**Tiemu Forest.**
The battle in the most devastated area had ended, but the destruction was irreparable, leaving half of the forbidden zone essentially reduced to ruins.
“Old Brother!”
Gu Chaoxi’s voice rang out: “The Golden Radiance War Chariot!”
“Oh?”
Jun Changxiao discovered the golden war chariot that Jin Hao had left behind in Tiemu Forest, and broke into a grin: “That fellow has sent me another excellent treasure.”
Gu Chaoxi said: “Old Brother, the quality of the Golden Radiance War Chariot is quite high. They say its speed and performance are no less than the Tonggu War Vessel!”
“Really?”
Jun Changxiao walked over and merged his consciousness into it.
There was no artifact spirit inside, but there were complex pattern lines—it should be array-driven.
To control this high-level Golden Radiance War Chariot as he wished, he needed to erase the existing soul imprint and inject his own.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
From the other side came the sounds of battle.
Jun Changxiao stored the war chariot in his spatial ring and headed over with Gu Chaoxi.
Li Qingyang and the other four were still locked in fierce combat with the Iron Armor Demon King, but from the situation, they had already gained the upper hand—finishing off their opponent was completely feasible.
Taking advantage of this time, Gousha took out the Golden Radiance War Chariot and merged his spiritual sense into it, enveloping it…
Wait a minute!
Why had the soul imprint suddenly disappeared?
During his initial examination, Jin Hao’s remaining imprint had been clearly visible, but after just a short while, it had vanished when he entered again. This left Jun Changxiao somewhat bewildered.
Could it be that the other party, knowing the treasure would be hard to keep in his hands, had simply been generous and withdrawn it?
“What a good person.”
Jun Changxiao sighed inwardly.
“Boom!”
Just then, the Iron Armor Demon King, resembling a great dragon, finally couldn’t hold on and collapsed before the Black Five squad, covered in wounds.
Although the destruction in this battle area couldn’t compare to that other place, the iron wood had been destroyed by seventy to eighty percent.
Most fatal was the soil—the ground was cracked and sunken, with energy severely dissipated.
This third-class forbidden zone, defined by the relevant departments as suitable for Sky-Breaking Realm and early-stage Pill Transformation Realm warriors to train in, was thus declared destroyed. Even if it could still nurture iron wood in the future, there would only be an extremely small amount.
“Clean up the battlefield.”
“Yes!”
Li Qingyang, Xiao Zuiji, and the others successively collected the broken iron wood and the fragments of armor that had fallen from the Iron Armor Demon King into their spatial rings, then followed the sect master to leave Tiemu Forest.
Before entering, this place had been thriving and prosperous.
After leaving, this place was a scene of devastation.
This was the Eternal Sect—once they entered a treasure mountain, they never returned empty-handed.
“It’s gone…”
“Tiemu Forest is gone…”
After Jun Changxiao left with his disciples, various warriors came over one after another. Looking at the broken and battered environment before them, their faces showed expressions of regret.
Because it was a third-class forbidden zone, high-level Pill Transformation Realm or Truth-Seeking Realm cultivators disdained to enter, but for low-level warriors, the destruction of Tiemu Forest meant losing a place where they could train and earn money.
“Sigh.”
A rogue cultivator sighed helplessly: “Let’s go to the nearby Fire Cloud Cliff.”
Fire Cloud Cliff was also a third-class forbidden zone in the Upper Realm. From the name alone, you could tell this place was definitely related to fire, and moreover, it nurtured Fire Cloud Stones inside, which could similarly be used to forge equipment and weapons.
“Let’s go!”
The destruction of Tiemu Forest forced the various warriors to turn their attention to other forbidden zones, but when they hurried over, they found fellow cultivators gathered at the perimeter, so they asked in confusion: “Why aren’t you going in?”
“The Eternal Sect has sealed the mountain!”
“What?!”
It turned out that while everyone was rushing over, Jun Changxiao, being on the way, had taken his disciples into Fire Cloud Cliff first, and to prevent outsiders from encountering accidents, had kindly sealed it off.
The rogue cultivators who made their living from forbidden zones thought: I fucking thank you!
“Father! This place is filled with excellent fire-system attributes. Can I absorb them without restraint?”
“You can.”
“Whoosh whoosh!”
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”
Standing at the bottom of the cliff, Little Fire opened his mouth like a ravenous beast and frantically absorbed the surrounding pure fire-system energy.
