Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Snatch

The slash tore through starlight. It split stars apart and shattered descending fingers—but it could not cut open the starry sky itself.

The final finger still fell.

It struck Zong Cheng Ping and ripped through his shoulder. Blood sprayed five steps in a red arc.

But in the same instant he was wounded, Zong Cheng Ping flung his flying wheel.

It flashed past Wang Jie like a guillotine.

Wang Jie twisted away at the last moment, but the wheel still caught his back. Pain detonated as a deep gash opened, blood soaking through cloth and dripping in heavy beads.

When the wheel returned to Zong Cheng Ping’s side, the sky full of stars faded.

Everything stilled.

Wang Jie and Zong Cheng Ping faced each other across the rain-swept ground, both injured, both breathing hard.

Zong Cheng Ping stared, shaken. “You can use Chen Art.

“No—lock arts.”

His gaze sharpened. “Who are you, really?”

Wang Jie flexed an arm and hissed as the movement pulled his back wound. Blood slid down his side. “You’re better off not asking.”

The flying wheel slowed, hovering like a silent sentinel. Zong Cheng Ping looked at Wang Jie with genuine admiration. “Young and formidable. It’s a pity you cultivate lockforce. Otherwise… your future would be limitless.”

Wang Jie glanced at his fingers.

Myriad-Stars Finger was terrifying. It had bridged the gap between their combat-power levels outright. And he hadn’t even pushed it to its true limit yet. If he did…

He didn’t know what the ceiling was.

But it should be enough to threaten even Roaming-Star Realm.

Zong Cheng Ping spoke, voice steady. “Old Brother. You can leave now. I guarantee no one will trouble you over Yi Sword Heaven.”

Wang Jie nodded once. “Thank you.”

Zong Cheng Ping smiled bitterly. “There’s no need. If anything, I helped them. If I hadn’t come, they would’ve suffered badly against you.”

He tossed Wang Jie a bottle of healing medicine.

Wang Jie didn’t hesitate. He smeared it across the torn flesh on his back. Coolness spread; the bleeding slowed.

They rested in Yi Sword Heaven for half a day before preparing to go.

Wang Jie went out of his way to find the stone-sword creature and say goodbye. He warned it not to come out again.

Lock Interspace didn’t have many people who could beat it, but who knew whether Black-White Heaven might take interest?

Outside was a sea of power. A single Roaming-Star Realm expert could erase the stone-sword creature without effort.

The stone-sword creature watched him go, reluctant, but it didn’t follow.

When the ship lifted into the sky, Wang Jie looked back at Yi Sword Heaven, shrinking beneath the clouds.

He would return.

Just not yet.

Next time, he should be Star-Breaking Realm.

He had cleared eight layers out of fifteen. Seven remained.

As Yi Sword Heaven faded into the distance, Wang Jie turned away.

Zong Cheng Ping glanced at him, curiosity plain. “Old Brother, where are you from?”

Wang Jie’s voice was flat. “I don’t know. I just went from one stretch of starry sky to another.”

Zong Cheng Ping chuckled. “You can use the Nebula Stream alone, and you bought a nebula-belt-class ship the moment you arrived in Lock Interspace. Old Brother, you’re not short on resources.”

“Not bad,” Wang Jie said. Then he looked over. “What about you, Old Brother? How much have you made off the Four Alliances all these years?”

For some reason, the question made Zong Cheng Ping’s skin prickle, as if a blade had brushed his throat.

He coughed. “Not much. I’ve reached my limit. Earning more or less doesn’t mean anything anymore, so I’ve distributed most of it to the people under me.”

Wang Jie didn’t believe him for a second.

The cultivation world was full of deceit. He’d learned that long ago on Blue Star.

Some people wore soft faces and hid poison hearts. Some looked cold and carried warmth inside. You couldn’t tell at a glance.

And Wang Jie had never pretended to be good. He was the kind of man who repaid grudges.

They chatted as the ship flew, Zong Cheng Ping probing for Wang Jie’s origins while Wang Jie tried to pry open Lock Interspace itself.

