Chapter 107.2: Domain Collapse
Cheng Qisheng looked down from above.
Kansidang’s domain had not been fully activated.
But because her followers were scattered both inside and outside the domain, she could see the raging battles on both sides from her perspective.
What Kansidang had said before his death had not been an exaggeration after all. He really had left himself a backup plan.
From the second tier of floating farmland emerged a group of strange-looking humanoid creatures, each about five meters tall. They had no hair, and their muscles were packed so tightly together that even the features on their faces appeared distorted by the mass of flesh.
They moved slowly, pushing out vehicle-mounted close-in weapon systems (CIWS) one after another.
The CIWS opened fire with multiple barrels, unleashing a barrage directly at the floating farmland above.
The second tier of floating farmland was completely covered by the tier above it. In other words, if the floating-farm structure on the topmost tier were destroyed and came crashing down from the sky, the first thing to be crushed beneath it would be the second tier of floating farmland.
The time bombs buried below were detonated.
The pirates who lived on this farmland quickly realized that something was wrong.
This was clearly a plan to take everyone down together!
They desperately tried to stop the creatures. Even the farmhands who were treated as sl*ves dragged their frail bodies forward, attempting to block the humanoid creatures.
But the creatures seemed to have no minds of their own. Even when attacked, they did not dodge. They merely silently shoved aside anyone who tried to stop them, reloaded their ammunition, and continued firing upward.
Or simply fired at anyone they could see.
—BOOM!!
—KABOOM!!
The bombs hidden throughout the various sections exploded under the barrage, sending countless bursts of flames raining downward, mixed with pieces of highly flammable material.
It was as though a rain of fire had begun falling from the sky.
The pirates living on each tier of the floating farmland tried to flee, only to discover that escaping downward meant being crushed beneath the falling structures, while escaping upward was impossible because the rope ladders leading to the topmost tier had already been severed.
—BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
“We have to stop them! Otherwise, the farmland will fall!”
The Blue Sea residents above quickly made their way to the edge. They fired their grappling hooks and, braving the barrage of artillery, dropped straight down from above, pouncing onto the humanoid creatures and throwing their weight backward.
—They didn’t budge.
The Blue Sea residents drew the long blades from their backs and struck again.
—SHING!
The blades slammed into the creatures’ skin as though they had struck steel, even sending sparks flying.
The Blue Sea residents froze for a moment, then became even more excited. They flung out the chains in their hands, wrapped them several times around the creatures’ necks, and a dozen of them pulled backward together.
“Pull harder!!!”
“Fall!!!”
The towering humanoid creature was finally dragged to the ground. But even after being knocked down, it continued struggling desperately, trying to get back up and resume firing the cannon.
Some Blue Sea residents opened fire with their guns. The bullets struck the creature, but still produced nothing more than a series of metallic clinks.
“Huh?!”
Seeing that the creature was impervious to both blades and bullets and was already staggering back to its feet, a dozen Blue Sea residents simply swarmed it. Using their hands and feet, they formed a human net and pinned the creature down.
The members of the Thorn Pirates lay prone along the precariously swaying edge and shouted down:
“It’s a Tudou!! Pry open its jaw! There are two holes underneath! Find something and plug those holes—they’ll stop moving!”
“Once they stop moving, don’t attack them! Otherwise, they’ll wake up!”
Pan Tuan strained so hard that her face twisted with effort. Since she was hanging upside down, the flesh on her face had inevitably become compressed and bunched up, making her look just like one of the humanoid creatures.
Hearing this, she engaged her core, hooked both feet around the creature’s neck, and pulled herself upright while still hanging upside down. Working together with four other Blue Sea residents, she forcibly pried open the creature’s jaw.
Sure enough, there were two small holes beneath it, each emitting a faint red glow.
She pulled out her dagger, while another resident took out a long whip and inserted it into one of the holes.
The humanoid creature, which had been struggling violently moments before, suddenly fell completely still.
The red glow that had been shining from the holes also turned black.
Pan Tuan let out a breath, rubbing her sore arms as she jumped off the creature and landed perfectly on her feet.
She tilted her head back and looked at the humanoid creature before her. Its eyes were closed, as if it had simply fallen asleep.
“What the heck is this thing? A robot?!”
One that needed a “safety lock,” at that?
Remove the safety lock, and it would go on a killing spree?
Pan Tuan really wanted to know how it worked, but there was no time to worry about that now. After rolling her shoulders and loosening up her arms, she joined another group that was restraining a humanoid creature.
