[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re":3,"chapter-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-196":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Vegetable-Growing Skeleton's Foreign Land Reclamation",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2351677,4600,"Chapter 196: Interdimensional War Fortress","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-196",196,"\u003Cp>When the Wind of Rest was about to blow, Ang rode Lightning up to the Holy Heaven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lightning held a stick in its mouth, with a hollow-stone cap balanced on top; whenever it bit the stick’s end, the cap flipped open and activated a hollow bubble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had never had the chance to play with this before, so it couldn’t resist biting once, then again, watching the bubbles flash over its body until Ang slapped it on the head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lightning obediently closed its mouth—it never dared curse at Ang, first because Ang didn’t understand, and second because if he did, he’d beat it; it knew who to bully and who not to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He chose to ride Lightning instead of White Throat because Lightning’s flight style allowed prolonged hovering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arriving early at the outer wall of the Holy Heaven, the Wind of Rest had not yet blown; Lightning idly stood on empty air, eyes darting left and right, utterly bored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ang’s Interdimensional Hand reached into the Palace of Rest, busily arranging things; this time Silver Coin had brought him many seeds—over a thousand kinds—and now he struggled to decide which few to plant first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Wind of Rest blew; Lightning quickly bit open the cap, exposing the hollow-stone to the windward side, activating the bubble that enveloped both it and Ang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Together, man and horse were less than three meters tall; standing still, the bubble could cover them entirely—that was why he rode it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Heaven was the largest surface exposed to the wind; the Wind of Rest struck its wall, triggering strange changes—some wind flowed along the surface like water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some formed vortices, spinning in place; others curved halfway around the wall and collided with wind flowing from the opposite side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wall was not a material substance but an energy structure; it clung to, slowed, and piled up the Wind of Rest in various ways—no one knew which effect had taken hold until the wind smashed a hole through it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After standing still for over twenty minutes, the wall remained intact; Nagelis, projected onto Ang, sighed: “This wall’s breaking time is so unpredictable. Without the hollow-stone, we can’t even get up. What if it holds for ten minutes? We’re done.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lightning exhaled loudly and hurried to agree: “Exactly! It should give you a clear signal—say, breaks in ten minutes, not a second more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Being alone with Ang was too stressful and awkward—he didn’t know whether to make conversation or stay quiet and not disturb; this feeling of being with a superior was unbearable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nagelis’s words were like a lifeline; Lightning quickly jumped in, echoing Nagelis’s sentiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It thought it was agreeing; Nagelis wanted to jump out of his skin: “Are you mocking me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, I’m not, don’t say that!” Lightning denied quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the noise, Ang suddenly leapt down onto the wall—he’d spotted a weak spot—and smashed it repeatedly until the wall broke, allowing them all to re-enter the Holy Heaven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ang landed immediately on the Field of the Gods, releasing everyone first; having learned from last time, they weren’t afraid of danger, so more people came—almost everyone idle showed up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed no one was busy…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The plaza’s floor tiles had been pried up last time and planted with elf beans; seven days later, the beans had sprouted and grown to the size of seven-month-old plants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of Ang, Nagelis had become a half-decent farmer; he glanced and said: “Growth is good. No watering or fertilizing needed—this soil is incredible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without a word, Ang found a corner, piled up a small mound of earth, and planted the second plant-person seed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were only two plant-person seeds; the first had been planted in the Palace of Rest, which already held a pile of divine realm soil. Planting in two locations would reveal whether environment or soil mattered more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to planting, Nagelis was more eager about another matter—he pulled out the Control Key: “Done yet? If so, let’s check the Control Key—see if we can activate the Heaven.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lisa and Anna’s eyes sparkled with excitement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Heaven was about to be controlled by the Death God—just thinking about it was thrilling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They arrived at the temple, the most central region of the entire Holy Heaven; the ceiling held the Heaven Stairway’s teleportation array, storing many angelic relics, and also served as the control hub.