The train journey back to Xia Hai was supposed to take an hour or so. Making use of the same bullet train technology that was so famous in the Rising Sun Nation, the high-speed rail in Hua Xia followed the same principles, allowing us to travel across provinces in a relatively short time. Roughly three hundred kilometers, crossed in just an hour.
I was looking forward to being home before dinnertime, but unfortunately, the high-speed railway service was disrupted by some incident closer to Xia Hai. Roughly ten kilometers away from Xia Hai, the train ground to a stop, with a public announcement from the conductor that there would be no service to Xia Hai.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I complained as I disembarked from the train, fuming furiously at the major inconvenience. "How do we go home now?"
"Does this happen often?" Myria asked. I shook my head. Now that I thought about it, they only halted train services during a disaster or an emergency. A chill ran down my spine and I checked my smartphone for news.
"Oh no."
"What happened? That doesn't sound good." Myria looked at me, concerned. I sighed and nodded, glaring at the screen.
"Yeah, it isn't. A wave of spirit beasts has just attacked Xia Hai City, and there are witness reports of demonic cultivators in their midst. They have mobilized the cultivator corps to defend civilians, but it's chaos down there."
"That's terrible! How are uncle and auntie? And your brother? Are they all right?"
"I'm trying to contact them now. I think my dad wouldn't be able to reply. He'll be among the first to mobilize and fight the demons. Hopefully, my mom and brother made it to the shelters. I'm sure they will be fine."
Even as I said that, more to convince myself than anything, I felt worry weigh down on my chest. Gripping my smartphone tightly, the seconds slowly ticking by and the ringtone continuing without anybody picking up, I gnashed my teeth in rage.
This couldn't be. While I was away in Huo Yan Valley, a catastrophe had descended upon my hometown. My family was in danger while I was completely ignorant of it. It was coincidental that the spirit beast wave occurred just an hour or two before I reached home, and I wondered if there was some twisted god up there who decided it was funny to play such an awful prank on me.
Fuck him.
"What do you intend to do now?" Myria asked, clutching my hand. I realized she was just as concerned as I was. More for me than my family, because she could relate to how I felt.
"Return to Xia Hai City. No matter what, I'm going to find my family and ensure they are safe. And I'm going to kick the asses of these spirit beasts and demons for having the guts to invade my home city." I then regarded Myria coolly. "Sorry, I don't want to drag you into this if possible. If you want to stay in this district, there should be a hotel nearby. But I'll be heading back."
"Are you kidding?" Myria snorted and smacked my shoulder. "I'm following you, of course. I'm a little concerned for your family too. I haven't known them for long, but if they are my future in-laws, then I can't let anything bad happen to them. I want to help."
"Your motives are pretty, uh…"
"Better I be upfront about it than lie to you." Myria shrugged, then she gave me a slight push. "Let's stop wasting time here and go. The sooner we move out, the earlier we'll find your family."
"Yeah, thanks." I was grateful to her for understanding. I could really use her help, especially against a spirit beast wave and demons. The more people I had on my side, the better. I wasn't a one-man army, and even if I could summon spirit beasts, frankly, Myria was more powerful than the majority of my spirit beasts. Only Long Wang, Hei Ba and the Guardian Golems were above her in strength.
Speaking of which, Myria had attained Mystic rank not long ago, having broken through to the superior cultivation realm while training in Huo Yan Valley City. I still remembered what happened a day after we returned from the volcanic valley.
"We might be forging treasure weapons for Song Jun Wen here, in exchange for the mission we assigned you, but you don't have any rewards. We feel kind of bad for that." Gan Jiang had told us. Mo Ye had nodded before producing a bunch of high-grade spirit stones and firmly putting them in Myria's hands.
"You should take this as your reward. You risked your life alongside your fiancée and assisted us greatly as well. It's only right that you also receive something in return."
"Thank you." Myria had bowed gratefully, and while I was dealing with the aftermath and fallout by cooperating with the investigations, she had stayed in the hotel to constantly practice after absorbing the qi from the high-quality spirit stones. Combined with the combat experience she had gained during the fearsome fight in the volcano, she was able to attain a breakthrough relatively swiftly and reached Mystic rank.
Not bad at all.
As for me, I had temporarily teleported to the Deep Sea Palace to check on my spirit beasts. The five Guardian Golems I had subordinated were standing sentinel over the gates, impassively watching the cavernous corridor that might lead to other dungeons.
"They make good guards," Long Wang had assured me. "I'll reward them with spirit stones and whatever they need, but they are content hanging out here."
The Colossal Crabs swam about in the moat, though they occasionally left when their shifts were over to join the Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes in the sea portion of my dungeon. I had deposited the spirit diamonds into the dungeon core and confirmed that I wanted to upgrade it, only for the system to send me a notification message.
