Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1

Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1 Soon, he sensed something was off. Columns of rain, as nearly solid as Heaven-Reaching Pillars, fell from the sky onto him, yet they carried little sting. Like spring rain nourishing all things, warm currents surged through his body. As though he might float away. This was "the jade rain descends, the Heavenly Dao bestows its blessing"... After figuring out what was going on, he stopped worrying. A short while later, the heavy rain slowly faded. Not a cloud for ten thousand li. There was no trace that it had just rained. No puddles lay on the ground, and even his clothes were not wet. Not bad. Chen Fan smiled and looked at Weiwei lying to one side. Aside from feeling his body grow lighter and his lifespan seem to have lengthened, he did not sense much effect from this Heavenly Dao blessing. But that was already enough. All of Fan Domain's max-level buildings had gained the Heavenly Dao blessing effect. Even something like max-level farmland—the sort of building he absolutely would never pour Heavenly Dao Stones into unless he had more than he could ever spend—had received it too. It was equivalent to gaining a dozen or so Heavenly Dao Stones all at once. Measured by the price of Heavenly Dao Stones. This harvest from Fan Domain guarding Jiangbei during the rainy season was by no means small. Most importantly— he looked at the Eternal Night Lord panel deep in his soul. As for the panel for the "Bridge" building, he would never use Heavenly Dao Stones on a bridge. After all, bridges did not serve all that much purpose for Fan Domain. It was merely a means of spanning water, connecting two places, and letting the high-speed rail pass through. It was not worth a single Heavenly Dao Stone. But. If not for this, he would never have known that a building like the "Bridge" could have this kind of Heavenly Dao blessing effect. "'Bridge' has gained three Heavenly Dao blessing effects. Choose one within a hundred breaths." "A building may possess only one Heavenly Dao blessing effect." "You have already made your choice." "Heavenly Dao blessing effect (Magpie Bridge Meeting): Newlyweds who marry on the bridge may receive the Heavenly Dao's protection. The newlyweds may make a wish for their descendants to become a certain kind of special cultivator; there is a certain probability it will come true, but the descendant must be the offspring of this couple." Put simply. For example, if he were to take a wife now and hold the wedding on the bridge, wishing his child become an architect, then his child would have a certain chance of becoming an architect. Exactly how large a chance was unknown, but it was certainly higher than before. And if his brain got a little sick and he wanted his child to become a Nightwatcher, that was fine too. Chen Fan grinned. He did not know how much longer the Eternal Night Continent could hold out, but he planned to promote this bridge in Jiangbei. That way, in a dozen or so years there would be quite a few more architects, and these architects would all become part of Fan Domain's foundation. Architects he had personally cultivated. Fan Domain actually had a real need for some architects. For something like laying copper pipes there was no help for it—only he could do it. But for things like laying bridges and building stations, he could fully hand them over to other architects. Though other architects could not build as fast as he could, and consumed more resources than he did. But at least it was better than him running all over the place himself. He was stretched too thin. Once Fan Domain kept developing in the future, if every building had to be built by him alone, how could he possibly keep up? Beyond that. There were many more Heavenly Dao blessing effects on max-level buildings that he had never imagined. This time had truly given him a great surprise. For instance— "'Hanging Basket' has gained three Heavenly Dao blessing effects. Choose one within a hundred breaths." "A building may possess only one Heavenly Dao blessing effect." "You have already made your choice." "Heavenly Dao blessing effect (Drawing Water with a Bamboo Basket Comes to Nothing): Size at will, and extremely sturdy." The hanging basket. That was the Fan Domain high-speed rail. It had originally had one drawback: the hanging basket's space was limited and could not hold anything too large. To transport large quantities of supplies, a car long enough had to be built. Now, with this effect, the hanging basket's size could be increased along both the horizontal and vertical dimensions, greatly boosting Fan Domain's transport capacity. These Heavenly Dao blessing effects were all carefully selected by him. They seemed inconspicuous. But in fact they all matched what Fan Domain needed to the greatest degree. When he truly