He didn’t learn much about Lock Interspace—but he did learn Zong Cheng Ping’s lineage.

Zong Cheng Ping offered it as if casually. On purpose.

“My Master is Xiao Rong,” he said. “The number one lockforce cultivator in fourth nebula. A Roaming-Star Realm powerhouse. He’s on the Star-Cloud Battlefield right now.

“He serves the Chief Huntsman and commands billions of lockforce cultivators.”

Wang Jie blinked. “Billions?”

Zong Cheng Ping smiled. “Billions isn’t much. A sect with a long inheritance can bring out tens of millions of lockforce cultivators easily—even if it only controls a few hundred slaughterstone planets.

“And Black-White Heaven has over ten thousand slaughterstone planets. Ten billion, a hundred billion—it’s all possible.”

“Those lockforce cultivators all come from Lock Interspace?” Wang Jie asked.

“Yes. Every year, Lock Interspace sends a large number to Black-White Heaven for the Star-Cloud Battlefield.”

Zong Cheng Ping’s gaze dimmed. “Because lockforce cultivators burn out too quickly.

“Sometimes a single clash between powerhouses sends ripples that kill hundreds of thousands. Millions. More.”

He looked back at Wang Jie. “Not every lockforce cultivator can be like you, Old Brother.

“Even I wouldn’t dare say I could walk onto the Star-Cloud Battlefield and come back alive.”

Wang Jie’s eyes stayed on him. “The Star-Cloud Battlefield—who are you fighting?”

“I don’t know. Master knows, but I never asked. Maybe another nebula.”

Then Zong Cheng Ping gestured ahead. “We’ve arrived. Old Brother, want to come to my alliance and sit for a while? It’s not far from the Lone Peak Gorge. Everyone’s curious about you.”

Wang Jie declined.

They reached the Lone Peak Gorge.

Under the gaze of countless people, Wang Jie boarded his own ship. Miao Tai hurried after him and slipped in as well.

Not long after, the ship lifted and vanished into the starry distance.

Just as Zong Cheng Ping promised, no one stopped them.

Fu An looked unsettled. “He really is Ten Seals?”

Zong Cheng Ping’s expression was grave. “I still haven’t confirmed his origins, but he’s not simple.

“Ten Seals fighting me to a draw… even Master couldn’t do that.”

Fu An exhaled. “Lock Interspace is going to change.”

Old Cui’s mouth twisted. “That Miao Tai is clever. He followed him.”

—

In the calm dark of space, Miao Tai dropped to his knees the moment the hatch sealed.

“Lord,” he blurted, “this one was negligent! I didn’t tell you about the one-month deadline. I deserve death. Please punish me!”

Wang Jie didn’t even look up. “Get up.”

Miao Tai scrambled to his feet, face still pale.

Wang Jie took a sip of water. “Tell me what you know about Black-White Heaven.”

Miao Tai straightened. “Black-White Heaven controls fourth nebula. It has the Black Realm, the White Realm, the Council of Elders, the Star-Cloud Battlefield…”

Wang Jie listened, then turned to the window and stared out at the abyss beyond the glass.

Miao Tai’s explanation was detailed—but it was mostly common knowledge. A man like him wasn’t going to know the true innards of Black-White Heaven.

Still, it was enough.

Black-White Heaven sounded… complicated.

Black Realm and White Realm shared power—so that was why it was called Black-White Heaven.

Black Realm specialized in attack. White Realm specialized in defense.

Three of the four refining grounds belonged to Black Realm.

The Council of Elders held twenty-one Hundred-Star Realm elders, acting as a check against Black Realm and White Realm alike.

But the real authority, the one that truly ruled, belonged to the zhi family.

The Ding Chen Zhi family.

A bridgeway art clan.

Miao Tai added his guesses on top of what he knew, careful and respectful.

Wang Jie only cared about one thing. “How do I get as many materials as possible?”

Miao Tai hesitated, then said one word. “Seize.”

That single word stirred something deep in Wang Jie’s chest.

