Flesh Worm Ghost Tide

Gongyang Gao looked impassively at the information recorded on the bamboo slips before him. "Year 370 of the Eternal Night Calendar, ninth day of the ninth month. Old Demon Jiangbei appeared in Jiangbei City and slaughtered a local mortal faction, the Beggar Gang, wiping out seventy-four members in total and hanging their heads from the city gate." "This was the first time Old Demon Jiangbei emerged to kill. The world began calling him Old Demon Jiangbei then, but there is still no definitive intelligence on whether he is actually a native of Jiangbei." Standing nearby, a black-clad subordinate supplied the finer details. It was now Year 378 of the Eternal Night Calendar. In other words, eight years had passed since Old Demon Jiangbei's first mass killing. "And afterward?" Gongyang Gao asked softly. "Afterward, no one looked into it." The subordinate shook his head. "Ever since the Eternal Night descended, the world has fallen into chaos. There are no longer any magistrates or courts. Order within a region is usually maintained by the local powers, but Jiangbei City is a unique case—no single power reigns supreme there. "Three factions govern it jointly. "Public security in the city is hardly anything to boast of. "Since he was clearly not someone to provoke and hadn't encroached on the interests of the three major factions, nobody bothered to meddle. "What is slightly strange... "According to our reports, one of Jiangbei City's powers, the Wild Wolf Gang, had a leader deeply invested in brotherhood and code of honor. Everyone expected the Wild Wolf Gang to step forward for the Beggar Gang back then, yet from beginning to end, they made no statement and took no action whatsoever." "Mm." Gongyang Gao nodded without asking further, returning his gaze to the bamboo slips. Gathering intelligence was not merely about collecting major events. Details that seemed trivial—like the Wild Wolf Gang leader's penchant for righteous brotherhood—often revealed telling insights. "Year 370 of the Eternal Night Calendar, thirty-first day of the tenth month. Old Demon Jiangbei appeared in a village near Jiangbei City and slaughtered all thirty-seven villagers." "That was just an ordinary village," the black-clad subordinate elaborated. "Once the rainy season ends, ghost creatures are not as rampant. Many mortals from Jiangbei City purchase a ghost fire and stake out land outside the walls to form temporary hamlets, planting crops and the like. "They return to Jiangbei City once the rainy season returns. "I checked thoroughly—there wasn't even a single Level 2 cultivator among them. They were all mortals. "A few days after he slaughtered that village, the rainy season of that year arrived. "Year 371 of the Eternal Night Calendar, first day of the third month. Old Demon Jiangbei appeared in a vegetable market in Pingcheng of Jiangbei. He killed twenty-six people, all mortals as well. The vendors in the market were virtually wiped out, leaving only three alive for reasons unknown. "Year 371 of the Eternal Night Calendar, seventh day of the seventh month. This time, Old Demon Jiangbei slaughtered the largest faction in Pingcheng. Catching them when their entire force had ventured beyond their camp perimeter to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, he butchered them to the last man. Then he returned to their territory and killed off every frail, elderly, sick, and disabled person left behind. "Year 373 of the Eternal Night Calendar, ninth day of the ninth month. Old Demon Jiangbei traveled to the Jiangdong Marketplace in Jiangdong. He suddenly struck without warning, killing the market master, who was a Level 4 architect at the time. "Year 374 of the Eternal Night Calendar, once again on the ninth day of the ninth month. Old Demon Jiangbei infiltrated a supply convoy from the One Sword Sect, slipped inside their grounds, slaughtered dozens of disciples, and killed an elder before fleeing under heavy injuries after being struck by a cannon tower. "Year 375 of the Eternal Night Calendar, Old Demon Jiangbei appeared once more..." Over a dozen incidents followed, recounting the bloody milestones of Old Demon Jiangbei's life. "Master," the subordinate murmured quietly beside him, "the most critical point is that I dug through the pasts of all these factions, including the village and the Beggar Gang, as thoroughly as possible. They shared no common enemy. "The One Sword Sect is a renowned sword cultivator sect in Jiangdong. How could they possibly share a nemesis with a mortal outfit like the Beggar Gang in Jiangbei City? "Rumors across the land claim that Old Demon Jiangbei simply revels in murder for no reason at all—that whenever his hands itch, he goes off to butcher a batch of people to scratch it. "A man like that... "Could he really be better than the young master of the Dan Sect? At least the Dan Sect's young master..." The voice cut off abruptly. Gongyang Gao calmly turned his head toward the subordinate. "Did you accept benefits from him?" "This subordinate would not dare!" Realizing he had overstepped, the black-clad man bowed his head in haste. "Then do not mention this matter again." "The last time the young master of the Dan Sect visited, he said he would come to the Gongyang clan to propose marriage once Jiangnan's