novelraw Chapter 256: Cangshan City is one big cycle
Chapter 256: Cangshan City is one big cycle
Aboard the airship, the figures of Alexander, Edward, Kassadin, and Selena simultaneously appeared in booth number 69.
"Ha ha, exhilarating! Absolutely exhilarating! Edward, now I know why you follow Alexander. Damn it! I’ve worked my whole life and never amassed as much as he swindles in one minute. It’s unbelievable!"
"Watch your words!" Alexander interjected somewhat sheepishly. "How could you call it swindling? It’s clearly friendly business dealings."
"Exactly, exactly!" chimed in Edward and Kassadin Imperial, nodding in unison.
"Friendly, oh so friendly. The participants will be moved to tears next time when they find out the chef from dining hall number 9 is missing!"
Their reactions left Selena unable to hold back her laughter.
This time, even without Selena saying anything, Kassadin finally understood Alexander’s brilliance. Ingeniously exploiting the rules—combining a Perfect Identity Card with a dimensional restraint—they reaped unimaginable gains.
In the hands of other participants, these two items might yield just a few Emperor Crystals. Alexander? He not only garnered millions of Ghost Foods but also amassed an unimaginable volume of ghost energy.
"Alexander, we’re rich now. Let me show you something grand!" Kassadin stood up, excitement filling the air.
"What grand thing?" Alexander inquired with curiosity.
"Follow me, and you’ll find out," Kassadin rose to his feet.
Intrigued by a spectacle that could make even Kassadin Imperial play coy, everyone was naturally curious. Following Kassadin, the trio left the booth.
"Imperial Highness, what can I assist you with?" A maid approached, bowing without a hint of expression.
"I want to go to the deck," Kassadin declared.
"Imperial Highness," the maid’s face broke into a slight smile, "access to the deck costs ten million units of ghost energy. Are you sure you wish to proceed?"
"Only ten million? All four of us are going up!" Kassadin didn’t hesitate, extending his hand right away.
A staggering 63 trillion units of ghost energy appeared on the back of his hand, the digits so numerous they could hardly fit in a single row.
The maid, who had maintained a stoic expression until now, visibly wavered for a moment. Her smile grew even brighter, and her bow deeper, nearly revealing her cleavage from the loose neckline of her dress.
Her voice took on a tone of deeper respect: "Honorable Imperial, and esteemed participants, please follow me."
Leading the way, the maid quickly guided the group to the deck, where about a hundred participants were already present. Remarkably, they were all of Emperor rank.
When Alexander and his companions appeared, there was a noticeable moment of surprise among the deck’s occupants, but they only spared a glance before returning their gaze to the mist depths, evidently waiting for something significant.
Curiosity piqued by whatever could hold the attention of so many Emperor-level beings, Alexander turned his gaze towards the direction of Cangshan City. Within the fog, a sea of green lights emerged, bathing the view in a spectral glow.
At the very center of this ocean, a spot of red appeared like an exquisite ruby, and it began to expand rapidly.
"What is that? It looks like..." Alexander inquired curiously.
"Blood!" Kassadin interjected solemnly before Alexander could finish. "That is an ocean of blood!"
The word ’ocean’ used to describe blood left Alexander and Edward visibly stunned.
"How did this sea of blood come to be? Could it be..."
Alexander’s words trailed off, his face a canvas of astonishment. He locked eyes with Edward, and in unison, they said: "A cycle!"
Exactly! Within the mist instance of Cangshan City, there were countless cycles within cycles, like nested Russian dolls. The whole of Cangshan City was itself a grand cycle, endlessly replaying its initial annihilation.
"Nobody knows what exactly occurs within, but our estimates align closely with your guess," Kassadin elaborated.
"Some participants, using unique talents, have heard the cries of warhorses and sounds of battle emanating from within, leading us to suspect that the entire Cangshan City is caught in a grand cycle.
When we participants depart, it coincides with the end of this cycle. The final step of the cycle likely involves the mist shrouding the entire area and the hell warriors slaughtering the city."
"A city-wide cycle!" Edward swallowed hard, his face a mix of awe and yearning.
"What would be the reward for solving such a cycle? Would one ascend past the Emperor-level ceiling and reach the legendary ranks of Ghost Saint, Ghost Honor, or even Ghost God?"
In Cangshan City, the number of cycles was beyond counting. Even at the Emperor level, there were at least a million or more. Breaking any one of these Emperor-level cycles would produce an Emperor Ghost Crystal.
One could only imagine the magnitude of the reward for solving the cycle that engulfs all of Cangshan City.
But such thoughts were mere flights of fancy.
Solving other cycles required logical deduction, but the cycle of Cangshan City presented a clear, singular solution: to halt the hell warriors and prevent the city’s devastation.
Was such a feat even possible?
If it were, would this horror world still have dwindled from its original thirty-six Ghost Realms down to its current six?
