Chapter 019

Chapter 19: Cultivation Methods

Outside the bustling restaurant in Upper Capital City, a crowd had gathered, all stunned by the sight inside. A woman in a red qipao, her figure graceful and alluring, was devouring food without a care, completely ignoring her image.

“Isn’t that Tang Jie? One of the Five Extremes, known as ‘Tang Jie, the sea-blooming crabapple that outshines the pear blossoms.'”

“?? Isn’t that the wrong order?”

Boom!

The restaurant shook. The woman, her long, snow-white legs perched on the chair, glanced up. Her sharp, handsome features caught the crowd’s attention as she spoke, “It’s not wrong.”

The crowd fell silent, unsure of how to respond. At that moment, a buzzing sound broke the stillness.

Bzzz~~ Bzzz~~

“Hello, what’s up?”

“Tang Jie, where are you? The Bai family invites you to attend Bai Xiao’s birthday party. It’s less than half a month until her twentieth birthday.”

“How can you hold a birthday party when tactician and Bu Qiao are dead, and Zuo Tian, that bastard, is scheming for power? Soon, humans will become battle slaves. What’s the point of a birthday party now?”

“So, will you go?”

“Of course. I’m going to make that daughter slave, Bai Yuan, bankrupt.”

“What about the gift?”

“Cat food.”

“Huh??”

…

In the southernmost base of Hua Xia, at the South Base, the elegant room facing the ocean was a sharp contrast to the scene within. A young man, wine glass in hand, was savoring the red liquid while his greedy gaze lingered on the woman on the bed.

“Beauty, we can begin the attack now,” he said, raising the glass, slowly pouring the wine onto her body.

The wine dripped over her graceful figure, trailing down her thigh to her toes. His intense gaze burned with desire, and he lunged toward her, only to be met by the sound of soft, bell-like laughter that filled the room.

Suddenly, a voice came from outside the door.

“Patriarch, the Bai family in Upper Capital City has invited you to attend Bai Xiao’s twentieth birthday party.”

The man’s face darkened. “Get lost. Talk to me later.”

But before the words had left his lips, an unstoppable force struck him, sending him crashing into the wall. Blood splattered across the room as he slid to the ground. Struggling to raise his head, he saw a pair of delicate feet stepping into the blood pool, a voice sweet and seductive in his ear.

“When did it become your turn to command me?” she asked, lifting her foot. The last thing the man saw was her blood-stained white sole.

With a single step, she crushed his skull, and a group of men and women entered the room. Without a word, they disposed of the body, draping a thin veil over the woman.

She walked to the window, letting the sea breeze blow through her hair. “Where’s Young Miss?”

“She has already returned from Golden Hill Base. She offended someone named Wang Jie, a guide, who is currently number one on the bounty list. Hong Jian has already removed him.”

A smile crept across the woman’s face. “Wang Jie?”

“Have Young Miss meet with her old friends in Upper Capital City in a few days. I’ll go later.”

“Understood.”

…

Several days later, Wang Jie’s pack had grown larger. Wen Zhao once again offered to carry it, but Wang Jie refused for the second time. When he asked to borrow the snow steed, Wen Zhao declined as well.

The snow steed, however, refused to get close to Wang Jie. It seemed to sense something… this human is a freak.

“Can we head back now? How many seven-seal Cataclysm materials did you gather?” Wang Jie asked.

Wen Zhao replied, “Not many, but also not few.”

Wang Jie didn’t press further, and the two returned to Golden Hill Base.

Wen Zhao had intentionally changed his attire. While it wasn’t as out of place as before, his unique aura was still hard to conceal, especially with a thin veil on his face. Who, in the end of the world, wore something like that? Thus, they returned at night.

As soon as they arrived at the base, Hong Jian approached them.

“Bai Yuan has invited me to Upper Capital City for his daughter Bai Xiao’s twentieth birthday party.”

Wang Jie furrowed his brows. “You’re going? Doesn’t that mean all the other Three Gods and Five Extremes will be there as well?”

“That’s likely. But this isn’t just about the birthday party. It’s mainly for the Upper Capital City meeting. How many trial takers will attend, nobody knows. We can’t send too few experts from our side,” Hong Jian said, his tone laced with caution.

He glanced around the room and asked in a low voice, “Have you found out who the strongest among the first batch of trial takers is?”

Wang Jie didn’t know how to answer. The woman had claimed it was herself.

“She doesn’t know,” Hong Jian sighed. “Knowing the enemy and knowing oneself is the key to victory. Right now, we are transparent, but the other side is unfathomable.” He paused, then added, “By the way, the Leading Pillar Group has contacted you. They’re waiting for your reply.”

Wang Jie’s eyes lit up. He immediately followed Hong Jian to respond to the Leading Pillar Group.

The communication channels with the outside world were controlled by Hong Jian. This was one of the rare ways to reach major bases, as most communication lines had been destroyed by mutated plants and animals. Maintaining such a channel was no small feat. If it broke down, experts would have to venture into the wild to repair it, risking their lives in the process.

Compared to that, traveling from Golden Hill Base to Upper Capital City was much simpler. They simply modified a peace-time aircraft, making it smaller, faster, and more durable, covering it with mutated beast excrement to avoid detection.

“Hello?”

“Is this Wang Jie?”

“It’s me.”

After a short wait, Wang Jie heard a familiar voice. “Boss.”

Wang Jie closed his eyes, his face a mask of silence.

It was restored.

After two long years, since their failure, the brothers had either died or been injured. Now only four of them remained.