could not pick anything suitable, he would still try his best to pick a headline act. And of course, the headline act was the long-yearned-for "Heaven-Reaching Pillar." The whole reason he had come to the port was to use one of the two Heavenly Dao Stones harvested during the rainy season on the Heaven-Reaching Pillar. Now he could only count himself fortunate that his back-and-forth return trip had delayed him a little; otherwise, he would have used the Heavenly Dao Stone first, and only then would the jade rain have descended. He would have been upset. Very upset. "'Heaven-Reaching Pillar' has gained three Heavenly Dao blessing effects. Choose one within a hundred breaths." "A building may possess only one Heavenly Dao blessing effect." "You have already made your choice." "Heavenly Dao blessing effect (One Qi Begets Three Pure Ones): A launched Heaven-Reaching Pillar, upon reaching the airspace above the target location, will split into three Heaven-Reaching Pillars, each with power equal to the main body." "Heh." Chen Fan could not help but smile in satisfaction. Now Fan Domain's strategic weapon, the "Heaven-Reaching Pillar," had become even more strategic. It just so happened that Fan Domain now had ten billion ghost stones, so he could stockpile some Heaven-Reaching Pillars first. After all, a single max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar was cheap to build. Only 455,000 ghost stones. It just took a bit longer to store energy—a max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar needed a full year to store its energy. After all this was done. he walked aside and picked up the sound transmission talisman and Mother-Child Stone he had tossed away earlier. Just now, while he had been busy choosing Heavenly Dao blessing effects, someone had kept contacting him, nearly making him lose his temper. Only now that he was free did he pick them up and check them one by one. "Mm, Quehou's, Qi Chong's, Wang Mazi's, and... Qiu Yisi's?" Chen Fan looked at the Mother-Child Stone in his hand and paused. He suddenly remembered—had he just cursed at Qiu Yisi a moment ago? The corner of his mouth twitched. He activated the Mother-Child Stone and got through to Qiu Yisi. "About before—" "Think nothing of it." Before he could say more, Qiu Yisi's helpless laughter came from the other side. "Nothing much—I just wanted to congratulate you. Fan Domain successfully held Jiangbei. And I'll pass along some good news while I'm at it." "At the very end of the rainy season, not a single front on the Eternal Night Front fell." "The rainy season is over." "We get to develop for another year." "Congratulations to you." "Same to you." Chen Fan smiled too, feeling somewhat embarrassed inside. A man of seventy or eighty, and one of high standing in the Eternal Night Hall, getting a blunt "scram" thrown in his face—it was a little inappropriate, all things considered. After all that, he got through to Wang Mazi and the others. It was nothing much; they were all just telling him that it was raining in Jiangbei. Bored, the lot of them. Did he not know whether it was raining in Jiangbei or not? He was right there in Jiangbei, and he had not gone far. No, wait— Wang Mazi and the others might really not have known he was in Jiangbei. After all, he had told them he was leaving for a while to lay roads, so they genuinely did not know he had turned back midway and returned to Fan Domain. Fan Domain, Sunset City. Chen Fan stood leaning on his cane, looking at Tian Yi, whose spirit and energy had returned to their peak, and smiled. "Looks like you've fully recovered?" "Whew—" Tian Yi drew a deep breath, then dropped to one knee and lowered his head, saying in a low voice, "Thank you, Domain Master, for granting me new life. From now on, this life of mine belongs to Fan Domain. I want... I want to stay in Fan Domain and work for the Domain Master." Standing to one side, Qi Chong watched the scene with some emotion. Yet he could not help wondering: if Tian Yi stayed in Fan Domain, what position would he hold? He would almost certainly join the War Pavilion. In terms of strength, he would have to be at least a deputy pavilion master. But in terms of seniority, it was hard to say. Still, ever since Da Yu had voluntarily stepped down, the War Pavilion's deputy pavilion master position had indeed remained vacant. "Why not go back to the Eternal Night Hall?" "I'm not going back." Tian Yi shook his head. "Even my own master betrayed me. I don't know who else in the Eternal Night Hall I could trust. I don't want to stay in a place where I can't even trust my comrades. Fan Domain... there is no betrayal here." "I'm not afraid of dying in battle." "But I don't want the cause of my death to be a dagger thrust into my back by a comrade." Chen Fan paused for a moment, then looked at Tian Yi and said softly. "Fan Domain is not where you should be. You