Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Zhong Yi’s Sword

Wang Jie waited in the shop for a long time before Zhi Xing Xue contacted him again.

“Xiao Rong has returned to the battlefield,” she said. “Give me the anomalous planet’s coordinates. The sect will verify it.”

Relief washed through Wang Jie, and regret followed right on its heels. An anomalous planet was priceless.

He had no choice.

“All right,” he said. “Thank you, Senior.”

“Don’t be reluctant,” Zhi Xing Xue said gently. “Compared to your little life, an anomalous planet is a small thing.”

“Junior understands,” Wang Jie said. “Senior, rest assured.”

Zhi Xing Xue comforted him a few more times and reminded him not to delay cultivation for external things.

—

In Zhi Upper Realm, Zhi Shu reported to Zhi Qing.

“Xiao Rong has returned to the battlefield. Wang Jie discovered an anomalous planet in Lock Interstice. He offered that planet and a technique that deepens Ten Seals imprints to pitch-black as the price, in exchange for blocking Xiao Rong outside Lock Interstice.”

Zhi Qing’s fury flared—

and then she forced it down.

They could offer more, but everything had a limit. Beyond that limit, it wasn’t worth the price.

“He’s willing to pay,” Zhi Qing said coldly. “But how convenient—he just happens to find an anomalous planet? People in Lock Interstice have searched for years without finding one.”

Zhi Shu answered carefully, “It’s likely the four alliances and Lone Peak Gorge had it and concealed it.”

Zhi Qing’s eyes darkened. “After we deal with Zhi Xing Xue, we’ll settle accounts with them.

“And the other matter?”

“I questioned the Frostglow Sect disciples,” Zhi Shu said. “About Wang Jie, they only know he was a chen refiner Guest Elder. Nothing else.

“But someone mentioned a disciple named Luo Yan who had been hired by Wang Jie. I traced it and found Luo Yan is close to him.”

“Luo Yan,” Zhi Qing repeated. “Male or female?”

“Male.”

“Being hired doesn’t mean anything,” Zhi Qing snapped. “Keep digging.”

Zhi Shu didn’t dare argue.

Zhi Qing stared into the distance, her expression grim.

A chen refiner…

That identity was the real problem. It was enough to keep Wang Jie from being dragged into the Star-Cloud Battlefield.

If she wanted him dead, she would need another path.

—

Wang Jie had barely resolved the issue of Xiao Rong when Qiu Chou contacted him again, urging him to go to Yi Sword Heaven’s Fifteen Layers as soon as possible.

Compared to Xiao Rong—a danger that might return later—Qiu Chou was an immediate headache.

And Wang Jie himself wanted to go.

After the Star-Breaking Realm, he should be able to clear the ninth layer at least. The tenth… he wasn’t sure.

He boarded his ship and headed for Yi Sword Heaven.

On the way, he kept studying the third plot. He tried throwing in everything he could think of—tools, materials, pills, even food.

No reaction. Not even a flicker.

When he arrived, Qiu Chou was already waiting.

He would never let Wang Jie enter without his knowledge.

This time, Wang Jie intended to go straight to the ninth layer.

“Take off all your storage rings,” Qiu Chou ordered.

Wang Jie frowned. “That’s excessive.”

Qiu Chou drew his sword. Its edge was cold enough to sting. “Either leave them, or when you come out I inspect every single thing inside. Choose.”

For a moment, Wang Jie truly wanted to fight him.

Now that he’d reached Star-Breaking Realm, he might not lose. But if he couldn’t kill Qiu Chou cleanly, the trouble would be endless. Qiu Chou would become a crack Zhi Qing’s faction could pry open.

In the end, Wang Jie left his storage ring behind.

A storage ring required his blood to open. Qiu Chou couldn’t access it, and taking it would be meaningless.

Qiu Chou studied him for a long moment, then sheathed his sword. “Go.”

Wang Jie turned away.

Qiu Chou frowned, uneasy. Was it his imagination? That little kid’s gaze had looked… dangerous.

But Wang Jie’s aura was unchanged. It shouldn’t be anything.

Qiu Chou couldn’t see through Wang Jie’s Toad Breath.

He had no idea Wang Jie had broken through.

Only Du Xian knew—and she’d promised not to sell Wang Jie’s information unless Star Vault Vista rejected his invitation.

Meaning, for now, Wang Jie was practically half Star Vault Vista.

Wang Jie didn’t seek out the stone-sword creature. He didn’t want to disturb it. He went straight into the ninth layer.

A beast like a gigantic bear stood there. The moment Wang Jie appeared, it reared back and roared, shaking the world.

Roaming-Star Realm creature.

Combat power: one hundred thousand.

Wang Jie watched the Combat Power Detector jump and smiled.

Perfect.

He launched himself into the air and drove a punch down.

The beast raised a claw and smashed upward.

The collision detonated a violent shockwave that swept across the ninth layer.

Wang Jie flipped back, landed hard, and slid several steps. He lifted his head as the beast charged again, roaring.

He exhaled slowly.

Brutal strength—stronger than his.

Normally, his physical power already exceeded ordinary Roaming-Star Realm. Shen Wang and Qiu Chou, for instance, were not his match in raw strength.

But this beast clearly specialized in power.

Fine.

He’d meet it head-on.

Qi and strength merged. Jia Eight Steps.

Wang Jie flashed in front of the beast and whipped a kick.

The beast swept its claw sideways.

Bang.

Wang Jie’s kick snapped the claw clean off, and the remaining force shoved the beast back a step. Wang Jie spun and drove another kick into its head.

The beast shrieked. Its skull cracked.

Enraged, it brought both palms together. Lockforce surged outward, flooding the entire ninth layer with crushing pressure aimed straight at Wang Jie.

