Chapter 139 - 112: "The Mortal Realm... Has Gone Mad.
Chapter 139: Chapter 112: "The Mortal Realm... Has Gone Mad.
"..."
Chen Fan gazed at the Ghost Fire, already prepared and set in place on the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage, and lit it.
Lame Monkey sat in the driver’s seat.
No one said much.
"Giddy-up!"
Lame Monkey snapped the reins.
The nine Flaming Dragon Horses, their steps perfectly synchronized, moved as one silent entity, charging into the eternal night of the canyon!
With every fall of their hooves,
a searing ripple spread across the ground, burning away the darkness in their path.
Their speed was incredible!
They plunged into the eternal night!
...
"..."
Sitting inside the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage, Chen Fan looked down at the Ghost Map in his hands. He could clearly see a Ghost Fire moving at high speed, rapidly approaching Jiangbei City from Nameless Mountain. A smile touched his lips at the thought.
If anyone was still awake at this hour,
and happened to glance at a Ghost Map,
they would surely be shocked by the sight.
Just then—
"ROAR!"
The undulating roars of Ghost Objects echoed faintly in his ears. He lifted the window curtain and looked outside. Hordes of Ghost Objects were charging the carriage from out of the darkness, but... they all lunged at empty air, unable to keep up with the Dragon Carriage’s speed.
’The rainy season is over. Are there still this many Ghost Objects in the eternal night?’
he mused.
While it hadn’t formed into a Ghost Tide, their numbers were still significant.
"BOOM!"
A ghastly, pale claw grabbed the window frame. He saw a pair of terrifying, white-pupiled eyes. An incredibly fast Ghost Object had managed to catch the window and was now clinging to the outside of the carriage.
The next moment!
A flash of moon-white light from a blade streaked past. The Ghost Object cried out in pain, released its claw, and vanished into the darkness.
Zhou Mo coughed lightly and silently sheathed his blade. His mastery of the Broken Water Sword Technique was clearly improving.
They were safe enough for now.
However, the one in the most danger was Lame Monkey, who sat outside without the carriage’s protection, exposed to the elements. After dealing with the Ghost Object, Zhou Mo quickly stepped out of the cabin, blade in hand, to stand guard by Lame Monkey’s side.
He didn’t need to kill the Ghost Objects.
He only needed to swat aside the charging creatures, knocking them off course. There weren’t too many of them; most were trampled under the hooves of the Flaming Dragon Horses.
...
「Dawn broke.」
By the time the sky had brightened,
Chen Fan had already crossed the river.
The bridges spanning the river were all controlled by major powers who charged tolls on passing caravans. For the sake of stealth, he didn’t use a bridge. Instead, the carriage flew directly through the air, leaping across the great river into Jiangnan. He then extinguished the Ghost Fire to avoid being detected by the Pill Sect.
’So this is Jiangnan...’
The instant they crossed the great river,
a look of awe flashed through Lame Monkey’s eyes as he sat in the driver’s seat of the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage. It was his first time in Jiangnan. It was a land of plains, not the Wilderness, and it looked incredibly fertile.
The Nine-Five Dragon Carriage sped across the plains,
its target set straight for the Pill Sect.
closing in at full speed.
Finally—
That morning, the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage finally arrived near the Pill Sect’s city. The area was bustling with merchant caravans. Many pedestrians stared, stunned, at the sight of the unfamiliar carriage, all trying to guess which power it belonged to.
Chen Fan had always firmly believed one thing.
’Every plan has a flaw.’
’Even the most perfect plan is bound to have a weakness.’
’But if you move fast enough, even though your plan might still have flaws, it means your enemy will have even more.’
"We’re here."
Chen Fan lifted the window curtain, gazing at the small city in the distance, which was entirely enclosed by a Level 3 City Wall. The two words "Pill Sect" were carved into the wall, their patterns varied and not uniform.
The nearby merchant caravans, meanwhile, were heading toward another city whose gates were wide open.
The gates of this small city were closed.
It appeared proud and aloof.
The next moment!
Under the watchful eyes of all the merchants and passersby, the "Mortal Realm" banner at the rear of the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage unfurled in the wind as the carriage took flight, positioning itself in the sky above the Pill Sect’s city.
Before anyone could react,
they saw the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage in the sky above the Pill Sect city begin to transform. In the blink of an eye, it had formed the Heaven and Earth Chessboard, which hovered like a lid over the Pill Sect’s city, casting a vast shadow below.
And then!
"BOOM!!"
A Level 5 Cannon Tower at one of the Heaven and Earth Chessboard’s nodes roared to life. A blazing white beam of light, like a bolt of lightning, struck a Stone House within the Pill Sect city, sending stone and brick flying.
There were no shouted warnings.
No threats were made.
That first blazing beam was a harbinger of the storm to come. Hundreds more tore through the sky, raining down like Celestial Punishment, beginning an indiscriminate, destructive assault on every building within the Pill Sect city.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!"
The ground itself trembled, and outside the city, countless horses panicked and scattered in every direction.
With no warning, the curtain rose on a silent slaughter.
This seemingly indiscriminate bombardment
was, in fact, executed with crude precision.
It prioritized what appeared to be High Level buildings within the city.
Faint screams could be heard from within the Pill Sect city, almost completely drowned out by the thunderous bombardment.
Just then—
a shimmering light belatedly rose to envelop the entire Pill Sect. It was the City Defense Grand Array, and it blocked all incoming beams of light.
The furious and fearful voice of an old man rang out from within the city, echoing across the area.
"Who are you?!"
"Why do you attack the Pill Sect without cause?"
...
"..."
Inside the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage, Chen Fan rummaged through his pockets and pulled out an Exotic Treasure that Patriarch Wang had offered him. His voice boomed from the carriage, echoing over the entire Pill Sect city.
"Chen Fan of the Mortal Realm."
"Yesterday, you said you wanted to ’play with me slowly.’ Have you forgotten? Well, I’m here now. Let’s play."
"The Mortal Realm? Do you mean the Mortal Sect?!"
"Precisely. We changed our name."
"Good. Very good." The old man’s voice from within the Pill Sect city was clearly even more enraged. "You have some nerve, proactively provoking the Pill Sect. A fine move, I’ll admit. But I imagine this little trick of yours consumes a massive amount of Ghost Stones. How long can you possibly keep it up?"