I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

The Ancient Text was a piece of aged Kraft Paper. It looked quite old and gave off the smell of something dug up from the earth.

It felt slightly coarse.

The writing on it was already rather blurry, but a single line was still faintly visible.

-

"End of Eternal Night Calendar year 382. Jiangbei. The Netherworld Ghost Tide will land without end. A great calamity."

-

The rest of the characters were extremely blurry; only this line could be clearly discerned.

It was currently the end of Eternal Night Calendar year 378. The year was about to close, and in a little over ten days, it would be year 379. The end of year 382 was four years from now.

"..."

Chen Fan stared at the Kraft Paper in his hand. After a long, expressionless silence, he suddenly couldn’t help but laugh.

He suddenly realized his enemies might not be very bright.

It was common knowledge.

years ago, the Eternal Night had descended, plunging the world into darkness. From then on, the continent became the domain of Ghost Objects. The continent was renamed the Eternal Night Continent, and the calendar was reset from the year of the Eternal Night’s arrival, historically known as the Eternal Night Year Calendar.

But—

—that was the information known to most people.

A more hidden piece of information was that another Eternal Night had descended over 8,000 years ago. At that time, the various powers on the continent had driven the Ghost Objects out.

All the Ancient Texts obtained now were fundamentally assumed to be relics left over from that great war over eight thousand years ago.

The term "Eternal Night Calendar" had clearly only come into existence in recent years. How could the people who left behind these Ancient Texts over eight thousand years ago have known about it?

’The timeline doesn’t even match up.’

’Couldn’t they have been a little more serious before forging these Ancient Texts?’

Chen Fan let out a long sigh. This "Ancient Text" was definitely a forgery. And rather than being forged by a person, he was more inclined to believe it was forged by a "Ghost Object," especially since it was found on a Fake Human Ghost.

From this, one piece of information could be derived.

Which was—

A group of Ghost Objects had their eyes on him, but for some reason, they couldn’t act against him directly. So, they had to resort to this method to try and make him withdraw from Jiangbei voluntarily.

As for why...

...he didn’t know.

But he did know one thing: anything that displeased his enemies was a victory for him.

The more the enemy wanted him to leave, the more he wouldn’t go.

Guarding Jiangbei was the duty of the Mortal Realm.

"The rainy season?"

Chen Fan stuffed the fragment of the Ancient Text into his robe, lost in thought. ’They didn’t make a move, yet they sent me this message. There’s an eighty percent chance they can’t reach Jiangbei. Are they in some special place, only able to come to Jiangbei during the rainy season?’

Since he didn’t act according to their plan, it seemed they were bound to meet during the rainy season.

’So be it.’

The next rainy season was still a year away. That was enough time for him to prepare.

Two things could be inferred from this fragment of the Ancient Text.

First, the enemy was probably not too weak.

They clearly had a plan for Jiangbei, and this plan was set to unfold within the next four years. It was unlikely they were plotting for the Snow Lotus on Nameless Mountain, as that had no time limit. The enemy had specifically mentioned the four-year mark, which meant this group wanted to profit from the landing of the Ghost Tide.

Second, the enemy was probably not too strong.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be restricted to coming to Jiangbei only during the rainy season.

...

"Domain Lord."

Zhou Mo, standing beside him, interrupted his thoughts.

"It’s nothing."

Chen Fan shook his head and said casually, "What about that person from the Jiangxi Commerce Association? Didn’t one of them get blown up by the Fake Human Ghost? This happened due to a lapse in our Mortal Realm’s screening, after all. Give them some humanitarian compensation."

"I have other things to attend to, so I won’t make an appearance. You take some men and smooth things over."

"How much compensation is appropriate?"

"You decide. A thousand or eight hundred Ghost Stones should be about right."

"That many?" Zhou Mo was taken aback for a moment.

"Mhm."

Chen Fan said no more. He turned, walked toward the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage at the side, and headed for the camp. He still had some buildings to finish upgrading.

He could actually understand Zhou Mo. It wasn’t that Zhou Mo was cold, but in this day and age, a human life... especially the life of a subordinate, truly wasn’t worth a thousand Ghost Stones.

’A human life is priceless.’

’It can’t be weighed.’

’But once you put it on the scales, it could be worth a fortune, or it could be worth nothing at all.’

’Anything that cannot be weighed is, by definition, priceless.’

...

「Mortal Realm, inside the camp.」

Having returned, Chen Fan walked up to the Yunling Pavilion. He took a salt-filled jar from his robes, which contained a Heavenly and Earthly Treasure: the Sea Embryo. This was what Shao Qiu had brought back from the Wind and Rain Tower.

’Come to think of it,’

’I haven’t asked Shao Qiu how he’d managed it. The auction was about to start at the time, so I didn’t get a chance.’

’I’ll ask him later tonight.’

Currently, only two buildings in the camp required a Sea Embryo to upgrade: the Yunling Pavilion and the Celestial Artifact Pavilion.

He decided to use it on the Yunling Pavilion. The Celestial Artifact Pavilion would have to do without.

The next moment—

After consuming 5,000 Ghost Stones, the Yunling Pavilion before him dissolved into a phantom structure of white lines. After it absorbed all the liquid transformed from the Ghost Stones, a new panel appeared before him.

-

"The Yunling Pavilion has been upgraded to Level 5."

"Please select an Upgrade Direction."

"1: Increase Cultivation Speed to 15x. Current: 10x."

"2: Increase Martial Arts comprehension speed to 15x. Current: 10x."

"3: Slightly increase the probability of an epiphany."

-

"Hmm..."

Chen Fan looked at the panel before him, a brow raised and a hint of surprise in his eyes.

The main reason was his discovery that upgrading to Level 6 required no materials at all.

’Upgrading to Level 5 needed a Sea Embryo, but upgrading to Level 6 needs no materials at all? Just 10,000 Ghost Stones?’

...

The Alchemy Workshop, the Artifact Refining Workshop, and the Life Workshop—these three buildings were all derivatives born from upgrading the white-tier Wooden House to Level 3.

Among them, the Life Workshop required no materials for each upgrade. It also had no Upgrade Directions; instead, each level-up would unlock a few more craftable daily-life items.