Crimson Prison Realm.
A plane relatively close to the Upper Realm.
The weather here was scorching hot, and the earth and rocks were all crimson red, looking like hell itself, hence the name ‘Crimson Prison.’
The martial artists living in the Crimson Prison Realm primarily cultivated fire-based techniques, but limited by the world’s attributes, the strongest realm they could achieve was merely the lower levels of the Truth-Seeking Realm. From the perspective of planar hierarchy, there was clearly quite a gap compared to the Upper Realm.
Actually, the Upper Realm wasn’t weak—when the Star Spirit Realm’s Third Fleet invaded, they had described it as ‘quasi-second tier,’ which meant there were also third tier, fourth tier, and even lower tiers.
“Whoosh!”
One day, a streak of light silently passed through the spatial barrier and descended onto the mountains and rivers that seemed to burn with flames.
It was none other than Jun Changxiao.
He didn’t arrive with all eleven warships flying in brazenly, as that would easily cause the locals to misunderstand and define him as an invader.
“Whoosh!”
His spiritual sense released and spread across a radius of several thousand li.
“Tsk tsk.”
Jun Changxiao said, “The fire attribute here is exceptionally strong.”
The System said, “Other attributes are relatively weak. It should be related to the scorching environment.”
“I’m afraid it will be difficult to nurture martial dao resources like Profound Stones.” Jun Changxiao’s eyes showed a trace of disappointment.
“Not necessarily.”
The System said, “Worlds with singular attributes often produce extreme minerals or resources.”
“That makes sense.”
Jun Changxiao applied an easy-disguise face mask and put on a gray robe, quickly transforming into an old charlatan wandering the martial world, then headed straight for a city a thousand li away.
What he needed to do now was understand this plane and whether there were resources that could be used as propulsion fuel. He chose to disguise himself because he feared his peerless beauty would cause a huge commotion.
“Hehe.”
The System chuckled dryly.
…
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
After traveling several hundred li, roaring voices reached his ears.
Jun Changxiao released his spiritual sense and discovered that in the distance, several hundred thousand troops divided into two armies were fiercely battling on the battlefield. Blood made the ground even redder, and the stench of gore floated in the air.
The cultivation realms of the participating soldiers weren’t high. From their emanating auras, they seemed to be only at the Martial Saint level.
“Well.”
Jun Changxiao said, “This plane’s level certainly isn’t high.”
An army of several hundred thousand Martial Saints might indeed be terrifying in the Lower Realm, but in the upper universe, it seemed extremely insignificant—even a random disciple sent from a sect could easily resolve them.
Jun Changxiao had no interest in watching rookies peck at each other and continued toward the city he had locked onto.
However.
After traveling a section of the road, he discovered two more military groups in confrontation.
“Does this plane enjoy fighting?” Jun Changxiao’s eyes showed surprise. With a serious attitude, he released his spiritual sense, directly covering most of the Crimson Prison Realm. The final images he captured were of large and small battlefields, large and small slaughters—at least a hundred of them!
The environment was already somewhat harsh, and the locals were fighting all over the map. In such a chaotic world, could strong martial dao resources be nurtured?
“Sigh.”
Gou Sheng shook his head and said, “I’m afraid this was a wasted trip.”
Before long, he stopped before the main gate of the city he had locked onto earlier. Because the entire structure was cast from crimson ore, the towering city walls looked like flames burning wildly.
“@#&.”
“*%#*&.”
The martial artists coming and going were conversing, but because the language system was different, Jun Changxiao didn’t understand a single sentence.
“Need translation?”
“What do you think?”
“Whoosh—”
Suddenly, light flashed through Jun Changxiao’s sea of consciousness as various symbols, gestures, and numbers frantically poured in. When everything returned to normal, he could hear all the passersby speaking Chinese.
“The Great Sky King Kingdom’s Iron Might Army has taken several more cities. In my opinion, the Changyuan King Kingdom is probably going to be destroyed.”
