Chapter 193
Chapter 193: Stepping Forward
Shu Rang laughed loudly, stumbling over with a wine jug in hand. “Not that fragile,” he said.
Wang Jie wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at Shu Rang. “Master truly is everywhere. I admire you, disciple.”
Shu Rang sat down. “What’s the matter? You upset I wasn’t there to help you at Devour Star?”
“Not daring to complain,” Wang Jie replied.
“Heh, it wasn’t easy for me either. If it weren’t for that old maid helping you, I would have stepped in,” Shu Rang said with a grin, pointing to another corner. “Look.”
Wang Jie turned his head. His eyes narrowed. Was that… a corpse?
“Do you know who it is?” Shu Rang asked.
Wang Jie walked over, flipping it over, and blurted out, “Elder Cheng?”
Shu Rang took a sip of his wine and burped with satisfaction.
Wang Jie stared at Shu Rang in shock. “Master, what is this?”
“Are you satisfied now?” Shu Rang’s gaze deepened, his eyes as vast as the starry sky. “My disciple cannot be easily bullied. Hmph, he says he didn’t know I was his master—so what? It’s just bad luck for him.” He took another drink, indifferent.
Wang Jie swallowed hard. Elder Cheng had been from the Elder Court, a Hundred Star Elder. And now, he was dead.
Dead so quietly, with no rumors from Black White Heaven.
It felt unreal.
“Does Black White Heaven not care?” Wang Jie asked.
Shu Rang wiped his mouth. “They don’t dare to interfere.”
Wang Jie understood. He marveled, “No wonder Master didn’t let me report to the sect.”
Shu Rang said, “In such a remote corner of the Fourth Star Cloud, if you report my name, who would dare harm you? But would it be interesting to live forever in a dream? Besides, I didn’t take you in to let you play around.”
“Remember, the things you have to do are difficult. Very difficult. Harder than you can imagine.”
“This Fourth Star Cloud, Black White Heaven, the Zhi Clan—they’re all just stepping stones. You need to cross over them to be worthy of being my disciple. If you can’t, then die.”
His words were cold, but for some reason, Wang Jie felt a warmth inside.
He rarely had anyone backing him up.
It gave him a sense that he could face anyone without fear.
“Disciple understands,” he said.
Shu Rang smiled in satisfaction and lazily lay down. “Actually, you did well this time. Using the Star Breaking Realm lock force practitioner identity to toy with so many wandering star realm disciples. Other than that, that Han Ling is quite talented. Whether you used tricks to stop him or whatever methods to beat that Zhi Clan girl—results are what matter. As your master, I’m pleased.”
“Did that old maid tell you the precautions for reaching full star realm?”
Old maid—such a harsh way to refer to her.
Wang Jie said, “Little Blue senior told me.”
Shu Rang nodded, tossing a jade stone soaked in wine at him. “Go practice. This is a technique for tempering your bones. Not bad, at least better than Black White Heaven’s.”
“Though reaching full star realm from star breaking realm is a transition, all the major forces have their ways to temper their bones and increase the saturation of their limits. They won’t be careless with excellent disciples.”
“And your technique surpasses the entire Fourth Star Cloud.”
Wang Jie was excited to start examining it.
But Shu Rang stood up. “Alright, I’m leaving. You train on your own.” He stretched lazily. “Once you reach the wandering star realm, you can formally cultivate the Star Dao. I hope you, kid, won’t disappoint me.”
Wang Jie respectfully said, “Master, don’t worry, disciple will try my best.”
Shu Rang left as quickly as he arrived.
And Elder Cheng’s body was taken away.
Wang Jie stared at the corner where Elder Cheng’s body had been. Even a Hundred Star Realm expert could die so easily. What kind of cultivation was needed to traverse the universe?
He looked at the jade stone, took a deep breath.
It had no name.
This bone-tempering technique had no name, only cultivation methods.
