Chapter 16: The Lamp-Skull Tree

Who could refuse a divine dragon’s invitation?

At least Ding Ren felt that he could not, let alone Zhang Qingyuan and the others.

However, that matter was still far off; Xi Yu did not press them further, and the group continued to devour the meat.

The fact that Xi Yu claimed he could provide large quantities of pure, ordinary meat deeply shook Zhang Qingyuan’s team; they all looked forward to the day when everyone in the Middle Continent could eat meat.

In the end, everyone finished with bellies as round as balls.

The meat was delicious, but the rice soaked in the savory broth was even better; everyone felt incredibly satisfied with today’s meal.

After the meal, Xi Yu called out to Zhang Qingyuan; he felt that the ghost siege of Xincheng City was a bit fishy, so he wanted Zhang Qingyuan to help him gather information on the previous attacks.

When a Ghost Domain is born, it acts purely on instinct and is extremely aggressive; as it expands, it consumes all life forms in its path, both to grow stronger and to protect itself.

Not only are humans targets, but even ghosts are its prey.

Thus, it was very strange for Xincheng to suffer a coordinated ghost invasion.

Logically, all the ghosts should be fleeing for their lives at this time; it was impossible for them to be attacking a human city, let alone conducting a siege for multiple consecutive days.

Of course, there were exceptions—perhaps certain powerful ghosts understood the true value of a Ghost Domain.

It was possible they were trying to drive away all competitors who posed a threat before the Ghost Domain fully formed.

Therefore, Xi Yu asked Zhang Qingyuan to investigate more specific details to see if this was the case.

Additionally, he needed to see the Star-Dream Jellyfish with his own eyes to confirm whether it was truly a Ghost Domain.

He didn’t want to misunderstand; if it turned out to be some kind of horrific ghost instead, it would be troublesome.

However, he felt the possibility was low; a ghost of that scale would be at least a Sequence 2 or Sequence 3 entity, and he definitely would have heard of such a powerful being in his previous life.

Zhang Qingyuan agreed without hesitation.

****

In the afternoon, after everyone had finished digesting their meal, Xi Yu noticed Ping Feng wasn’t resting and approached him, asking him to act as a sparring partner.

He felt Ping Feng looked even colder than Ding Ren and would surely be willing to strike hard; training with him would certainly be effective.

The combination of beast meat and high-intensity training would allow him to rapidly increase his combat power.

However, he was quickly disappointed; Ping Feng looked like a tough man, but when they actually sparred, he was plagued by hesitation and didn’t dare to strike with force, completely wasting his icy demeanor.

Xi Yu gave up; he would just train by himself.

“I’ll spar with you,” Ding Ren spoke up.

Everyone was stunned, including Xi Yu.

“Captain Ding, your injuries haven’t healed yet. I’m fine; you should rest today.”

“Sparring with you for a while shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Alright then. Thank you for the trouble, Captain Ding,” Xi Yu thanked him.

Ding Ren watched Xi Yu’s smile and was slightly dazed for a moment.

Over the past few days together, his perception of Xi Yu had been constantly changing, and many of the experiences Xi Yu brought him were unprecedented.

From the incident with the beast meat, he could see that Xi Yu truly trusted the Middle Continent without reservation, and was even willing to help the nation as much as possible.

Furthermore, from the very beginning, Xi Yu had treated them with heartfelt sincerity.

This truly touched him.

Therefore, he really wanted to do something for Xi Yu.

Even though he still didn’t understand why Xi Yu was pushing himself so hard, since he wanted to do it, Ding Ren would cooperate with him.

Ding Ren followed through and began the session immediately.

His strength and speed far exceeded Xi Yu’s human form, making him more than qualified as a sparring partner.

He didn’t hold back entirely like Ping Feng; instead, he used actual force, though he ultimately restrained his strength enough to avoid truly injuring Xi Yu.

Even so, Xi Yu was very satisfied; this was much more effective than practicing alone.

Ding Ren’s control over his power was perfect, able to make the hits sting without damaging his body.

Of course, it would be even better if Ding Ren used a bit more force.

