Chapter 66: The Escape

Jun Tang’s expression remained composed, even carrying a faint smile.

Beside him, Bian Qi stood silently. Over time, he had come to understand Jun Tang’s temperament—this man, though appearing deep and unfathomable, was in truth merely putting on an act. The smallest of provocations could send him into a rage. But now, he was smiling. That meant only one thing—he was planning something.

From the moment their warship was captured by the Old General, every one of Jun Tang’s actions had been governed by an unspoken premise. And now, as his lips curled into that subtle smile, Bian Qi sensed that the awaited moment had arrived.

On the glowing screen before them, the Silver Radiance Empire’s succession ceremony commenced.

Bian Qi’s eyes widened. This was his first time witnessing civilization beyond Blue Star.

It was as the people of Blue Star had once imagined—grand, resplendent, a true testament to technological prowess. Yet there was something beyond their expectations—a fusion of cultivation and technology. The capital was alight with celebration, cosmic warships lined up in breathtaking formation, and countless cultivators soared into the skies, conducting rituals of mystical grandeur. Enormous beasts, their wings blotting out the sun, glided gracefully above the gathered masses.

Bian Qi found himself utterly captivated.

This was the first alien civilization he had ever seen.

Humans cannot conceive of a world devoid of humanity, for their very perception is bound by the limitations of their own existence. As long as people existed, their societies—no matter how distant or exalted—could be imagined and understood.

And so, even as awe filled Bian Qi’s heart, it quickly subsided, and his gaze locked onto the regal figure at the center of the ceremony—Empress Jun Hua.

Jun Tang and Jun Hua—siblings by blood.

Yet they could not have been more different.

Where Jun Tang was shadowed and brooding, Jun Hua radiated a striking brilliance. She was not only beautiful, but exuded an air of nobility, a chill like the snowcapped peaks, tempered by a fire hidden deep within. Her smile was sincere, her eyes reflecting both the icy stillness of a mountain’s summit and the searing passion of a raging inferno—an impossible duality that made her captivating beyond measure.

With a retinue of loyal followers, she ascended the grand imperial dais toward the highest throne in the empire.

Jun Tang’s eyes never left the glowing screen, his fists slowly clenching. The smile at his lips deepened.

At the very moment Jun Hua was about to take the imperial seat—

The man standing behind her, until then utterly silent, suddenly struck.

With a single palm, he struck the back of her head. The force of the blow distorted the very fabric of the image on the screen. The empire trembled.

Jun Tang took an involuntary step forward, his breath quickening.

Chaos erupted in the imperial capital. Yet no one dared to move against the attacker.

The grand succession ceremony ground to a halt. Every eye was locked on the unfolding scene, blank with shock.

All except for that lone man, who now gazed at his own hand in disbelief.

His strike had failed.

“You are not Jun Hua.”

The woman who had taken the blow slowly turned. As she did, her features shifted and changed—revealing a different face.

“Yu Dong.” The man spat the name through clenched teeth.

The woman—Yu Dong—locked eyes with him. “Xuan, as the War God of the empire, are you not supposed to be neutral?”

Xuan exhaled deeply, shaking his head with a bitter smile. “Circumstances dictated my hand… I underestimated Jun Hua. And I underestimated you, Yu Dong.”

The screen abruptly went dark.

Jun Tang stood frozen in place.

Failure. He had failed.

He had spent years planning this—years manipulating Xuan, ensuring the War God would remain neutral, waiting for this precise moment when Jun Hua took the throne. If she died now, he would be Silver Radiance’s undisputed ruler.

Everything he had done up until now—all the running, all the maneuvering—was a calculated ploy to force the Old General into using his one intervention. And yet…

He had lost.

Outside the mining camp, all was chaos. In the distance, small warships took to the skies, unleashing a barrage of fire upon the mines.

Bian Qi seized Jun Tang’s arm. “My lord, we must go! There will be other chances!”

Jun Tang’s rage flared. “Why?! Why did I fail?!”

Bian Qi tightened his grip. “My lord, we’ve been deceived. The shackles on us are unbreakable. The mines belong to her.”

Jun Tang was forcibly dragged away.

Then, as though recalling something, he scanned the battlefield. “Where is that man? Kill him!”

Bian Qi had been searching too—but somehow, Wang Jie had already vanished.

“There will be time,” Bian Qi assured him. “We will kill him later. But we must escape now.”

Jun Tang gritted his teeth, unwilling—but he had no choice but to flee.

Then—

A shadow appeared in his path.

It was Wang Jie.

Jun Tang stared in stunned disbelief. When had he—?!

A single finger thrust forward.

Ninety-ninefold power. Qi and Strength as One—

Heaven and Earth Luo Xuan Finger.

One strike. It pierced through Jun Tang’s throat. Blood splattered across Bian Qi’s face. He watched, frozen, as Jun Tang’s body convulsed, his pupils dilating, the light within them fading.

Wang Jie turned without hesitation, vanishing into the distance. His Armor Eight Steps blurred his figure into a mere afterimage, his speed surpassing the eye’s ability to track.

“My lord—!” Bian Qi cried out, catching Jun Tang’s collapsing form. Jun Tang struggled to speak, unwilling to accept his fate. But death had already claimed him.

A colossal energy blast struck ahead. Bian Qi abandoned the body and leaped aside in desperation.

But the shackles still bound him. Even with the power of a Star-Breaking Realm cultivator, he was helpless.

Wang Jie, however, was free. He had broken his shackles. His speed was unparalleled.

Behind him, bombardments rained down, consuming the entire mining camp in fire and ruin. The screams of countless enslaved miners filled the air as they perished in the destruction. Even Bian Qi could not escape his fate.

Wang Jie did not look back. His path was set. He rushed toward his destination.

