Chapter 241

Chapter 241: Walking Up

Cang Wu gritted his teeth. Qi gathered in his palm as he struck again. “Get out of my way!”

Wang Jie lifted his hand, guard qi condensing across his palm, and met the attack head-on.

A sharp, light crack sounded.

This time Cang Wu wasn’t lucky enough to keep his footing. He was blasted backward, slammed into a ridge of rock, and embedded into it. His arm twisted at a wrong angle—bones snapping—while murky qi spilled around him and shredded into the air.

Wang Jie let out a slow breath.

For that split second, his guard qi had blocked the murky qi, but the despair and grief carried by Cang Wu’s palm still flashed through his mind like lightning.

It made his stomach churn.

If their battle power had been equal, Wang Jie wasn’t sure he could’ve endured that kind of pain.

So this was dead realm’s battle skills.

He walked toward Cang Wu, step by step.

Cang Wu clawed his way out of the rocks, panting, his right arm trembling. He stared at Wang Jie like he was looking at a monster.

How had this man improved so much?

When they first met, Wang Jie’s battle power had been nowhere near enough to crush him like this.

He’d grown stronger again.

A top-tier genius.

Wang Jie stopped a few meters away, towering over him. “Let’s talk. Start with your origin.”

Cang Wu met his eyes. The cold in them cut deep.

His will finally broke. He exhaled bitterly. “Corpse Sect. Hundred Coffins Candidate. Cang Wu.”

Wang Jie went silent for a moment.

No wonder Cang Wu had seen through him so quickly back then. The irony was perfect—Cang Wu was the real Corpse Sect cultivator.

“So you could tell I wasn’t from Corpse Sect?” Wang Jie asked.

Cang Wu nodded. “You don’t feel like one of us.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Corpse Sect cultivators handle corpses year-round,” Cang Wu said. “You don’t have the stench.

“The longer you’re exposed to it, the more impossible it becomes to wash away. No matter what methods you use.”

“I thought you knew dead Chu Yao,” Wang Jie said.

Cang Wu shook his head. “Corpse Sect cultivators barely know each other. We hide.

“You could be walking down the road and step on a bone—only to find out it’s a living cultivator. So no, we don’t ‘know’ each other.”

Wang Jie crouched in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

“Hundred Coffins’ mission,” Cang Wu said, voice hoarse. “Bring back the head of a hundred-star realm cultivator. Only then can I become one of the Hundred Coffins.”

Wang Jie raised an eyebrow. “You? A hundred-star realm head?”

With Cang Wu’s strength, any hundred-star realm expert could kill him in a blink.

Cang Wu gave a short, bitter laugh. “That’s dead realm.

“Corpse Sect has been passed down for countless years. Why do you think there are only the Hundred Coffins?

“And even then, it’s not truly filled. Rumor says not even half the seats have owners.”

He swallowed blood and kept going. “If I want a hundred-star realm head, my only choice is the battlefield—hoping to find a lone, heavily wounded hundred-star realm expert.”

“And for that,” Wang Jie said slowly, “you betrayed Black-White Heaven as a disciple and traded intelligence with Singing Phoenix Hall.”

Cang Wu didn’t deny it.

Wang Jie’s gaze sharpened. “So that Singing Phoenix Hall woman isn’t from dead realm.”

“She isn’t.” Cang Wu shook his head. “She just receives intel.

“You should’ve noticed. You’ve tracked me more than once, haven’t you? Her qi never moved.”

Wang Jie nodded. He’d tracked Cang Wu twice. He’d even used Qi Sight.

The woman’s qi never changed—it looked exactly like a normal cultivator’s.

Of course, it could still be a disguise.

Wang Jie flicked his wrist and produced a pill. “Then swallow this.”

A Truth-Telling Pill.

Cang Wu stared at it, then swallowed it with a grimace.

Wang Jie asked the same questions again.

Cang Wu’s answers didn’t change.

“What does it feel like?” Wang Jie asked.

“Nothing.”

Wang Jie frowned. Had the pill gone bad? He didn’t have time to test it further.

“Tell me about Corpse Sect,” Wang Jie said. “I want to know.”

