Chapter 158
Chapter 158: Zhong Yi’s Sword
Wang Jie had been waiting in the shop for a long time when Zhi Xing Xue contacted him: “Xiao Rong has returned to the battlefield. Tell me the location of the Strange Planet. The sect will go check it out.”
Wang Jie felt both relieved and reluctant. He understood how valuable the Strange Planet was, but there was no choice: “Alright, thank you, Senior.”
Zhi Xing Xue reassured him, “Don’t feel too attached. Compared to your life, something like the Strange Planet is much less valuable.”
“I understand, Senior. You don’t need to worry.”
Zhi Xing Xue laughed softly and comforted him a few more times, reminding him not to delay his cultivation for the sake of material possessions.
…
In the Zhi Upper Realm,
Zhi Shu found Zhi Qing and said, “Xiao Rong has returned to the battlefield. Wang Jie found a Strange Planet in the Lock Path interval. He exchanged it with a method that can elevate the ten-imprint seals to a deep black color to intercept Xiao Rong outside the Lock Path interval.”
Zhi Qing became furious, but there was nothing she could do.
The price—while they could offer more—had its limits. Once those limits were surpassed, it became not worth it.
“He’s willing to part with it, but how did he find the Strange Planet? Those people in the Lock Path interval couldn’t find it in all these years.”
Zhi Shu pondered, speaking in a low voice, “It’s likely that the planet belongs to the Four Alliances and Lone Peak Gorge. They must have hidden it.”
Zhi Qing’s eyes darkened. “We’ll deal with Zhi Xing Xue once we finish this. What’s the update on the other matter?”
“I contacted some disciples from Frost Radiance Sect about Wang Jie. They know him as a celestial refinement master honored guest, but that’s all. Fortunately, one of them mentioned a disciple named Luo Yan, who was once hired by Wang Jie. I investigated and found out that Luo Yan is very close to him.”
“Luo Yan? Male or female?”
“Male.”
“Being hired, what use is that?”
Zhi Shu didn’t dare to answer.
“Continue investigating. Who would have thought that I, Zhi Qing, would have to go to such lengths to deal with an ant? It’s laughable.”
Zhi Shu quickly withdrew.
Zhi Qing gazed into the distance, her expression somber. Celestial refinement master, huh? That title is the real trouble. It’s the one thing that guarantees he won’t enter the Star Cloud battlefield. Looks like I’ll have to find another way.
…
On Wang Jie’s side, after dealing with Xiao Rong, Qiu Chou contacted him again, urging him to hurry to the fifteenth floor.
Compared to the distant concern over Xiao Rong, Wang Jie had more urgent matters to deal with on Qiu Chou’s side.
Besides, he was curious to see what the fifteenth floor held.
At least he could now open the ninth floor, though the tenth floor was still uncertain.
Wang Jie boarded the ship headed for Sword Mastery Heaven.
On the way, he continued to study the third plot of land. He tried throwing various materials, tools, elixirs, and even food into it, but nothing happened.
Upon arriving at Sword Mastery Heaven, Qiu Chou was already waiting.
He would not allow Wang Jie to enter without his knowledge. At this moment, Wang Jie was about to enter the ninth floor.
“Take off all your storage rings,” Qiu Chou said, staring at him.
Wang Jie frowned. “This is too much.”
Qiu Chou drew his sword, its cold edge gleaming. “If you don’t take off the rings, I’ll check everything inside them when you come out. You choose one.”
Wang Jie glared at Qiu Chou, feeling an urge to fight. Reaching the Star Breaking Realm, he might not lose in a fight against him, but if he couldn’t defeat Qiu Chou, it would cause trouble. This man could become an opening for Zhi Qing and her people to target him.
After some thought, Wang Jie decided to leave the storage rings behind.
The rings could only be opened with his blood. Qiu Chou wouldn’t be able to open them, and taking them would be meaningless.
Qiu Chou studied him for a moment before sheathing his sword. “Go ahead.”
Wang Jie turned and walked away.
Qiu Chou frowned. Was it just his imagination? It felt as though the kid had given him a dangerous look. But his aura seemed unchanged.
Wang Jie’s toad breath was something Qiu Chou couldn’t see through. He had no idea that Wang Jie had already broken through.
Only Du Xian knew.
Du Xian had told him that he wouldn’t sell out his information unless Star Dome Vision explicitly rejected his invitation to join. That meant he was now effectively a part of Star Dome Vision.
It had been a while.
Wang Jie didn’t search for the stone sword creature to avoid disturbing it. Instead, he went directly to the ninth floor.
…
Upon entering, he encountered a massive bear-like creature, which roared and shook the heavens when it saw him.
This was a wandering star realm beast, with a combat power of a hundred thousand.
The battle power detector displayed increasing numbers, and Wang Jie smiled. Perfect—this would be a good test of his power.
He leaped into the air and threw a punch.
The beast raised a paw to strike back.
Boom!
The terrifying shockwave swept across the entire ninth floor, and Wang Jie was sent flipping backward, landing and retreating a few steps. He looked up, and the beast charged toward him with a furious roar.
Wang Jie exhaled. This beast was strong—stronger than himself.
Normally, his strength surpassed that of most wandering star realm beasts, such as Shen Wang or Qiu Chou. But this one was clearly skilled in physical power as well. Well, then, let’s continue.
He focused his energy and performed the Armor Eight Steps in front of the beast, delivering a whip-like kick.
The beast raised its paw to block, but the force of Wang Jie’s kick shattered its claws, sending the creature stumbling back a step. Wang Jie spun around and kicked it in the head. The beast howled in pain as its skull cracked open. In a fit of rage, it clapped its paws together, releasing its full lock force, sending a pressure wave across the entire ninth floor toward Wang Jie.
