Chapter 187

Chapter 187: I Believe You

This wasn’t a trial. No one could see every detail of what was happening inside.

They didn’t know Wang Jie had taken Zhi Nan Xing’s face.

They didn’t know what he had whispered to Yun Ju.

By the time the outside world saw anything, it was already a full-blown brawl.

Four Roaming-Star Realm experts fighting at once—enough to make Star-Devourer tremble. Cracks spidered across the ground, visible even from afar.

Little Lan stared, confused and anxious. Where was Wang Jie?

Where?

The moment the melee began, it turned savage. No one held back.

Shi Wei beat Yun Ju like he meant to crush him. He’d chased too long, and now he finally had him.

Yun Ju fought with one goal: cripple Li Cai and earn merit.

Li Cai burned with rage at Wen Yuan’s “ambush.”

Wen Yuan only wanted to run.

Each one hit harder than the last.

“Junior Brother Nan Xing!” Yun Ju shouted mid-fight. “Help me hold that idiot Shi Wei!”

Wang Jie shrugged from a distance. “I can’t. He’s Roaming-Star Realm.”

“Then Dingchen him!”

“I need to save my strength to fight for the jade,” Wang Jie said evenly. “Senior Brother doesn’t think the jade will be easy to seize, does he?”

Others didn’t understand.

Yun Ju did.

He heard the subtext: Save your strength to finish Li Cai.

Yun Ju felt wronged, but he’d already agreed. A promise like that wasn’t free. He had to earn it with blood.

Li Cai roared, “I said the jade isn’t on me!”

He glared at Wen Yuan. “Explain yourself. Or I’ll kill you!”

Wen Yuan’s face was pale. “The jade really was stolen by Wang Jie. I didn’t know it was him at the time. He robbed it while wearing someone else’s face.”

Yun Ju sneered, voice sharp with deliberate contempt. “Nonsense. I’ve seen Wang Jie. He has no ability to steal the jade from the two of you.”

Li Cai’s fury spiked so hard he nearly vomited blood.

Two full days.

They fought for two full days.

Wang Jie had never fought anyone that long in his life. Watching made him tired.

The land was wrecked. Mountains collapsed into rubble. Rivers changed course. Even the sky felt stained gray.

Only when all four were half-dead with exhaustion, panting and unable to finish each other, did the pace slow.

Even then, no one else dared approach.

Yun Ju shot Wang Jie a look, the corner of his mouth twitching. Wang Jie gave him a small signal.

Yun Ju ground his teeth.

Li Cai took advantage of the lull. “Enough. Let’s be clear. The jade is not on me. I can swear it.”

He turned on Wen Yuan. “You swear you ambushed me.”

Wen Yuan’s expression tightened. “We fought. It wasn’t an ambush.”

“You—”

Li Cai’s veins bulged.

Shi Wei’s roar cut in again. “Apologize to my sect!”

Yun Ju cursed under his breath. Why was this idiot still obsessed with him?

And in the next breath, he attacked Li Cai again.

Li Cai’s eyes went red. “What are you doing?!”

The brawl flared again, grinding down what little starforce remained.

Wang Jie watched with calm eyes as their auras continued to weaken. Yun Ju truly was fighting like his life depended on it.

A promise from Zhi Qing was worth that much.

Li Cai still didn’t understand why he was being beaten.

Half a day later, Yun Ju finally snapped. “Junior Brother! Hurry—take the jade!”

Li Cai turned to “Zhi Nan Xing,” voice hoarse. “How many times do I have to say it? The jade isn’t on me. Junior Brother Nan Xing… do you really not believe me?”

“I believe you,” Wang Jie said.

Li Cai froze.

Wen Yuan froze.

Yun Ju froze.

Even Shi Wei stopped and stared.

Wang Jie sighed, as if disappointed in all of them. “Looks like we all misunderstood Senior Brother Li.”

Li Cai’s chest tightened. Finally. Someone believed him.

