Chapter 212

Chapter 212: Singing Phoenix Hall

Fang Jue kept moving as he explained. “Once you reach Battle Trooper, you can leave the battlefield forever, or you can stay.”

“But staying is different from before. You can choose your missions freely. You can recruit your own squad.”

He shot Wang Jie a look. “You’ve offended someone. If you keep taking missions passively, you already know what that means—almost all of them will be death traps.”

“Only if you’re accepted into a squad, and the squad leader recruits you for missions, can you avoid stepping into a guaranteed grave.”

“Normally only Battle Trooper need to go to the Edict Platform to hand in missions. You can submit yours through your personal terminal and wait for assignments.”

“But if you want to find a squad to rely on, you have to go to the Edict Platform and try your luck.”

Wang Jie nodded. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”

Fang Jue continued, voice calmer now that they were out. “Black-White Heaven’s Command Hub at Ying Yang Battlefield has a lot of departments. Missions vary. The safest are logistics—mostly just riding out time.”

“The most dangerous is being thrown directly into the front. That comes down to luck.”

Wang Jie asked, “I’m a chen refiner. Can that get me any privileges?”

Fang Jue stopped and stared at him. “You’re a chen refiner?”

Wang Jie nodded.

Fang Jue looked like his worldview had cracked. “You’re a lockforce cultivator… and you’re a chen refiner?”

Wang Jie nodded again. He’d answered that question more times than he could count.

Fang Jue exhaled in disbelief. “Lockforce can be star-refining? What the hell.”

He clicked his tongue. “Doesn’t matter. Being a chen refiner can keep you from being sent to the star-cloud battlefield in the first place, but once you’re here, it’s useless.”

“Forget Chen Refiner. Even a legendary star dao master has to follow orders on this battlefield.”

Wang Jie didn’t quite believe that. Star dao masters held a status most people couldn’t even imagine.

Fang Jue changed the subject. “So. Who did you offend?”

“Di Zi.”

Fang Jue froze. Then he looked at Wang Jie the way one looked at a corpse waiting to be buried. “You offended that woman?”

Wang Jie nodded.

He didn’t dare mention Zhi Qing. Fang Jue might actually throw him into space.

Fang Jue huffed. “No wonder.”

He shook his head. “Then your chances of getting back to the sect alive are even lower.”

“Di Zi is petty. You can tell just by looking. Always wearing that sour face like the world owes her money.”

“But she has Elder Ming behind her—one of the three elders who run Ying Yang Battlefield. That means she has real authority here.”

He grimaced. “So I was wrong earlier. Finding a squad won’t help much. You need to get under the other two elders. Otherwise, no one can save you.”

Wang Jie asked, “Who are the other two elders?”

“One is Elder Wu Yuan. Don’t even think about it. He’s always on the front and never handles backline matters.”

“The other is Elder Li Tong He. Figure out how to get close to him yourself.”

Wang Jie didn’t even know where to start. A squad still seemed more realistic.

Fang Jue, being roaming-star realm, moved fast—but even so, it would take him at least two months to return to the Command Hub at his own speed.

Wang Jie’s previous ship had been star chain-class, roughly six times faster.

Catching a ship was still the fastest option.

They didn’t find one.

What they found first was Second Star Cloud.

The moment Fang Jue sensed them, he grabbed Wang Jie and dove onto a planet wreathed in thick blue vapor.

The stench was so foul it made the throat clamp shut.

Fang Jue didn’t care. He plunged deeper, keeping low.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

Wang Jie nodded. He’d heard it too—zither music drifting from somewhere distant, eerie and wrong.

Fang Jue’s expression darkened. “That’s Singing Phoenix Hall.”

“Second Star Cloud.”

Wang Jie tried to look through the blue haze, but it was too thick to see the void beyond. “Singing Phoenix Hall?”

“I told you Second Star Cloud has a lot of powerful factions,” Fang Jue said. “Any one of them can’t quite match Black-White Heaven, but they’re close enough to be deadly.”

“Singing Phoenix Hall is one of them. They specialize in sound arts. Eight Tones Eight Annihilations. Thunder-Sound True Dharma.”

He spat to the side. “A lot of our Senior Brothers died to them.”

“They’re vicious.”

“If you run into them, even if you don’t die, you’ll lose a layer of skin.”

He pointed downward. “We don’t show ourselves. We wait for them to leave.”

Wang Jie asked, “Who are they fighting?”

Fang Jue snorted. “Who cares? It has nothing to do with us.”

They waited on that stinking planet for half a month.

Only after the music finally vanished did they dare move again.

As they left, Fang Jue warned him, “If you ever hear a sound like that again, don’t hesitate. Run.”

“We’re at a disadvantage against Singing Phoenix Hall.”

“And they have ties all over Second Star Cloud. You never know when some ‘protector’ will show up. Dying to that would be pathetic.”

A few days later, luck finally turned.

They found a ship drifting without an owner. Its tail was wrecked, but the core systems still responded.

They boarded and activated it, setting course for the Command Hub.

Eight days later, they returned to the familiar port crowded with warships.

This was Ying Yang Battlefield’s Command Hub—where elders were stationed year-round.

Only when they crossed the defensive perimeter did Fang Jue finally release a long breath.

“I’m going to rest,” he said. “Then I’ll go to the Edict Platform. Do what you want.”

Wang Jie watched him leave and took the chance to look around properly.

