Chapter 215
Chapter 215: Madness
Only after several days did the bombardment finally cease.
Wang Jie and Zhi Nan Xing stepped out from underground, gazing around at the unfamiliar landscape. The shattered planet beneath their feet and the distant planetary fragments had utterly changed, with more land drifting scattered across the starry sky.
The air reeked with the sharp stench of burning.
It was impossible to imagine any cultivator below ten seals surviving this devastation. This was the harsh reality of an interstellar battlefield.
Had Blue Star not been pushed away, they would have been thrown onto such a battlefield as mere natives, reduced to ashes long ago.
Even with Wang Jie’s current strength, he remained careful and cautious here.
Luck was the greatest guarantee for the weak to survive on the battlefield.
“Let’s not move from this spot,” suggested Zhi Nan Xing. “This area just suffered heavy bombardment, so unless we’re really unlucky, no enemies should appear anytime soon.” He no longer wished to part from Wang Jie; this man was his best chance of staying alive.
Yet, as soon as he spoke, a group of puppets suddenly emerged from beneath a distant piece of land and spotted them.
Wang Jie was speechless: “You really have a prophetic mouth.”
Zhi Nan Xing’s face twitched as he glanced at the power detector: “There’s a Wandering Star Realm puppet master. Be careful.”
The puppets swiftly crossed the terrain, rushing to attack.
Wang Jie stretched his arms. He had felt pent-up these past days and was eager for release. With a mighty kick, power enough to shatter the planet surged forth, instantly crushing the lead puppet into dust.
The puppet masters behind grew fearful, realizing this opponent had hidden his true strength.
Zhi Nan Xing also began fighting, cautiously refraining from using his Spring and Autumn Hands, attacking only with the most ordinary methods.
Though Wang Jie had encountered puppet masters before, he’d never truly battled one until now.
The Wandering Star puppet master controlled his puppet to swing a massive blade towards Wang Jie, its wide blade dripping with poison. Wang Jie spun around, breaking the blade with a kick, and pointed a finger forward, unleashing the Heaven and Earth Luo Xuan Finger, piercing straight through the puppet—yet the puppet master was not inside.
He waved his hand, effortlessly tearing the puppet apart.
[That easy?]
Suddenly, from behind, a figure seized the moment Wang Jie tore the puppet apart to unleash a fierce slash, its blade edge gleaming sharply.
Thunder Patterns roared to life before Wang Jie’s eyes.
Yet this single blade slash couldn’t even ripple the Thunder Pattern.
“Crimson Thunder Pattern?” gasped the attacker in shock.
Wang Jie grabbed the opponent’s blade hand, twisting fiercely. The attacker’s shoulder snapped instantly, starforce surging within his body as his aura wildly erupted. Wang Jie closely observed the strange, spiraling starforce within the man’s body, forming mysterious loops—what kind of combat technique was this?
His opponent’s combat power rose swiftly, but even so, he was just an ordinary Wandering Star cultivator, barely over a hundred thousand combat power, and even with this boost, wouldn’t surpass one hundred and thirty thousand.
In Wang Jie’s grasp, the attacker was powerless.
“Who are you?” the man cried in terror.
Without hesitation, Wang Jie struck down with his palm, piercing straight through the man’s chest. Blood sprayed forth as the attacker fell with a look of unwilling despair.
Nearby, Zhi Nan Xing had also finished off several other puppet masters.
All were ordinary Star Breaking cultivators, far weaker than himself.
Wang Jie searched the Wandering Star cultivator’s identity token, noticing two drops of blood inside—this man had somehow killed two other Wandering Star cultivators of the same rank. [How did he manage that, being so weak?]
“Hm? This man belongs to Ornate Jade Gate,” said Zhi Nan Xing in surprise. “He actually used puppets to conceal his identity.”
“Ornate Jade Gate?” Wang Jie echoed, startled.
Of course, he knew about Ornate Jade Gate.
Frost Radiance Sect had fallen precisely because of Ornate Jade Gate.
