Chapter 136: The Crisis of Kaoshan City

Chapter 136: The Crisis of Kaoshan City

From seething intensity to utter silence; it happened in an instant.

Because Li Si released two Soul Lamps, at the very moment the Thousand Ghost Willow was weakest.

And those two Soul Lamps truly severed the Willow’s escape route. The brilliant light bursting from such lamps dealt the highest damage to Void Evil Spirits.

If Li Si had possessed four Soul Lamps earlier, this Thousand Ghost Willow might have let him go.

With just two, it dared to fight him to the end.

Alas, the Thousand Ghost Willow had already burned through all its potential.

The Soul Lamps drifted softly, illuminating the Illusory Void. Within hundreds of meters, wherever their light passed, all darkness vanished into nothingness, true oblivion.

“Ah~”

A scream filled with desperate malice rang out. Then, a mass of Dark Mist enveloped something, abandoning the massive tree body entirely – it wanted to flee.

Just then, one Soul Lamp floated by, triggering the Palm Thunder inscribed within it.

BOOM!

A thunderclap exploded. Golden thunderlight tore through the darkness, shredding the Dark Mist, revealing the thing inside. It resembled a piece of bone, or perhaps a tree root. Horribly wounded by the Palm Thunder, yet not entirely dead, it quivered, struggling desperately to flee.

Li Si sighed softly. He gently grabbed it and placed it directly into his Soul Fire. Applying a little pressure for a moment, it melted.

We could have been friends.

A pang of sadness touched Li Si’s heart. His Soul Fire burned steadily while the two lamps illuminated the hundreds of meters around him. Shadowy Ghost figures lurked at the edges, but nothing dared approach again.

“Void Evil Spirit ‘Thousand Ghost Willow’ slain. Obtained 3,000 bundles of White Fate Firewood. Obtained Special Material ‘Willow Ash’ ×50 stones. Note: If taken to the Mortal Realm and poured into soil, this substance can significantly reduce pollution within the ground. Alternatively, it can be used to craft Willow Talismans possessing the power to ward off evil and dispel filth.”

Li Si expressionlessly packed up the Willow Ash. This wasn’t ordinary dust, but a substance akin to willow catkins, floating airborne, forged by the Soul Fire. He simply walked back and forth with his Soul Fire active, collecting it all.

Next, Li Si returned to the Hall of Fate. This time, backed by his Soul Fire, he didn’t draw any further attacks, yet the sensation of being watched by countless malicious, envious eyes was thick in the air. Who knew how many Void Evil Spirits had gathered outside the Hall of Fate?

Hmm, Li Si felt a touch of excitement. It was the kind one feels stumbling upon a new economic opportunity.

But pressing matters required attention.

Back inside the quiet Hall of Fate, Li Si returned to the Idol of Fortune. He logged out first, scattering half the Willow Ash onto the wasteland beside the Yunhua Sect encampment. He stored the other half securely, planning to make Willow Talismans later when he had time to test their effect.

Following that, he teleported once more to Kaoshan City. Summoning the enhanced Hundred-League Law Seal, he used it as an anchor point to enter the frontier battlefield between the Illusory Realm and the Mortal Realm.

The moment he arrived, he was utterly shocked. Damn, was this a Void Evil Spirit landing invasion?

Every kind of Void Evil Spirit imaginable seemed to cram the area as far as he could see.

Despite the might of Herb Gatherer Xia Xiaowan and Zhao Qingxie, they couldn’t slaughter them all quickly enough. Countless Void Evils swarmed around the true form projections of both women.

Under such circumstances, how could Xia Xiaowan or Zhao Qingxie possibly find time to return to the Mortal Realm? If things went badly, the defense line would collapse, and the Mortal Realm would be the first to pay the price.

So, it was certain that something had changed in the deep Illusory Realm duel between the Giant Mushroom and the corrupted Muan.

“What are you doing here? Get back to the Mortal Realm right now! It’s dangerous here. Even the area near the Hall of Fate is dangerous!” Xia Xiaowan urged repeatedly.

Li Si hesitated, then said nothing and directly retreated. Since he discovered this problem, it was up to him to solve it.

Back in the Mortal Realm, Li Si first checked on Kaoshan City. Things were genuinely excellent, largely thanks to the efforts of Xu Shen, Ji Chang, and Jiang Ying.

Everything was now on track. Various war resources were being stockpiled massively. The policy of universal cultivation, in particular, was showing significant results.

Naturally, this was also linked to Li Si frequently showering Divine Grace Baptism. Even the poorest aptitude gained some foundational cultivation potential after receiving daily Divine Grace Baptism infusions.

They didn’t all need to reach the Foundation Building Stage. Simply achieving Qi Refining cultivation, having 100 points of Magic Power, meant they wouldn’t be utterly helpless when encountering an Evil Entity.

So far, Kaoshan City boasted three Golden Core cultivators: Xu Shen, Ji Chang, and Cheng Tianhao. Hmm, that old man had received Divine Grace Baptism over a dozen times, swiftly regaining his cultivation.

Additionally, there were now fifty-four at the Foundation Building Stage, including two Spirit Cultivators from the Lanshan Sect.

For Qi Refining, apart from the elderly, young children, and toddlers, practically everyone from ten to forty years old was a Qi Refining Cultivator.

The changes this brought were enormous.

Firstly, they formed pure Cultivator regiments and hunting/foraging teams. These units scoured the area within a hundred miles of Kaoshan City, collecting or hunting all Anomalous Weeds, Alien Trees, gathering any Strange Stones or peculiar objects. All Demon Men were swept away.

