The Jiangbei Defense Line Takes Shape

After recording the information, Shao Qiu frowned tightly and looked at the two ghost creatures in the cage. They were covered in wounds from head to toe, clearly stripped of reason, and were roaring without pause. "Did they use some exotic treasure?" There were countless exotic treasures in the world, and their effects varied widely. If some exotic treasure could let a few ghost creatures appear in daylight, it was not impossible. He had never seen one in Fan Domain, but the Eternal Night Continent was so vast that such a treasure would be perfectly normal. "Of course not." The waiter chuckled and did not hide it, stating the truth outright. "Our inn sits beside the ruins of Zhenggui Pass. These ghost creatures can survive in daylight only beyond the pass, in that stretch of the Guandong Plain." "If you bring them inside the pass—" "Even a few steps." "They die on the spot." "It used to be impossible, but after this rainy season, scattered ghost creatures that could survive in daylight turned up on the Guandong Plain. So they started holding ghost duels here at Zhenggui Pass. Quite a few people from the Guanxi Plain made the trip specially. It's lively. Gentlemen, care to try a few rounds?" Shao Qiu's brows drew tight, and he said nothing. No matter how he looked at it, this was wrong. He could not understand how these people still had the leisure for ghost duels. Ghost creatures surviving in daylight was a catastrophic omen for the entire continent. "Do you know whether the coastal region of the Guandong Plain has a defense line?" "Of course it does. It's called Defense Line No. 7, but I don't know the details. I've only overheard a few words from the trade guilds passing through. I've never had the chance to go that far and see it myself. But they say it's very safe. For all these years, that defense line has held most of the ghost tides outside." "You gentlemen don't look like you came specially for the ghost duels. You look like you're resting here before heading to the Guandong Plain." "This humble one will say something he shouldn't." "I'm no great figure, but a small man has a small man's way of doing things. These days, since the rainy season ended, far fewer trade guilds have come from the Guandong Plain to the Guanxi Plain. That is enough to show that something may have gone wrong on the Guandong Plain. Unless the business is truly enormous, you'd best stay away from the Guandong Plain if you can." "Getting in is easy." "Getting out might not be." The waiter's voice carried a slightly odd accent. This was the southern part of the Guanxi Plain, and the local people had developed a distinctive way of speaking that was fairly easy to recognize. Shao Qiu stood where he was for a moment, then turned and walked toward the main hall behind him. "We won't watch the ghost duels." "Bring the meat. Once we've eaten, we'll be on our way." "Right away, gentlemen!" The waiter did not try to persuade them further. Courteously, he invited them back into the front hall. Seated at the wooden table, Shao Qiu uneasily touched the dagger in his robes. He had been away from Fan Domain for a month now. How could ghost creatures survive in daylight? Unless... Unless the Guandong Plain had already fallen by half, leaving a breach like this. And yet the ghost creatures had not completely overrun the Guandong Plain, which meant the gap in the defense line had been painfully plugged again—or plugged halfway. In short... The Guandong Plain's situation might not be good. Defense Line No. 7 could collapse at any time. Once it collapsed, countless ghost tides would pour through unhindered and push north. Before long they would reach the walls of Jiangbei, and every living thing along the way would die. They had to find out as quickly as possible what state Defense Line No. 7 on the Guandong Plain was in. Roughly how long it could still hold. Whether there were reinforcements. For Fan Domain in Jiangbei, this mattered greatly. Eternal Night Calendar, year 380, early in the second month. A month had already passed since the rainy season. In these days, Fan Domain's name had been sounding constantly across the Guanxi Plain, yet Fan Domain itself made no move. It sat firm in Jiangbei and did not stir. It was developing in peace. What he meant to do was not fight the Guanxi Plain to a standstill. He meant to crush its strongest powers in one thunderous stroke, then lay his high-speed rail lines, signal towers, Silk Road, and the rest all the way across the Guanxi Plain. That way... The Guanxi Plain could also be brought into Fan Domain's territory, and ghost stones would pour out along those veins without end. Chen Fan sat alone on the wall of the Rainy Season Defense Line, calculating Fan Domain's current ghost stone reserves. Within this month, mining on the New Continent had not paused for a moment. Vast quantities of ghost stones and ghost bones had been carried through the undersea tunnel to Fan Domain without cease. Fan Domain's ghost stone reserves had now reached a fairly full figure. 