Wang Jie carefully studied the method, astonished. Was there really such a way?
To connect lock force within the body, forming lines—or rods—level with the meridians, and then use these lock-force rods to continuously crush the meridians and bones, thus tempering the body.
Was this something a person came up with?
Wang Jie didn’t need to practice to know it would be painful.
Lock force had already merged with his body. To connect the lock force to the meridians was like skinning and tearing muscles. And the subsequent bone-tempering was even more brutal. The technique seemed to demand one remove bones, replace them with metal, and heat them in a fire.
Wang Jie set the jade stone down, finally understanding why his cheap master left so quickly.
It was torture.
He put the jade stone away and decided to take the Thunder Sealing Pill first. The bone-tempering could wait.
…
Zhi Upper Realm, the old woman Little Blue looked with surprise at the smiling figure outside the courtyard, quickly bowing respectfully. “Greetings, Lord.”
It was Zhi Ye.
“No need for such courtesy. Is Aunt here?”
“Master is here. I will humbly report to her now.”
In no time, Zhi Ye was brought into the courtyard.
“Greetings, Aunt.”
Zhi Xing Xue glanced at Zhi Ye and gestured for him to sit.
Little Blue poured tea.
“Has it been comfortable since you returned?” Zhi Ye asked softly, a smile on his face.
Zhi Xing Xue replied, “I’ve been back for so long. If I wasn’t used to it, I would be by now. Why are you here today?”
Zhi Ye smiled. “I came specifically to congratulate Aunt for finding a capable assistant.”
“Wang Jie?”
“Yes. Your eye for talent hasn’t changed.”
Zhi Xing Xue smiled bitterly. “What kind of assistant is he? He’s just a child. You helped him before, thank you.”
Zhi Ye took a sip of tea. “Aunt also added a batch of lock force practitioners to Hao Qian’s domain, a mutual aid, I suppose.” He placed his cup down and looked at Zhi Xing Xue. “But this Devour Star competition has caused quite a stir. It seems Zhi Qing doesn’t intend to stop.”
Zhi Xing Xue’s gaze remained calm. “I know.”
“Would you like me to offer my assistance?”
“You can say what you mean directly. No need to beat around the bush.”
Zhi Ye smiled. “Aunt, have you heard of the Red Moon?”
Zhi Xing Xue frowned and looked at Zhi Ye. “The Red Moon of the Nan family?”
“I know where the Red Moon has appeared before.”
Zhi Xing Xue’s eyes widened. “Where?”
Zhi Ye smiled. “Don’t get too excited, Aunt. Even if the Red Moon appears, it doesn’t mean the Nan family will show up. And even if they return, they might not be able to help the Frost Radiance Sect.”
Zhi Xing Xue’s voice was low. “I’ve returned to Black White Heaven, and I don’t plan to go to the Third Nebula. The Zhi family won’t lose a Star Refining Realm.”
Zhi Ye looked up. “Aunt, you misunderstand. I wasn’t talking about that.” He thought for a moment, then whispered something.
After hearing, Zhi Xing Xue’s expression shifted, and she looked at Zhi Ye in surprise. “Could this really be true?”
Zhi Ye shrugged. “I didn’t think there was any reason to lie to you.”
Zhi Xing Xue stared at her teacup, pondering for a moment, then looked back at Zhi Ye. “So, you helped Wang Jie because of this.”
Zhi Ye shook his head. “Not just for that reason. I didn’t expect this child to reach this level. Helping him before was purely because Zhi Qing’s hand was too long.”
“Now?” Zhi Xing Xue asked. “Do you want him to find the Red Moon?”
“Don’t you want to?” Zhi Ye responded.
“It’s too dangerous.”
“What does that have to do with you, Aunt? A dignified Realm Lord of Xing Xue wouldn’t care about a lock force practitioner’s life or death, right? After all these years in the Frost Radiance Sect, has it really changed you like the outside world claims?”
