Chapter 250
Chapter 250: Sword and Blade
Before coming here, Wang Jie had never imagined Black-White Heaven’s Battlefield Chief Huntsman would be a woman.
A figure emerged from the fog on the far side—sharp as a drawn blade. As she advanced, the mist split for her as if it feared her.
The Chief Huntsman shot forward.
From the opposing command hub, a sword descended.
High overhead, Star-Refining Realm experts collided—and in the next breath vanished without a trace, their battle carried away into the deeper void.
Below, the Hundred-Star Realm front erupted.
Elder Wu and the other elders surged ahead, leading the charge. The two command hubs were still some distance apart, and most cultivators held position, waiting for the clash to fully close.
Closer. Closer.
When the massive hubs finally drew within striking distance, killing intent rose like smoke and the war exploded.
“Kill—!”
“Kill!”
Wang Jie charged.
The command hub was vast; he was only one blade on one front. All around him, experts punched into the enemy lines. Feng Men cultivators flooded to meet them, slamming head-on into the charge.
He saw an old man advancing as if the battlefield were empty, sword held forward. The blade was clearly in front of him—yet anyone who neared him died all the same.
Invisible sword qi.
The Star-Dross Sword Method.
The old man was carving a straight path of slaughter.
And Wang Jie was right in it.
The invisible sword qi swept in. Wang Jie slipped aside, letting it graze past. The old man’s eyes widened in surprise—then Wang Jie took one step and flashed past him.
A thin red line opened across the old man’s throat.
He toppled.
Wang Jie’s brow knit. In a melee like this, how was anyone supposed to confirm battle merit?
There were enemies within a hundred meters in every direction.
He raised his hand. His sword fell.
One died.
Then another.
Then another.
The ground darkened beneath their blood.
Planets slammed into planets. Magma split the crust and geysered into the sky beneath his feet. Far away, sheets of lightning poured down while Thunderflare Hou shrieked through the storm.
Behind the beasts, dozens of Feng Men cultivators raised their swords as one and struck.
Their sword qi didn’t show.
The Star-Dross Sword Method turned it invisible. It looked like dozens of slashes, yet the air itself was packed with far more blades than the eye could count.
Across a wide swath of the field, Black-White Heaven cultivators were cut apart.
The same sweeping strike turned toward another flank—
Only to meet dozens of cultivators who charged straight into the unseen sword qi, their bodies hardened by the Black Bright Jade Body. They forced through, scattering the hidden blades with brute strength.
A Thunderflare Hou swung its claws sideways.
A man and a woman wove through the chaos, cutting down Thunderflare Hou one after another with casual efficiency. Their movements were steady, fixed—every strike placed as if the heavens themselves had marked the point.
The Zhi family’s Fixed-Star Technique.
Wang Jie lifted his sword. Star-Gazing Sword Form.
Sword shadows fell like a clean rain, piercing Feng Men cultivators one after another.
No grand spectacle. No wasted flourish.
Just frightening efficiency.
It didn’t take long for stronger enemies to notice him.
A middle-aged man closed in, his swordplay crooked and off-kilter. He battered aside Star-Gazing Sword Form as he advanced, then stabbed from an angle that made no sense—an impossible line.
Wang Jie shifted with Jia Eight Steps and slipped away, yet even then he couldn’t evade completely. The tip still grazed him.
Worse, the man’s blade carried an unusual starforce. It hummed with a dazzling, eerie resonance that made the heart race just hearing it.
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Jia Eight Steps?”
His stare sharpened. “Are you from Jia Yi Sect?”
Wang Jie dodged again.
Roaming-Star Realm—at least three hundred thousand battle power.
Beating him wouldn’t be easy.
But Wang Jie didn’t need to beat him.
Shockwaves from a nearby Hundred-Star Realm clash detonated between them, splitting the ground and the air alike. Wang Jie took the opening, stepping back with sword steps until he vanished into the churn of bodies and light.
In this kind of chaos, getting tangled with a top expert was a quick way to die.
Killing thirty Star-Breaking Realm opponents was far simpler than grinding down one Roaming-Star Realm monster.
He thought shaking the man would be enough.
He didn’t expect to run into someone he knew.
Cheng Feng.
Cheng Feng spotted him too, gaze burning. “It’s you.”
Wang Jie’s expression tightened. Of all people—he didn’t want to be dragged into this now.
He tried to slip away.
