Chapter 211

Chapter 211: Second Star Cloud

The wandering star realm warrior from Gong nation staggered back after blocking several shadows of the finger strike, his giant blade shattered. Shocked, he stared at Wang Jie and demanded, “Just what realm are you?”

This Gong nation warrior was similar to the few Wang Jie had slain before, the weakest among wandering star realm cultivators, their battle strength barely over a hundred thousand.

Right now, Wang Jie could easily end him.

Yet at that moment, the sky locust beneath Wang Jie suddenly weakened, helplessly plummeting downward.

Startled, Wang Jie glanced downward. Seizing this opening, the Gong nation warrior surged forward, his entire body flushed crimson with the Blood Stabbing Method. With a fierce roar, he swung down his broken blade, a simple yet devastating strike.

But this was exactly the moment Wang Jie was waiting for.

In a swift motion, Wang Jie’s sword became a long whip, swiftly coiling around the Gong nation warrior just as the giant blade fell. The Thunder Pattern appeared instantly, blocking the blade’s descent. Blinding thunder radiance burst forth, leaving the warrior terrified—this formidable Heaven Thunder was impossible for him to break through.

Dragged by an irresistible force, the warrior found Wang Jie suddenly inches away.

This long whip was a trophy Wang Jie acquired after defeating a wandering star realm expert at Great Star Mountain. Anyone daring to strike him had to pay a price.

Moreover, since he hadn’t yet reached the wandering star realm himself, wielding a whip was conveniently versatile.

Reaching out, Wang Jie grabbed the Gong nation warrior and demanded, “Take me to the planet.”

The warrior spat blood with a savage grin, “Dream on, kid. You’re not even a wandering star realm, yet you’re so strong. My people will never let you leave alive. You’re dead for sure!” As he finished, he twisted half his body at an impossible angle, attacking Wang Jie ferociously.

[A Power Accumulation Method?]

Wang Jie felt a headache coming—he hated encountering such fearless enemies. He didn’t even know how to intimidate them properly.

At this moment, intense bright lights erupted in the distance.

Wang Jie’s heart sank. He looked up as countless beams swept across the stars. Gong nation also possessed technological weapons, not just Lao Bone. Their warships had the power to annihilate entire planets, and stronger ones could even kill wandering star realm experts.

He wasn’t worried about one or two attacks, but there were simply too many.

Countless dense beams lit the starry void.

Wang Jie unleashed his Thunder Pattern.

With a tremendous roar, the Thunder Pattern shook violently. Its immense force pushed him toward the planet, but suddenly, beams shot up from the planet’s surface as well, catching him in a pincer attack. Forced to rapidly redirect the Thunder Pattern, Wang Jie saw the Gong nation warrior attempting to escape. He flung the man straight into the beams, instantly turning him into ashes.

Surrounded on all sides by relentless bombardment, escape seemed impossible. [There’s always a chance to break one’s limits.]

Suddenly, the beams from the planet vanished.

A figure approached swiftly, calling out, “Follow me.”

Wang Jie threw out his whip. The figure grabbed it but immediately felt pain—the whip had hidden barbs. [What a cunning fellow.]

With a powerful tug, Wang Jie was pulled out of the beams’ range.

Behind them, countless sky locusts pursued.

Wang Jie pointed his finger, releasing the Starry Finger Technique.

Numerous finger shadows rained down, obliterating their pursuers and covering their escape.

Boom!

Wang Jie crashed into the ground, dust exploding around him. Finally landing on solid ground, he found himself surrounded by a dark-red landscape dotted with pools of bubbling green liquid.

He took a deep breath. [Standing on solid ground truly feels good.]

“I say, kid, you’re awfully young yet so cunning! A whip is bad enough, but barbs? Look how my palm’s shredded—you’re paying for this,” came an annoyed voice from afar.

Wang Jie turned, spotting a young man glaring at him unhappily, his palm covered in blood.

“My apologies, and many thanks for saving my life.”