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the true core lay even deeper; without the Control Key, they’d never discovered this area. Now that they had it, as soon as Ang stepped into the temple, the floor beneath him silently sank, revealing a staircase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Descending the stairs, two heavily armored zombies led the way, arriving unharmed at a circular chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the circular chamber stood over a dozen crystal stelae, each two meters tall; as Ang entered, all of them lit up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So did the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire floor was made of crystal—or some kind of crystalline stone—and when it glowed, Ang saw something familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A coordinate map? Wow, even more coordinates than the World Transit Station—many aren’t even listed there. The Church of Light really has deep roots,” Lisa exclaimed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“More than deep roots—it’s mobile, unlike the World Transit Station. Look, those green dots? They’re locations it can descend to for interdimensional deployment. This is essentially a fortress for attacking other dimensions,” Nagelis marveled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone drew a sharp breath. The Holy Heaven was an interdimensional war fortress?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Green dots are few, red dots are more numerous. Do red dots mean no deployment? Why?” Lisa asked curiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Either too far away, or blocked by a dimensional barrier—like the Prime Material Plane. Its barrier is far thicker than this Heaven’s. The Holy Heaven can’t get close,” Nagelis said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lisa asked: “So you mean we can’t just flip it upside-down over our heads? Doesn’t the Rest Abyss have a barrier?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No way—not even close, let alone deployment. The Heaven Stairway can’t project over such distances, which is why you find no records of Heaven Stairways or Heaven descents in Prime Material history. Does the Rest Abyss have a barrier? If it had a barrier, it wouldn’t be called an Abyss.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The greatest difference between an Abyss and a dimension lies in the barrier: dimensions have barriers; Abysses don’t. No dimensional barrier means an undefended world—anyone can come and go with just a beacon or coordinate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s precisely why the Death Empire built transit stations in such undefended Abysses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A barrier multiplies energy consumption several times over—even tenfold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If both dimensions have barriers, energy cost doubles again; for especially thick barriers, you must find weak points—or the teleportation array needs several times more energy to pierce through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Death Empire deliberately built transit stations in places without dimensional barriers, allowing free movement and trade between dimensions, each taking what they needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Death Empire had the confidence because it was the largest barrier in this dimension.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Death Empire had the confidence to protect transit stations; Ang didn’t. That’s why the World Transit Station still isn’t open—it’s like guarding a golden trade route and begging for scraps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, even if he had the confidence to open it, Ang wouldn’t—the World Transit Station can’t grow crops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can we activate it?” Lisa asked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nagelis took the Control Key from Ang’s hand, inspected it, then grimaced: “I dare not touch it. I’m afraid it’ll fall.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, he didn’t know how to operate the Holy Heaven. He turned the Control Key for ages but found no manual or beginner’s guide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, the Holy Heaven got stuck during its descent—who knows if it can still move? What if we mess with it and it falls, crushing the Rest Abyss?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So we can’t do anything?” As a former Holy Maiden, apostate, and ancient lich, Lisa was frustrated. The Holy Heaven—now in their hands, the old stronghold of the Light Gods—and they couldn’t do anything?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not nothing—we can still view the coordinate map,” Nagelis said, then watched Ang crouch to the floor, tracing circles with his finger; the entire coordinate map shifted back and forth with his motion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He carefully examined every point representing a dimension or Abyss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nagelis drifted closer, reading the brief descriptions of dimensions on the map, then looked at Ang and asked: “What are you looking for?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Something to grow vegetables,” Ang said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pfft… I knew it…” Nagelis groaned. Aside from this, Ang had no interest in anything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he was doomed to fail—any place suitable for plant growth was inevitably a material plane, with a powerful dimensional barrier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the next few days, Nagelis dragged Ang around, trying to figure out the entire control system, but without data or instructions, progress was minimal; the only notable success was activating one crystal stela.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stela first displayed rippling light patterns, then suddenly, a crying voice emerged: “O Supreme Light, grant me the power to heal all, save my child!