Chapter 217

Chapter 217: Heaven Leaves a Way Out

His finger pierced Yue Bai’s left shoulder.

Yue Bai had relied on starforce protection and shield-armor arts, not caring at all. But this strike shattered the shield phantom guarding his body. The fingertip sank into flesh, and numbness spread through half his body.

Yet Yue Bai’s left arm, carried by inertia after breaking the thunder-pattern, whipped into Wang Jie and sent him flying.

Wang Jie shot away like a meteor.

Yue Bai shuddered and stared at the blood on his shoulder.

He… was injured?

He had actually been hurt by a Star-Breaking Realm.

This man could not be spared.

Yue Bai grabbed his shield and leaped into the sky.

Wang Jie’s insides churned. Everything in front of him blurred.

When he saw Yue Bai diving to finish him, he forced himself onto Sword Steps and fled.

Yue Bai slammed the shield down.

Heaven and earth collided.

Ferocious starforce crushed the planet land below into fragments, and everyone nearby on the battlefield was pressed down by that single strike—life or death unknown.

Wang Jie took the brunt of it. His skull rang. In the same instant, he clearly heard his star-lock armor cracking.

The armor had been forged from seventh-grade materials. In theory, it could block a Hundred-Star Realm attack—but “block” only meant it wouldn’t shatter. It couldn’t erase the force, only endure it.

After several heavy blows from Yue Bai, the star-lock armor finally gave out.

Luckily, he still had a cloud-thread robe underneath.

But external items couldn’t shield internal injuries forever.

Inside Wang Jie’s body, his guard qi scattered in an instant. He was smashed through the planet land and fell into the starry void.

Everything turned dark.

Even his consciousness began to blur.

Yue Bai stared down at the shattered ground.

Was he dead?

Even if he was, Yue Bai still needed to find the corpse.

As he prepared to dive, a cold gleam swept in from the distance.

Yue Bai swung his shield to block and staggered back several steps. He looked over and saw a man approaching with a long blade in hand.

“No wonder I couldn’t find you,” the man said, voice icy. “So you’re here bullying a little friend?”

Yue Bai narrowed his eye. “Wu Jiang?”

“Didn’t you leave?”

“Who told you that?”

Wu Jiang’s gaze turned colder. “Oh… so it turns out we really do have spies among us.”

He raised his blade.

“If I didn’t let you believe it, why would you come out?”

“Yue Bai, it’s time for you to die.”

He slashed.

Yue Bai’s expression darkened.

He hadn’t expected Wu Jiang to still be here.

They had fought countless times without a clear winner. Yue Bai had thought Wu Jiang was gone, and that was why he’d been able to run wild. So it had been a lie.

Damn it. He didn’t even know whether that lockforce cultivator was dead.

And he was injured now. Fighting Wu Jiang would put him at a disadvantage.

He retreated.

Wu Jiang’s brows rose. “You’re injured?”

“Who did it?”

Yue Bai didn’t answer. He only retreated faster.

Wu Jiang chased, eyes locked on Yue Bai’s back.

Then he saw something.

A card?

Wu Jiang watched for a moment, then saw the card vanish.

Below them, broken land blocked his view.

Wang Jie kept falling.

He forced himself to stay conscious and snapped out a long whip toward a nearby landmass, but the distance was too great.

He tried again and again. Still not enough.

With no choice, he kicked off drifting fragments in the void, borrowing force to shift his trajectory and break the fall.

“Over here!”

Someone shouted from a planet fragment ahead.

Wang Jie looked over. He didn’t recognize the man.

The man’s face was pale, like he was injured too. His stare made Wang Jie uneasy—there was something gloomy in it, something cold.

“Throw the whip,” the man said. “I’ll catch you.”

Wang Jie hesitated, unsure if this was friend or foe.

“If you keep hesitating, you’ll die when the enemy catches up,” the man snapped. “I’m from Black-White Heaven. I saw you fight that Shield Mountain Peak cultivator. I’m saving you on a whim. If you don’t want it, fine.”

Wang Jie flicked the whip over. “Careful. There are barbs.”

