Chapter 253

Chapter 253: Redeeming Rewards

Xiao Luo Si’s brow furrowed.

Behind her, the old crone stepped forward with a smile. “Little Brother, don’t be nervous. We don’t mean anything else. We’re just curious.”

She gestured lightly. “The footwork you used is called Jia Eight Steps. It’s one of my Jia Yi Sect’s eighteen ultimate techniques.”

Wang Jie understood at last. “Oh. That. An old man taught it to me.”

“Who?” Xiao Luo Si pressed.

“I don’t know him,” Wang Jie said honestly. “He gave me several choices, and I picked this one.”

No one could believe that.

Xiao Luo Si’s eyes narrowed.

The old crone looked amused. Qi Refining, Jia Eight Steps, lockforce—no matter how you looked at it, he was a piece the sect had sent to infiltrate Black-White Heaven.

But this piece was a little too high-profile.

Earlier, the Black-White Heaven elders hadn’t had the leisure to notice his footwork. Now they would.

Unless he stopped using it, the moment he used it again, someone would recognize it.

As for his Qi Refining, perhaps these Hundred-Star Realm elders couldn’t see it clearly—but the Chief Huntsman definitely could.

“Little Brother,” the old crone said softly, “it’s dangerous out in the world. You should go back.”

Wang Jie smiled. “Thank you for the warning, Senior, but I can’t go back. Once you enter the battlefield, there’s no turning back.”

“And that finger technique?” Xiao Luo Si demanded. “Was that also taught by the old man?”

Wang Jie nodded. “Yes.”

Xiao Luo Si stared him down. “What’s it called?”

“My name is Wang Jie.”

Xiao Luo Si’s eye twitched. “…I meant the finger technique.”

“Oh.” Wang Jie looked sincerely apologetic. “I don’t know.”

Xiao Luo Si looked ready to explode. She opened her mouth again—

The old crone stopped her with a small shake of the head. Then she stepped forward, smiling at Wang Jie. “This battle was fierce. Go rest first. The reward for breaking the Sword Dao Grand Array is generous. Let me congratulate you in advance.”

Wang Jie bowed. “You’re too kind. I’ll take my leave.”

He walked past them and headed back to the command hub.

Behind him, the old crone added, “Little Brother, Jia Yi Sect welcomes you. If you’re willing to join, you can leave immediately.”

Wang Jie turned back, thanked her again, and left.

Watching his back, Xiao Luo Si frowned. “That guy didn’t say a single true word.”

The old crone chuckled. “What do you want him to say? Tell you openly which sect elder sent him to infiltrate Black-White Heaven?”

Xiao Luo Si hesitated. “Is it really like that?”

“Nine times out of ten.”

The old crone’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “He cultivates lockforce, so he should be from a Slaughterstone Planet. But he also mastered Jia Eight Steps. That means high qualification. Some people in the sect couldn’t bear to abandon him.”

“Yet lockforce has no future. They can’t truly use him. So they made him train Qi Refining to raise his battle power, then threw him into a place like Black-White Heaven where very few people can use Qi Sight.”

“But now that he’s come to this battlefield, returning to Black-White Heaven’s sect will be hard.”

“That’s why I warned him,” she said. “But he has his mission, and we don’t know who’s behind him.”

Her gaze sharpened. “That finger technique looked familiar. We need to check carefully when we get back.”

She glanced at Xiao Luo Si. “Miss, he’s actually well-suited for you to bring back to the sect as an attendant.”

Xiao Luo Si said nothing.

“No matter what his future is,” the old crone continued, “right now he’s very strong—even if Miss, you…”

She didn’t finish. Xiao Luo Si understood anyway.

“It’s hard to imagine how he has that much battle power at Star-Breaking Realm,” Xiao Luo Si muttered.

The old crone sighed, then looked at her. “Miss, if you don’t plan to return immediately, try to recruit him. When Miss breaks into Hundred-Star Realm and he has no future, you can discard him then.”

In the cultivation world—and especially in Jia Yi Sect—Roaming-Star Realm was only the beginning.

If you didn’t reach Roaming-Star Realm, you would never become someone important.

And Wang Jie, a lockforce cultivator, was seen as capped at Roaming-Star Realm at best.

Right now, his battle power was terrifying, even surpassing geniuses.

But those geniuses could each become at least Hundred-Star Realm.

Once you reached Hundred-Star Realm, the gap began.

So no matter how outstanding Wang Jie seemed now, in their eyes, he had no future.

Xiao Luo Si’s voice went quiet. “Lockforce… does it really have no future?”

The old crone shook her head. “At least, the few of us Bridge-Pillar don’t.”

She paused. “But… if he could follow a Star Dao master, then the Star Dao path might let him go further. Then there’d be no such thing as ‘no future.’ That would already be countless people’s future.”

Xiao Luo Si turned away and left.

A Star Dao master?

Even Jia Yi Sect had to treat such a person with respect. A place like the Fourth Nebula wasn’t even qualified to have a Star Dao master, let alone have one take interest in a lockforce cultivator.

The old crone had only said it in passing.

Anyone favored by a Star Dao master was a peerless genius, watched by all.

There was no such thing as a lockforce cultivator among them.

Wang Jie, meanwhile, stood at the mission counter, nerves buzzing.

The disciple handling missions was calculating his reward.

Originally, breaking the Sword Dao Grand Array was fixed at one hundred million battle merit points.

But Wang Jie hadn’t only broken it—he’d changed the battlefield situation. That kind of merit wasn’t simple. It needed recalculation and confirmation.

The longer he waited, the more his stomach knotted.

He scrolled through the reward catalog just to calm himself down.

Everything looked good.

Finally, the mission disciple looked up, envy plain on his face. “Senior Brother, the elders have confirmed your battle merit points as three hundred million.”