“Alas, a kingdom once powerful enough to sweep across the eight wildernesses has ultimately walked toward decline.”
“When prosperity reaches its peak, decline follows—this is eternally unchanging.”
…
“Kingdom?”
Jun Changxiao stroked his chin and said, “Is this world primarily based on nations?”
After casually fishing out an identity token from a passerby’s pocket and successfully infiltrating the city called Revered Martial City, he heard all the passersby discussing war, which further confirmed his suspicions.
That’s right.
The Crimson Prison Realm was a plane dominated by nations.
There were families here, nobility, royalty, imperial houses—just no sects.
“Analysis complete.”
The System said, “This place is called the Crimson Prison Realm, with a population of sixty billion. Ten thousand years ago, a legendary hero appeared who rose from humble beginnings and ultimately unified the entire world, establishing the Azure Mist Empire.”
“And then?”
“The Azure Mist Empire ruled the Crimson Prison Realm for nearly ten thousand years. Later, internal conflicts arose, and kingdoms successively broke away, becoming independent powers that waged war on each other. The Azure Mist Empire has long since existed in name only.”
“Are there any martial dao resources?”
Jun Changxiao wasn’t interested in the rise and fall of an empire.
“Yes.”
The System said, “This world produces a type of martial dao resource called ‘Flame Stone,’ which is also currently the most common currency. It contains extremely abundant fire attributes and might be usable as energy propulsion.”
Actually, even without its explanation, Jun Changxiao had already guessed it, because walking along the main street, he had discovered many shops named with variations of “Such-and-Such Crimson Stone Store.”
…
The Cosmic Merchant Crimson Stone Store.
The largest store in Revered Martial City.
As soon as Jun Changxiao walked in, he felt that the fire attribute inside was stronger than outside, which made him even more curious about just how abundant the fire attributes in Flame Stones were.
“Dear customer.”
A beautiful woman was in charge of greeting guests and said with a smile, “Do you need to purchase Flame Stones?”
“That’s right.”
“Please come inside.”
The woman remained courteous and polite throughout, not deliberately giving him the cold shoulder because Gou Sheng was dressed plainly. One could see that this store truly treated customers like gods when doing business.
“Customer.”
“Our store primarily deals in First-Grade, Second-Grade, and Third-Grade Flame Stones. Which type do you need?”
“They’re divided into grades?”
When Jun Changxiao said this, the woman looked at him with surprise, thinking: Flame Stones being divided into grades is common knowledge—could there really be someone in this world who doesn’t know?
“Uh…”
Jun Changxiao also realized the problem and awkwardly explained, “Jun grew up in the mountains and wilderness and has very little understanding of the outside world.”
The woman understood and patiently explained, “Flame Stones are divided into three grades. First-Grade has the best quality, Third-Grade has the worst quality.”
“Definitely First-Grade!”
“How much does the customer wish to purchase?”
“Uh, could you first take out one stone and let Jun have a look?”
“Certainly, please wait a moment.”
The woman stood and left, then returned shortly carrying a box. She placed it before him and gently opened it. A crimson crystal about the size of an apple appeared, with fire attributes visibly swirling around its surface.
Jun Changxiao quietly released his spiritual sense until it merged into the interior, sensing the extremely pure fire attribute within. He thought to himself, “This type of fire attribute is extremely volatile. If used as energy, it should be able to replace Dao Stones.”
Overall speaking, Flame Stones couldn’t compare to Dao Stones—after all, their attributes were singular. However, the propulsion devices within warships preferred volatile energy, as only that could provide stronger impact force.
“Customer.”
The woman smiled and said, “How much do you need to purchase?”
“Uh…”
Jun Changxiao stood up, patted his backside and said, “I’m just browsing casually. Farewell!”
With that, he strode away.
The woman stood dazed for quite a while before thinking to herself, “Is this person sick or something?”
—