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

In the dark night.

Under the torrential rain.

A dazzling light suddenly burst forth from the ruins.

One after another, the eight Soul-Illuminating Lamps lit up, turning the area ten feet around the shelter into daylight.

The dazzling light dispelled the darkness of the night.

Everyone could clearly see the bone demon, as well as the Blood Fiend Bone General lurking behind it.

There were even a few dead toads scattered around.

The strange creatures, who already disliked sunlight, almost instinctively took a few steps back in the face of such light.

You can vaguely see that the massive Bone General crushed many Bone Demons.

......

Fan Qiming squinted and looked up at the glowing Soul-Illuminating Lamp.

He glanced again at Chen Ping'an, who had lowered his head again in the distance.

"My lord, you are truly impressive!"

Xiao Huzi stood beside him, also looking up at the Soul-Illuminating Lamp, his tone filled with undisguised admiration.

"Brother Fan, what kind of building is this?"

Upon hearing this, Fan Qiming felt a wave of dizziness.

How would I know what kind of building it is?

But then he coughed lightly: "This thing is called a lighthouse. It's specifically used for lighting. It's said to be windproof and rainproof. You see, the flames on it are completely unaffected by wind and rain."

Although we don't know what this is, we are good at observing!

I can't lose face in front of the children.

"Brother Fan, you're amazing! You know everything!"

"That's natural."

Fan Qiming smiled, finally managing to smooth things over.

......

The problem of field of vision has been solved.

Next is the problem of the city wall being slippery.

This question, while not as urgent as the first one, is still very important.

The night watch lasted for nearly five hours, and everyone was bound to be exhausted. Not to mention the two children running back and forth to deliver messages, even the guards of the arrow tower were exhausted.

In fact, the fact that the city wall was slippery was a very minor detail.

This also shows how meticulous Fan Qiming is. Having such a talented person to guard the city for him really puts him at ease.

Chen Ping'an pondered for a moment, then opened the panel to check the current information about 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 current stone wall does not have any additional properties; it can only help increase the barrier's durability.

So, what if we upgrade?

Chen Pingan clicked on the upgrade option.

Upgrading the stone wall to level 2 consumes 1 Demon Crystal per meter.

Please select the upgrade direction.

1. Width increased to 3 feet

2. Enhanced drainage performance

[3. Increase the barrier's durability by an additional 20 points]

Chen Ping'an pondered for a moment.

Option one, which involves simply thickening the stone wall, does not help solve the current problem.

As for options two and three, Chen Ping'an was quite envious.

However, you can only choose one upgrade at a time, and to solve the current rain problem, you can only choose option two for now.

......

After Chen Pingan clicked to confirm.

One hundred and four demon crystals instantly transformed into specks of light and surged toward the stone wall.

Those on the stone wall were the most aware of this change.

Fan Qiming squatted down and carefully examined the ground.

The once smooth stone surface now seemed to have been etched with patterns by an invisible carving knife, and the rainwater that had accumulated was flowing out of the barrier along these shallow grooves.

On the slightly raised edges of the stone wall, where low stone bricks were originally intended to protect people from falling, stone holes were quietly carved out.

The rainwater flowed straight out of the barrier through the stone cave.

Chen Ping'an walked over on the stone steps.

"How was the result?"

Option two only mentions enhancing drainage, but to what extent that enhancement is needed to be verified.

Fan Qiming stroked the ground, carefully examining the patterns, before speaking after a moment.

"The ground is slightly tilted, very slightly, so people can hardly feel it when walking on it."

"And the design of these grooves is ingenious."

"They look like they're all the same depth, but if you touch them carefully, you'll find that the grooves are shallower the closer you get to the barrier, and deeper the further you go outside the barrier."

"Water flows downhill, so it naturally drains away."

"Simple, but extremely efficient."

"It can both drain water and prevent slipping."

Fan Qiming concluded with the statement: "It is indeed a very clever design."

He looked up at the stone wall, where all the grooves had been modified in just a few breaths.

"Such a massive project, completed in such a short time. My lord, your talent is truly extraordinary."

Chen Ping'an never deliberately explained it to them, only saying that it was a unique talent.

After all, you can't exactly explain the system to them, can you?

Although Tiger and Stone, who were standing nearby, couldn't understand the patterns on the ground, the two little guys had a simple way of checking it. They ran on the stone wall for a while, and sure enough, the slippery feeling had disappeared.

"The lord is truly amazing!"

The two little ones exclaimed in genuine admiration, their eyes filled with wonder.

"Okay then."

Chen Ping'an nodded and looked at everyone: "Then I'll trouble you all to continue the night watch. If there's any emergency, please call me anytime."

"Yes, lord!"

"Yes, lord!"

Everyone clasped their hands in greeting and watched Chen Ping'an walk down the stone wall.

......

"There are already quite a few buildings in the shelters."

"As for offensive structures like the Soul-Illuminating Lamp and the Arrow Tower, they all require a continuous supply of demon crystal energy to replenish themselves."

"Under the current circumstances, while semi-automated loading can solve the problem, it is ultimately not a long-term solution."

"From this perspective, even forging furnaces that require demon crystals as energy are the same. If the furnace temperature becomes unstable due to human intervention, it can be quite a headache."

Chen Ping'an sat on the purification platform, his mind racing.

"What are you thinking about? You seem so engrossed."

At some point, Ali woke up, walked to his side, and saw Chen Ping'an deep in thought with his brows furrowed. She couldn't help but ask softly.

"I'm thinking that the current buildings that require demon crystals to fill are actually semi-automated. In other words, if a large-scale demon tide hits, there will always be a short window of opportunity, which is actually a great danger to the barrier."

Upon hearing this, Ali thought about it seriously and nodded in deep agreement.

"That's true. Your method with the bamboo pole is reliable, but ultimately someone still needs to add the demon crystal."

"There's another problem: the monsters' attacks aren't even, but the monster crystals are evenly distributed within the current barrier. If the monsters launch a concentrated attack from one side, there's also the issue of monster crystal transfer."

"You're more insightful than I think."

Ali smiled and said, "But this problem is not easy to solve right now. The best way is actually like water flowing downhill. There should be a centralized, huge energy pool. This pool can deliver the flow to every building that needs energy through some means."

Chen Ping'an picked up where she left off: "In that case, the core of the shelter is an energy transmission tower, and whether it's the Soul-Illuminating Lamp, the Arrow Tower, or even the offensive buildings in the future, they are just outlets for energy release."

"Does such a building exist now? Like the energy tower you mentioned?" Ali asked.

"Not yet."

Chen Pingan slapped his forehead in frustration.