The young man snorted, sprinkling medicinal powder onto his bleeding palm, complaining, “I thought it was just an ordinary whip. Who knew it’d pack such a punch—and there might even be poison! You’re truly vicious.”

This whip was used by a wandering star realm expert, a three-tribulation star artifact. Naturally, the barbs could tear through this man’s hand, given he was also wandering star realm.

Wang Jie apologized again and offered him a Revive Pill.

The young man’s face softened slightly, “You’re from Black White Heaven?”

“That’s right. And you?”

“Fang Jue, from Black White Heaven.”

Wang Jie was astonished. “You’re Fang Jue?” His mission here was specifically to assist a formation daoist, and this formation daoist was named Fang Jue.

Fang Jue scrutinized Wang Jie and suddenly understood, chuckling, “Ah, I get it. You’re that unlucky fellow.”

Wang Jie looked puzzled.

Fang Jue smiled and explained, “This place wasn’t originally the frontline. But recently, Yin Yang Battlefield transferred over more Lock Force cultivators and forcibly pushed the front here. Though that batch of cannon fodder all died, the task was technically done. I stayed behind then to set up the Formation Dao.”

“No one knows I’m here. Once I finish the formation, I can leave.”

“This place is easy to leave but difficult to enter.”

“You essentially crossed the battle line just as I was about to complete my formation task. Tell me, aren’t you truly unlucky?”

Wang Jie finally understood, saying, “No wonder I was surrounded the moment I arrived.”

Fang Jue asked, “Kid, did you offend someone back at the sect?”

“A little.”

“Not angry?”

“I’m used to it.”

Fang Jue admired, “Good mindset.”

Wang Jie asked curiously, “Then why did you save me?”

This man must’ve noticed his predicament earlier but had refrained from acting due to the formation’s near completion, wishing to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Wang Jie wasn’t offended at Fang Jue’s initial indifference—he never placed his survival in others’ hands—but the subsequent help made him curious.

Fang Jue explained openly, “I’m not fully confident about the return journey. After all, this is the frontline. If we run into someone tough, it’d get complicated. You seem strong enough—by the way, what realm are you? Full star realm?”

Wang Jie nodded, “Close enough.”

Fang Jue didn’t probe further, looking up at the stars. “We’ve alarmed the enemy this time, but the formation will be done soon. Don’t do anything rash. Just sit tight, and we’ll leave in two days.”

“It’s just a shame you killed that wandering star realm enemy but couldn’t claim his identity plate.”

Saying that, Fang Jue returned to finish setting up the formation.

Wang Jie sat down, looking at the stars, a hint of killing intent flickering in his eyes. [Di Zi.]

Several hours later, the dark sky suddenly exploded into brightness.

Wang Jie looked up.

“It’s a fleet—should be ours,” Fang Jue guessed.

Wang Jie watched as intermittent flashes lit the stars, each burst signifying a battleship’s destruction. With every ship destroyed, many lives were lost. Battleships, unlike regular spacecraft, required numerous crew members to operate their complex weapon systems.

Only after a full three hours did the starry battle finally end.

Blazing fragments streaked across the night sky, crashing nearby. They were remnants of the destroyed fleet.

Fang Jue went to take a look and said, “It’s definitely one of ours; there are even burned and shattered corpses inside. Want to check it out?”

Wang Jie spoke in a deep voice, “Won’t the Gong Nation come and search this planet?”

“They will, but they won’t find anything,” Fang Jue answered confidently. “Do you know why they sent me here? Because I’m at the Wandering Star Realm. Even though my formation dao level is only Stone Observing, ordinary people still can’t see through my concealment. If they’re just looking for enemies, they won’t succeed. A planet is huge. At most, they’ll scan it quickly, but anyone with even a basic Breath Concealment Method won’t be found. How else could I have hidden here for so long?”

His expression grew heavier, “But if the people coming aren’t those simple-minded Gong Nation fools, but the ones from the Second Star Cloud, then we’re in real trouble.”

Wang Jie asked doubtfully, “Second Star Cloud? Have you encountered them before?”