Last time, he’d been rushed through. Now he could finally see the layout.

The Command Hub was enormous, divided into departments: warship construction and repair; mining and resource utilization; logistics for formation, artifact, and pill daos; transportation; the Edict Platform; rest areas; waiting areas; and more.

He’d been sent to the waiting area before.

Fang Jue headed to the rest area.

The rest area was only open to Battle Trooper—or to those willing to pay.

Many cultivators who wanted to “ride out time” on the battlefield paid for rooms there.

The cost wasn’t just comfort. It was protection.

With an elder stationed here, you could sleep without worrying about being slaughtered in your sleep. Otherwise, a cultivator could rest anywhere; paying to rest here only made sense because the Command Hub offered cover.

Wang Jie went straight to the Edict Platform.

It took him a while to find it.

The Edict Platform was located on another planet.

At first glance, it resembled the Star Fusion Center’s counters—except vastly larger. The counters were spread far apart, separated by mission types.

People wandered everywhere. Many looked like Wang Jie—trying to find a squad to cling to. Others carried themselves with obvious arrogance; those were already squad members.

Farther out, people had set up stalls.

Wang Jie drifted closer.

“Junior Brother, looking to buy something?” a vendor called. “Come on, take a look. All good stuff.”

He held up a dagger. “This dagger—third-tribulation chen artifact, from Dagger-Offering Order. I picked it up on the Han Hai battlefield.”

Wang Jie blinked. “Picked it up?”

The vendor snorted. “You look unfamiliar. Don’t know Han Hai?”

“So what if I picked it up? I’m proud of it.”

“Do you know how many people died there? I’m lucky I made it back at all.”

Wang Jie asked, “Dagger-Offering Order is…?”

“One of Second Star Cloud’s factions,” the vendor said. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Junior Brother, are you here for a lecture or are you buying? If you’re not buying, don’t waste my time.”

Wang Jie moved on, checking other stalls.

Everything was for sale.

The people selling here were targeting squads. Squads were the closest thing to “elites” in this meat grinder, and elites were the ones who could pay.

Wang Jie tried to do what others did—approach squads, offer himself.

The moment they heard “lockforce,” they refused.

He had no choice but to show strength.

He caught a man by the arm before he could walk away. “Senior Brother, don’t reject me so quickly. Junior Brother’s combat power is decent. Killing an ordinary roaming-star realm isn’t a problem.”

The man’s eyes widened. He turned, reassessing. “You can kill roaming-star realm?”

Wang Jie nodded. “Formation master Fang Jue can vouch for me. It happened in space—I didn’t have time to take the identity token.”

Wang Jie released him.

The man exhaled. “That’s normal. If you’re not roaming-star realm, surviving a fight in space is already a miracle. Who has time to grab an identity token?”

He shook his head. “But Junior Brother, even if you can kill roaming-star realm, it doesn’t matter. Our squad still won’t take you.”

Wang Jie frowned. “Why?”

“Do you know why squads exist?” the man asked. “It’s not to make a name or build merit for the sect. That’s for six-path roamer and true elites.”

“We’re just here to scrape resources and survive. Most squads don’t even go into the real front.”

“So when we recruit, we recruit starforce cultivators. At least we’ll have friends when we return to the sect.”

He met Wang Jie’s gaze. “Lockforce cultivators almost never return. Even if you do, you’ll end up back in Lockspace.”

He hesitated, then added, “You know Xiao Rong?”

Wang Jie nodded. He’d heard the name too many times.

“That man stays on the battlefield as a model the sect built for lockforce cultivators,” the squad member said quietly. “Not because he truly chose to.”

Wang Jie’s brows rose.

“That’s not a secret among starforce cultivators,” the man continued. “They just don’t tell you lockforce cultivators.”

He stepped back. “Junior Brother, your strength is good. If we meet on the battlefield later, you might save my life. So I’m leaving you this kindness.”

“But you’re unlikely to return to the sect. And even if you do, you won’t have ties with us. So the captain won’t take you.”

He turned and left.

Wang Jie stood there, expression tight.

So that was Xiao Rong’s role.

He wasn’t Xiao Rong.

But it didn’t matter. No squad here believed a lockforce cultivator would return to the sect.

Unless he joined a squad that fought on the front.

And Wang Jie didn’t want that. Not willingly.

He’d been forced into the star-cloud battlefield by his bargain master. He wasn’t here to throw his life away.

One mistake meant death.

That bargain master couldn’t help him from this far away.

If Wang Jie wanted to live, he’d have to do it himself.

He kept searching. Days passed.

No squad accepted him.

He couldn’t hide the fact that he cultivated lockforce. This was a battlefield, not the sect.

He could disguise a face with Nine-Form Diagram, but he couldn’t disguise an identity.

Then his terminal chimed.

Mission submission reminder.

Fang Jue had submitted his.

Wang Jie sighed and submitted as well.

His mission was a solo assignment, not one of the mass lockforce batches. The reward was rich: his identity token gained one more drop of blood.

The instant it processed, a new mission arrived.

Assemble at Han Hai.

Wang Jie’s eyelid twitched.

Han Hai.

Fang Jue had mentioned it. That dagger vendor had mentioned it. The fiercest battlefield in Ying Yang Battlefield.

Of course.

His missions were never “good.”

He scanned the Edict Platform crowds, found the stall, and walked over.