Chapter 341 - 165: "This Is a Criminal Waste.

Chapter 341: Chapter 165: "This Is a Criminal Waste.

Now...

He was close to achieving his initial goal, but it was still a far cry from his new one. His original plan for the Jiangbei Defense Line was for it to be comprised entirely of Level 4 City Walls, the same Level as the one from the Ancient Era.

But he was no longer satisfied.

It wasn’t enough.

Especially after witnessing the slaughter of the New Continent’s inhabitants, he wanted to build a much stronger Jiangbei Defense Line. It wasn’t just about stopping the Ghost Tide from landing in three years—it was about protecting the Mortal Realm.

When the Eternal Night Frontline collapsed, the Jiangbei Defense Line would be the Eternal Night Continent’s last line of defense.

He wanted a Jiangbei Defense Line made entirely of Level 5 City Walls, or maybe Level 6 City Walls—or even Level 7 City Walls.

As things stood now, the Eternal Night Frontline had survived another rainy season.

He had learned that the danger there spiked sharply with every rainy season. He was running out of time. He had to move as quickly as possible to make the Jiangbei Defense Line sturdy enough before the Eternal Night Frontline collapsed.

"Let’s go."

After a long pause, Chen Fan abruptly stood up and walked down from the City Wall. He and Wang Kui boarded the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage and traveled all the way to the Port, where he gazed at the rows of Celestial Pillars soaring into the clouds.

The rainy season had now ended.

The 100 Level 6 Celestial Pillars he had built had stopped storing energy now that they could no longer absorb thunderbolts. They were in a suspended state and would only resume charging when the rainy season returned next year.

After two more rainy seasons, they would be just about fully charged.

As for the 15 Max Level Celestial Pillars, a dark cloud now floated above them. Flashes of thunderbolts were clearly visible within it, and a torrential downpour fell in a near-vertical sheet, enveloping all 15 pillars.

Rainwater lashed against the surfaces of the Celestial Pillars.

Every thunderbolt that descended was completely absorbed by these 15 Celestial Pillars.

Seen from a distance, it was a spectacular sight.

The rest of Jiangbei was under clear blue skies, but here alone, like a single stroke of dark ink on a white canvas, a torrential downpour fell in a cylindrical torrent as thunderbolts struck down relentlessly.

Even being constantly fed by the Tribulation Clouds, these 15 Celestial Pillars would still need three years to fully mature.

"Time..."

Chen Fan stood his ground, silently gazing at the hundred-plus Celestial Pillars. This batch would only be fully charged in three years. For him, time was far too precious.

During the rainy season, he had run an experiment.

In a zone with complete Anti-Air restrictions, a Celestial Pillar couldn’t land at all. It would detonate high in the sky, inflicting almost zero damage on the ground. After all, the pillar’s primary destructive power came from the blast of thunderbolts.

This meant no one could use Celestial Pillars against him.

It sounded good.

But in reality, it was a completely useless perk. ’After all, I’m the only one who meets the conditions to use this structure. Without the panel, it’s impossible to use it anyway.’

And it was nearly impossible for any other faction to have a complete Anti-Air zone.

Anti-Air was an Upgrade Direction selected when upgrading to a Level 5 City Wall. To achieve a uniform Anti-Air field, one had to destroy and rebuild any City Walls with incorrect, randomly-assigned upgrades, then connect them all end-to-end. ’Considering the cost of that entire process,’ he thought, ’there are probably very few people in the entire Eternal Night Continent who could pull it off.’

This was a strategy unique to him.

After watching for a while longer, Chen Fan walked back to the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage and headed for Nameless Mountain. He had no other business here; he had just come to see his Celestial Pillars.

The sight of them was deeply satisfying.

...

In the southernmost part of Jiangnan, there was a city.

One of the nine great cities of Jiangnan, Fuyao City.

Although it was in the southernmost part of Jiangnan, it was still hundreds of kilometers away from the northernmost city of the Guanxi Plain.

There were virtually no outposts between the two regions.

And no one traveled between them.

Establishing outposts required capital, and capital required profits to be sustained. Since there was almost no traffic between Jiangnan and the Guanxi Plain, no faction was willing to spend the time and effort to build deserted outposts between them and take on such a losing venture.

Now, with the end of the rainy season, the city had returned to its usual hustle and bustle.

The end of the rainy season didn’t mean the Ghost Objects had vanished from the Eternal Night Continent, but at least the risk of the city falling was greatly reduced. People no longer had to worry about being woken in the middle of the night by a Ghost Object smashing through their door.

"Dammit!"

A convoy flying no faction Banners, consisting of just two or three carriages, slowly came to a halt not far from Fuyao City’s gates. A middle-aged man hopped down from one carriage to stretch his stiff limbs, muttering curses as he spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground.

"This damn carriage has just about rattled my bones to pieces."

"Once we’re in the city, I’m gonna find a nice place to warm up."

His gaze swept casually over the passersby, a sneer of contempt playing on his lips.

He was a trusted confidant of the Pavilion Master of Riyue Square in the Guanxi Plain. This time, he was on a special mission to Jiangbei: find the person in the Jiangbei Mortal Realm who makes that braised stew and bring them back to Riyue Square.

Granted, the trip was to some godforsaken backwater in Jiangbei.

The long journey was torture.

But for underlings like him, field assignments were the best. A few days’ delay didn’t matter, and it was a chance to eat, drink, and have some fun.

He’d been cooped up for a month during the rainy season and was getting stir-crazy. This was the perfect opportunity to blow off some steam.

All in all, it was a pretty decent assignment.

In the Guanxi Plain, Riyue Square was a respectable power. While it couldn’t compare to a major power like the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land, it was a cut above the lesser factions.

As the Pavilion Master’s trusted man, he couldn’t help but feel a natural sense of superiority when looking at these commoners from Jiangnan.