Finally, he had returned.

“Boss, I’m awake,” came the voice on the other end.

Wang Jie responded, his voice slightly hoarse, “It’s good to wake up.”

The voice on the other side grew louder. “Wang Jie, I’m telling you seriously, from now on, your best, richest, and most handsome brother is awake. From this moment, I’m watching. It’s 21:17, you’re rich now, very, very, very rich.”

“Did you hear me? Wang Jie, you’re very rich now.”

Wang Jie chuckled. “Alright, let me officially inform you, Qing Old Two, your boss is invincible now. Very, very, very strong, no one can stop me. You’re invincible.”

“Hahaha, boss, I remember you said the same thing two years ago.”

Wang Jie burst into laughter, the last breath of his buried anxieties escaping. “Today’s different from before. I’m planning to kill Zuo Tian.”

“When? Should we leave immediately?”

“Sure, Upper Capital City.”

“Got it.”

To reach Upper Capital City, they needed to use the aircraft from Golden Hill Base, a modified plane that was smaller, faster, and more durable, and easier to disguise. Its shape was sharp, resembling a triangle.

Wang Jie bid farewell to Four Eyes, leaving behind a considerable amount of Cataclysm materials, which made Four Eyes extremely happy. Then, with Old Five, Old Nine, and Wen Zhao, they set out for the Mysterious Lake. As for the snow steed, it was too large to bring along.

The vibration under their feet indicated the aircraft had lifted off, vanishing into the sky in an instant.

Hong Jian turned his gaze elsewhere, where Wang Jie had left a gift—Yan Si, the defeated one from Golden Hill.

Wang Jie and Wen Zhao had hunted mutated creatures for ten days, during which they had encountered Yan Si. Wang Jie captured him and brought him to the base, as this person posed a threat. If Hong Jian went to Upper Capital City, Yan Si was capable of taking control of Golden Hill Base.

This was because Feng Yu had ties to Yan Si.

Wang Jie had already informed Hong Jian of this. No matter what, Golden Hill was his birthplace, and he would protect it as much as possible. As for what Hong Jian gained from Yan Si, that was up to him.

Wen Zhao, on the other hand, was relatively kind-hearted.

He had never intended to kill Yan Si and had no plans to harm Golden Hill Base.

The aircraft flew smoothly through the night.

Wen Zhao sat calmly.

Old Five, curious, asked, “Do you trial takers come from a technological civilization?”

Wen Zhao glanced out the window. “No.”

“Then why aren’t you curious about this aircraft?”

“Because our method of travel is faster than this. It’s interstellar travel.”

“Isn’t that still a technological civilization?”

“It’s a cultivation method.”

Without interference, it would only take one hour to travel from Golden Hill to Upper Capital City by aircraft. The reason why the two bases rarely interacted was that frequent air travel routes would attract mutated beasts.

Therefore, inter-base flight routes were rarely used, and only those with captain-level authority could access them.

This journey was smooth.

Half an hour passed without incident.

Wang Jie decided to stretch.

When he heard the sound, his heart sank—he had forgotten that it was time for his exercises.

Although the aircraft was small, it was still big enough for him to stretch. So, in front of Wen Zhao, Old Five, Old Nine, and the Golden Hill Base pilot, Wang Jie began his routine.

“One, two, three, four. Two, two, three, four…”

The others stared at him, bewildered, as if their worldview had been shattered.

Wang Jie blushed. He didn’t want to do this either. If he had known, he would have waited one more day to leave.

He had done his exercises in the wild these past few days, but always in secret, behind Wen Zhao’s back.

Now, it felt like he had lost all dignity.

Old Five coughed awkwardly. “Uh, boss, when did you develop this hobby?”

Wang Jie calmly sat down. “It’s for physical training and to lose weight.”

Old Five blinked, unsure of how to respond, and looked helplessly at Old Nine.

Old Nine also coughed. “It’s good to release pressure.”

Wang Jie stayed calm. The more normal he was, the weirder they looked.

Wen Zhao suddenly said, “If you dare to break through, I’ll announce it to everyone.”

Wang Jie glanced at Wen Zhao. “I’m just doing some exercises.”

“You’re cultivating,” Wen Zhao said with certainty.

Wang Jie raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t absorbed any seal power.”

Wen Zhao replied, “Absorbing seal power is a low-level method. I don’t know where you learned that, and I can’t understand what you just did, but it feels like cultivation. So don’t try to break through, unless you’re willing to bear the wrath of everyone on Blue Star.”

Old Nine interjected, “Then what’s the high-level cultivation method?”

Old Five nodded. “Yeah, young lady, tell us.”

Wen Zhao glanced deeply at Wang Jie before turning away.

Wang Jie leaned back, his body slowly relaxing. Wen Zhao was right—he was indeed on the verge of a breakthrough. Whenever he wanted, he could achieve it, without needing to absorb outside energy or Cataclysm materials.

Eight seals.

After the breakthrough, the consumption of Heaven and Earth Luo Xuan Finger would likely decrease.

Soon, they spotted the massive structure in the distance, visible against the night sky. Like Golden Hill Base, Upper Capital City had tall walls built to keep out mutated beasts, though the area seemed much larger.

The aircraft circled once and then landed on the southwest corner of Upper Capital City.

Wang Jie and his group disembarked and reported their identities. Once confirmed they weren’t bounty criminals, they were allowed to enter—but not directly into the base. Instead, they had to wait in a designated area until notified by the higher-ups.

This was due to Wen Zhao’s status as a trial taker.