459 million ghost stones. On the New Continent, nearly ten million ghost stones were mined each day. And within this month he had made almost no ghost stone expenditures, so naturally he had saved a very large sum. As for the monthly pay of Fan Domain's members, maintaining the high-speed rail lines, the natural burning of ghost fire, and other such costs, they were nearly negligible. Four years, three hundred million, the Jiangbei Defense Line. He had now completed that goal. Next, it was time to start spending. First he would shape the Jiangbei Defense Line in outline, then perfect it slowly. The Jiangbei coastline. One hundred and seventy kilometers in all. His Rainy Season Defense Line: 14.8 kilometers. Still 155.2 kilometers short. That was 155,200 meters—around 150,000 meters. In the next instant... The Rainy Season Defense Line that wrapped all of Fan Domain, this 14.8-kilometer line of nothing but Level 5 walls, suddenly gave off a thunderous rumble before the eyes of the many trade guilds in Fan City. The wall, like a long dragon, began to move. Then! Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, at the end of the 14.8-kilometer line, a wall phantom formed of white lines slowly appeared and rapidly solidified. The wall extended another stretch. It was a Level 5 wall. At the end of the line, Chen Fan sat astride a skeleton horse on the track atop the wall, looking at the Level 5 wall gradually taking solid form before him. One section of Level 5 wall cost him 3,560 ghost stones. One section was only one meter. He did not hesitate. He spurred the skeleton horse hard and raced toward the dusk ahead! There was no road ahead. But section after section of solidifying Level 5 wall became the road. The defense line kept lengthening: 14.8 kilometers, 14.9, 15, 15.1... Like a miracle. At the same time... The vast store of ghost stones in Fan Domain's warehouse was melting rapidly, turning into milky-white liquid. Pressed against the camp's boundary, it surged toward the wall at a speed almost impossible to follow. At intervals... Chen Fan placed a Level 6 ghost fire on the wall to expand the camp range. Buildings could be constructed only within the camp range. Raising ghost fire to Levels 7, 8, 9, or 10 required heavenly materials and earthly treasures, but a Level 6 ghost fire needed only about a thousand ghost stones. A Level 6 ghost fire provided a camp range two thousand meters in diameter. The legendary qualitative change Great Wall of Ten Thousand Li let him move walls freely within the camp range—but only within the camp range. So long as he built the ghost fires on the wall... That problem was solved. The drawback was obvious. He had tested it. This method was suited only to travel. Ghost fires set on the wall were easily destroyed. If one of them was destroyed, a middle stretch of wall could no longer move, and the whole line would jam on the road. Copper pipes would not do. The wall was wider than the camp range a copper pipe could provide. He had tried to set the ghost fires inside the wall, but he could not. For now, this was the only way to grant the wall a camp range. Used only for travel, it was no problem. If he met an enemy... He would have to change formation at once, fix the wall in place, and quickly lay altars, ghost fires, and other logistics buildings behind it. He did not know how long had passed. The sky gradually darkened. Eternal Night descended. Darkness arrived on schedule and swiftly covered the whole Jiangbei wasteland. But within the Eternal Night, a long dragon kept stretching rapidly forward through the dark. Chen Fan worked from dawn until nightfall. Only when the sun slowly rose again... Did Chen Fan dismount and stand on the wall. He looked up at the darkness rapidly receding and the rising morning sun, then at the heaving sea not far away. After a long while, he smiled. One day and one night. 