded millions of troops on the Eternal Night Frontline, had merely been an insignificant pawn thousands of years ago, nothing more than fodder in the ghost tide, lacking even basic sentience. He had reached his current height solely because, on the ancient battlefield of Jiangbei millennia ago, he had been the first ghost creature to breach the Jiangbei Defense Line. Claiming the honor of first breach, he had obtained a bountiful share of Heavenly Dao blessings. Though not as much as the ghost generals of that era had received, for an unawakened lesser ghost creature, it had been a tremendous windfall. Only then had he gradually risen to become the Ghost Emperor Sanqian of today. The shadow harbored nothing but disdain, jealousy, and bitter resentment toward this. He too had participated in that ancient Jiangbei campaign. Back then, he was already a lesser ghost king, commanding numerous ghost creatures under his banner. He had committed both men and resources; nearly all his subordinates had perished, and he himself was grievously wounded, teetering on the brink of death and taking years to recover. Yet the Heavenly Dao blessings he had received were far less than what that unawakened ghost creature had claimed for the first breach. Worse, once he finally healed, he found that the creature had already become a ghost emperor commanding an entire legion. His fury had burned all the hotter. He had clearly contributed far more. Why should his rewards fall short of that creature's? Thus, after this descent of the Eternal Night, while other great ghosts rushed to the Eternal Night Frontline to amass Heavenly Dao blessings, he went nowhere. He remained in the Primitive Land, hoarding strength and waiting for the right moment to strike Jiangbei. The requirement to conquer Jiangbei was singular: slaughter every living soul in Jiangbei. Once that was done, Jiangbei would be completely his. "King," a voice called out hesitantly from within the hall, "we have recruited vast numbers of ghost creatures over these years, and our ranks are substantial. Must we let those undersea wretches act as the vanguard? We could attack Jiangbei ourselves right now." "Fool," the shadow on the throne barked coldly, a flicker of disdain crossing his eyes. "Though the Jiangbei node is fractured, like a centipede that dies but never falls stiff, remnants linger. "The remaining nodes in Jiangbei must be shattered before it can be conquered. "That process will cost countless lives. "Why should our people die? "Let that mindless undersea ghost tide do it. Let them batter through the remaining nodes, and the instant Jiangbei becomes conquerable, we shall descend at once, slaughter every living being, seize Jiangbei before anyone else, and claim the Heavenly Dao blessings." Over the years, he had reflected countless times on why he had reaped so little despite contributing so much during the previous Jiangbei campaign. He had arrived at a single truth: brute force was useless. One had to use their brain. And so, he had conceived this plan. The moment the Eternal Night descended, nearly all great ghosts had led their legions to the Eternal Night Frontline to seize military merits. Only he had remained in the Primitive Land for centuries, exceptionally patient, entirely motionless. Even when victory reports arrived from the Eternal Night Frontline announcing that some great ghost had breached a defense line, he remained unmoved. His entire scheme was pinned on Jiangbei. First conquer Jiangbei to claim the territorial conquest merit. Then retreat immediately. Do not push south. Though pushing south to conquer Jiangnan or even the Guanxi Plain would yield even greater Heavenly Dao blessings, by then the Eternal Night Hall of the Eternal Night Continent would react and dispatch reinforcements. The Eternal Night Hall would never tolerate an invasion of their heartland. They would hunt him down at all costs. That window would be exceedingly dangerous. Taking Jiangbei and immediately pulling back to digest the acquired Heavenly Dao blessings, then joining the frontal conflict on the Eternal Night Frontline—not as the main assault force, but launching feints on the flanks to leech blessings—would allow him to preserve his strength and grow step by step until he wielded the power to sway the main front. That was his plan. Practically flawless. Not a single loophole could be found. All it required was patience. Patience until the aura left on Nameless Mountain dissipated, until the undersea ghost tide smashed the Jiangbei nodes. Then, descending upon Jiangbei, his grand endeavor would be accomplished! Centuries of scheming would achieve fruition. Except... An anomaly had now cropped up. A faction known as 'Fan Domain' had risen inexplicably in Jiangbei. He had to eliminate this unexpected variable beforehand to pave the way for his official descent three years later. He could not wait three years. First, no one knew what Fan Domain might grow into in three years, and he loathed such unstable factors. Second, even if they did not grow excessively strong, they would still delay the time it took him to cleanse Jiangbei. Any delay meant sharing the Heavenly Dao blessings with the undersea ghost tide that followed. That was something he refused to see happen. "The King is wise." The voice that had spoken earlier