Meng City Is My Turf

"It's a village, about 10 li in diameter, with approximately 2,000 NPC villagers and about 300 members of the Chen Lineage family," Chen Hao answered without reservation. "The village mainly relies on farming, with harvests every six months. Each harvest from the 20,000 mu of farmland yields 1,500 tons of spirit wheat..."

There's a blacksmith's shop in the village that can forge weapons from the Spirit Realm, but the village has no iron ore and they need to obtain iron ingots from outside...

So-called spirit wheat is nothing more than ordinary wheat that has been contaminated with free-floating energy from the Spirit Realm. In a small village without any Spirit Vein, how could one possibly grow high-quality spirit wheat?

Upon hearing that there were only about two hundred militiamen in the entire village, Lin Xu breathed a sigh of relief, "Even including the Chen Lineage, the whole village has at most four or five hundred people."

With such limited strength, it's not worth mentioning.

"Where did the Ice Heart Jade Pendant come from?" His gaze fell on the jade pendant.

"My father gave it to me," Chen Hao replied blankly. "He forbade me to take it outside; I was only allowed to use it in the Spirit Realm."

Lin Xu frowned; it seemed this jade pendant had quite a story behind it.

After thinking for a moment, he "looked" at the Jiang Clan's apartment.

With such a commotion tonight, Old Master Jiang was wide awake and sat on the sofa, frowning in thought.

"Grandpa~"

The familiar voice calling his ear startled Old Master Jiang awake.

"A-Xu? Where are you?" He subconsciously looked up.

"Grandpa, I'm using magic to contact you," Lin Xu explained simply. "Chen Hao has an ancient jade with dragon patterns; do you recognize it?"

As the light subtly shifted, the phantom image of an ancient jade was projected in front of Old Master Jiang.

"Ah~" Upon seeing the jade pendant, Old Master Jiang's expression changed drastically. He subconsciously reached out to grab it, but grasped at empty air. He immediately realized what had happened, his expression blank, and two lines of tears silently fell.

"Grandpa?" Lin Xu's surprised voice interrupted his reverie. Old Master Jiang wiped his face. "I'm fine. As people get older, it's inevitable that they'll be reminded of loved ones by familiar objects."

"You mean, you recognize this ancient jade?" Lin Xu asked earnestly. "Wanqing once gave me a jade pendant with a phoenix pattern, which is exactly the same material and carving as this ancient jade."

"I know, Wanqing told me..." Old Master Jiang sighed, his right hand clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white, "This ancient jade was obtained by me during an adventure in the Spirit Realm when I was young, and it is related to a Spirit Realm ruin."

The last person to wear this jade pendant was Wanqing's father. He hadn't returned for so many years; I knew something must have happened to him. Sure enough, he was harmed by the Chen Lineage..."

Lin Xu remained silent for a moment, then repeated Chen Hao's words.

Elder Jiang nodded. "I know that territory; I was the one who first discovered it."

"What?" Lin Xu was stunned.

"This involves a long-standing feud between the Jiang and Chen families... To put it simply, it's about how I discovered this Spirit Realm territory during my Spirit Realm there, and in a moment of impulsiveness, I led most of the Jiang Clan's forces into this high-stakes gamble..."

Elder Jiang shook his head, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I took over the village, but the Jiang Clan's Spirit Realm adventurers also suffered heavy losses. The Chen Lineage seized the opportunity to launch an attack, and in the end..."

He didn't say anything more, but the result spoke for itself.

"I see..." Lin Xu nodded. "It's time for the Chen Lineage to settle this old score."

With a thought, he looked towards Azure Cloud Mountain in the Spirit Realm, where a worn-out compass lay discarded in a corner of the quiet room.

Wayfinding Compass, with a beacon placed on it, allows one to locate a target and travel through the Spirit Realm.

When Meng Yunxu tracked Li Yingqiu to Azure Cloud Mountain, he relied on this compass.

Item: Wayfinding Compass Quality: Blue (Excellent) Type: Magical Artifact Effect: Creates a beacon that lasts for seven days. The compass needle will always point to the beacon's direction. Description: Essential for travelers in the Spirit Realm. Lin Xu reached out to grab the compass, and the space-time before him rippled like waves on water.

He withdrew his hand and took out a compass and a fist-sized Spirit Realm Shitou.

After initially anchoring in Meng City, he could retrieve items from the Spirit Realm entering it.

Using a compass, Lin Xu created a Shitou and tossed it to the hypnotized Chen Hao: "After entering the Spirit Realm, throw this Shitou in a hidden place, and then forget everything."

Like a puppet on a string, Chen Hao blankly picked up the Shitou, changed into his equipment, lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep, his originally solid body quietly becoming ethereal.

A few seconds later, he disappeared from reality.

"Chen Lingfeng, I'm really looking forward to our meeting in the Spirit Realm ~" Lin Xu withdrew his gaze, looked down at the chaotic battlefield on the ground, his expression solemn. "Natural disaster, man-made calamity— Meng City is my territory, and no one can be allowed to act recklessly!"

In Lei City, Xiang Province, a phantom projection quietly appeared, gazing at Meng City, hundreds of kilometers away.

"Who is it? Who is anchoring Meng City?!" The giant's illusory face revealed a furious expression.

Once the anchoring between the Spirit Realm and the real world reaches a certain stage, the changes can no longer be concealed.

The lord's projection subconsciously raised its hand as if to do something, but then felt a slight tremor in the invisible Order Source Fire above the sky, and immediately stopped moving.

According to the Lord Covenant, lords are not allowed to destroy the territory of another lord in the real world, let alone attack a lord who is being created.

This covenant is witnessed by the Central State Order Source Fire; those who violate it will be expelled from the real world.

After hesitating for a moment, sensing that the projections of several old enemies were taking shape, the giant phantom snorted coldly and quietly disappeared.

Somewhere on the street, Chen Lingfeng leaned against the wall, panting heavily. Beneath his tattered uniform was a torn light armor, and blood kept gushing from the lacerated wound on his chest, staining his clothes red.

A few steps away, a heavily armored orc corpse lay on the ground.

"This has blown up tonight..." He looked at the orc warrior's corpse with frustration, never expecting things to turn out this badly.

The invasion of Meng City was a dereliction of duty on his part as the Night Watchers chief. The thought of having to take the blame for the aftermath of the war, and seeing his efforts of more than a decade go to waste, made his heart bleed.

He then realized that the little girl he had overlooked was the key to everything. "Damn cultists! What's so special about that little girl?"

If I hadn't gone to find Lin Xu and had instead taken the little girl away, waiting for the ceremony to end, none of this would have happened...

"No, this isn't my fault! It's all Lin Xu's fault, that damned troublemaker!" Chen Lingfeng's gaze suddenly turned icy. "He's the one who initiated the sacrificial ritual, which led to the invasion of Meng City by the Spirit Realm! He's a cultist!"

His thoughts grew clearer, and he was even planning how to create some "clues" tonight to point to this rising star in Meng City.

"Look up at the sky!" a nearby Night Watchers exclaimed.

Chen Lingfeng subconsciously looked up at the sky, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

A faint light appeared in the dark night sky at some unknown time.

The illusory palaces and pavilions resembled celestial palaces, hanging in the sky like a heavenly court in mythology.

The entire battlefield gradually quieted down. Both the orcs and the Night Watchers stopped and stared blankly at the sky.