Chapter 142

Chapter 142: Bold Beyond Belief

Wang Jie exhaled slowly.

The moment Nie Zhou brought up Lan Chang Nation, Wang Jie had known this would be trouble.

He wasn’t a good person—but he wasn’t the kind who would slaughter billions for materials, either.

And someone like Nie Zhou understood that perfectly. To Nie Zhou, Lan Chang Nation meant nothing. It was simply a lever to pry open human weakness.

He’d found Wang Jie’s.

Miao Tai hadn’t expected it. He’d followed Wang Jie for a while and still couldn’t read him completely.

So this was Nie Zhou—one of the Four Alliances.

Nie Zhou dared to gamble.

Did Wang Jie?

Wang Jie looked at him. “Fine. Then we gamble.”

Nie Zhou’s eyes turned vicious. “Then let’s start by killing ten million people to warm up.”

He moved as if to strike—

and Wang Jie’s voice cut through like steel.

“I didn’t kill the Feng brothers. I didn’t kill Lie Qiu.”

He leaned forward, killing intent so cold it seemed to freeze the air at their table. Yet the restaurant patrons beyond a few meters felt nothing at all.

“But I can kill you.”

Nie Zhou’s motion stalled. His gaze darkened.

“You think I spared them because I’m kind?” Wang Jie said. “Then guess this—if you’ve seen through my nature so well, do you think I won’t kill you just to vent my anger?”

Nie Zhou’s eyes flickered. He didn’t answer.

Wang Jie tapped the tabletop lightly. “Let’s change the bet.”

His tone was calm, almost gentle. “A bet that benefits both of us.”

“Use your life,” he said, “to buy the lives of Lan Chang Nation’s twenty-three billion.”

Nie Zhou narrowed his eyes. “How?”

“I’ll use a single move,” Wang Jie said. “If you think you can take it, I leave immediately. If you decide you’d die—then you hand over your materials.”

“That’s your reason to lose.”

Nie Zhou held Wang Jie’s gaze for several breaths.

Then he nodded once. “Fine.”

Wang Jie lifted a finger.

“Myriad-Stars Finger.”

For an instant, the restaurant vanished.

A starry sky replaced everything. Stars turned, distant and cold, as countless finger shadows descended toward Nie Zhou.

This wasn’t the performance he’d shown Lie Qiu and the Feng brothers.

Only Zong Cheng Ping had ever truly seen it—and admitted he couldn’t win.

This was Chen Art.

Nie Zhou watched the finger shadows close in and felt a helplessness he couldn’t put into words. It was as if gravity vanished, as if his body no longer belonged to him. He could barely breathe.

A dreamlike world. A real one.

This wasn’t ordinary Chen Art.

This was a lock technique—Chen Art cast with lockforce in place of starforce.

This man knew Chen Art?

No wonder Zong Cheng Ping had been powerless against him.

Nie Zhou’s face turned paper-white. He jolted upright so hard his chair toppled.

The starry sky vanished.

The restaurant returned.

Everyone turned to stare at him.

Nie Zhou panted, drenched in sweat, eyes locked on Wang Jie with raw disbelief.

Wang Jie lowered his hand and looked back out the window.

In peaceful times, people rushed for work, for food, for life. Busy or not, it carried a strange calm.

He hadn’t felt that kind of quiet in a long time.

The ship lifted into the universe.

Next stop: Lone Peak Gorge.

Miao Tai watched Wang Jie’s back, hesitating.

Wang Jie spoke without turning. “Say it.”

Miao Tai swallowed. “Nie Zhou… if you don’t kill him, there will be trouble later. That man is ruthless.”

He shook his head. “Everyone thinks Lan Chang Nation is his favorite place. Who would’ve thought he’d use it as a shield to save himself?”

Wang Jie’s voice stayed flat. “If someone was that easy to read, they wouldn’t survive in the starry sky.”

He was young, but he’d lived through Blue Star’s apocalypse. He’d seen more than enough.

Some acts looked cruel. To the people committing them, they were simply the cost of living.

To survive, people could be monstrous.

That was the most basic truth.

And revenge was just as basic.

It came down to who was stronger.

They went directly to Fu An.

Fu An was the strongest among Lone Peak Gorge’s five—and even then his combat power was only seventy thousand, far below Lie Qiu and Nie Zhou.

Wang Jie returned to that small courtyard. Fu An was there, and so was Cui Si… along with an unfamiliar Full-Star Realm cultivator named Qi Sheng.

“Wang Jie?” Cui Si blurted, startled by his arrival.

Qi Sheng frowned, instinctively wary. None of them wanted anything to do with this man.

Wang Jie looked to Fu An and spoke politely. “Senior, forgive me. I want to do something rather excessive.”

Fu An blinked. “What?”

His personal terminal rang. He didn’t want to answer, but the name on the display made him pause.

Zong Cheng Ping.

“Answer it,” Wang Jie said.

Fu An turned on the audio. “Senior Zong.”

Zong Cheng Ping’s voice came through, heavy. “Wang Jie came to you?”

Fu An glanced at Wang Jie. “Yes. He just arrived.”

“Put him on.”

Wang Jie stepped closer. “I’m here, Senior. Speak.”

“Do you know what you’ve done?” Zong Cheng Ping demanded.

“I do,” Wang Jie said evenly. “It’s excessive.”

“You’re courting death.”

Fu An and the others stared. They hadn’t seen Zong Cheng Ping this furious in a very long time—not even over Yi Sword Heaven.

Wang Jie clasped his hands behind his back. “Maybe. Or maybe not. But trouble is certain.”

His tone sharpened. “So, Senior—are you going to stand up for them?”

