Chapter 040
Chapter 40: The Highest Priority Order
“Are you saying the people of Blue Star will be relocated to other planets?” Bai Yuan asked.
Wen Star Ru replied, “I’m not sure about the arrangements, but the list of those who will be sent to the interstellar battlefield and those who will become war slaves, you all will be included. This is the condition given by the sect before we came, in exchange for your full assistance.”
Bai Yuan exchanged a look with Wang Jie and nodded. “Alright, we will give our full support.”
Aside from helping these trial takers, the people of Blue Star had no other choice.
The once-hopeful notion of defeating all trial takers and ensuring Blue Star continued to be a trial ground had been completely dispelled after Shu Mu Night revealed his terrifying strength.
Even though Wang Jie believed he had various methods to assist, he dared not claim he could defeat Shu Mu Night before the bridge building. That was a gap in power at the level of control.
What was most despairing was that they couldn’t even see the bottom. And these trial takers still refused to reveal Shu Mu Night’s true identity, which made it even more hopeless.
However, Wang Jie hadn’t planned to place all his hopes on these trial takers. At the very least, he believed he was progressing faster than they were. His first task was still to strengthen himself.
The five major bases were to transport all the cataclysm materials to Tianfu Base so that the trial takers could maintain their peak combat strength.
Wang Jie was responsible for River City.
The previous strongest in River City, Bu Qiao, had died at the hands of a trial taker, and now there was no one in charge. The city was without a leader.
The aircraft soon disappeared into the Tianfu Base.
Wang Jie, accompanied by Qing Zheng, Old Five, and Old Nine, set off toward River City.
Wen Zhao stayed behind. After all, she was a trial taker. After Wen Star Ru arrived, they separated from Wang Jie.
“Boss, my dad said someone contacted the Leading Pillar group, asking them to send all the cataclysm materials to Tianfu Base for the trial takers,” Qing Zheng reported.
Old Five was displeased. “Those trial takers won’t even last one move against Shu Mu Night. What good will those materials do them?”
Wang Jie looked at Qing Zheng. “The cataclysm materials brought by the five major bases are enough. Don’t touch the ones from Leading Pillar group, tell Uncle Qing to leave them for me.”
Qing Zheng nodded.
Old Nine looked at Wang Jie. “Can Leading Pillar group withstand the pressure from the trial takers?”
Wang Jie was confident. “I can handle it.” He motioned for the pilot to open the door, and the power detector started sounding off. Mutated flying creatures were approaching.
In the distance, massive birds circled, their sharp claws heading toward the aircraft.
With a casual flick of his finger, Wang Jie unleashed a spiral qi force, like a wild wind sweeping in one direction, knocking all the birds out of the sky and staining the air with blood.
The thirty-twofold strength unleashed by the spiral qi force had surpassed the combat strength of the current mutated creatures on Blue Star.
If it had been during the Seven Seals period, he could have dealt with the moon plant on his own.
Currently, Blue Star hadn’t experienced the heaven stone metamorphosis with the arrival of the fourth batch of trial takers, which was also why they trusted Wen Star Ru. Otherwise, when Wen Star Ru and the others arrived, all mutated creatures should have undergone their metamorphosis that very night.
As they traveled toward River City, they were attacked three times, which was quite a lot.
From a distance, River City appeared like a giant lying in a sea of yellow sand, and at this moment, it was being ravaged by a beast tide.
Mutated beasts were everywhere, with the northern and eastern walls already breached. The mutated beasts rampaged within the city, leaving behind shattered corpses.
And Wang Jie’s group witnessed a shocking scene.
Countless ordinary people had formed a human wall, holding wooden planks, kitchen knives, and other makeshift weapons to shield a group of cultivators, sacrificing their lives to buy them time to launch their attacks.
Wang Jie felt a deep shock at this sight.
Since the apocalypse, he had been immersed in his hatred, blinded by rage. Assassinating Zuo Tian, acting as a guide, hiding his strength—he had rarely cared about the establishment of bases or the battles against mutated creatures, living in the shadow of his revenge. Now, with that hatred aside, he saw a different side of Hua Xia.
In desperate circumstances, many would flee, following the instinct for survival. But there were those whose will transcended everything. Every base’s establishment was accompanied by great sacrifice.
People like Bai Yuan, Tang Jie, and Hong Jian were always at the forefront. They might lack strategy, but they had courage.
The people of Hua Xia had an inherent stubbornness, an unyielding spirit that only grew stronger when faced with the greatest challenges.
Without hesitation, Wang Jie took action. His spiral qi force descended, crushing large swathes of mutated beasts.
Before the aircraft even landed, he leaped out, landing heavily on the city wall. He casually grabbed a stone and threw it, each stone like a cannonball, sweeping through the mutated beasts.
Old Five and the others, now at Eight Seals strength, also jumped down and entered the beast tide.
With Wang Jie’s help, the pressure on River City was greatly reduced.
Especially Wang Jie, who used the Heaven and Earth Luo Xuan Finger, shattering a thousand-meter radius of land outside the city, completely shocking everyone and pushing the beast tide back.
He stood on the city wall, watching as the beasts retreated, then turned his gaze to a corner where a group of cultivators was being protected by ordinary people. The ground was covered with layer upon layer of corpses.
As the beast tide receded, the ordinary people lost their strength, and many collapsed, the sharp stench of blood filling the air.
“Mother…”
“Grandfather…”
“Dad…”
A group of children ran from behind the cultivators, crying as they searched the blood-soaked ground for their family members.