weakened. Though both were awakened ghost creatures, their king had evidently awakened far more wits than they had. "This is our final chance." After a long silence, the shadow on the throne looked down upon the gathered ghost chieftains, his voice dropping low. "Eight thousand years ago, when the Eternal Night descended, we were on the verge of overrunning the Eternal Night Continent. "We had already seized seventy percent of its territory. "Had we conquered the remaining thirty percent, the master of the Eternal Night Continent would have been our Ghost Clan. "Yet... "The Heavenly Dao of the Eternal Night Continent employed perverted, reactionary measures to forcibly halt the war, shielding the continent for eight thousand years. While those eight millennia granted the Eternal Night Continent time to recuperate, did our Ghost Clan not do the same? "This is our last opportunity. "No matter what, our Ghost Clan must claim the Eternal Night Continent this time. We have no path of retreat. The Primitive Land is on the verge of collapse. If we cannot conquer the Eternal Night Continent, all of us will perish. "That being said, what status we hold within the Ghost Clan once we unify the Eternal Night Continent is of equal importance. I wish to set foot upon the Eternal Night Continent, but not to live upon it as an insignificant pawn. "I trust all of you share that sentiment. "Follow me in this endeavor, and I guarantee you wealth and glory for all your days!" As his words fell, a unified roar of assent rose from deep within the hall. Clearly, they resonated deeply with this declaration. In truth, to resist the temptation of claiming military merits at the Eternal Night Frontline and instead wait here for centuries, every one of them had bought entirely into this plan. "Very well." The shadowy figure on the throne had pupils flickering intently. "Then tonight, when the rainy season descends and the passage between the Primitive Continent and the Eternal Night Continent opens, we shall descend upon Jiangbei! "Annihilate Fan Domain. "Erase every unstable variable. "Guiyi, report on Fan Domain's recent developments." "Yes!" A voice promptly answered from the depths of the hall. "Fan Domain has recently established two cities and a port. The two cities are named Fan City and Sunset City. "The former is for commerce, the latter for agriculture. "Both have Level 1 walls, and the cannon towers mounted atop them are low-grade. They cannot possibly stop us. "As for that port, its walls are of higher caliber, and Fan Domain defends it rigorously. Our pseudo-human ghosts made several attempts but failed to infiltrate, nor could they gather much information regarding the port. "However, numerous high-speed rail trains have been spotted shuttling continuously between the port and Nameless Mountain. We suspect they may have discovered something beneath the sea. "Apart from that, Fan Domain's core camp at Nameless Mountain has seen no military action lately. The extent of the camp's defensive upgrades remains temporarily unknown. However, judging by the wall tier of Fan City, Fan Domain's ghost stone reserves cannot be exceedingly vast, so Fan Domain inside Nameless Mountain should not be overly formidable either. "Their primary offensive measure should still be the Meat Grinder." "The Meat Grinder." The shadow upon the throne let out a chuckle, repeating the three words. The Meat Grinder was quite famous in Jiangbei. A ghost king had once fallen to Fan Domain's Meat Grinder. Lining both sides of a canyon with cannon towers that stayed hidden in the sheer cliffs during normal times, only to unleash devastating fire the moment an enemy approached—a decent concept. But while effective against ordinary ghost creatures, using it against them was rather petty and small-minded. This intelligence had already been briefed to him once. Recounting it now was solely to ensure all his subordinates were informed, synchronizing their intelligence before the battle. "Everyone." He looked down at the four ghost kings standing at the very front of the hall. "You four are my most capable lieutenants. What are your thoughts on this?" "Careless and complacent," one ghost king replied, shaking his head. "Fan Domain believes that because the rainy season didn't arrive early this year, there's no need to upgrade their walls further, assuming their current defenses can withstand this rainy season just as they did last year's. "Little do they know, we will descend this year. "If that is all they possess, King, you need not descend in person. Grant me a legion, and I can slaughter Fan Domain down to the last soul. "After all, descending comes at a steep price. It would be better saved for three years from now." Another ghost king hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "King, our intelligence is gathered primarily through pseudo-human ghosts, which inherently carries a time lag. For instance, we lack news of Fan Domain over the past few days. "Fan Domain has earned countless ghost stones through the high-speed rail; it is impossible that they haven't upgraded their camp structures. Perhaps they merely neglected Fan City, directing their resources toward their core camp at Nameless Mountain. "We cannot assume Fan Domain is careless, lest we be the ones guilty of carelessness." After these two ghost kings