should go back to the Eternal Night Hall." "First." "I don't have a single person in the Eternal Night Hall I can absolutely trust. I trust you. If you return to the Eternal Night Hall, then I'll have someone trustworthy there." "Second." "In the future, Fan Domain will cooperate with the Eternal Night Hall to fight the ghost tide together. But Fan Domain does not want its people to die for nothing because of traitors within the Eternal Night Hall. I need someone there to tell me the real situation, and some of the traces beneath the undercurrents." "Third." "I can tell that your strength is now a level higher than before, and with merits to your name. Once you go back, your position will surely rise another level. When you stand high enough, it will be easier for you to weed out the traitors in the Eternal Night Hall." Tian Yi did not speak. He only rose blankly, the light in his eyes suddenly dimming a shade. He had not expected Chen Fan to refuse to let him stay in Fan Domain. These past days he had greatly envied the atmosphere in Fan Domain—no betrayal, no traitors. This was a place where he wanted to shine and put his talents to use. But. Soon he suddenly thought of something. Hesitantly, he said. "Then... could I join Fan Domain first, and then return to the Eternal Night Hall?" "Of course. Fan Domain welcomes you. In a little while, Qi Chong will take you to collect a set of Fan Domain attire and an identity token. For now you'll be under the Dark Pavilion; Shao Qiu is your direct superior. Contact him day to day, but you may report important information directly to me." Chen Fan smiled. This fellow was simply too clever—one hint and he understood. That was exactly what he had meant. Old Qiu had been decent to deal with, but Chen Fan still could not be completely at ease with him; after all, he was not one of their own. Tian Yi was different. Simple. He was someone very hard for the Ghost Clan to corrupt. Most importantly, Tian Yi had already proven with his life that he was not that kind of petty man, and Fan Domain had the debt of saving his life. Placing such a person into the Eternal Night Hall would give Chen Fan a firsthand source of information on the Eternal Night Hall's movements. "Understood." Tian Yi smiled, the light blooming in his eyes once more, and dropped to one knee again. "Tian Yi of Fan Domain pays his respects to the Domain Master." This seemed even better. Not only had he joined Fan Domain, but he could also root out the traitors in the Eternal Night Hall. After all this was done. Chen Fan then left Sunset City and rode the Fan Domain high-speed rail to the port. Watching the passing crowds recede quickly beyond the window, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. This was good. After arriving at the port. Chen Fan came to an area of the Jiangbei Wasteland behind the port. There, at his instruction, a large expanse of ground had already been cleared, ready to store "Heaven-Reaching Pillars." But before deciding on the exact quantity to store. he needed to run an experiment. This experiment would determine how many he should stockpile. A max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar had a very long range—it could strike all the way to the "Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line," and also to the "Eternal Night Western Black Tortoise Front No. 1." But any farther than that and it could not reach. He had to test whether the Heaven-Reaching Pillar could be moved; only then could he decide whether to build enough of them in this area. Otherwise, he would have to extend "Earth Gold cables" and build several "secret Heaven-Reaching Pillar bases" in the interior of the Eternal Night Continent and along various coastal regions, to ensure that Fan Domain's bombardment range was large enough. Only, such bases would be easy to lose. After all, with a footprint spread so wide, it was hard to cover everything, and no matter how much Earth Gold he had, it certainly would not be enough to build that many. "Put your backs into it!" "One, two, pull!" "One, two, pull!" In this cleared area, a freshly built level-one Heaven-Reaching Pillar stood upright on the Jiangbei Wasteland, and near this massive pillar, fully several hundred meters tall. a total of seven flying boats hovered above and below. On each flying boat stood a good number of Fan Domain War Pavilion members, all of them at fully tempered Martial King cultivation. Each gripped a rope, pulling with all their might, teeth gritted. These were no ordinary ropes. They were the max-level building "Cable," which Chen Fan had just built. Its max-level effect was to be extremely sturdy, and after gaining the Heavenly Dao blessing, the effect made it even sturdier. It could be said that even some whip weapons of the exotic treasure class were not as tough as this cable. Case in point: right now it bore the weight