Chapter 226

Chapter 226: Ambush

The ship descended onto a gray planet.

Endless gray mountains stretched across its surface—no vegetation, no life, only dead silence.

Wang Jie studied the planet through the ship’s scanner and came to a simple conclusion: ordinary. Nothing special.

But this was his mission point. If Wu Yan passed anywhere near this planet, he was to intercept and kill immediately.

It was a Roaming-Star Realm mission, and the effective range extended beyond the planet itself. Wang Jie hadn’t reached Roaming-Star Realm. Even if he found Wu Yan, he wouldn’t recklessly charge in—not like when he’d destroyed an enemy transport ship.

Wu Yan was a top-tier expert. Anyone who dared attempt to assassinate Elder Li Tong He, a Hundred-Star Realm cultivator, alone didn’t do it without terrifying confidence.

Wang Jie didn’t believe in “easy wins.”

The prey he wanted was Di Zi.

As for Elder Ming behind her? He didn’t care.

His cheap Master might be ruthless with him, but he was worse to enemies. Becoming an elder was proof enough.

For several days, Wang Jie stayed on the planet, watching the space around it. He focused on one thing: battle fluctuations.

And he kept his star compass close. If Wu Yan approached and he failed to notice, he’d die without even knowing why.

Dagger-offering order assassins excelled at concealment.

That day, Wang Jie fed qi into the star compass.

A signal appeared.

Only one stream of qi—but it was Roaming-Star Realm.

Is that Wu Yan?

Wang Jie stared hard at the display.

The signal was moving.

Toward him.

He immediately expanded the ship’s scan range, searching for any other traces.

Nothing.

The star compass signal kept closing the distance. A bead of sweat slid down Wang Jie’s temple.

Not good.

Whoever it was, they weren’t passing by. They were coming straight at him.

How did they know he was here?

Was it Wu Yan?

He couldn’t flee. If he tried to launch and run, the ship would be an easy target to blow apart.

His only chance was the planet itself.

Wang Jie sent an urgent message back to the Command Hub, reporting his coordinates and claiming he’d detected Wu Yan near his position. He needed reinforcements—fast.

He’d planned to ambush Di Zi.

Instead, someone had ambushed him.

So much for planning. Fate had a cruel sense of humor.

Now it came down to whether he could survive until help arrived.

He’d finished his exercise routine a few days ago. Fortunately, his IOU slip was still usable.

Wang Jie began preparing without hesitation.

Three pills sat in his mouth—the revival pill, the swiftstep pill, and the breath-holding pill. A long whip was coiled at his waist. He swallowed a body-guarding pill and steadied his breathing.

He kept his eyes on the star compass.

Closer.

Closer.

Now.

Wang Jie activated a formation scroll—the Track-Gathering Formation he’d purchased for ten million starstone.

The instant it triggered, orbit-like trails spread outward, piercing through the ship and washing over the entire planet.

Outside the ship, the incoming cultivator’s aura wavered with surprise.

Track-Gathering Formation?

She didn’t hesitate. Her starforce slammed into the hatch, blowing it open.

Wang Jie met her head-on, fist already swinging—Qi-Qi Convergence, no tricks, no restraint. If he didn’t go all-out now, he would die.

Thunder cracked.

His punch drove into her starforce, and for a heartbeat he saw it clearly: countless diamond-like particles floating within it. His fist shattered them one after another, each burst ringing with thunder as if the diamonds were lightning seeds.

What kind of starforce was this?

And then he saw her.

A woman.

She retreated a single step, calm, and lifted a yellow bamboo flute. It spun once between her fingers before she placed it to her lips.

A note sounded.

Boom.

Wang Jie’s strike finally tore through, blasting her starforce apart. She flew backward, shock flashing across her face.

Her starforce had been broken.

But Wang Jie didn’t relax. Even now, his punch still hadn’t truly reached her body. Her defense was terrifying—too clean, too strong.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

The woman’s gaze was steady. “You used despicable means to save Li Tong He. On behalf of the Singing Phoenix Hall, I’m here to take your life.”

