Chapter 109

Chapter 109: Cruelty

“I am Han Domain Lord Zhu Cheng,” Zhu Cheng said, stepping forward with a deep bow. “I’ve long admired Master Xu. Your arrival brings honor to Frostglow Sect.”

Xu’s smile didn’t change. “Your enthusiasm makes refusal difficult, Han Domain Lord. That’s why I can only accept your invitation and join Frostglow Sect.”

Zhu Cheng’s grin widened. “Master, please.”

Xu glanced around, expression cooling. “Where is the Sect Master? Why didn’t he come to welcome me?”

Zhu Cheng stiffened. “The Sect Master is at Xia Peak.”

Xu’s displeasure sharpened. “So your sect doesn’t care about a ‘small’ chen refiner like me.”

Zhu Cheng hurried to explain. “The Sect Master is in seclusion. Master’s arrival was my doing—I didn’t report it in advance. I’ll report at once and request the Sect Master meet you.”

Only then did Xu’s expression ease. “Fine.”

At Pale-moon Mountain, Xia Zhen Zhen stormed in, furious. Wang Jie happened to be stepping out as well—Master Luan planned to refine higher-level pills, and the heat would be beyond Wang Jie’s limit.

“What happened?” Wang Jie asked. “Why are you this angry?”

Even Xia Xiao Nian looked mildly curious.

“I’m furious!” Xia Zhen Zhen snapped. “Some chen refiner came from nowhere. The moment he arrived, he demanded to see the Sect Master. He said Han Domain Lord must become the master of Mist Peak, or he won’t give Frostglow Sect face. He even mocked us as some small backwater that’s never seen the world.

“He said he’ll ‘open our eyes.'”

Wang Jie’s brow lifted. “A chen refiner?”

Xia Zhen Zhen nodded tightly. “A Roaming-star Realm chen refiner. He can star-refine tools needed for Hundred-star Realm, not just materials. The sect values him heavily.”

Wang Jie’s expression shifted.

He could star-refine materials, but the starforce he infused was only at the Star-breaking Realm level. That was already excellent for most, but compared to someone who could infuse Hundred-star Realm starforce…

There was no comparison.

To Frostglow Sect, a Ten Seals chen refiner and a Roaming-star Realm chen refiner might as well exist on different planes.

No wonder Xia Zhen Zhen looked like she wanted to tear someone apart. Her grandfather was also competing for Mist Peak’s master position. With this stunt, Han Domain Lord’s chances skyrocketed.

The Ning Domain Lord’s hopes would be crushed as well.

Just then, Tao Er sent Wang Jie a message with more news.

Wang Jie’s face darkened.

Xia Zhen Zhen noticed immediately. “What is it?”

“That Master Xu told Master Que Yi not to bother with me,” Wang Jie said, voice low. “He called me a fraud. He says a lockforce cultivator can’t be a chen refiner. And now he’s already here, demanding to see Master Luan.”

Xia Zhen Zhen glared at Xia Xiao Nian. “Don’t let him in.”

Xia Xiao Nian shook his head. “We must report it. Whether he enters is Master Luan’s decision, not mine.”

Master Luan couldn’t truly block Xu anyway. Xu wasn’t an ordinary chen refiner—and to Master Luan, the more chen refiners, the better.

But Master Luan was still refining. It would be days before he emerged.

From a distance, Wang Jie and the others watched Xu return along the mountain paths, surrounded by disciples. Xia Zhen Zhen looked ready to kick him down the slope.

Xia Xiao Nian stared, then suddenly said, very seriously, “Something’s off.”

Wang Jie and Xia Zhen Zhen turned to him. “What?”

Xia Xiao Nian’s brows knit as if he’d reached a grim conclusion. “Where did this big scallion come from?”

Wang Jie and Xia Zhen Zhen fell silent.

Whether they liked it or not, Xu’s arrival meant people would compare him to Wang Jie.

And the outcome was obvious.

Star-refining didn’t have “levels” the way pill-making and forging did, but it had results.

Given the same material, Wang Jie could only infuse Star-breaking Realm starforce. Xu could infuse Hundred-star Realm starforce. The gap was enormous.

Anyone could see which was better.

Once Xu started sneering at Wang Jie openly, it got worse. Disciples who’d never even met Wang Jie began to echo the contempt, piling slander on top of slander.

Even Luo Yan got mocked every time he went out—and unfortunately, the mockery hit home. After weeks of shamelessly prying into who secretly liked whom, he really did look a bit suspicious.

A few days later, Xu finally met Master Luan.

Master Luan was polite. He wanted every chen refiner to help—Wang Jie’s realm was simply too low.

Xu, meanwhile, couldn’t stop slipping barbs about Wang Jie into every sentence. Master Luan didn’t care much. Peers tearing each other down was nothing new.

But when Xu declared that star-refining pills was impossible, Master Luan’s expression cooled.

Xu spoke with grave certainty. “Pills and tools are different. Tool materials are fixed. Craft refining looks at the final result. But pills are in constant flux. Their medicinal power fades over time. That is the process.”

He met Master Luan’s gaze. “If you can alter a result, how do you fix a process?”

“Master Luan,” Xu said sharply, “were you fooled?”

Master Luan took out a star-refined barrier-breaking pill and placed it in Xu’s hand.

Xu narrowed his eyes.

There was starforce inside—Frostglow starforce, unmistakably. But how could starforce be sealed into a pill?

He’d never heard of such a thing.

Master Luan watched his expression and said calmly, “I tried other chen refiners before. None could do it. But Master Wang can. I don’t claim to understand star-refining. Perhaps each chen refiner excels in different things.”

Xu’s eyes flickered. “May I have this pill?”

“Of course,” Master Luan replied. “Consider it a joining gift.”

