Chapter 592: Trap and Kill (Two in One)

"Is this the way out?" Yan Jing looked at the faintly glowing stone on the table.

"Don't underestimate this stone. It's the hope for the Stone Realm's development," Chen Shi explained with a smile.

"Not a single blade of grass grows in the Stone Realm, which makes for terribly barren land and scarce resources."

"Basically, all our resources come from the Weird Stones like the one in front of you."

"Splitting a Weird Stone open can yield anything from daily necessities to weapons."

"What's the best thing to ever come out of one?" Yan Jing asked.

"The weapons wielded by the Stone Realm monarchs who have reached the Summit were all cracked out of Weird Stones," Chen Shi answered.

Chen Nian looked at Chen Shi without a word.

He knew the tier of the Weird Stones wasn't high enough. Whatever could secure him a lifeline in the Blood War definitely wasn't the stone in front of them, but something on a much deeper level.

Chen Shi smiled and stopped keeping them in suspense.

"After arriving in the Stone Realm, I carefully studied the origin of these Weird Stones to solve our supply shortage."

"Logically, if these stones can produce various items, they must naturally be connected to this Domain."

"At the time, the Stone Realm was controlled by a certain elder of the Family. I asked him, as the Lord of the Domain, but he said he didn't know the specific reason either."

"However, he could provide me with a few other clues. For instance, he immediately sensed whenever a Weird Stone appeared, and he could feel which areas had dense clusters of them."

"With his help, I finally found their source."

"The source?" Chen Nian remained impassive.

"Right, the source."

Chen Shi pulled back the curtain of their palanquin and looked outside.

"We should be able to see it shortly."

The sun was setting, casting its fading light over the mountain canopy on the horizon. On the barren peaks, countless grayish-white stones glittered in the light like sprinkled gold.

"It's here."

As soon as Chen Shi spoke, Yan Jing sensed an extremely brief fluctuation of energy at the mountain peak.

The energy fluctuation came and went in a flash, vanishing in a fraction of time thousands of times shorter than a second. But beneath the golden sunlight, when Yan Jing veiled his eyes with Weird Energy, he saw faint, looming silhouettes among the clouds.

They were a group of figures taller than hills, their chests submerged in the clouds.

The mountain peaks were like footstools beneath their feet. Hand over hand, they passed faintly glowing stones down a line stretching into the distance.

Occasionally, a stone would slip from their grasp and plummet from tens of thousands of meters in the air, scattered by the wind across different regions. The moment the stones touched the ground, they manifested into reality.

"Do you see those giants? That's the greatest secret of this place."

Chen Shi looked at Yan Jing and Chen Nian beside him, only to find Yan Jing still staring at the mountain peak.

He smiled, clearly accustomed to this reaction.

"Terrifying sight, isn't it? Even though it only lasts a moment, I was just as stunned the first time I saw it."

A moment?

To Yan Jing, the movements of those giants seemed to be growing clearer. His chest grew increasingly warm, as if guiding him in that direction. It was only then that Chen Shi noticed something was off.

"Mr. Wen, you... can still see them?"

Yan Jing kept his expression calm.

"I see them waving at me."

"Waving?"

Chen Shi instinctively assumed Yan Jing was joking.

In all his years in the Stone Realm, the scene had never lasted longer than a split second. It was impossible to see it for so long, let alone see anyone waving. "...Mr. Wen, do you see a door?"

Chen Shi stared intently at him.

Yan Jing glanced into the distance.

"Yes, there is a door."

"Its position is..."

"Currently to the southeast, about three li away on the mountainside."

Yan Jing calmly stated the position of the Stone Door.

The stones the giants were transporting were tumbling right out of it.

"It's true."

Chen Shi couldn't hide his shock; the position Yan Jing described was identical to the one he had calculated.

He observed the mountain peak from different angles every single day just to catch that fleeting glimpse.

By analyzing the giants' positions and the direction they passed the stones in those brief visions, and after continuous verification, he could deduce the door's location.

The door shifted positions once a month. With enough practice, it now took him about twenty days to calculate its new location, meaning they could use the door for ten days.

But Yan Jing... he could actually view the scene continuously right now. How could Chen Shi not be astounded?

"I understand now."

Chen Shi seemed to suddenly realize something, staring at Yan Jing in sheer amazement.

"Mr. Wen, have you also dabbled in the path of Stone? No—are you deeply well-versed in it?"

"Stone?"

Yan Jing pondered for a moment; he did have some connection to it.

[Earth] should have some relation to Stone.

"You could say that."

"That makes sense. According to our findings, the further one progresses along the [Stone] Pathway, the longer they can see the door." Having said this, Chen Shi pursed his lips.

What he left unsaid was that he had once invited a monarch of the Stone Realm for an experiment—a Summit attainer of [Stone]—and even they could only see it for less than a second.