356 million ghost stones. In exchange for one hundred kilometers of Level 5 wall. The Rainy Season Defense Line had now been extended to 114.8 kilometers. A little more—still 55.2 kilometers short—and the whole outline of his Jiangbei Defense Line would be complete. The ghost stones were no longer enough. Nearly all the ghost stones mined on the New Continent these two months had been poured into this place. He had kept about one hundred million in reserve. Next, he only needed to wait one month. Wait one more month of mining on the New Continent. Then the 170-kilometer Jiangbei Defense Line could be fully built. After that, he would slowly construct a series of logistics buildings: Godslayer Cannons, copper pipes, Anti-Air Cannons, Soul-Devouring Sculptures, and the rest. If nothing unexpected happened along the way... Before the rainy season at the end of this year, the Jiangbei Defense Line could be completely finished—two years ahead of the day the seabed ghost tide would come ashore. Chen Fan turned his head and looked back at the wall, whose end he could not see no matter how far he looked. The Jiangbei Defense Line now truly stood like a natural moat along the Jiangbei coast. A pity it was not yet 170 kilometers. Not perfect enough. He could no longer see where Fan City was. It was too far. "Not bad." Chen Fan gave a light laugh, left the skeleton horse where it was, and casually built a max-level hanging basket. It hovered almost against the wall. Once he stepped in, the max-level hanging basket shot along the wall toward Fan Domain at tremendous speed! Time to go home. In a month, he would come back and finish building the Jiangbei Defense Line. The skeleton horse was too slow on the return. The hanging basket was faster. One month later. Eternal Night Calendar, year 380, early in the third month. Today was a day of harvest. Chen Fan rose early, in high spirits, and only after cheerfully checking the ghost stone reserves in the Fan Domain warehouse did he walk toward the wall. The Rainy Season Defense Line had been fully renamed. It was now the Jiangbei Defense Line. It no longer enclosed Fan Domain's territory. It stood in a nearly straight line along the Jiangbei coast. As for the original position of the Rainy Season Defense Line, he had built another ring of Level 5 wall. Still the same place. Still 14.8 kilometers. It had cost about fifty million ghost stones. He named this wall the Final Defense Line. If the Jiangbei Defense Line were breached, the only meaning of this line would be to give them time to leave their last words. The Jiangbei Defense Line would certainly be upgraded again. Its defensive strength would one day surpass the Final Defense Line. This line's only purpose was to protect most of the buildings inside Fan Domain and shelter Fan Domain's members. And this line was not connected to the Jiangbei Defense Line, so it could not share the legendary qualitative change Great Wall of Ten Thousand Li. It could not be moved at will. It was fixed here. This was also Fan Domain's last line of defense. After a month of hard mining on the New Continent, and the harvests from Jiangbei's four regions over these days, Fan Domain's ghost stone reserves had again reached 410 million. Enough to finish the entire outline of the Jiangbei Defense Line. That was what he had come to do. Chen Fan came to the sea alone, with no one accompanying him, and looked out over waters that were calm yet brewing countless dangers. He climbed the wall and looked at the solitary hanging basket on the track. Once he was inside... The hanging basket raced at tremendous speed along the wall track toward the far end of the Jiangbei Defense Line! The principle of the high-speed rail was this. A hanging basket could rise extremely fast along the surface of a building. It did not have to use a copper pipe as its track. Walls, Godslayer Cannons, altars—any buildings that could be linked could serve as a track. They used copper pipes as tracks simply because copper pipes offered the best value, and for no other reason. Laying one meter of copper pipe cost only one ghost stone. Where else could one find something so cost-effective? Soon... Chen Fan rode the hanging basket to the end of the Jiangbei Defense Line. No one was there. Not a single building had been placed on the wall. Even along a long stretch of the Jiangbei Defense Line, there was not a single defensive structure. But... Left like this in the Eternal Night, no ghost creature could do the line the slightest harm. He stepped out of the hanging basket. A solitary skeleton horse stood quietly there, holding the same posture as a month ago. It was the skeleton horse he had left behind when he departed last month. A skeleton horse had no feelings. It only obeyed orders. Until it received a new order, even if heaven collapsed and the earth split, the skeleton horse would stay where it was and wait for its master's summons. Still 55.2 kilometers short. Chen Fan mounted the skeleton horse, stood at the end of the Jiangbei Defense Line, looked at the empty space ahead, and drew a deep breath. The skeleton horse broke into a rapid gallop. Just as its hooves were about to fall on empty air, a rapidly solidifying Level 5 wall appeared steadily beneath them. The skeleton horse ran on. As if lotuses bloomed beneath its hooves, every stride brought another stretch of Level 5 wall ahead. Only when the sky gradually darkened... Did Chen Fan slowly dismount. Standing on the wall, he looked toward the peak ahead that towered into the