She played again.

Diamond starforce surged outward in a storm, but the Track-Gathering Formation disrupted its flow, stripping strength from it and scattering it across the planet’s surface.

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed.

Singing Phoenix Hall.

So that was it.

How did they know he was here?

A mole—either Black-White Heaven had one inside the Singing Phoenix Hall, or the Singing Phoenix Hall had one inside Black-White Heaven. If Black-White Heaven could pinpoint a mission location, the Singing Phoenix Hall could do the same.

He just hadn’t expected to become someone else’s mission target.

Su Su.

The moment he’d saved Li Tong He under her nose, it had spread across the Ying Yang Battlefield. Who else had the authority to dispatch a killer like this?

The flute notes sharpened, and diamond shards of starforce roared toward him. Even weakened by the formation, the remaining force was overwhelming.

Wang Jie stepped through Jia Eight Steps, slipping past the first wave.

The woman’s eyes widened. “Jia Eight Steps?”

Wang Jie’s gaze snapped to hers.

“How do you know it?” she demanded, voice tight with disbelief.

Wang Jie didn’t answer directly. “I’m a disciple sent by the Jia Yi Sect to train in Black-White Heaven.”

The woman’s eyes flickered, uncertainty rippling across her expression.

Wang Jie sneered. “Don’t believe me?”

He extended a finger. “Then look clearly—Jia Yi Sect Luo Xuan Finger.”

Finger force pierced the air.

Her starforce met it and erased it cleanly.

Wang Jie’s eyes hardened. He raised his hand again. “Look again—Jia Yi Sect, Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger!”

Two enormous fingers manifested—one above, one below—crushing down like twin pillars of judgment.

The woman’s face went pale.

Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger… a lost art. Even within the Jia Yi Sect, no one had mastered it anymore. How could this man—

Yet even that couldn’t pierce her starforce.

Wang Jie’s heart sank. Her defense was beyond anything he’d imagined. Even with the formation and a lost technique, he still couldn’t break her.

Worse, her qi remained vast. She hadn’t spent much at all.

“It’s impossible,” she said, voice cold. “The Jia Yi Sect would never send a disciple to train in Black-White Heaven.”

She stared at him, killing intent sharpening. “I don’t know where you learned Jia Yi Sect battle skills, but even if you truly are one of their disciples, I’ll kill you all the same.”

Her flute lifted.

“Thunder-Sound True Dharma.”

The notes rang out, and the sky responded—lightning gathered in twisting strands beyond the Track-Gathering Formation.

Wang Jie raised Thunder Pattern again.

A bolt struck, nearly splitting it apart.

A second bolt followed.

A third.

This woman wasn’t on Yue Jian’s level, and she wasn’t a Six-Path Roamer who could shatter Thunder Pattern with a single move—but she was close enough that the difference was terrifying.

Cracks webbed across the barrier.

Wang Jie flung sword after sword into the air. They streaked toward her like a swarm.

Diamond starforce collided with blade edges—thunder exploding with every impact.

Above them, the Track-Gathering Formation shook as it continued to siphon and scatter starforce across the planet. The entire sky rang with her thunder-sound, the planet’s surface grinding under the pressure.

The woman frowned. If her Eldest Senior Sister hadn’t insisted on capturing him alive, she would’ve simply destroyed the planet and ended this. He wouldn’t have had a chance to resist.

Now she had to work for it.

A Star-Breaking Realm lockforce cultivator—where did this kind of combat power even come from?

Thunder Pattern shattered.

Wang Jie raised his arm and took a lightning strike on his bracer. His body went numb. He twisted with the momentum and pointed.

Myriad-Stars Finger Art.

Finger shadows descended like falling meteors, striking toward her from all angles.

Her eyes widened. “Chen art…?”

A lockforce cultivator who used lost Jia Yi Sect techniques, and Chen art on top of it?

For the first time, doubt flickered through her pride.

The sect called her the next Eldest Senior Sister. The second Su Su.

Yet compared to this man, she felt… ordinary.

No.