voiced their thoughts, the remaining two exchanged glances and spoke in unison with grave expressions, "We share the same sentiment." "Heh heh." The shadow on the throne chuckled softly before slowly rising, revealing his massive, corpulent frame. His gaze swept past the grand palace doors, peering into the depths of the Primitive Continent, and he spoke slowly. "That defeat on the ancient battlefield taught me many lessons. "Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it must exert all its strength. "You must admit, the concise idioms of humans can be remarkably apt at times." He smacked his lips, feeling a touch of smugness. The Ghost Clan held human culture in high regard; being able to lace one's speech with idioms and refined turns of phrase marked one as a cultured ghost. He had naturally learned quite a few. "This time..." He paused, his expression gradually hardening, each word heavy with intent. "The entire host mobilizes! We descend upon Jiangbei's Nameless Mountain via the Heaven Array!" As soon as the words left his mouth, a chorus of sharp gasps filled the hall. Even the four ghost kings wore looks of sheer disbelief. Against a mere Fan Domain... Was such an extreme measure truly warranted? A full mobilization meant deploying several hundred thousand ghost creatures, which carried an enormous cost for descent alone. Not to mention descending via the Heaven Array. For ghost creatures located in the Primitive Continent, descending upon the Eternal Night Continent was accomplished through three methods: the Human Array, the Earth Array, and the Heaven Array. First, pseudo-human ghosts were dispatched to mark the specific landing site in the target area. Then, formations were laid to initiate the descent. The Human Array was the standard method. They would appear on the lands of Jiangbei through the formation, but the process took a considerable amount of time; if discovered midway, it could be interrupted. The Earth Array brought them onto the Jiangbei soil instantaneously, with no channel duration, leaving no window for interruption. As for the Heaven Array... It deposited them into the airspace above the Jiangbei lands. It manifested at the designated landing coordinate just the same, only suspended high in the sky. Generally speaking, when ghost creatures of the Primitive Continent descended upon safe zones—territories they already controlled—they opted for the Human Array. If they needed to descend into an active war zone, they utilized the Earth Array. The Heaven Array, meanwhile, was reserved almost exclusively for surprise ambushes. To storm a specific segment of defensive walls, they would deploy the Heaven Array, dropping a massive host of ghost creatures from the sky to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy. The conditions required to use the Heaven Array were exceedingly strict. The cost, too, was immense. Along the Eternal Night Frontline, very few great ghosts chose the Heaven Array for surprise attacks; it differed little from dropping dumplings into boiling water to die, given how overwhelming the frontline's defensive firepower was. The expenditure was astronomical, yet the yield negligible. Nor could it drop them directly into the core heartland behind the defensive walls. Jiangbei, however, met the criteria and allowed for an aerial descent. Yet against a mere Fan Domain, was that truly necessary? "Didn't expect it, did you?" The shadow on the throne looked down at the stunned expressions of his subordinates and laughed heartily. "If even you didn't expect it, Fan Domain certainly won't either. "Fan Domain has surely upgraded that Meat Grinder of theirs to a formidable degree. "We will not clash with it head-on. "We will descend from the heavens, instantly throwing all of Fan Domain's deployments into chaos, crushing them with our host of several hundred thousand ghost creatures, completing our objective, and returning in triumph! "Guiyi." "Go lay the formation." "Tonight, when the rainy season descends, I want to see the Heaven Array fully in place." "The rest of you, go prepare as well." "Yes!" The gathered ghost creatures in the hall answered in unison and quickly withdrew. Leaving only him alone within the grand hall. The corpulent figure sat upon the throne, his determined gaze piercing through the towering palace doors toward the depths of the Primitive Continent. This time, he was resolved to claim a massive piece of the prize. Fan Domain... He had always sensed something peculiar about this faction; it was very likely a remnant passed down from ancient times. That was precisely why he had committed nearly all his strength. He could not afford a blunder. *** Night gradually fell. Rain was already pattering down from the skies over Jiangbei. Chen Fan stood atop the ramparts of the Rainy Season Defense Line, gazing deep into the wilderness. The Eternal Night was about to fall, and once it did, the rainy season would arrive. It also meant he had lived in this world for a full year. Feeling the refreshing chill of the raindrops striking his body, he remained silent, watching the distance without a word. Tonight, or in the nights to come, a formidable great ghost would lead an army charging out of the Eternal Night to assault the Rainy Season Defense Line. He was ready. "Domain Lord," Wang Kui walked up beside him