Jun Changxiao didn’t know why Yun He threw the fight, why he willingly let himself be imprisoned on the ninth floor of hell to act. But at least all Twelve Patrol Envoys had been dealt with—only the Fortress Lord remained.

“Strange.”

“I’ve captured all his subordinates, yet why hasn’t he taken any action?”

On the journey to the fortress, Jun Changxiao kept pondering.

Chen Envoy suddenly finding him proved the other party had received the news. Yet the true leader never appeared—this couldn’t help but raise suspicion.

However, Dog Leftover didn’t know that the Fortress Lord was currently overwhelmed and had a splitting headache. Because the prisoner sent by the upper realm wasn’t behaving at all—in fact, spending all day seeking death.

“Ahhh!”

“Let me die!”

“Boom! Boom!”

On the ninth floor of hell, the tattooed man repeatedly bashed his forehead against the defensive barrier, bleeding profusely. Yet not only did he not die, the more he bashed, the more spirited he became.

“Gulp!”

He took out super-strong poison and swallowed it. The result was it expelled from his body as flatulence—his whole person completely fine.

He possessed the Reincarnation Spirit. Death meant rebirth, and he’d even become stronger than before. This seemed extremely heaven-defying, but it also had a fatal weakness—wanting to die was very difficult.

That being the case, wasn’t living fine?

Living was of course fine, but without dying, his realm would be forever limited to a certain bottleneck, until his lifespan was exhausted and he’d completely lose the chance to reincarnate.

Throughout the tattooed man’s life, whenever he reached a realm bottleneck, he would seek death. After dying and reviving, he’d break through to a higher realm, then continue seeking death. The entire process was: death, resurrection, becoming stronger, death… over and over again.

Before someone like this, Jun Changxiao wasn’t worth mentioning—because this person truly sought death and truly dared to die!

“…”

The Fortress Lord was speechless.

Did the upper realm send him a psychopath? Spending all day seeking death like a resentful woman?

The more it was like this, the less he dared to relax his vigilance, fearing the other party would accidentally break through the formation barrier and escape.

Previously, he had absolute confidence in the fortress’s defensive system, but after that jailbreak incident, he began to take this problem seriously.

Because of this oddball tattooed man, the Fortress Lord put all his attention inside the ninth floor of hell, which allowed Jun Changxiao to smoothly capture the Twelve Patrol Envoys.

…

In the starry void, the Tonggu Battleship sped along at extreme velocity.

Jun Changxiao pondered how to resolve the Starry Sky Fortress while researching the Heaven-Seizing Earth-Creating Grand Formation.

Having reached the Formation Emperor level allowed him higher comprehension in the formation dao. But this formation left by Old Man Taixuan was extremely formidable—to completely set it up would probably require some time.

Moreover.

Could it bring an entire sect to ascension!

With Empress Ling Yao as precedent, it could be confirmed the formation could force ascension. But Jun Changxiao not only wanted to go up—he wanted to bring his whole family!

The system said, “If it doesn’t work, just modify it—modify it into the kind that can bring a whole sect to ascension.”

“…”

Jun Changxiao rolled his eyes.

This was typical of having no physical form—speaking without any back pain whatsoever.

“Of course.”

The system said, “After the system upgraded to the upper realm version, all aspects have improved. If the host really can’t find a method for ascension, you can seek help from the high-tier store—it’s always full of unknowns, full of surprises.”

“Can you materialize so I can kick you once?”

“You can’t beat me.”

This sentence was the most heart-piercing. It stabbed Jun Changxiao so badly that even upon entering the Starry Sky Fortress area, his face still looked dejected.

Unable to confirm the Fortress Lord’s strength, Dog Leftover didn’t brazenly provoke him. So he still relied on exquisite disguise techniques to infiltrate the city.

He first went to the underground market and bought a lot more medicinal materials, then sat by a window on the first floor of a hotel.