Ornate Jade Gate controlled the strongest power in the First Star Link of the Third Nebula. On the surface, they supported the Nan family’s rule alongside Frost Radiance Sect, but secretly they were the greatest threat opposing the Nan family. Years of infiltration led directly to Frost Radiance Sect’s demise, otherwise the sect would never have collapsed so disastrously.
Even the Frost Radiance Sect’s war against the Ninth Star Chain had been orchestrated by Ornate Jade Gate.
Zhi Nan Xing explained: “Ornate Jade Gate cultivators are easy to identify because they practice the Divine Xuan Scripture, which connects their internal starforce into rotating spirals. Each spiral formed increases their combat power significantly.”
Recalling the strange rotations he had just witnessed, Wang Jie now understood—that was a Xuan spiral.
“Apart from the Nan family, Ornate Jade Gate cultivators are the most difficult enemies in the Third Nebula.” Zhi Nan Xing glanced at the identity token in Wang Jie’s hand. Thinking for a moment, he handed Wang Jie the identity tokens he’d taken from his defeated puppet masters, saying, “Take these too. If not for you, I’d already be dead.”
Wang Jie didn’t refuse. He needed to quickly achieve Battle Soldier rank to have any footing here.
“You’ve been on the battlefield for quite some time. What’s your rank now?”
Zhi Nan Xing took out his identity token: “Breaking Star Stage, Battle Guard.”
Wang Jie was surprised: “You’re already a Battle Guard? Then why come here?”
Zhi Nan Xing sighed helplessly: “Because of you. The family said I must reach Battle Elite rank before returning from the battlefield. But outside of battlefields like this, reaching Battle Elite is nearly impossible and takes far too long. I can’t afford to wait.”
Wang Jie patted his shoulder reassuringly: “Don’t say that. I held back last time; otherwise, you’d already be dead.”
Zhi Nan Xing…
This time, the place truly became safe.
Several days passed with no further enemy encounters, though they met allies once. The other party recognized Zhi Nan Xing immediately, shocked to see someone from the main Zhi family branch on the Hanhai Sea battlefield.
From the moment he was recognized, Zhi Nan Xing knew he couldn’t stay any longer—his identity was far too sensitive.
Since Wang Jie wasn’t ready to part ways yet, they left together. Zhi Nan Xing silently accepted the arrangement, acknowledging Wang Jie as his partner.
Time slowly passed. It had already been over ten days since they arrived at the Hanhai Sea battlefield.
Ten days would usually pass in a blink elsewhere, but here, each day felt like a year.
They fought numerous battles, yet none posed a true threat.
For an enemy to trouble Wang Jie, they had to be either extraordinarily unique or impossibly powerful. And those with such strength always had rivals to restrain them. With that thought, Wang Jie finally felt a bit more at ease.
Only two more drops of blood remained before he could ascend to the rank of War Soldier.
Leaving this battlefield might not be too difficult after all.
Zhi Nan Xing hadn’t made much progress. It would still take him a long while to reach War Hero status. The real problem was the lack of opponents at his level who could yield blood-drop gains.
In war, strength alone wasn’t enough. Time mattered too.
Many people rose through the ranks by simply enduring.
If rank could be gained that quickly, no sect would have any experts left holding the front lines.
At the moment, the two of them were resting beneath a broken range of mountainous land.
Wang Jie was in good spirits: “I’ll be leaving soon. What about you? Still planning to stay here? If you ask me, you should just leave. Grinding it out slowly is better than dying here.”
During these past days of travel, the tension between the two had faded.
Zhi Nan Xing had only been hostile because of Zhi Qing and the others.
Wang Jie had no personal grudge against him to begin with.
Zhi Nan Xing replied, “And how do you plan to leave?”
Wang Jie looked at him.
Zhi Nan Xing gave a wicked grin, a bit gloating: “Every so often, the Hanhai Sea battlefield has warships that stop outside the zone. Otherwise, you’d have to be a wandering star cultivator to leave on your own.”
“How long between appearances?”
