Chapter 068
Chapter 68: Slaughter Stone Planet
Wang Jie gazed at the personal terminal on his wrist. To be honest, he wanted to ask Jun Hua why she treated him so well. There was only one contact on the terminal—Jun Hua.
In the days that followed, Wang Jie familiarized himself with his residence at Accompanying Lake. He trained in the gravity chamber, but unfortunately, he could only withstand fifty times the normal gravity, which was of little use to him. As his strength had already reached ninety-nine times that of an ordinary person, his defenses, bones, and physical body had also grown far stronger. The fifty times gravity held little significance now.
What he truly wanted to do was confirm the position of Blue Star, but he couldn’t let the Silver Radiance Empire notice.
He could only enlarge the star map from his memory, sometimes gazing east, sometimes looking north. He knew that everything he did might be under the Silver Radiance Empire’s surveillance. There would be no secrets.
Soon, two months passed, and Jun Hua hadn’t sought him out even once.
His outward identity was that of the emperor’s guard, but strangely, he had never even entered the imperial palace.
Wang Jie decided not to think about it further and headed straight for the Slaughter Stone planet.
After all, his movements were certainly being monitored, and if Jun Hua wanted to find him, she would do so in advance.
As for the royal library’s martial arts manuals, he hadn’t even bothered to look at them—there was no need. The battle techniques he had learned came from the Armor One Sect. Over this time, he had grown more familiar with the outside world. The Armor One Sect wasn’t just a dominant force on Blue Star, it was far superior to the Silver Radiance Empire, and even to the Frost Radiance Sect.
Since he already possessed the top-tier techniques, there was no point in studying the Silver Radiance Empire’s. It was inevitable to fall into their debt.
Moreover, having more techniques wasn’t necessarily better.
Before leaving, he entrusted Cheng Qian with two tasks: one was to find exquisite sword tassels, and the other was to locate the seven-colored flower. Both were materials needed for his Sword Step technique.
The Accompanying Lake residence, where he stayed, was named so because it overlooked the lake within the imperial palace. This was why it was of such high status. The previous master had been Jun Tang.
Under the vast starry sky, two suns circled around, ensuring that the planet ahead never experienced night.
This was the Slaughter Stone planet, Wang Jie’s domain.
The planet was roughly the same size as Blue Star, and it reminded him of how Blue Star was likely recorded in the Armor One Sect as a Slaughter Stone planet.
The spaceship quickly descended, its speed slowing as it entered the atmosphere, eventually landing smoothly in a large lake. Wang Jie hid the ship beneath the lake’s surface, leaping out, only to find himself face to face with a flying mutated beast. With a triangular head and crimson eyes, the creature bared its fangs and lunged at him.
Wang Jie deftly dodged, grabbing the beast by the head and swinging himself onto its back. The mutated beast struggled violently to throw him off, but Wang Jie landed a powerful punch, knocking it into submission.
A six-seal mutated beast—far too weak.
Wang Jie forcibly twisted the creature’s head. “That direction.”
The mutated beast attempted to resist, but its head was firmly held in place, forcing it to fly in the designated direction.
Wang Jie, wearing a battle power detector, received a strong signal in that direction. Clearly, there were many mutated beasts there.
He hadn’t expected much from this planet in terms of mutated beasts. After all, it belonged to the Silver Radiance Empire, which had only deployed a single Slaughter Stone here—one that had even been granted to him. A truly powerful Slaughter Stone planet would never be given to him. Especially since this place had already been harvested, with hundreds of thousands of human cultivators taken away. The remaining people were too fearful to venture outside, and even the strongest mutated creatures had already been harvested.
The air here was even fresher than Blue Star.
The scorching sun baked much of the planet’s surface into a vast desert. As he gazed across the barren land, he saw only occasional lakes and forests, with more vicious mutated beasts lurking beneath the desert’s surface.
“Come out.”
Wang Jie drew his sword and soared into the sky, performing the Star Gazing Sword Style.
The blade shimmered as stars shifted and moved across the sky. The desert transformed into a cosmic expanse, with countless stars hanging upside down, and sword qi slashed downward toward the desert.
In an instant, the desert shattered. Each sword qi pierced deep into the earth, beyond comprehension.
With just one strike, the vast desert ahead broke into pieces, and fierce winds swept across the land, carrying dust and sand. Countless mutated creatures crawled from the ground, looking terrifying.
Wang Jie landed and performed the Star Gazing Sword Style once more.
One of the materials needed for his Sword Step technique was to obliterate stars with the Star Gazing Sword Style, and he was far from finished.
For several days, he continued to hunt mutated beasts in the desert, collecting plenty of cataclysm materials. It was certainly convenient to have a storage ring; he simply threw the materials inside without worrying about carrying them.
“Time to start the eighth set…”
A familiar voice echoed as Wang Jie poured out all the cataclysm materials, absorbing them while performing his exercises.
During his time in the Silver Radiance Empire, he had learned that the strength of the Ten Seals varied greatly. Much of the difference in power between those at the Star Breaking Realm stemmed from the Ten Seals themselves.
The Ten Seals weren’t automatically attained just by reaching the Ten Seal realm. Of course, one could break the Ten Seals to directly push into the Star Breaking Realm, but those who did so would be considered weak in that realm.
Only by solidifying the foundation of the Ten Seals could one attain greater power when advancing to the Star Breaking Realm.
The strength of the seals was distinguished by color.
The initial seals were just outlines. For example, Wang Jie’s own Ten Seals were mere outlines. When the apocalypse began, his cultivation was still somewhat solid, but after his battle with Shu Mu Night and his subsequent re-cultivation, he had nearly broken through to the Ten Seals in the shortest time possible. This left his seals with a very weak foundation.
All ten of his seals were mere outlines.
