Chapter 377: This Is the Power of Iron Face

Upon learning that the clan where Long Yi was located faced a crisis of invasion by foreign races, Ji Chen's mood, which had been joyful due to successfully containing the node, instantly sank to the bottom.

The anticipation of their reunion still flowed in his heart, only to be replaced by anxiety in the blink of an eye.

He had imagined countless times the scene of meeting Long Yi again.

He imagined the stunned expression on Long Yi's Iron Face upon seeing him, followed by his own casual teasing and the subsequent Iron Face-slapping plot.

Even just thinking about it made him feel explosively satisfied.

The rules his big brother had desperately dreamed of back then, he now possessed a whole stack of.

But now, the joy of "showing off before an old friend" envisioned in his mind was likely to end in the tragedy of "losing my friend forever."

The greatest sorrow in life is learning a bunch of great skills abroad, preparing to return and show off to old friends.

Only to hear news of their death before even seeing them.

He decisively asked the Guide for the specific situation.

The answer he received dealt Ji Chen another heavy blow.

The clan where Long Yi was located was at an absolute disadvantage in this invasion war.

While giving the answer, the Guide swiped a hand, and instantly a chart comparing the combat power of both sides popped up before Ji Chen.

Besides the data, it also included introductions to the combat power systems of both sides.

On the left side of the light screen was the Dragon Wing Clan where Long Yi belonged, and on the right was the Devouring Clan that was currently invading the Dragon Wing Clan's territory.

According to the information displayed on the light screen, the average hunting level of individuals in the Dragon Wing Clan was level 103, and the strongest was the retired previous Great Dragon Lord: Long Xiaoshao (real name: 129 characters simplified translation), with a hunting level of 239.

The average combat power of individuals in the Devouring Clan was level 59, and the clan leader was named the Devouring King, with a hunting level of 274.

Both sides followed completely different combat power growth systems.

The Dragon Wing Clan was a typical elite training system.

The total population of the clan was just over a million; every clansman began rigorous combat training immediately after hatching, and upon reaching adulthood, underwent successive rounds of survival trials. Only those who passed these trials could survive and receive preferential resources within the clan.

The small base population had both advantages and disadvantages; once core combat forces suffered losses, it was difficult to quickly fill the gaps.

Meanwhile, the Devouring Clan followed a troop-spawning growth system better suited to the Monster World.

They used the life energy of other races they devoured as nutrients to boost individual growth, fearing not at all the sacrifices brought by war.

Looking at the real-time war map, the Dragon Wing Clan was like a sharp but fragile sword; every strike could tear a gap in the Devouring Clan's battle lines, but they could not withstand the enemy's endless assaults.

On the other side, the Devouring Clan was a net covering the sky and earth; although individual nodes were weak, the whole could win by quantity.

Currently, the Dragon Wing Clan's defensive line was rapidly contracting and retreating; following this trend, within five days at most, the core sacrificial altar where the rules were located would be exposed to the sharp edge of the Devouring Clan.

After reviewing the combat power comparison between the two sides, Ji Chen took a deep breath and pressed the churning anxiety back into the depths of his heart.

He knew this was not the time for panic; excessive emotional internal friction was just a waste of time.

Now, he must race against time to find a way to solve the problem.

He currently faced two difficult problems.

First, how to go provide support.

Regarding knowledge related to spatial studies, he could not even be considered to have entered the door.

Even if he decomposed all other Ming Hun in his Star Vein slots and used all the evolution points gained to upgrade Brain Overclocking, these five days would not be enough for him to master the construction of spatial teleportation arrays.

It seemed there were still five days, but Long Yi, as a warrior of the Dragon Wing Clan, could perish in the war at any moment.

Every minute and every second, he was in extreme danger.

Therefore, cramming at the last minute and rushing to learn was definitely not feasible.

Amidst the churning thoughts, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Could he find an existing teleportation array?

The Monster World was already dotted with countless channels spanning space; these teleportation arrays might be the key to breaking his deadlock.

As for the origins of the teleportation arrays, they could be inter-planar bridges left behind by extinct races conquering the outside world; having endured ten thousand years of wind and rain, although their energy was exhausted, their frameworks remained, and they could be activated by filling them with energy crystals. Or they could be convenient channels built by powerful clans for plundering resources, still operating continuously... These teleportation arrays did not rely on the spatial knowledge he had yet to master; he only needed to find them, then ask the Guide to unlock them, saving the long process of building an array from scratch.

This idea was like a lightning bolt splitting through the mist.

He did not need to stubbornly struggle with complex dimensional formulas; existing channels might already exist.

Feeling excited, he immediately asked the Guide whether there was a teleportation array near the space node where the players were located that led directly to the "Ash Soil Canyon" of the Black Domain Continent.