Buy? Trade? Borrow? Hunt?

All slow. All uncertain.

Seizing was fastest.

When he’d first entered Lock Interspace, Du Xian had said the same thing: seize slaughterstone planets, seize materials.

“Seize who?” Wang Jie asked.

Miao Tai watched him cautiously. “Lord… do you have someone behind you?”

“Black-White Heaven?” Wang Jie countered.

“Yes.”

Wang Jie didn’t answer directly. “Do the Four Alliances and the Lone Peak Gorge have people behind them in Black-White Heaven?”

“They do,” Miao Tai said quickly. “Without backing, no one could form the Four Alliances—except Zong Cheng Ping, who has Xiao Rong behind him and is the recognized strongest Full-Star Realm cultivator. And the Lone Peak Gorge couldn’t survive under the Four Alliances’ pressure either.”

He lowered his voice. “On the surface, the Four Alliances are backed by Steward Hall and Discipline Hall.

“Both belong to the White Realm. The people inside are Roaming-Star Realm, at minimum.

“That’s only what small fry like us can know. The true hands behind them are almost certainly higher—possibly Hundred-Star Realm.”

He paused. “If you want to move against them, doing it only in Lock Interspace won’t be enough.”

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Did he have backing?

Of course he did. Zhi Xing Xue—someone from the zhi family.

But whether that Grand Elder would support him if he truly went too far… that was another question.

“Is there a way to send a message into Black-White Heaven?” Wang Jie asked.

“There is,” Miao Tai said. “But the price is steep.”

“Take me.”

The ship changed course.

Wang Jie returned to his quarters, closed his eyes—and when he opened them again, he stood in his field.

He’d mastered Chen Art and immediately sought out Zong Cheng Ping, but he hadn’t harvested anything yet.

Now was the time.

Master a Chen Art: complete.

All nine requirements: complete.

Wang Jie reached out and touched the sprouts.

All nine glowed at once, their light misty and soft. Then the lights merged, becoming a single beam that struck into his mind.

Heaven-Reversal Path.

Blackness taken to its extreme.

This was the true limit of Ten Seals.

A black so deep even light could be swallowed.

Wang Jie opened his eyes and exhaled slowly, thoughts tangled.

If he cultivated this, the lockforce required would be an astronomical number—far beyond anything he’d gathered so far. And breaking into Star-Breaking Realm would be even harder. He would have to shatter the mountain of Ten Seals itself.

He hesitated for a long time.

In the end, he chose to cultivate it.

He had fought too hard to obtain Heaven-Reversal Path to walk away now. If the predecessors could create it, why should he be afraid to practice it?

The universe was vast and full of strange power. If he didn’t gamble once, how would he ever stand in it?

If lockforce had a limit, then he would reach the limitless from inside that limit.

One by one, the sprouts vanished.

The field returned to normal.

With the sprouts gone, Wang Jie raised a hand and used Myriad-Stars Finger, testing whether he could grow anything further.

Nothing.

No sprouts.

No new path.

He wasn’t disappointed. Myriad-Stars Finger was already terrifying—stronger than Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger. And Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger was lost even in Jia Yi Sect, meaning Myriad-Stars Finger’s standing could only be higher.

He tried Sword Steps.

Nothing.

Sword Rig.

Nothing.

Jia Eight Steps.

Nothing.

Then he tried Power-Storing Method.

This time, as a phantom of his body sank into the field, sprouts rose in a cluster.

Five of them—just like Myriad-Stars Finger had required.

Power-Storing Method could grow the next one.

Wang Jie reached out and touched the sprouts.

Bone-Motion Art.

Five requirements appeared in his mind:

Complete skeletons of one hundred different kinds of creatures.

Find a mate for a good-looking pet.

Win arm-wrestling matches against ten professionals two realms above his own.

Star-break count.

Cultivate ten strength-based battle techniques.

Wang Jie stared, half amused, half resigned.

Strange, sure—but not impossibly so.

At least it was nowhere near as insane as the requirements for Heaven-Reversal Path.