The Demonic World I designed
Chapter 185 - 185 178 It's time to rely on you!

185: Chapter 178: It’s time to rely on you!

185: Chapter 178: It’s time to rely on you!

“He really did it…”

Outside Nanyang City, Shen Eleven, who had personally gone to the surrounding Jiyun County to observe the situation, stared dumbfounded at everything.

When they had previously collected food, he, along with Old Ten and Eleven, had led a team through Jiyun County, where it was truly a scene of carnage, causing those who had never experienced war to vomit uncontrollably.

The dark corners of houses were littered with dismembered corpses, and occasionally, seven or eight undead would emerge.

As a result, their food collection was extremely slow, and later they could only rely on Seventh Master for support to barely gather enough food.

But who would have thought that in just a short ten days or so, Jiyun County would have already regained such vitality?

Although it certainly couldn’t compare to before, when compared to the desolation seen in the daytime and the nightly wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves, Jiyun County had essentially cleared all undead, and from the surrounding ten miles or so, nearly four to five thousand people had been rescued.

Looking at busy young and strong villagers rebuilding, although the place was still desolate and run-down, it already had a significant surge of new life!

This was just in ten days!

The key point was that Chen Qing’s troop expansion rate was incredibly fast.

Because life was affluent in Nanyang City, even with the temptation of generous military pay, the initial response to Chen Qing was scant, and it seemed on the day of departure, Chen Qing had barely gathered two thousand new soldiers.

But in just these short ten days or so, not only had those two thousand new soldiers become strong warriors capable of holding their own, defending the county town, but a continuous stream of young and able-bodied men had joined.

It was estimated that for two county towns, nearly double had already been turned over to Chen Qing!

And this was only the two counties closest to Nanyang City…

You must know, the closer a county is to Nanyang, the worse the suffering, and the fewer the survivors, while those farther from the river and the main city would have more survivors.

The entire Nanyang jurisdiction had nearly a hundred million population across dozens of counties, and even if only one-tenth survived, then according to Chen Qing’s model, how many troops could he raise in the end?

“Seventh Master, is there no limit to this?”

“There should be…” Old Seventh Shen said with a smile: “It’s just that we don’t know where the limit is.”

“Then… Seventh Master… which side are we on?” Shen Eleven curiously asked.

He was obviously asking about Chen Qing…

and the Imperial Court!

Chen Qing hiring troops privately with a clear goal of carving out Jiangnan for himself!

If he wanted to carve out Jiangnan, then the local power, the Shen Family, would surely have to make a stand, either to resist Chen Qing and join the Imperial Court in suppressing this rebel or to join Chen Qing in facing the pressure of the Imperial Court, truly carving out Jiangnan!

“That depends on what Chen Qing can offer to our Shen Family,” said Old Seven Shen somberly.

Chen Qing’s potential was indeed great; this set of combat god models capable of transmitting power was a tool that defied all reason.

If there were no side effects or disadvantages, given enough time, Chen Qing surely had the strength to confront the Imperial Court head-on.

But what he lacked was likely time!

Although Great Jin had just been established for twenty years, its foundation was quite robust.

Families that support this new dynasty accounted for eighty percent of the total in the world, and Sorcerer Families were even more loyal, with ninety percent serving the Imperial Court.

Such a magnitude is exceedingly rare in the ten-thousand-year history of the Human Race.

Even the previous reigning dynasty for a thousand years in the Central Plains probably didn’t enjoy this level of support.

Not to mention, those noble families obtained an incredible amount of power under the hand of the King of Qin back then.

Today, there are double-digit strong individuals approaching the level of Old Ancestor Shen within the Imperial Court.

With such a force, if they were to give everything they have, Chen Qing’s current power would be no different from ants.

Collaborating with Chen Qing carried a very real risk.

However, risk often comes with the potential for gain, and the people of Shen Family have never been the type to play it safe.

If Chen Qing could present sufficient sincerity and guarantees, the Shen Family could well stand on Chen Qing’s side.

Of course, at the very least, Chen Qing would have to demonstrate a modicum of strength to resist the Imperial Court.

Old Seventh Shen solemnly said, “For now, we’ll keep mum.

Whether we collaborate or not will depend on how far this Young Lord Chen can develop in this limited time!”

“Limited time?” Old Eleven was taken aback: “Seventh Master, what do you mean by that?”

“I’m not skilled in arrays… but even I can see…” Old Seventh Shen looked towards the thick fog over the river and said, “This Array…

probably won’t hold much longer!”

—————————–

“The Array…

won’t hold much longer?”

Second Elder Shen frowned at Chen Qing, “What do you mean?

Didn’t you say that this Array is an ancient one that might have a history of hundreds of thousands of years?”

“You know it’s been hundreds of thousands of years too…” Chen Qing rolled his eyes at the other: “That it has held up until now is already quite sturdy, okay?

From your eldest being able to stir up so much trouble in the West Sea, and Old Ancestor Shen being able to secretly collaborate with the Ancient Worms inside for so long, you should know…

this Array…

has long been full of holes.

