Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Invitation

Du Xian’s final strike landed squarely on Wang Jie’s chest, sending him flying through the air, crashing hard into the ground.

Wang Jie lay there, his eyes fixed on the starry sky, his face as pale as death.

“Alright, you can begin now,” came Du Xian’s voice.

With great effort, Wang Jie managed to rise, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His condition was dreadful. His entire body felt numb, as though a spaceship had rolled over him. Even the slightest movement of his fingers sent waves of excruciating pain through his body.

Swaying on his feet, he stared ahead at the twenty foam-like stars, lined up in a row. One strike. He only had one chance.

He closed his eyes.

Within his flesh, the lock force surged and accelerated, his energy aligning as power continuously poured from his body, forming a nearly transparent flame around him, burning just beneath the surface.

Du Xian watched this scene with a grave expression. What was this?

Before she could ponder it further, Wang Jie’s eyes snapped open. He extended a finger.

The starry finger technique.

Stars began to revolve, as if the heavens themselves were shifting.

One by one, the stars spun in front of Du Xian, spinning as though they were real.

She was stunned. The star method. No wonder this man had been able to defeat Zong Cheng Ping, a full star realm expert, overpowering the Lock Path interval. To think that he could use lock force to execute the star method. And what’s more, this star method was extremely potent, sending a chill through her.

Fingers of shadow struck at each of the stars, ultimately merging into one.

Wang Jie’s gaze grew cold, his power, energy, and lock force all converging at one point, releasing with a single, decisive strike.

The starry finger technique, go.

Boom, boom, boom…

The shadow of his finger descended, striking the void. In an instant, each foam-like star exploded, one after another.

Du Xian’s pupils contracted, her heart racing in horror. The scale of the destruction far surpassed anything she had ever witnessed. The force of impact that shattered the stars exceeded her understanding, more shocking than anything she had ever seen.

In fact, a breaking star stage expert’s ability to shatter several stars with their first strike could already give a rough sense of their strength.

The most shocking breaking star expert she had ever seen in real life was the star guardian from the Star Dome Visage. She had been fortunate enough to witness it. Yet, even that star guardian had only shattered three stars with a single attack.

But Wang Jie? He shattered ten.

In an instant, ten stars.

Even though the star guardian had destroyed actual stars, the difference wasn’t so great when comparing the two.

Three stars could be compared to about five, maybe six stars from current technology.

But Wang Jie? He shattered ten.

He had surpassed the star guardian.

One after another, the stars exploded. In just three breaths, all twenty foam-like stars were obliterated, reduced to ash. Countless fragments rained down like a shower.

The stars beneath his feet trembled. In the distance, mountain ash was swept into the sky by fierce winds, darkening the sky.

Du Xian stood stunned, gazing at Wang Jie. Who was this person, really?

After the strike, Wang Jie leaned on his knee, struggling to breathe, his gaze fixed on Du Xian. “Do you have any healing pills? Lend me one.” His restoration pill had been used up during his breakthrough, and he still had one revive pill left, which he couldn’t bear to use now.

Du Xian snapped back to reality and tossed him a restoration pill.

Wang Jie took it immediately, sitting down to recover.

Du Xian watched him in silence, her expression complicated. This man had actually surpassed the star guardian. That individual had been recognized by Star Dome Visage as an insurmountable anomaly, ranked alongside Shu Mu Night. And yet, this man was even more terrifying.

How had he done it?

Could it be that he had some way of defending against her attack, performing the breaking star stage in full condition? But his injuries didn’t seem fake.

She took a deep breath, choosing not to dwell on it further. She contacted her people to retrieve the equipment.

The only ones who knew about this event were herself and Wang Jie. The people she had brought along were forbidden from looking at the star, so they had no idea how many stars Wang Jie had destroyed.

Half a day later, Wang Jie began to recover, though one restoration pill wasn’t enough. But it wasn’t time for training yet. Looking around, he saw that the equipment was gone.

Du Xian was still waiting at a distance.

Wang Jie stood and walked over to her. “Thanks again.”

Du Xian scrutinized him, her eyes filled with curiosity. “Who exactly are you?”

Wang Jie frowned. “What do you mean by ‘who am I’? I’m just a lock force cultivator.”

Du Xian shook her head with a wry smile. “A lock force cultivator? That’s inconceivable. I thought you might come close to the star guardian, but I never imagined…” She trailed off, as though there were something she hesitated to say.

“I destroyed twenty stars, right? How would that compare to real stars?”

“I don’t know. No one has ever done it before. The people who could achieve it would have to shatter real stars.”

Wang Jie sighed. He had hoped to compare himself to Shu Mu Night.

Du Xian couldn’t judge from the result alone, but the instant her attack was countered, she knew he had surpassed the star guardian. Shu Mu Night was one of those star guardians.

“Wang Jie, I’d like to invite you to join Star Dome Visage.”

Wang Jie was stunned. This was the first time Du Xian had addressed him by name, and she did so seriously.

Star Dome Visage? He was intrigued. From what he could tell, Star Dome Visage was a vast entity, far beyond the Black White Heaven. It was probably similar to the Armor One Sect. And along his journey, Star Dome Visage had helped him the most, whether in the Silver Radiance Empire, Frost Radiance Sect, or Black White Heaven.

He was fated to have a connection with Star Dome Visage.

