Chapter 6

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Zhang Dongyun’s expression changed slightly.

He reckoned that it was about one second between each jump in the numbers.

If that’s really the case, this string of numbers…

Is it a countdown?

Zhang Dongyun’s expression became serious.

What is the countdown for?

[The system’s initial invincibility period is one year or 31,536,000 seconds.

When the Fortress Lord is in the fortress, the countdown will start automatically.

When the Fortress Lord is outside the fortress, the countdown will temporarily stop until you return to the fortress. The countdown will then start again.]

Zhang Dongyun wanted to curse.

This isn’t close to what I designed in the first place…

All of a sudden, his gaze flashed as he had thought of something.

Fragments…

This Impenetrable Fortress is the product of the combination of the core fragment of the immortal ruins and the Impenetrable Fortress System.

A fragment means that it is incomplete.

Is this why there’s a time limit to the system’s invincibility?

“How can I extend the time of invincibility?” Zhang Dongyun asked the system.

[You can extend the time of invincibility by combining the other fragments of the immortal ruins.

After you collect and restore all the fragments, there will no longer be a time limit.]

After hearing the system’s answer, Zhang Dongyun had some thoughts.

The immortal ruins disintegrated and shattered before scattering.

Evil Emperor Ming Tonghui obtained the most core piece of the fragments.

Among the other people in the immortal ruins, both the enemies and I had our share of success.

Due to the chaotic situation, Ming Tonghui couldn’t be sure of the whereabouts of each fragment.

But some of the sworn siblings among the Twelve Tyrants seem to have gained something.

Nobody knows where everyone is now.

It’s hard to say whether they are friends or foes…

Zhang Dongyun sighed slightly.

Based on the Evil Emperor’s memories, there were a lot of doubtful points during the incident in the immortal ruins.

The Twelve Tyrants’ visit to the immortal ruins should have been a secret, but numerous enemies had rushed over and besieged them.

At that time, Evil Emperor Ming Tonghui sensed something wrong with someone.

It was his tenth brother, ‘Heavenly Wolf’ Yang Li.

Unfortunately, he had not been able to capture Yang Li due to the chaotic situation.

To make matters worse, there had been more than one traitor, or there would not have been such a terrible outcome afterward.

Amid the thick mist, it had been hard to tell who was loyal and who was a traitor apart from Yang Li, who had revealed a flaw.

Just like Evil Emperor Ming Tonghui, the other eleven people, including Yang Li, scattered in all directions, and they had either concealed or changed their identities.

Regardless of who was loyal and who was a traitor, it would be a challenge to find where each of them was now.

Zhang Dongyun smiled bitterly.

Is it that hard to be a homebody Fortress Lord?

Since the time limit isn’t over yet, I should expand the scope of the fortress.

Although it’s hard to find ten thousand people, I still have to solve this problem first before I can get new construction quests.

In that case, where do I find so many people to fill my fortress?

Zhang Dongyun scanned the current geography of Chang’an Fortress.

The fortress was deep in the mountains and old forests in Dragon Ridge and deserted.

Apart from a small number of mountain inhabitants, there were few ordinary commoners. Instead, many cultivators went into the mountains to search for treasures.

The White Cloud Abyss, a ferocious place in Dragon Ridge, was extremely barren and rarely produced natural treasures, so even cultivators stayed away from it, not to mention ordinary people.

Chang’an Fortress was in the White Cloud Abyss of Dragon Ridge.

It was not an optimistic place due to its unfavorable natural environment!

Zhang Dongyun sighed.

It was hard for the commoners to leave their home, and they might not necessarily want to move here.

Even if they were willing to move, the road was an enormous problem, as Chang’an Fortress was deep in a dense forest of Dragon Ridge.

Even if he could fool… draw commoners to cross mountain after mountain to come here, their rulers would not be willing.

Fortress Lord Zhang had no way to get commoners, as they were too far away from the fortress and mountains.

He could let himself loose however he wanted in the fortress, but when he was out of the fortress, that would be another matter.

It might be a good idea to first make a name for myself and the fortress before using powerful connections to intimidate people and put on an empty show outside.

But there was no guarantee that he would not run into people like Senior Brother Cao again.

Fortress Lord Zhang still needed to improve his own true cultivation.

This would also facilitate secrecy and make it difficult for others to fathom the truth about the Impenetrable Fortress, which would also prevent enemies from besieging the fortress without fighting or retreating.

Although Fortress Lord Zhang would have no survival or safety issues as long as he remained in the fortress, would that not be the same as being in jail?

