Chapter 197

Chapter 197: A Flash of White

Over the next few days, Wang Jie and Mo Wan Yin exchanged notes on pills.

Compared to Su Le, Mo Wan Yin’s collection was broader. She spoke of void pills, gu pills, burst-qi pills, and more.

Wang Jie asked specifically about the burst-qi pill.

Mo Wan Yin shook her head. “I don’t know what it is. I only heard Celestial Master Bai mention it once.”

Wang Jie guessed it might be connected to cultivating qi.

Two of the things Mo Wan Yin brought out mattered especially to him.

One was star-gazing liquid. It wasn’t a pill at all, but a refined solution you could drip into your eyes to sharpen starforce control and improve perception. It reminded him of the thousand-color stone.

The other was body-guarding pill. Once swallowed, its medicinal power flowed through meridians and bones, spreading through the entire body to form a protective layer.

“Why didn’t I see body-guarding pill at the Zhi Academy?” Wang Jie asked.

“Only Masters in Black-White Heaven can refine it,” Mo Wan Yin said. “It’s not a common pill.”

“Elite disciples can exchange merit for it. You can’t buy it.”

She smiled. “Do you want some? I’ll give you a bottle.”

Wang Jie took it without hesitation. A gift was a gift.

A one-scent body-guarding pill could withstand one hundred thousand destructive power—roughly equivalent to Red Thunder Pattern. It was genuinely precious.

Back on Star-Devourer, if Zhi Shu had possessed body-guarding pill, Wang Jie would never have beaten her.

External support mattered.

Just as Mo Wan Yin had said: humans didn’t hold territory and fight outsiders with cultivation alone.

Mo Wan Yin asked him to star-refine many pills. Most were rejected—he’d already tried similar attempts with Su Le—but he kept working.

The ship traveled steadily through the stars.

Wang Jie cultivated on board, tempering tendons and bones while testing star-refining wherever possible. Three months passed in a blink. They crossed one star chain after another until, at last, they entered the third star chain.

The moment they crossed the boundary, Wang Jie couldn’t shake the sensation that the universe itself had brightened.

Ships cut through the sky in constant traffic. Cultivators drifted past. Even starry sky behemoths.

When Wang Jie first left Blue Star, he’d run into a starry sky behemoth whose detector reading was over three hundred thousand—Roaming-Star Realm.

Even now, he still couldn’t defeat something like that.

Thinking back, he could only call it bad luck. The universe was endless, and he’d still managed to collide with one immediately.

Then—finally—body-guarding pill star-refining succeeded.

Wang Jie was pleased. Mo Wan Yin looked relieved as well.

As an apology, she tried to give him another bottle of body-guarding pill. She’d assumed he’d spent most of the journey star-refining for her.

Wang Jie tried to refuse, embarrassed, but Mo Wan Yin shoved it into his hands anyway.

“Up ahead is Black-White Heaven’s ring-sect corridor,” she said, moving to the front of the ship. “Master should look. The first time is… a bit overwhelming.”

Wang Jie followed her gaze—and froze.

The Ring-Sect Corridor.

As the name implied, it was a corridor that looped around the entirety of Black-White Heaven’s domain.

It was built from some strange earth, no more than ten meters wide, yet it wrapped around the whole core region of the third star chain, enclosing Zhi Upper Realm, the Black and White Realms, the council of elders, the Zhi Study Valley—everything.

How long was it?

Unmeasurable.

Wang Jie had expected grandeur from a sect powerful enough to suppress the fourth nebula, but not this.

The scale was beyond anything he’d imagined.

Mo Wan Yin smiled at his expression. “The Ring-Sect Corridor is both a defensive line and a way for our people to travel between regions.”

“And there’s a Cloud Ladder on it—a transverse route. Once you step onto the Cloud Ladder, you can view the whole sect. Wherever you want to go, you step off along the way.”

“The Cloud Ladder moves as fast as a star chain-class ship,” she added.