They successfully pried open its jaw and “shut down” another one.
This was also the first time Cheng Qisheng had ever encountered a creature like this—or was it even a creature?
She and Aether had gone through a mountain of information, yet neither of them could figure out what exactly these things were.
However, the group led by Lilith clearly knew something about them. Once the battle was completely over, they could ask them.
—
At the entrance to the domain.
A priest picked up the scepter that Kansidang had been clutching tightly in his hand.
He had not even forgotten to take this thing with him while fleeing for his life. Anyone could tell that it was extremely important.
The priest examined it from every angle but couldn’t find anything unusual. He even brought someone over to inspect it, but they couldn’t detect anything either.
But that didn’t matter.
If they couldn’t find anything, that simply meant they hadn’t investigated deeply enough.
Why not just take it apart?
The priest immediately removed the enormous gemstone mounted on top.
Blue Sea residents were all very experienced when it came to taking things apart.
In no time, he had dismantled the once-intact scepter into a pile of tiny components.
The finial, decorative orb, metal reliefs, ornamental pieces, gemstone setting, connecting base, fastening clasps, along with various pieces of leather, gold thread, forked supports, and so on.
Priests of the Temple who held the rank of Blue-robed Grand Archbishop or higher also carried scepters during major events. The Pope’s scepter was even more intricately crafted.
As the priest laid out all the components and gave them a quick glance, he immediately spotted something that shouldn’t have been there.
Scepters were designed to look sufficiently solid and dignified, so they were usually weighted at the top. Metal or lead weights were also added to the bottom to balance the weight above and prevent the scepter from slipping out of one’s hand.
But normally, no one would put too much weight in the middle section of a scepter. Otherwise, the center of gravity would be thrown off, affecting its balance.
Yet this scepter was heaviest in the middle.
Something was hidden inside.
Without hesitation, the priest ordered, “Split it open.”
The scepter was easily cleaved apart, revealing a small box inside.
No one could identify what material it was made of, but one thing was certain: if something was hidden this deeply, it had to be valuable.
The priest first prayed to the God they worshiped, then took the box and gently opened it.
Cheng Qisheng, who had been looking down from above, instantly sensed an exquisite fragrance.
A Rule.
It had no tangible form, yet Cheng Qisheng could see it. It was writhing inside the little box, as though trying to break free, but for some reason, it couldn’t get out.
It was the same flavor as the two wisps of Rule she had consumed before, except this one was larger and far more concentrated.
This box could imprison a Rule.
That explained everything.
Why did Kansidang possess a unique domain?
And why, when Cheng Qisheng had stood before the entrance to Kansidang’s domain, had she been unable to sense even the slightest trace of a Rule?
Because the Rule had been “locked away.”
The Rule was a treasure.
And this box was undoubtedly an even greater treasure.
Having obtained two incredible treasures, Cheng Qisheng was in an excellent mood. Through the hands of her followers, she “swallowed” the sufficiently large and concentrated Rule into her body.
So comfortable!!!
As she felt her body become noticeably lighter once again, the corners of her mouth couldn’t help curling upward.
She looked toward the “gate” of the domain.
As the Rule was consumed, the invisible barrier that had completely separated the two stretches of sea slowly faded away.
One floating farm after another, along with countless blazing fires, appeared before the Blue Sea residents outside.
“Woohoo!!!”
Blue Sea residents on both the inner and outer sides erupted into cheers.
There were roughly two thousand “Tudou.” Once the Blue Sea residents learned how to “shut them down,” they quickly overwhelmed them through sheer numbers and got every last one of them to fall silent.
Even so, the fierce attacks had damaged the surrounding floating farmland.
The “Tudou” had one basic strategy: if they could shoot upward, they shot upward. When the floating farmland above was blocked and they couldn’t attack it, they simply launched indiscriminate attacks on all the farmland to their left, right, and below.
Quite a few pirates on the second tier died in these indiscriminate attacks.
This also explained, indirectly, why Kansidang hadn’t put any of the invulnerable “Tudou” aboard his escape ship.
Once these things started fighting, they truly couldn’t tell friend from foe.
—BOOM!!
—BOOM!!!
Although the “Tudou” had been silenced, the time bombs buried throughout the various floating farmlands were still there.
A floating farm around the eighteenth tier was struck by a grenade thrown by a “Tudou.” The impact detonated a cluster of bombs buried underground, and the shockwave from those explosions triggered even more bombs.
Flames erupted everywhere.
