Star Fortress.
Zi Envoy, Chou Envoy and the others stood with bowed heads, because standing beside them was the Fortress Master who had just emerged from seclusion.
“Waste!”
“A bunch of waste!”
After brewing his emotions for quite a while, this important figure whose true appearance couldn’t be seen finally exploded.
He himself had been in seclusion recovering from backlash injuries, and when he emerged, all nine main criminals from the Nine-Layer Hell had escaped. Anyone would be unable to bear it!
“Master.”
Zi Envoy said: “This subordinate takes full responsibility.”
As the boss in charge of guarding Hell, he definitely couldn’t escape blame.
The Fortress Master said coldly: “You must recapture all escaped main criminals as quickly as possible!”
“This subordinate has already deployed personnel and is actively investigating.” Zi Envoy said with a solemn expression: “It won’t be long before we have news.”
The escape of main criminals was a major incident.
He’d directly mobilized nearly all of the Star Fortress’s elite forces, conducting large-scale searches throughout the mortal universe. Unless the prisoners ascended to the upper realm, they’d be found sooner or later.
“Also the Xingyun Continent.”
The Fortress Master said: “We can take this opportunity to investigate.”
Due to his injuries, he’d put this matter on hold. Now he could conveniently use the deployed elite forces to investigate exactly who killed the Enforcement General.
“Yes!”
Zi Envoy received the order.
The Fortress Master departed.
After he left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Everyone.”
Zi Envoy said seriously: “The Master is very angry. We must recapture the escaped criminals as quickly as possible. As for the Xingyun Continent, set it aside temporarily.”
Everything had priorities and urgency.
In his view, capturing the main criminals was more important than finding the Enforcement General’s killer.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
Star warships flew out from the fortress one after another.
The martial artists in the city were quite surprised—what exactly had happened to make the fortress repeatedly dispatch large numbers of personnel?
…
Xingyun Continent, North Sea.
The Ancient Penetrating Warship hovered in the firmament. Below in the sea waters, many islands were scattered like stars, looking at a glance like a certain constellation in the sky.
“This should be the place.”
Standing on the deck, Jun Changxiao took out the Taixuan Ice Heart Formula manual, carefully comparing it with the description once more, his gaze showing certainty.
“So.”
The system scoffed: “You’re not planning to return this first half to your disciple?”
“Whoosh, whoosh!”
The Ancient Penetrating Warship slowly descended, landing on a beach of a small island.
Jun Changxiao’s spiritual sense blanketed the island covered in vegetation: “No one has been here for a very long time.”
Lu Qianqian said vigilantly: “There are many powerful spirit beasts here.”
“Indeed.”
Jun Changxiao rubbed his hands together, his eyes lighting up: “All martial resources!”
…
“Roar!”
Inside the island’s mountain forest, a massive creature came roaring toward them.
Jun Changxiao stood in place, still happily savoring the wild fruit he’d just picked.
“Slash!”
Cold light flashed, the beast’s head flew off.
Lu Qianqian withdrew her Cold Light Sword, gracefully landing before the Sect Master.
After breaking through to Wusheng, her strength had improved significantly. Earlier she’d already encountered many spirit beasts, all killed on the spot with one sword strike.
“Swish!”
Lu Qianqian came to the fierce beast’s corpse, skillfully using her sword to extract the crystal core, then tossed it to Jun Changxiao: “Sect Master, there doesn’t seem to be a cave dwelling here.”
“We have to search them one by one.”
This sea area’s islands had existed since ancient times, numbering in the hundreds. Finding Old Man Taixuan’s seclusion cave dwelling from among them was destined to take some time.
However, over several days, the two had successively searched dozens of islands, even digging three feet deep, but still found no clues whatsoever.
Jun Changxiao sat on a rock, carefully reviewing the manual’s last few pages, propping his chin: “Could there be a concealment array set up?”
“Sect Master.”
Just then, Lu Qianqian pointed toward the ocean: “Look quickly!”
“Hm?”