“Fastest is three months. Slowest, half a year.”
Wang Jie’s face changed. “That long?”
Zhi Nan Xing unfolded the star map. This was a starmap of the Hanhai Sea battlefield. He hadn’t planned to show it before, but these past few days, their relationship had improved.
He pointed to one corner: “We’re here. The warships returning to the central zone usually appear over here.”
“So if you want to leave, not only do you have to wait, but you also have to hope you run into one of those warships. If not, you just keep waiting.”
Wang Jie stared at the massive area Zhi Nan Xing had marked on the map. [How am I supposed to bump into anything in that?]
Zhi Nan Xing added, “Don’t overthink it. The sects won’t make it easy for people to leave—especially someone like you, who’s advancing too fast. You arrive and want to walk away right after? That’s not happening.”
Wang Jie gave a bitter smile and stowed away the identity tokens.
“What’s Di Zi’s connection to your faction?”
“She’s Elder Ming’s disciple. Elder Ming is close with Ancestor Qing.”
Wang Jie said nothing more.
Zhi Nan Xing glanced over: “You planning to get back at Di Zi? I’d advise against it—at least not here. Elder Ming is stationed at the Ying Yang battlefield. Even if he killed you, he’d only get a slap on the wrist.”
“But if you manage to leave the Hanhai Sea battlefield, you won’t need to care about Di Zi anymore. Not even Elder Ming could force you to do anything then. There’s no need for revenge.”
Wang Jie didn’t respond. Instead, he took out his star disk and checked it.
Suddenly, his pupils shrank. “Run. Now. Go.”
On the star disk, the front and rear were filled with dense energy signals—and two of them were colossal.
They both dashed from the landmass toward the nearest planetary fragment.
But it was already too late.
Two figures, far off in opposite directions, clashed at the same moment. Unfathomable star force surged like a boundless ocean and thundered toward them.
Along the way, every fragment of planetary land was shattered to pieces.
Wang Jie and Zhi Nan Xing could barely catch their breath as their bodies were flung through the air. The two torrents of star force swept them apart like a furious storm. In the next instant, the sky rang with an earth-shattering roar.
From both sides, countless cultivators charged toward one another.
Unknowingly, Wang Jie and Zhi Nan Xing had hidden themselves right at the center of a brewing war, completely unaware until now.
And neither army had made a sound.
This had been a premeditated decisive battle.
The leaders were Hundred Star Realm cultivators. If not for their cover, it would have been impossible to gather so many people without detection.
Even in the Hanhai Sea battlefield, a war of this scale was rare. Hundred Star Realm experts usually oversaw from afar; they seldom fought unless they wanted to earn glory—or were being pressured from above.
Wang Jie crashed into a mountainside and coughed up blood. Raising his head, he saw the two waves of star force splitting the universe in half. The collision of power tore cracks through the void, sweeping in all directions like endless heavenly thunder.
As one of the cracks reached him, he hastily dodged aside.
Behind him, the cliff wall was effortlessly ripped open. The ground beneath his feet shattered into dust.
Before him, a wave of blood-eyed cultivators charged. Wang Jie raised his hand—sword in grip—and slashed across, cutting down the entire group. They were all under ten seals, and many were already being consumed by the shockwaves of the Hundred Star Realm duel, leaving not even ashes behind.
Just as Zhi Nan Xing had said—there were no sides here.
The two Hundred Star cultivators didn’t care who died below them.
Wang Jie turned and ran, desperate to flee the battlefield’s core.
But the cultivators around them had gone mad, charging and slaying without pause. Every person was an enemy. Their minds were flooded with bloodlust. In this moment, life and death were mere outcomes. Those with higher cultivation could still hold onto reason, but the weak—those without the ability to save themselves—became crazed. Fear of death drowned all logic.
At this moment, almost everyone had gone insane.
“Look out!” someone shouted from the chaos.
From the distant starry sky, countless arrows rained down, drowning the heavens in steel and starlight.
Wang Jie was directly within their shadow.