Chapter 183

Chapter 183: Where Is Wang Jie

The truth was, by ordinary standards, Wang Jie’s lockforce capacity already matched full-star realm.

But Wang Jie wasn’t ordinary.

For full-star realm, absorbing a planet was the baseline. The size of that planet depended on the cultivator.

The planet Wang Jie needed would be far larger than what anyone else required.

Star-devourer, however, was beyond even his standard.

The lockforce inside it was enough.

Wang Jie exhaled slowly, desire tightening in his chest. He wanted star-devourer—wanted it with a greed that didn’t shame him at all. But he also prepared for the worst. If he couldn’t take it, he would find a way to buy it.

He resumed his low flight, searching for other disciples and for the two jade stones.

No one had said where the jade stones were.

No destination. No point of convergence.

In a way, that was mercy. If there had been a single location, roaming-star realm would have seized everything in the first hour.

Half a day later, Wang Jie saw wreckage in the distance.

A ship’s broken husk.

Bodies.

The contest was already soaked in blood.

Not long after, he spotted two star-breaking realm cultivators fighting high overhead. He watched without expression.

Star-breaking realm had no business here. It was suicide.

He’d already seen several corpses—star-breaking realm, all of them. Full-star realm could at least scrape out a chance to survive.

On the second day, a broadcast crackled through the channels.

“All Senior Brothers,” a voice announced, “the jade stones have been found.”

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed. Finally.

Across the region, other ships received the same message. The entire battlefield listened.

“The first jade stone appeared at these coordinates.”

Wang Jie’s gaze flicked to the display.

The Shen Wang Number.

His face darkened.

“The one who took the jade stone is named—Wang Jie.”

“A lockforce cultivator.”

“If any Senior Brother finds him, do not act rashly. This man can fight roaming-star realm at star-breaking realm. He is a once-in-a-billion genius among lockforce cultivators. Do not act rashly. Do not act rashly.”

Wang Jie’s expression turned to ice.

He hadn’t taken any jade stone.

Someone was poisoning the battlefield—painting him as the prize and turning him into everyone’s target.

And the speaker had even wrapped it in false concern, making the bait more convincing.

Other voices burst in immediately.

“Wang Jie? A lockforce cultivator—how high can he climb? Kill him.”

“Even if he’s as strong as ordinary roaming-star realm, so what? If he dares fight for star-devourer and offend us, we’ll make him kneel and beg later.”

“That name… I’ve heard it. Wasn’t it spreading recently…?”

Then another announcement cut in, sharp and unmistakable.

“I am Yun Ju,” the voice said. “I place a bounty on Wang Jie. Kill him and earn ten billion starstone. Provide reliable information and earn one billion starstone.”

“That’s Young Master Yun Ju?”

“Even a white roamer is here… how can anyone compete?”

“I heard six-path roamer might come too.”

Wang Jie’s heart jolted.

Six-path roamer.

Mo Wan Yin.

She still hadn’t arrived.

But no one said you couldn’t enter late. This was a battlefield. People came when they pleased.

“Six-path roamer?” someone scoffed. “Impossible. If one shows up, the rest of us may as well go home.”

“Hmph. The zhi family has people here too,” another voice warned. “This won’t be simple. If you value your life, leave before you lose it.”

“I’ll leave after I kill that lockforce cultivator,” someone else snarled.

Far away, Zhi Shu sat on a small, exquisitely crafted ship. Though compact, its materials and workmanship were on par with the Shen Wang Number.

She listened to the reports, sipping a crystal-clear drink, and smiled with cold amusement. “He really dared to come. Brave.”

She leaned back. “Looks like I won’t even need to dirty my hands.”

Then she set her course for the Shen Wang Number’s last known coordinates.

Wang Jie listened a while longer, then reached into his storage and took out the nine-form diagram.

A moment later, Qiu Chou stood in his place.

If they wanted to surround him, then they had to find him first.

He opened a channel to nearby ships and spoke with practiced ease. “Anyone there? Let’s team up. We’ll hunt Wang Jie together.”

Responses came quickly.

“I agree. If the steward hall is hunting him seriously, he’s not simple.”

“I agree too.”

“Where do we meet?”

“Who are you?”

Wang Jie kept his tone steady. “I am Qiu Chou. My realm isn’t high, but I’ve seen him. I also have a unique method of searching. If he’s within a certain range, he won’t escape.”

A beat of consideration, then—

“Fine. Brother Qiu leads.”

“Together.”

Wang Jie infused starforce into thousand-spirit armor to mask his lockforce, then headed to the meeting point.

Cultivators arrived one after another: three full-star realm and five star-breaking realm.

Wang Jie—wearing Qiu Chou’s face—presented as star-breaking realm as well. But because he claimed he could track their prey, the group naturally deferred to him.

They chose a single ship and traveled together. Along the way, others avoided them at the sight of their numbers.

They even encountered a roaming-star realm—the same one Wang Jie had seen sneering when the contest began.