rainy season ends... "Let him come. The Gongyang clan will not neglect our hospitality." Gongyang Gao slipped the bamboo slips into his robes, unwilling to dwell on it further. A youth of prestigious and righteous lineage, gifted with craft, the most formidable alchemist among the younger generation, the future sect master of the Dan Sect, handsome and refined in manner. He was indeed exceptional. By any metric, he seemed vastly better than this Old Demon Jiangbei. Yet Gongyang Gao did not care for him. The reason was simple: his daughter did not like him, and whoever his daughter disliked, he disliked as well. Moreover... This would be the Dan Sect young master's seventh marriage proposal. The maidens he had taken in the previous six attempts had all met gruesome deaths. Now, his sights were set on the Gongyang clan. *** Time slipped past in the blink of an eye. Several days came and went. "Tonight is the seventeenth night of the rainy season." Just as darkness settled, Chen Fan sat alone atop the wall, staring out over the camp bathed in the ghost fire's glow and murmuring to himself. These past three days had been peaceful. Aside from a handful of stray ghost creatures wandering into the camp, no ghost tide had struck. Meanwhile, Meat Grinder Phase Two was progressing in an orderly fashion. Along the hundred-meter-wide cliff face at the end of the canyon, twenty cannon towers had already been positioned—one installed every five meters on either side of the rock face. Furthermore, along the canyon floor, twenty Level 3 ghost fires had been constructed and buried beneath the earth. Once activated, the entire canyon would instantly be engulfed in ghost fire, becoming part of his camp territory. Meat Grinder Phase Two's twenty cannon towers, combined with Phase One's thirty-eight cannon towers, gave this sinkhole a total of fifty-eight cannon towers to safeguard the security of the inner rear. Without major windfalls or massive expenditures over the past few days, the camp still held over 32,000 ghost stones. That was certainly not enough to finish Meat Grinder Phase Two. Chen Fan practically prayed for a ghost tide to hit. He was fully prepared; let the tide come quickly, or he would soon starve of funds. "Ghost stones come to me, ghost stones come to me!" "Bring the ghost stones, bring the ghost stones!" Perched atop the wall with a porcelain bowl cradled in both hands, Chen Fan muttered under his breath while sipping bone broth. The weather had grown colder, and temperatures continued to drop. Sitting up on the wall, his hands were already flushed red from the chill. A bowl of hot bone broth down his throat warmed his belly considerably. Zhou Mo had scavenged several strips of cured bacon from an abandoned outpost—a true luxury. Reluctant to stir-fry them in one go, they had sliced off bits to stew into soup, stretching it out for as long as possible. Right then, a disturbance echoed from the canyon passage. Chen Fan gave a slight start. Setting his porcelain bowl aside, he rested both hands on the parapet and stood up, gazing toward the canyon passage. A faint gleam of anticipation sparked in his eyes. A ghost creature attack? He was fully braced and eager; let them come with all their fury! Could Qianxi have tracked him down? "There are quite a few of them." Chen Fan stared intently into the canyon passage, his expression growing somber. Though he had yet to spot a single ghost creature at the canyon's mouth, he could feel the altar's consumption suddenly spike before bottoming out at zero—meaning there was nothing left to repair. That meant the unmanned outposts out in the wilderness were under attack, and the altar's wall-repair rate couldn't keep up with the destruction. Over the past few days, he had set up ten more unmanned outposts. By now, three had already been obliterated in rapid succession. The next instant, dozens of limbless, chubby balls of flesh about the size of human infants appeared within the camp perimeter. The surfaces of these fleshy spheres were covered in palm-sized human faces, each twisted in agonizing torment. Surging through the canyon into the sinkhole, they slammed straight into the Level 3 wall beneath him, bursting into splatters of viscous green liquid. Chen Fan was startled for a moment before quickly realizing what was happening: the ghost tide devastating his unmanned outposts was an old acquaintance—the flesh worm ghost tide! "Welcome!" A grin split his face. If it were a massive tide of any other ghost creatures, he would have had cause for concern. But against a flesh worm ghost tide, there was no need to worry at all. These creatures had no limbs and couldn't walk; they drifted entirely with the wind, floating wherever the gusts carried them. Back at his old camp, the greatest crisis he had ever faced was an attack by a flesh worm ghost tide. At that time, he had only Level 1 walls. Without an altar to restore damaged walls, he had relied entirely on arrow towers to shoot them down, yet slip-ups had still collided with his defenses, plunging him into mortal danger. Now, things were different. The rock faces surrounding the sinkhole were exceptionally hard. The blast damage from flesh worm ghosts could barely leave a scratch on them. Beneath his feet stood a Level 3 wall, constantly replenished