“Of course,” Fang Jue replied. “Almost everyone who survived the Ying Yang Battlefield has met them. The Second Star Cloud surpasses both the Third Nebula and our Fourth Star Cloud. It’s widely acknowledged as second only to the First Star Cloud. Though they lack a unified force, unlike our Black White Heaven, each individual group within it is still incredibly powerful.” Fang Jue sighed deeply. “Have you ever heard of the Flower Nation?”

Wang Jie’s eyes flickered. Of course he’d heard of it—he even had a Flower Nation emblem.

“The Flower Nation claims it can heal all wounds. As long as you haven’t died, they can bring you back, no matter how severe your injuries.”

“Is that even possible?” Wang Jie said in surprise.

“Their bridge technique is called the Heaven Healing Technique.”

“Heaven Healing Technique? Just the name alone sounds incredible.”

“No matter how incredible they are, they still can’t unify the Second Star Cloud. You can imagine how powerful the rest of them must be. Anyway, I don’t want to run into them again; otherwise, I’d just be helping them rack up battle achievements.”

Shortly afterward, Fang Jue returned to setting up the formation dao, reminding Wang Jie once more not to show himself.

Two days later, Fang Jue finally finished the task.

Only then did Wang Jie recognize the formation—it was the familiar Double Tip Formation.

This was the simplest formation dao. Although its power was limited, it was perfectly suited to dealing with the starry sky locusts.

“Junior brother, it’s time to go.”

Wang Jie gripped Fang Jue tightly. Fang Jue laughed aloud, “You’d better hurry up and reach Wandering Star Realm. Only then will your true cultivation begin. Hahahaha!” As he spoke, he leaped upward and rushed toward the path Wang Jie had come from. He no longer cared about being noticed.

Or rather, he would definitely be noticed.

Because they were still deep within the Gong Nation encirclement.

Not long after they charged into space, countless sky locusts surged toward them from every direction.

Wang Jie’s expression darkened.

“Watch closely! This is the strongest Double Tip Formation I can set up right now!” Fang Jue shouted, activating the formation.

In an instant, the universe sparkled with endless starforce. Star after star swept back and forth through the starforce, engulfing all nearby Gong Nation soldiers.

One by one, sky locusts fell. The Gong Nation soldiers tried to resist, but there were simply too many Double Tip Formations.

Taking advantage of this moment, Fang Jue charged forward with Wang Jie, shouting, “Attack!”

Wang Jie raised his hand and pointed out, unleashing his Starry Finger Technique. Fang Jue attacked simultaneously, creating a gap amidst the countless Double Tip Formations and starry sky locusts, allowing them to escape into the distant stars.

Wang Jie glanced backward.

[So this is the power of formation dao.]

Once a formation was successfully set, its potential was endless.

If formation dao was already this powerful, what about star dao? According to Shu Rang, formation dao wasn’t even worthy of tying the shoes of star dao.

They sped through the cosmos, Fang Jue exerting his utmost strength until he finally stopped after an entire day.

“We made it out, I’m exhausted! And you, kid—don’t grab onto me so tightly. If I wanted to toss you aside, you’d already be gone,” Fang Jue complained.

Wang Jie laughed awkwardly, “Thank you, senior brother.”

Fang Jue rolled his eyes and continued walking.

“With this mission completed, I can finally become a Battle Soldier. I’m definitely not returning to this cursed place again. You’re new here, aren’t you? Considering how easily you offend people, we probably won’t meet again after this. Good luck surviving.”

“Senior brother, aren’t you aiming for great achievements on the battlefield?”

“Hmph, I’m not worthy.”

Wang Jie was speechless. He felt like he had heard these words somewhere before.

“Since we got along these past few days, I’ll give you some advice,” Fang Jue continued. “When you reach the Decree Platform, find a team quickly and join up with them. Let them watch your back. It’ll help you avoid being forced into assignments, or else you might end up dying without even knowing how it happened. Only then should you report the mission.”

“A team?” Wang Jie asked, puzzled.