Journey to the West: Building a Celestial Empire Starting from Lion Camel Ridge

The two men busied themselves and caught seven.

By the time they finished cleaning up, the sun had already dipped behind the low hill to the west of the ruins.

The sky changed from gray-blue to dark orange; the time for the bone demons to appear was fast approaching.

Chen Ping'an strung the fish on thin branches and placed them on the stone slab next to the purification altar.

There wasn't much oil in the shelter, so Ali used the grease to apply a thin layer. The fish skin sizzled as it touched the hot stone slab, and the aroma immediately filled the shelter.

Soon, the two of them each had one, and they ate it with great relish.

Outside the shelter, a hundred ghosts roamed at night, while inside, a fragrant aroma filled the air, creating a stark contrast.

The fragrance wafted out from the shelter.

Chen Ping'an glanced outside and saw several hungry ghosts rushing over, clinging to the barrier's light screen, their skulls pressed against the golden light, greedily inhaling the scent.

His eyes flickered slightly.

If you consciously deploy and attract monsters to the shelter, within a controllable range, the harvest of demon crystals should be able to increase significantly.

In the past, one might only see three to five hungry ghosts in a night, but today the fragrant grilled fish attracted five at once.

Keep in mind, this was only evening.

After midnight, the number of strange creatures will increase exponentially.

Chen Pingan put down the grilled fish in his hand and walked to the edge of the barrier.

One spear, one kill.

Six demon crystals were acquired.

He glanced at the panel.

Currently, there are a total of seventy-five demon crystals.

The buildings that can be constructed at present are: stone walls, arrow towers, wooden houses, and storage rooms.

We're currently five demon crystals short of upgrading the barrier, so let's start with the stone wall.

......

Chen Ping'an clicked on the introduction of the stone wall.

[Stone Wall - First Step]

[Consumption: Demon Crystal × 1/meter]

[Effect: Increases the physical defense of the barrier's contact surface; the top of the stone wall can be used as a high vantage point for attacking.]

[Note: After the stone wall merges with the barrier, the barrier's durability will be increased by 10 points.]

The first-tier stone wall has no additional properties and cannot resist the corrosive liquid of the Death Toad.

Chen Ping'an frowned slightly, but the benefits were real—it directly replenished the barrier's durability.

This price was worth it.

confirm!

Forty-two demon crystals disappeared.

Boom!

It was as if an earth dragon had turned over.

The two sat in the middle of the barrier, feeling the ground tremble slightly.

Then you can see that, starting from the east side of the shelter, the stones begin to slowly rise from the ground.

To be precise, around the perimeter of the barrier, there were stacked stones that grew out of the ground.

They joined together, slowly but steadily enveloping the barrier.

Chen Ping'an suddenly thought of the plant fence he had seen before, which was so similar to this one, except that this time it was covered with stones.

The two stood up and walked a few steps to the east, watching as the stone wall was built up layer by layer.

It's about two feet thick.

It was thicker than Chen Ping'an had expected.

This is no longer an ordinary courtyard wall, but rather a wall of some thickness, somewhere between a courtyard wall and a city wall.

The bottom is slightly wider, tapering upwards, and the top is level. The walkway is flat, making it a bit difficult for two people to walk side by side, but more than enough for one person.

The wall was built very quickly, and it was completed in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Ali was no longer surprised by Chen Ping'an's various amazing actions.

It is ten feet high and two feet thick.

She looked up from the bottom of the wall, then found a few protruding stone steps on the inside, stepped onto them, and stood on the walkway on top of the wall.

He glanced outside the barrier.

The night view of the ruins unfolded before my eyes, the white bones of the bone demons faintly glowing coldly, wandering around in twos and threes, showing no signs of gathering.

Chen Ping'an stepped forward, brandishing his spear and making a thrusting motion.

"The height is suitable and will not affect the killing of the Bone Demon."

"Isn't there a door?"

Ali frowned and asked in confusion.

"Each meter is independent and its height can be controlled."

As they spoke, Chen Ping'an controlled the stone wall directly in front of the shelter to slowly descend, revealing a door large enough for two people to pass through.