by the altar. In short, no matter how many flesh worm ghosts arrived, they posed zero threat. They were simply delivering free ghost stones to his doorstep. Only... This tide seemed far smaller than the last. Even after another moment, only several dozen flesh worm ghosts drifted through the canyon and into the sinkhole—a pitifully meager trickle. Chen Fan's brow furrowed. Grabbing a piece of charcoal from nearby, he sketched swiftly across the walkway floor. First, he marked the locations of the unmanned outposts, then cross-referenced the order of their destruction with the outdoor wind direction to chart the flesh worm ghost tide's path tonight. "Headed toward Pingcheng?" He stared at the bold arrows he had drawn. According to this trajectory, tonight's flesh worm ghost tide was bound for Pingcheng. It would merely brush past the outskirts of Nameless Mountain. It had no intention of surging into his inner rear; only stragglers were getting sucked into the canyon and carried into the sinkhole. "That won't do..." Chen Fan leaned over the canyon passage, muttering dazed, "Pingcheng could never stomach such a fatty piece of meat on its own—better leave it to me. Just how many ghost stones is that worth? It might even drop an exotic treasure or two!" Studying his crude sketch, Chen Fan marked down two more unmanned outposts that had just collapsed. The main host of flesh worm ghosts was already bearing down on Nameless Mountain. If he didn't act now, they would sweep right past toward Pingcheng. Suddenly, an idea struck him. Turning around, he looked at the Wind Tower standing like a sword hilt behind him. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I hope your Storm Inhale is as fierce as it claims." The next instant! Cold white flames surged from the camp's Level 5 ghost fire, rushing through copper pipes into the first ghost fire positioned inside the canyon. *Boom.* The Level 3 ghost fire buried underground flared to life. The darkness within fifty meters was instantly banished, replaced by the pale yellow glow of ghost fire. Right after that came the next—one, two, three. The twenty ghost fires buried along the canyon ignited in rapid succession. The gorge, once swallowed by pitch darkness, was fully illuminated, blazing as bright as day. Viewed from above, one could clearly see a T-shaped hammer of light glowing against the endless black, embedded directly into the mountain. Cave No. 1 sat directly opposite the canyon. Standing on the wall, Chen Fan could now vaguely make out the flesh worm ghost tide through the misty rain, rushing past the canyon mouth on the wind, along with a scattering of strays tumbling down the gorge. "Heh." Chen Fan couldn't help but grin. "'The Qiantang River's tide crests on time; today at last I know who I am.' "Gentlemen! "It's been a few days. Do you still remember me? "Unlimited supply of ghost stones—full throttle, activate!" The next instant! The Level 2 Wind Tower positioned behind the wall roared to life. The two Wind-Sheltering Pearls set into the eye sockets of the bronze eagle atop the tower flared with an eerie, ghostly blue light. The countless apertures lining the tower's surface began to wail. The air before the Wind Tower was violently dragged backward. It twisted into a colossal, visible vortex resembling a distorted funnel! Every speck of dust on the ground was swept into the swirling gale. The ferocious suction seized the flesh worm ghost tide drifting past the canyon mouth, forcibly hauling them into the gorge and pulling them straight toward the sinkhole! "Pah!" Chen Fan wiped the rain from his face, straining to open his eyes atop the wall to see if the tide was actually being sucked in. But visibility was dropping fast as rain was violently vacuumed into the cavern. He could barely see a thing. Yet an instant later, through the rain and fog, he spotted countless flesh worm ghosts—some tumbling along the ground, but far more suspended in the air by the raging current—hurtling straight toward him. "Good job, windy!" Beaming with excitement, Chen Fan leaped down from the wall without a second thought. Behind the Wind Tower, he swiftly erected another twenty-meter-wide Level 2 wall. It sealed flush against the cavern ceiling, locking the entire cave tight. He then linked the Wind Tower and this Level 2 wall together with copper pipes. The Wind Tower stood behind the Level 3 wall at the cave entrance. The Level 3 wall couldn't be sunk into the ground; otherwise, the incoming flesh worm ghost tide would immediately devastate the camp. Yet it couldn't connect directly to the cave ceiling either, as entering a full "sealed turtle-shell defense mode" would block the airflow generated by the Wind Tower from reaching the canyon. Therefore, a gap had to be maintained between the top of the Level 3 wall and the cave roof to ensure the Wind Tower's unobstructed operation. However, that gap also risked allowing stray flesh worm ghosts to be sucked directly into the cavern, posing a major threat to the buildings and people inside. The solution was simple: raise an improvised Level 2 wall behind the Wind Tower, boxing both the Wind Tower and the Level 3 wall outside. That way, the Wind Tower could operate at full capacity while guaranteeing total safety for the camp and everyone within.