-The dungeon upgrade will take approximately a week to complete. Would the user still like to proceed? –
"Of course. Do whatever you need to make the dungeon stronger. And take your time. I don't think we'll be attacked by enemies anytime soon, so now's our chance to progress leisurely."
-A reminder to the user. The higher level the dungeon, the greater the number of spirit stones required for maintenance and upkeep. –
"No problem. Just do it."
I had been aware that the dungeon required a steady supply of spirit stones everyday for its daily upkeep. Apparently, dungeons ran on energy or qi, and spirit stones served as a kind of fuel to power its functions. That was why I couldn't be super rich just by relying on my Collector Crabs bringing back spirit stones all the time. A significant chunk of our spirit stone income went into maintaining the dungeon's operations and keeping it powered.
On the other hand, the upgrades meant more territory and thus a greater probability of finding more spirit stones, as well as a higher rate of locating good quality ones. Eventually, we would come across a lode of spirit stones within my dungeon itself, and we would strike it rich. The investment was worth it. Not only that, the population of my Collector Crabs continued to increase as they bred within the Deep Sea Palace, which meant more income.
But the upgrades to my dungeon would be for naught if my primary home – and my family – was in danger. It wasn't as if I could ask my family to take shelter in my Deep Sea Palace, and despite the upgrades where I now had a kitchen, a farming area, a bar and other essential amenities and luxuries, the fact that it was subject to raids from other dungeon masters made it a risky prospect. Also, I doubted my family wanted to live in a place so deep under the sea, isolated from the rest of humanity.
Yeah. We had to protect these pockets of human civilization from the spirit beasts and demonic cultivators.
Increasing my pace, I hurried toward the city. Myria watched my back, as usual, though she needn't had bothered. The system had an automated defense function, summoning my spirit beasts to protect me the moment it detected a threat. I should be looking out for her, but I was currently too concerned for my family to think rationally.
"This way."
Glancing at my smartphone and relying on Google Maps, I managed to navigate from the train station and toward the city. It didn't take long for me to find a highway leading to Xia Hai City. The road was filled with abandoned cars, the vehicles stuck in a silent jam, almost bumper to bumper. The drivers and passengers had fled long ago, taking whatever possessions they could.
I could see why. At the front, wreckages littered the highway exits, still burning and smoking. A few of them looked crushed like cans, and a few were ripped apart by gigantic claws. A few overturned cars lay strewn about, with dents in various places and metallic chunks gouged out by tusks or horns.
That didn't look good.
"Where's everybody?" Myria asked, peering at the empty cars. I shook my head.
"They ran away. Seems like there was an attack here, and the vehicles got stuck."
"How did they get stuck? Can't they drive the cars backward?"
Being used to swimming freely in the ocean, ignoring all sense of up and down, forward and backward, Myria didn't understand the concept that we surface people were weighed down by gravity and two dimensions. The drivers couldn't simply spin their cars about or move in reverse. In fact, there were signs that a few had tried, only to collide with the vehicles behind and cause accidents. I had spotted a few cars piled together as a result of their panic.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way." I sighed. The cars were one thing, but there was no sign of motorbikes. That made sense. Motorcyclists would have made use of their bikes' narrow frames to squeeze through the openings between the larger vehicles and drive away. Otherwise, I would have "borrowed" a motorbike and zoomed straight into the city.
Speaking of which, I should technically be able to ride on a flying sword and soar into Xia Hai City, but such things weren't possible in reality. I would like to find whoever came up with the idea of flying swords and shake him by the collar for deceiving all readers into thinking that such a feat was possible. If cultivators could rely on flying swords to travel from one point to the other, then we wouldn't need transports like cars, trains, buses and helicopters. Or planes.
Also, I realized that despite having made a contract with so many spirit beasts, none of them was a flying type. Otherwise, I could ride on him or her and fly wherever I wanted. Damn, I should ask the system next time to provide an opportunity to subjugate and tame a flying type spirit beast. I could surf the seas on Xiao Ke, but I didn't have any spirit beast that could fly me from town to town. That sucked.
It would have allowed me to rapidly return to Xia Hai City and find my family.
"Wait."
As I moved toward the expressway exit and toward the more familiar urban surroundings of Xia Hai City, I spotted something moving in the distance. At first, I wondered if it was a cultivator convoy, having coordinated with the military and moving into the city in force to reclaim it from the spirit beasts and demons.
My caution paid off, though, when I magnified the image on my glasses and studied the moving figures in detail. My blood ran cold, but my rage flared hot. Clenching my fists, I glared at the silhouettes, noting the Blood Boars lumbering aside human-looking demonic cultivators wielding wicked weapons.
They were the enemy, and they were currently hunting down the residents of Xia Hai City.