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stela flickered repeatedly, then showed a blurry image: a baby, two or three months old, wailing loudly, its thigh torn off by something—jagged wound, bloody, raw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pair of rough hands tightly gripped the wound, weeping as they prayed, begging for a miracle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The image on the stela was from the perspective of the hands’ owner—blurred because his eyes were filled with tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bugo was a villager from a humble hamlet, devoutly worshipping the Light Gods, praying faithfully, donating monthly to redeem his ancestral sins and pray for peace for his wife and children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he’d never witnessed a miracle, raised since childhood in this faith, he firmly believed the Light Gods would protect him—if he was devout enough, light would shield his entire family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three months ago, his wife died in childbirth from massive hemorrhage, leaving only him and his daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Devout Bugo blamed no one—not the Light Gods for failing to protect his wife. He blamed himself for not being devout enough. To ensure his daughter’s health and happy growth, he became even more devout in his worship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could he be more devout?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The priest told him: everyone is born with ancestral sin—because of sin, they were banished from Heaven, and only by redeeming their sins could they return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How to redeem?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The priest said: I don’t know. Everyone’s sins differ—perhaps greed, perhaps sloth—only the gods know. The only thing he knew for sure: donation was the best way to redeem sin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every silver coin donated could save three fellow believers—that was redemption.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bugo mindlessly donated most of his wealth, striving to earn more to donate even more. Carrying his three-month-old daughter, he went to the back mountain to dig for mushrooms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Few people ate mushrooms in this era—they required vast amounts of oil and spices to taste decent, and offered little nutrition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Bugo’s main target was Holy Mushroom, a fungus dried and ground into powder with powerful hemostatic and healing properties, beloved by both church and adventurers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bugo wouldn’t sell to adventurers—he wanted to donate it to the church to redeem his and his daughter’s sins, completely unaware that his daughter was smaller than normal infants—because he’d donated most of his money and couldn’t afford enough milk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking an infant up the mountain was dangerous—not just for snakes, insects, and rodents, but the cold, damp air alone could harm the child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Bugo firmly believed this was good for his daughter—that doing this would make the Light Gods protect him and his child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he encountered wolves. As he climbed a tree, one leapt and bit off his daughter’s leg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bugo clutched his daughter, weeping in despair. He had no other options—the wolves below, his daughter severely wounded; without immediate treatment, blood loss would kill the three-month-old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bugo summoned unprecedented faith, screaming, begging the gods for salvation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ang cautiously projected his intent into the crystal stela, toward the baby’s image, toward the wound on the severed leg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For such a wound, Ang could stop the bleeding with Cleanse Skin—he tried casting Cleanse Skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the other side of the stela, Bugo suddenly felt a force surge into his body; his hands rose involuntarily, palms glowing with holy light as he smeared them over his daughter’s wound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bloody, raw wound visibly healed before their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A miracle… a miracle! Light protects, Light protects…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Bugo murmured, something flowed steadily into the crystal stela.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“God, save my daughter, save my daughter! I’ll donate everything I own to redeem my sins!” Bugo cried, both excited and devout.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ang hesitantly reached his hands toward the crystal stela—and his hands passed right through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Curious, he embraced the baby’s image inside the stela, gently pulling it outward. When he withdrew his hands, a small infant lay cradled in them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ku Ba Da, this is possible?” Nagelis’s eyes nearly popped out—could these crystal stelae pierce space?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the image, Bugo’s arms were empty; he dropped to his knees on the tree, bowing his head: “Light protects, Gods eternal glory, Light protects, Gods eternal glory…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he bowed, a howl startled him—he looked down and saw several wolves circling the tree, one especially large, like a calf, glaring at him with malice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bugo suddenly realized he wasn’t safe—he shouted desperately: “Gods protect me, grant me strength, destroy these wolves!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lead wolf sprinted and leapt, knocking Bugo from the tree and biting his throat clean through. This time, no Light would save him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nagelis floated over, little angels and little zombies gathered, staring curiously at the fragile infant in Ang’s arms, reaching out to prod it but hesitating.\u003C\u002Fp>",2244,"2026-06-21T03:18:43.177Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","15589cd96c0eabc00b1a9708e8c6cc757b682ebb57316aafa44259f53f4cd2cd","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-197","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-195",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-cover.jpg"]