and reported in a low voice, "I've had our people inspect everything once more. All preparations are complete; Fan Domain is fully braced to face this rainy season. "There won't be any issues." "Good," Chen Fan nodded slightly. Right at that moment, the darkness sweeping in from the horizon suddenly enveloped the entire world with startling speed. The rainy season had arrived! A colossal eggshell expanded outward, enclosing the entire Rainy Season Defense Line within a faint yellow radiance. Boom! A deafening roll of thunder abruptly shattered the silence of the world, resounding as though Pangu himself were cleaving the heavens from the earth. The sparse drizzle suddenly transformed into a torrential downpour. The rain had come. He looked ahead. The storm drove down like billions of steel needles, tearing across the skies of Jiangbei with destructive fury. As far as the eye could see, there was only a roaring, churning gray mist. A cacophony of rushing water filled his ears—the sound of the deluge crashing against the Jiangbei wilderness. A familiar scent surged into his nostrils once more. The unique scent of falling rain. Looking upon the scene before him, Chen Fan suddenly chuckled. A familiar feeling. This year's rain seemed exceptionally fierce. He turned to look toward the colossal Heaven-Piercing Pillar anchored atop Nameless Mountain. From afar, the patterns on the pillar's surface were flickering intermittently. Bolt after bolt of lightning struck the Heaven-Piercing Pillar from time to time. If only... If only that great ghost arrived a little later, allowing the Heaven-Piercing Pillar to absorb a bit more lightning, he would possess an even stronger trump card, giving him greater confidence to handle whatever came. Wang Kui followed Chen Fan's gaze toward the massive Heaven-Piercing Pillar stationed atop Nameless Mountain and immediately grasped the Domain Lord's intent. After a brief pause, he spoke. "Domain Lord..." "Actually, I feel we needn't worry too much. What we have is already more than enough. The strength of our Rainy Season Defense Line makes it the most formidable stronghold in all four regions of Jiangbei. "I doubt even the fortifications along the Eternal Night Frontline are much stronger than ours. "If even we can't hold out, no one in the four regions of Jiangbei could survive—everyone would perish. Even without the Heaven-Piercing Pillar, it is already sufficient." Chen Fan glanced back at Wang Kui, paused for a moment, and said softly, "If ghost creatures were truly weak, the living beings of the New Continent wouldn't have been slaughtered to the last soul. "We are stronger than before. "Yet we are not strong enough. "Our current strength is far from sufficient. "What's more—" Before his words could finish, an immensely thick bolt of lightning tore across the sky above Fan Domain. Immediately afterward, an enormous pentagram formation of light slowly materialized high overhead. Its area was vast. The footprint of the great formation far exceeded the total land area of Fan City. The moment the formation appeared, it began to spin rapidly. Soon, a clawing, thrashing ghost creature materialized out of thin air. As if a switch had been flipped, more and more ghost creatures poured out of the teleportation array in practically an instant. At a glance, hundreds of thousands of ghost creatures surged from the pentagram formation in the sky above Fan Domain. Finally, an enormous ghost creature emerged last from the teleportation array, bellowing into the howling wind and rain with a savage, ecstatic expression. "Fan Domain, prepare to die!" The roar reverberated across the entirety of Jiangbei's skies. The sheer oppressive weight of this spectacle struck the members of Fan Domain with terrifying force. Nearly everyone froze on the spot, panic flickering in their eyes. A king descended from the heavens, furious and hideous. That was the sentiment shared by all. Many in Fan Domain had seen ghost creatures with their own eyes. Yet when several hundred thousand ghost creatures hovered directly over your head, a mere few hundred meters above the ground, blotting out the sky in a dark, suffocating mass, the oppressive dread was on an entirely different level compared to facing ordinary ghost creatures. Some members of Fan Domain even felt their legs give way at the sight, collapsing subconsciously to the ground. It was over. The Domain Lord had built the Rainy Season Defense Line. Yet none had anticipated that the enemy would descend directly from the heavens. However... Very quickly, the enormous ghost creature bellowing with ferocious fury in midair realized that its body was not falling. It voiced its confusion in a daze. "Huh? Why didn't I drop?" "Why can't I move my body?" "K-King..." Beside him, a ghost king looked down with a trembling voice at the 14.8-kilometer Rainy Season Defense Line below, stammering in terror. "Those are Level 5 walls... and every single upgrade option chosen was No-Fly. This place... is under a total airspace ban." The moment the words landed, the great ghost who had charged in so triumphantly only moments before froze entirely in place, his face draining of all color. He felt as though he were submerged in a mass of suffocating, viscous swamp mud—unable to budge an inch no matter how desperately he exerted his strength.