Chapter 114 - 99: "Wicked Enough!
Chapter 114: Chapter 99: "Wicked Enough!
"All the factions these days are called things like the Pill Sect, the Jiangbei Chen Family, the Hill and Valley Royal Family, Medicine King Valley, or the Jiangbei Commerce Association. They’re all the same, with nothing unique about them."
"Some are named after their bloodlines."
"Some are named after their trade."
"And some are named after their specialty."
"Let’s just pick something awesome!"
"Let’s call it the Eternal Night Hall!"
"And the banner will be you, Station Master, standing there holding a greatsword with both hands, gazing off into the distance."
The words had barely left his mouth when Zhou Mo shot Wang Mazi a speechless look. "Isn’t that a little too..."
Before he could finish, the Station Master’s voice chimed in with approval. "That sounds pretty good."
"...too good."
Zhou Mo awkwardly swallowed the words he was about to blurt out.
"Young Master."
Lame Monkey spoke up.
"You are the absolute backbone of this faction. Without you, it would fall apart instantly."
"I suggest we name our faction the ’Mortal Realm’."
"Any domain you set foot in, Young Master, is your territory."
"And any domain you haven’t yet set foot in is a target for your conquest."
"The banner will be the single character ’Fan’."
"Hmm... that sounds good too."
Even Hey Hey toddled over as if it understood, excitedly using its front paw to draw a squiggly little worm on the ground.
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
Zhou Mo glanced at Hey Hey. "The Caterpillars?"
"ROAR!"
Lying on the ground, Hey Hey slapped its paw on the dirt a few times before tilting its head to give Zhou Mo a disgruntled growl.
...
After discussing for the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, the faction’s name and banner were finally decided.
Faction Name: Mortal Sect.
Faction Banner: The single character ’Fan’.
The ’Fan’ of ’ordinary.’
The ’Fan’ of ’mortal.’
But it can also be the ’Fan’ in ’extraordinary’ and ’remarkable’.
In the end, they didn’t go with "Mortal Realm." The word ’Realm’ was too grand, feeling completely out of sync with their current strength. With such a grandiose name, some major faction might take offense and come looking for trouble.
"We’ll put a small gate outside the canyon later."
"Anyone who enters that gate will be a person of my Mortal Sect."
"Xiaoyu."
"I’m leaving the banner design to you."
"No problem." Xiaoyu nodded, full of confidence.
...
After settling on a name for the faction, the group gradually dispersed, each returning to their posts. Chen Fan followed Qi Chong to the edge of the Farmland. He smiled as he looked at the rows of Sunflowers and walked over to check their panel.
Qi Chong had told him that the batch of Sunflowers planted seven days ago had already matured.
He had seen it with his own eyes over the past few days.
Qi Chong had been guarding this patch of Farmland almost day and night, his mouth dry and his voice hoarse.
But the harvest looked pretty good.
There were quite a lot.
-
「Exotic Treasure Name」: Sunflower (Mature).
「Exotic Treasure Level」: Green.
「Exotic Treasure Effect」: Consuming after maturation increases one’s Cultivation. Due to excellent care during its growth period, its quality is optimal. Consumption will increase Cultivation by an additional fifty percent compared to a normally matured Sunflower.
「PS: A person can only refine one stalk per day.」
-
"Not bad."
Chen Fan gave his affirmative assessment, sighing with some emotion. ’Everyone really does have something they’re good at.’ He immediately plucked a Sunflower and headed for the Yunling Pavilion to test its effects.
There were a good sixty or seventy Sunflowers here.
He remembered not even having that many seeds.
...
「Inside the Yunling Pavilion.」
「An incense stick’s time later.」
Chen Fan opened his eyes, clenching his fists to feel the power coursing through his body. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes. The refining speed was extremely fast; in just the time it took an incense stick to burn, he felt he had completely refined the Sunflower.
And...
’I feel like I can keep refining.’
’The Yunling Pavilion’s tenfold Cultivation Speed actually helps with refining Ghost Plants, too.’
He felt his Cultivation had increased by about a tenth. After absorbing nine more, he could advance to become a Level 2 Cultivator.
’Time to try.’
No sooner said than done.
He walked back to the Farmland, plucked nine more Sunflowers, and brought them back to the Yunling Pavilion. Wang Kui was there, bent over and continuously pulling up Sunflowers to put in the Warehouse.
