Chapter 185

Chapter 185: This Is Where It Ends

Sword after sword stabbed into the gaps, prying space open and keeping the Lock-Chen Formation from sealing shut. With Sword Steps under his feet, Wang Jie flashed in and drove his blade into a seal-chen stone. The stone shattered, and the Lock-Chen Formation snapped apart on the spot.

Wang Jie immediately shifted through the void with Jia Eight Steps. Wen Yuan’s attacks chased after him like a shadow, but still couldn’t catch him.

Wen Yuan was furious enough to kill. He started to pursue—then remembered. He stopped short, forced to give up, and could only watch Wang Jie flee.

Wang Jie let out a slow breath. It wasn’t that Wen Yuan couldn’t chase him. Wen Yuan had to stay behind.

If Li Cai got out, Wang Jie was finished.

Li Cai hated him far more than Wen Yuan did. And Wen Yuan was afraid of being killed by Li Cai, so he had no choice but to stabilize the formation trapping Li Cai—only to end up doing all the work for Wang Jie.

Wang Jie tightened his grip on the jade stone. He finally had one.

He kept running, putting more distance between himself and the battlefield. From behind, he faintly heard Li Cai’s mocking laughter.

That bastard had better not push Wen Yuan too far and get himself silenced.

This battle shook Star-Devourer.

Wen Yuan’s formation left everyone stunned. Outside Star-Devourer, an old man watched in astonishment. Wen Yuan’s formation was dazzling. Li Cai’s Thunder Pattern and Stacked Sky Light were impressive too. But that disciple… the old man didn’t even know how to describe it. Calling him despicable felt too harsh, yet his behavior was undeniably indecent.

Someone beside him asked, “Whose disciple is he? It’s not easy to snatch a token right under Wen Yuan’s nose. And that swordsmanship—does our Black-White Heaven even have something like that?”

The old man said calmly, “Black-White Heaven has inherited countless years. No one can claim to know every battle skill within it. Besides, disciples have their own fortunes. Don’t pry.”

He paused, then added, almost to himself, “Still… I am curious whose disciple that boy is.”

“Elder, you’re tempted?”

“Just curious.”

In another direction, Old Crone Little Lan saw the same scene. Everyone had been drawn over by Wen Yuan’s formation and ended up witnessing it.

Others didn’t recognize the thief, but she did. That man was Qiu Chou from Suo Xing Jian.

Wasn’t he supposed to have died in Yi Sword Heaven?

Why was he here?

Then it clicked.

Wang Jie.

Other than Wang Jie, who would even know Qiu Chou?

When she saw Wang Jie slip out of the formation, Little Lan finally exhaled. That little kid had too many tricks, and his courage was outrageous. He had actually dared to snatch from Wen Yuan. If Li Cai hadn’t pinned Wen Yuan down, the moment Wang Jie got caught by Wen Yuan’s formation, he would’ve been done.

Don’t die here.

Inside Star-Devourer, Wang Jie hid in a cave and examined the jade stone.

A single character was carved on it: black.

Black and white. Two jade stones. Gather both, present them to the elder outside Star-Devourer, and you would obtain Star-Devourer.

This one was mostly luck. If Wen Yuan hadn’t happened to scheme against Li Cai, Wang Jie never would’ve had the ability to steal it from Li Cai’s hands.

So… where was the second jade?

Wang Jie didn’t know that his face was already spreading across Star-Devourer.

Wen Yuan had seen him clearly and passed the news across the entire region: the jade stone was in Wang Jie’s hands.

The people who had once been in the same group as him were stunned.

Brother Qiu?

They’d been sure he was crushed to death by the Orbit-Gathering Formation chen art. Instead, he’d pulled something this outrageous.

How much nerve did it take to rob a Roaming-Star Realm expert?

And how did he even pull it off?

Madness.

Qiu Chou’s face spread across Star-Devourer. Naturally, it reached Zhi Shu as well.

Zhi Shu stared at Qiu Chou’s face on the screen. It looked familiar. She thought hard before remembering—this was the only Roaming-Star Realm expert in Suo Xing Jian.