clouds. The Jiangbei Defense Line joined tightly to that mountain. These 55.2 kilometers of defense line had cost him nearly two hundred million ghost stones! With that! The 170-kilometer Jiangbei Defense Line had taken shape! Chen Fan stood on the wall, watching the sky gradually darken. He glanced at the cloud-piercing peak beside him, joined to the Jiangbei Defense Line, then looked toward the constantly heaving sea not far away. After a moment, he turned and looked back at the defense line behind him, whose end he could not see. He smiled. A year and a half. A Jiangbei Defense Line 170 kilometers long, all Level 5 walls, all Ghost Blood Patterns, all a no-fly zone—he had completed this thing that could be called a miracle! Just then... Eternal Night descended. The ghost fires set along the wall lit all at once. At a glance, it was like Moses parting the sea: through extremely dense darkness, a corridor covered by ghost fire was opened. At the moment, the top of the wall looked rather bare. Not a single Godslayer Cannon in sight. Not a single Anti-Air Cannon either. But the outline of the 170-kilometer Jiangbei Defense Line was complete. As time passed, the Godslayer Cannons and the other defensive and logistics buildings would be built one by one. Fan Domain would hold Jiangbei when the seabed ghost tide came ashore two and a half years from now! The Jiangbei Defense Line of the ancient battlefield had been Level 4. He did not think that was enough. So his Jiangbei Defense Line was Level 5 wall. But... He still did not think it was enough. If the seabed ghost tide did not come ashore early, he would raise this line to Level 6 wall, so that nothing could go wrong! Chen Fan soon returned to Nameless Mountain. The sky had gradually darkened, and after a day of work he was somewhat tired. He brewed himself a pot of hot tea, sat on the wall of Cave No. 1, and listened to Wang Kui reporting at his ear. "Domain Lord." Wang Kui stood to one side and reported, "It's early in the third month, just the start of spring. Mining on the New Continent has gone well these days. Nothing unexpected has happened." "As for..." "The Guanxi Plain still hasn't found the chicken. The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land sent Fan Domain substantial compensation, and also a letter of several thousand words, saying that Fan Domain and the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land bear no hatred toward each other, that it was all a misunderstanding, and that they are willing to fill that misunderstanding with ghost stones." Chen Fan leaned back in the rocking chair, the corner of his mouth twitching. His plan had been disrupted. His plan was simple: kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, and crush one power on the Guanxi Plain with thunderous force. To deter the other powers with that. He had chosen the chicken long ago. It was the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land, which had once sent people to scheme for the Snow Lotus on Nameless Mountain. But this one's methods were hard for him to read. They had sent three letters in a row. Every letter said that Fan Domain and the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land had no grudge. And compensation came with every letter. The sums were not small. Their attitude was so good that he was almost reluctant to strike. But if he did not slaughter a chicken, it would be hard to display Fan Domain's strength. He had already decided how to kill the chicken. The ghost stones accumulated over these days were enough to build a fleet of flying boats and roll over them in one thunderous stroke. The main thing was... He looked at the letter in his hand and sighed lightly. The views in the letter did not seem wrong. The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land truly had never targeted him directly. Only indirectly. "This won't do." Chen Fan's brows suddenly furrowed. After thinking for a moment, he said, "We have to find a chicken. We have to show our fist. Otherwise, once we lay high-speed rail across the Guanxi Plain, any petty nobody will damage it. Only by showing our fist can we cow the other powers." "Within one month, this chicken must be found." Then he stretched, walked down from the wall, and prepared to wash up and sleep. Today had been tiring. Better to turn in early. He wondered how things were going on Shao Qiu's side. His Jiangbei Defense Line already had its outline. His rear would be left to the Guandong Plain's defense line. He hoped there really was a line there, and that it was not also just the aura that person had left. If it was, he could only laugh. The seabed ghost tide coming ashore in the north—his Fan Domain could hold it. As for a ghost tide coming ashore in the south, whoever wanted it could have it. He could not hold that anyway. When