The charming widow of the Marquis's mansion: The stable boy carries the flag and raises the dra

As night fell, the banquet at the City Lord's Mansion in Tianque City, though not extravagant, was filled with sincerity.

Several rich soups made from spirit beast meat, a dish of steamed spirit fish, several kinds of seasonal spirit vegetables, and a pot of aged spirit fruit wine were laid out on the table.

Song Tiange personally accompanied them, and during the meal, they did not discuss those heavy topics, but only talked about some interesting stories from the Eastern Region and their experiences in the Spirit Realm.

Ye Niannu spoke enthusiastically about the various opponents she had encountered in the arena, and when she mentioned that someone had insisted on buying her drinks after losing, her eyes crinkled with laughter.

Song Tiange also showed a rare hint of a relaxed smile, occasionally adding a few words.

After a few rounds of drinks, Song Tiange put down his wine glass, his smile fading slightly. He seemed to have considered his words for a moment before slowly speaking.

"Mr. Wang, Miss Ye, I have a favor to ask."

Wang Long put down his chopsticks and looked at him.

"Lord Song, please speak."

Song Tiange stood up, walked to the window, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the distant horizon shrouded in night. After a few moments of silence, he turned around, his gaze carrying a rare solemnity.

"I would like to invite you two to accompany me to the sealed land. Would you be interested?"

Wang Long was slightly taken aback, but then he understood what he meant.

Song Tiange didn't just want them to watch the spectacle; he wanted them to witness firsthand the current state of the seal and understand what the Eastern Region was facing.

After all, Wang Long is now considered a high-ranking figure in the Eastern Region.

He nodded without hesitation.

"Very well, I will accompany Lord Song on this trip."

Ye Niannu also put down her wine glass, stood up, and patted her skirt.

"I'll go with my husband too."

Song Tiange didn't say anything more, but simply nodded slightly to the two of them before turning and walking out of the hall.

The three of them passed through the corridor behind the city lord's mansion and walked down a stone staircase that extended downwards.

The walls on both sides of the stone steps are inlaid with spirit stones for lighting, which emit a soft white light and illuminate the path ahead clearly.

The stone steps were long, and the further down you went, the more damp and cold the air became, as if you were heading to a place completely different from the ground.

Wang Long could sense that the concentration of spiritual energy around him was gradually changing, from being thin at first to becoming chaotic, like water that had been stirred up by something, carrying a faint sense of oppression.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a huge underground space.

The dome was so high that its top was almost invisible, and the surrounding rock walls were covered with densely packed runes. The lines of those runes were mostly bold and vigorous, exuding an ancient aura.

However, there are already obvious cracks in many places, as if it has been repeatedly impacted from the inside by something.

In the center of the underground space is a circular area with a diameter of several tens of feet. The ground is engraved with rings of array patterns, nested layer upon layer, so complex that it is dazzling to look at at a glance.

The gaps between the array patterns were filled with dark fragments of Heavenly Stone, which were dimmer than any Heavenly Stone Wang Long had ever seen before. Some of them had even completely lost their luster and turned into ordinary gray-white stones.

Dozens of array masters dressed in gray-white robes were scattered throughout the array patterns. Some were squatting on the ground carefully repairing the cracks, some were standing at the edge of the array patterns deducing something, and some were carefully embedding new Heavenly Stones into key node positions.

Although their movements were focused, there was a noticeable tension in them, as if they were racing against an unseen countdown.

One of the oldest array masters looked up and saw Song Tiange leading Wang Long and Ye Niannu over. He was slightly taken aback at first, then put down his carving knife and quickly went to greet them.

He had a thin face, white hair and beard, and obvious dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he had been working continuously for a long time.

His voice was hoarse and tired, yet still carried a hint of respect.

"Lord of the City, you have arrived."

Song Tiange nodded, his gaze sweeping over the array patterns that were being repaired, his voice deepening.

"Old Liu, how is the formation?"

The old formation master, known as Elder Liu, shook his head solemnly, his voice low.

"The situation is not very optimistic. There are three large cracks in the core area. Although they have been temporarily repaired with Heavenly Stones, the efficiency of spiritual energy transmission has decreased by nearly 30% compared to when it was intact."

"If new cracks appear, I'm afraid... it won't hold for much longer."

He paused, then added in an even lower voice.

"The key issue is that the stock of Heavenly Stones is almost depleted. We have minimized losses at every point, but it is still far from enough. If this continues, even maintaining the most basic defenses will become difficult."

Song Tiange did not respond immediately. Instead, he raised his hand and made a gesture in his sleeve, and 500,000 Heavenly Stones poured out like a pale golden river.

Neatly arranged on the open ground at the edge of the formation, the spiritual energy fluctuations gathered into a thick halo, illuminating the entire underground space.

Old Liu seemed frozen in place, his gaze fixed on the mountain of Heavenly Stones. His lips moved several times before he finally let out a hoarse murmur.

"This...this is...Lord City Lord, where did you get so many Heavenly Stones?"

His voice trembled, and his hands involuntarily rose up, as if wanting to touch the warm, pale golden light, yet he dared not actually touch it.

The other array masters also stopped what they were doing and looked up at the suddenly appearing Heavenly Stone. Some were stunned, some stood up, and some subconsciously rubbed their eyes, as if to make sure they hadn't seen it wrong.

An unbelievable silence filled the air, which then dissipated into suppressed murmurs.

"So many Celestial Stones...enough for us to repair the cracks in the core area!"

"Not just the core area, but also those peripheral nodes that are suffering significant damage can be replaced!"

"Great...at least I don't have to be strapped for cash anymore..."

Seeing the renewed light in the eyes of those array masters, Song Tiange didn't say anything, but simply turned her head to glance at Wang Long.

Wang Long met his gaze, nodded slightly, and remained silent.

Old Liu had already walked quickly to the pile of Heavenly Stones, squatted down, carefully picked up a Heavenly Stone, examined it carefully for a moment, and then suddenly stood up, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"The quality is excellent! The spiritual energy fluctuations are rich and pure, with almost no impurities! If these Heavenly Stones were used on the core array eye, they could extend the seal for at least several more years!"

As he spoke, he turned and waved to the other array masters.

"Everyone! Put aside those minor repairs! Focus on repairing the three cracks in the core area!"

The array masters responded immediately, and the tense and exhausted atmosphere seemed to be infused with a new energy.

Some people strode into the depths of the array patterns, some began to adjust the flow of spiritual energy at the array nodes, and some carefully embedded the newly arrived Heavenly Stones into the key array eyes.