Back then, to deal with Wang Jie, she’d devised countless methods. One of them had been using Qiu Chou, but Qiu Chou had stolen Shen Wang’s materials at the time, and the plan had never gone anywhere.

That was when she’d seen his face.

Why was he here?

Wasn’t he supposed to have died in Suo Xing Jian?

It was Wang Jie.

She rose, staring at Qiu Chou—at those eyes.

That man was Wang Jie.

No wonder Star-Devourer couldn’t find him.

This time, see how you hide.

She spread the word immediately: Qiu Chou was Wang Jie. Everyone knew.

“What?”

“He’s that lockforce cultivator, Wang Jie?”

“I’ve seen him.”

“No shit. So have I.”

“Brother Qiu is the lockforce cultivator we’ve been hunting?”

“But didn’t he cultivate starforce?”

“Faces can be disguised. Starforce can be faked too. We didn’t examine him carefully.”

“That filthy bastard.”

“Wait—didn’t they say he got a token earlier? If this is the second, doesn’t that mean he got them all?”

“No way.”

“You believe that? That was fake before, but now it’s real. He really has one.”

Zhong Yu stared at the footage, jaw slack. He’d seen that man—right there among that group.

He was Wang Jie.

Damn it. Zhong Yu hadn’t noticed at all.

“Senior Brother,” Zhong Yu said hoarsely, “this is Junior Brother’s fault.”

A young man stood before him—Ye Huang.

“It’s fine,” Ye Huang said. “I wanted to keep him alive. If he missed his own chance, then so be it. Everyone has their fate.”

Zhong Yu swallowed. “Then the jade stone…?”

Ye Huang looked into the distance. “Let it be fate.”

Elsewhere, Huo Xiao was having a much worse day. Yun Ju, the Young Master, kicked him flying. Huo Xiao hit the ground and coughed blood.

“You useless trash. You can’t even tell lockforce from starforce—what are you good for? That bastard was right next to you, and you still let him go?”

Huo Xiao crawled, begging. “Please, Young Master—give me one more chance. I’ll find him. I’ll peel his skin myself.”

Yun Ju’s face was dark. “You?”

He spat to the side. “He stole a jade stone under Wen Yuan’s nose. Can you do that?”

“Get lost,” Yun Ju said coldly. “Get far away. Don’t let me see you again.”

Huo Xiao stumbled away, eyes full of venom.

Yun Ju watched the footage of Qiu Chou, voice icy. “Little kid… you won’t get away.”

Wang Jie learned about the uproar only after hiding for several days.

He happened upon an abandoned ship and overheard people talking inside.

So Qiu Chou’s face was useless now. And besides Zhi Qing’s faction and Yun Ju’s people, Li Cai and Wen Yuan had joined the list of those who wanted him dead.

Too many enemies. He had to switch identities again.

He stepped out of the ship.

The hatch opened—

—and a young man approached from the distance, stopping directly in front of him.

Wang Jie studied the man. The man studied him back.

Their eyes met.

The young man’s expression shifted from confusion to excitement, then to a fever-bright hunger.

Wang Jie’s gaze sharpened, almost delighted.

[Perfect.]

“Wang Jie!”

The young man lunged, palm slamming down, laughter almost spilling from his mouth. His luck was absurd—he’d run into him immediately.

Wang Jie was just as pleased. He needed a new face, and one had delivered itself.

A Star-Breaking Realm cultivator, too—low-key, but not weak.

Wang Jie lifted his hand and grabbed.

Their palms collided.

Starforce and lockforce detonated at once, blasting the area apart. The ship exploded. The ground caved.

Wang Jie’s expression changed.

Something was wrong.

His arm bent under pressure as the other man’s starforce forced him down—hard—despite the man being only Star-Breaking Realm.

Wang Jie poured strength through his frame, shifted his stance, returned force, and slammed back.

The young man had thought he’d suppressed Wang Jie. Instead, Wang Jie’s power kept coming—endless, steady—as if he were a tree rooted deep into the earth. The young man found himself pushed back.

