The Eastern Sea Fishermen’s Province, isolated from the overall continental framework for ten thousand years, had once given birth to countless nations large and small, which gradually formed into ten major empires through conquest and merger.
Until several decades ago, Emperor Zhenwei emerged from nowhere and launched the largest and most brutal war in history, causing six empires to become history and forming the current situation of four nations standing in balance.
The strongest in power and largest in territory was naturally the Zhenwei Empire.
The other three empires, fearing they would follow in those footsteps, could only band together in alliance to jointly resist.
So the current situation in the Eastern Sea Fishermen’s Province was: one family fighting against three families alone, with neither side able to do anything to the other, maintaining a temporarily stable state.
Jun Changxiao had zero interest in fighting over territory.
However, Master Fan had been invited by Emperor Zhenwei and had yet to return, so he had to go investigate.
From the border to Zhenwei City required quite a journey. Dog Sheng wasn’t in too much of a hurry either, bringing his disciples into every city they encountered, gathering more information about the Fishermen’s Province and the Zhenwei Empire.
When martial artists and common people in the former Huyue Empire territory heard the name Emperor Zhenwei, they all felt apprehension and anger. Within the Zhenwei Empire territory, however, there was nothing but praise and extreme worship.
Later, Jun Changxiao gradually came to understand.
The Zhenwei Empire had once been extremely weak overall, suffering bullying from other empires year after year.
Until Emperor Zhenwei ascended the throne and began major reforms, the empire’s overall strength grew dramatically day by day, finally leaping to become the strongest empire in the Fishermen’s Province.
“Quite capable!” Jun Changxiao said admiringly.
From the weakest existence among ten empires, one person had forcibly brought them from the bronze tier to the king tier—this level of ability was truly exceptional!
“Sect Master.”
Sitting in a restaurant eating, Li Qingyang glanced out the window at the patrolling soldiers going back and forth and transmitted, “Even a small city is heavily guarded. I’m afraid it won’t be easy for us to sneak into Zhenwei City.”
“We’ll take it one step at a time.”
After finishing his meal, Jun Changxiao tossed a few taels of silver on the table, then led everyone to wander the streets casually.
The city they were in wasn’t very large in scale, with a population of only a few hundred thousand. However, every main street had soldiers on regular patrol, and judging from the armor they wore, the quality seemed quite high.
The children playing on the streets would without exception show worshipful gazes whenever soldiers passed by, and their thoughts of joining the army when they grew up became even stronger.
Jun Changxiao observed everything in the city as an outsider.
The conclusion he reached was that the Zhenwei Empire was very wealthy, and the martial artists living here—even the children—had a strong sense of pride.
“Emperor Zhenwei, just what kind of person are you, to be able to develop a bronze-tier empire to this degree?”
Jun Changxiao became somewhat interested in Emperor Zhenwei, possibly because both of them came from administrative backgrounds—one managing a sect, the other managing a nation.
Of course.
One person developing their nation with cheat-like progress also made Dog Sheng suspicious: Could this Emperor Zhenwei be a transmigrator? Did he have some kind of system?
“Impossible.”
The system denied this: “A poor loser like the host transmigrated to Xingyun Continent and within just a few years developed a no-rank sect into a third-rate sect. If the other party was also a transmigrator, failing to conquer the entire Eastern Sea Fishermen’s Province in several decades would truly be shameful.”
Jun Changxiao stroked his chin, saying, “Makes sense!”
Wait!
“Holy crap!” he cursed internally. “Are you insulting me?”
The system said, “I’m just using the host as an analogy. If you insist on thinking that way, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Damn!”
Li Qingyang and Xiao Zuiji and the others walking behind suddenly discovered the sect master had stopped, hands grasping his own neck, his face slightly twisted as if fighting with himself.
“This…”
Luo Zhilong was dumbfounded.
Strangling himself—what a fierce move!
Li Qingyang and Xiao Zuiji were already used to it, because they’d seen the sect master sometimes giggling foolishly, sometimes getting angry, sometimes self-harming.
Ye Xingchen frowned slightly, thinking silently, “Fighting with himself might be some kind of profound martial technique!”
He Wudi thought the same way.
He even believed that when the sect master fought with himself, he might be achieving some kind of advancement in martial dao!
Dog Sheng: “I’ll strangle you to death!”
System: “Come on, let’s die together!”
“Huff, huff, huff—”
After about a moment, Jun Changxiao released his hands and sat gasping on a boulder, saying, “Qingyang, how much longer until we reach Zhenwei City?”