In this world, the easiest place to get information was in the mixed crowd of a hotel dining hall—because there was bound to be a big mouth.

Sure enough.

A martial artist drank a bowl of wine and spoke up, “That streak of flowing light that suddenly flashed through the starry sky some time ago—did you all see it?”

“Of course we saw it!” A lackey sitting nearby said, “Brother Tong, what exactly was that thing? Just seeing it from afar made one’s heart and spirit tremble?”

The martial artists sitting in the dining hall perked up their ears.

They’d all rushed to the Starry Sky Fortress recently to purchase supplies. On the road, almost all had witnessed that streak of flowing light seemingly flying in from the void.

However, seeing everyone was very curious, the drinking man smugly began playing coy.

“Clink clank.”

Just then, several high-grade spirit stones landed before him, accompanied by a gentle and refined voice, “Brother, this meal is on me.”

Everyone turned to look and saw a scholar sitting by the window. If he hadn’t suddenly spoken up, they’d almost have treated him as air.

“Generous enough!”

That person grinned broadly, then stuffed the spirit stones in his pocket before speaking, “As far as I know, back when the Starry Sky Fortress hadn’t changed its name yet, almost every interval of time there would be flowing light appearing.”

“Why is that?”

Everyone asked in unison.

“Because…” That person paused, his expression grave, “Whenever flowing light appears from the void, it must come from the upper realm!”

The various martial artists’ eyes immediately widened.

“Could the rumors be true?” A nearby elderly man said in shock, “The ninth floor of hell is used to imprison upper realm criminals?”

“Correct!”

That person slammed the table, “The flowing light that flew out from the void earlier is very likely an upper realm criminal, currently perhaps imprisoned in the ninth floor of hell of what’s now called the Starry Sky Fortress!”

“Really?”

“This is somewhat unbelievable!”

“Upper realm criminals are definitely upper realm people too. Can our mortal universe really hold them?”

As everyone discussed in disbelief, no one noticed that the weak-looking scholar who’d disguised himself as Jun Changxiao had already left the tavern, then headed toward the region where the ninth floor of hell was located.

Upper realm criminal?

I need to go in and see for myself.

Since Jun Changxiao could get out, he could definitely get in. So arriving at the approximate upper layer position of the ninth floor of hell, he began communing with the formation barrier, then smoothly merged into the first floor of hell—simpler than returning to his own home.

“Who?!”

“Me!”

“Holy crap, that guy’s back again!”

The prisoners on the first floor of hell heard the familiar voice and were instantly dumbfounded.

Jun Changxiao mainly wanted to see the prisoner from the upper realm, so he didn’t bicker with them. After confirming this floor didn’t have one, he continued merging into the second floor, third floor… until standing on the eighth floor without finding anyone, he guessed, “Imprisoned on the ninth floor?”

“…”

The system said helplessly, “Only the last floor remains—is there even a need to guess?”

“If imprisoned on the ninth floor, that means the other party is extremely dangerous. If I lead him in another jailbreak, will it anger the Fortress Lord to death?” Jun Changxiao thought privately.

“Whoosh!”

While thinking, he’d already merged with the formation barrier.

Still the familiar smell, still the familiar environment.

However, just as Jun Changxiao appeared, the surrounding lights suddenly all turned on, stabbing at him so he instinctively closed his eyes. A cold and severe voice reached his ears, “Boy, who exactly are you, to be able to enter the ninth floor from the first floor?”

After Dog Leftover adapted to the strong light, he discovered the brightest spot held a masked person, their entire body emanating quite powerful aura.

Judging from the attire, definitely not a prisoner!

“You are?”

“The Fortress Lord.”

In an instant, Jun Changxiao feigned confusion as he looked around, “Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?”

The system sharply retorted, “You’re Dog Leftover, you’re on the ninth floor of hell, you’re preparing to lead prisoners in another jailbreak, then got caught red-handed by the actual boss!”

—