Chapter 164

Chapter 164: Well Done

Lie Qiu was confused. It was strange, but her instincts told her she had to do it. If she didn’t, she would feel restless and uneasy, unable to cultivate at all. She had no choice but to collect immediately.

In the distance, Wang Jie turned around. This was getting interesting.

He appeared in the third field, raised his hand, and drew his sword with a sweeping motion—a move from the Hanging Stream Sword Style. What he needed to do now was thoroughly study the appearance and mechanism of the cards in this third field, as well as the effect they had on Lie Qiu. He also wondered if they could help her learn the combat skills associated with the materials.

Soon after, Wang Jie found Lie Qiu. “Did you collect the fish?”

“I’ve collected them.”

“How do you feel?”

“No different. The restlessness is gone.”

“Could it be Wu Yun’s power at work?”

“Probably not. I think it might have something to do with that card. Do you remember the one with the fish design on it?”

“I don’t remember.”

“I remember.”

“Show me.”

“I can’t find it.”

Wang Jie stared at Lie Qiu in surprise. “Gone?”

Lie Qiu’s expression became serious. “Yes, it’s gone. I clearly put it away, but now I can’t find it. I suspect it’s related to that card. Maybe it’s some kind of curse.”

“Where did you find it?”

“On the ground,” Wang Jie replied.

Lie Qiu opened her mouth to say something but couldn’t get the words out.

At this moment, Wang Jie still held a card in his hand. The card was adorned with a pattern of stones—each one representing deep-sea stones every hundred meters.

Now, Lie Qiu seemed to no longer want the card, so he had to take a more subtle approach.

“Let’s spar.”

“I can’t beat you.”

“That’s why it’s called sparring.”

“There’s no need, we’ve fought before.”

“Come on, I’m trying new combat techniques. Don’t make me have to beat you up.”

“You don’t think of me as a woman, do you?”

Half a month passed quickly. During this time, Wang Jie constantly experimented with Lie Qiu, and she suffered greatly, though she didn’t even know the cause.

By now, Wang Jie had a rough understanding of the third field’s mechanism.

The third field corresponded to the first field, using combat techniques to reverse the card extraction. The cards contained materials that had been obtained through previous combat techniques. When these materials were placed on someone else, they had to complete the task related to those materials or else feel restless and unable to cultivate. Unless the person discovered the card on them and discarded it within a short time, they would have to bear the consequences because the card would quickly disappear from their body. If too much time passed, they wouldn’t be able to find it to throw it away.

Once the material task was completed, the person would receive no reward—only the completion of the task.

Task cards could be reused, and the tasks on them could be edited or reduced.

If someone wanted another person’s task to end early, they could create the same card in the field, and the card on the person would return to them.

After understanding all of these mechanisms, Wang Jie felt much more at ease. He realized that from now on, he wouldn’t be the only one taking action—many others would also be involved.

He immediately compiled all the materials he had completed so far.

It was quite a lot.

In the future, whenever he found someone he didn’t like, he would just hand them a card.

As long as they didn’t know. As long as they were willing to keep it.

Beep beep beep.

Wang Jie’s personal terminal rang.

His eyes brightened. “The Elder Court is here. Let’s go.”

At this moment, Lie Qiu was with Wang Jie. She had collected stones, searched for fish eyes, and was still hunting for the 33-year-old flower and, the most disgusting of all, the tears of a heartbroken young girl. How was she supposed to find that? If she didn’t, she couldn’t cultivate.

It was the most nauseating thing.

She could visibly see the weariness in her eyes.

Wang Jie pitied her and replanted the task materials. Only then did her task stop.

At the Sword Mastery Heaven entrance, two cultivators stood outside the Shen Wang ship, sizing it up, occasionally speaking, their words dripping with disdain, and occasionally laughing. Many people were scattered around, including lock-force and star-force cultivators.

Among them, Wang Jie and Lie Qiu saw Fu An.

When Wang Jie and Lie Qiu arrived, Fu An glanced at them, nodded, and stayed in place.

The two cultivators beside the Shen Wang ship turned their heads. As soon as they saw Wang Jie, their expressions darkened, and they subtly released pressure.

Both were experts from the Wandering Star Realm.

Wang Jie walked up to them. “From the Elder Court?” He was not polite since they clearly didn’t care about him.

“Are you Wang Jie?” A younger cultivator looked at him with disdain, blatantly sizing him up.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Such arrogance. You don’t even greet us when you see us. Do you really think you’re something special?”

“Enough. Let’s get to the point.” The older cultivator looked at Wang Jie. “Tell me, where is Wu Yun?”

Wang Jie shook his head. “I don’t know. But she should be outside Sword Mastery Heaven. She won’t let me go.”

“Tell me about the process when she tried to assassinate you.”

Wang Jie briefly explained.

The two cultivators exchanged shocked looks. “You actually survived an assassination attempt by Wu Yun? You must have had incredible luck.”

“If it weren’t for that Qiu Chou, you’d be dead. What a pity that it wasn’t you.”

Wang Jie glared coldly at the younger cultivator.

The man sneered. “What, not happy? Hmph, if it weren’t for the others’ face, I would slap you dead myself. Wu Yun wouldn’t even need to attack.”

