Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The people were celebrating like they were living a dream.

The others might think Michael had done a great job eliminating the Undead Emperor, but Mo Fan knew better than anyone that it was the Emperor himself who chose to depart.

Michael was no match for Zhan Kong. Zhan Kong had the advantage before he ever set foot on the Sacred Residence.

However, the people would only believe what they saw, including Michael and the Sacred City Mages. It was the outcome they had desired.

The whole city was celebrating, but Mo Fan thought it was ridiculous.

The more reluctant they were to face the truth, the deeper they would be trapped in the swamp. In the end, they would fail to break free from it and slowly walk toward their own destruction!

—

Mo Fan regained his own appearance after leaving the Sacred Residence.

Things had turned out against his wishes. He initially thought he could do something, yet there was nothing he could help with all along.

Fancy lights were shining above the Sacred City throughout the night. The city was quite prepared to receive their warriors as they returned from their glorious battle and celebrated Michael’s victory.

Mo Fan could not listen to them anymore. He left the city that night.

He still had a path to walk. He just wanted to focus on his cultivation for some time, to improve his cultivation and forget what had happened.

———————-

His duel with Zu Xiangtian was less than a month away. Mo Fan did not go anywhere for a month, cultivating in seclusion with Mu Ningxue on Fanxue Mountain.

Strange things happened across the world during that month. The Chinese coastline was being constantly invaded by sea monsters. The battles had extended from the Dalian Maritime Battlefield in the north to Hainan Island in the south.

Feiniao Headquarters City was no exception. The new city was constructed not long ago, yet half of it was razed to the ground during a winter tidal rise. Sea monsters of many unknown species showed up. The fighting along the coastline never stopped!

China’s coastline was over twenty thousand kilometers long. It was easily one of the countries that suffered the most damage from the invasion of sea monsters.

Meanwhile, Japan, who had been dealing with sea monsters for a long time, did not suffer as many losses as people thought, even though it was surrounded by enemies. Every Mage in Japan was good at fighting maritime battles!

—

Cao Qinqin had returned from her trip to Japan to learn some of their defensive measures in maritime battles. Mo Fan and Mu Ningxue happened to be done with their seclusion.

The core members of Fanxue Mountain were surprised when the two showed up in the meeting. They quickly updated them with their latest findings and decisions.

“Half of the Feiniao Maritime Fortress was destroyed. We don’t know how long it will take us to rebuild it. The headquarters city might assign our Mages to carry out some dangerous missions to protect the city instead,” Mu Linsheng informed them.

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“The fortress was destroyed before it was fully constructed. The sea monsters seem to know it will be a nuisance to them to invade the headquarters city, so they never stopped attacking. The water within five kilometers of the coast reeks; it’s full of dead bodies of sea monsters and humans,” Bai Hongfei told them.

“It’s unwise to rely solely on the reefs to defend the headquarters city. The sea monsters that showed up lately are physically very strong. Apparently, they have been using those sturdy reefs to temper their claws. They rushed into the fortress like tanks and smashed the reefs into pieces so our Mages had nowhere to stand on,” Cao Qinqin added in.

“The reefs were the most solid foundation. How could buildings float on the water? We couldn’t possibly drive pilings deep into the ocean floor?” a person responsible for constructing the fortress asked rhetorically.

“Mentor, haven’t you been to the East Maritime Fortress in Japan?” Cao Qinqin inquired.

“Yeah, I’ve been to it,” Mo Fan nodded. “Why?”

“Did a non-swimmer like you find it difficult to fight in the East Maritime Fortress?” Cao Qinqin pressed.

Mo Fan recalled the battle in the East Maritime Fortress.

He had to admit that the East Maritime Fortress was built perfectly. It looked like an ordinary city, yet every building and street was organized perfectly, so that even a non-swimmer like Mo Fan was not restrained by the environmental factors.

“No, there was always a place for me to stand,” Mo Fan agreed.

“Japan doesn’t have a lot of Water Mages. They are good at utilizing the environment in their fortress to kite the sea monsters. Our Feiniao Maritime Fortress focused too much on stopping the invasion of sea monsters. We’ve ignored how we can help Mages of different Elements to utilize their strengths!” Cao Qinqin judged.

Mu Ningxue nodded too before adding in, “The East Maritime Fortress has two dams. The first dam is very short. The water can easily go above it during a tidal rise, but the second dam is extremely high. It’s an important line of defense between the city and the maritime fortress. Most Mages fight the sea monsters between the two dams.

“We are too stubborn with our defense, and we don’t give the sea monsters the slightest gap to sneak past our defense. But the coastline is so long and we only have limited material. It’s impossible to build an impenetrable dam more than a few kilometers long. Why don’t we purposely leave a crack so the sea monsters can come inside and fight us at a spot that is advantageous to us?” Cao Qinqin proposed.

“Cao Qinqin, weren’t we discussing the problems of the Feiniao Maritime Fortress?” Bai Hongfei led the discussion back on topic.

Fanxue Mountain did not decide how the fortress was built. Opening up a gap and letting the sea monsters in: the Councilmen of Feiniao City would think they were out of their mind!

“It’s easy to solve the problem. Didn’t Sister Mu bring some Blue Ocean Trees back from Greece? They grow very quickly and their roots intertwine quickly underwater, so when we rebuild the fortress, we just need to plant the seeds and set up a defensive perimeter with the trees. The sea monsters will struggle when they try to destroy the foundation of the fortress again!” Cao Qinqin declared confidently.

“That’s right, we can fill the water with plants! How brilliant! Those cunning councilmen demand we solve the situation, but I can’t figure out an effective way, no matter how I see it. Those Blue Ocean Trees are the perfect solution!” Mu Zhuoyun exclaimed excitedly.

“The Blue Ocean Trees are special because they can grow in seawater. We can sprinkle their seeds as we are rebuilding the fortress and let them grow between the buildings to provide the Mages more areas to move around on,” Mo Fan agreed with a nod.

An ocean with plants both above and under the water was much friendlier for non-swimmers like him!