[300,000 Sacrificial Power, cost for deep exploration.]

"I'll pay."

Obviously, this question touched upon misty areas unexplored by players, requiring the consumption of Sacrificial Power to investigate deeply.

But he did not feel the slightest pain over this amount of Sacrificial Power.

If he could find the answer to reaching the Black Domain Continent through this method, it would be worth it even if it cost much more.

After he gave his affirmative answer, the Sacrificial Power was deducted.

The Guide blinked its eyes.

Instantly, the combat power comparison chart on the light screen switched to a pale continent map glowing with blue light, on which two winding trajectories were marked with red dashed lines.

[Near the node of the Pale Continent where the player is currently located, there exist two teleportation arrays that can lead directly to the Black Domain Continent.]

[The first teleportation array is located on the third underground layer of the "Wailing Ruined Capital" east of the Broken Sand Halberd region; its current energy reserve is only 7%, which is more than enough for single-person teleportation, and the teleportation destination is the Bone Sand Wasteland region of the Black Domain Continent.]

[The second is in the central area of the "Tyranny Swamp"; it is a temporary military array channel built by the Iron Blood Clan when conquering the Black Domain Continent. Due to spatial barrier turbulence causing spatial barrier misalignment, there is a risk of being swept into spatial counter-currents during teleportation, and the landing location is the edge of the "Blood Wood Forest" in the Black Domain Continent.]

Ji Chen could clearly see that the destinations of the two teleportation arrays on the map were connected to the "Ash Soil Canyon" region by red lines, with a dense gray mist area in between.

These were all misty areas unexplored by players.

The Guide's voice sounded again at this time:

[After calculation, flying at the maximum speed of your current vehicle, it will take 67 days to arrive starting from the Bone Sand Wasteland, and 113 days starting from the Blood Wood Forest. Among them, the teleportation channel in the Blood Wood Forest also carries a high probability of teleportation death risk. If choosing between the two, it is recommended to choose the Bone Sand Wasteland region as the starting point.]

Even the fastest would take 67 days.

Ji Chen's heart sank.

This number was like a basin of ice water, instantly extinguishing the excitement from just before.

The Dragon Wing Clan's defensive line would hold for five days at most; even if he found a teleportation array immediately, by the time he rushed to Ash Soil Canyon, he feared he wouldn't even be able to find Long Yi's bones.

They would likely have already turned into nutrients for the Devouring Clan.

"Isn't there a closer teleportation array?" Ji Chen asked persistently, unwilling to accept it.

To this question, the Guide gave no answer, slowly closing its eyes.

The answer was obviously self-evident, because the Guide would not respond to any meaningless emotional questions from players.

The Guide's attitude made Ji Chen's mood become exceptionally heavy.

Teleportation was only one of the difficulties.

Even if the teleportation problem was solved, there was a second difficulty: how to quickly build up a war force sufficient to oppose the Devouring Clan.

Relying solely on himself and his guild members to join the battlefield would be like trying to put out a cartload of fire with a cup of water.

The Devouring Clan numbered in the millions; low-level warriors who feared no attrition surged forward like a fierce Black Tide. Even if guild members could resurrect infinitely, they could not withstand the attrition, and the key point was that the Devouring Clan could quickly recover the types of troops consumed.

If he led his guild into the battle, they would struggle to even slow down the speed of the defensive line's contraction.

His psychokinesis was taught by Long Yi; on the battlefield, it possessed both offense and defense capabilities and could also serve as an area-of-effect output ability.

But so what? In the blink of an eye, he would be drowned by Devouring warriors numbering a million times more than himself.

Not to mention the Devouring Dharma King's combat power of level 274.

His current main Ming Hun, the Eagle-Headed Demon, had just passed level 113.

Even adding trump cards like War Arrays and the Tyrant Dharma Image, he could not withstand a single strike from a powerhouse of this level.

Such combat power was meaningless in the Iron Face of the Devouring Clan's war forces.

If it were just to give Long Yi a "reunion," going alone would be sufficient.

But what he wanted was to reverse the situation, to save the Dragon Wing Clan, and to let Long Yi continue to live.

He understood Long Yi very well.

This guy would absolutely not abandon his clansmen and retreat; even if he forced him to do so, the price would be becoming complete enemies.

In Long Yi's bones flowed a warrior's will that was nearly paranoid.

Just as Long Yi had once said to him:

"Beasts, when tethered, will accept their fate, but warriors will think about when they can bite through the enemy's throat."

Long Yi never yielded to predicaments, even if this path would lead him to a dead end.

His pride did not come from power, but from that sense of responsibility of "even if there are thousands against me, I shall go."

Back when the White Demon Legion's hundred thousand troops pressed upon the border, this madman had once dragged his broken body to block the canyon pass alone for a day and a night.