Cang Wu’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you from?”

“I’m the one asking,” Wang Jie said.

He flicked a finger. A gust pierced Cang Wu’s body, knocking dried blood from his chest.

Cang Wu sneered. “Just kill me. You won’t let me live.”

“Are you afraid of death?” Wang Jie asked.

Cang Wu’s laugh was ugly. “What do you think?”

“Fair.” Wang Jie’s gaze stayed steady. “You spend your life around corpses. You might not fear it the way others do.

“Especially in a place you call dead realm.”

He paused, then lifted his eyes. “I’ve heard dead realm cultivators are driven by curiosity. A hunger to explore.

“I’ll satisfy yours. You satisfy mine. Deal?”

Cang Wu stared at him, then spat, “A dying man doesn’t have curiosity.”

“Dead Chu Yao,” Wang Jie said evenly. “He is one of the Hundred Coffins. I’ve met him.”

Cang Wu’s expression snapped tight. “You’ve met a Hundred Coffins?”

Wang Jie nodded once.

Cang Wu sucked in a breath. For his entire life, becoming one of the Hundred Coffins had been his greatest obsession.

His curiosity flared, hot and uncontrollable. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Corpse Sect,” Wang Jie said.

Cang Wu’s mouth twisted. “I can’t answer that.

“Like I told you—dead realm cultivators don’t recognize each other. How would I ‘understand’ Corpse Sect?

“I’ve been there for years, and the things I’ve seen most are a single Eye and corpses. Either that, or the people who joined with me.

“I’ve never met anyone else. Never gone anywhere else.”

An Eye.

Wang Jie’s thoughts shifted.

The Eye Chu Yao had given him—something that helped him see qi.

“Where is Corpse Sect?” Wang Jie asked.

Cang Wu laughed, as if Wang Jie were naïve. “You’re too innocent.

“A lot of people know roughly where Corpse Sect is, but no one has ever mapped it clearly.

“If they could, those powerful sects would’ve wiped out dead realm long ago.

“Telling you won’t help you.”

“Whether it helps is my problem,” Wang Jie said.

Cang Wu stared at him, then finally lifted a hand and traced a crude map in the dirt.

“This is all I can draw,” he said. “It’s the route I remember walking. I don’t know what lies beyond it.”

Wang Jie memorized it and stored it away.

Cang Wu’s eyes flickered. “What does Chu Yao look like? What can he do?”

Wang Jie’s mouth curved. “He looks honest, but he likes staring at women’s chests. A cosmic parasite.”

He looked painfully serious. “He has this exhausted vibe—like he wants to be sleazy, but can’t quite manage it.”

Cang Wu tried to picture it and failed. “You really met him?”

“I did.”

“How do I believe you?”

Wang Jie tilted his head. “Do you still have any value that requires me to convince you?”

Cang Wu’s jaw tightened. “I have Singing Phoenix Hall intel.”

“It’s not worth much anymore,” Wang Jie said. “Ying Yang Battlefield is already decided. Black-White Heaven holds the advantage, and Singing Phoenix Hall will lose sooner or later.”

Cang Wu exhaled, frustration and despair mixing in his eyes.

Wang Jie said, “Do what I tell you. And tell me how you contact that woman.

“In exchange, I’ll draw Chu Yao for you.”

“You may not believe it’s him,” Wang Jie added evenly, “but I’m not lying.

“Like you mentioned earlier—the Eye. I used that Eye to see qi. That’s how I started cultivating.”

Cang Wu’s expression shifted. That detail made him believe a little more.

Because the Eye was a Corpse Sect dead artifact—unique to them.

“Draw him,” Cang Wu said hoarsely.

Wang Jie did.

He sketched Chu Yao’s face cleanly, with unsettling accuracy.

Cang Wu stared at the drawing, mouth falling open. “He is… one of the Hundred Coffins?”

“You’ve seen him?” Wang Jie asked.

Cang Wu’s laughter came out broken. “I can’t believe it.

“When I first entered Corpse Sect, I passed someone in the dark. He smiled at me. I thought he was sick—who smiles in a place like that?

“I saw him two more times after that. He told me he was just a menial worker.”