“Can I join?” he asked.

Du Xian smiled. “Of course. But I’m only extending the invitation. Whether you can join depends on a higher level assessment. If you agree, I’ll send word immediately.”

“What about my current status?”

“Do you think Black White Heaven acknowledges your status?”

Wang Jie thought for a moment. He was an honored guest of the Frost Radiance Sect, but he wasn’t officially recognized there either. He could only claim partial belonging to Frost Radiance Sect. Now that Frost Radiance Sect was destroyed and he fled to Black White Heaven, it would never be acknowledged.

In fact, he realized, he had never really had an official status.

No, he did have one—he was an emperor’s guard in the Silver Radiance Empire. That was an official position. After all, he had a house.

“Alright, I agree.” Joining Star Dome Visage would certainly be beneficial.

Du Xian smiled in delight. Recruiting talented individuals was part of her mission, and helping Wang Jie break through the supplementary star was also part of this plan. Wang Jie’s actions and achievements had more than justified her efforts, and the results exceeded expectations.

She handed Wang Jie a jade tablet, similar to the one that recorded martial techniques, but this one was an identity token.

“With this, Star Dome Visage’s external observers will find you. We call them ‘Great Cosmos Walkers.’ They’ll evaluate you randomly and without notice. Many people don’t even know when their evaluation begins, only when it ends.”

“Whether you can hold a position in Star Dome Visage will depend on your evaluator’s identity, your tasks, and the outcome of the evaluation.”

“I must remind you,” she added with a hint of envy, “the chances of passing the evaluation to join Star Dome Visage are one in ten thousand.”

Wang Jie was shocked. “One in ten thousand?”

Du Xian nodded. “That’s the rate for external invitations. Star Dome Visage has strict requirements for those it invites. Not even one person is invited every year, and even those who are invited have a one in ten thousand chance of actually joining.”

“But once you join,” her gaze turned envious, “your life will change. To put it simply, you’ll transcend your current class. It’s far more promising than anyone like us who’s been nurtured within Star Dome Visage since childhood.”

Wang Jie tucked the jade tablet away. “Will it be detected if I store it in my storage ring?”

“Put it wherever you like, but it must remain within a meter of you.”

Wang Jie understood, and after a while, he bid Du Xian farewell and left.

Du Xian immediately returned to her ship and made contact with others.

“Twenty? Do you know what you’re saying? Are you sure this could be done after a serious injury from breaking the Ten Seal Great Mountain?”

“I’m not sure anymore.”

“Alright, I understand. This result will be reported. This person’s evaluation will definitely be top priority. Let’s hope it’s a real result.”

Du Xian ended the conversation and sighed. If there were no mistakes, Wang Jie was truly incredible.

At that moment, Wang Jie stood in his field, examining his third plot of land.

That’s right, after breaking through to the star-breaking realm, the third plot of land had appeared. It was positioned behind the first plot, connected to it, though it was slightly darker in color.

Just like the first two plots, this third plot had already granted him something.

The nine-form diagram.

Its purpose was simple. It allowed him to replicate the nine angles, movements, and even the methods of using energy of whoever it was modeled after. There were nine diagrams in total. Completing them would allow him to mirror the person he had imitated. Others would be unable to distinguish him from the original by his movements, appearance, expressions, or even the imitated martial techniques.

Wang Jie put away the nine-form diagram, planning to find an opportunity to test it.

Now, however, he was focused on the third plot. What use did it have? He didn’t know. It had taken him a long time to figure out the purpose of the first two plots.

What was the third plot’s purpose?

He studied it for a long time without any answers.

But while researching the third plot, he didn’t idle away. He had sent people to gather the complete skeletons of one hundred species, collect strength techniques, search for handsome pets, and gather all full star realm cultivators from the Lock Path interval to arm wrestle with him.

Now that he had people under him, gathering materials was much easier.

Luo Yan alone had saved him a lot of effort in the past.

Now, it was even faster.

The complete skeletons of one hundred species were collected in half a day.

Then came the arm wrestling with full star realm cultivators. He had done this before with Lie Qiu and others, but not with everyone. Now, they were all gathered.

But even so, the arm wrestling task had not been completed yet.

As for the handsome pets… too many messages were coming in. He had spent a period of time running around, breeding the handsome pets, but it still wasn’t finished.

Could it be that “handsome” wasn’t viewed from a human perspective?

As for the strength techniques, there were many, and he had easily learned ten. All were rather ordinary, with some directly created by star-breaking realm experts. Rather than martial techniques, they were more like skills. This part was easy, and he had completed it.

Now, three out of the five materials for the Bone Motion Art had been gathered, leaving only the tasks of breeding the handsome pets and arm wrestling.

One day, Miao Tai came to find him and told him something.

“Strange planet?”

Miao Tai replied, “Yes, the Lock Path interval is vast, with countless stars. People have been searching for strange planets since ancient times. If you find one, it can sell for an astronomical price.”

“This is what the Four Alliances and Lone Peak Gorge have been doing.”

Wang Jie had completely forgotten about this.

Strange planet.

It had little to do with his lock force cultivation, so he hadn’t given it much thought.

In reality, star force cultivators were the ones most concerned with strange planets. Absorbing the star force from a strange planet could make star force cultivators stronger.

Why did star force cultivators look down on lock force cultivators?