Wang Jie gazed deeply at them, noticing how the children were protected at the innermost part, surrounded by the cultivators, with the children’s families on the outermost layers, creating a wall of protection. This scene left him speechless for a long time.
It was as if, in that moment, he truly saw the land that had given him life.
It was as if, in that moment, he felt the weight of responsibility.
“I’m Bu Dao, the Captain of River City’s defense. May I ask who you are, brother?”
Wang Jie turned his gaze back to Bu Dao, a typical River City native who looked weathered but with a firm gaze. “Wang Jie, from Tianfu Base.”
Bu Dao nodded. “So it’s you. Tianfu Base has already contacted us.”
“Then let’s prepare the cataclysm materials as soon as possible.”
Bu Dao gave a bitter smile. “We don’t have the final say in that. Four trial takers have taken control of the families of some cultivators in the city and are threatening us to obey their orders. So…”
Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed. “Such a thing has happened?”
“After my big brother died, River City has had no one in charge. Any trial taker can come and go freely. You should understand, no matter how many of us there are, we can’t trap a trial taker, let alone four. The leader is named Ming Zhao, a Nine Seals level trial taker, one of the third batch. We thought about risking it all, but they took a group of children,” Bu Dao said, his tone grim. “If we really turn against them, those children will die, and we’ll lose many people. Then we’ll have to face the beast tide again.”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but Wang Jie understood.
“Did they do nothing during the beast tide?”
“They didn’t care about our lives at all. All they wanted was the cataclysm materials.”
“Take me there. I’ll solve this.”
Bu Dao nodded and led Wang Jie into the city, but before they had gone far, they received a report that the four trial takers had fled, taking some of the cataclysm materials but leaving most behind.
“What about the children?” Bu Dao asked immediately.
The cultivator who reported answered, “The children are fine.”
Bu Dao breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
Wang Jie looked at the cultivator. “Which direction did they go?”
“To the west.”
“Prepare the vehicle. I’ll go after them.”
Soon, Wang Jie drove an armored car at full speed out of River City, heading west.
Old Five and the others stayed behind to help in River City.
Not far to the west of River City, an armored car raced along, carrying four trial takers: three men and one woman.
The leader, Ming Zhao, sat in the back seat with the woman, while the trial taker in the front passenger seat looked uneasy. “Boss, do you think that guy will catch up?”
The woman was nervous. “Bu Dao got contacted by Tianfu Base, talking about bridge building and needing cataclysm materials. We’ve left most of the materials behind. He shouldn’t be chasing us.”
Ming Zhao’s expression grew heavy. “So what if he catches up? Do you think I’m afraid of him?”
The trial taker said nothing.
Not afraid? Then why run?
They had seen the finger that tore through the clouds and crushed large areas of land—it was terrifying.
Seeing that, Ming Zhao had immediately decided to run, without hesitation. He even left most of the cataclysm materials as a gesture of goodwill.
He knew he couldn’t beat the person who was coming.
It was just frustrating that their aircraft had been damaged by the beast tide; otherwise, they would have run much earlier.
The driver occasionally glanced behind, his forehead drenched in sweat. They had done a lot of things in River City. If they were caught, it would be over.
Ahead, a group of mutated beasts charged forward, remnants of the previous beast tide.
The armored car could only slow down, occasionally being attacked by the mutated beasts.
Ming Zhao, growing impatient, climbed onto the car’s roof, gripping a long blade. He slashed at the right side, cutting down large numbers of mutated beasts.
Suddenly, he looked back.
He saw an armored car speeding toward them.
His expression changed drastically. “Quick, turn left!”
Behind them, Wang Jie had seen them. He got out of the car, bent his legs and pressed against the ground, then leapt high. His powerful leap caused a deep pit to form in the ground as his body flew through the air, heading straight toward them.
Ming Zhao watched Wang Jie approach, gritted his teeth, and raised his hand to strike.
Nine Seals strength erupted, and a massive blade of light extended a hundred meters, slashing down at Wang Jie’s head.
Wang Jie flicked his finger, and the spiral qi force shattered the blade of light. The residual force rumbled into the earth, causing the ground to twist and collapse, almost overturning the armored car.
The people inside the car quickly jumped out, warily watching Wang Jie.
Wang Jie landed, not far from the four trial takers.
Ming Zhao shouted, “Brother, we’ve left all the materials for you. There’s no need to chase us to the ends of the earth.”
Wang Jie looked at them. “You took River City’s materials. Why didn’t you help during the beast tide?”
Ming Zhao narrowed his eyes. “You’re from Blue Star?”
Seeing Wang Jie’s silence, he continued, “So what if you are? You Blue Star people don’t care about the lives of those outside the bases. How do they live? And how do you live inside the bases? Why bother about their lives?”
“At worst, we’ll give you all the materials.”
Wang Jie’s voice was cold. “Materials? If I want them, I’ll take them myself. Let me say one more thing.” His gaze grew icier. “To supply unlimited people with limited resources is a path to destruction. The highest priority order for all bases in Hua Xia, under Level One alert, is: everyone must enter the base.” With that, he took a step forward, moving at incredible speed toward them.
Ming Zhao bellowed, “Attack!”
Three Eight Seals and one Nine Seals worked together, not weak at all. But in the instant they came into contact with Wang Jie, the unstoppable force broke Ming Zhao’s arm, and his entire body was thrown toward the armored car with tremendous force.
The other three were instantly obliterated.
Wang Jie didn’t show the slightest mercy.