「Another two hours later.」
As Chen Fan sat cross-legged with his eyes shut, he vaguely felt something inside him break through, followed by a warm current that surged from his Dantian to his limbs.
He had successfully broken through.
He was now a Level 2 Cultivator.
"Hoo..."
Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes and let out a long, cloudy breath before sighing. "Cultivators in this world are truly pathetic."
Before this, he hadn’t been very clear on the specific difference between a Level 1 Cultivator and a Level 2 Cultivator. After breaking through, he understood.
There was basically not much of a difference.
A bit more strength.
That was about it.
There were no techniques like projecting Spiritual Qi to harm others, and certainly no Sword Stepping Flight. Perhaps those would come later, but one thing was for sure: a Level 2 Cultivator definitely couldn’t beat a single Level 1 Arrow Tower...
"Still, it’s not bad."
Chen Fan stood up, stretched his body, and chuckled. After breaking through to become a Level 2 Cultivator, his body did feel much more comfortable and a lot more flexible than before. The slight aches and pains in his back were all gone.
He could now clearly feel that he couldn’t refine any more Sunflowers.
The Yunling Pavilion helped with the refining process, allowing him to refine ten Sunflowers in one day.
Then, he spoke into the air.
"Zhou Mo."
"The Sunflowers in the camp have matured. You can break through quickly with the help of the Yunling Pavilion. Back at the old camp, I promised I would help you break through. Come back early today, go to the Warehouse and get some Sunflowers from Wang Kui, and break through to a Level 3 Cultivator as soon as possible."
The voice traveled through space via the Meat Ghost Mother-Child Fruit, reaching the mind of Zhou Mo, who was currently galloping across the Wilderness on his Skeleton Horse.
...
After taking care of all this, Chen Fan contentedly walked out of the cave. He looked at the holes Hey Hey had dug into the canyon walls the previous night, preparing to continue placing cannon towers to complete his Meat Grinder Stage Two.
The camp’s Ghost Stone reserves were now sufficient.
A full 92,000 of them.
It was enough for him to completely finish setting up the Meat Grinder’s defenses!
As for the 20 Ghost Fires that had been lit last night, they had already been dismantled. He had to craft 20 new, unlit Ghost Fires and install them. The main point of Meat Grinder Stage Two was the element of surprise.
If the enemy became vigilant, it wouldn’t be as effective.
After spending 1,260 Ghost Stones to re-bury all the Ghost Fires, Chen Fan spent another 10,800 Ghost Stones to place a Level 5 Cannon Tower in each of the 20 new "pits" dug last night.
Last night’s efficiency had been much faster.
The first night had been slow mainly because the path from the cave to the canyon was difficult to dig. Once the main Meat Grinder channel was fully excavated, things got much easier.
And now—
there were a total of 40 Level 5 Cannon Towers on both sides of the canyon walls.
Adding the 38 around the walls of the Celestial Pit...
...that made for a total of 78!
If he also included the ones on the City Wall...
...it was 89 Level 5 Cannon Towers and 1 Level 6 Cannon Tower!
"..."
Chen Fan stood inside the Celestial Pit, looking at the pockmarked canyon walls left behind by last night’s Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide. His eyes were filled with satisfaction. He finally felt a small sense of security.
’Ghost King?!’
’Do you dare to face me?’
’I’ll show you what the Mortal King is made of!’
’I wonder what the specific defensive layout of Jiangbei City is like.’
’How does my place compare to Jiangbei City?’
He couldn’t spend the remaining Ghost Stones for now. Hey Hey’s digging speed couldn’t quite keep up with the speed at which he earned Ghost Stones.
But he could understand.
The mountain rock was hard, after all.
It was definitely a laborious task to dig through.
...
「Meanwhile.」
「Jiangbei City.」
「Inside the assembly hall of the Jiangbei Chen Family.」
Patriarch Chen, his temples graying, sat in the main seat. He leaned back against his chair, his eyelids slightly lowered, saying nothing. He looked exhausted, but his spine was as ramrod straight as ever, as if he would rather die than bend it.
The Chen Family’s Honored Guest Elder, Chen Quan, and the Chen Family Elders were all seated here as well.
No one spoke.
After a long time.
A Chen Family Elder finally looked at the Ghost Map on the table and spoke hesitantly.
"Today is the 18th day since the rainy season began. Jiangbei City has not yet fallen. As things stand, if there are no major crises ahead, Jiangbei City shouldn’t lose too many people this time."