The man caught it cleanly, avoided the barbs, and yanked hard, hauling Wang Jie across.

Wang Jie hit the ground and spat blood again. Inside his clothes, fragments of star-lock armor fell away.

“We should go,” the man said. “Don’t let him catch up.”

Wang Jie stared at him. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“Relax,” the man said. “He’s being hunted by Wu Jiang.”

Wang Jie didn’t know who Wu Jiang was. He still said, “Thank you.”

The man looked him over. “What’s your name?”

“Wang Jie.”

“Where are you from?”

Wang Jie’s guard shot up. He pulled out a Revival Pill and raised it to his mouth.

The man stopped him.

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed.

The man forced Wang Jie’s hand down, gaze deep as ice. “Don’t rush to eat. Answer me. Where are you from?”

Wang Jie frowned. “Your Excellency… you’re not from Black-White Heaven?”

“Of course I am,” the man said. “But you aren’t.”

Wang Jie gave a light laugh. “I just ran all the way with someone from the Zhi family. How could I not be from Black-White Heaven? Relax. I’m from Lock Xingjian of Black-White Heaven.”

“Is that so?” The man’s stare didn’t soften. “Then how do you have guard qi?”

Wang Jie’s gaze tightened.

The man’s voice turned colder. “You haven’t cultivated guard qi for long, and your own qi doesn’t match your combat power. You probably don’t have a complete qi refining method.”

“So who taught you your guard qi?”

“And why are you in Black-White Heaven?”

“Answer me.”

Wang Jie’s mouth went dry. “And who are you?”

The man crouched suddenly, grabbed the arm Yue Bai had swept earlier, and squeezed hard.

Flesh split. Bone showed.

Wang Jie clenched his teeth.

“You don’t get to question me,” the man said softly. “If you won’t talk, I’ll kill you right now.”

Compared to bone-grinding training, the pain alone wasn’t enough to break him—but Wang Jie could feel the killing intent behind it.

He believed the man.

“I… I’m from the Corpse Sect,” Wang Jie said.

The man froze.

He released him and stared. “Where are you from?”

“The Corpse Sect,” Wang Jie repeated, forcing the words out.

Dead Realm. As far as he knew, only the Corpse Sect and the Skeleton Clan came from there. This man clearly wasn’t Skeleton Clan—if they were here, Yue Bai would already be dead.

“You’re from the Corpse Sect?” the man repeated, slow and wary.

“Yes.”

“Then why come to Black-White Heaven?”

“To build a bridge.”

“Build a bridge?” The man’s brows drew together.

Wang Jie stole Chu Yao’s story whole. “Corpse Sect plants people inside every major power. If we find signs of bridge-building, we seize it. Isn’t that normal?”

The man’s eyes didn’t leave his face. “Then what status do you have in the Corpse Sect?”

“What’s your name?”

“Dead Chu Yao,” Wang Jie said.

The man stared him down, then slowly stood. “So that’s it.”

He reached out, drew a sharp curved hook, and stabbed at Wang Jie without warning.

Wang Jie raised his left arm.

Clang!

The hook slammed into his bracer, and the impact blasted Wang Jie backward in a single strike.

“Impersonating the Corpse Sect?” the man snarled. “You’re courting death.”

Wang Jie crashed in the distance. He tore a formation scroll from his storage ring and threw it.

Spacetime Corridor Array Scroll.

He had paid three hundred million starstone for it.

Now he was using it anyway.

It hadn’t worked against Yue Bai because the gap between them had been too enormous.

But this man was different. This scroll was the right tool.

The moment it activated, space-time twisted around the man, trapping him. Paths folded and warped. He couldn’t find an exit.

The man’s face tightened. He hadn’t expected Wang Jie to still have something like this.

He’d watched Wang Jie pushed to the brink by Yue Bai and assumed he had nothing left.

Yet here it was.

Wang Jie swallowed a Revival Pill and fled.

The Spacetime Corridor Array Scroll wouldn’t hold long.

He ran, lungs burning.

With internal injuries and half-numb limbs, he had no idea whether he could escape.

Elsewhere, Yue Bai felt something was wrong.

