Jun Changxiao had his plan. Now it just depended on how well the two would cooperate in their performance to trick the Fortress Lord.
“Sect Leader Jun.”
Guan Jiu said with a bitter expression, “We’re so heavily injured, when we go back… we won’t be able to explain things…”
“Not a big problem.”
Jun Changxiao waved his hand and said, “Follow this Seat.”
He sent Guan Jiu and the old man into the spacetime secret realm, using time acceleration to recover from their injuries at the fastest speed. When they came out, the expressions on both their faces still showed shock.
Having cultivated the martial dao for thousands of years, what hadn’t they seen?
But something like this that maximized time—they truly had never seen it, nor even heard of it!
“So miraculous!”
“Simply inconceivable!”
Guan Jiu and the old man left the Xingyun Continent with overwhelmingly shocked feelings.
Although the two didn’t understand the meaning of the incomplete scroll, Jun Changxiao had already given his orders, so they could only be forced to go deceive the Fortress Lord.
These brothers were quite tragic. What had originally seemed like a pretty good assignment ended up with their soul origins trapped in someone else’s hands, and now they had to act as traitors to scheme against their own master. One slight misstep and they could drop dead at any moment.
“Sigh.”
Guan Jiu and the old man stood on the warship sighing and moaning.
A certain aura of “when you drift in the jianghu, how can you avoid getting stabbed” suddenly emanated from their bodies.
…
“Two older brothers.”
Inside the Eternal Sect’s great hall, Jun Changxiao ordered, “During this time, you must pay close attention to the outside world. As soon as any suspicious people approach the continent, notify me immediately.”
Sending Guan Jiu and the old man back to deceive—whether it would succeed was still uncertain. He had to plan ahead and prevent accidents from happening as much as possible.
“Yes!”
The Black and White Rakshasa clasped their hands.
Although they had only joined the sect not long ago, they had already integrated themselves into their roles as protectors.
It was precisely because he had these two sworn elder brothers that Jun Changxiao had the confidence and dared to capture the powerful experts sent by the Starry Sky Fortress.
However, the strength of two people was ultimately limited. If the other side dispatched more powerful experts, then he would truly have to endure being bullied by others.
…
The Eternal Sect once again entered peaceful mode, with disciples continuing to immerse themselves in cultivation, unable to extricate themselves.
The Starry Sky Fortress and the failed purchase of the incomplete scroll had actually inspired Jun Changxiao. For once, he focused his thoughts on cultivation and began seriously considering his subsequent plans.
He was already the strongest existence below the Nine Emperors on the Xingyun Continent, but after coming into contact with higher levels, he instead felt increasingly insecure.
“Where’s the problem?” Jun Changxiao thought to himself.
The System said, “It lies in the defensive system.”
“How so?”
“When the host first transmigrated here, although your realm wasn’t high, no matter how recklessly you courted death, you would always turn danger into safety. Do you know why?”
“Because of the Knife of Difficult Reception?”
“Not so.”
“Then what’s your explanation?”
“Because the host had the sect protection grand formation. As long as you didn’t provoke crushing-level forces, it could always protect yourself and the sect disciples.”
“Makes sense.”
Jun Changxiao expressed agreement.
In the early period, he had been so wild, yet the Knife of Difficult Reception played only a limited role. More often, he relied on the sect protection formation to safeguard the sect. Even if he provoked big trouble, he could remain calm and composed—at worst, he’d just be a cowardly turtle and not come out.
The System continued, “With the host’s current strength, even if you can’t defeat the Starry Sky Fortress, you can still protect yourself. But what about the sect? What about the Xingyun Continent?”
Hearing the System put it this way, Jun Changxiao suddenly had an epiphany.
The gradually rising feeling of insecurity wasn’t because of himself, but because of the sect and the Xingyun Continent!
The System said, “The host is only one small step away from touching the highest realm of the mortal plane. From now on, the enemies you encounter will all be heaven-destroying and earth-annihilating types, so with the slightest carelessness, you’ll cause the sect and the plane to be destroyed.”