This couldn’t be allowed.

If she couldn’t capture him alive, then he had to die.

Her starforce surged upward in a violent wave, making the Track-Gathering Formation tremble. The ship, long since caught in the crossfire, had been reduced to wreckage.

She strode toward Wang Jie, each step denting the ground, thunder rumbling overhead.

Outside the planet, two ships closed in—both teams assigned to the “ambush Wu Yan” mission, both Roaming-Star Realm Battle Guards.

On one ship, Di Zi stared at the planet’s surface, startled. “Track-Gathering Formation? That’s not a small commotion. Who’s fighting Wu Yan?”

Zhao Kun’s voice tightened with urgency. “Senior Sister, we should go. If someone gets there first, we fail.”

Di Zi’s brows drew together. Something felt wrong.

If she rushed in and Wu Yan was still at full strength, she’d be the one walking into a grave.

“Senior Sister!”

Zhao Kun was frantic. He wanted this mission completed—wanted to return with a trophy and beg his Master to deal with Wang Jie. Only then would he have the standing to speak.

With Wu Yan’s head, everything would become negotiable.

“Shut up,” Di Zi snapped.

In the distance, the other ship opened. Someone stepped out, swept Di Zi and her group with a glance, and plunged into the planet’s atmosphere without hesitation.

Zhao Kun’s face tightened. “That’s Senior Brother Liu. He took the mission too!”

That pushed Di Zi over the edge. She clenched her teeth. “Go.”

They held their ship hovering outside the planet and charged down.

The Track-Gathering Formation distorted the space around them. They forced their way in, unable to control their speed, and smashed into the ground like falling meteors.

If not for the formation’s interference, they would’ve seen the truth immediately: the opponent wasn’t Wu Yan at all.

It was a Singing Phoenix Hall expert.

And Wang Jie was right there.

Wang Jie kept dodging the lightning, the flute notes guiding every strike. He attacked again and again, but her starforce blocked him every time. The gap was too large.

The only way to break through was Qi-Qi Convergence—full-body release.

But that required a moment of gathering. The instant he paused, lightning would slam down and interrupt him.

He stepped through Jia Eight Steps, voice sharp and urgent. “I’m a mole planted by the Jia Yi Sect to deal with Black-White Heaven. If you kill me, the sect won’t let you go.”

He shoved the lie forward like a blade. “The Wen family won’t let you go.”

The woman’s movement faltered.

The Wen family—one of the Jia Yi Sect’s three great families.

“You’re from the Wen family?” she demanded.

Wang Jie didn’t hesitate. “I take direct orders from Senior Sister Wen Xing Ru.”

For the first time, uncertainty truly shook her.

Wen Xing Ru—she’d heard the name. If he wasn’t from the Jia Yi Sect, how would he know it?

In the Fourth Nebula, Black-White Heaven didn’t have many people who knew the inner sect’s elite names.

Wang Jie pressed harder. “Wen Xing Ru, Wen Zhao, Yun Lai—I know them all. I know the Milky Way Defense Corporation. I know Third Zen Heaven. Kill me and you disrupt the Jia Yi Sect’s layout. You won’t end well.”

The woman was about to respond—

A figure crashed into the formation, slamming into the ground so hard it cracked open like a broken shell.

Wang Jie and the woman both turned.

The newcomer climbed out, glanced at Wang Jie first, then stared at the woman in shock.

“Qiao Xi?”

Another impact followed—two more figures smashing down.

Di Zi and Zhao Kun.

They saw the woman. They saw Wang Jie.

“Wang Jie?” Zhao Kun blurted.

Wang Jie exhaled—relief so sharp it almost hurt. He looked at Di Zi and gave her a thin smile.

“Congratulations,” he said. “Your chance to earn a great merit is here.”

He pointed straight at the woman. “She’s from the Singing Phoenix Hall.”

Di Zi’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her. “You’re… Qiao Xi? Why are you here?”

Qiao Xi’s brows drew together as she looked from Wang Jie to Di Zi.

She hadn’t expected to run into them.

Both were strong.