Chapter 244
Chapter 244: A Leaf-Shaped Boat
Zhi Nan Xing had left. He had come only to say goodbye, leaving behind a kindness. Perhaps it would be useful one day—or perhaps not.
War could truly change a person.
Several days passed, and someone arrived who utterly stunned Wang Jie.
It was—Zhi Xing Xue.
“Senior Xing Xue?” He had never imagined that Zhi Xing Xue would come in person.
Zhi Xing Xue smiled gently at Wang Jie and said, “Surprised to see me, aren’t you?”
Wang Jie bowed deeply, his respect sincere: “This disciple truly did not expect senior to personally come.”
Li Tong He, Elder Ming, and others all hurried out to greet Zhi Xing Xue.
The entire central hall paid their respects.
Zhi Xing Xue waved a hand, signaling everyone else to withdraw. Her icy gaze swept briefly over Elder Ming.
Elder Ming’s face turned white.
Fortunately, Zhi Xing Xue did nothing else, waving him away with a flick of her wrist. Only then did Elder Ming breathe again.
“If it weren’t for the Elder Hall’s sake, his later life would not be comfortable,” Zhi Xing Xue spoke coldly. Clearly, she knew exactly what Wang Jie had suffered on the Yin Yang Battlefield.
Warmth filled Wang Jie’s heart. [Having someone powerful at my back is truly comforting.]
Zhi Xing Xue turned her eyes to Li Tong He, her gaze softening: “You’re Li Xiang’s son.”
Li Tong He bowed respectfully: “Greetings, senior.”
Her expression grew complicated: “Your father and I were good friends. Sadly, certain things happened, and even on his deathbed, he never forgave me.”
Li Tong He’s face grew equally complicated, and he could find no words.
With a gentle sigh, Zhi Xing Xue dismissed him as well.
Now only she and Wang Jie remained.
“I’ve come this time to deliver something to you. Though, speaking of that—why did you choose this item?” As she spoke, Zhi Xing Xue withdrew from her storage ring—a small boat.
Indeed, a boat.
A leaf-shaped boat, tiny and delicate.
Wang Jie stared blankly at the boat in her hands, utterly dumbfounded: “This—I chose this?”
Zhi Xing Xue gave a bitter smile: “What do you think?”
Wang Jie had no words. He had merely picked something casually, but how had it turned out to be this? And why was there even a boat in the Zhi Clan treasury?
It was definitely just a boat, the kind one might row down a river.
And an extremely small one at that.
Two people couldn’t even fit in it.
Zhi Xing Xue shook her head helplessly: “I already asked the clan if you could exchange it for something else, but they refused. Allowing you access to choose an item from the treasury was already a special favor from myself and Zhi Ye. Otherwise, no matter how great your merits, you’d never even glimpse the treasures inside.”
“Senior,” Wang Jie couldn’t help asking, “why would the clan’s treasury even have something like this?”
Zhi Xing Xue looked at the boat and replied thoughtfully, “I’m also unsure. Items in the treasury are chosen based on shape. I once picked several times myself, and I recall seeing something with this exact shape. It’s been there a very long time.”
“What’s it useful for?”
“Sturdy.”
Wang Jie stared, bewildered.
Zhi Xing Xue rubbed her forehead gently: “On my way here, I studied it closely. Apart from being extremely sturdy, it doesn’t seem to have any other function.”
Wang Jie took the boat and tested its strength between his fingers. If even Zhi Xing Xue called it sturdy, then it surely was—sturdy beyond imagination.
“Let me put it this way,” Zhi Xing Xue continued. “Even using my Star Refining Realm strength, I couldn’t damage it in the slightest.”
Wang Jie’s eyes widened in astonishment: “It’s really that sturdy?”
“Perhaps that’s the sole reason it’s in the treasury. Other than that, even the clan doesn’t know any other use. They collected it precisely because it’s so sturdy.”
At this moment, Wang Jie thoroughly disliked that word.
Could something truly be treasured just because it was sturdy? How sturdy could it possibly be?
