"..."
Chen Fan looked towards the Eerie Fire already placed on the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage, and ignited it.
Crippled Monkey took the driver's seat.
No one spoke much.
"Giddy up!"
With a crack of the reins from Crippled Monkey,
The nine Flame Dragon-horses moved in perfect, silent unison, charging into the Perpetual Night!
With each hoofbeat,
A ring of searing heat rippled across the ground, scorching the darkness in their path.
With lightning speed.
They cut through the Perpetual Night!
...
"..."
Inside the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage, Chen Fan looked at the Eerie-hide map in his hand and saw an Eerie Fire speeding from Nameless Mountain towards Rivernorth City. The sight of this brought a smile to his lips.
If anyone was still awake at this hour and happened to give an Eerie-hide map a glance.
They would surely be shocked.
Just then—
"Roar!"
The growls and howls of Eerie Creatures rose and fell incessantly, faintly echoing in their ears. He lifted the window curtain to look outside. Numerous Eerie Creatures pounced from the darkness at the carriage, but... they all lunged at empty air, utterly unable to keep pace with the carriage.
"There are still this many Eerie Creatures in the Perpetual Night after the rainy season is over?"
He looked thoughtful.
Though it wasn't an Eerie Tide, the numbers were indeed substantial.
"Boom!"
A ghastly pale claw caught hold of the window frame. He saw a pair of terrifying, pupil-less white eyes. A swift Eerie Creature was now clinging to the outside of the carriage.
The next moment!
A slash, like a flash of moonlight, sliced through the air. The Eerie Creature, shrieking from pain, released its grip and vanished into the night.
Zhou Mo coughed lightly, silently sheathing his blade. His mastery of the Water-Severing Blade Technique had grown more refined.
They remained relatively safe.
But the most vulnerable was Crippled Monkey, seated up front outside the carriage, exposed and unprotected. With that Eerie Creature gone, Zhou Mo quickly stepped out, blade in hand, to guard Crippled Monkey's side.
He didn't need to kill Eerie Creatures.
All he had to do was swat away any that charged head-on, deflecting them off course. The number wasn't overwhelming; most were trampled beneath the hooves of the Flame Dragon-horses.
...
Dawn broke.
The moment daylight arrived,
They had already crossed the river.
The bridges across the river were controlled by a major force that charged tolls. He didn't use a bridge. For the sake of absolute secrecy, they took flight, soaring straight over the river, into Riversouth, and extinguished the Eerie Fire to avoid being detected by the Alchemy Sect.
"So this is Riversouth..."
The instant they crossed the great river,
Crippled Monkey, from the driver's seat of the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage, felt a tremor of awe. This was his first time in Riversouth—endless plains, no more wilderness, appearing incredibly fertile.
As the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage raced across these plains.
It headed straight for the Alchemy Sect, at full speed.
Finally—
By late morning, the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage reached the vicinity of the Alchemy Sect's city. The surroundings teemed with merchant caravans coming and going. Many pedestrians stared at this never-before-seen carriage, stunned and awestruck, speculating wildly about which force it belonged to.
Chen Fan always believed in one thing.
No plan is flawless.
Even the most elaborate plan inevitably has loopholes.
But if you are fast enough, even if you'll still have many flaws, your opponent will have even more.
"Here we are."
Chen Fan lifted the curtain, gazing at the small city not far away, surrounded by a Level-3 wall, engraved with the characters 「Alchemy Sect」. The Pattern varied, not uniform.
The merchant caravans nearby were headed for the larger city with its gates wide open.
The gates of this small city remained shut, emitting an aloof and cold air.
The next moment!
Under the watchful eyes of all the passersby, the banner of Fan Domain at the rear of the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage unfurled in the wind, as the carriage rose into the air, arriving high above the Alchemy Sect city.
Before anyone could figure out what was happening,
They saw the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage in the sky above the Alchemy Sect city begin to transform rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it formed an enormous chessboard, doming the city like an inverted cup lid, leaving it in the shadow.
Immediately after!
"Boom!!"
A Level-5 Cannon Tower at one node of the giant chessboard roared to life. A blazing white beam, like lightning, struck a stone house within the city, sending rubble flying.
No warnings.
No threats.
This blazing beam was merely the prelude. Hundreds more followed and tore across the sky, descending like divine punishment, commencing indiscriminate, devastating strikes on all structures within the Alchemy Sect city.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!!"
The ground shook. Outside the city, countless horses panicked and bolted in all directions.
The massacre broke out in absolute silence, without any warning.
Though seemingly indiscriminate, the bombardment was, in fact, precise within its brutality.
It prioritized structures that seemed to be high-level buildings.
Dimly, screams arose from within the small city, barely audible amidst the relentless bombardment.
And at that moment—
A barrier of light finally rose belatedly, enveloping the entire Alchemy Sect. This was the city's defensive formation, blocking all beams of light.
The pissed-off, fear-tinged elderly voice rang out from within the city, booming in the air.
"Who are you people!"
"Why attack the Alchemy Sect without cause?"
...
"..."
Inside the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage, Chen Fan rummaged through his pocket and pulled out an Extraordinary Treasure offered by the Wang Patriarch. His voice then resounded throughout the Alchemy Sect city.
"Chen Fan of Fan Domain."
"Yesterday, you said you wanted to 'play games' with me. Have you forgotten? I'm here. Let's play."
"Fan Domain? You mean Fan Sect?!"
"That's right. We've renamed it."
"Good, good, good." Clearly, the aged voice grew even more furious. "You dare to assault the Alchemy Sect? Quite the move. But I imagine this method of yours consumes a tremendous amount of Eerie Stones, doesn't it? How long can you sustain it?"
The next moment—
The seven Level-6 Cannon Towers on the huge chessboard roared in unison.
Dark brownish beams of light slammed into the defensive formation. After just one volley, the formation was on the verge of collapse. After three volleys, it burst into pieces.
Hundreds of beams, like the wrath of gods, began another round of indiscriminate, cleansing strikes upon every bit of the Alchemy Sect city.
Simultaneously,
Chen Fan's light laughter echoed from the sky.
"It does consume a lot of Eerie Stones. But didn't your Young Master gift me 10,100 Eerie Stones as a congratulatory present yesterday? That should be enough."
"Damn it! Damn it!!"
The enraged shouts of the Alchemy Sect senior continuously sounded from within the city, though the fear mixed within grew ever more defined. They were utterly incapable of mounting any countermeasures, having no choice but to endure the assault passively.
Their defensive formation had already crumpled.
They could only hope that the enemy ran out of Eerie Stones soon, but now that still seemed far away.
"We surrender!!"
The Alchemy Sect senior, hiding somewhere deep within the city, watched with bloodshot eyes as buildings collapsed and disciples were blown to pieces. Suppressing his fury, he shouted, "We are willing to submit to Fan Sect—no, Fan Domain! Halt the attack! Let us sit down and talk!"