“Their matters are not mine to decide,” Zong Cheng Ping said. “But the people you offended aren’t them. It’s the people behind them.”

His voice grew colder. “Ask Fu An who stands behind Lone Peak Gorge. Didn’t Lie Qiu tell you? They all have Black-White Heaven backing them.”

“You robbed them. Did you consider the consequences? Or do you think the one behind you is higher than the one behind them?”

Fu An and the others exchanged stunned looks.

He robbed Lie Qiu and the rest?

This man actually dared to do that?

Qi Sheng’s hand went to his weapon.

Cui Si took two cautious steps back.

Wang Jie sat down calmly, as if he were here for tea. “Lie Qiu, the Feng brothers, Nie Zhou—I took all of them.”

Then he looked at Fu An, Cui Si, and Qi Sheng. “So tell me. Do you want to hand yours over peacefully, or would you rather suffer a little first?”

His eyes were indifferent. “I don’t mind stretching my legs.”

“I’ll hand it over,” Cui Si said immediately.

Qi Sheng whipped his head toward him. “You’re that spineless?”

“Better than dying,” Cui Si snapped back.

Fu An let out a bitter laugh. “I’ll hand it over too.”

Wang Jie’s gaze shifted to Qi Sheng.

Qi Sheng’s fingers tightened around his weapon—then, under Wang Jie’s calm stare, he loosened his grip and lowered it.

Minutes later, Wang Jie’s ship rose again.

His mood was lighter than it had been in months.

Now, aside from Zong Cheng Ping, everyone in Lockwalk Space had been robbed.

That meant the biggest share was in his hands.

By his estimate, the calamity materials he’d gathered could push five imprints to heaven-reversal.

Five.

Still too few.

Lockwalk Space occupied an entire star chain and drew in lockforce cultivators from the fourth nebula. Its resources ran terrifyingly deep.

And even this only gave him half of what he needed.

It made his head ache.

Forget it.

Cultivate first.

He had too many storage rings. Too many materials.

Not long after, they found a place to enter seclusion.

Wang Jie deliberately separated from Miao Tai. Not because Miao Tai had done anything yet, but because he might.

You couldn’t afford to trust anyone completely.

A month passed.

Miao Tai finally reached him. “Lord, Black-White Heaven wants to speak with you.”

Wang Jie lifted his eyes. So it had come.

“Fine,” he said.

A woman’s voice came through the terminal—someone using Miao Tai’s device as a relay.

“Steward Hall,” she said coolly. “Steward Wu Yun has me tell you this: you can still admit your mistake. Return the materials. The past will be forgiven. And you can be made the Fifth Alliance.”

“Not interested,” Wang Jie replied. “Once the materials are in my hands, I don’t return them.”

His tone turned casual. “If they want them, they can come take them back.”

“Wang Jie, do you understand what you’re doing?” the woman snapped. “Lockwalk Space has rules, yes—but you can’t stay there forever.”

“Steward Wu Yun has countless ways to drag you out. When she does, whether you become a slave in Black-White Heaven or a slave on the Star-Cloud Battlefield, she can make you live worse than death.”

Her voice dripped disdain. “A small lockforce cultivator isn’t even worth Steward Wu Yun’s attention.”

Wang Jie chuckled. “Is that so? Then tell her to keep her eyes open.”

“Arrogant,” the woman hissed. “Who’s behind you? Who gave you the nerve?”

“Zhi Xing Xue,” Wang Jie said without hesitation.

If he was going to shelter under her banner, he had to speak the name. Otherwise, what was the point?

The line fell silent.

Then the call cut.

Wang Jie set the terminal down and resumed absorbing lockforce.

Not long after, in Zhi Upper Realm, a woman stood outside a courtyard and bowed.

“Zhi Shu requests an audience with Great-Aunt Ancestor,” she said. “Please announce me.”

A short while later, Zhi Shu entered.

Inside, Zhi Xing Xue was watering flowers as if she had all the time in the world.

Zhi Shu bowed again. “Greetings, Great-Aunt Ancestor.”

Zhi Xing Xue didn’t even look up. “What does a young one want with an old woman like me?”

Zhi Shu was the same woman who had once stood behind two elders and cut off resources. Even now, though her posture was respectful, her eyes held no warmth.

“The person Great-Aunt Ancestor brought back,” Zhi Shu said evenly, “does not follow rules. I came to inform you.”

Zhi Xing Xue finally glanced over. “Whether my people stole tools or not, you know perfectly well. A dignified seventh-rank grand craftsman getting their tools stolen by a few juniors—do you believe that story?”

“Junior does not,” Zhi Shu replied. “It will still be investigated. But I did not come for the Zhi Academy matter.”

Zhi Xing Xue’s expression shifted slightly. “Then what?”

Zhi Shu hesitated, then asked, “Great-Aunt Ancestor… do you remember someone named Wang Jie?”

Zhi Xing Xue gave a short hum. “That little brat? I remember. What about him?”

Zhi Shu’s tone stayed measured, but her eyes sharpened. “He has been acting wildly in Lockwalk Space—breaking rules, doing as he pleases. I ask Great-Aunt Ancestor to discipline him.”

She added smoothly, “Since he is yours, it is inconvenient for us to intervene.”

Zhi Xing Xue raised a brow. “What did he do?”

Zhi Shu’s lips pressed together.

How could she explain it?

Lockwalk Space didn’t need to submit materials upward. It only needed to deliver a yearly batch of lockforce cultivators.

Their control over the Four Alliances and Lone Peak Gorge had always been hidden. On the surface, no one was supposed to interfere in Lockwalk Space at all.

To say it aloud now was… difficult.