Chapter 121

Chapter 121: Going to My Mother’s Family

Another fierce saber aura tore toward him.

Wang Jie tightened his grip. Star-Gazing Sword Form—sword phantoms fell from high above, blanketing Kui Zhan.

The ground detonated into shattered slabs.

Kui Zhan swept the sword phantoms away and looked up.

Wang Jie flashed into view and jabbed a finger forward.

Kui Zhan raised his saber to block, but the invisible force still slammed into his arm and drove him back. He punched his own blade, sending the impact through the saber and into Wang Jie.

Wang Jie shifted, appearing behind him. His sword edge turned, aimed at Kui Zhan’s neck.

Far away, the Roaming-Star Realm cultivator’s eyes narrowed. Instinct urged him to intervene.

Kui Zhan’s gaze rolled, catching Wang Jie out of the corner of his eye. There was no time to bring the huge saber up—

And yet Wang Jie’s strike still stopped.

A second blade slid out from inside the massive saber, catching the sword with a shower of sparks.

Kui Zhan’s One Blade forced Wang Jie back. Starforce surged from his body, making the stars tremble as he raised his saber and chopped down.

Wang Jie’s breath seized; he nearly suffocated. He retreated in a hurry.

The surging starforce punched into the sky, tearing through the atmosphere and lancing into space.

Kui Zhan now held the big saber in his left hand and a smaller blade in his right. He charged. “Human, you’re the first Ten Seals who’s lasted this long against me. Give me your secret.”

His figure flashed. The twin sabers spun in, slashing.

In that moment, Kui Zhan felt like the planet itself—violent starforce spilling from him without restraint. He kept Wang Jie from coming close. If Wang Jie cultivated starforce, Kui Zhan would have forcefully absorbed it.

Lockforce was far inferior to starforce.

Even with deep black lockforce, Wang Jie couldn’t withstand a Full-Star Realm cultivator drawing on an entire planet’s starforce.

All he could do was retreat—and try to wear Kui Zhan down.

As he dodged, Wang Jie glanced back.

Kui Zhan was tearing the planet apart. Magma burst from the ground, mountains collapsed, and the world looked like papier-mache in his hands.

He was nothing like the other Luo Kingdom Full-Star Realm cultivators Wang Jie had faced.

Wang Jie kept evading, but his space grew smaller and smaller—because the Roaming-Star Realm cultivator was blocking him.

Each time Wang Jie tried to break away, he was cut off.

Bullying, to the extreme.

Wang Jie merged qi and strength and unleashed Star-Gazing Sword Form again.

The sword phantoms were batted aside. The boiling starforce didn’t even let them come close.

With no choice left, Wang Jie used Qi-Qi Convergence. Two currents of qi merged, and invisible airflow burned around his body.

Kui Zhan felt it at once.

This was a power that could threaten him.

His excitement only grew.

The Roaming-Star Realm cultivator stared, stunned. What kind of power was this?

It let a Ten Seals cultivator face Kui Zhan head-on while Kui Zhan unleashed Full-Star Realm starforce. It was unbelievable—no one would believe it, even if he reported it.

Clang!

Sword and saber collided.

Wang Jie’s chest tightened and he spat blood. The starforce pressure gave him no time to breathe.

Kui Zhan, thrilled, raised both sabers and brought them down. “Human, you really didn’t lie. Come with me as my human slave. Give me your secret, and I’ll let you live.”

“You can go be one yourself.”

Wang Jie stepped with Sword Steps, his body blurring into a sword-shadow. He slashed at the twin blades as his footwork swept past.

Clang!

Tremendous force surged down those sabers—yet Wang Jie held.

And his Sword Steps flashed, aiming straight for Kui Zhan’s eye.

Kui Zhan’s gaze snapped to him. He drew his hand back, and another blade swung across to block, stopping the Sword Steps cold.

He retreated three steps.

Another blade?

Wang Jie used Sword Steps again, slipping past. Kui Zhan couldn’t track him in time—his One Blade struck empty.

He looked back.

A sword edge was already pressing down.