Wang Jie’s eyes sharpened.

Qi-Qi Convergence.

A transparent wave of qi ignited around him, pushing out from his body. He clenched his fist and punched.

There was no explosion—only a straight line of force cutting across the sky, like the ninth layer itself had been split open.

The beast’s lockforce stopped dead.

It toppled slowly.

Dead.

Wang Jie landed and shook out his hand. Tough.

But one hundred thousand combat power was truly no joke. In open space, fighting something like this head-on would be foolish.

This beast could travel the universe.

The moment it died, storage rings rained down from above.

Wang Jie blinked, then collected them one by one.

All materials.

A shocking amount.

More than anything Zong Cheng Ping and the others had ever carried.

By his estimate, it was enough to push three imprints to Heaven Reversal.

Even so, he still wasn’t close to Full-Star Realm.

Starforce cultivators had planets to feed them starforce.

He had nothing like that.

He needed far more lockforce. He would have to gather it bit by bit.

His road ahead was long.

Next was the tenth layer.

But first, he needed to return to the surface and let Qiu Chou see the storage rings. Otherwise Qiu Chou would accuse him of hiding them.

And it was too early to tear masks off.

He also needed time. He couldn’t let Qiu Chou know he’d cleared the ninth layer so quickly.

And his exercise routine was due.

So Wang Jie stayed in the ninth layer another day, completing his routine, absorbing lockforce, and continuing to experiment with the third plot.

Only then did he leave.

Back on the surface, he placed all the storage rings in front of Qiu Chou.

Qiu Chou inspected them one by one. When he finished, he looked up.

“So that’s the ninth layer’s reward?”

“It isn’t enough?” Wang Jie asked.

“It’s a lot,” Qiu Chou said flatly. “But it isn’t what I want.”

“What you want is later,” Wang Jie said. “Do you think this trash is more valuable than Zhong Yi’s sword?”

Qiu Chou didn’t refute that.

Zhong Yi’s sword was the real prize.

“Go to the tenth layer,” Qiu Chou ordered.

“Let me recover first,” Wang Jie said. “Do you have healing pills?”

Qiu Chou tossed him a few recovery pills. “Buy your own next time.”

“Fine,” Wang Jie said. “I’ll go buy some—wait here.”

Qiu Chou’s eyes narrowed. “Trying to pull something?”

Wang Jie rolled his eyes. “You think the ninth layer was easy?

“There’s a one hundred thousand combat power Roaming-Star Realm beast down there.”

Qiu Chou’s expression tightened.

So this little kid could now solo-kill a Roaming-Star Realm expert.

Wang Jie continued, “I cleared it, but it drained me. I used pills dealing with Shen Wang. If I go into the tenth layer like this and die, that’s on me.

“But if I die, your sword’s gone forever.”

Qiu Chou stared at him for a long moment, then grudgingly produced a bottle of recovery pills and threw it over.

Thirty pills. Not many, but enough for now.

Wang Jie caught it. “Thanks.

“If you had a revival pill too, that would be even better.”

Qiu Chou’s gaze turned icy. “Revival pill? Dream on. I don’t have one either.

“One million starstone per pill. Even in Lock Interstice, it’s hard to buy.”

“Just asking,” Wang Jie said lightly. “No is fine.”

Then, deliberately, he rested on the surface for more than ten days before heading into the tenth layer.

Qiu Chou watched with eagerness—

and something colder.

If Wang Jie really obtained Zhong Yi’s sword… would he hand it over?

The tenth layer was bleak. Sparse weeds bent in the wind across barren ground.

There were creatures, but mostly insects—almost no mutated beasts.

The air stank. It sat in the throat like rot.

Wang Jie walked all the way to the far end and found a mountain.

The mountain connected to the ninth layer like a wall, propping the tenth layer up.

At its base, chains converged into an archway. Beneath the archway lay a creature, bound tightly by those chains, motionless as a corpse.

Wang Jie stared from a distance.

Eight arms. Horns like an ox. Five meters tall. A heavy tail.

An Eight-Prison Mad Clan lifeform.

No doubt.

Why was something like this here?

And chained?

Had Zhong Yi done it?

Who else could?

Even if Black-White Heaven’s Star-Breaking Realm experts could enter, none of them would be able to chain down a Roaming-Star Realm creature.

The Combat Power Detector showed nothing. The creature looked dead.

Wang Jie glanced to either side. The mountain stretched beyond sight, which meant the archway was the only passage through the tenth layer.

He would have to go past it.

He approached slowly, telling himself the Mad Clan creature must be dead. Zhong Yi was a figure from long ago. Even a Roaming-Star Realm creature shouldn’t have been able to survive in chains for that long.

Something crunched underfoot.

Bones.

The ground was littered with them.

So the stench wasn’t just the air. It was the smell of flesh rotted away.

Had this creature eaten everything in the tenth layer?

As he drew closer, the archway came into clearer view.

And behind it—

a sword was planted in the ground.

Wang Jie’s pupils contracted. His heart lurched.

Zhong Yi’s sword.

It was here. In the tenth layer.

His pulse thundered.

He’d asked Miao Tai and others about it before. Even Zong Cheng Ping had said it was only rumor. How could Zhong Yi bear to leave her personal sword in Yi Sword Heaven?

That sword was said to be a Five Tribulations chen artifact.

What did that mean?

The best chen artifact Wang Jie had ever handled was only Three Tribulations—and even that started at four million starstone.

A Four Tribulations chen artifact was worlds apart. It corresponded to Hundred-Star Realm experts, and a suitable weapon at that realm was hard to come by.

The price started at one hundred million starstone.