Yet the man before him could stare at it indefinitely. He truly had no idea just how far Yan Jing had progressed on this path.

And yet, during the Gods' Association, the abilities Yan Jing displayed had absolutely nothing to do with stone.

"Is this door important?"

Yan Jing looked toward the seemingly ordinary door.

It was a Stone Door, about two people wide and one person tall. The doorposts and frame were crudely carved, exuding a rough, primitive feel.

"This door can not only be exited, but entered," Chen Shi said.

"If you send a stone from another Domain into this door and march your troops inside, you can follow that stone straight to that Domain."

"How do you locate the destination?"

"We go wherever the stone lands, and we can mark and track its position using the corresponding abilities."

"Is it fast?"

"Absolutely faster than a Space Rift—more than twice as fast."

"That sounds great! Midnight ambushes would be awesome!"

"Indeed..." Chen Shi paused, bewildered. Why did he feel like that last sentence hadn't been spoken by Wen Xu?

He lowered his head and saw a black cat that had appeared by his feet at some point.

"Hello, my name is Mao Si." The black cat extended a paw toward him.

"I'm the leading general for this battle, and the captain of the Cat Ship."

"Leading general? Then Mr. Wen is..." Chen Shi looked at Yan Jing in confusion.

Yan Jing smiled.

"I am the commander-in-chief, responsible for protecting Mr. Chen's safety and defending the Domain."

"I see..." Chen Shi thought about it and felt this was a pretty good arrangement.

Although things had strayed a bit far from what he'd expected.

But...

This actually seemed even better.

If Wen Xu was only responsible for defense, their chances of winning might decrease, but Chen Nian's odds of survival would increase.

"Mao Si, Mr. Cat, hello."

Chen Shi reached out and shook Mao Si's paw.

"What Tier are you?"

"Ninth Tier," Mao Si said.

"Not bad at all."

Chen Shi sighed with feeling.

Given Mao Si's arrival, he could deduce that the entire Cat Ship must have come to support them.

Looking at it this way, Chen Nian's so-called friends weren't just all talk.

"So, Uncle Shi, are you saying that Seventh Brother and Ninth Sister are coming for the Stone Door?" Chen Nian asked.

"Yes." Chen Shi nodded.

"Since childhood, the Seventh Young Master relied on a Bloodline purity of over sixty percent to awaken the power of wind and sand. And backing the Ninth Young Miss is the clan's Ninth Elder, who is also a master of wind and sand, and a Tenth Tier at that."

"The elder who previously served as the Lord of the Domain here in the Stone Realm must have leaked the information, drawing the two of them here."

"Working together, as long as they capture the Stone Realm, they'll be able to launch frequent, rapid assaults afterward."

"How much high-tier combat power does the enemy have?"

"The Seventh Young Master is at the Ninth Tier and has a total of thirty-four Ninth Tiers and hundreds of Summit attainers under his command. The Ninth Young Miss is only at the Eighth Tier and has a mere seven Ninth Tiers, but she has a Tenth Tier standing behind her."

Chen Nian mused for a moment.

"Calculated at maximum speed, the enemy will arrive around three in the afternoon the day after tomorrow. What are your thoughts, Uncle Shi?"

This was practically several times the troop strength Chen Nian had on hand.

Before the Cat Ship arrived, Chen Nian didn't have a single Tenth Tier, and only one Ninth Tier—a bodyguard assigned by the Family.

Even with the Cat Ship included, the number of Ninth Tiers under Chen Nian's command didn't exceed ten.

"Scare off the Ninth Young Miss and startle away the Seventh Young Master."

Chen Shi explained his plan.

Although Chen Nian's ninth sister had a Tenth Tier by her side, because she had just reached the Summit and was cowardly by nature, that Tenth Tier would definitely guard her closely, never leaving her side. As long as they crushed the rest of her forces, she would have no choice but to retreat, if only to preserve their strength.

And once his ninth sister withdrew her troops, his seventh brother would be left as an isolated force.

Only then would it become a true standoff between the two armies.

Chen Shi intended for Wen Xu to step forward—not to actually fight, but merely to show his face, which would naturally cause the enemy to retreat.

Chen Shi's strategy was sound, but Chen Nian frowned.

"What if the two of them join forces to attack?"

They wouldn't need to split their forces; they could just crush them with sheer numbers. They would only need to assign a few Ninth Tiers to guard the Ninth Young Miss, thereby freeing up that Tenth Tier.

From the enemy's perspective, their odds of winning were already virtually guaranteed.

"What are you proposing?"

Chen Nian stretched out a finger and drew a circle on the table between them.

"Flanking tactics," Wen Xu said softly.

Chen Nian shook his head.

"Holding our ground," Chen Shi offered.

But Chen Nian shook his head again.

Although he answered wrong the first time, as a VIP user, Yan Jing still had one more chance to guess.

This time, viewing it through his identity as Mao Si, he stared at the circle until he understood.