the time came, he would simply contract the Jiangbei Defense Line, shelter Fan Domain inside it, and look after his own. At worst, he would withdraw straight to the New Continent. Live on another continent. If the Eternal Night Continent had only Jiangbei as a gap, and the Eternal Night Frontline was too hard-pressed to send anyone, his Fan Domain could hold. But if the Eternal Night Continent were full of holes, and Jiangbei were not the only gap, then there would be no game left to play... He might as well concede. The New Continent. Night had already fallen. A sea ship slowly entered the port. Several Fan Domain members, their bodies carrying the smell of the sea, walked along the ghost-fire passage formed by copper pipes toward New Continent Outpost No. 1. There were no ghost creatures in the darkness of the New Continent. But no one would rashly enter the Eternal Night either. On one hand, there was the psychological shadow. Even without ghost creatures here, years of that shadow made them unwilling to step into the Eternal Night. On the other... Visibility in the Eternal Night dropped to nothing. It was easy to get lost. If you slipped and fell into the sea and did not climb ashore at once, you would almost certainly lose your life in the sea. "How was it today?" Que Hou stood atop the wall and looked at the returning group. "Reporting to the Pavilion Master, nothing happened today either. The Thunderstorm Sea shows not the slightest sign of collapse." "Mm." Que Hou nodded lightly and waved them into the city. Fan Domain had specially sent a sea ship to watch the area near the Thunderstorm Sea at all times each day. The moment any sign of collapse appeared, it was to be reported at once, so Fan Domain would have time to respond! Only then did he raise his head toward the distant Eternal Night, his thoughts drifting. It had been a long time since he had seen the young master. He did not know how Fan Domain was developing on the young master's side, or whether the Jiangbei Defense Line had been built. Under his management these days, the New Continent had produced almost not a single mistake. Incidents such as secretly hoarding ghost stones had also become rare. For secretly hoarding ghost stones, the first time was a warning and the second time was execution. As for the organizers, the first time was execution on the spot. New Continent Outpost No. 1 was like a machine that never slept. Under the running of that machine, great quantities of ghost stones, ghost bones, and the like were carried through the undersea tunnel to Fan Domain every day. More than two months had now passed since the rainy season ended. He rather wanted to return to Fan Domain. The New Continent. Aboard a flying boat suspended in the air, Wang Mazi frowned at the ghost-skin map in his hands. For these months he had been exploring the New Continent. After leaping that deep crater, he had seen more and more... Cracks. Spreading outward from the very core of the New Continent. And he did not know whether it was an illusion. He vaguely felt that the cracks seemed to be extending outward, only at an extremely slow speed. These past few days he had been tracing the cracks to their source, wanting to see what they actually were. Night fell. He turned and went into the cabin to sleep first. The rest could wait until tomorrow. The Guandong Plain. This plain lay south of the Guanxi Plain. Shao Qiu was leading part of the Dark Pavilion and staying at an inn in a city, his expression faintly grim. He had been away from Fan Domain for two months. Yesterday, he had reached the southernmost end of the Guandong Plain. This place was extremely far from Fan Domain. The distance had long since exceeded the distance from Fan Domain to the New Continent. Even rushing day and night, it had taken him a full two months to get here. And he had seen Defense Line No. 7. The wall was high and covered in bloodstains. It was even taller than the wall of Fan Domain's Rainy Season Defense Line. It was a Level 6 wall. The whole line ran ninety-seven kilometers, nothing but Level 6 wall, sitting on the coast of the southern plain like a natural moat. It looked unbreakable. But in truth... During the rainy season more than two months ago, Defense Line No. 7 had nearly fallen in its entirety. Yes. The Guandong Plain had been lost during the rainy season! Shockingly, not many people knew this news. For many, information was far too closed off. Great ghost tides had broken through Defense Line No. 7 and slaughtered across the Guandong Plain. Now fewer than three in ten remained on the Guandong Plain, and no one knew how many had died. Before Defense Line No. 7 fell and the Guandong Plain was about to be formally lost... The Eternal Night Hall had sent people to check the flood of ghost tides at any cost, held until dawn, and