“At our walking speed, about five days,” Li Qingyang said.
“Is there a larger city nearby?”
“Yes, three hundred li away, there’s Tiewei City, which is not only a major city of the Zhenwei Empire but also a strategic location.”
“Let’s go take a look.”
Even an ordinary small city was heavily guarded—Jun Changxiao was very curious what kind of deployment a major city would have.
…
Tiewei City.
One of the cities with the most formidable strength in the Zhenwei Empire, aside from Zhenwei City itself.
Several hundred thousand troops were stationed here year-round, and the city’s defenses were obviously very strong just from a distant glance.
Jun Changxiao brought his four disciples to the city gate and handed over their identity documents, only then managing to get inside.
In the wilderness.
Five martial artists of varying ages lay unconscious in the grass, stripped of all their clothing.
“Sect Master.”
After entering an inn, Li Qingyang touched the disguise mask on his face and said in surprise, “They really couldn’t tell!”
Jun Changxiao said, “If this thing wasn’t reliable, how could Little Mu have gone undercover in Taixuan Holy Sect for so long?”
“Makes sense, makes sense!”
Everyone rested at the inn for a while, then began wandering around Tiewei City. The result was that aside from some markets, teahouses, and other places they could freely enter, many locations were sealed off.
Jun Changxiao had also relied on his spiritual sense to blanket the entire city, discovering that many areas had isolation formations that couldn’t be easily penetrated.
“Quite mysterious.”
He could easily break through these isolation formations, but didn’t do so, because with a little thought, he knew they were nothing more than military camps and important areas that the Zhenwei Empire side was protecting to prevent enemy forces from discovering them.
Jun Changxiao continued wandering the city, then came to the central area’s plaza.
There stood a massive statue—a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his thirties or forties, wearing armor, pointing his sword to the heavens, exuding an aura of looking down on the world.
“This is Emperor Zhenwei? Looks pretty chuunibyou.”
Below the statue, many city residents knelt on the ground as if praying, with accompanying children looking excited and anxious.
“Sect Master.”
Li Qingyang walked over from a distance and transmitted, “Today is the day of the Emperor’s Power Transmission.”
“Power transmission?” Jun Changxiao said. “What does that mean?”
Li Qingyang said, “I’m not too clear either, I heard people discussing it on the street.”
“Gu gu gu gu!”
From a great hall directly north of the statue came strange sounds. Then they saw an old man dressed in colorful clothing like a shaman walk out holding a wooden staff, saying, “The ceremony begins—no noise!”
“Swish!”
“Swish!”
The city residents outside the plaza all straightened their bodies, placed their right palms on their chests, then slightly lowered their heads with devout expressions.
Jun Changxiao and Li Qingyang were a bit confused, but since they were among the crowd, to avoid standing out too much, they hastily made the same gestures.
“¥%@#@&…”
The old man dressed in gaudy clothing began chanting in a strange language.
Jun Changxiao thought silently, “Anyone can tell that’s made up—I could do it too!”
“Gu gu gu!”
After a while, the elder knelt before the great hall, pressed his palms to the ground, faced the stone statue with his head, stuck his rear high in the air and loudly proclaimed, “The Emperor transmits power, bestowing grace for a thousand autumns!”
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the proud standing statue’s eyes suddenly flashed red light, which then flew toward the several children kneeling below.
“Ah ah ah!”
The children, only seven or eight years old, were enveloped by the red light and immediately clutched their heads screaming. Although their parents beside them felt heartache, their eyes showed excitement.
Jun Changxiao had been releasing his spiritual sense the whole time, frowning slightly, “This should be a kind of energy that erodes the soul. Using it on young children is simply inhumane!”
The Emperor’s Power Transmission?
Clearly it was some evil heretical method!
As Jun Changxiao was thinking, the children being tortured by the red glow suddenly had their realm auras continuously… skyrocket!
Meridian Opening Third Stage, Fourth Stage, Fifth Stage… Twelfth Stage!
Wutu First Rank, Second Rank, Third Rank… Peak Wutu!
When the red light dispersed, the four children who had been struggling in pain lay weakly on the ground, but their cultivation had already stepped into the First Rank Wushi level!
“Holy crap!”
Jun Changxiao stood there like a wooden chicken. After a moment, he faced the camera outside the fourth wall, his expression collapsing as he roared, “I have a system and even completing epic quests hasn’t let me level up like this!”
—