Cheng Feng locked onto him and immediately unleashed the Star-Dross Sword Method. Invisible sword qi swept in from afar. Along its path, it didn’t care whether the targets were Black-White Heaven or Feng Men—cultivators screamed and scattered as the hidden blades tore through the crowd.
Then someone reached out.
The invisible sword qi was hard to see, but that person’s move was even harder—so fast it felt like the air itself flinched. In an instant, the hidden blades in that direction were slapped down and dispersed.
Both Cheng Feng and Wang Jie turned.
Xiao Luo Si.
Xiao Luo Si stared at Cheng Feng—and charged straight at him.
Cheng Feng clearly recognized her as well. The legitimate daughter of the Xiao family from Jia Yi Sect.
Perfect.
He’d see Blade-Bone Aspect for himself.
The Cheng clan used the sword. The Xiao family excelled at the blade.
The moment her blade moved, it carried the hatred of an archenemy.
Wang Jie finally exhaled. If Xiao Luo Si tied Cheng Feng down, Cheng Feng wouldn’t have time to cling to him.
He moved again—faster.
No matter who it was, he followed the same rule. If he could kill them, he killed them. If he couldn’t, he dodged and moved on.
With Jia Eight Steps and sword steps together, very few could catch him.
The war dragged on.
Wang Jie’s eyes reddened with slaughter. Feng Men cultivators were endless—no matter how many fell, more filled the space they left behind.
The same was true for their experts.
In the distance, Xiao Luo Si and Cheng Feng were still locked together.
Wang Jie finally saw Blade-Bone Aspect.
It was the Xiao family’s Bridgeway Art. Legend said every Xiao family member was born with a blade brand, and each person’s blade might carry its own unique power—far less predictable than Sword Spine.
Xiao Luo Si’s Blade-Bone Aspect couldn’t suppress Cheng Feng’s Sword Spine.
And Cheng Feng’s Sword Spine couldn’t suppress her Blade-Bone Aspect either.
Yet Xiao Luo Si was Roaming-Star Realm, while Cheng Feng was only Full-Star Realm—and still, the stalemate left Xiao Luo Si’s face dark.
She’d come to the battlefield for one reason.
This generation of the Xiao family had three direct-line inheritor candidates, but the outside world only acknowledged two.
Brother Xiao Hui—the peerless, handsome Young Master Xiao.
Third Brother Xiao Mu—the Little Young Master Xiao.
Only she, the Second Sister, was ignored.
They were called Madam Xiao’s Twin Heroes. Then what was she supposed to be?
Why was she the one people left out?
That was why she’d slipped away from the family to train on this deadly battlefield—hoping to shine in the Starry Sky Martial Tournament.
Yet the moment she ran into Cheng Feng, a Full-Star Realm expert, she couldn’t win.
Why?
Was the gap between her and those two really that wide?
She refused to accept it.
One hand seized the air. The other gripped her blade.
Xiao Luo Si’s style grew wilder, more chaotic. Cheng Feng could see openings—but faced with her frenzied, life-for-life pressure, he couldn’t seize them cleanly.
In a true duel, she would lose.
But this wasn’t a duel.
This was a battlefield. Stray attacks could come from anywhere at any time. Xiao Luo Si fought as if she didn’t care whether she lived.
Cheng Feng did.
He began to pull back.
And then another woman rushed in and stabbed for Xiao Luo Si’s heart.
Xiao Luo Si barely managed to knock the sword aside—
Too late to stop the follow-up.
Invisible sword qi punched through her body. She staggered back, coughing blood.
Cheng Feng’s face twisted. “Sister? Why are you here? I don’t need you interfering in my fight.”
The newcomer was Cheng Yi, Cheng Feng’s sister.
She flicked him a glance. “Shut up. This is a battlefield. Who’s giving you a fair duel?”
Her eyes cut back to Xiao Luo Si. “Do you really think you can catch that woman?”
“What do you mean?” Cheng Feng snapped.
Cheng Yi looked toward the shadows. “Come out.”
An old crone stepped forward from the fog, appearing behind Xiao Luo Si as if she’d been there all along. Her voice was calm. “Your Excellency is quite skilled at sneak attacks.”
Cheng Yi sneered. “You brought a protector to a battlefield? The Xiao family really is noble.”
Her lip curled. “But a protector from Jia Yi Sect who’s only Roaming-Star Realm is a bit embarrassing.”
The old crone didn’t flinch. “I’m nothing more than a servant. By luck, I cultivated for many years and reached peak Roaming-Star Realm. I’ll never reach Hundred-Star Realm in this life.”