then rapidly repaired Defense Line No. 7. Only then had they endured the whole rainy season. If the Eternal Night Hall had come even a little later... They... Their Fan Domain might already have ceased to exist. Those ghost tides would have pushed north all the way to Fan Domain's gate. For a ghost tide to completely occupy a region, it had to slaughter every human there. Though many had died on the Guandong Plain, it had not been completely occupied. It was only half-occupied. A few ghost creatures could survive under the sun. That was the victor's reward. Ghost creatures living beneath the sun. Those were not good words. They meant this region was about to fall. Even if it was recovered in time... What could fall once could fall a second time. "Eternal Night Hall." Seated on the bed and looking out the window, Shao Qiu silently recited the name. It was an extremely vast organization. Many powers had joined it, responsible for building and maintaining every defense line on the Eternal Night Continent. One could say... It was the Eternal Night Hall that guarded the entire Eternal Night Continent. But now, because the fighting at the front was too urgent, the Eternal Night Hall could no longer spare attention elsewhere. He had heard the name before. Back before Fan Domain had been formally founded, when the Domain Lord asked the elders to propose a name for the power, Wang Mazi had suggested Eternal Night Hall. Shao Qiu had not been present. He had not yet joined Fan Domain then. Wang Mazi had mentioned it afterward in idle talk. There had been a note of feeling in his words. Fan Domain sounded good too, but Eternal Night Hall would have been more imposing. "Pavilion Master." A Dark Pavilion member beside him said uneasily, in a low voice, "Should we return to Fan Domain at once and report this news?" These days, he had been quite happy. As a formal member of Fan Domain, and part of so great a power, no one dared bully him when he went out. He had thought life could go on this peacefully forever, until they were ordered to the Guandong Plain. Only then did he learn the present state of the Eternal Night Continent. Defense Line No. 7 was not the front line of the Eternal Night Continent. It was only a secondary defense line. If even a secondary line had been fought to this miserable state, one could imagine the fighting on the Eternal Night Frontline, where the ghost tides were far greater. In a war like this... The Dark Pavilion could do extremely little. A sense of powerlessness rose in him. He wanted to do something, yet he could do nothing. Even if he fought to the death, he could kill one or two ghost creatures at most before the ghost tide swallowed him. Against a great ghost tide of tens of millions, he could not raise even a ripple. He was not afraid of fighting to the death. He was only afraid that fighting to the death would be useless. Shao Qiu glanced at the subordinate beside him, paused a moment, and then said softly, "Don't rush. Pressure on the defense line surges only during the rainy season. This rainy season has passed, and the next is still months away. During that time, Defense Line No. 7 most likely will not collapse." "Xiao Yi, Xiao Er." "The two of you set out at once for Fan Domain and report the news, so the Domain Lord knows in advance and can prepare himself." "The rest of us will stay on the Guandong Plain these next few months and gather enough information. The specific details of how Defense Line No. 7 collapsed during the rainy season, for instance, and the rough scale of the ghost creatures at the time." "Why it was breached." "Whether there were simply too many ghost tides, or some great ghost led the way as vanguard." "The Dark Pavilion..." "Is not only responsible for assassination. It is also responsible for gathering intelligence. That is our duty." "At dawn tomorrow, come with me and join Defense Line No. 7. We'll learn about it up close." Dawn came quickly. Xiao Yi and Xiao Er of the Dark Pavilion had already mounted skeleton horses and started back, ready to report the news. Shao Qiu led the remaining Dark Pavilion members out of the city in disguise. They headed for Defense Line No. 7, only a few hundred meters from the city. Shao Qiu looked at Defense Line No. 7 before him. Its end was nowhere in sight. The whole line stood by the sea and spread to both sides, thirty meters high. Looking up, the sense of deterrence was extremely strong. The entire line was like a rough giant ruler. Slammed heavily down on the coastline. Splitting the safe zone and the ghost-tide zone apart down the middle. At a glance, the wall clearly showed traces of old and new. The brand-new sections had been repaired after Defense Line No. 7 fell. Atop the wall, cannon towers stood one after another. Now and then, a tongue of pale cold fire shot up from the