With ease and decisiveness, he commanded with composure.

Although this stone wall consumes demon crystals meter by meter and can be raised and lowered independently, there are no gaps at the joints, making it a seamless whole.

-------

The commotion of building the stone wall alerted the bone demons lurking outside the sanctuary.

Soon, a dozen bone demons emerged from the depths of the ruins, forming a scattered line.

They smelled the scent of human blood, their skulls tilted towards the shelter, and in their empty eye sockets, eerie flames condensed into dark green specks of light.

Chen Pingan quickly glanced at the panel.

There are 33 demon crystals left.

There's enough to build arrow towers.

[Arrow Tower - Tier 1]

【Consumable: 20 Demon Crystals】

[Effect: Autonomously detects hostile targets within ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) of the shelter and automatically fires arrows; effective kill range is five zhang (approximately 33 meters).]

[Note: The arrows fired from the arrow tower require the energy of demon crystals to continuously replenish; one demon crystal can provide the energy needed for six arrows.]

The arrow tower consumes one demon crystal for every six arrows fired, and one crystal is recovered by killing a bone demon.

This means that as long as the hit rate is high enough, the arrow tower can be self-sufficient, or even have a surplus.

Chen Ping'an described the function of the arrow tower to Ali, and saw the latter's eyes light up.

"This is really great stuff!"

As a hunter, Ali naturally understood the value of it all—arrowheads, shafts, feathers, and the time and labor required to forge arrows were all compressed into one thing: obtaining demon crystals.

And this is actually the easiest problem to solve.

The added advantage of not needing to retrieve arrows will be extremely useful during the upcoming rainy season.

Chen Pingan calculated that four arrow towers should be enough to completely protect the area around the shelter, which would require 80 demon crystals.

We're running out of demon crystals.

Let's start from the northeast corner.

Chen Pingan selected the arrow tower on the stone wall in the northeast corner and clicked confirm.

Under their watchful eyes, the stones were piled up one by one.

The arrow tower was cylindrical and not much wider than a person's shoulder.

A square countertop is cut out at the top, and a low wall firmly protects the edges of the countertop.

It is 10 feet tall, and with the stone wall as its base, it is a full 20 feet tall.

There was a hole at the bottom, just big enough to fit a demon crystal.

As Chen Ping'an's mind stirred slightly, a demon crystal steadily fell inside.

Immediately, pale purple light slowly gathered at the top of the tower, rotated, and then condensed into a shape.

They were not physical arrows, but rather arrows formed from the energy of demonic crystals. Three of them were arranged in a row, suspended inside the firing port, waiting to be fired.

An unlucky bone demon happened to step into the five-zhang range.

Whoosh!

With a single sound, a purple light pierced the darkness, so fast that its trajectory was not even visible, and struck the chest of the last bone demon, extinguishing the ghost fire instantly.

The skeleton exploded from the inside.

Bone fragments flew everywhere, and the deathly aura dissipated into a cloud of black smoke as the skeleton crumbled, vanishing into the night wind.

A demon crystal fell down, rolled twice, and came to a stop.

"This power is quite significant."

Ali's mouth dropped open. She had only managed to pierce the ghost fire with one arrow; it was absolutely impossible for her to shatter the bone demon directly.

Chen Ping'an looked at the demon crystal, then at the arrow tower's firing port, which was still focusing its light again, preparing for the next round of firing, and said nothing.

Another bone demon entered the area, and another demon crystal fell to the ground.

The bone demons continued to surge forward, and the arrow towers kept firing. Every time one was shot down, another demon crystal appeared on the ground.

Ali stood on the wall, her bow still undrawn.

She calmly watched as the arrow towers cleared out the wave of bone demons one by one. The night wind dispersed all the deathly aura left by the shattered bone demons, leaving only a faint smell of burning in the air, which quickly dissipated as well.

"Now, even if we encounter that Blood Fiend Bone General, a single volley of fire would probably blast it to smithereens."

Ali wholeheartedly agreed.

Unbeknownst to them, the strange creature that had almost driven them to the brink of despair didn't seem so difficult to deal with anymore.