Yet despite its sturdiness, it wasn’t heavy at all.
Zhi Xing Xue shook her head again: “Well, since you’ve chosen it, there’s nothing else we can do. Just keep it and treat it as a defensive star artifact.”
Wang Jie’s face twitched. How exactly would he do that? By placing it on his head?
With a helpless sigh, he placed the little boat into his storage ring. [This is just bad luck.]
Zhi Xing Xue stayed longer, speaking at length with Wang Jie. She particularly emphasized details about the First Main Battlefield.
Only then did Wang Jie learn that the enemy on the First Main Battlefield wasn’t the Four Star Clouds but rather another Bridge Pillar—the Ancient Sword Pillar Keeper, also known as the West Dipper Bridge Pillar.
“This pillar is incredibly powerful. Originally, it was much like our Big Dipper Bridge Pillar, divided into star clouds, star links, and star belts. But long ago, a single sword pierced vertically into the West Dipper Pillar. The sword was enormous, beyond sight. Its arrival changed the West Dipper Pillar dramatically. Ever since, all cultivators there constantly meditate upon sword intent, creating countless sword masters. In that place, anyone who doesn’t cultivate the Way of the Sword is considered an oddity. The sword itself shattered into seventeen fragments, and now the territories there are defined by control of those fragments.”
“For example, the strongest region is the Sword Court, holding nine fragments, and is thus known as the Nine Sword Domain.”
“The enemy of the First Main Battlefield is called Feng Pavilion from the Three Sword Domain, positioned at the lowest region of the Ancient Sword Pillar Keeper, directly connected to our Fourth Star Cloud. Thus, the connection between these two pillars forms the First Main Battlefield…”
Wang Jie felt deeply grateful. Zhi Xing Xue had clearly come all this way primarily to inform him about these crucial matters.
She spoke a great deal more, especially describing Feng Pavilion’s combat and cultivation styles, trying her best to give Wang Jie every advantage to survive.
Clearly, she already knew about his master’s situation. Otherwise, given his merits, Wang Jie wouldn’t have faced obstacles returning to the sect. It was evident this journey would be perilous, with life or death uncertain.
Before departing, Zhi Xing Xue regarded Wang Jie with a complicated look: “This path you’ve chosen is truly difficult. But if you do succeed, your life will be forever transformed. Child, forget your past. Look only to the road ahead.”
Wang Jie bowed deeply to Zhi Xing Xue, his respect profound.
This senior had saved him, helped him, offered him a path to rise, and wished for him a peaceful life. Wang Jie had felt it deeply.
The very next day after Zhi Xing Xue left, the spaceship was ready. They set off toward the First Main Battlefield.
Since the First Main Battlefield was at the lowest region of the Fourth Star Cloud, they could ride the Nebula Flow for the fastest travel. The spaceship simply carried them there.
“They,” meant two people.
One was Wang Jie.
The other was Zhi He.
Zhi He was the Zhi family’s expert who had supported Yun Que at the spaceport battle, a cultivator equal in strength to Six Dao Wanderer.
Wang Jie had been astonished when he heard this. He never thought Black White Heaven possessed someone equal to Six Dao Wanderer. Li Tong He explained it simply: two cultivators of Six Dao Wanderer’s caliber couldn’t appear in the Zhi family at the same time. It would crush their fellow disciples’ confidence.
Zhi He was Zhi Lan Xue’s own younger brother.
Wang Jie glanced curiously at Zhi He, then turned his gaze back out of the spaceship.
“You saw the bridge building, right?” Zhi He suddenly spoke, voice rough and dry, as if unused for a long time, tinged with a faint distance.
Wang Jie looked at him and nodded slightly.
Zhi He clenched his fist tightly: “How did it happen?”
Wang Jie understood he was asking about Zhi Lan Xue, thought a moment, and answered, “A Skeletal Clan member. One strike.”
Zhi He looked at Wang Jie, eyes bloodshot, teeth gritted: “Only one strike?”
