Chapter 123 - 104: The Ghost King Appears
Chapter 123: Chapter 104: The Ghost King Appears
The Jiangbei Wilderness. The last night of the rainy season.
Near the scarred land of Ping City, a Blood Sacrifice Grand Array pulsed slowly like a breath, patiently waiting in the darkness for its master’s arrival.
Soon.
A man cloaked in black, his crimson, triangular pupils spinning wildly, appeared. Flanked by a throng of Ghost Objects, his face twisted with madness as he strode step by step into the center of the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array.
He placed the Mountain Remains Embryo onto the Array Platform.
The array was set!
The next moment—
The entire Blood Sacrifice Grand Array suddenly erupted with an incredibly dense crimson pillar of light, piercing the clouds as if to shatter the darkness.
The pillar of light began to spin.
Inside the Grand Array, the Ghost Materials, Ghost Stones, the blood of Ping City’s inhabitants, and their departed souls began to rapidly disintegrate. They transformed into a thick, crimson torrent that surged into the man standing on the Array Platform.
A few moments later.
Everything gradually calmed down.
The man on the Array Platform was now wreathed in an incredibly dense, terrifying crimson glow. The crimson triangles in his eyes slowly stopped spinning as he savored the abundant power within him.
His pupils filled with a mix of rage from learning of Qiu Kui’s death and the exhilaration of breaking through to the Ghost King realm. The two emotions constantly intertwined, driving him to the edge of madness.
He abruptly turned his head, looking toward Nameless Mountain.
His voice was hoarse.
"Avenge Qiu Kui! Take back the Godslaying Spear!"
"My King!!"
Outside the Array, Qianxi and Qianqiu knelt on one knee, celebrating the birth of their King.
...
「Nameless Mountain.」
This mountain valley was located at the northernmost edge of the Jiangbei Wilderness, a place usually all but deserted.
Chen Fan stood on the City Wall, silently sweeping his gaze over each building in the camp. Every detail here was something he had designed and built with his own two hands. He rarely spoke of his past life; there was nothing in it worth remembering.
In his past life, he was a game designer.
Before a game goes live, it must always go through one final test.
And now, he...
...was like a creator examining his own work, quietly awaiting the final, ultimate stress test.
The rainy season had lasted a month, which was also the first month he had spent in this world.
This world had already given him enough time to develop; now it was time for him to turn in his answer sheet.
Beneath his calm exterior, his thoughts churned endlessly. Based on his experience, no matter how thorough the preparations, unexpected events could still arise at the last moment. All he could do was prepare as much as possible to deal with any potential surprises.
He began his system checks. Cold, white flame flowed from the camp’s Level 5 Ghost Fire, streaming through the Copper Pipes to connect to the turrets.
’Copper Pipes: undamaged.’
’City Wall check. City Wall: undamaged.’
’Ghost Stone check. Ghost Stones: undamaged.’
Just then—
Through the endless darkness, he clearly saw a crimson pillar of light stab into the firmament from afar. Even at such a great distance, the sight was perfectly clear. From that crimson pillar, he could feel a terrifying pressure.
"The Blood Sacrifice Grand Array is complete."
Standing on the City Wall, Chen Fan watched the distant scene with a calm expression. He didn’t know what means the Ghost King had used to obtain another Mountain Remains Embryo, but he knew one thing for certain: the array was complete.
The Ghost King... had successfully broken through.
And at that very moment.
Hey Hey, who had been lying by the Farmland inside the cave and snoring softly, suddenly jolted awake as if it sensed something. Its body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably, its eyes filled with terror as it let out a low growl.
Then, with almost no hesitation,
it took a quick running start.
It leapt into the air, jumping out of the cave through a gap between the City Wall and the mountain. It rushed into the depths of the valley and vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye.
"..."
Chen Fan’s brow furrowed as he watched. This was the first time he had ever seen Hey Hey so terrified. It was also the first time he realized the little guy could jump so high; it usually looked as if it couldn’t jump at all.
He had just been about to shout that it was safer inside the camp than outside.
But before he could get the words out, the creature had vanished.
"So be it."
He murmured softly to himself. The Ghost King’s primary target was his camp; the king wouldn’t waste much effort hunting down Hey Hey.
"Come on, then."
His fingers tapped lightly against the battlement, the rhythmic sound matching the frequency of his own heartbeat.
Standing beside him, Zhou Mo’s breathing grew ragged. He gripped his Big Saber tightly, his mind filled with the Broken Water Sword Technique he had been practicing so arduously these past few days.
He knew, of course, that his meager skills were almost useless in a battle of this magnitude, but he had to do something.
Lame Monkey also stood by Chen Fan’s side, holding the Godslaying Spear, but his head was lowered, lost in thought.
In a corner of the City Wall,
Big Fish was so nervous that their knuckles had turned white from gripping the hem of their clothes.
...
At that very same instant,
across all of Jiangnan Shuicheng, everyone who was still awake turned their heads to gaze into the distance at the crimson pillar of light that pierced the firmament over the Jiangbei Wilderness, faintly visible through the darkness.
"That’s... the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array!"
The effeminate-looking man, still seated in the teahouse, had his expression change in an instant.
"A Ghost Object broke through to the Ghost King realm in the Jiangbei Wilderness during the rainy season."
"Are we still going into Jiangbei?"
"This Ghost King will probably slaughter everyone in Jiangbei."
"We’re not going. We return to the valley."
The old man sitting beside him, however, showed little change in his expression. "The intelligence was wrong. Even the Valley Master didn’t know a Ghost King would be born in Jiangbei. He just sent orders for us to withdraw to Medicine King Valley immediately."
"With you here, what are our chances of survival if we run into the Ghost King?"
"Ten percent."
"Not bad. Ten percent is still a chance."
"That ten percent is if the Ghost King has already eaten his fill."
...
In the darkness outside Jiangnan Shuicheng,
a white-robed youth holding a Heavy Ruler walked slowly forward through the darkness, his eyes closed. His ears twitched, and the Heavy Ruler swung out violently, smashing into a corner of the darkness. The wail of a Ghost Object immediately followed.