“…”
Jun Changxiao fell silent.
Previously, he could fight with any sect, but ultimately it was just minor squabbles.
Even going to the Plane Battlefield, he relied on cheating. If something went wrong, he could escape, without needing the sect and Xingyun Continent to bear any consequences.
However, the Starry Sky Fortress existed in the cosmic starry sky, unrestricted by Upper Realm limitations. They could come to his home turf at any time and bring fatal destruction, so invisibly this brought pressure and gave rise to feelings of insecurity.
“What should I do to break through this?” Jun Changxiao murmured.
“Very simple.”
The System said, “Open the high-tier shop, refresh the items inside. Perhaps you can refresh a higher-grade sect protection grand formation, or perhaps… a formation that protects the entire plane!”
When all was said and done, it was still about sales pitches!
However, this time Jun Changxiao didn’t roar or show disdain, but instead fell into deep thought.
The System was right.
The feeling of insecurity came from the sect and the continent. After all, one was the family he valued most, and the other related to the main storyline quest. Even if he himself could encounter danger, his home and foundation had to be safe and worry-free.
To put it bluntly, Jun Changxiao could stylishly court death outside, but he wouldn’t allow his base to be inexplicably stolen by others.
He had to plan. He had to strengthen!
The System said seriously, “You must choose the best defensive formation, build the defensive system with the highest safety coefficient. Crystal towers, high ground towers, second towers, first towers—install everything that can be installed. You tell me, how many contribution points would this set cost?”
“One hundred thousand?”
“That’s just the cost! Don’t think it’s expensive, and there’s no discount!”
“…”
“A protagonist willing to fork out a hundred thousand contribution points absolutely won’t care about spending another hundred thousand!”
“Get lost, get lost, get lost!”
Jun Changxiao said irritably, “Don’t give me that nonsense.”
After some deep thought, he still didn’t open the high-tier shop. Mainly because he only had a few tens of thousands of contribution points, and formation-type items had almost never appeared. Relying on luck to refresh would easily bankrupt him.
“I’m now infinitely close to being a Wudi-level expert. If I run to the shop whenever I encounter tricky matters, that would be really pathetic. So… I must use my own wisdom to resolve everything!”
“This!”
“Is what a true expert should look like!”
Jun Changxiao held his head high and chest out as he took out the original copy of the Thirty-Two Strange Gate Formations.
Isn’t it just formations? This secret manual modified by a great expert definitely has higher-grade ones. There’s completely no need to rely on the shop—he could still strengthen his base defense.
“Damn!”
The System said, “This thing was bought from the shop anyway. If you have the guts, throw it away and don’t use it!”
“Get lost.”
Jun Changxiao cursed, then directly opened to the most prestigious Super Grade section. The various formations listed above immediately made him feel somewhat dazzled.
“No good, no good.”
“I still need to find Old Zhen and Xinyao.”
Because he adhered to the principle of not letting special talents freeload in the sect, Jun Changxiao had given the qualification liquid to Old Zhen. So aside from being very strong in martial dao and sword dao aspects, he wasn’t particularly outstanding in other areas.
Being an all-around expert was very simple—it was just that Dog Leftover wasn’t willing. After all, developing the sect was already exhausting enough. If he also had to juggle pill dao, medicine dao, formation dao and other miscellaneous professions, he’d truly have to stay busy from dawn to dusk, from birth to death.
…
Formation Hall.
Zhen Dejun’s mouth fell open.
Shangguan Xinyao’s bright eyes revealed disbelief.
“Is there a problem?” Jun Changxiao said.
Zhen Dejun’s mouth twitched as he said, “Sect Leader, exactly what reason could make you suddenly develop such a tremendous idea to create a formation covering the Xingyun Continent!”
“Just give me a straight answer whether it’s possible or not.”
“Not possible!”
Zhen Dejun and Shangguan Xinyao spoke decisively and in unison.