Jun Changxiao looked up and saw that in the distant sea waters, a wave of seawater was spraying out like a geyser, with tremendous momentum threatening to reach the clouds!
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”
Several more appeared in other directions, each separated by a certain distance, implying some profound mystery.
“Let’s go up and look.”
Jun Changxiao and Lu Qianqian flew upward.
From an aerial perspective, they discovered that near the sea area, a total of nine water columns shot toward the sky, enveloping a solitary island in their midst.
“Let’s go!”
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The two cut through the firmament, flying between two water columns.
But just as they were about to approach the island, the surrounding heaven and earth attributes suddenly churned, then coalesced into two palm imprints pressing toward them.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Jun Changxiao simultaneously struck out with both left and right hands, shattering the incoming energy. He looked at the ice-cold woman standing in front of him, speechless: “Has this seat already become so weak that I need a disciple to block attacks for me?”
“…”
Lu Qianqian moved aside.
The two palm imprints had appeared too suddenly. Without thinking much, she’d positioned herself in front of the Sect Master, preparing to first freeze then shatter them. But his strike had been faster.
“Go!”
Jun Changxiao took the lead flying forward, but with a “bang” he crashed into an invisible barrier, his handsome face completely squashed flat.
Holy crap!
There’s an array formation!
Dog Leftovers had been continuously releasing his spiritual sense but hadn’t detected any array formation presence at all.
“Whoosh, whoosh!”
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”
Just then, the heaven and earth attributes became even more restless, then coalesced into palm imprints pressing down from all directions.
…
Ye Xingchen sat cross-legged in his room.
He recalled how back then it had taken him several full hours of bombardment to break through the barrier enveloping the island within the Nine Springs Reaching Heaven, nearly exhausted to the point of collapse.
“Too frustrating!”
Night Emperor shook his head bitterly.
As one of the former Ten Wudi, even just the outer barrier’s defense had nearly drained him dry before he broke through. If word got out…
“Thank goodness it was me.” Ye Xingchen consoled himself: “Anyone else definitely couldn’t have broken through!”
“Boom!”
Within the Nine Springs Reaching Heaven, Jun Changxiao, with his powerful array-breaking ability, directly resolved the obstructing array barrier on the spot, taking one minute.
As for the various palm imprints pressing toward him, they were also all dealt with during gaps in his array-breaking, so that Lu Qianqian, who was supposed to be providing protection, remained in a spectator state throughout.
…
Ye Xingchen was still reminiscing about the past, thinking of how after breaking the array he’d landed on the island enveloped by the Nine Springs, then been besieged by several hundred massive creatures formed from sand, spending tremendous effort to finally eliminate them.
“Those creatures were extremely powerful.”
“Only I could have eliminated them after such consumption.”
“If it had been Spirit Emperor or the others, they’d have been done for long ago.”
Night Emperor’s eyes revealed arrogance, completely unaware that Jun Changxiao, who had landed on the island, was walking deeper with Lu Qianqian while the several hundred massive creatures that had appeared were already beaten back to dust form, taking still only one minute.
“That gate!”
Ye Xingchen’s expression suddenly grew grave.
He clearly remembered that after entering the interior from the beach, reaching the central area, he’d seen an ancient stone gate covered in vines with strange characters carved on it, emanating profound and mysterious energy.
The first two dangers had relied on strength to resolve, but how to open this gate had troubled Night Emperor. After lingering for several days, it had suddenly… just opened on its own!
“So.”
Night Emperor thought silently: “I went too early back then. Actually I could have waited a few more days. Once the Nine Springs Reaching Heaven phenomenon weakened, I could have easily entered the interior. If someone doesn’t know this rule and goes, they’ll just be throwing their life away for nothing.”
“Rumble!”
At this moment, Jun Changxiao, also standing before the stone gate, raised the glowing Taixuan Ice Heart Formula manual. The seemingly impregnable great door gradually opened, prompting him to say with surprise: “It’s this simple?”
“Hm?”
Ye Xingchen subconsciously touched his face, quite puzzled: “Why does it hurt a bit?”
—