Being happy to stay at home was different from being locked up.

Besides, Zhang Dongyun was quite interested in the cultivation in this fantasy world.

This Impenetrable Fortress, as a cultivation ground, had an even more superior environment.

With the Impenetrable Fortress System in place, although he could not directly raise his cultivation realm in Chang’an Fortress, he could greatly gather the rich spiritual energy to help in his cultivation.

His current body was the spirit jade fetus that the Evil Emperor had collected from the creation of the world.

If he used it to practice martial arts, his connate roots would be far superior to normal people.

Among the various cultivation formulations, a Martial Dao cultivator’s power belonged to themselves, and the power of their blood would repel supernatural beings.

It was advantageous to have a strong killing intent and fierce real combat abilities, but there were also some disadvantages when power was condensed in the blood and physical body.

For example, it would be hard to reincarnate and recultivate.

When the Evil Emperor had prepared the spirit jade fetus, it was because his cultivation realm was high enough that his Dao was unified and had gradually started to exceed the boundaries. On the other hand, he had also benefited from the core fragment of the immortal ruins.

If he wanted to raise his true cultivation realm as soon as possible, it would be best to go on this path.

As for the martial arts manuals, there was the Evil Emperor Sutra that Evil Emperor Ming Tonghui relied on to dominate the world and other canonical texts that he had collected and recorded.

Thanks to the Evil Emperor’s experience and memories, the transmigrator Fortress Lord Zhang did not need to worry about his cultivation being fruitless.

At the same time, he could use the power of the Impenetrable Fortress to parse the profound manuals so that it would be simple and easy to understand.

He could even further improve based on the foundation that the Evil Emperor had learned.

However, he only had one year, so it was hard to say what cultivation realm he would be able to reach.

Right now, he needed to speed up alongside a multi-pronged approach…

As Zhang Dongyun pondered, he arrived before the old bloody shadow demon.

The blood-red figure was covered in smoke, and it was on the brink of death.

Upon seeing Zhang Dongyun, the old demon said with difficulty, “Please spare me, Your Majesty…”

Zhang Dongyun looked indifferent. “Compared to your disloyalty, I detest your stupidity even more.”

“Please spare me, Your Majesty…” The bloody shadow hurriedly said, “I did not cultivate properly and suffered from Qi deviation, so I lost my mind and acted rudely. It was not what I wanted. I hope Your Majesty will spare me.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Zhang Dongyun replied faintly.

The smoke on the bloody shadow then vanished.

“Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty! Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!” the bloody shadow said repeatedly. “I will be careful with my words and pledge my loyalty to serve you, Your Majesty.”

It turned into a bloody light and flew back into the Blood Demon Ring on Zhang Dongyun’s finger.

“Go patrol outside the fortress. If anyone approaches, don’t kill them and bring them back to the fortress.”

Zhang Dongyun took off the Blood Demon Ring and threw it into the air.

A bloody glow flashed on the ring. “I will obey Your Majesty’s order. I will go immediately.”

While being surrounded by the blood-red flare, the Blood Demon Ring flew out of Chang’an Fortress.

Even though Zhang Dongyun did not add a restriction on the ring, the old bloody shadow demon did not have any thoughts of betrayal and would follow his orders honestly.

The recovery of its previous injuries had been too short-lived.

Zhang Dongyun did not heal it this time, so the old bloody shadow demon still had serious injuries and was in a state of severe weakness.

But due to its previous recovery, it had some thoughts. It only hoped that after it faithfully obeyed the orders, His Majesty would grant him grace and heal him.

Zhang Dongyun nodded slightly as he watched the bloody light leave.

Because the Evil Emperor had refined the core of the immortal ruins, which later became Chang’an Fortress, it had caused a tremendous commotion.

It was possible that the outside world had noticed, and perhaps people would have thoughts to seek it.

Fortress Lord Zhang wished for that to happen.

Going out of the fortress to find people might be difficult for now.

But if people wanted to come into the fortress, Zhang Dongyun would call the shots in it.

If he could recruit a few suitable people to run errands for him, perhaps he would be able to complete the system’s quest without leaving the fortress.

It would be even better if he could boss people around and send them to search for the fragments of the immortal ruins to extend the time of invincibility.

Right now, there were only a few people in the fortress, so he would try them out for errands first.

It seemed that he was right about inheriting the Evil Emperor’s status and sparing the lives of the old bloody shadow demon and the others. They might be useful later on.

Zhang Dongyun arrived at the side of the blood river.