Zhi Xing Xue stared at Zhi Ye. “Let him go, but you’ll also need to deal with the trouble from Zhi Qing’s side.”
Zhi Ye stood up. “It’s settled then.” He turned to leave. “If we find the Red Moon, any grudges can be set aside. But there’s no need to rush telling him. At least wait until he reaches full star realm or even wandering star realm.”
Watching Zhi Ye’s retreating figure, Zhi Xing Xue was silent for a long time.
This nephew… he was too much like her back then.
…
A month later, Wang Jie returned to the Lock Path interval. He went straight to the shop where he could contact the outside world. The reward from Zhi Xing Xue was there.
The servant dared not touch the reward.
“Brother Wang, you’re back! That’s great! How was your trip? I heard that Brother caused quite a stir at the Devour Star competition. Little younger brother truly admires you,” the servant hurriedly came up to flatter Wang Jie.
Wang Jie exchanged a few words with him before taking the reward from Zhi Xing Xue.
When he saw the reward, he didn’t know what to say.
Black Bright Jade Body.
A cultivation technique suitable for Star Breaking Realm practitioners, used to increase the body’s integration with star force saturation.
In Black White Heaven, this was an incredibly precious technique. While not on par with the two scriptures, it was still kept secret and only passed down to elite disciples. Most Star Force practitioners didn’t even have the qualifications to practice it.
Zhi Xing Xue had actually brought this to him.
If not for Shu Rang’s bone tempering method, he would have been elated. This reward was truly valuable, but now it felt redundant.
Bone tempering method, Black Bright Jade Body—they were both body refinement techniques.
Wang Jie sighed, examining it closely.
Soon, he was tempted to cultivate the Black Bright Jade Body, not because of anything else, but because it didn’t seem as painful.
The difficulty of cultivating the Black Bright Jade Body was far lower than the nameless bone tempering method.
The bone tempering was so cruel, he almost hated it. He even preferred to keep using the Thunder Sealing Pill rather than try that method.
But now, with a substitute available, its quality was not bad, so he could reconsider.
He piloted the spaceship towards Lone Peak Gorge.
Wang Jie stared at the screen, lost in thought.
Two jade stones lay before him. Which one to choose? He thought for a long while before finally deciding on the nameless bone tempering method.
Painful though it was, his cheap master had said it surpassed the entire Fourth Star Cloud, clearly superior to the Black Bright Jade Body. All his cultivation so far had been the best, and it shouldn’t be any different now.
It was hard enough to climb from the bottom. He had walked the most painful roads, even the Ten Seals Heaven Reversal path.
Every step he had taken had been the hardest path. Why not continue?
Lock force practitioners had their limits, but within those limits, he would reach the highest peak.
Suddenly, his personal terminal rang.
Wang Jie looked at it, raising an eyebrow. Du Xian? That woman was back.
“Don’t tell me you’re here because of me. Am I that important? Wherever I go, you follow.”
Du Xian smiled. “Customer, you’re my most important client in the Four Great Training Fields. Of course, I follow my client.”
Wang Jie couldn’t tell whether she was being sincere. “It’s fine you’re back, saves me the trouble of finding someone else. I need to buy some intel.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Wu Yun.”
“Her whereabouts?”
“Yes.”
“Five hundred thousand starstones.”
Wang Jie was surprised—not because it was high, but because it was too low. “So low?”
“For someone wanted by Black White Heaven, abandoned, and likely to die at any moment, what price should I ask? I’d rather offer a discount to the victorious customer just returned.”
Wang Jie laughed. “Then why not give it for free?”
“That would break the rules. After all, the information isn’t collected by me, and we have our own costs. Also, if Wu Yun is still a deacon of Black White Heaven, no matter what price you offer, I won’t sell any information about her location. That would violate the agreement between Star Dome Visage and Black White Heaven. Please remember that.”
Wang Jie’s gaze flashed. “Thank you.”