Chapter 216

Chapter 216: Fight to the Death

The Falling Bow Hall.

Over the past days, Wang Jie had learned plenty about them through Zhi Nan Xing. They were the ruling power of the Fourth Star Chain in Third Nebula—a sect that specialized in bows and arrows, capable of clearing battlefields on a massive scale.

These arrows ranged from strong to weak.

Bodies were pierced from every direction, painting the ground red.

Wang Jie stepped onto Sword Steps and threaded through the battlefield, dodging with ease.

Off to the side, a group of cultivators hid behind heavy shields and charged forward, smashing through everything in their path.

They moved in teams of three. One team’s target was clearly Wang Jie.

He slipped away. The team crashed into empty air, and by the time they looked again, he was already gone.

The enemy’s origins were obvious. They were from Third Nebula.

Black-White Heaven cultivators, on the other hand, had no obvious traits. Maybe that was exactly why Third Nebula’s people loved picking on anyone who looked unremarkable.

Screams and bloody slaughter tore through the air. Above them, two Hundred-Star Realm powerhouses kept trading blows, turning the starry sky into a forbidden zone.

Wang Jie found Zhi Nan Xing. He’d thought they would be separated.

Zhi Nan Xing was in trouble.

He was surrounded by shield-bearers—two teams, six people total. One team was Star-Breaking Realm. The other was Full-Star Realm.

Trapped among them, every strike he threw was swallowed by their defense. Each collision boomed like thunder.

With his strength, he could have crushed them, but their shield wall was airtight. Even Fixed-Star Technique could only pin one person’s starforce; the other five would fill the gap instantly, leaving him no opening to break through.

To survive, he had no choice.

He hurled out bronze slips—Spring-Autumn Hand.

Half the twelve slips slammed into shields. The other half carved in from another angle. The three Star-Breaking Realm cultivators were crushed to death on the spot.

Only the three Full-Star Realm cultivators held on. As they retreated, they shouted, “Zhi family! He’s from the Zhi family!”

Nearby enemies heard. One by one, greedy eyes turned. Killing a Zhi family member was major merit.

With blood at the corner of his mouth and his face pale, Zhi Nan Xing recalled the bronze slips and ran.

But the shout only whipped the enemy into a frenzy. They chased harder.

Even the arrow rain above locked onto him. Arrows poured down in sheets.

Zhi Nan Xing swung Spring-Autumn Hand. The bronze slips shielded him as the ground around him shattered.

Just then, Wang Jie rushed in, grabbed him, and ran.

Zhi Nan Xing lashed out on instinct, but Wang Jie caught the palm easily.

When Zhi Nan Xing saw who it was, he finally let out a breath.

With Sword Steps, they shook off the pursuit. They were still on the battlefield, but no one nearby recognized Zhi Nan Xing’s identity.

Zhi Nan Xing put away the bronze slips.

“Th-thank you,” he stammered. “Don’t worry—my Zhi family will repay this life-saving debt. When I get back, I’ll beg Ancestor Qing. I’ll beg her—”

“Your turn,” Wang Jie cut in.

Zhi Nan Xing froze. “Your turn” for what?

Then he saw Wang Jie… doing exercises.

Zhi Nan Xing stared, dumbfounded.

He’d seen Wang Jie do them before, but now? Here?

This was a battlefield.

“Brother Wang,” he hissed, “what are you doing? Hold it in. Let’s get out of the battlefield first!”

“Once I finish,” Wang Jie said without looking up, “I’ll take you out.”

Zhi Nan Xing wanted to curse, but enemies were already closing in. He turned and blocked.

Luckily, most of the enemies in this patch of chaos were still below the Ten Seals. Holding them off wasn’t too difficult.

He shifted his footing and stepped on an identity token without even glancing down.

In a slaughter this fierce, who had time to pick up tokens?

Everywhere he looked, the ground was littered with weapons, corpses, storage rings—treasures scattered like dirt.

But no one dared grab anything. One second of distraction could mean death.

