Chapter 291 - 157: Landing

Chapter 291: Chapter 157: Landing

"The Mortal Realm’s High-speed Rail is packed every day, running day and night throughout the Four Areas Jiangbei."

"You could say it’s a real gold mine."

"The amount of Ghost Stones it earns in a single day is probably off the charts."

"Before this, I had no idea the common people even had a demand for ’tourism.’"

That’s right.

Besides the Elixir market, Medicine King Valley had recently used its "Gold-devouring Toad" as the centerpiece for a new tourist attraction. The common folk had usually never even heard of Exotic Beasts, let alone seen one, so a constant stream of people came to visit.

The mood among the common people was rather pessimistic.

Too many people around them had died.

Too many of their friends and family had died.

No one knew if they would survive the next rainy season.

The few Ghost Stones in their pockets weren’t enough for them to become Cultivators, nor were they enough to buy a building. They weren’t enough for anything. Since they couldn’t fight back against this world, they figured they might as well experience it properly before they died.

They never had the chance before.

But now they did.

And so, the moment the High-speed Rail officially began operations, many commoners chose to travel and see the sights. They went to see places they never would have had the chance to set foot in before, to see what the legendary "Dead Sea" truly looked like, to see what the rest of this world was like.

This way, even if they died in the next rainy season, at least they would have fewer regrets before the end.

It would be worth it.

Of course, the most open-minded group in this regard had to be the Sheep Race. There used to be an unspoken rule among the factions of the Four Areas Jiangbei: when a faction raised its "Death Banner," anyone who dared to provoke them would surely face the insane retaliation of the family behind it.

Every time a faction marched out under its Death Banner, it would draw the attention of countless other factions.

It was an exceptionally grand display of power.

Qi Feng’s greatest dream had once been to carry Medicine King Valley’s Death Banner on a trip, to bask in that glory.

A few years ago, the story of the Jiangnan Sheep Race marching eight hundred li under their banner to save a wife had become a celebrated tale.

But in recent months, the Sheep Race’s Death Banner had appeared quite frequently all over Jiangnan. The Sheep Race had launched a new service called the "Death Banner Experience." Those who signed up and paid a certain number of Ghost Stones could follow behind the Sheep Race’s Death Banner on a trade run and experience that sense of prestige.

Plenty of people were willing to pay.

Although this would diminish the credibility of the Sheep Race’s "Death Banner," no one cared anymore.

The Sheep Race wouldn’t need to raise its Death Banner in the future anyway.

Everyone knew that the only daughter of the Sheep Race’s Patriarch, Gongyang Yue, was to be wed to Qi Yue of the Mortal Realm. They would be married soon, making the Sheep Race practically in-laws with the Mortal Realm. Naturally, no one would dare to provoke them.

The various factions in Jiangnan used to value face greatly.

But with the rise of the Mortal Realm, that was changing.

Medicine King Valley’s Sect Guardian Beast was put on display for all to see.

The Sheep Race’s Death Banner fluttered wantonly across the Wilderness.

This concept of "face" was gradually being cast aside.

As long as you could earn Ghost Stones, face wasn’t worth a damn.

It wasn’t just the Mortal Realm.

Many factions in the Four Areas Jiangbei were riding the coattails of the Mortal Realm’s rise and developing at high speed. Of course, in this process, it was inevitable that a large number of factions would be unable to keep up and get eliminated. This was unavoidable.

...

「Hope Island.」

Far out at sea, on this island over a thousand li away from the Mortal Realm.

This island covered an immense area.

Night was gradually falling.

Chen Fan emerged from the High-speed Rail exit and walked with Hey Hey into the temporary camp built on the beach. They had constructed a new exit on the beach; the original one was on the mountaintop, and it was a real pain having to go down the mountain every time.

This temporary camp was rather simple.

It only had four thirty-meter-high City Walls.

The walls were all Level 3 City Walls, and each wall was equipped with three Level 10 Godslaying Cannons.

Inside the camp, there were Ghost Fires, Wooden Houses, and other facilities.

It was small, but it had everything it needed.

HUFF...

Chen Fan sat on the City Wall, leaning back wearily in his chair and gazing at the horizon. His thoughts began to drift. He and Hey Hey had spent the entire day building the Undersea Tunnel, but they were still a long way from the Thunderstorm Sea Realm.

To break through and complete the Undersea Tunnel to the New Continent would probably take another two months.

And that was if everything went smoothly. If they were to run into any accidents along the way, that would be another story.

The sky was growing dark, but the Eternal Night had not yet fully fallen.

He could vaguely make out the distant Thunderstorm Sea Realm, a chasm-like barrier that seemed to stretch on without end, as if it had split the entire world in two. It was just as Wang Mazi had described: their fleet had sailed along the edge of the Thunderstorm Sea Realm for a full month without seeing any end to it.

In the end, they had steeled themselves for death and charged into the Thunderstorm Sea Realm.

They were lucky to have made it out of that Sea Realm alive.

Although he could see the Thunderstorm Sea Realm from afar, he could only make out its silhouette: the extremely low, heavy black clouds and the Thunderbolt that flashed constantly within them, as if it would never stop.

According to Wang Mazi, the Thunderstorm Sea Realm was teeming with Ghost Objects floating on the surface. And they didn’t just appear at night. Before the sky even turned dark, the Ghost Objects in the sea would begin to churn and bubble like dumplings in a pot.

This was the first time they had discovered Ghost Objects before the Eternal Night had fallen.

Even the Fake Human Ghost could only appear at dusk.

"Young Master."

Lame Monkey, who had also had a long day, sat down next to him and brewed a pot of tea. Following Chen Fan’s gaze toward the distant Thunderstorm Sea Realm, he hesitated before speaking, "Do you think..."

"...that the Thunderstorm Sea Realm might just wrap around the entire Eternal Night Continent?"

"It’s possible."

Chen Fan nodded lightly. In fact, it was quite likely.