ground without warning. A wooden stake stood beside it. No one went near. The ground had been dyed black by ghost blood. He did not know what it was, but he guessed it was a contaminated zone left after certain ghost creatures died—something like a flesh worm ghost. Only, the green corrosive liquid a flesh worm ghost burst into after death faded quickly, while the traces left by these ghost creatures lingered and would not vanish. The wall was covered in claw marks of varying depth, acid pits, scorch marks, and more. Shao Qiu looked at the claw marks on the wall, and his expression shifted slightly. They were inside the defense line. Normally, the wall on the inner side should not have so many damaged areas. The color difference between old and new wall was obvious. Many hanging baskets that could rise and fall quickly had been set on the wall, exactly like Fan Domain's high-speed rail, except these were the lowest grade—Level 1—for the garrison to go up and down and to move supplies. People were constantly sending all sorts of ghost-stone weapons and the like up onto the wall. At the foot of the wall... The ghost-creature remains and the garrison's bloodstains from the great battle two months ago had been roughly cleared away, but the earth was still soaked a strange purple-black. Tents, wooden cabins, and the like sat at the wall's foot. A long line was forming now, with many people waiting. The garrison was recruiting. Few people at the scene were speaking. A faint stench hung in the air. He could not tell whether it was the smell of seawater beyond the defense line or the stench of corpses from too many dead. It was extremely hard to bear. Shao Qiu led the Dark Pavilion members into the queue. Their turn came quickly. "Cultivation." "Martial King." The recruiting officer, who had not raised his head the whole time, sat at the desk. For the first time he looked up at Shao Qiu, sized him up and down, and only then nodded lightly. "Thank you for joining. Your number is 179. You belong to Squad Seventy-One of the Third Battalion of Defense Line No. 7. Go to Wooden Cabin No. 31 on the east side and report to your captain. He'll tell you which area you're responsible for defending." "How much is the monthly pay?" Shao Qiu asked on instinct. He was thinking that there were so many people here, far more than Fan Domain, and the monthly pay for so many could not be a small sum. The brush in the recruiting officer's hand suddenly froze in midair. He looked up at Shao Qiu, then past him at the row of Dark Pavilion members behind him. After a pause, he said softly... "From elsewhere?" "From the Guanxi Plain." "Why do you want to join Defense Line No. 7?" "All along the way, the people have no livelihood. It's too wretched to look at. I want to join Defense Line No. 7 and do my part to guard the Guandong Plain. In these troubled times, with a bit of cultivation, I should be able to help." The recruiting officer was silent for a long while. Then he took up the crutch beside him, rose with a limp, and waved over a younger man not far away, signaling him to recruit in his place. He himself walked alone toward the foot of the wall and said hoarsely, with a wave, "Follow me." Shao Qiu looked at the middle-aged man's back, and his pupils contracted slightly. Only now did he notice that both of the man's legs had been severed, cut off nearly at the waist. He walked entirely by alternating the two crutches in his hands, one after the other. But Shao Qiu said nothing. He only led the Dark Pavilion members after him. There were hanging baskets that could take them up Defense Line No. 7. But the middle-aged man leading the way did not ride one. Bracing himself on both crutches, he climbed the winding steps with some difficulty, one step at a time. Panting, he looked back at Shao Qiu's group and said with a smile... "The more a person lacks something, the more he wants to prove it. I'm crippled, but I still don't want people looking at me differently and thinking I'm useless. So except in emergencies, I stubbornly take the steps." "A bit childish." "But once you've stayed here long enough, you'll know too. Few of those who can remain here are normal people." "When you asked about monthly pay, I knew you were from elsewhere. Defense Line No. 7 pays no monthly wage. Everyone here gets food and lodging, but no pay." "There are many kinds of people who join Defense Line No. 7, but they all share one thing. They don't want to live." "This world is rotten through." "Some want to hide in the rear and pray that those in front hold, so they can survive one more calamity." "Some want to stand on the front line. Even if not a scrap of their corpse remains, at least the death will have been splendid." "If none of them want to live, what use are ghost stones? Defense Line No. 7 doesn't even have enough