He clenched his teeth and defended.

And somehow, he watched Wang Jie calmly finish an entire set of exercises in the middle of the chaos.

Zhi Nan Xing swallowed the curses burning in his throat and forced out, “Move! I’m detecting extremely high combat power!”

Wang Jie felt it too.

A gaze seemed to fall on him—heavy, cold—and his skin crawled.

He grabbed Zhi Nan Xing and shot forward on Sword Steps.

A massive shield dropped from the sky and smashed into the ground ahead, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Wang Jie and Zhi Nan Xing twisted away instantly. A man stepped out behind the shield, seized it with one hand, and swept it at them.

“Stop right there.”

The shield cut like a blade. Wang Jie’s Sword Steps had already gained distance, but the sweep still nearly clipped him.

In its wake, a razor-sharp rift tore upward toward the starry sky.

Zhi Nan Xing checked the combat power detector and his pupils shrank. “Three hundred thousand.”

Wang Jie’s heart sank.

He stepped onto Jia Eight Steps and tried to flee.

The man sneered. He pressed his palm against the shield and yanked.

Starforce became chains that spread in all directions, sweeping over their heads in an instant and sinking into the void.

Wang Jie surged forward on Sword Steps—only to slam into an invisible barrier.

Sword Steps couldn’t break through.

He glanced back.

A powerhouse.

Zhi Nan Xing grit his teeth. “Third Nebula’s Shield Mountain Peak—Shield Lock. It can lock sky and earth. At its peak, it can lock the stars.”

He forced the words out through the pressure. “Break out now, or we’ll be trapped like turtles in a jar.”

“Anyone I, Yue Bai, want to kill has never escaped.”

The voice came from a distance.

Zhi Nan Xing’s face changed. “He’s Yue Bai?”

“Who?” Wang Jie asked, but the unease in his chest deepened.

Zhi Nan Xing lowered his voice. “Shield Mountain Peak’s strongest disciple. He once fought a Black-White Heaven Six-Path Roamer. He lost, but he escaped alive.”

“He’s not someone we can handle.”

Wang Jie’s fingers twitched.

A Six-Path Roamer was a height he couldn’t touch right now. Even if Yue Bai wasn’t truly at that level, surviving against one meant his combat power was close to five hundred thousand.

Far beyond what Wang Jie could endure.

Yue Bai sneered and raised his left arm, fingers spread toward Wang Jie and Zhi Nan Xing.

“Kneel.”

The moment the word fell, terrifying dark starforce erupted and punched through the heavens. Rocks whipped up. Even the air trembled.

Zhi Nan Xing’s legs went weak. He almost dropped to his knees.

Gravity.

He cultivated gravity starforce too—starting at one hundred fifty times.

Wang Jie released Zhi Nan Xing and vanished with Jia Eight Steps.

Yue Bai’s eyes widened slightly.

He could still use movement techniques under one hundred fifty times gravity?

Such talent. If he didn’t kill him, it would be a waste.

Starforce surged again.

Two hundred times gravity.

Wang Jie’s body stalled.

Yue Bai grinned and threw a punch. Starforce shaped itself into a shield-like pattern around his knuckles, and the world shook from the blow.

It was pure strength layered with technique.

Wang Jie shifted aside. His right hand swept out, drew back, gathered power, then blasted forward.

Qi-Qi Convergence.

The air rippled visibly from the collision. Yue Bai’s eyes flashed with surprise.

Dare to clash head-on?

Bold.

But Yue Bai’s fist hit nothing.

Wang Jie had left a fake. With Jia Eight Steps, he reappeared behind Yue Bai and unleashed Myriad-Stars Finger.

He wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t going to trade blows with Yue Bai.

Stars whirled around him. Countless finger phantoms descended, merging into a single strike and stabbing forward.

Yue Bai’s missed punch tore through empty space. Fury flared across his face. He spun, spread his hand, and dark starforce clawed at the Myriad-Stars Finger.

The phantoms kept sinking into the darkness.