Or why do you think, after being confined for hundreds of thousands of years, it was specifically Old Ancestor Shen who could communicate with it?”

“It’s not that your Old Ancestor Shen had good luck encountering them; rather, those Ancient Worms could no longer be contained, so they chose your Old Ancestor Shen!”

Second Elder Shen: “….”

“So…

what now?” Second Elder Shen asked with a frown.

“Now?

The reason we’ve managed to maintain the situation is that several Ancient Worms haven’t been fully prepared.

But now, it’s different.

The Princess Royale’s setup has been successfully laid out, and that one in the West Sea should also be about ready.

Once the higher-tier affiliates find suitable vessels, they will seize the opportunity to break the Array directly!”

“Why do they need suitable vessels before breaking the Array?” Second Elder Shen asked, puzzled.

“It’s because they’re afraid…” Chen Qing said with a smile, “Even a rotting ship has three thousand nails.

This Array is the crystallization of wisdom from the collective Array Masters of the past.

To break it, the nine Ancient Worms can only resort to an extreme molting technique!”

“A molting technique?”

“Yes, similar to how a snake sheds its skin,” Chen Qing said in a lowered voice.

“That’s precisely the Dragon Transformation Technique your Old Ancestor Shen has been obsessing over!”

Second Elder Shen’s eyelids twitched: “Explain more clearly!”

“The Dragon Transformation Technique is a life cycle magic that combines yin and yang.

It uses the method of a snake shedding its skin to achieve rebirth.

Each shedding removes a great deal of karmic burden while retaining only the essence of the core being.

The rotten is cast away, and the essence-blood is reborn, which is the fundamental of becoming a dragon.

Actually, this method was originally created by the Ancient Worms to break the Array, because the Array tracks the Ancient Worms by their soul marks.

As long as the worms keep shedding, erasing their soul marks layer by layer, the Array becomes unable to track them and becomes useless against them!”

“I see…” Second Elder Shen nodded, then immediately asked, “You just mentioned that the worms didn’t use the Dragon Transformation Technique at the beginning because they were afraid?”

“Yes…” Chen Qing nodded, “The technique greatly weakens the main body, especially after dozens of consecutive sheddings.

The main body becomes extremely weak, and at that time, the Ancient Worms would need their affiliates to protect themselves.”

“For years, those creatures have lain in wait, enduring and refining their essence-blood, cultivating one after another high-level affiliate, all for this critical moment!”

“As soon as they have enough vessels to house their affiliates, the breaking of the Array will begin!”

“Hehehe…”

A sinister laugh came from Old Liu, who was beside them, showing no expression.

Inside the already-stupefied body of Old Liu, an existence from ancient times could no longer hold back and let out its voice.

“I thought you would keep quiet the entire time,” Chen Qing said amusedly, looking at Old Liu.

“Who exactly are you?” Old Liu asked, his head stiffly raised.

Next to him, Second Elder Shen’s complexion changed drastically.

He had thought that he had completely taken control over the entity inside Old Liu’s body, but unexpectedly, it still had the ability to act.

“The Dragon Transformation Technique was created by our father after he was trapped in the Array.

No one in this world…

should know about it.

How could you possibly know about it?

Did that despicable Bai Yu tell you?”

Chen Qing rolled his eyes slightly; the likes of Bai Yu, a scheming woman, would never tell him such vital weaknesses.

Chen Qing had thought long and hard about this weakness.

After all, when the Dragon Palace opened, most players were still in the first stage, and it was completely impossible for them to be a match for the fully-fledged Ancient Worms.

Any game that lacks any chance of winning, and has only difficulty, is meaningless.

But Chen Qing had a habit of always first establishing difficulty when designing monsters, and then determining their weaknesses, for a sense of triumph in conquest.

After designing the Ancient Worms, he realized that players in the first stage simply had no way of defeating them.

So…

he settled for the next best thing and came up with an essential weakness.

If players wished to defeat the Ancient Worms, they would have to find the Ancient Worm’s location after it had broken through the Array and was in a state of extreme weakness, defeat all of its affiliates, and kill it before it recovered!

This flaw was too rigid and far from clever, which was why Chen Qing considered it his most disappointing design.

“How much longer do we have?” Second Elder Shen quickly asked.

“It shouldn’t be much longer…” Chen Qing sighed, “On the side of the Princess Royale…

that is, your fifth brother, after swallowing the Golden Dragon Guard, if he can take down King of Qin’s troops as well, even if only half of them, then he would already possess this world’s most powerful vessels.

Especially those great Lords from Duke of Qin; if they are taken down, his affiliates might approach the level of Your Majesty, with nearly no chance of failure!”

“And in the West Sea, your eldest brother, after swallowing all the soldiers of the West Sea, will probably start breaking the Array as well!”

“From what you’re saying…

it seems like we can only wait to die?”

“Why would you say that?” Chen Qing said with a smile, shrugging, “Don’t we still have you?

You’re our ultimate weapon here.

At the crucial moment…

we must rely on you!”

Second Elder Shen: “….”