ghost stones for itself." "What's more..." "Holding the ghost tides depends mainly on Defense Line No. 7. Even if you're a Martial King, you're almost useless against a ghost tide. You can join the Cleansing Squad. In battle, they're mainly responsible for the ghost creatures that break through the firepower and get onto the wall." "There aren't many people around now." "Most are asleep. After all, night is when the ghost creatures come out." "Those with low cultivation mainly handle transport—ghost stones, corpses, food, and the like. After dawn, they go out of the city to dig up ghost stones and pick up exotic treasures." "Those with high cultivation handle the cleansing." "I truly didn't expect people from the Guanxi Plain to come help the Guandong Plain." Following behind, Shao Qiu frowned and said, "Defense Line No. 7 isn't only the Guandong Plain's defense line. It's the Guanxi Plain's as well. If the Guandong Plain falls, how could the Guanxi Plain hold?" The middle-aged man ahead suddenly stopped, turned, and looked carefully at Shao Qiu's group, his eyes red. After a moment he suddenly smiled and turned to walk on. His voice gradually sank. "If everyone could see reason as you do, that would be good." "The Guanxi Plain doesn't have a single defense line. Wrapped up in the middle, they act as if they're absolutely safe. There were many reasons Defense Line No. 7 fell during the rainy season. One of them was that there weren't enough ghost stones." "Before the rainy season began, we knew the ghost stones would certainly run short, so we sent letters to every power on the Guanxi Plain, hoping they would contribute some ghost stones. But... in the end, only a few dozen powers contributed." "Of the strongest powers on the Guanxi Plain, only the Zhanxian Holy Land was willing to lend a hand. The others turned a deaf ear, as if they had never received the letter." "Many times..." "I think we might as well let Defense Line No. 7 fall completely." "When the ghost tide reaches the Guanxi Plain, I'm very curious about the expressions on the faces of those powers there. I want to see whether the walls they're so proud of can hold the ghost tide coming up from the seabed." "But..." "I only think that way in moments when I waver. Defense Line No. 7 cannot collapse." "My father and my son both died here. They gave their lives to hold this defense line. I can't become a deserter either. Those who join Defense Line No. 7 all had family killed by ghost creatures. They came for revenge." "We aren't fighting to protect everyone under heaven." "We're fighting to avenge the kin who died." The middle-aged man stopped again and turned to Shao Qiu. "I'm very grateful that you came to the Guandong Plain in person to join Defense Line No. 7. But... I don't want you holding the idea of fighting to protect everyone under heaven. Because once..." "Once you realize that the people of the world don't deserve you fighting for them, your belief will collapse." "Here..." "A collapse of belief is a terrifying thing. It will make your death several times more painful." As he spoke... The middle-aged man had already climbed onto the wall. The top of Defense Line No. 7 was extremely wide. Several carriages drawn by skeleton horses were racing along the wall, hauling supplies, and nearby several architects were inspecting the cannon towers set on the wall. The middle-aged man led Shao Qiu and the others to the battlement facing the sea. Gazing into the distance, toward the dark, profound, constantly surging sea, he murmured... "There's a power on the Guanxi Plain called the Hantian Sect." "One of the top powers of Guanxi." "Even if the other powers didn't lend a hand, they merely ignored us. Only the people of this power sent us aid—but it was aid of a single ghost stone." "Sending someone here costs more than that." "It was like mocking aid. It actually made everyone a bit angry." "But..." "That ghost stone still became a shell fired at the ghost tide. It counted as a little help." "I don't know whether Defense Line No. 7 can last through the rainy season at year's end. The fighting on the Eternal Night Frontline is already so urgent that they can hardly spare anyone even outside the rainy season. There's no time to build the Jiangbei defense line either. Perhaps..." "The Eternal Night Continent's allotted span has truly run out." Shao Qiu stood on the wall in silence and said nothing. He only looked out over the sea. The sea here was darker than the sea at Jiangbei. Beyond the defense line, the shore had been completely dyed by ghost blood into a purple-black shot through with lights of every color. Many people, like ants, were now digging ghost stones out of the bodies of ghost creatures and packing them into bags beside them. This was a defense line that had only just come through a great battle.