“Chen Art?” Yue Bai’s expression tightened.

Wang Jie launched two sets of Myriad-Stars Finger at once—one aimed at Yue Bai, the other at the sky.

He wanted to break the Shield Lock.

Finger phantoms hammered the void. Shield shadows flickered as heaven and earth shook.

Zhi Nan Xing clenched his teeth and dropped to one knee. Under this gravity, he couldn’t move at all. He could only watch.

Move. If he could move even once—if he could cast Fixed-Star Technique—

Yue Bai crushed the Myriad-Stars Finger and stepped forward, reaching for Wang Jie. “A Star-Breaking Realm forcing me this far… you’re the first.”

Wang Jie watched him close in. Starforce around him became a vortex, pressing him down.

He swallowed a Revival Pill, then threw out a formation scroll.

Light-Avoiding Array Scroll.

Instantly, everything turned pitch-black.

Swords formed in the darkness and slashed toward Yue Bai—Sword Rig, One-Line Sky.

Yue Bai swept his hand. Starforce burst outward in a violent surge, blasting everything around him. Even the Light-Avoiding Array warped, its darkness flickering.

Wang Jie pointed at the sky again.

Finger phantoms struck the Shield Lock, making it shake harder.

A gust of force swept in.

Wang Jie raised both arms. He couldn’t dodge.

Bang!

He was smashed and sent flying.

Yue Bai seized his shield, leaped up, and pressed down.

The shield’s phantom expanded, covering the entire locked area and sealing both Wang Jie and Zhi Nan Xing inside.

Kill.

Zhi Nan Xing’s eyes snapped open. The gravity vanished for an instant.

He seized it.

Fixed-Star Technique.

Yue Bai’s descending shield froze for a split second.

Zhi family Fixed-Star Technique affected different realms differently. At Zhi Nan Xing’s level, he couldn’t freeze Yue Bai completely—but he could stall him.

That instant was enough.

Wang Jie suppressed the urge to cough blood and stabbed out with another finger.

The strike shattered the Shield Lock.

The moment it broke, Wang Jie turned and ran. Zhi Nan Xing fled in the opposite direction.

Yue Bai’s gaze flicked to Zhi Nan Xing.

Fixed-Star Technique.

That brat was Zhi family.

Then Yue Bai looked toward Wang Jie.

Where did that bastard go?

A lockforce cultivator wasn’t as valuable as a Zhi family heir, but this one had endured against him far too long—something even a Six-Path Roamer in the Star-Breaking Realm could never manage.

Who should he chase?

Yue Bai hesitated, then lunged after Wang Jie.

That talent was monstrous. Lockforce, Chen Art, strength and speed that exceeded his realm—Yue Bai had to catch him and force him to reveal what he cultivated.

As for the Zhi family kid?

He didn’t care.

There were plenty of Zhi family people. Running into them occasionally on the battlefield was normal.

Wang Jie didn’t expect Yue Bai to chase him.

He couldn’t hold back a mouthful of blood.

Behind him, a blast of starforce carved through the battlefield. People locked in melee were swept up and torn apart, dying without even realizing why.

Wang Jie grit his teeth.

Yue Bai’s speed couldn’t surpass his, but with Roaming-Star Realm combat power, Yue Bai couldn’t be shaken off either.

If he took even one hit, he was finished.

No.

He had to fight.

Wang Jie swallowed another Revival Pill.

It was time to use the IOU slip.

He wrote the signature.

A power he couldn’t comprehend flooded his body.

Wang Jie spun and sent sword after sword stabbing at Yue Bai.

Yue Bai raised his shield and crashed straight through, smashing them apart.

Wang Jie used Jia Eight Steps to appear behind him. Yue Bai released the shield and swept his left arm—

Thunder-pattern.

The red thunder-pattern shattered with a single sweep.

But it held for an instant.

Wang Jie took that instant and struck.

Myriad-Stars Finger fused. Qi-Qi Convergence. Everything he had poured into one point.

“Die—now.”