Wang Jie raised his eyes and merged his own energy with the beast’s.
A transparent wave of energy surged, burning through the air as his fist shot forward with a boom.
There was no great explosion, only a straight line slicing through the sky, as if cleaving the entire ninth floor in half.
The beast’s lock force suddenly halted, and it collapsed to the ground, dead.
Wang Jie landed, shaking his hand. “That was tricky. But a hundred thousand combat power really is impressive. If we were in the universe, I wouldn’t be able to match this creature.”
As the beast died, storage rings began to fall from the sky.
Wang Jie was surprised. He quickly picked them up and checked. They were full of materials—quite a lot of them.
This amount was far more than what Zong Cheng Ping and the others had. He estimated that it would be enough to elevate three seals to Heaven Reversal level. Though he was already in the Breaking Star stage, he would need to absorb more lock force to reach the full Star Realm.
Starforce cultivators had planets at their disposal to absorb star force.
But Wang Jie didn’t have that luxury.
He would need to continue collecting. The journey ahead would be long.
…
Next up was the tenth floor, but before that, he had to head to the surface and show Qiu Chou the storage rings, so he wouldn’t think they were hidden by Wang Jie. He would wait a while before returning—didn’t want Qiu Chou to know how quickly he’d solved the problem.
And it was almost time for his exercises.
He stayed in the ninth floor for another day, doing his exercises, absorbing lock force, and continuing his study of the third plot of land. After completing his routine, he left.
…
Returning to the surface, he took out the storage rings and showed them to Qiu Chou.
Qiu Chou examined them one by one before looking at Wang Jie. “Is this the reward from the ninth floor?”
“Isn’t it enough?”
“It’s a lot, but it’s not what I wanted.”
“You want it? Is it more valuable than this?”
Qiu Chou didn’t argue—he knew that Zhong Yi’s sword was indeed the most valuable item.
“Let’s go to the tenth floor.”
“Let me rest first. Do you have any healing pills?”
Qiu Chou threw a few Restoration Pills at Wang Jie. “Buy your own next time.”
Wang Jie nodded. “Alright, I’ll buy some. You wait for me.”
Qiu Chou narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to play tricks?”
Wang Jie rolled his eyes. “Do you think the ninth floor was that easy to clear? Let me tell you, there was a hundred thousand combat power wandering star realm beast there.”
Qiu Chou’s eyes narrowed. Hundred thousand combat power? That meant this kid could now single-handedly kill wandering star realm experts.
“I cleared it, but it drained all my energy, and it took a lot of time and effort. Who knows what’s on the tenth floor.”
“My pills were used up dealing with Shen Wang’s escape. If I don’t buy more, what happens if I die on the tenth floor? It won’t matter to me, but your sword will be gone forever.”
Wang Jie said slowly.
Qiu Chou looked at him deeply before taking out a bottle of Restoration Pills and tossing it over. It contained thirty pills—not much, but enough for now.
Wang Jie accepted them. “Thanks. But if you had Revive Pills, that would be even better.”
Qiu Chou glared coldly. “Revive Pills? You wish. I don’t have any. A single pill costs a million starstones, and they’re hard to even buy in the Lock Path interval.”
“I was just saying. If you don’t have any, forget it.” Wang Jie said, then deliberately rested for over ten days before heading to the tenth floor.
Qiu Chou’s eyes were full of expectation, but also a coldness.
Would this person really give him Zhong Yi’s sword if he got it?
…
The tenth floor was desolate, with only a few scattered weeds swaying in the wind. The landscape was bleak.
Wang Jie walked toward the end.
Along the way, he saw a few creatures, but they were all insects—barely any mutated beasts.
The air reeked of decay, making it unpleasant to breathe.
He reached the end and saw a mountain, which seemed to connect the ninth floor, like a wall supporting the entire tenth floor. Below the mountain, chains gathered toward an archway. Under the arch, a creature lay still as though dead, its limbs bound by chains, unmoving.
Wang Jie gazed from afar. Could this be an Eight Prison Berserk Clan creature?
Eight arms, bull horns, five meters tall, and a thick tail.
No doubt about it—it was from the Eight Prison Berserk Clan.
How did it end up here, locked up? Was it Zhong Yi’s doing? No one else could have done it. Even a Star Breaking Realm cultivator from Black White Heaven wouldn’t have the power to lock a wandering star realm expert.
The battle power detector showed no readings. The creature seemed lifeless.
Wang Jie looked to both sides. The mountain stretched far into the distance, and the archway seemed to be the only gap into the tenth floor.
Was he supposed to go through?
He slowly approached. The Berserk Clan creature was definitely dead.
Zhong Yi was from a long time ago. If this creature had been imprisoned by her, even a wandering star realm expert might not have survived this long.
The ground beneath his feet made a faint sound. He looked down—bones everywhere.
Hmm? All bones.
The foul stench in the air was unmistakable—it was the smell of decayed flesh.
Had the creature eaten all the life in the tenth floor?
As Wang Jie approached the creature, he saw the archway more clearly. Behind it, a sword was embedded in the ground.
Seeing that sword, Wang Jie’s eyes widened, and his heart raced. That was Zhong Yi’s sword!
It was actually here, on the tenth floor.
He felt his heart beat faster.
He had previously asked Miao Tai and others about Zhong Yi’s sword, but they all said it was just a rumor. How could Zhong Yi bear to leave her sword in Sword Mastery Heaven? The sword was said to be a Five Tribulations Star Artifact.
What did that mean? The best star artifact Wang Jie had encountered so far was a Three Tribulations artifact, which was worth at least four million starstones.
The difference between a Four Tribulations and Three Tribulations star artifact was immense, as they corresponded to powerful hundred star realm experts. Weapons at this level were incredibly difficult to obtain, making them worth at least one hundred million starstones.