Wu Jiang was chasing him, yet Yue Bai suddenly had the urge to expose three secret admirers.

What was going on?

What did “secret admirers” even mean?

Someone liking him had nothing to do with him. Why would he expose them?

Ridiculous.

Romance like that had never existed in his considerations.

And yet now, for some reason, he had to expose three secret admirers.

What the hell?

Was it Wu Jiang’s trick?

Running on a battlefield was brutal. He had to avoid pursuit while staying alert to his surroundings. Everywhere he looked, enemies clashed and died.

Wang Jie grew weaker by the minute.

The qi behind him drew closer.

That Spacetime Corridor Array Scroll was a scam—three hundred million starstone, and it still couldn’t trap the enemy for long.

He coughed hard, blood burning his throat.

At least the man behind him still wasn’t Roaming-Star Realm. Otherwise, there would be no escape at all.

Behind him, Cang Wu’s eyes locked on Wang Jie’s back.

You won’t get away.

Now that I know you’re from Dead Realm, how could I let you escape?

He suspected Wang Jie was a spy planted by Black-White Heaven inside Dead Realm.

If Dead Realm could plant people inside every major power, then those powers could do the same in return.

Cang Wu had worked too hard to infiltrate Black-White Heaven.

He could not be exposed.

Wang Jie had to die.

Closer and closer.

Wang Jie had no choice. He swallowed a Teleportation Pill—one Elder Xing Xue had given him.

Thirty meters.

Each shift was only thirty meters, but thirty meters could be the difference between life and death.

Then he swallowed a Swiftstep Pill.

Cang Wu chased tightly, teeth clenched. How was this guy so good at running?

Not long after, Wang Jie clutched his left arm, crossed a jagged ridge, and suddenly stopped.

Behind the mountain was a group of people.

Every single one of them looked up the moment he appeared.

Wang Jie’s face went white.

They had hidden their presence perfectly. He was injured, his focus locked on the pursuer behind him—he hadn’t sensed them at all.

“What are you standing there for?”

A sharp voice snapped, pulling everyone’s attention.

“Get over here. Don’t get spotted.”

Wang Jie’s eyes widened.

Xia… Xia Xiao Nian?

It was Xia Xiao Nian.

He glared at Wang Jie with a stern face. “Move. I told you to go out and look around, not to bring enemies back.”

“Get down here.”

“Idiot.”

“Moron.”

“He’s hurt. Hurry and carry him down.”

Someone leaped up the slope, half-dragged Wang Jie down, and hauled him behind the rocks. Wang Jie was still dazed.

Far away, Cang Wu stopped.

He saw Wang Jie being carried off by people from Third Nebula, and he let out a breath.

He’s dead for sure.

If Third Nebula caught him, he would never make it back.

Cang Wu hid himself and retreated.

Behind the mountain, Wang Jie was tossed in front of Xia Xiao Nian.

Not gently.

Xia Xiao Nian steadied him and led him into a corner.

Wang Jie didn’t speak. The moment they reached cover, he spat a mouthful of blood.

Xia Xiao Nian quickly pulled out medicine—a Recovery Pill.

Wang Jie shook his head. “No need. I already took one.”

“Why are you here?” Xia Xiao Nian demanded.

Wang Jie rasped, “Why are you here?”

They’d asked at the same time.

Xia Xiao Nian glanced around, then lowered his voice. “I came to the Star-Cloud Battlefield on Xuan Gate’s orders. What about you?”

“How did you end up here? After the sect fell, where did you go?”

Wang Jie exhaled heavily. When he finally caught his breath, he told him—briefly—about Elder Xing Xue and what had happened afterward. He didn’t say much about Black-White Heaven, only that his identity as a lockforce cultivator had gotten him sent to the battlefield.

After so long apart, they were both relieved to meet again.

Wang Jie had never expected to run into Xia Xiao Nian here. Without that, he would’ve died for sure.

All he could say was that heaven hadn’t completely cut off his road.

This was a hiding spot for Xia Xiao Nian and the others—waiting to be summoned onto the battlefield at any time by a Hundred-Star Realm powerhouse.