Wang Jie answered firmly: “One strike was all it took to kill. Senior Sister Lan Xue’s Spring Autumn Hand was defeated completely by twelve palm strikes.”
Zhi He lowered his head, the entire figure seeming suppressed and anguished.
After that, neither of them spoke again. They traveled in silence, riding the Nebula Flow downward until they reached the First Main Battlefield.
The First Main Battlefield was located at the very bottom of the Big Dipper Bridge Pillar Nebula Flow, heavily guarded.
Wang Jie and Zhi He’s arrival had already been reported in advance.
They were separated immediately.
Zhi He was sent to the Haoqian Domain, and Wang Jie to Yunxi Domain.
“You can picture Yunxi Domain as a lake flowing in the starry sky. But this lake is vast and dangerous. The water there isn’t really water, it’s called Yunxi, made of strange substances. Anyone who falls in will sink to the bottom and rarely survives. The only things that float there are the stars themselves.”
“So, whatever happens, don’t fall in. And don’t drink it either, or your organs will sink straight down. Haha!” laughed the rough-looking middle-aged man with a gravelly voice, perfectly matching his rugged appearance, though his joke was chilling.
At this moment, Wang Jie was aboard the battleship heading toward Yunxi Domain.
This battleship had departed from the bottom of Nebula Flow, carrying a million cultivators toward Yunxi Domain. Almost all of these cultivators came from Slaughter Stone Planets, though a few were from Black White Heaven, voluntarily joining the battlefield missions.
Wang Jie sat in a corner, listening to the man’s explanations, gradually sketching an image of Yunxi Domain in his mind. Compared to Yin Yang Battlefield, this place was far more perilous.
“Alright, now look at the starry sky on your left.”
Everyone looked left in unison, Wang Jie included.
All they saw was an endless asteroid belt, floating quietly in space. They weren’t sure what they were supposed to see.
“This asteroid belt stretches across the entire starfield until it passes beyond the bridge pillar. It’s the Big Dipper Bridge Pillar’s final defense line against the Ancient Sword Pillar Keeper. It might not look like much, but anyone who dares enter, hehe,” the man laughed coldly, “it’s filled with orbital dust—tiny particles invisible to the naked eye. They’re specialized for surveillance, disguised as space debris. Unless you continuously release star force to detect them, you won’t see them at all.”
“Now, look to your right.”
Everyone turned again, seeing only another endless asteroid belt.
“There lies the orbital sinking thunder. Once someone is detected by orbital dust and enters the range of orbital sinking thunder, BOOM!” The man shouted, startling quite a few people.
Wang Jie cast him a glance.
The man laughed proudly, “That feeling is fantastic!”
“In addition to these, there’s orbital mist, ice crystal cloud thunder, and more. Our defenses have no gaps. Impressive, isn’t it?”
Wang Jie again gazed at the stars. What immense resources were needed to stretch these defenses across the universe? Could Black White Heaven really possess such wealth? No, this must come from the entire Big Dipper Bridge Pillar. Although Black White Heaven led the battle against the Ancient Sword Pillar Keeper, leadership didn’t mean shouldering everything alone. These resources must indeed be supported by all within the Big Dipper Bridge Pillar.
But, truthfully speaking, the man seemed either battle-crazed or unhinged—he enjoyed frightening people far too much.
As they traveled onward, while he explained Yunxi Domain, he occasionally shouted bizarrely, startling many cultivators.
Those from the Slaughter Stone Planets were already terrified, knowing they might die in this battle. Frightened further by him, many began causing commotion, which the man eagerly suppressed with excitement.
Wang Jie gave him an indifferent glance, not bothered at all.
Looking at the asteroid belt, Wang Jie realized it was truly vast, stretching endlessly. If the asteroid belt spanned the entire Big Dipper Bridge Pillar to its edge, then following it must surely lead to the pillar’s border.
What lay beyond that boundary?
Thinking deeply, Wang Jie slowly closed his eyes, resting.
He didn’t know how much time passed before a sudden scream made him open his eyes sharply.
What’s happening?
“What…what is that?”