As they practiced, Xi Yu suddenly noticed something was off—the flow of Mutation Particles around Ding Ren had accelerated again.

‘Is he sparring with me and meditating at the same time?’

Not only that, but the effectiveness of Ding Ren’s meditation this time was more than triple what it was in the morning.

Xi Yu truly admired him; Ding Ren could not only multi-task, but achieve such great results as well.

To be honest, he was genuinely curious about the content of Ding Ren’s meditation.

While he admired Ding Ren, Fang Jianbo and the others felt a heartfelt admiration for Xi Yu.

This wasn’t because of Xi Yu’s status as a divine dragon, but simply because of Xi Yu himself.

It was their first time seeing Xi Yu train.

He looked slender and weak, but he never complained once while exercising.

He didn’t rest for the entire afternoon, and his style of attack was exceptionally fierce, showing not a hint of self-pity.

This truly earned their respect.

The entire afternoon was spent with Xi Yu and Ding Ren in training.

Xi Yu felt his strength progressing steadily, and having someone to exercise with made the training feel like absolute enjoyment.

However, mindful of Ding Ren’s injuries and the ghosts that might appear at night, he thought two hours would be enough.

But Ding Ren proactively requested to continue, as his meditation was more effective while sparring with Xi Yu, which was also helpful for his recovery.

Since they were progressing together, Xi Yu felt at ease.

As dusk approached, Xi Yu’s body suddenly jerked.

In a flash, Ding Ren pulled back his hand, instinctively snapping out of his meditation.

Xi Yu’s body remained frozen; his brow was furrowed, and sweat dripped down his cheeks.

“Xi Yu, are you okay?” Zhang Qingyuan had been back for a while and hadn’t wanted to disturb the two, but seeing his state, he quickly ran over.

“I’m fine,” Xi Yu said through gritted teeth with a smile. “Just a small issue, I’ll be fine in a moment.”

“Let’s end it here for today.” Ding Ren frowned slightly—it was happening again; what exactly was wrong with Xi Yu’s body?

It was only the third dragon nature backlash; Xi Yu took a moment to recover and then treated it as if it were nothing.

Although the backlash was stronger this time, his strength was also increasing faster, so it wasn’t a threat.

However, it was also time to find an opportunity to restore the white dragon’s injuries.

Now it depended on whether the Star-Dream Jellyfish was truly a Ghost Domain; if it was, he could solve everything at once.

If it truly was a Ghost Domain, he might be able to nurture a B-class expert for the Middle Continent this time.

The core of a Ghost Domain was essentially a collection of high-quality essences; to many terrifying existences, a naturally nurtured Ghost Domain was the highest grade of ingredient.

“Captain Ding, thank you for training with me today.” After a moment, Xi Yu expressed his gratitude.

“Continue tomorrow?” Ding Ren nodded; as long as Xi Yu didn’t stop of his own accord, he intended to keep helping him.

“Yes, thank you, Captain Ding.” Xi Yu nodded quickly, relieved that Ding Ren hadn’t been negatively affected by what just happened. Sparring with Ding Ren was a huge help to him.

“Xi Yu, this is for you.” At that moment, Zhang Qingyuan presented a pile of items to him.

“A blade?” Xi Yu was startled; Zhang Qingyuan was handing over an incredibly sharp alloy weapon, along with a set of white martial arts attire.

While the weapon and clothes weren’t standard military issue, they were considered high-quality.

Xi Yu knew his gear; the weapon Zhang Qingyuan gave him was of D-class quality, exceptionally sharp and valuable.

He hadn’t expected Zhang Qingyuan to proactively give him a blade, since previously the man wanted nothing more than to hide him behind his back.

“I asked City Seat Guan for them. See if they’re comfortable,” Zhang Qingyuan said expectantly.

“They’re useful, I like them very much.” Xi Yu swung the blade a few times; it felt good in his hand and was more than enough for his current needs.

“That’s good then.” Zhang Qingyuan felt invigorated.

****

Not long after Xi Yu and the others finished dinner, a massive siren wailed over Xincheng City.

A ghost attack.

Most ghosts disliked the sun, so the night was when most of them emerged.