The man was overbearing. He boarded their ship without permission, searched it at leisure, then left. Anger simmered in the cabin, but no one dared speak.

Wang Jie remained calm.

With this many people around him, who could possibly find the real Wang Jie?

Days passed.

Then another broadcast swept the battlefield.

“A jade stone token has fallen into Li Cai’s hands.”

“Li Cai? Then who can take it?”

“You don’t know Li Cai?”

“I’ve been in seclusion for years.”

“Li Cai is Elder Li Tong He’s son from the elders’ council,” someone explained. “Young, but already roaming-star realm. He’s on par with the black roamer and white roamer.”

“And he ate Thunder-seal Pills like food since childhood. He has long cultivated a red thunder pattern.”

A ripple of shocked curses rolled through the channels.

“There’s more,” the voice continued. “He is from heavenlight pavilion.”

“Heavenlight pavilion? Then he cultivated stacked sky light chen art?”

“Yes.”

“How the hell do you fight that?”

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed. Stacked sky light chen art. Red thunder pattern. A bad matchup.

Eating Thunder-seal Pills from childhood explained the red thunder pattern, but Wang Jie wasn’t intimidated. His rise had been fast only because his body had already exceeded limits at ten seals, and star-breaking realm continued to push him further.

Li Cai was, by comparison, an ordinary cultivator with excellent resources.

Thunder-seal Pills had limits. You couldn’t swallow them forever and grow without end.

Neither of them had reached that ceiling yet—but a red thunder pattern was already enough to make most people despair.

This was what a well-backed chen art disciple of Black-White Heaven looked like.

The early chaos of the contest faded into something far more frightening: silence.

Star-devourer grew quiet, as if the entire planet were holding its breath.

Roaming-star realm waited for openings to seize Li Cai’s jade stone.

Everyone else hunted Wang Jie.

Where did he go?

That question spread like a curse.

The Shen Wang Number had been found and searched thoroughly, but not a trace of him remained.

It was as if he had vanished from the world.

Soon, someone proposed a methodical sweep: divide the planet into zones, advance step by step, and use starforce to search every inch until Wang Jie was dragged out.

Most agreed.

They needed the other jade stone. Without it, the contest would never end.

And the longer it lasted, the more dangerous it became.

Wang Jie—sitting among his hunters as Qiu Chou—considered the missing jade stone.

It might already be in someone’s hand.

Either that person was waiting to strike Li Cai and seize star-devourer, or they were using the jade stone as leverage to force everyone to expose Wang Jie and kill him.

The second possibility felt more likely.

If Zhi Qing’s side intended to use this contest as a hunting ground, they would be prepared.

Maybe from the beginning, only one jade stone had been released.

“Brother Qiu,” someone asked, “what do you think?”

Wang Jie answered smoothly, “I agree. Push forward zone by zone. We can’t waste time. We have to drag Wang Jie out.”

“Then we’ll mark every searched area on the map,” another said. “So we can fill in the gaps.”

“Good. Start.”

Someone looked to Wang Jie. “Brother Qiu, don’t bother searching. Focus on sensing him.”

Wang Jie nodded, hiding his satisfaction.

As the sweep began, the star map slowly filled with marked zones. Compared to star-devourer’s vastness, it was still a tiny fragment, but it was progress.

Wang Jie waited.

Until the second jade stone appeared, no one would dare move too openly.

Days later, three full-star realm cultivators arrived. The leader’s name was Zhong Yu.

The group’s cultivators hurried to bow. “Greetings, Senior Brother Zhong Yu.”

Wang Jie bowed as well.

Zhong Yu swept his gaze over them and spoke curtly. “Continue advancing. If you encounter that lockforce cultivator, don’t fight him. Report his location to me.”

He paused, letting the name land. “Senior Brother Ye Huang will reward you: one hundred million starstone. And you may enter Senior Brother Ye Huang’s door in the sect.”

One of the full-star realm cultivators bowed deeply. “Yes. We will report at once.”

Zhong Yu left.

Someone whispered, “Who is he?”

The full-star realm cultivator who seemed to know more answered, “You heard the name Ye Huang, didn’t you? He’s one of the black roamer, a disciple of the Night Realm Lord. Zhong Yu is one of his people.”

“So Ye Huang is here.”

A hush fell over the cabin.

“I think we should leave star-devourer,” someone muttered. “This isn’t something we can take part in.”

No one argued.

Two days later, another messenger arrived: Huo Xiao.

He delivered nearly the same message—only this time, the name behind the reward wasn’t Ye Huang.

It was Young Master Yun Ju.

No one asked questions after that. The weight of that name spoke for itself.

Then the ground shook.

Far away, the sky seemed to blister and peel, lit by violent flashes. Thunder rolled like an unending drumbeat.

Wang Jie stared toward the horizon. The combat power detector’s values jumped rapidly—past two hundred thousand, still climbing.

“Back!” someone shouted. “It’s a roaming-star realm battle!”

“Look—those… are formations?”