He stared at the paper like it might burn. “And he was a Hundred Coffins.”

Now Cang Wu believed Wang Jie completely.

Because Wang Jie had drawn someone Cang Wu had truly met inside Corpse Sect—yet Wang Jie himself clearly wasn’t Corpse Sect.

Wang Jie looked at the face he’d drawn, and Blue Star memories rose unbidden.

If he’d followed Chu Yao back then… what kind of path would he be walking now?

After his final battle with Shu Mu Ye, everyone had assumed Wang Jie was dead. That was why Chu Yao hadn’t taken him.

In hindsight, it felt… regretful.

Maybe dead realm would’ve suited him better.

Wang Jie pulled out the nine-form diagram. “Copy these movements.”

Cang Wu did, silently.

When he finished, he explained the method he used to meet and contact the woman from Singing Phoenix Hall.

Wang Jie stood. “You’re surprisingly honorable.”

“Dead realm people are far more honorable than you lot,” Cang Wu said with contempt.

Wang Jie didn’t argue. He turned. “Then goodbye.”

Cang Wu’s voice stopped him. “One last request.”

Wang Jie glanced back. “Say it.”

Cang Wu’s gaze was complicated. “If one day you can reach Corpse Sect… find a woman named Gu Ling.

“Tell her… I did my best.”

Wang Jie nodded once.

Then his palm fell.

He would not let Cang Wu live.

Living meant risk.

Cang Wu knew his secrets.

This was the cultivation world. If Wang Jie had been weaker, Cang Wu would have killed him without hesitation back then.

After dealing with Cang Wu, Wang Jie returned at once.

He regrouped with his squad and contacted Li Tong He. He had an idea.

“No,” Li Tong He said immediately. “Too risky. If you’re exposed, you’ll die.”

Wang Jie’s eyes were steady. “Senior, have you forgotten how you were saved back then?”

Li Tong He went silent.

“Senior, this is a rare chance to solve it once and for all. If we miss it, we won’t get another.

“If I hadn’t happened to notice that man was a traitor, we wouldn’t even have this opening.”

Li Tong He exhaled slowly. “Wang Jie… you’re not the kind of person who takes risks.

“Why are you doing this?”

Wang Jie looked up at the starry sky.

“I change.”

“Maybe if I go through another life-and-death crisis and get scared again, I’ll change back.”

He said it plainly, without drama.

He wanted to climb in the Starry Sky Martial Tournament.

He wanted to walk up to Shu Mu Ye again and slap him across the face.

Their battle on Blue Star had been unbearable.

What came next would be worse.

Shu Mu Ye made every realm feel like despair.

So Wang Jie had no choice but to climb.

Step by step.

That was the price.

A few days later, Black-White Heaven and Second Star Cloud clashed again.

In the chaos, Wang Jie contacted the woman Cang Wu had been meeting.

Of course, he disguised himself as Cang Wu.

Even his voice matched.

The woman’s face tightened the instant she saw him. “Why are you contacting me now? Do you have any idea how easily you can get me killed?”

Wang Jie—wearing Cang Wu’s face—spoke coldly. “Black-White Heaven is conscripting a massive force and sending them into Ying Yang Battlefield in secret. They’re going to take everything.

“If I don’t tell you, you’re finished.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “When? How did we not hear anything?”

“Yue Jian has already been exposed,” Wang Jie said evenly. “What intelligence do you think you still have?

“If I didn’t have connections in the sect, I wouldn’t know either.”

Her voice tightened. “How are they doing it?”

“They’re pulling twenty million lockforce cultivators and using them to ‘surround’ Han Hai,” Wang Jie said. “Most of them are useless—just there to blur your vision. They’ll let you break out.

“But then they’ll send hundred-star realm and roaming-star realm experts to chase you down, forcing you to flee toward the most brutal direction.

“A trap that becomes an encirclement.”

As he spoke, he tossed her a star map of Han Hai.

A specific breakthrough point was marked clearly.

“Once you’re surrounded, break through there.”

Then he turned and left.

The woman tried to ask more, but a beam of light swept across the distant battlefield. She had no choice but to retreat.