Wen Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something—anything—but couldn’t. He felt like he’d been beaten for nothing.

Yun Ju roared, pointing. “Junior Brother, what are you saying? The jade is on him! Attack!”

Li Cai snapped his head toward Yun Ju, eyes blazing. “What grudge do I have with you? You’re deliberately framing me!”

His voice shook with rage. “Yun Ju—I won’t let this go!”

Yun Ju ignored him and kept staring at Wang Jie as if he couldn’t believe it. “Junior Brother!”

Wang Jie looked back, expression stern. “The jade truly isn’t on Senior Brother Li. Senior Brother Yun Ju, you’re being stubborn.”

Yun Ju’s face went blank.

Then blood sprayed from his mouth as rage and shock slammed into him.

He had fought himself half to death for what?

And now he was being told this?

“Zhi Nan Xing!” Yun Ju screamed, voice cracking. “You played me! You’re the one who said to kill Li Cai! That’s why I attacked—you—”

Wang Jie’s face snapped cold. “How dare you.”

He raised his voice so everyone could hear. “You slander Senior Brother Li, and now you slander me?”

His tone sharpened. “Yun Ju, you’ve grown lawless because you’re a White Realm Lord’s disciple. You deserve a beating.”

He hurled the copper slip.

He didn’t need Spring-Autumn Hand. He had strength.

The copper slip smashed into Yun Ju and sent him flying.

Everyone stared, stunned by how fast the situation had flipped.

Li Cai stared hard at Yun Ju and Wang Jie. Now it made sense. Yun Ju had kept insisting the jade was on him because Yun Ju wanted to kill him.

But why?

And what about Zhi Nan Xing?

Zhi Nan Xing had been the one to slander him first—so why was he now beating Yun Ju?

What was going on?

Yun Ju, finally beyond restraint, lunged at Wang Jie. “Zhi Nan Xing! You really think I’m afraid of you?!”

Wang Jie sneered. “You slander the Zhi family. You insult your fellow disciple. Yun Ju—idiots like you should’ve been expelled long ago.”

He struck.

Yun Ju, burning with rage, forced out starforce and threw it as a wave. His starforce was unusual—Prison Flame.

Fire hid within it, capable of locking down starforce or lockforce.

But after days of fighting, his reserves were almost gone.

Wang Jie shattered it with a single palm, brute force punching through the flame and into Yun Ju’s body. Yun Ju was blasted away, heavily injured.

“Young Master!” Yun Ju’s men shouted, scrambling forward to protect him.

Wang Jie’s gaze swept over them, cold and imperious. “Zhi family people do not tolerate slander.”

His voice cut. “This is your lesson. Go back and tell your Young Master: if it happens again, I, Zhi Nan Xing, will show him what the Zhi family is.”

He turned and left.

No one stopped him.

Behind him, Yun Ju collapsed into unconsciousness.

Shi Wei and the others stared after Wang Jie, baffled. From start to finish, they couldn’t understand what “Zhi Nan Xing” had been doing.

Wang Jie’s destination, however, was clear.

Shen Wang.

Because Zhi Shu was inside Shen Wang right now. That was information he’d taken from Zhi Nan Xing.

On another edge of Star-Devourer, Zhong Yu pressed his palm to the ground and felt the tremors fade. “It stopped.”

Ye Huang stepped down from his ship with a faint smile. “That side was lively. Nearly three days of fighting.”

“Good thing Senior Brother had the insight not to get involved,” Zhong Yu said quickly. “If we’d joined that mess, we’d probably be fighting to the death and still not know why.”

Ye Huang didn’t respond. He wasn’t indifferent to the jade or Star-Devourer.

He simply had another mission.

“Let’s go,” he said. “That side is basically wiped out. As long as we stop the others, Wang Jie will be fine.”

Zhong Yu hesitated. “Senior Brother… why are we helping Wang Jie?”