“Thank you.”

After Xu left, Master Luan sat in thought.

A Roaming-star Realm chen refiner couldn’t star-refine pills. The other chen refiners he’d contacted couldn’t either. And yet Wang Jie could.

Then how?

—

The moment Xu left Pale-moon Mountain, he went straight to Han Domain Lord Zhu Cheng.

“Bring me that Wang Jie,” Xu ordered. “Don’t harm his life.”

Zhu Cheng frowned. “Master… what do you want him for?”

“You don’t need to know.” Xu’s gaze was cold. “Just bring him.”

He touched his storage ring, where the pill now rested.

Xu was absolutely certain chen refiners couldn’t star-refine pills. If they could, the status of chen refiners would be even higher across the universe. Yet Wang Jie had done it.

That meant Wang Jie possessed a method beyond normal star-refining.

Catch him. Force him to speak. Take the method.

—

Wang Jie watched his final imprint turn deep black.

He exhaled hard, as though releasing years of tension in a single breath.

Finally.

How many disaster materials had it cost?

Too many. An absurd, obscene amount.

He’d taken so much from Alchemy Branch that their cultivators’ progress had visibly slowed. They needed disaster materials for pill trials. Without them, their progress stalled.

Outside the valley, the remaining disaster materials were still stacked like a mountain.

Wang Jie eyed the piles, already thinking of how to move them all.

If nothing went wrong, the heaven-reversal path could push his imprints even darker. That would require even more disaster materials.

Luo Yan arrived, breathless. “Master, this disciple found another secret crush.”

Wang Jie nodded, satisfied. “Keep going. Tell me when you have three.”

“Yes. Also—Master asked me to look into slaughterstone. There’s news.”

Wang Jie’s eyes sharpened. “Where?”

“At the Outer Bazaar auction house. A batch of slaughterstone is being auctioned.”

“When? How many?”

“Not sure of the exact number. People estimate at least ten. The auction is three days from now, at dusk.”

“Good.” Wang Jie waved him off. “You’ve done well.”

After Luo Yan left, Wang Jie looked up at the sky, thoughts heavy.

The most urgent thing now was to grow the heaven-reversal path.

Not only for the technique itself—its nine required materials occupied his entire field, leaving no space to grow other arts and techniques. He’d even wanted to plant sword rig, but he couldn’t.

And the materials were all difficult. So far he’d only completed one.

Whether it was finding slaughterstone or gathering chen art materials, everything was hard. The most baffling piece of all was Yu Gong Moves Mountains—he didn’t even know what it meant.

Three days later, Wang Jie entered the Outer Bazaar auction house.

Everyone was issued a mask, meant to prevent grudges from turning into vendettas after fierce bidding. In Frostglow Domain, outright robbery was rare.

Wang Jie had already learned that this auction offered more than slaughterstone. There were planets, ancient rare books—and people.

The auction house controlled a star kingdom that had been destroyed in war. Everything the victors took was brought here to be sold. People included.

Wang Jie presented a hundred starsea stone and was led to an upper private room. Most bidders remained downstairs.

A private room concealed one’s identity best. And bidders below rarely dared challenge those above—they feared offending someone they couldn’t afford to offend.

Soon, the auction began.

Item after item was sold. Planets were sold as well—entire regional worlds. Whoever bought them gained the right to decide whether the species on them lived or died.

Several of those planets had humans on them.

Those humans became property, sold along with the land.

“Next up,” the auctioneer announced, “the second princess of Ke Gu Empire.”

A young girl stood on the platform, tears streaking down her face. The auctioneer spoke with oily enthusiasm. “This second princess lived in the imperial palace year-round—pampered, delicate, used to only the finest. Lords, look at her skin. Even water poured over it reflects a rosy sheen…”

She was undeniably beautiful.

But the universe never lacked beauty.

No one in the private rooms bid. The fighting was among those below.

Wang Jie watched without expression. Ten years of apocalypse on Blue Star had shown him plenty of scenes like this—women treated as resources, bartered and stolen. Here it was simply done more openly.

No one would intervene.

The sect was no different.

If you had power, you could seize anything. A second princess. A sect master’s daughter. The world didn’t care.

“Next up,” the auctioneer said brightly, “a three-scent barrier-breaking pill.”

The private rooms began to compete immediately.

In their eyes, a human life wasn’t worth a bottle of pills.

Then the auctioneer’s tone shifted. “Next up: slaughterstone.”

“The following batch also comes from Ke Gu Empire. Ke Gu Empire once held a reserve of one hundred fifty-seven slaughterstone. Most were lost in war. This auction offers sixty-two. Starting bid: five million starstone.”

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed.

Ke Gu Empire’s slaughterstone reserve was even larger than Silver Radiance Empire’s.

Before Jun Hua returned from Frostglow Sect, Silver Radiance Empire had fewer than a hundred. It had likely increased since then, but surpassing Ke Gu Empire would still be difficult.

A slaughterstone reserve didn’t define a nation’s strength, but it said enough.

If Ke Gu Empire’s strength surpassed Silver Radiance Empire’s, and it could still be wiped out overnight…

The weight of it pressed on the room.

Back then, the Jia Yi Sect trial had planned to drag Blue Star cultivators onto the interstellar battlefield. That hadn’t been a threat.

To a power like Jia Yi Sect, Blue Star cultivators weren’t even ants.

“Seven million starstone,” someone called.

“Seven point two million.”

The bidding rose steadily—backed, no doubt, by star powers eager to increase their slaughterstone reserves.

Wang Jie spoke once, calmly, from behind his mask.

“Eight hundred starsea stone.”

The auction hall went dead silent.

Everyone downstairs instinctively turned toward his private room.