Chapter 42: Huining Fort

"Immortal~ We are going into the fortress to find a place to settle down now~"

"I’ve told you~ stop calling me an Immortal, it’s quite embarrassing, haha."

The couple smiled, bowed to Lily, and drove away. Meanwhile, the little kitten sitting in the carriage waved her small paw to bid farewell to the strange lady.

"Goodbye~ make sure to listen to your mother~"

The little kitten made a face at the strange lady and stuck out her tongue. Lily smiled, turned around, and waved back before heading into the depths of Huining Fortress.

Stepping through the heavy, concrete-reinforced fortress gates, the massive walls, standing over thirty meters high, were now behind her. Unlike the brick-and-mortar fortifications of Tianyu and Dongsong, or the fortresses of Xuanshan Fortress built from mysterious stones, the walls of Huining Fortress were constructed using modern reinforced concrete. The most powerful siege weapons in the Jade Realm—giant crossbows and catapults—could barely make a dent in them. The sheer height of the thirty-meter walls also made scaling them with ladders exceptionally difficult. One could say the defensive standards of Huining Fortress far exceeded the capabilities of the Jade Realm, implying that neither Tianyu nor Dongsong possessed the technology to build such a stronghold.

Looking back, Lily saw the Northern County border guards using devices known as "up-down ladders" to traverse the towering walls. The diesel generators powering these devices rumbled loudly; they were artifacts scavenged from underground by the Dongsong tomb raiders. Unlike in Tianyu, the tomb-raiding activities in Dongsong were directly controlled by the royal family, meaning all recovered items belonged to the aristocratic military.

Looking up further, she saw Dongsong soldiers on the ramparts waving flags, communicating with the gate guards below using signal flags. After all, with walls this high, shouting was far from an effective way to communicate. Lily recalled the legends she had read in storybooks, which claimed Huining Fortress was built by the great Immortals of the past, the same ones who dug up ancestral graves underground. Other storytellers claimed it was once the dwelling place of gods. As for the truth, perhaps only the Jade God herself, currently residing in the Void Sea, knew the answer.

"Move quickly! Refugees, get inside and set up your tents along the base of the walls!" a Dongsong officer maintaining order shouted. "Damn it, those mad refugees are trying to enter the inner fortress! Stop them!"

"Damn it all! No refugees are allowed to enter the inner fortress! It is a sacred altar grounds, no trespassing!"

Several refugees, desperate to hide inside the inner fortress, were dragged away by Dongsong soldiers. These near-delirious refugees were fighting with their lives to break into the triangular-pillar-shaped inner fortress standing in the center of Huining Fortress. But that was the site of the altar where the Dongsong royal family worshipped the Ethereal God—how could they possibly allow mere lowly peasants to enter?

"As long as... as long as we get inside! There won't be any Dragon Fire, there won't be that damn Dragon Fire!"

"Let me go! Let me go! You have no idea how terrifying the Dragon Fire is!"

"If you stay outside, you'll all die! Everyone will die!"

"No one will survive! No one can survive!"

The refugees shrieked at the top of their lungs, attempting to charge the inner fortress once more, only to be kicked into the mud by the soldiers.

"Damn it, these madmen are inciting panic! Drag them away and gag them!"

"If they act crazy again, just cut them down!"

The border guards scrambled to bind the hysterical refugees and dragged them away.

"Dragon Fire... those who have seen that thing are either dead or driven mad."

"Blue flames at thousands of degrees—anyone who sees it will go insane, it's inevitable."

"That thing can burn a person to ash in an instant."

The voice of the Jade God echoed in Lily’s mind.

"I have witnessed it..."

Lily remembered the Dragon Fire of the Blue Dragon, and her heart still shuddered. But she also felt a deep sense of resentment.

"One day, I will make those bastards pay the price!"

Looking at the exhausted and desperate refugees around her, Lily couldn't help but sigh. "The people of Dongsong have truly suffered a great calamity..."

"The dead cannot return to life, and what has happened cannot be stopped. All we can do is minimize the damage in time!"

Lily nodded and continued to follow the stream of refugees deeper into the fortress. Upon entering Huining, she reapplied her transformation charm. Other refugees didn't notice the outstanding appearance of the Tianyu girl dressed in immortal robes.

"Tell me, old man, where exactly is the Void Gate in this Huining Fortress? Have you scouted it out clearly?"

