Chapter 191

Chapter 191: Two Leaves

One by one, people departed Star-Devourer.

Mo Wan Yin left as well. Before she went, she greeted Wang Jie and bowed to Little Lan.

Wang Jie stood on the dark ground and watched the last ships vanish. From this moment on, Star-Devourer was his.

He had truly claimed a strange planet of his own.

The result spread through the sect like wildfire.

Black-White Heaven erupted.

The commotion was even bigger than Wang Jie had imagined.

The higher the Zhi family’s status in the Fourth Nebula, the louder the shock when they stumbled.

After countless years, it was the first time people had seen the Zhi family take a loss—one worth recording.

“I thought Star-Devourer would end up with a six-path roamer, or the Zhi family. I never expected a star-breaking realm lockforce cultivator to take it. Impossible.”

“So the Zhi family isn’t invincible after all.”

“I heard Wang Jie has backing too—also from the Zhi family.”

“Even so, he still snatched Star-Devourer right in front of roaming-star realm cultivators, even a six-path roamer. That’s real ability, whatever you think of the method.”

“Yeah. He’s ruthless. And he’s offended the Zhi family completely.”

“I heard from the start Star-Devourer was never meant for outsiders. One token was already in the Zhi family’s hand. For him to steal it… insane.”

“Anyway, I can’t do it. And I wouldn’t dare…”

Lady Xing Xue got the news quickly and laughed until she couldn’t stop. Wang Jie had given her face.

Bringing that little kid along back then had been the right choice.

On the other side, Zhi Qing’s face was dark. Before Zhi Shu even returned to report, Zhi Qing punished her, refusing to let her make it back to Zhi Upper Realm.

Useless.

Zhi Ye sat calmly with a cup of tea, listening to a report.

The tea was clear. Slender leaves floated like green jade, dew beading on the surface—cool and clean.

“This batch of green-luo cloud-dream tea is decent,” he said. “Bring me more.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Zhi Ye took another sip, the corners of his mouth lifting. “Decent… perhaps enough to solve that problem.”

At the elders’ court, the Steward Hall, the Discipline Hall—everywhere that mattered—people were discussing Star-Devourer.

Even the realm lords of the black-and-white realms had their attention pulled toward it.

But all that noise was far from Wang Jie.

He walked across Star-Devourer beside Little Lan and asked, quietly, when he could break into full-star realm.

Little Lan didn’t leave immediately. She planned to stay at least until Wang Jie’s injuries stabilized—and to escort him back to Zhi Academy.

To outsiders, full-star realm was the easiest realm to reach. Once you entered star-breaking realm, nine out of ten would advance smoothly. Full-star realm was only a step above—more starforce or lockforce, that was all.

But “easy” didn’t mean automatic.

A realm was a realm.

Little Lan said, “Ordinary cultivators use absorbing an entire planet’s starforce as the standard for full-star realm. But the stronger ones use themselves as the standard. A whole planet is only the beginning.”

“Everyone’s different.”

“For example, you just stepped into star-breaking realm, and yet your lockforce already surpasses most full-star realm cultivators—perhaps even rivaling roaming-star realm.”

Wang Jie weighed it. For an ordinary lockforce roaming-star realm cultivator, he was probably beyond that already. “Then what’s the standard?”

“Saturation,” Little Lan said. “Power saturating the body.”

“Saturation?”

“Once you step beyond ordinary cultivators, the old standards don’t apply.”

“We all know cultivation starts with the ten seals. Then come star-breaking, full-star, roaming-star, and so on.”

“But do you know there are strange races in the universe born with ten seals—who can even cultivate eleven seals?”

Wang Jie’s eyes widened. “Eleven seals?”

Little Lan’s expression turned grave. “The human limit is ten seals. No one breaks it.”

“But living creatures are different. Their limits are different.”

“Some beings can reach eleven seals—perhaps even more.”

“In cultivation, each extra seal at the start changes everything afterward.”

She looked at him, steady and sharp. “So don’t think humans are the masters of the universe. What you’ve seen is only the protection circle humans have built.”

“Outside that circle is the real universe.”

Then she waved it away. “But that’s not for you right now.”

“Back to full-star realm.”

“Talented cultivators judge it by saturation—how ‘complete’ their power feels within their own body. Because full-star realm isn’t truly a separate realm. Long ago, the forebears marked it out so juniors wouldn’t feel hopeless staring at the next distant threshold.”

“So it isn’t as easy to distinguish as star-breaking or roaming-star.”

“But you can sense it.”

She lifted her hand. Two leaves drifted down into her palm. She tore one in half.

“One is whole, one is broken. You can tell at a glance, yes?”

Wang Jie nodded.

“Full-star realm is like that,” she said. “When you look at someone and feel their power is incomplete, they haven’t reached full-star realm.”

“It isn’t judged by raw quantity.”

“Then how does this junior reach it?”

“That isn’t your decision,” Little Lan replied. “When your body and lockforce fully merge—when your body can no longer accept even a thread more—that is full-star realm.”

“Of course, you need at least a whole planet’s worth of lockforce as the foundation. Otherwise you will never reach it.”

Wang Jie nodded slowly. “Understood.”

“You can try absorbing lockforce from Star-Devourer,” Little Lan said. “There is more than enough here to push you to full-star realm.”