Should even a sliver of a chance exist, the major Ghost Realms would have united long ago.
Kassadin rolling his eyes dismissively at Edward’s musings. "The likes of Ghost Saints and Ghost Honors couldn’t achieve it even when they were plentiful. The idea is even more far-fetched now. What you’re talking about is pure fantasy, unattainable as it is."
Beside them, Alexander focused intently on the numerous green lanterns flickering in the distance, a burst of dazzling red erupting deep from within his eyes—Ghostly Piercing Vision.
A potent skill that not only defied distances but also offered X-ray vision. Neither the attire of the Blood Queen nor the clothing of the Dark Hell Female Emperor could withstand this power—testament to its potency.
As for why he knew Alice’s clothing couldn’t hold up either—well, that was purely accidental. He had initially used the skill to gather more information; after all, she was his classmate’s mother!
The effectiveness of Ghostly Piercing Vision was beyond question. Even in the Dark Hell, Alexander had penetrated the surface fog to discern silhouettes within.
Now enveloped by the mist, he decided to test it again, his gaze directed towards Cangshan City concealed in the mist.
Green lanterns floated mid-air, filling his sight. What followed was a panorama of bodies metamorphosing into ghostly mist and scenes of utter chaos and destruction.
Alexander witnessed meaty orbs, bloated and grotesque, explode the instant they entered the mist. The ensuing mist was then absorbed by the flickering lanterns around, gradually forming into multiple human silhouettes.
So this was how the cycle of Cangshan City came to be—its perpetuity explained, its cycle substantiated.
Alexander’s gaze continued to traverse towards the center of the city, where a vast sea of blood had formed.
It was rapidly evaporating; a part turning into white mist that merged into the surrounding mist, while another part became a torrent of dark, ghostly mist drifting into the distance.
Just as his eyes followed this ghostly mist towards the core of the fog—
"Alexander! Alexander!"
A small hand grabbed his arm, jolting him from his focused state. Startled, Alexander promptly deactivated his Ghostly Piercing Vision. Had he been on the brink of witnessing something terrifying?
He turned to find Selena, her arm curled around his, a sweet smile on her face as she asked, "What were you staring at so intently?"
Was it an unintentional interruption or a calculated one? Alexander scrutinized Selena for a long moment. Her face was radiant with an innocent smile; he couldn’t detect any hint of deceit.
Reluctantly, he averted his eyes back towards the sea of blood. But this time, lacking the power of Ghostly Piercing Vision, all he could see was a faint green glow vanishing into the mist.
"What are you thinking about?" Kassadin inquired, either oblivious to the subtle interaction between the two or choosing to interpret it as mere flirtation between lovers. He had noticed Alexander’s trance-like focus on the fog.
"I was thinking," Alexander began, drawing his thoughts back to the present, "that using the Perfect Identity Card on a chef at the No. 9 dining hall seems like quite a waste."
"A waste?" Both Kassadin and Edward widened their eyes in disbelief.
Edward had long grown accustomed to Alexander’s unusual ideas and obsessions when it came to accumulating wealth. Kassadin, however, was dumbfounded.
"You posed as a chef in the No. 9 dining hall and amassed trillions of units of ghost energy, millions of Ghost Foods, and even nineteen Emperor-level Ghost Foods. That’s the equivalent of creating nineteen ghost Emperors! And you think you’ve made a poor deal?"
Kassadin shook his head, evidently feeling that Alexander was losing touch with reality given his immense gains.
"Just those nineteen Emperor-level Ghost Foods alone could create nineteen new ghost Emperors after being fully absorbed. Even the strongest faction in the third ghost realm, Endless Abyss—which is a top-tier power among the six major ghost realms—only has six Emperor-level ghosts. And you think you’re at a loss?"
Alexander offered no explanation. He merely smiled, his eyes settling on the distant mist. "I can see through this fog," he declared softly.
"What?" Kassadin was so startled he nearly jumped out of his skin. Noticing the onlookers turning their attention towards them, he restrained himself. "You can’t be serious."
"I have a skill that allows me to see without the constraints of distance and provides a certain level of x-ray vision. While it doesn’t completely negate the effects of the fog, it does allow me to see everything happening inside Cangshan City," Alexander explained, not mincing his words.
"So, the whole of Cangshan City is basically one big cycle," Kassadin mused, before frowning. "Even if you still have the Perfect Identity Card, what good would it do? A disguise doesn’t mean you can withstand the corrosive effects of the white fog. Once you enter Cangshan City, how would you get back?"
"I have another talent: Blink. I can move to any location I can see," Alexander replied.
"Although you have the Blink talent, the distance..." Kassadin began, only to pause abruptly, a sudden epiphany transforming his expression.
If that talent were to be combined with Ghostly Piercing Vision, which defies the limitations of sight distance, it would be an unimaginably potent mixture.