"Yes, ever since we entered the fortress gate, the sensitivity to the Void energy has become much more pronounced than before."

"I can almost feel that the obelisk is not far away, deep within this stronghold."

"The problem is, where specifically? Even knowing it's in this fortress, this place is quite large."

Having been with the old man for a while, Lily couldn't be bothered to ask what an "obelisk" was. She followed the flow of refugees into the depths of Huining.

Deep within the fortress, beyond the tall, triangular-pillar inner fortress, there were a vast number of shorter buildings, also constructed of reinforced concrete. These buildings didn't seem to have been designed as fortresses, but rather as barracks or storage facilities for an immortal army. However, the Dongsong border guards had repurposed them as defensive bastions and military encampments. Defensive caltrops and fences surrounded the fortress, and rings of trenches had been dug around the inner fortress and its surrounding structures, connected only by a few stone bridges. This meant that even if an enemy were to break through the concrete walls, they would be obstructed by these layers of defense and eventually trapped within the iron walls of Huining.

"This fortress is truly as solid as a golden pond," Lily remarked.

"It is a bit of a waste in the hands of these kittens," the Jade God replied. "Their construction standards are low, and their weapons are all bronze creations, making it difficult to contend with an iron-armed army."

Lily agreed with the Jade God. During the great battle in Xuan Mountain and Zhongzhou, she had seen firsthand how vulnerable the Dongsong army was before the Star-people.

Finally, Lily arrived in front of the inner fortress. The massive triangular-pillar fortress revealed its true form; it was built from the same solid reinforced concrete but was much taller than the surrounding structures. The inner fortress was also covered in large, black, thorn-like crystals. These crystals clung tightly to the walls, making the entire structure look like a massive grey-black hedgehog.

"This inner fortress... it really is just like the rumors."

"It looks peculiar..."

"Basalt formed by high temperatures," the Jade God said faintly. "This main fortress can withstand temperatures of several thousand degrees; it was designed as a command center to defend against hydrogen-bomb-level nuclear strikes..."

"But you can't handle it when the enemy pours magma directly over your head~"

"The people inside were roasted alive by the high heat back then..."

"Oh my, it's fortunate I wasn't inside at the time..."

"Hm?"

"Oh~ right, right~"

"It's here, no doubt about it~"

The Jade God sensed the Void energy being released by the Void Gate. Although it originated from deep underground, the power of the released Void energy could be sensed even by the Jade God in the Void Sea.

"Girl, go to the side of the main fortress. Since the Void energy is constantly pouring out from there, I can find a way to get you in front of the obelisk console."

Lily took an opportunity to slip over to the fortifications outside the inner fortress. The agile tomb-raider girl quickly bypassed the guards managing the refugee tide and arrived outside the gate of the inner fortress. She could already glimpse the tall altar laden with offerings through the half-open gate, but she saw no sign of the obelisk the old man spoke of.

"Old man, this altar played a huge role in the great battle of Huining~ Was that your doing?"

The Jade God did not answer. Lily curled her lip and continued, "Fifty years ago, an army of tens of thousands of Wolves crossed the Luma River to besiege Huining Fortress. There were only three thousand Northern County border guards defending it. But right then, this altar suddenly emitted a white light. The cat-folk defending the city were like they had been injected with adrenaline~ Three thousand defenders managed to defeat an army of over a hundred thousand."

"It's just that I heard it seems..."

"The three thousand defenders all died, bleeding from their seven orifices after defeating the Wolf soldiers," the Jade God said coldly. "That was not my handiwork. It was my lover's doing~"

Lily paused when she heard the word "lover." Gods have lovers? A wife?

The Jade God said nothing more. To ease the awkwardness, Lily’s eyes quickly scanned the altar, which was heavily guarded by the Dongsong troops. She still couldn't find any obelisk.

"Those cat-folk... they used the Void energy provided by your... wife?"

"Yes..."

"Without a Dantian, one cannot use Void energy... if it is forced upon them, they die..."

Lily seemed to understand a little better why the Jade God was unwilling to let the people of Tianyu practice Void energy. If a Jade person without a Dantian practiced Void energy by force, there was only death—except for rare exceptions, like herself and Meizi...

"Enough about her..."

It seemed the Jade God and his wife had some conflict. However, Lily didn't want to delve into the secrets of the gods. Closing the Void Gate of Huining Fortress was the priority.