Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Four Great Training Fields

The spaceship traversed the vast expanse of space, heading toward the Fourth Star Cloud. Inside, Wang Jie gazed out of the window, lost in thought. He didn’t know when he would meet these people again after this parting.

The Fourth Star Cloud… such a distant place.

Mu Ran had found Wang Jie, hoping to strike up a conversation. He believed Wang Jie, with his status as a Celestial Refinement Master, would be able to get along well anywhere. This was, after all, the truth.

Even a prestigious family like Zhi needed a Celestial Refinement Master.

Now, they were all headed toward the Fourth Star Cloud, uncertain of what the future held. As disciples of the Frost Radiance Sect, it was best to help each other as much as possible.

Luo Yan was happy to stay with Wang Jie. On one hand, Wang Jie was generous; on the other, his status was undoubtedly high.

The problem, however, was that the honored guest lord they were following had too many eccentric requests, which made things even stranger for Luo Yan.

Wang Jie pushed these distractions aside as he arrived at the field, noticing that he had completed three of the materials for the Heaven Reversal path.

The first was defeating a true disciple of Frost Radiance Sect. He had beaten Yi Mu with his swordsmanship, so this counted as a victory.

The second was inspired by the move “Yu Gong Moves Mountains.” While excavating a mountain, he had realized that this task was unexpectedly completed.

The third, however, was the strangest: it required him to bring a hundred people to defect.

He glanced at the hundred or so people surrounding Luo Yan. Could this be considered defection? No, it shouldn’t be. The sect had been destroyed, and Xing Xue had left with the rest of them. It didn’t count as defection.

However, when he spoke to these people, he quickly realized that it absolutely did count. They had no intention of defending the sect from external enemies.

Escape was the only thing on their minds.

As for who the enemy was, that had nothing to do with them.

A group of ingrates.

But at least this helped him complete one of the materials. It was a case of mistaken advantage.

Now, there were only three materials left to complete.

One required him to master a Star Method.

Another required him to make five people cry.

And the last was to collect one thousand Slaughter Stones.

Those were the only three remaining.

He needed to finish them quickly and break into the Star Stage. Otherwise, he would feel vulnerable.

With his current power, breaking into the Star Stage would allow him to escape the dangers of the Wandering Star Realm and not feel so powerless.

“Senior, who is that?” he asked, noticing an unfamiliar figure nearby.

“My nephew,” came the reply.

“Brilliant and heroic,” someone else chimed in.

“He used to scold me when we were young,” the voice continued. “He was rather unruly.”

“He once tried to chase me down,” came the sardonic reply.

“A pack of ingrates.”

“Speak a bit louder,” the voice insisted.

“Well, disciple thinks it’s time to break through. Senior can rest for now,” Wang Jie said, and with that, he turned to leave.

As the group dispersed, Wang Jie was left watching the senior figure, who was dragging the spaceship at an incredible speed toward the Fourth Star Cloud. During the journey, he didn’t know how this senior had managed to threaten the Puppet Master Sect and Gong Nation, but they had somehow managed to force the Silver Radiance Empire and part of the Ninth Star Chain to be absorbed into the Fourth Star Cloud’s territory.

This was the cost of the Zen Order.

“Senior, what is the purpose of the Zen Order?” Wang Jie asked, curious.

Xing Xue spoke with a heavy tone, “The Zen Order comes from Three Chan Heaven, one of the strongest forces in the Four Great Star Clouds. Whoever possesses the Zen Order can either gain the assistance of Three Chan Heaven once, or use it to directly join Three Chan Heaven as a true disciple.”

Wang Jie was taken aback. “Three Chan Heaven?”

“You’ve heard of it?”

“I think I have.” Wang Jie nodded, remembering his encounter with a disciple from there when he faced Shu Mu Night on Blue Star. It was a fight he had lost in one move.

Xing Xue continued, “It’s so far away that it’s beyond imagination. The First Star Cloud’s power vastly surpasses the other three. To give you a simple example, if we, or my Fixed Star Zhi family, were placed in the First Star Cloud, we might not even make it to the top five.”

“And Three Chan Heaven is among the top three.”

“Every rank difference represents an enormous gap.”

Wang Jie nodded thoughtfully.

Xing Xue gave him a sidelong glance. “You may not fully understand the magnitude of this gap.”

Wang Jie was surprised. “Is it really that big?”

The spaceship continued its journey toward the Fourth Star Cloud, and more than half a month had already passed.

During this time, Xing Xue had not spoken to that person once. From her attitude, it was clear she was unhappy with the Zhi family. She preferred staying inside the spaceship, speaking with the other disciples around her.

Meanwhile, she had also shared more information about the Fixed Star Zhi family.

Why was it called the Fixed Star Zhi family?

It was because of the stabilizing star bridge method, a unique technique that all members of the Zhi family possessed. Hence, they were named the Fixed Star Zhi family.

The force controlling the Fourth Star Cloud was called Black White Heaven. The leader of Black White Heaven was none other than the Fixed Star Zhi family.

This meant that the Zhi family’s status in the Fourth Star Cloud was akin to the position of the Nan family in the Third Nebula. However, compared to the scattered Nine Great Star Chains of the Third Nebula, the Fourth Star Cloud was much more organized. It controlled seven star links, fewer in number but far broader in scope than the Nine Great Star Chains.