“And once you pass through the Ring-Sect Corridor, you reach the sect’s core. Every so often, there’s a Hundred-Star Realm expert stationed there.”

“The council of elders has twenty-one. The Black and White Realms and Zhi Upper Realm also station Hundred-Star Realm experts throughout. Once anyone enters Black-White Heaven… leaving isn’t easy.”

She pointed. “Master, our Zhi Study Valley is that way.”

Wang Jie let out a slow breath. “So this is the foundation of the sect that suppresses the fourth nebula. In Frost-Hua Sect, a Hundred-Star Realm expert could guard an entire region. Here, it feels like they’re everywhere.”

Mo Wan Yin nodded. “Ruling a nebula isn’t the same as ruling a star chain.”

As their ship crossed the Ring-Sect Corridor, it paused briefly, as if being inspected, then was allowed through.

They continued inward.

Along the way, Wang Jie saw region after region that defied comprehension—stairways linked to the Ring-Sect Corridor, palaces circling stars, endless blades forming a river of steel across the void, and places shrouded so completely that nothing could be seen at all.

After some time, Mo Wan Yin said, “We’ve arrived. This is the Zhi Study Valley.”

Wang Jie understood the name at once.

It was a massive landmass, sunken in the middle like a true valley—large enough to fill countless stars. From space, the basin shone green, except for a distant corner stained dark red, clearly a forge region.

The ship entered smoothly and hovered. Mo Wan Yin led Wang Jie out while other disciples took the ship to dock.

“I’ll take Master to meet Master,” she said.

Wang Jie nodded. “All right.”

Not long after, he saw Bai Ye, the Celestial Master.

He’d never met her before. He’d only heard her name when buying information about Su Le, and back then it hadn’t meant much. Later, his bargain master had called her one thing—Bai Ye girl—and the image in his mind had shifted from someone like Zhi Xing Xue to someone far younger.

Now that he saw her, it wasn’t an exaggeration.

She looked like a girl.

Too young—so young she didn’t even carry the faint, weary edge of someone who’d preserved youth for too long.

Was she actually that young?

Either way, he kept his posture respectful.

“Disciple Wang Jie greets Senior Celestial Master Bai Ye.”

Bai Ye laughed softly and lifted her hand, her voice crisp. “Master Wang, no need to be so stiff. Since you’re already a Master, just call me Bai Ye.”

Wang Jie immediately said, “This junior wouldn’t dare.”

“Then call me Celestial Master Bai for now,” she said with an easy smile. “Once we’re familiar, we can change it. I’m easy to get along with. Ask Wan Yin if you don’t believe me.”

She studied him, something curious in her gaze. “I’ve heard quite a lot about Master lately. You sound like Wan Yin, that girl—clearly gifted in pills, yet always insisting on fighting. Now that I see you… Master actually looks more suited to cultivation.”

Mo Wan Yin blinked, confused.

Wang Jie was confused too.

Bai Ye only smiled and led him into her courtyard.

Mo Wan Yin hurried to pour tea.

The tea was clear as glass, the leaves like green jade.

Bai Ye didn’t drink. She pulled out the Six-Scent Burststar Pill at once. “Master—star-refining can really raise a pill’s grade?”

She shook her head in disbelief. “That’s new to me. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“No one star-refines pills?” Wang Jie asked.

“Some have star-refined successfully,” Bai Ye said, “but at most it changes properties, not grade. For example, adding blazing starforce to a fire-type pill can deepen its effect. But raising a pill’s grade? That’s difficult.”

Her eyes brightened. “Master’s method is astonishing.”

Mo Wan Yin quickly presented the body-guarding pill Wang Jie had star-refined on the journey. “Master, this is one he refined on the way.”

Bai Ye took it, sniffed it, and her eyes flashed. “Another grade higher.”

She looked up at Wang Jie, delighted. “I refined this body-guarding pill. Originally it was one scent. Now it’s two.”