“What the White Realm faction wants to do, we block,” Ye Huang said. “The Zhi Upper Realm competition looks fierce, but only two or three people are truly qualified to stir the storm. Our Black Realm faction has its leanings.”

“Elder Zhi Ye?”

Ye Huang didn’t answer. His ship flew into the distance and soon intercepted another vessel.

“It’s Senior Brother Ye Huang,” someone called from the other ship. “I’m from Steward Hall.”

“I know,” Ye Huang said, cutting him off. “From now until the Star-Devourer contest ends, you stay here. Don’t move.”

“Senior Brother is being too domineering. Anyone can participate—”

“And anyone can die,” Ye Huang said flatly.

The other ship fell silent.

Ye Huang intercepted a second ship.

“Discipline Hall,” Ye Huang said. “If you don’t want to die, don’t move. Otherwise, don’t blame me.”

“Did Discipline Hall offend Senior Brother—?”

“Stop talking. Don’t move.”

From above, Star-Devourer could be divided into three sides.

One side: Shi Wei, Li Cai, Wen Yuan, and Yun Ju’s chaotic battle, only just quieting.

Second side: Ye Huang intercepting ship after ship, forcing entire factions to stall.

Third side: Wang Jie had already found Shen Wang.

Shen Wang lay quietly in the forest.

The hatch was badly damaged, but the ship itself remained mostly intact.

Wang Jie walked in.

Zhi Shu stood there in silence, slim and graceful, her presence distant and untouchable.

She turned, brows faintly furrowed. “Clan Brother… why are you here?”

Wang Jie kept walking. “I happened to pass by.”

Zhi Shu looked back at the screen. “Someone says Yun Ju attacked Li Cai because Clan Brother confirmed the jade was still in Li Cai’s hands. They also claim the jade Wang Jie ‘stole’ from Wen Yuan was staged—Wen Yuan and Li Cai acting together—to seize Star-Devourer.”

Her gaze slid to him. “Is that true?”

Wang Jie let out a soft, almost weary laugh. “Of course not. Yun Ju has a private grudge with Li Cai. He said it to frame him.”

He spread his hands slightly. “I guessed casually. If he fought Li Cai like his life depended on it, how could he have trusted my words so completely?”

Zhi Shu considered that and nodded. “Since becoming a White Realm Lord’s disciple, Yun Ju has grown more and more arrogant.”

Her mouth tightened. “Li Cai is Elder Li Tong He’s son. Yun Ju showing no restraint—I want to see how the White Realm Lord explains it.”

“Maybe it will even trouble Old Ancestor Zhi Qing,” she added, almost thoughtfully.

Then she glanced at Wang Jie, as if remembering something. “How is the match the family arranged for you?”

“You can start a family now.”

Wang Jie’s brows drew together.

A face could be disguised. But mannerisms—eyes—tone—those were harder to fake.

That was why he’d come straight to Zhi Shu. The longer he stayed, the more likely he’d slip.

This question was dangerous.

So he chose the simplest answer.

He looked at her. “Actually… the one I like is you, Clan Elder Sister.”

Zhi Shu froze.

For a heartbeat, she stared at him as if she’d heard something impossible.

Then her eyes narrowed.

That gaze—

Wang Jie moved.

A palm slammed forward, all his power and qi fused into one violent strike. It crashed into Zhi Shu and punched through her circulating starforce. She flew backward and smashed into the ship’s interior, blood spraying from her mouth.

She lifted her head, eyes splitting red. “You’re not Nan Xing.”

Wang Jie didn’t answer.

He extended a finger.

Myriad-Stars Finger Art.

Stars revolved. Finger shadows merged and fell toward Zhi Shu.

Zhi Shu’s combat power was on par with Yun Ju and Li Cai—same generation, same league—but her Dingchen bridgeway art made her a cut above them. Unfortunately for her, Dingchen methods did nothing against Wang Jie.

Facing Myriad-Stars Finger Art, her starforce surged, light blooming around her—

Stacked Sky Light.