Kui Zhan bared a savage grin and blasted starforce in every direction. It stabbed down like a beam from above, punching through the planet and exploding everything without discrimination.

The violent starforce slammed Wang Jie into the ground.

Kui Zhan seized the opening, stacked three blades together, and gripped the hilt with both hands. “One Blade: Slash!”

A saber aura that connected sky and earth stretched for thousands of kilometers. As it fell, it compressed—everything condensing into a single, absolute strike as it cleaved at Wang Jie.

A planet-breaking battle skill.

Wang Jie looked up.

From his storage ring, swords shot out one after another. The two merged streams of qi surged along them—Sword Rig: One-Line Sky!

The swords linked head to tail, shooting upward and crashing into the saber aura.

The first sword shattered, then the second, the third… all the way to the sixty-fifth.

Unlike on Deepweight Star, where a Roaming-Star Realm Luo Kingdom cultivator had shattered over a hundred swords with one strike, Kui Zhan wasn’t that fast.

Still, he split them all.

But the power of One Blade was reduced by more than half.

Wang Jie blocked what remained with his wrist guard. Half his body went numb.

He had expected this.

He pointed a finger.

The finger-force pierced through Kui Zhan’s body, blasting a bloody hole out his back.

Blood dripped down his clothes.

Kui Zhan stared at Wang Jie in shock. He hadn’t expected him to withstand a planet-breaking strike.

Wang Jie panted hard. Half his body wouldn’t move.

“Human,” Kui Zhan said, utterly serious now, “be my human slave. I guarantee you’ll live well. Not only will you not die, your status in Luo Kingdom won’t be low either—because I’m Kui Zhan, the Kui family’s young lord.”

Wang Jie let out a shaky breath. “I really want to live. But as a human, my dignity won’t let me become someone else’s slave.”

Then, to Kui Zhan’s face, he actually laughed.

“How about you knock me out and carry me away?”

The Roaming-Star Realm cultivator stepped to Kui Zhan’s side. “Young Lord, we can’t let him go. Either kill him, or capture him.”

“I know.” Kui Zhan’s gaze never left Wang Jie. “I’ve never heard of a Ten Seals cultivator challenging the Full-Star Realm. In Luo Kingdom, any Full-Star Realm cannon fodder can instantly kill countless Ten Seals cultivators—yet you can fight me.”

His eyes narrowed. “Human, you’re lucky. If you cultivated starforce, I’d kill you without hesitation.”

“But you cultivate lockforce.” Kui Zhan’s smile returned, sharp and hungry. “And I want to see how high your limit can go.”

He lifted a hand. “Take him away.”

Wang Jie felt a bleak helplessness settle over him.

A human slave.

In the end, he still couldn’t escape that fate.

The Roaming-Star Realm cultivator approached and reached out to seize him.

Then—

A vast pressure swept in like mountains and seas overturning.

The Roaming-Star Realm cultivator went pale. Without thinking, he spun and rushed to Kui Zhan. “Young Lord, run!”

Kui Zhan froze.

In that instant, instinctive fear flashed in his eyes.

Wang Jie’s mind jolted too. His numb body could barely support him; he slowly crouched, bracing himself.

A figure stood high in the starry expanse, looking down from above.

With a casual wave, Wang Jie vanished from the planet, leaving only the Roaming-Star Realm cultivator and Kui Zhan behind.

After a long moment, Kui Zhan finally snapped back to himself. He turned, stunned. “That just now was…?”

“A top expert,” the Roaming-Star Realm cultivator said hoarsely. “Very likely at the Star-Refining Realm.”

“Why would a Star-Refining Realm appear here?” Kui Zhan’s voice tightened. “Because of that human?”

The Roaming-Star Realm cultivator couldn’t answer.

The human had already been taken.

As he was thinking, two figures appeared in the distance.

“He was here.”

“And he’s gone.”

“Keep chasing.”

Then they vanished again.

Kui Zhan and the Roaming-Star Realm cultivator looked at each other and saw the same terror reflected in both sets of eyes.

They recognized the puppet.

If they weren’t wrong, it was the Star-Refining Realm expert from Little Round Lake who had helped attack Frostflower Sect.