"Beat them into a ball!"

Chen Nian shook his head, then nodded.

"Trap and kill!"

"Trap and kill?" Chen Shi's eyes widened. He truly couldn't think of any method to achieve such an outcome.

But Chen Nian only nodded and repeated himself.

"Trap and kill."

He lightly tapped his temple.

The next second, Chen Shi heard an incomparably cold, mechanical voice chime from the roof of the palanquin:

"[Old Sin] system loaded. Slaughter Mode activated..."

What... what mode?

Chen Shi thought he had misheard, but then he saw the three people beside him suddenly change as if they had become entirely different people. Illuminated by the overhead lights, they turned their heads, each looking more murderous than the last.

"How much longer until we arrive?"

A woman in a short red skirt stood atop the head of a strange, chimera-like behemoth.

She had a waterfall of long black hair tied up high with a red ribbon, her face brimming with high spirits.

Standing beside her was an older woman in a qipao, who answered softly:

"About half a shichen."

"Still that long?" The young woman deflated slightly, losing a bit of her heroic flair.

"We've spent more time traveling than we will fighting."

"It is always like this," the older woman smiled.

"This is your first time traveling far from home, Young Miss. It is normal not to be used to it."

"Where's Seventh Brother?" Chen Hong looked into the pitch-black space around them but didn't see any trace of him.

"The Seventh Young Master rushed ahead to cut a path," the older woman smiled.

"Didn't we agree to go together?!" Chen Hong grew anxious.

"That liar!"

"No need to rush," the older woman chuckled softly, patting Chen Hong's shoulder.

"We received news that the Cat Ship has descended upon the Stone Realm."

"The Cat Ship..." Chen Hong thought of something and suddenly widened her eyes.

"That's Wen Xu's ship—"

She shuddered.

Every time her father held a meeting, he would point to that pale-faced boy and declare him their greatest competitor for ascending to godhood on Advent Day. But at the thought that the other side could already defeat a Tenth Tier while she had only just reached the Summit, she couldn't help but tremble.

"Why don't we stop the ship first?" Chen Hong was getting scared.

She had been like this since she was a child.

Moreover...

There was something she left unsaid: because of certain past experiences, she was terrified of her fifth brother.

Fifth Brother.

Meaning Chen Nian.

But the older woman beside her chuckled.

"The reason we came this time is to help you break your inner demon."

"Although the Cat Ship's forces aren't weak, and Wen Xu is indeed a formidable figure... you shouldn't underestimate the Seventh Young Master."

"We only need to wait a moment. Once we head down and you see the tragic state of our enemies, your inner demon will naturally be broken."

"If the Seventh Young Master tries to seize the advantage then..." The older woman's expression was calm, but her tone carried unquestionable authority.

"I will naturally take action."

"That's great! Thank goodness for you." Chen Hong happily hugged the older woman's arm.

The older woman smiled.

She didn't think Chen Hong could reach the Summit in this Blood War.

It was just that the factions with the greatest hope of reaching the Summit were already overcrowded. If she went over there, she would only be picking up scraps. Plus, she liked Chen Hong's temperament, which was why she had stayed with her.

Bringing Chen Hong to the Stone Realm was merely to let her gain some experience.

As for Chen Nian.

She had never taken him seriously.

A few hours later.

Figuring the timing was about right, the older woman took Chen Hong through a Space Rift and descended into the Stone Realm.

"The Stone Realm is a Third Level Domain made entirely of stone. Its greatest feature is that not a single blade of grass grows here; as far as the eye can see, everything is grayish-white—" The older woman paused mid-sentence as she explained the Stone Realm to Chen Hong.

The ground before them was covered in pitch-black soot, swallowing the grayish-white stones. Crisscrossing scorch marks and charred earth revealed the sheer tragedy of what had just occurred. This bloodcurdling scene stretched on continuously from right in front of them out to tens of li away.

Blood and body parts were scattered everywhere.

Many familiar faces from the Family were lying strewn across the ground in pieces.

Chen Hong's face turned pale at the sight. Finally unable to hold it in, she turned away and vomited violently.

"How could this happen?"

The older woman's expression changed. She looked around vigilantly and immediately ordered the troops behind her to stand by.

"Seventh Young Master!"

The older woman conjured a handful of wind and sand that drifted into the distance, attempting to follow the blood trail to find Chen Mingkai's traces.

"It's okay, it's okay, Young Miss."

The older woman continuously comforted Chen Hong.

"There must have been an unexpected turn of events. Once we figure out the situation, we can take advantage of it to reap the spoils."

But just as she spoke, a voice suddenly rang out:

"Slaughter Mode activated!"

"[Old Sin] module loaded!"

"Estimated energy consumption for this operation: five Duoge!"

In the next second, a jungle of massive steel cannons rose up around them, stretching endlessly into the distance.

The pitch-black muzzles aimed squarely at a terrified Chen Hong.