of a several-hundred-meter Heaven-Reaching Pillar without the slightest problem. Under the force of all those Martial Kings. the Heaven-Reaching Pillar standing on the ground began to tilt slowly, descending toward the ground at a steady, gentle pace. Behind the Heaven-Reaching Pillar. were three "Giant Tortoises" connected to it by cables. The three giant tortoises were pulling the cables in the opposite direction, ensuring the pillar's tilting descent would not be too fast. This was one of the Vehicle Workshop's vehicles: enormous in size, slow in speed, but immensely strong in load-bearing—quite good for assisting with large-scale engineering. And below the Heaven-Reaching Pillar. was an enlarged Fan Domain high-speed rail: a single sufficiently large hanging basket turned into a rail car, hovering steadily above the ground. The original hanging basket had been enclosed on all four sides. Shielding from wind and rain. This hanging basket below had clearly been modified—over half of it cut away, leaving only a single layer of base plate. Soon, amid the shouting of the crowd. the level-one Heaven-Reaching Pillar was set down steadily onto the waiting Fan Domain high-speed rail below, kicking up clouds of dust. Everyone worked in concert. The Fan Domain members stationed below, responsible for operating the high-speed rail, made fine adjustments as the pillar was about to settle onto it, ensuring the cables binding the pillar would slot exactly into the grooves of the base plate. Then. with a slight pull from the Fan Domain members standing by, the cables binding the pillar were quickly drawn out of the grooves. Perfect. Cheers rose from the Fan Domain members all around. The people of this world had never lived through a great age of infrastructure, so to them, setting a several-hundred-meter Heaven-Reaching Pillar steadily onto a high-speed rail was already a great undertaking on par with a miracle. Chen Fan, leaning on his jade cane and watching the whole scene unfold from the side, could not help but smile too. The Heaven-Reaching Pillar was fully several hundred meters tall. Like a hundred-story tower. Only a little shorter than Nameless Mountain. This really was no small undertaking. He suddenly realized that even a building of white grade could actually be very useful—take the utterly unremarkable "Cable," for instance. A rope tough enough could let them do a great many things. On top of that. the hanging basket could now change size at will and grow enormous—at its limit, just large enough to hold a single "Heaven-Reaching Pillar." And thanks to the Heavenly Dao blessing effect, the hanging basket had become extremely sturdy, able to bear even the pillar's weight. Such a huge Heaven-Reaching Pillar, laid out like this on the Jiangbei Wasteland—any Fan Domain member walking beside it looked like a tiny figurine. Looking up, one could see how tall the pillar was, yet it was hard to grasp intuitively. Only when this thing lay crosswise on the Jiangbei Wasteland could one truly see just what a colossal object it was! But this was not yet perfect. There still had to be an experiment. The next moment— the Fan Domain high-speed rail began racing along its track toward the depths of the Jiangbei Wasteland, incredibly fast, essentially no different from usual. A few breaths later. Chen Fan selected the Dead Sea as the bombing target. The "Heaven-Reaching Pillar" lying crosswise on the speeding high-speed rail began to vibrate slowly. Then its outer shell began to crack and fall away, scattering across the Jiangbei Wasteland. A smaller version of the Heaven-Reaching Pillar, its tail spewing thunder, broke out of its shell and shot swiftly skyward. Trailing a deep blue exhaust flame, it blasted straight toward the Dead Sea. Before long. "Boom—" a faint explosion sounded from the Dead Sea. The Fan Domain members crowded onto the flying boats to watch, and upon seeing this from high in the air, all clapped and cheered excitedly. Fan Domain's cohesion could rank among the best on the entire Eternal Night Continent. A generous enough monthly wage was only one part of it. The other part— was that most Fan Domain members had experienced Fan Domain's rise bit by bit. Every member had contributed to Fan Domain more or less, and together they had lived through and witnessed so much. Cohesion was born naturally. Miracles were the thing most likely to give rise to cohesion, and in Fan Domain, they had witnessed miracles—and they longed to witness more. Chen Fan smiled, smiling very happily. At last— five years ago he had come to this world—a strange world where ghost creatures ran rampant and powerful enemies lurked on every side. Starting from his first Ghost Fire, his first arrow tower, he had built his base in Jiangbei bit by bit. In these five years. he had not dared slack off for a single moment, terrified that one great battle