Secondly, they engaged in large-scale land reclamation. They purified the soil and water sources using various Dao Techniques, cultivating generations of plants and spirit herbs with steadily decreasing pollution levels to ensure everyone’s Magic Power supply.

Thirdly, they manufactured various war machines like catapults and crossbow carts, stockpiling war Talisman Papers. For example, Ji Chang, having reached Golden Core, was mass-producing Foundation Building Stage Martial Arts Talisman Puppets, aiming to create a hundred thousand.

All of this preparation was for a potential large-scale war in the future.

Cheng Tianhao and Xu Shen were specifically responsible for deploying layers upon layers of defensive Formation Arrays. Expanding outward layer by layer from Kaoshan City as the center, they had currently pushed the defenses out over a hundred miles.

This thriving development directly fueled the Hundred-League Law Seal’s gains. Barring surprises, by year’s end, Li Si could harvest 150 portions of White Fortune from Kaoshan City.

He was pouring out Divine Grace like crazy, yet he was still slightly turning a profit. Were they mocking his petty cash?

After serious contemplation, Li Si issued an order: relocate the two towns upstream on the Blackwater River – approximately fifteen thousand people – to Kaoshan City.

Originally protected by the small city upstream, that city had vanished entirely after being compromised by the Big Fly.

Ironically, this meant the two towns lacked mutated crow people, allowing their populations to remain intact.

Li Si personally tasked Xu Shen, Cheng Tianhao, Wang Wu, and Zhang San to lead teams upstream, make contact, and orchestrate the large-scale migration.

Once successfully relocated and developed along Kaoshan City’s model, Li Si could harvest at least 300 portions of White Fortune annually.

After issuing the specific commands, Li Si left it to them. Xu Shen, Ji Chang, and Jiang Ying were experienced managers, system builders, and talent cultivators. With them overseeing internal affairs, Li Si could focus on… showering Divine Grace Baptism.

Next, he teleported back to the Yunhua Sect encampment to continue pondering the three clues uncovered by the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl.

This was dangerous. It meant actively staring into the abyss himself – very different from the abyss gazing at him.

But Li Si had no choice. He had to find a way to curb the Big Fly’s rampant destruction. Otherwise, even if it couldn’t threaten Li Si directly, what about Kaoshan City? What about Greyrock City?

He had finally gathered one hundred thousand souls under his wing. Damn it, that Big Fly had wiped out Heishi Town’s nine thousand people in a single appearance!

This was now a life-or-death war; no retreat or hiding was possible.

“First, according to the clues monitored by the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl, Mi Zhou’er remains alive not because the Big Fly skipped harvesting her, but because it left her as a coordinate beacon for its next invasion.”

“Judging by past events, though this Unknown Deity/Demon jumps around and schemes in the Mortal Realm, it absolutely cannot project the bulk of its power here. Otherwise, why bother with schemes? The conditions must be unfavorable, or perhaps something in this Mortal Realm powerfully counters it.”

“The World Guardian True Immortals? Not necessarily. More likely, the Fortune of Heaven and Earth suppressed by them imposes tremendous constraints on the Big Fly. Only once this Fortune collapses can it feast freely. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense why it has been scheming since three thousand years ago – probably longer, even tied to the split and hatred between Spirit Cultivators and True Cultivators. That level of maneuvering couldn’t be done in mere millennia; it would take tens of thousands of years, perhaps more.”

“Such patience is absolutely chilling.”

Li Si couldn’t help but think of the relentless human efforts to enjoy crabs – inventing cooking methods, creating tools, spending money and time willingly, all because the final feast is truly delicious.

So, it made perfect sense.

“Now, if Mi Zhou’er is just a coordinate left by the Big Fly for its next invasion, wouldn’t that be too obvious? Even a fool would know to monitor Mi Zhou’er closely.”

“So, considering how Jiuxuanzi and the other World Guardian True Immortals ignored this situation… were they just idiots, or am I too dumb to see?”

Li Si leaned towards a third possibility.

Mi Zhou’er was likely a trap set by the Unknown Deity/Demon. Anyone daring to follow that clue might get ambushed.

But that Unknown Deity/Demon must have left a different, secure coordinate for its next invasion elsewhere in the Mortal Realm, surely hidden from discovery.

Probably, it planted many such coordinates.

Reaching this point gave Li Si a massive headache. Merely monitoring Mi Zhou’er had already cost him seven days. How could he possibly locate the Unknown Deity/Demon’s Mortal Realm coordinates in the shortest time?

Based on the Big Fly’s previous appearance intervals, roughly every forty-plus days, it was now 37 days since its last show.

“Don’t panic. Can’t rely solely on Divine Ability deduction. Need logical predictions based on common sense too.”

“Last time the Big Fly appeared, it learned that the Kaoshan Patriarch is me, and was willing to kill me at any cost. It might come back to check… or it might not. But if it does appear again, what will its target be?”

Li Si recalled the Big Fly trying to possess his Idol of Fortune, and the Ghost Shadows desperately using the kingdom’s Fortune to get the Land Deed Seal.

His heart ached anew. No need to guess; if the Big Fly reappeared, Kaoshan City was the most likely target.

After all, other World Guardian True Immortals hid expertly within the Mortal Realm – none were as flamboyant as Li Si.

Even the Jiuxuan Spirit Sword Sect wouldn’t have attracted the Big Fly’s attention without that massive migration attempt.

So, the point was clear: Kaoshan City definitely held a Big Fly coordinate.

If not within the city itself, then surely nearby – perhaps within the two upstream Blackwater River towns migrating towards it.