At last, he arrived—a sleek, compact spaceship stood before him. Far more refined than the one he had arrived in.

Fortunately, he had learned how to pilot a ship. Otherwise, all of this would have been for nothing.

The Old General had ordered him to kill Jun Tang. And he had done so.

But not for the Old General.

For himself.

Jun Tang had wanted him dead. If given the chance, he would never have hesitated.

So Wang Jie had simply struck first.

Wang Jie knew without a doubt—Jun Tang had stepped into the Star-Breaking Realm. In a direct confrontation, victory was uncertain. The only path forward was to strike first and eliminate him.

As for what he might gain from the Old General after slaying Jun Tang, Wang Jie had not wasted a single thought. To slay a prince of the Silver Radiance Empire was already a death sentence. If he was not publicly executed, that would be fortune enough—who would dare dream of a reward? The best he could hope for was to be silenced swiftly.

His only road to survival was to escape on his own.

For some time, he had already pinpointed the coordinates of a cosmic vessel and determined through Qi Observation that there was no worthy opponent at the mine—not even a single Star-Breaking Realm cultivator. There were, however, numerous battleships, and he needed only to evade their bombardment to make his escape.

Faster. Faster!

Wang Jie’s hands moved fluidly over the controls, his years of experience guiding him. The ship trembled, then lifted off, ascending into the boundless cosmos.

The fleet’s bombardment never reached his position. From their towering warships, the soldiers could only watch helplessly as his ship vanished into the vast starry sea.

Only when the mineral planet shrank into a mere speck behind him did Wang Jie exhale in relief.

[Seems I’m not as weak as I thought.]

During the Armor One Sect Trial, there had been countless monstrous talents—warriors capable of shattering stars with mere pebbles. Compared to them, he had lost all confidence in his own abilities. But here, within the Silver Radiance Empire, the Star-Breaking Realm was rare. In this land, he could walk unchallenged.

Yet before he had even traveled far, a voice crackled in his ear—the device had remained on him this entire time.

“Come back and claim your reward.”

Wang Jie’s eyes remained fixed on the cosmic map, plotting his next destination.

A reward? More like an execution.

“What is it you fear?” the voice pressed again.

He remained impassive.

“Watch the news.”

Wang Jie frowned. He was adept at piloting, but navigating the ship’s systems was another matter entirely. With some guidance from the voice, he managed to activate the external feed.

The most shocking news blazed across the screen—Jun Hua had been assassinated. And the assassin? None other than Xuan, the War God of the empire, a Full Star Realm powerhouse who had long reigned as the strongest warrior of the Silver Radiance Empire.

Yet Xuan had been captured.

The second piece of news was about himself.

It showed the moment he killed Jun Tang—but his face had been altered, replaced with that of another man. Then, in the very next sequence, he himself was destroyed, his body obliterated into fragments by an explosion. A lie. An illusion crafted for the world to see.

The empire had declared him dead.

“Do you see now?” the voice murmured. “We will do nothing to you. Jun Tang’s life was untouchable, yet you slew him. A price had to be paid. The world demanded an explanation—and we have already given it. You are dead.”

“This is a set of coordinates. Come.”

Wang Jie understood now—this had been a grand trap from the very beginning.

Jun Hua had lured Jun Tang into danger, using Xuan as an assassin. Meanwhile, on this side, Wang Jie had been manipulated into killing Jun Tang, ensuring that all hidden threats were eradicated.

But how had they predicted he would kill Jun Tang?

First, in the mine, he had deeply offended Jun Tang. A man of such temperament would never let such an insult slide.

Second, the Old General’s voice.

If his instincts were correct, even that voice had been a fabrication. They had known he was familiar with it and had deliberately imitated it to deceive him.

Jun Tang had spoken true—the Old General had long ceased to intervene in these matters. He would never have involved himself in such intricate schemes.

And that woman—the one whose expression remained cool, whose smile seemed so genuine—who would have thought she harbored such depth in her schemes?

If this was the game they played, then he could never return.

The chance of being silenced forever was too high.

Without hesitation, Wang Jie tore the earpiece from his ear and crushed it in his palm. His gaze fixed ahead—on his escape.

But trouble came swiftly.

The ship’s fuel reserves were dwindling.

Annoying.

He searched hastily and found only one viable place to land—a world known as Ring Star.

A world of advanced technology, far surpassing Blue Star. It had designated docking areas for cosmic vessels.

Wang Jie, of course, would never land in any of those. He piloted his ship into the vast ocean, allowing the waves to swallow it before making his departure.

The crash did not go unnoticed—Ring Star’s security forces immediately launched an investigation.

The Silver Radiance Empire would undoubtedly track his movements. Whether or not they found the ship was irrelevant—his priority was hiding himself.

As expected, within a mere hour, broadcasts echoed across the planet—a hunt for an interstellar fugitive had begun.

Had he not covered his face, even the endless ocean would not have hidden him.

But by then, Wang Jie had already stepped into the city—a city of gleaming towers and light, leagues beyond the technology of Blue Star.

He concealed himself.

The next day, the search was called off.

Instead, across Ring Star, every screen played a movie. A tale of an interstellar pirate, hunted down and captured with ease.

Wang Jie watched in silence.

This was a message.

No matter where he hid, they would find him.

Even after all he had learned from Jun Tang, he still lacked knowledge of their methods.

His location had likely already been determined.

All they needed was a single Star-Breaking Realm cultivator to act, and his fate would be sealed. Yet… they had chosen not to.

Wang Jie stepped from the shadows, heading toward the ship port.

A vessel awaited him there.

He boarded without hesitation. The ship surged skyward, piercing into the vast cosmos once more.

The hunt was far from over.

This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation

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