would drain Fan Domain's foundation, that one ghost tide would bury all his hopes. But now. he could finally thump his chest and say that Fan Domain had already taken on considerable scale. "Fan Domain mobile cruise missile: test detonation successful." This meant that as long as he was willing, he could lay enough high-speed rail track to launch a Fan Domain cruise missile to any location on the Eternal Night Continent. That way he would no longer need to build any Fan Domain missile bases abroad. He could build them all in his own home base. Whenever bombardment of an extremely distant area was needed, that would be the moment for the Fan Domain high-speed rail to move out, hauling one "Fan Domain cruise missile" after another to the designated launch area. Of course. This way it would certainly be a bit slower; there was no way to arrive in a few dozen breaths like the reinforcement of the "Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line." If Fan Domain missile bases were built across the various regions of the Eternal Night Continent, then real-time support to every region would be possible. Only. he felt that if every region of the Eternal Night Continent needed Fan Domain's real-time support just to hold out, then the Eternal Night Continent might as well fall. Fan Domain was not so formidable as to support every region of the Eternal Night Continent. If it came to that. he would have to start buying up large quantities of seeds, poultry, and the like, and prepare to lead the Fan Domain members in evacuating the New Continent. He would counterattack later—the Eternal Night Continent would certainly have to be abandoned. So then, the Fan Domain members got busy again. They began to select a new "missile reserve area." Since it was confirmed that the Fan Domain cruise missiles could be moved, they needed to find a larger area to house them. The port was a bit unsuitable now. It was too small here, and too conspicuous. It was also close to "Fan City" and "Sunset City," areas Fan Domain would focus on developing in the future—every inch of land precious. Using it to house missiles was a bit of a waste. In the end. the location was chosen behind "Nameless Mountain"—the large expanse of land beside the "Ghost Creature Processing Plant." The area was vast and sparsely populated; hardly any Fan Domain members came near it, and usually only the members responsible for processing ghost creatures came here. It was just right for housing them. "Whew—" Chen Fan let out a long breath and rubbed his hands together. Setting aside the matter of laying the sky rail for now, he stood on the flying boat and looked down at the large expanse of empty ground below, then at the Heaven-Reaching Pillar building on the Eternal Night Lord panel, and confirmed construction. Soon, a phantom of the Heaven-Reaching Pillar, formed of white lines, swiftly emerged. As a large amount of ghost stone liquid surged out through the copper pipes nearby, it quickly solidified. Settling firmly onto the ground. One max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar was complete. One, two, three—the Heaven-Reaching Pillars came down one after another. The Fan Domain members had been busy for quite a while, and one of their tasks was marking the ground. On the ground, they drew large circles one after another with a scarlet liquid. Chen Fan only needed to build the Heaven-Reaching Pillars inside these circles. Something like that. Yes. The only purpose of these circles was to ensure the built Heaven-Reaching Pillars were arranged extremely neatly, though it did add some extra work. But. when it came to building, Chen Fan had just a tiny bit of a mild obsessive streak. For instance, the 200 "altars" inside Nameless Mountain that supplied holy water to the Jiangbei Defense Line were all arranged together just as neatly. If, back on the New Continent, having the Logistics Pavilion survey and mark the ground had been to save on the number of Ghost Fires and make greater use of each Ghost Fire's range, then having the Logistics Pavilion mark the ground now was purely his own private desire at work. Gradually. the setting sun emerged at the horizon. Chen Fan had been busy all day, and the sky gradually darkened—the Eternal Night was about to descend. Standing on the deck of the flying boat, Chen Fan gazed down at the 2,000 max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillars arranged so neatly below, and murmured, somewhat dazed. "A work of art, a perfect work of art..." The two thousand Heaven-Reaching Pillars were arranged extremely neatly, and across the ground ran "Earth Gold lines," distributed neatly among the pillars. They ran at right angles. Not a single curve or casually strung wire anywhere. Just as some people, when doing the plumbing and wiring at home, insist on everything running straight and square. It used a little more