He knew Long Yi's character all too well.

It was fundamentally impossible for him to abandon his companions for self-preservation, let alone when facing his entire clan.

If he forcibly dragged Long Yi off the battlefield, as long as Long Yi still had strength, he would inevitably turn around and rush back alone.

Even if only a breath remained, he would die beside his clansmen.

The warrior belief he adhered to had once made Ji Chen feel very puzzled, but later became the thing he admired most.

In the blood and fire of another world, it was precisely this stubbornness that twisted a group of scattered soldiers into a force capable of overturning the White Demon Dynasty.

And now, this same stubbornness had become a shackle that gave him a headache.

To ensure Long Yi survived, he must ensure the continuation of his clan; there was no second path.

Therefore, what he needed was a war force sufficient to contend with the Devouring Clan.

He needed to directly confront the fierce torrent of the Devouring Clan's troop-spawning Cultivation Mode, and he also needed powerhouses of the same level to restrain the Devouring Dharma King.

These were obviously things the "Return Again" guild could not provide at present.

Only by solving these two problems simultaneously could he save his old friend's life.

After long contemplation, Ji Chen's eyes turned red.

He knew clearly that he simply could not accomplish it.

Just then, a flash of spiritual light streaked through his mind.

He suddenly thought, why not seek the help of the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce?

Although the "Spatial Technology Team" built by the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce could not help him construct a special teleportation array.

But the strength of the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce was not limited to within the team; it also possessed an external network of connections.

All factions across the Cangxing Sea Region were cooperative partners of the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce.

As long as the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce made a request and offered remuneration, they would be willing to provide various services for the chamber.

For instance, the construction projects for various facilities of the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce on the islands were all handled by the "Tian Duo Clan," a faction located on the southeastern islands of the Cangxing Sea Region.

It could be said that if the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce wished it, any faction in the Cangxing Sea Region could be mobilized.

This included the Mingwu Clan, which possessed great strength and inevitably mastered cross-space technology.

As long as the Mingwu Clan lent a hand, the predicament of the Longyi Clan could be easily resolved.

The Mingwu Emperor of the Mingwu Clan, as well as the Grand General of the Mingwu, "Ye Ming," were both experts at the Half-God Realm.

Dealing with the Shimie Clan would pose no pressure whatsoever.

Only a single cross-realm war was needed to solve the problem.

The issue lay in whether the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce would be willing to offer assistance.

Recently, the Mingwu Clan had simultaneously declared war on the Feisheng Clan and Shu Yan, with multiple legions crossing the sea boundary line and continuously advancing into the hinterlands of the Feisheng Sea Region.

The essence of this war was that the Mingwu Clan urgently needed more resources for development.

They sought to strengthen themselves through plunder.

The current situation was that the main legions of the Mingwu Clan were deeply entrenched in the battlefield, and General Ye Ming was personally stationed at the front lines.

Under these circumstances, to make the Mingwu Clan split their forces or dispatch their main legions to help the Longyi Clan, with whom they had no beneficial connection, the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce had to offer bargaining chips that would move either the Mingwu Emperor or General Ye Ming.

This bargaining chip also had to account for the consumption required to sustain war expenditures in the early stages.

After all, abandoning a frontline that was advancing continuously and handing over already occupied resource regions meant that the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce, which made the request, would have to bear the loss of acquired benefits.

This would be a huge expenditure.

The Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce indeed had the ability to make the Mingwu Clan do them a favor, provided they could offer compensation for abandoning existing interests.

He was certainly powerless to pay such a sum.

Even the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce would not expend such a colossal amount of resources just to do him this favor.

He had enough self-awareness to know this point.

Before a cost capable of shaking the foundations of the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce, his favor likely did not even qualify to be weighed.

Thinking of this, Ji Chen's mood grew several degrees heavier.

The Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce was already the external force he could think of that was most likely to bring hope for "breaking the deadlock."

After contemplating for a long time, he still decided to try contacting the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce.

Summoning his contact list, he clicked on the avatar of "Shou Jili" and initiated a private chat.

Without asking if they were available, he sent all his thoughts in one go and explained the specific reasons in detail.

Regarding the relationship between the Longyi and himself, he did not hide it from A Lan of the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce either.

According to the description on the Star Net, A Lan's identity was that of an Archon of the Moon Eclipse Clan, and every Archon clearly knew the truth of the Monster World.

Secondly, while his identity as a transmigrator could be hidden from ordinary citizens, it could absolutely not be concealed from the Moon Eclipse Clan, which shared intelligence.

Every second after sending the message felt as though time had been stretched out.

Three minutes passed, yet the private chat window remained silent.