The demon beasts existing in the forbidden zone hid in the darkness, trembling with fear.
Facing such a powerful existence as the Fire Soul Spirit, they would definitely become food the moment they showed themselves.
The fire-system attributes within Fire Cloud Cliff were very strong, so the deeper one went, the higher the temperature. But as Little Fire frantically absorbed the energy, it began to gradually cool down. Li Qingyang and the others continuously advanced, collecting various fire-system ore stones into their storage bags.
One hour later.
The isolation array existing at the perimeter disappeared.
Jun Changxiao left with his disciples under the eyes of the crowd.
Their front feet had barely left when the various rogue cultivators’ back feet entered Fire Cloud Cliff. Upon feeling that there wasn’t the slightest trace of fire-system elements in the surroundings, they despairingly howled: “This forbidden zone is finished too!”
“It’s fine!”
“We can go to Water Fairy Lake!”
When they arrived at the scene, the third-class forbidden zone that stretched for hundreds of miles with crystal-clear water was even more clear—because the water… was completely gone!
“Could it be…”
Just as everyone was speculating, they suddenly discovered a familiar silhouette in the distance that was leaving, so they clutched their heads: “It’s them again, as expected!”
…
Tiemu Forest, Fire Cloud Cliff, Water Fairy Lake.
In a short time, they were successively visited by Jun Changxiao, and their final fate was that attributes, ore stones, heavenly materials and earthly treasures were all taken away.
Some of them might have preserved their landforms and environments, but the internal attributes and certain elements had been destroyed. It was no different from having their martial arts crippled, reduced to ordinary places.
The Upper Realm exploded!
The warriors were enraged!
Jun Changxiao’s behavior of leaving not a blade of grass wherever he passed seriously disrupted the bottom-level ecological chain. If not curbed, where would everyone go to earn money and find opportunities in the future!
“Judging from this fellow’s route, he clearly intends to visit all the forbidden zones on the way to Phoenix Roost Immortal Mountain. We must quickly go to the next forbidden zone to stop him!”
Thus, many rogue cultivators spontaneously organized themselves and successfully blocked Jun Changxiao and the others before a forbidden zone that wasn’t worthy of having a name. They just fell short of raising a banner saying “Protect the Environment, Everyone’s Responsibility” to resist their endless destruction.
“Sect Master Jun!”
An elder said seriously: “Although forbidden zones contain dangers, they also contain opportunities. You’ve repeatedly entered and destroyed them—how are we supposed to develop in the future!”
“That’s your problem, not my problem,” Jun Changxiao said.
Forbidden zones weren’t public property. From ancient times until now, whoever had the ability could obtain them. Now that he had the ability, why couldn’t he exploit them?
Besides, the third-class forbidden zones that existed today were definitely leftovers from the major powers. Throughout the entire history of the Upper Realm, who knew how many resource-rich forbidden zones had disappeared due to over-exploitation?
“Sect Master Jun!”
A middle-aged man pointed into the distance and said: “Several thousand miles ahead is Soul-Loss Valley, a second-class forbidden zone. Inside, the heavenly materials and earthly treasures are countless. Could you please spare the third-class forbidden zones and leave us low-level warriors a way to survive!”
“That’s right!”
Everyone spoke in pleading tones.
They had no objections to Jun Changxiao entering third-class forbidden zones to search for treasures, but eating the meat without even leaving the soup was really too extreme!
“Soul-Loss Valley?”
Jun Changxiao stroked his chin and said: “A second-class forbidden zone?”
“Old Brother.”
Gu Chaoxi said: “The quality and quantity of heavenly materials and earthly treasures existing in this Soul-Loss Valley cannot be compared to third-class forbidden zones.”
“Alright.”
Jun Changxiao snapped his fingers and said: “Then this seat will go brave it!”
Thus, under the gaze of the various rogue cultivators, Gousha abandoned entering this forbidden zone that wasn’t worthy of having a name and instead headed toward Soul-Loss Valley several thousand miles away.
“Phew!”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the Eternal Sect hadn’t even entered the Mystic-grade tier in the Upper Realm. Daring to brave a second-class forbidden zone—didn’t that have the meaning of courting death?
Why worry about him?
The key point was that the third-class forbidden zone was spared from destruction!
To this, Soul-Loss Valley expressed: You bastards preserved a garbage forbidden zone, but pushed me into the abyss. If I suffer any mishap, I won’t let you go even as a ghost!
—