Earth Gold, but the beauty of it was absolute. He called it, "visualized visual beauty." Of course. The Earth Gold lines could have been buried underground, which would be safer and more concealed, but no one came near this place day to day, and the Heaven-Reaching Pillars needed no upkeep. Two thousand Heaven-Reaching Pillars stood here. Against the gradually darkening sky, those Earth Gold lines glimmered in deep blue and fish-belly white, distributed evenly and orderly among them. Like Van Gogh's Starry Night, they made it impossible to look away at first glance. "I'm done for." Standing on the flying boat's deck, looking at this cluster of Heaven-Reaching Pillars in the dusk, he suddenly realized something—he might not bear to use the Heaven-Reaching Pillars here. These two thousand Heaven-Reaching Pillars had cost him 900 million ghost stones. In a year—that is, after next year's rainy season ended—their energy storage would be complete. Only. if he used even one Heaven-Reaching Pillar, the perfect arrangement here would be ruined. The beauty of it would be shattered in an instant. "Domain Master." Zhou Mo's voice came through the sound transmission talisman. "Shall I have the War Pavilion members move all the Heaven-Reaching Pillars near the port over to behind Nameless Mountain?" "It'd also let them get some practice moving Heaven-Reaching Pillars, so they'll be faster and more in sync in the future." "No need." Chen Fan shook his head, rejecting the suggestion. Then he lowered the flying boat a little and built a ring of huge level-one city walls around this expanse of Heaven-Reaching Pillars. Before long. Logistics Pavilion members arrived quickly aboard the Fan Domain high-speed rail, carrying four large wooden plaques on their shoulders. They nailed one onto each of the four sides of the city wall. "Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1." "That's more like it." Chen Fan looked at the wooden plaque and nodded in satisfaction. "What do you mean, "behind Nameless Mountain"? It has its own proper name now—Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1." "And I'm not letting just any old rubbish get dumped in here." At this moment, in his heart, these 2,000 Heaven-Reaching Pillars were like good little children. As for that batch of Heaven-Reaching Pillars at the port—those things that ruined the aesthetic—he would find an opportunity to fire them all off. Of course, that was just talk. The Heaven-Reaching Pillars at the port were all fully charged, so they certainly could not be wasted casually. But they truly were no longer suited to being at the port, so he would have them all moved to the other side behind Nameless Mountain, and let the War Pavilion people get some practice along the way. Say what you will. Martial Kings plus Giant Tortoises plus Cable—it was quite a handy combination. It could accomplish many large-scale projects that Fan Domain had not been able to do before. At the very least, for a project like moving Heaven-Reaching Pillars—never mind Fan Domain; as for how many forces on the Eternal Night Continent could do it, he did not know the exact number, but he was certain there were not many. Knocking down a Heaven-Reaching Pillar was much easier, but moving one multiplied the difficulty many times over. By now the sky had darkened. Chen Fan returned to Cave No. 1 and went to sleep. That night. he dreamed of his "Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1" all night. Who knew what he dreamed about—in his sleep the corners of his mouth lifted now and then, like a cat's while it slept, as though he were smiling. Dawn broke! Chen Fan eagerly threw on his clothes, dashed out of Nameless Mountain, and took a flying boat to "Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1." It was building all the same. but building a missile base got him far more fired up than building the sky rail. Mainly, building the sky rail took too long, and the process was rather too dull and tedious—though once it was done, the sense of accomplishment was considerable. Today, on the second day after the rainy season ended—the second day of winter—he would build another missile reserve base. A reserve of two thousand max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillars was not enough; he wanted four thousand. In the past, when he had no ghost stones, that was one thing. Now that he had plenty of ghost stones. they were meant to be used, weren't they. Last time, reinforcing the "Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line" had used up fifty-five max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillars. True, that was because he had used a strategic weapon as an ordinary weapon, but he believed the main reason was still that his reserves had been too few. As long as his reserves were large enough. what was the loss of fifty-five