Her gaze sharpened. “But dealing with little juniors like you is more than enough.”
Xiao Luo Si stared at her in disbelief. “Why are you here?”
The old crone sighed. “Miss, the family head couldn’t rest easy letting you come to the battlefield alone, so…”
“Get away!” Xiao Luo Si shouted. “I don’t need your protection!”
Cheng Yi’s smile turned sharp. “Without her, that strike just now would’ve killed you.”
She looked at Cheng Feng. “Little Brother, let’s work together and capture her. Capturing a Xiao family legitimate daughter is a huge achievement.”
She turned—
And Cheng Feng was gone.
At that moment, Cheng Feng was already charging toward Wang Jie. Light flared behind his back as he activated Sword Spine.
Wang Jie saw it.
He’d heard Cheng Yi’s words too. Capturing a Xiao family legitimate daughter was a huge achievement.
Then what about capturing a Cheng clan heir?
Cold light flashed.
Cheng Feng thrust, simple and direct.
Wang Jie lifted a finger and pointed—Myriad-Stars Finger Technique.
Starlight spun like solid bodies. Countless finger shadows fell, fused, and struck toward the sword tip in a single breath.
Cheng Yi and Xiao Luo Si both froze.
Chen Art?
Xiao Luo Si stared at the finger shadows beneath the starlight, an uneasy familiarity prickling at her. Where had she seen something like this?
Wang Jie couldn’t worry about exposing Myriad-Stars Finger on a battlefield like this. Trying to hide here was suicide.
Cheng Feng had lost once—and still dared to come again.
That meant he’d prepared.
Finger met sword.
Sword qi shattered one layer after another. The finger shadows went from solid to increasingly illusory.
Cheng Feng surged forward, teeth clenched. In the interim, he’d forced himself to store sword qi beyond his limit, no matter the damage. Even if the backlash tore him apart, he didn’t care.
All to meet Wang Jie again.
All to wash away humiliation.
A Full-Star Realm expert had lost to a Star-Breaking Realm opponent—and to a lockforce cultivator, at that.
Why?
Because he had pride.
Under Sword Spine, he kept grinding down the finger shadows.
Wang Jie raised an eyebrow. He really had grown stronger. That sword qi… it was nearly on par with the current power of Myriad-Stars Finger.
Nearly.
But not enough.
When Cheng Feng reached him, his sword bent.
Every last thread of sword qi held within Sword Spine was spent.
At the exact same moment, Myriad-Stars Finger dispersed.
Cheng Feng stabbed.
Wang Jie slipped aside and flicked a finger again—because Myriad-Stars Finger wasn’t all he had.
Clang!
The impact nearly tore the sword from Cheng Feng’s grasp.
He’d thought forcing Wang Jie to use Myriad-Stars Finger would drain him the way Sword Spine drained its user.
But Wang Jie barely seemed to have spent anything.
Then Wang Jie pressed down on Cheng Feng’s arm with one hand.
That familiar powerlessness slammed into Cheng Feng again.
Not good.
This man’s Chen Art barely consumed physical strength.
And his raw strength was terrifying.
Cheng Yi’s expression shifted. She struck immediately, Star-Dross Sword Method flaring—an invisible stab aimed for Wang Jie.
Wang Jie didn’t dare be careless. He grabbed Cheng Feng and retreated, but Cheng Feng erupted with starforce and shoved him away.
In the distance, Xiao Luo Si stared, stunned.
He’d beaten Cheng Feng.
And he wasn’t even Roaming-Star Realm.
“Miss, who is he?” the old crone murmured, shaken. “A Star-Breaking Realm cultivator actually beat that Cheng clan little brat.”
Xiao Luo Si blinked hard. “He’s Star-Breaking Realm?”
The old crone nodded, grave. “His lockforce isn’t complete yet. He hasn’t reached Full-Star Realm.”
Her shock deepened. “I never imagined a lockforce cultivator could reach this level. Even in our Jia Yi Sect, he’d be a top-tier genius.”
She paused, gaze narrowing. “But since he already has Qi Refining… he must have belonged somewhere long ago.”
In the First Nebula, some powerful forces didn’t care if their lockforce cultivators trained both body and Qi Refining. There was no future anyway—so they might as well squeeze out battle power and make them useful.
Seeing Wang Jie’s Qi Refining, the old crone instinctively assumed he had backing.
Definitely not Black-White Heaven. Black-White Heaven itself rarely even had contact with Qi Refining.