As time passed, the seals became darker, clearer, and more defined. From the initial outlines, they evolved into shades of gray, light gray, pale black, and finally the deepest, darkest black.
The guards at Accompanying Lake residence had seals that were mostly light gray.
It was common knowledge that descendants of some powerful factions had seals of at least a light gray color.
Larger sects’ chosen disciples could attain seals of a deeper gray.
Wang Jie remembered seeing Wen Zhao’s seal, which was light gray. He believed that people like Mo, Wen Star Ru, and Insect Xuan likely had deep gray seals.
As for Shu Mu Night, if not deep black, then at least a light black seal.
What he needed to do now was solidify his Ten Seals foundation.
No matter the limitations of lock force or its future prospects, he would not concern himself with those matters. Since he had chosen this path, he would strive to grow stronger. There were those who had cultivated to the Star Breaking Realm using lock force alone.
One step at a time.
If he were to absorb seal power in a normal way, it could take an indefinite amount of time. Moreover, he didn’t have enough cataclysm materials.
Wen Zhao’s seals were only light gray. He was from one of the three great families of the Armor One Sect, which was far more powerful than the Silver Radiance Empire. This showed how difficult it was to improve the seal colors.
Fortunately, he had his exercises.
The absorption of seal power was far more efficient with them.
After completing an exercise, not only did his physical fitness improve, but the outline of his seals also became noticeably clearer. He continued.
Besides seal power cultivation, he also focused on energy sensing and manipulation.
He had already gained control over two hundred grains of yellow beans, and he aimed to increase this number.
Since he hadn’t found any information about the Death Realm in the Silver Radiance Empire, nor from the Corpse Sect, he wasn’t sure how to increase his energy at the moment. All he could do was increase his proficiency.
In the Silver Radiance Imperial Capital, Jun Hua rested her weary eyes.
Not far away, Yu Dong stood, his body surrounded by cold air, twisting and forming into strange shapes as though in some sort of cultivation.
“How’s Wang Jie doing?” Jun Hua suddenly asked.
Yu Dong opened his eyes. “He’s gathering cataclysm materials.”
“Trying to deepen his seals?”
“Most likely.”
“Quite diligent, considering that there are so many maids at Accompanying Lake residence, yet he hasn’t touched any of them.”
Yu Dong glanced at Jun Hua. “Perhaps it’s a disguise. I still don’t believe he’s associated with the Armor One Sect. That spaceship might have just been something he stumbled upon.”
Jun Hua replied, “Let him be. Let’s just consider it a favor.”
Yu Dong didn’t object. “Hasn’t the group of interstellar pirates been caught yet?”
Jun Hua sighed, “Still no sign of them. They were Jun Tang’s underlings—strong on their own, though not at the Star Breaking Realm, all of them at Ten Seal level, equipped with weapons and armor, and they have the Empire’s star map and plenty of resources. They’re hard to catch.”
Yu Dong looked at her. “Should I make a move?”
Jun Hua smiled bitterly, “You can’t leave, and there’s something else more troublesome. People from the sect have arrived.”
Yu Dong was surprised. “People from the sect? What for?”
“I initially thought it was to discuss the tribute resources, but it turns out that it’s a disciple from the Frost Radiance domain, Rainbow Peak.”
“Rainbow Peak? That’s at least an inner disciple, someone of our level. It’s definitely not just about the resources.”
“I thought so too. They’ve already set off, but I’m not sure when they’ll arrive. You can’t leave.”
“Such a pity, if it weren’t for how far Frost Radiance domain is, I could have contacted senior sister from the sect for information.”
The scorching heat baked the land as Wang Jie sat on a rock, surrounded by the remains of mutated beasts.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the inside of his arm. The first seal had reached light gray. It was progressing faster than expected—probably because of his exercises.
The other nine seals were still just clear outlines.
He had been here for over half a month, but it was far from enough. There was still much to be done.
One day, Wang Jie suddenly looked up to see a spaceship descending from the sky, heading directly toward his location. How could there be a ship coming here? According to the Silver Radiance Empire’s records, this planet belonged only to him.
Could Jun Hua have sent someone to find him? He decided to wait and see before making any moves.
In the distance, a small lake appeared, much smaller than the one where Wang Jie had hidden his ship. The descending ship was heading straight for it.
Wang Jie saw it and frowned. It wasn’t coming for him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have hidden the ship in a lake.
He had hidden it to prevent it from being destroyed by mutated creatures.
As the spaceship descended into the lake, the water began to churn, and one by one, figures slowly emerged from the lake.
Wang Jie held his breath, staying perfectly still, only glancing out of the corner of his eye.
There were nine of them. He watched as the numbers on his detector changed, each one reading no less than three thousand, meaning that all nine of them were Ten Seal cultivators.
Nine Ten Seal cultivators.
Not ordinary at all.
The Armor One Sect had deployed over a hundred Slaughter Stones on Blue Star, and even to create this many Ten Seals would take time—let alone the Silver Radiance Empire.
There weren’t even any Ten Seal cultivators at Accompanying Lake residence.
This planet, too, only had a few Ten Seal cultivators.
A faint voice carried on the wind: “Is this it?”
“Let’s stay here for a while. This is the Slaughter Stone planet that belongs to Accompanying Lake residence. Jun Tang brought us here before. As long as Accompanying Lake residence doesn’t have a master, it won’t be discovered.”
“We’ll have to wait. It’s unlucky. I thought following Jun Tang would bring us to the Empire’s higher ranks, but now we’ve ended up as fugitives.”
“We’ll just stay here for now. Once we leave Silver Radiance Empire, it won’t matter. With our strength, we could even join the Frost Radiance Sect’s outer court and get a place.”
“That woman must be from the Frost Radiance Sect.”
“I was just giving an example.”