max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillars? By the time he reached the rear mountain of Nameless Mountain. a large number of Fan Domain Logistics Pavilion and War Pavilion members were already busy there. They had worked through the night, and this morning a fresh shift had taken over to keep working. In total, two more areas had been cleared. The main task was leveling the ground and clearing away all the weeds, dead trees, and the like. One of the areas was smaller. Right now, huge Heaven-Reaching Pillars one after another were being hauled here by the Fan Domain high-speed rail. This area, Chen Fan named "Fan Domain Temporary Missile Reserve Base," mainly for storing that batch of Heaven-Reaching Pillars moved over from the port. And in the other, larger cleared area, level with "Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1," in perfect alignment, directly behind it. Red circles had already been marked on the ground, in perfect alignment with the red circles on the ground of Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 1. The working attitude of a faction's people was often determined by its head. If the head were a sloppy sort who cared only about efficiency, then the people below would work the same way. But if the head were someone with just a bit of an obsessive streak and a fixation on details, then the people below would unconsciously lean toward that as well. For instance. last night he had only instructed the Logistics Pavilion to clear another area and had not even mentioned marking the ground, yet the Logistics Pavilion had already marked it just as he would have wished. "Not bad." Chen Fan grinned. A phantom of a Heaven-Reaching Pillar, formed of white lines, swiftly emerged and quickly solidified. Then. one, two, three. After 900 million ghost stones were poured in, two thousand max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillars once again stood in neat ranks across this area. He built another ring of level-one city walls, enclosing this area squarely on all sides. And he began laying the Earth Gold lines once more. When he finished laying them. the Logistics Pavilion had already hung the wooden plaque of "Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 2" on all four walls of this area. "Little Qiu is getting better and better at getting things done." Chen Fan looked at Little Qiu amid the crowd, busy directing the work, a flicker of appreciation in his eyes. At the very start, the Logistics Pavilion had only been responsible for simple tasks like forging identity tokens and banners. But as Fan Domain developed. the Logistics Pavilion had more and more to be responsible for. Unlike Wang Kui, who had served as a war chief for thirteen years before joining Fan Domain and thus already possessed both management ability and the capacity to handle pressure. Little Qiu, on the other hand, had never been a station chief; he had merely been a subordinate of Station Chief Wang Kui before. Chen Fan had always been a little worried that Little Qiu might not withstand the pressure. But unexpectedly. Little Qiu had grown faster than he had imagined. With Little Qiu at the helm, the Logistics Pavilion truly handled all of Fan Domain's logistics, great and small, and so far had not made any major mistakes. The importance of logistics to a faction went without saying. Someone who could do this job well was hard to find. As for Zhou Mo, though. Chen Fan looked at Zhou Mo, hollering orders not far away, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. The War Pavilion was one of Fan Domain's martial departments, but lately Zhou Mo was looking more and more like a construction foreman. Those Martial Kings under his command—if you put a hard hat on each of them, every one of them would look like a seasoned master builder. There was a bit of a mismatch. but as long as it worked, that was fine. Take the Commerce Pavilion. It had originally been responsible for trade, but since it was set up it had rarely engaged in any trade. For the first few years it had been in charge of exploration, and now it had simply become an air force, responsible for controlling all of Fan Domain's fully equipped combat flying boats—including even the basic-class transport flying boats, which were all under the Commerce Pavilion's name. A Commerce Pavilion possessing a hundred fully equipped flying boats—it sounded bizarre. Back when they reinforced the Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line, it had been he and Wang Mazi leading the team there together. But... the Commerce Pavilion really did have the most experience using flying boats. Other Fan Domain members could only start a flying boat simply enough, while Commerce Pavilion members could already do somersaults in the air with theirs. He had no idea how they managed it. He had tried it himself. It didn't work. Luckily he had been flying high