Wang Jie’s tone was cold. “Wu Yun is weak. Qiu Chou managed to severely injure her. She definitely doesn’t need two Wandering Star Realm experts to surround me.”

Lie Qiu glanced at Wang Jie. This guy was too sharp—he was feeding them lies. If they actually believed Wu Yun was weak and could be easily killed, they would be in for a nasty surprise.

“Enough, a deacon isn’t that strong. I specially turned down the deacon position and joined the Elder Court.”

The older cultivator furrowed his brow, stopping the younger cultivator from speaking. He looked at Wang Jie. “We will judge Wu Yun’s strength ourselves. As for you, you once provoked the Elder Court. No matter who was behind you, you will have to pay the price.” He turned and left.

Before he left, the younger cultivator made a throat-slitting gesture toward Wang Jie.

Wang Jie remained calm. A price to pay?

Not long after they left, another ship arrived, this one carrying materials.

Wang Jie had Zong Cheng Ping and the others send the materials they had gathered over the past few months from the Lock Path interval. This was a significant amount, and he urgently needed it. He was about to head to Zhi Academy, and who knew when he would return.

Soon, the material-carrying ship departed.

Wang Jie turned to look at the distance. “Why aren’t you leaving?”

Lie Qiu was still there.

“It’s not safe.”

“The Elder Court is here. Wu Yun doesn’t need to kill you to silence you. You can go now.”

Lie Qiu shook her head. “I know her. You, me, we’re all on her kill list. I’ll wait and leave with you.”

A few days later, another ship approached.

It was Little Blue, the maid of Zhi Xing Xue, arriving.

Wang Jie looked at the old woman stepping off the ship and immediately walked over to greet her. “Junior Wang Jie, greetings, Senior.”

Lie Qiu quickly followed suit. “Greetings, Senior.”

The old woman smiled, sizing up Wang Jie. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time, Wang Jie. You’ve done well.”

Wang Jie bowed respectfully. “Junior still has many shortcomings. Otherwise, Senior wouldn’t have had to make such a long trip.”

“Heh, it’s nothing. But I really want to find that little deacon and see how bold she is to target our people.” The old woman’s gaze turned deadly, and a chill spread through the starry sky like a blade.

Wang Jie felt warmth in his heart.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you to Zhi Academy. It’s the safest place until that little deacon is found.”

“Such a pity. We finally secured the Lock Path interval.”

“Don’t worry. The rules have already been set. No surprises. Whenever you come, the Lock Path interval will be yours.” The old woman glanced at Lie Qiu, causing her to stiffen and quickly bow.

The old woman withdrew her gaze and continued. “Besides, the Master has already made the first step using the Lock Path interval. It has already served its purpose.”

“So, is there anything you need me to do at Zhi Academy?”

“Zhi Academy is completely different from the Lock Path interval…”

On the ship, Lie Qiu stayed as far away as possible from Wang Jie, fearing she might overhear something she shouldn’t and be silenced. This old woman was far more terrifying than Wu Yun.

Wang Jie didn’t know the old woman’s true strength, but her complete disregard for Wu Yun suggested she might have reached the Hundred Star Realm.

They were traveling on Wang Jie’s ship as they left Sword Mastery Heaven. The old woman had arrived on a star-belt class ship, inferior to Wang Jie’s. Wang Jie also couldn’t bear to leave the Shen Wang ship behind, so he took it with him to Zhi Academy.

Arriving at Lone Peak Gorge, they dropped off Lie Qiu, and then made their way to the store where they could contact Zhi Xing Xue. Even here, the old woman couldn’t contact Zhi Xing Xue directly.

“Senior, I’ve come out.”

“Little Blue will tell you about Zhi Academy. You don’t need to worry about anything. Just take a break and relax.”

“I understand. By the way, Senior, I still have a Strange Planet from Lie Qiu. She gave it to me to save her life.” He explained the Strange Planet’s features. “But I haven’t had time to verify it.”

Zhi Xing Xue smiled with satisfaction. Now that Wang Jie was safe and had secured his retreat, there was no need for her assistance, yet he still brought up the Strange Planet. This was enough to show her that the child had truly recognized her.

Strange Planets were highly valuable. Those cultivators in the Full Star Realm who used Strange Star Force had to sacrifice at least one, if not more, Strange Planets to reach their power.

To reach the Full Star Realm, a cultivator needed to absorb the Star Force from an entire planet, and Strange Planets were no exception. This meant that every cultivator who attained the Full Star Realm by using Strange Star Force had destroyed at least one Strange Planet.

The scarcity of Strange Planets explained why they were so highly prized. If there were many, their value would have diminished long ago.

“Keep it for yourself. You’ve earned it with your life. Speaking of which, this incident was my carelessness. I didn’t expect the deacon to personally intervene. Zhi Qing’s pressure and temptations pushed her to risk killing you. This may happen again in the future, but rest assured. Zhi Qing will pay the price, and I will too.”

“Senior sending me to Zhi Academy is enough.”

“This is just a precautionary measure. Little Blue hasn’t told you yet, but I’m finding a way to send you to Great Star Mountain to cultivate the Star Method. The qualification for that needs to be earned slowly.”