These seven star links were divided into three upper and four lower ones.

The three upper ones represented Black White Heaven.

The four lower ones were known as the Four Great Training Fields.

The Four Great Training Fields occupied four star links, not as independent forces but as subdivisions of Black White Heaven, solely responsible for cultivating practitioners for Black White Heaven.

In other words, the Fourth Star Cloud had only one force, Black White Heaven. The Third Nebula was completely different.

So, whether it was the Ornate Jade Gate, the Puppet Master Sect, Gong Nation, or even the Frost Radiance Sect, all were at a disadvantage when facing Black White Heaven’s Zhi family—unless the entire Nine Great Star Chains united. But it was impossible for the Nine Great Star Chains to unite completely.

Wang Jie understood now why the Zhi family could threaten the Puppet Master Sect and Gong Nation: because they represented Black White Heaven.

The Third Nebula already had a star cloud battlefield and could no longer open up another front.

For the Zhi family, it was merely a matter of speaking a few words.

Xing Xue had informed them about the Fourth Star Cloud to give them time to choose which training field to join.

The Four Great Training Fields were the gateways to Black White Heaven. Any practitioner wishing to join Black White Heaven must go through one of these fields. Even Wang Jie, with his Celestial Refinement Master status, would have to undergo training in one of them before being admitted.

Now, everyone on the spaceship was discussing which training field to join. This was the opportunity Xing Xue had secured for them: as external disciples of Black White Heaven, they would still be Frost Radiance Sect disciples unless something happened to Xing Xue.

Mu Ran sidled up to Wang Jie, smiling and raising his little mustache. “Master Wang, which of the Four Great Training Fields do you plan to join?”

Wang Jie smiled back. “What about you, Master Mu? Which one are you interested in?”

“Master Wang, stop joking. Just call me Old Mu or Mu Ran. Don’t call me Master Mu, it’s undeserved,” he replied with a dry chuckle.

“Not at all. Master Mu is a formation daoist. No need to be modest,” Wang Jie said with a grin.

Mu Ran laughed awkwardly. “I guess you’ll be joining Zhi Academy, Master Wang.”

The Four Great Training Fields were Death Island, Zhi Academy, Great Star Mountain, and Lock Path Interval.

Each field attracted different kinds of practitioners, and their approaches varied greatly.

Death Island trained those skilled in killing. Its method, the Killing God Scripture, relied on blood as a catalyst. The more beings killed, the stronger the killing intent became. Practitioners from Death Island were notoriously difficult to provoke, but the mortality rate there was also the highest.

Zhi Academy was more relaxed and focused on cultivating disciples from various fields, such as artifact forging, alchemy, and formation dao. While it didn’t have unique combat techniques, it boasted the highest number of master-level instructors in many industries. Many people who didn’t want to join Black White Heaven stayed in Zhi Academy.

Great Star Mountain attracted star force practitioners due to a star method called Stacking Heavenly Light. It had a comprehensive cultivation system, and although not everyone could master it, the chances of success were far higher than with other star methods. Those who mastered it were absorbed into the Heavenly Light Pavilion, which held a high position within Black White Heaven.

Finally, there was Lock Path Interval, which was dedicated to lock force practitioners. It housed all of the Slaughter Stone planets in the Fourth Star Cloud—ten thousand of them.

Wang Jie was stunned upon hearing that Lock Path Interval had ten thousand Slaughter Stone planets. Frost Radiance Sect only had three hundred. The difference was unfathomable.

With so many Slaughter Stone planets, Lock Path Interval attracted countless lock force practitioners. It also had a place known as Sword Mastery Heaven, where Zhong Yi, the strongest lock force practitioner in the history of the Fourth Star Cloud, resided. Zhong Yi was a hundred-star realm expert.

“Senior, is Zhong Yi truly a hundred-star realm powerhouse?” Wang Jie asked.

Xing Xue nodded. “Yes, she’s an extraordinary woman with unparalleled talent. She left her peers far behind. No one knows her true strength because she never sparred with anyone. She only fought life-and-death battles.”

“Many people speculate that she could defeat star-breaking realm practitioners even at the ten-imprint level. Maybe even full star realm practitioners.”

Wang Jie was astonished. He knew what it took to kill a full star realm practitioner. Without his fields and wristguard, it would have been impossible. This was an incomprehensible leap.

Could this woman really achieve that?

Xing Xue continued, “I heard that her family once tried to seize her secrets, but they failed. The last time they attempted, she had already reached the hundred-star realm. She fought alone and killed her way into the Zhi family. It took three hours for her ancestor to repel her.”

“From start to finish, it was just three hours. This incident was suppressed by the Zhi family. The outside world thinks it’s a legend, but it’s true.”

“Since then, no one in the Fourth Star Cloud has dared to interfere with her.”

Wang Jie couldn’t believe there was such a powerful lock force practitioner. Where would his future limits lie?

Lock force practitioners had limits, but where exactly were they?

If they were at the ten-imprint level, Blue Star would be invincible.

At the star-breaking realm, the Silver Radiance Empire would be invincible.

At the wandering star realm, Frost Radiance Sect would be hard to defeat.

At the hundred-star realm, the star cloud would be invincible.

But what if one reached the star-refining realm? Would there be a difference? Would it make any difference at all?