Then did that mean the one who had left earlier was Frostflower Sect’s Star-Refining Realm?

Was it Sect Master Wen Guan?

The one who took Wang Jie wasn’t Wen Guan.

It was Xing Xue.

Wang Jie stared blankly at the old woman beside him, disbelief carving him hollow.

The old woman turned and chuckled. “Little kid, you don’t recognize this old woman anymore?”

Of course he recognized her.

This was the old granny he’d once helped cross the street.

What the hell—she was this powerful?

“Senior, you are…?”

“This old woman is Xing Xue.”

Wang Jie’s eyes shook.

Xing Xue—the Supreme Elder of Frostflower Sect.

But hadn’t they said she was dead?

Not only was she alive, she’d been walking down a busy street like an ordinary person.

Now, she wasn’t just carrying him along.

She was dragging a ship behind her, packed with Frostflower Sect disciples.

“Elder,” Wang Jie asked, throat tight, “how is the sect?”

Xing Xue sighed. “It lost.”

Wang Jie’s gaze dimmed. “So it still fell.”

“You did well.”

Wang Jie didn’t understand.

Xing Xue said, “For a Ten Seals lockforce cultivator to duel a Full-Star Realm expert is rare in all ages. If the sect had a few more geniuses like you, why would rebuilding be impossible?”

She studied him. “Little kid, what’s your name?”

“My name is Wang Jie.”

“Are you willing to rebuild Frostflower Sect?”

Wang Jie’s expression turned solemn. “I am.”

Of course he agreed.

It wasn’t even about affection. If she wanted to rebuild, then rebuild. What was he supposed to do—refuse a Supreme Elder to her face?

She had watched his fight with Kui Zhan. She had saved him because he’d shown value.

And value was meant to be used.

His answer satisfied her.

“The Nan family is gone, and Third Nebula has fallen apart. Even if we rebuild Frostflower Sect, it won’t happen overnight.”

Her eyes softened, just a fraction. “Besides, you’re only a lockforce cultivator. No one can say how far you’ll go.”

“But having that intention is enough.”

Wang Jie swallowed. “Elder, where are we going now?”

“To my mother’s family.”

Wang Jie blinked. “What?”

Xing Xue tossed him into the ship behind her, then kept dragging it as she sped into the distance.

Inside the ship, the moment Wang Jie stepped in, someone shouted with raw relief, “Guest Elder! Thank the heavens—Guest Elder, you’re still alive!”

Wang Jie looked over, stunned. “Luo Yan?”

He hadn’t expected Luo Yan to be alive. He was only an Outer Sect disciple—so even if he survived, how had he ended up on Xing Xue’s ship?

There were at least a thousand people packed inside.

Luo Yan was so excited he could barely breathe. He talked nonstop, words tripping over each other.

Piece by piece, Wang Jie finally understood.

Luo Yan had been lucky.

Wang Jie had once given him a task: find a hundred people with strong personalities—people likely to betray the sect.

And Luo Yan had actually found them.

Those people weren’t popular. To finish his assignment, Luo Yan kept spending time with them. It hadn’t been long, but he’d still managed to build rapport.

So when the sect collapsed into chaos, those people protected him.

They hauled him up and ran—an attitude that didn’t care whether the sect lived or died. They didn’t even think about fighting Luo Kingdom or the traitors.

They stole a ship—the one they were on now. Without even needing a star map, they decided to run first and figure the rest out later.

That was why Xing Xue, who happened to be escaping herself, spotted them and casually dragged their ship along.

And along the way, whenever Xing Xue ran into fleeing disciples, she took them too. Little by little, she gathered this many.

Luo Yan gestured excitedly at the hundred-plus people clustered nearby. “Everyone, this is Guest Elder Master Wang! He’s the master who told me to find you!”

Those people stared at Wang Jie with frank curiosity.

They didn’t understand why a sect Guest Elder would want them.

Some even recognized him—the one who had beaten Xia Mu with a sword.

They were all confused.

Normally, they weren’t qualified to even approach Wang Jie.