I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

Chapter 147: Chapter 116: Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Transformation Array

Meanwhile—

On the streets of Jiangbei City.

A group of men in black were rapidly hiding white lanterns all over Jiangbei City—in haystacks, under eaves, in slop buckets—while carrying barrels of Ghost Blood. They dipped brushes into the blood and quickly coated the drainage ditches on both sides of the streets.

If Tributor Liu of the Jiangbei Chen Family hadn’t been sound asleep at that moment, he might have found the scene familiar.

Those white lanterns were the most common type of construct: the Soul-Calling Lamp.

They were cheap to make, their only effect being that they would glow with a faint white light on the Qingming Festival each year.

In years past, every household would hang such a lamp by their door during the festival to express remembrance for their departed family members. It was a local custom.

Tonight was not the Qingming Festival, yet someone was blanketing the city with Soul-Calling Lamps, all of them hidden in extremely inconspicuous locations.

As for the drainage ditches.

Six years ago, the Jiangbei Chen Family had paid out of their own pocket to build these drains for the people of Jiangbei City, earning them much praise. Now, those same ditches were being smeared with crimson Ghost Blood and covered with a layer of dry grass and dirt to conceal the act.

...

The night was deep and quiet.

Countless people slept soundly, grateful to have survived the rainy season.

Inside the Jiangbei Chen Family estate.

Patriarch Chen, who had been feigning sleep, suddenly sat up, his back ramrod straight. He looked out the window, his expression calm and silent, his gaze seeming to pierce through the courtyard walls and settle on the Jiangbei Chen Family’s Site 37.

Under the dim light of an oil lamp, he rose and stood before a mottled copper mirror in the room.

The mirror’s surface dimly reflected his deeply lined cheeks, which resembled the ravaged Jiangbei Wilderness.

He was old now.

He had never cared for his appearance before.

But tonight.

He uncharacteristically held out his hands, which were covered in age spots. Spreading them open, he dipped them into the small basin of clean water beside him and began to meticulously wipe every finger, every nail.

He carefully combed his graying hair with a wooden comb.

After finishing all this, he carefully took a worn family ceremonial robe from his cabinet. A hint of tenderness flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly smiled, stroking the fabric slowly.

It was from when he had formally ascended to the position of Patriarch.

His late wife had woven it for him with her own hands.

It was a little coarse.

But he loved it.

"..."

In that moment, Patriarch Chen’s old, clouded eyes held none of their usual weariness or resolve, only an extremely placid gentleness. But that soon twisted into a frenzied determination.

For over a decade, he had focused on only one thing: using the Chen Family’s power and Tributor Liu the Architect to create a massive number of Soul-Calling Lamps in preparation for the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Transformation Array. Nothing else mattered. It was an Array he had discovered in the pages of some Ancient Texts.

According to the Ancient Texts, by hanging one hundred thousand, eight hundred Soul-Calling Lamps in designated locations, channeling them with Ghost Blood, and sacrificing tens of thousands of living beings, one could create the "Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Transformation Array." Once the Array was complete, all life within the Grand Array would be annihilated.

This was a Grand Array that could only be established in a Natural Ghost Fire Zone.

His plan was simple.

When Jiangbei City’s defenses fell during the rainy season, and the endless Ghost Tide flooded the city, bringing devastation, he would then use the lives of the citizens to activate the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Transformation Array and exterminate all the Ghost Objects that had invaded in one fell swoop.

This would allow him to obtain a vast quantity of Ghost Stones and Exotic Treasures.

Thus, after the rainy season ended, the Chen Family would soar to unimaginable heights.

But this plan was an affront to heaven and harmony. He had told no one except his most trusted confidants.

The early arrival of the rainy season should have been a perfect opportunity.

He just hadn’t expected Jiangbei City to hold out. The City Wall hadn’t fallen.

After a long moment, he suddenly shook his head and laughed. A crazed light flickered in his pupils as he muttered in a low voice, "I’ve only done this one thing my entire life. No matter what, I must see it to its conclusion!"

During the rainy season, he had countless opportunities to destroy the City Wall, but he hadn’t.

Because he saw that Chen Fan’s Ghost Fire had never been extinguished.

He knew.

’If Chen Fan survives the rainy season, he will inevitably rise to power.’

He had left this trump card, the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Transformation Array that he had spent over a decade preparing, for Chen Fan.

Things had unfolded just as he predicted.

The rainy season ended.

Chen Fan’s "Mortal Realm" shocked the world by slaying a Ghost King. He then killed the Young Master of the Pill Sect and slaughtered everyone from the Pill Sect in the city. His fame spread far and wide, from Jiangbei to Jiangnan. And the Patriarch knew that his turn was next—that the Mortal Realm was coming to settle accounts with him.

If Chen Fan was willing to return to the Jiangbei Chen Family, he would abdicate and support Chen Fan with all his might.

But if he was unwilling, if he still held a grudge, then the moment Chen Fan stepped into Jiangbei City would be the moment he met his end.

The Patriarch would then inherit the resources of the Mortal Realm and rapidly strengthen the Jiangbei Chen Family.

...

Just then—

A man in a black robe pushed the door open a crack and appeared silently in the room. He knelt on one knee and said in a low voice, "Master, all one hundred thousand, eight hundred have been hung in their designated positions. The Ghost Blood has been laid. We can activate the Array at any time."

After a long moment, Patriarch Chen slowly rose and walked toward the window.

"Everything is ready. All we need is the east wind."

"All that’s left is to wait patiently."

"Master."

The black-robed man kneeling on one knee seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking again. "The Young Master’s methods are extraordinary. Perhaps... we could join the Mortal Realm?"

"Impossible!"

A shadow crossed Patriarch Chen’s eyes. "Unless he is willing to rename the Mortal Realm to the Jiangbei Chen Family and announce to the world that it belongs to us! What I want is for the Chen Family to grow strong, not some nameless faction!"

He paused, then suddenly laughed again.

"Do you remember why the Lady of the House fought with me and ran off to the Jiangbei Chen Family’s Site 37?"

"That was when I proposed the plan for the ’Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Transformation Array.’ She cursed me, called me a monster, and refused to help me create the Soul-Calling Lamps."