enough, and managed to steady the flying boat in midair. Otherwise— Chen Fan, master of Fan Domain in Jiangbei, sovereign of a whole domain, having died in an accidental fall while messing around with a flying boat. That kind of news spreading across the Western Desolate Isle would be no glorious thing; he would not even rest easy in death. By the time he finished building "Fan Domain Missile Reserve Base No. 2," it was already mid-afternoon. Standing on the flying boat's deck, Chen Fan gazed down in satisfaction at the two completed "Fan Domain missile bases." That sense of contentment and accomplishment made him feel fantastic right now. Let's put it this way. Even the most beautiful woman, if he stared at her for the length of a cup of tea, he would basically get tired of looking. But if he stared at these two bases, he could look at them all day without tiring of it. He even felt a bit reluctant to travel far anymore. He just wanted to stay in Fan Domain. Just then— the sound transmission talisman in his bosom carried Tian Yi's voice. "Domain Master, I'm preparing to return to the Eternal Night Hall. I set out today." "Mm." Chen Fan thought for a moment, then said, "Have Wang Kui bring you to the Fan Domain missile reserve base. I'm here." Soon. Tian Yi arrived by Fan Domain high-speed rail. He had just stepped down from the rail and taken in the scene before him when he froze in place. This was a sight he had never seen before. So many— huge pillars. Hidden behind Nameless Mountain, he truly had not been able to see these pillars while he was in Sunset City. But this morning he had seen the huge pillars outside the city at the port being moved. He had observed them closely for quite a while at the time. After all, he had never seen such a large-scale project before. It had made him a bit eager to join in and help with the hauling. Now it seemed they had all been moved here. He also did not know what these pillars were all for. "Tian Yi, come here." The flying boat Chen Fan stood on slowly descended to the ground. Standing on the deck, he beckoned to Tian Yi, who had come down from the high-speed rail. Once Tian Yi boarded the flying boat, it began to rise into the air again. Putting an arm around Tian Yi's shoulder, he pointed at the neatly arranged Heaven-Reaching Pillars below and smiled. "Since you've joined Fan Domain, you should get to know a bit of Fan Domain's foundation too." "Every one of these Heaven-Reaching Pillars is a Fan Domain missile of the kind that reinforced the Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line that day." "That said," "they are still in the energy-storage state right now, and it will be quite a long while before they finish storing energy." He had to let Tian Yi in on a little something; otherwise Tian Yi would get the vague feeling that he was still an outsider. Tian Yi stared somewhat blankly at the several thousand Heaven-Reaching Pillars below. Over these past days he had already learned of the battle at the Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line that day, and he already knew that if Fan Domain's support had not come in time, the Yellow Springs Mouth Defense Line would have fallen. And the might of the Heaven-Reaching Pillars was, naturally, of the utmost importance. "Then isn't this place equivalent to several thousand Level 20 Nightwatchers that can be activated at any moment?" "Mm." Chen Fan hesitated slightly. The original max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar did not cover as large an area as a "Level 20 Nightwatcher"—a Level 20 Nightwatcher's coverage was about twice that of a max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar. But great ghosts that a Level 20 Nightwatcher could not blow apart, a max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar could blow apart. In terms of raw power, the max-level Heaven-Reaching Pillar was still a bit greater. One advantage offsetting the other, they came out to roughly the same. But now the "Heaven-Reaching Pillar" had the Heavenly Dao blessing effect—One Qi Begets Three Pure Ones—one worth three. So they could hardly be counted as the same anymore. Chen Fan tilted his head and thought for a moment before speaking. "Roughly, yes. You can understand it that way." "Several thousand Level 20 Nightwatchers that can be activated at any moment..." A flicker of complex emotion passed through Tian Yi's eyes. "Domain Master, all the Nightwatchers belonging to the western Eternal Night Hall, of every level combined, don't even add up to this many." "This many must have consumed a huge amount of ghost stones, surely?" "Quite a lot, indeed." Chen Fan said with some feeling, "The main thing is that charging them takes quite a bit of time." The two missile bases had cost 1.8 billion ghost stones. Quite a lot, indeed. It was nearly a fifth of Fan Domain's total ghost stone reserves. "Whew—"