Impossible.

Starforce flared.

Palm to palm, they locked together, force grinding against force, and both men stared at each other in shock.

A sharp crack sounded as they separated at the same time.

Wang Jie’s eyes widened. Star-Breaking Realm—no question. Yet this man’s starforce far surpassed an ordinary Full-Star Realm. Combat power at least over a hundred thousand.

A starforce genius?

The young man also turned solemn. Wang Jie was Star-Breaking Realm—truly Star-Breaking Realm—yet he had held back starforce with sheer strength. No wonder Sister and the others had headaches over him. Even Steward Hall couldn’t take him down. His combat power was definitely over a hundred thousand.

“Who are you?” Wang Jie asked, meeting his first opponent in the same realm who could actually drive him back.

“Not bad,” the young man said. “A worm like you can even be used to draw Zhi Upper Realm into a game. You cultivate lockforce, yet you’re not weak.”

He lifted his chin. “My name is Zhi Nan Xing.”

Wang Jie understood at once.

No wonder.

The Zhi family.

They held authority over the entire fourth nebula and ruled Black-White Heaven. Any Zhi family descendant could be called a genius.

With strength like this, it made sense.

“The outside world already knows you’re disguised,” Zhi Nan Xing said. “Why keep hiding?”

He stepped in again, five fingers curling, the same palm strike as before.

But in Wang Jie’s eyes, the young man’s qi flowed along his fingers, leaving the center of his palm strangely empty. Starforce wrapped his fingertips instead.

Wang Jie didn’t dare underestimate him. He used Jia Eight Steps.

His body vanished from Zhi Nan Xing’s sight.

Zhi Nan Xing’s eyes snapped wide. “What movement art—?”

Wang Jie was already behind him.

A finger extended.

Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger.

Zhi Nan Xing spun, palms flashing as he tried to intercept sideways—

—and still underestimated it.

His palm shadows were forced down by a single finger. His follow-up stalled, and he stumbled back, step after step.

Wang Jie chased and drove a heavy punch forward.

Zhi Nan Xing barely managed to pull out a copper slip to block. The punch slammed into it and sent him flying with it, crashing through trees before hitting the ground, blood spraying from his mouth.

That copper slip was a chen artifact.

Wang Jie surged forward, reaching for it.

Zhi Nan Xing rose, wiping blood from his lip. His hands clapped together, forming seals. The copper slip shot toward Wang Jie like a dark-yellow blade.

Wang Jie caught it with One Gaze, Three Thousand—

—and released it immediately.

Another dark-yellow slash swept in.

There was more.

One after another, dark-yellow blades carved through the air, sealing Wang Jie’s space and blocking his vision.

One. Two. Three…

Twelve.

Zhi Nan Xing’s gaze turned cold as he controlled them. “You can be proud. You forced out my Zhi family Spring-Autumn Hand.”

Every copper slip carried fierce starforce. The slips themselves were chen artifacts. Wang Jie couldn’t tell how many tribulations they held, but the fact that one had taken his punch without a mark was enough.

Wang Jie used Jia Eight Steps, dodging and closing—

—but the copper slips returned to defend even faster.

It reminded him of Zong Cheng Ping’s flying wheels, only upgraded in the most absurd way. Not two.

Twelve.

Seamless.

Wang Jie couldn’t help it. “Worthy of the Dingchen Zhi family. Your battle skills are extraordinary.”

Zhi Nan Xing’s expression tightened. Fixed-Star Technique was useless against lockforce. And though they were both Star-Breaking Realm, Wang Jie’s physical strength was terrifying. Even Zhi Nan Xing’s special starforce couldn’t show its edge.

After just a few exchanges, he’d seen it clearly.

He could only protect himself. He couldn’t kill Wang Jie.

No wonder this man had snatched Wen Yuan’s token.

Zhi Nan Xing stared, jaw set.

Wang Jie took a breath.

Then his eyes hardened.

“This is where it ends.”

Sword Steps flared.

His finger dropped.

Myriad-Stars Finger Art.