Outside the west gate of Xincheng, a grand procession of over a thousand ghosts of various types appeared.

Among them were many species capable of flight.

These ghosts were not only of different types but also possessed bizarre appearances. Some were hideous, some were eerie, some looked plain, and some were even hauntingly beautiful.

But without exception, all of them were terrifying, and for ordinary people, they were absolutely lethal.

At the rear of the thousand-ghost procession, a massive, bizarre tree radiating various lights approached Xincheng slowly, like a general overseeing his troops.

“Hee-hee.”

“Jie-jie.”

…

Beneath the dense canopy, hundreds of glowing heads of various kinds hung like fruit from the branches, swaying in the wind.

These heads seemed to be playing and talking; even standing at the city gate, one could faintly hear their laughter and chatter.

“The Lamp-Skull Tree has grown larger again.”

Even standing below the city gate, Guan Zhang spotted the silhouette of the Lamp-Skull Tree at a glance, and his heart grew heavy.

The tree changed every day, growing stronger with each passing day, while he remained helpless.

BOOM.

At that moment, hundreds of shells from atop the city gates blasted toward the ghosts.

The Lamp-Skull Tree was the first to be hit; it didn’t last long and was instantly reduced to ash under the focused fire.

However, Guan Zhang didn’t feel excited; this scene played out almost every day.

Once tomorrow arrived, the tree would not only reappear but would be even larger.

This salvo had only eliminated a third of the ghosts.

The remaining ghosts possessed various abilities that allowed them to evade heat-based weaponry.

Xincheng halted the shelling; their inventory of ammunition was nearly exhausted and had to be used sparingly.

Soon, the first wave of ghosts reached the city gate.

Meanwhile, those flying ghosts had already infiltrated Xincheng from other points.

Gunshots and explosions occasionally rang out from within the city—those were the counter-attacks from inside Xincheng.

“Kill!”

Heat-based weapons were most effective at a distance; at close range, there was a risk of friendly fire, and they needed to save what they could. Guan Zhang led his soldiers out to face the enemy.

[Sequence 9: Yin Gloom Class. Looking at it hurts the eyes; calling it an ingredient is an insult to ingredients.]

A hideous ghost with a transparent head, a round body, and covered in tentacles lunged at Xi Yu.

Having switched to the alloy blade, Xi Yu’s combat power had increased significantly; he slashed out, directly severing three of the fat ball ghost’s tentacles.

Xi Yu was slightly surprised; Zhang Qingyuan, who usually habitually protected him from behind, didn’t stop him this time.

“Captain Zhang, he’s yours.”

However, he didn’t continue his attack this time; instead, he took the opportunity to dodge behind Zhang Qingyuan.

Zhang Qingyuan was startled; he had specifically given Xi Yu room today, but the dragon didn’t try to hog the glory.

However, he didn’t hesitate, striking out with his blade; the tentacled ghost’s head vanished instantly.

Having just stuffed himself with beast meat, he felt his entire body was filled with strength and wanted a good workout.

Originally, he had only intended to stay by Xi Yu’s side and protect him at critical moments. Since Xi Yu wasn’t attacking, he could finally kill to his heart’s content.

Meanwhile, Ding Ren charged ahead of even Xi Yu; wherever he went, the ghosts were instantly annihilated into a vacuum.

Xi Yu naturally didn’t want to miss a chance to increase his combat power, but he had a more important task right now.

The first time he heard about the ghost siege of Xincheng, he thought it was fishy; now, he could finally observe it personally.

The battlefield was brutal; the soldiers of Xincheng and the ghosts were completely intertwined, forming a blood-colored tableau.

Gazing at the battle in the distance, Xi Yu observed every corner, not missing a single detail of the field.

Occasionally, a ghost appeared near him, but Zhang Qingyuan intercepted them. Nearby, Fang Jianbo and the others extended the fighting further out, trying to ensure Xi Yu was not disturbed.

Xi Yu worked even harder to observe the scenes on the battlefield, not letting the team’s efforts go to waste.

Finally, a look of joy appeared on Xi Yu’s face; he had actually found a strange spot on the battlefield.