Then her smile sharpened. “Master has this kind of ability, and Black-White Heaven still let such a pearl gather dust.”

Wang Jie felt heat crawl up his neck and hurried to be modest. If Star-Devourer hadn’t been so dangerous, he would never have revealed a six-scent pill.

Now there was no hiding it.

“Wan Yin,” Bai Ye said, “go bring other pills for Master to examine.”

Mo Wan Yin sighed. “Disciple already showed him everything.”

“Then go find more,” Bai Ye said without hesitation.

Mo Wan Yin glanced at Wang Jie, then nodded and left.

Wang Jie sipped his tea. Bai Ye had made her point. She wanted to speak privately.

Bai Ye watched him for a moment. “I’ve seen more than one person reach the limit of lockforce cultivation and start cultivating qi to raise their combat power. I didn’t expect Master to be the same.”

Wang Jie stiffened.

Bai Ye met his gaze, amused. “What? Surprised?”

“Celestial Master… you can see qi?” Wang Jie asked carefully.

“Of course,” Bai Ye said. “There’s a pill called burst-qi pill. If you can’t see qi, how would you refine it?”

“Celestial Master cultivates qi as well?”

“I don’t.” Bai Ye rested her chin on her hand, studying him. “Being able to see qi doesn’t mean you have to cultivate it.”

Her smile thinned into curiosity. “I’m interested, though. Someone who can suppress Zhi Shu at the Star-Breaking Realm… why cultivate qi at all? Your limit isn’t here yet.”

“And in this fourth nebula,” she added, “where did you even learn qi cultivation?”

Wang Jie didn’t know how to answer.

He hadn’t learned it in the fourth nebula.

Bai Ye’s gaze flicked toward his storage ring. Then she said lightly, as if changing subjects, “Master, teach me Star Speech.”

Wang Jie’s heart lurched.

That pivot was too fast. How did she jump from qi cultivation to Star Dao? And how did she know he had anything to do with Star Speech?

Bai Ye laughed at his expression. “Don’t be surprised. The only person here who could teach you qi cultivation would be that old Star Dao master, wouldn’t it? It’s not hard to guess.”

Wang Jie exhaled, relieved. So that was her reasoning.

“I’m afraid I’ll disappoint Celestial Master,” he said. “I’m not a Star Dao master.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Bai Ye said. “Without the Roaming-Star Realm, how could you be?”

She leaned forward, eyes bright. “But you definitely know Star Speech. Teach me.”

“I don’t,” Wang Jie said.

“You do,” Bai Ye replied, far too cheerful.

“I really don’t.”

“Then who taught you qi cultivation?”

Wang Jie had no answer.

Bai Ye’s lips curved. She stood and stepped closer, tilting her head as if to examine him more closely.

Wang Jie met her gaze without moving back.

A Hundred-Star Realm powerhouse should have pressed down on him like a mountain, but the weight vanished beneath one simple thought: Bai Ye girl.

Not Celestial Master.

Not a Hundred-Star Realm.

Just Bai Ye girl.

Bai Ye leaned in, her breath warm and fragrant. “Teach me, okay? I’ll help you curse Zhi Qing.”

Wang Jie swallowed hard, embarrassment flashing across his face. He stood at once and bowed. “My apologies, Celestial Master. I truly don’t know it.”

He’d just seen a flash of snow-white.

Bai Ye sat back, disappointed. “If you don’t want to teach me, I won’t force you. When I find that old man someday, I’ll make him teach me himself.”

Then she gestured politely. “Sorry, Master. I startled you. Sit.”

Wang Jie cleared his throat and sat.

For reasons he didn’t want to examine, the air turned awkward.

Mo Wan Yin returned not long after. “Master, there really aren’t any other pills.”

“Then forget it,” Bai Ye said. “I’ll think again. Take Master Wang to rest. The pill assembly is only a few days away.”

“Yes, Master. This way, please.”

Wang Jie excused himself quickly.

Watching him leave, Bai Ye smiled faintly.

Interesting.