The floating farm wasn’t particularly large, but it wasn’t small either. Its floating apparatus was completely destroyed.
Amid the screams of the people below, it began plummeting rapidly.
The layout of Kansidang’s domain was somewhat like a pyramid.
The higher one’s status, the higher up one lived. Those of lower status were arranged tier by tier beneath them.
At the very bottom, living on the surface of the sea, were those with the lowest status in Kansidang’s domain—the commoners.
Though “commoners” wasn’t quite the right word.
They were essentially sl*ves.
With so much farmland, someone had to work it. These were the people captured from outside and forced to labor.
Every day, they had to work without regard for day or night, yet they lived in the shabbiest wooden structures and were given the least food. They climbed up and down the rope ladders every day, and one careless slip could send them falling to their deaths.
So when the battle began, the Blue Sea residents deliberately kept the fighting away from the lowest tier. After obtaining weapons, they moved only among the upper floating farmlands, using grappling hooks to travel between them.
The commoners below couldn’t see what was happening above, nor did they know that they had deliberately been spared. They could only stand trembling in their original positions. Even if they wanted to hide, there was nowhere to go.
Commoners were not allowed to wander freely, and they had no ships of their own.
Although Kansidang wasn’t afraid of them rebelling, he had separated the commoners into isolated groups for easier management. From a distance, they looked like countless lotus leaves floating on the sea, each one with tiny figures standing upon it.
The seawater of Green Billow Star was poisonous. The people living on these “lotus leaves” couldn’t leave on their own. The only way they could leave was by being transported aboard large cargo ships to the floating farmlands to work, and then being taken back afterward.
This was hardly some friendly commute service.
The purpose was to completely cut off the commoners’ means of contacting other people, ensuring that all they could do was perform hard labor every day, leaving them no opportunity to develop any other thoughts.
Tila was one such commoner.
He had originally owned a ship together with his parents, but then pirates attacked them. His parents were killed, and he was captured and brought back to Kansidang’s domain, where he was made a commoner.
Every day brought endless work and endless suffering. Whenever they were loaded onto the ships, they were treated exactly like cargo. They were packed together layer upon layer, so tightly that, without exaggeration, one’s face could end up pressed against the back of the person in front of them.
Every time the commoners were “transported,” one or two people would inevitably die. Some were crushed to death; others suffocated because they couldn’t breathe.
Every time, Tila fought desperately to breathe. He would use both hands to force out a tiny pocket of space over his chest, allowing him to endure the crushing pressure.
Once they reached the floating city, he not only had to work beneath the blazing sun, but was also beaten from time to time. After becoming dehydrated under the scorching heat, he would be sent back to his “home.”
Though it was called a “residential area,” orphans like Tila who were alone and still young didn’t even have a shelter. No matter the season, they could only sleep directly on the wooden boards.
At night, when hunger made his stomach ache, he had to keep a sharpened wooden spike clutched tightly in his hand, in case someone driven desperate by hunger decided to do something to him.
Tila had thought this life was already miserable enough.
Yet even so, he had never once considered dying.
He wanted to live. He wanted to find an opportunity to escape this place. Even if there were pirates, violent winds, and torrential storms outside, surely it would still be better than this place, wouldn’t it?
He remembered that he had once been a person.
He remembered his father and mother. He remembered his grandmother. He remembered the happiness of running around on that small, shabby boat bathed in sunlight.
But Tila had never expected that life wouldn’t get better.
It would only get harder.
At that moment, he tilted his head back and stared at the farmland falling toward their section. His eyes held nothing but bewilderment.
When Tila had first been captured and brought to Kansidang’s domain, he had looked up at those farmlands countless times.
He had never imagined that one day, they would fall.
And then come crashing down on him—
Only one thought surfaced in Tila’s mind:
‘Am I really going to die like this?’
“Woohoo!!!”
“Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes!!”
Something with wings like those of a gigantic bird swept past behind him, bringing with it a gust of wind—and seemingly a shout as well.
Then a vast expanse of black shadows, accompanied by the same rushing sound of wind, swept rapidly over the heads of Tila and the others.
The falling floating farmland stopped.
Bits of loose earth and various fragments still glowing with flames continued to descend at different speeds.
But the floating farmland itself had stopped.
Tila and the commoners directly beneath it stared upward in stunned silence.
Beneath the entire stretch of farmland were countless Blue Sea residents, densely packed together, almost like a dark cloud filling every inch of space.
Their enormous four-winged skeletal wings slowly beat behind them as they raised both hands with all their strength, holding up the massive falling structure.