“But because this is Star-Devourer, someone must guard you while you absorb. Otherwise Star-Devourer may turn the flow around and draw lockforce out of you.”

“It can do that?” Wang Jie jolted.

Little Lan smiled faintly. “Because it is Star-Devourer.”

Wang Jie found a spot and sat, breathing until his thoughts stopped racing. He reached out with his senses toward the lockforce in the ground.

Vast.

So vast it made his own reserves feel like a puddle.

He steadied himself and slowly circulated Heaven-Reversal Path, the method he used to absorb lockforce. He linked it to Star-Devourer.

The moment the connection formed, it felt like an ocean shifting under his feet.

Wang Jie snapped his eyes open and exhaled hard. Sweat rolled down his brow.

“How is it?” Little Lan asked.

Wang Jie stared at the ground. “It’s too massive. I barely touch it and it feels like heaven and earth are shaking.”

Little Lan’s smile softened. “That is the ocean of lockforce.”

“Don’t think absorbing a planet’s power is simple. If it were, people would reach full-star realm the moment they entered star-breaking realm.”

“This junior understands.”

“The lockforce inside Star-Devourer is beyond what a single planet can be compared to,” Little Lan said. “Even I can’t tell you how much is inside. You’ll have to feel it yourself.”

“Take it slowly. Don’t rush. Lady Xing Xue ordered me to protect you well.”

Wang Jie’s throat tightened. “Thank you, Senior.”

He closed his eyes again. Heaven-Reversal Path turned, thread by thread, and he carefully drew at the lockforce beneath him.

Little Lan watched, her face unreadable.

How long had it taken him to resonate just now?

Two breaths? One?

Ordinary cultivators absorbing a planet for the first time needed time—days, sometimes dozens of days. The fast ones took half a day, a few hours.

But Wang Jie had nearly connected the instant he closed his eyes.

What kind of method was this?

And this was Star-Devourer.

Wang Jie reached for it again. The shock came roaring back—the crushing sensation of standing before something too large to comprehend.

This time he forced down the panic and stayed with it.

Human beings were tiny. Yet with his lockforce linked to Star-Devourer’s, it felt as if his perspective had stepped outside his body and was staring into the vault of the stars.

The smallness became sharper.

And he had nowhere to stand.

It was unbearable.

He opened his eyes, steadied himself, and tried again.

Again and again he attempted—touching, drawing, retreating.

On the third day, Star-Devourer’s lockforce surged toward him.

It felt like levering a planet.

The underground lockforce roared. He felt like a man on a shoreline watching a tsunami rise.

He tried to stop—but Heaven-Reversal Path began to run on its own.

It was coming.

At the same time, Little Lan’s gaze snapped down. She pressed with starforce, suppressing the tide.

The howling lockforce froze, then shrank—shrinking and shrinking—until it became a thin stream that seeped upward and entered Wang Jie’s body. Under Heaven-Reversal Path, it fused into flesh.

Wang Jie let out a shuddering breath.

Now he understood why Little Lan had insisted on staying as his protector.

Without her, he would have been drowned. Worse—Star-Devourer might have reversed the flow and ripped his own lockforce out of him, sweeping it away like stones on a beach.

With her, the flow became manageable.

Little Lan watched in silence.

His lockforce and flesh still hadn’t reached a limit. Had he been lacking materials at Zhi Academy?

Then Star-Devourer had arrived at the perfect moment.

Zhi Qing had meant to use Star-Devourer to hunt this boy and break Lady Xing Xue’s arm.

Instead, this boy had taken Star-Devourer.

May you climb higher, Little Lan thought. High enough to truly help her.

Wang Jie kept absorbing, and Heaven-Reversal Path kept refining.

Little Lan had expected him to stop soon, to hit the body’s limit for this realm.

But he didn’t stop.

He drank and drank as if he could never fill.

How could there be that much room?

His body felt like a dried spring. Pour in water—no matter how much—and it still wouldn’t fill.

That wasn’t a good sign.

More lockforce meant stronger battle power, yes. But more lockforce also meant locking down your future faster. Little Lan had thought Wang Jie could at least reach roaming-star realm.

Now… maybe not.

To reach roaming-star realm, lockforce had to fuse into blood and bone, turning the body into something that matched the universe—something that could walk the starry void.

With this much lockforce, how could that fusion ever complete?

The more there was, the less possible it became.

But Wang Jie couldn’t choose. His saturation limit still hadn’t been reached.

Little Lan’s expression darkened. Lady Xing Xue might be disappointed.

This much lockforce… roaming-star realm was nearly impossible.

What a waste.

Time passed.

Wang Jie opened his eyes, and for the first time in a long while, deep satisfaction flooded through him. He exhaled, long and free.

His ruined body felt lighter.

He turned to Little Lan. “Senior… thank you.”

Little Lan made a small sound, still not pleased. “Your body and lockforce have reached a temporary fusion limit. But it isn’t the true limit of a star-breaking realm body.”

“You can keep cultivating until you reach your actual limit. Then you absorb again, complete saturation, and that will be full-star realm.”

Wang Jie nodded. “Then the next time this junior absorbs lockforce…”

Little Lan looked at him. “Perhaps I’ll come again.”

No matter how he ended—even if he never reached roaming-star realm—because of what he had done, Lady Xing Xue would still look after him.