Wang Jie’s chest went hot. “Good. Thank you. Transfer it.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

Wang Jie forced his expression calm as he checked his personal terminal.

The mission disciple glanced again, even more envious. Three hundred million at once—and this Senior Brother still looked unruffled, like it was all under control. True expert bearing.

Wang Jie scrolled faster and faster, not actually reading anything.

Three hundred million.

That was absurd.

Starstone didn’t circulate here. The only currency with meaning was battle merit.

Breaking the Sword Dao Grand Array had saved Elder Mo and reversed Black-White Heaven’s disadvantage.

It was like the way he’d schemed against Second Star Cloud on the Ying Yang Battlefield.

Only there, he’d relied on the Nine-Form Diagram.

Here, he’d relied on what he’d cultivated.

Even though he hadn’t trained Yi Sword Art much, it had come through when it mattered.

At the same time, elsewhere in the command hub, Elder Luo was browsing the rewards list as well.

Being trapped in the Sword Dao Grand Array had shaken him. He decided to redeem his accumulated merit and sharpen his strength further.

Normal methods felt useless. His eyes had settled on a formation manual: the Withered-Wood-Meets-Spring Array Manual.

Withered-Wood-Meets-Spring Array was a unique formation of Bu Zou Guan, and this scroll came from Bu Zou Guan as well.

Rare.

The formation itself wasn’t worth the price. Rarity was.

“Using Withered-Wood-Meets-Spring Array to experience time’s decay might spark new insight,” Elder Luo muttered. “Whatever. I have to try. The other options are worse.”

He clicked to redeem.

At the exact same time, Wang Jie clicked redeem as well.

He redeemed the Withered-Wood-Meets-Spring Array Manual too.

Exercise-based gains had hit their limit. If he wanted to keep increasing, he needed to break past that wall.

Either he lived through life and death—

Or he got close enough to taste it.

In his gut, this array would work.

They both clicked.

The interface froze.

Wang Jie blinked and reflexively clicked again.

Elder Luo frowned. Redeeming rewards could freeze? In all his time on the battlefield, he’d never seen that.

In the moment he hesitated, the Withered-Wood-Meets-Spring Array Manual vanished from the list.

Elder Luo’s eyes widened. Where was it?

He flipped pages, searching, disbelief rising.

Gone.

Wang Jie saw the message: Redeemed successfully.

He exhaled, a little dazed. Spending one hundred million battle merit at once—he’d been generous.

Now he only had to wait for delivery.

He didn’t notice that, in the background, one of the eight materials needed for Undying Body had been completed.

An auction didn’t have to happen openly.

Sometimes it happened by accident.

Two days later, Wang Jie received the Withered-Wood-Meets-Spring Array Manual. He was eager to try it—

Only to be interrupted.

Elder Wu contacted him.

The Chief Huntsman wanted to see him.

“Disciple Wang Jie pays respects to the Chief Huntsman.”

In a quiet, secluded place within the command hub, Wang Jie met Black-White Heaven’s Battlefield Chief Huntsman.

That she was a woman wasn’t unusual. In the cultivation world, many sect masters were women.

What surprised him was her presence.

He’d imagined a battlefield commander drenched in killing intent.

Instead, what he felt from her was gentleness—an odd, unsettling gentleness.

And the place itself didn’t feel like a war command site at all. It felt more like a private cultivation retreat.

The Chief Huntsman studied him for a moment. “You’re Wang Jie?”

“Yes.”

“You broke the Sword Dao Grand Array?”

“This disciple was fortunate.”

“And what happened at Suo Xing Jian and the Zhi Academy,” she said, voice even, “that was all you too?”

Wang Jie couldn’t read her tone. He answered carefully, truthfully. “This disciple had no choice. Many things weren’t of my own will.”

The Chief Huntsman’s gaze sharpened with interest. “Who forced you? Zhi Xing Xue?”

Wang Jie bowed slightly. “Circumstances.”

“Circumstances forced you, hmm?” Her lips hinted at a smile. “You’re good with words.”

Her voice remained calm. “With Zhi Xing Xue backing you, even Zhi Ye helped you. Why did you come to me?”

Wang Jie didn’t know how to answer.

If outsiders investigated, they might uncover traces of his bargain master.

But that answer could never come from his own mouth.

The Chief Huntsman didn’t rush him. She simply watched.

She’d investigated him already, but the sect’s reply had been vague. As Battlefield Chief Huntsman, she needed certainty—not guesses.

Wang Jie stayed silent.

Finally, she looked at him for a long moment and said, “Forget it. I’m not interested in your affairs.”

“And I don’t want to know who you’re relying on.”

Her voice cooled, not hostile—absolute. “All I care about is this: you’re on my battlefield now. Everything must follow my orders.”

Her gaze pinned him. “Can you do that, Wang Jie?”

Wang Jie bowed deeply. “Everything will be as the Chief Huntsman arranges.”

The Chief Huntsman nodded once, satisfied. “Leave.”

After Wang Jie left, someone approached and stood quietly behind her.

The Chief Huntsman rose and looked out at the Cloudstream, shrouded in heavy fog. She spoke softly, almost to herself. “This boy may be relying on that Star Dao master. Tell me—how should I arrange him?”

The figure behind her didn’t answer.

She didn’t seem to expect an answer anyway.

Wang Jie walked away, still unable to read what her attitude toward him truly was.

Was she part of Zhi Qing’s faction, or not?

If she meant him harm, he was finished. His bargain master couldn’t reach this far.

Still… as a Star-Refining Realm expert, she probably wasn’t afraid of Zhi Qing.

He didn’t return to the resting quarters. Instead, he found a secluded place and began cultivating.