Chapter 277

Chapter 277: Hundred Coffins

Wang Jie nodded. Since it had already come to this, he would take whatever he could.

Si Zhuo let out a rough chuckle. “You really do sound like someone from the Dead Realm.”

“Benefits? Of course there are benefits. But before we ever use you, everything about you must prioritize concealment.”

His gaze turned strange. “A lockforce cultivator with your strength is actually inconvenient to hide. In the future, rein it in. Don’t let people notice you.”

Wang Jie didn’t blink. “So there’s really nothing else?”

“Not dying here,” Si Zhuo said, the warmth fading from his voice. “Does that count?”

Wang Jie knew he wouldn’t get anything more. He muttered under his breath, half irritated and half testing Si Zhuo’s reaction. “I thought the Corpse Sect would be impressive. Looks like you’re stingier than the Skeleton Clan.”

Si Zhuo’s eyebrows rose. “Who said my Corpse Sect is inferior to those half-human, half-beast freaks in the Skeleton Clan?”

His tone sharpened with pride. “The Corpse Sect’s inheritance is ancient and deep, traced back to the era of the Flipping Heaven Calamity—that…”

His face abruptly changed.

As if he’d touched a taboo, Si Zhuo immediately lowered his head, refusing to say another word.

Wang Jie frowned. The Flipping Heaven Calamity?

“Hurry up and get in,” Si Zhuo barked.

Wang Jie understood he had no choice. He leapt into the coffin.

It was larger than he’d expected.

Cang Wu had tried every method imaginable to become one of the Hundred Coffins.

And somehow, Wang Jie had actually done it.

The lid lowered slowly.

Wang Jie stared up as darkness gathered. “You’re sure it’s only one hundred days? Don’t forget me.”

Si Zhuo didn’t answer.

The lid sealed.

Si Zhuo’s hunched silhouette turned away and left.

The coffin wasn’t as pitch-black as Wang Jie had expected.

Once the lid fully closed, a dark, hazy sheen spread across it. In that haze, words appeared—twisting and writhing like living things.

Words… alive?

Wang Jie’s eyes widened.

Not only words—lines, too. The darkness on the lid looked like a deep starfield. Lines raced through it. Letters ran like creatures.

The longer he stared, the more it felt like the characters were truly moving.

Wang Jie swallowed. [Am I seeing things?]

He stared until he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

At some point, he fell asleep.

He slept for three months.

On the day he woke, violent shaking jolted him back to consciousness.

Was it time?

He lifted a hand and shoved at the lid.

It didn’t budge.

So not yet.

Another tremor rolled through the coffin.

Had the Forward Camp been discovered?

Not far away, in the same starfield, there was a space outsiders couldn’t see at all—a hidden region embedded in the Void itself.

Even if they couldn’t see it, they were still attacking it.

Two Star-Refining Realm experts were striking again and again. One was Xie Jian Feng. The other was Jian Gui.

And standing inside the Void, facing them head-on, was Si Zhuo.

Si Zhuo hadn’t expected this place to be found. The Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar’s reinforcements were too numerous; eventually they noticed something was wrong here.

From time to time, Si Zhuo glanced back toward the coffin.

The other captives didn’t matter.

What mattered was Wang Jie.

Just a few more days. That was all.

Xie Jian Feng and Jian Gui attacked relentlessly, trying to tear open the Void and smash the Corpse Sect’s Forward Camp. No matter what they did, they couldn’t break it.

Several days later, Han Heng arrived. He stared in confusion. “Once the Corpse Sect’s Forward Camp is exposed, they usually retreat. They won’t clash head-on with us. Why haven’t they moved?”

“Who’s inside?” Han Heng asked.

Xie Jian Feng shook his head. “No idea. They still haven’t shown themselves. We can’t even hit the real Forward Camp.”

Han Heng wasn’t surprised. If a Corpse Sect Forward Camp were that easy to force out, it wouldn’t have stayed hidden for countless years.

The Dead Realm didn’t only exist within the Beidou Bridge-Pillar. Their side had it too.

These dead-realm beings spread across multiple Bridge-Pillars. They were strange. And terrifying.

The Skeleton Clan was only one kind of dead-realm being.

As for the Corpse Sect—its foundation wasn’t beneath the Skeleton Clan’s.

Han Heng joined the assault.

Three Star-Refining Realm powerhouses surrounded the hidden space, and the Forward Camp began to waver and shudder.

Si Zhuo watched them coldly and continued to wait.

Corpse aura flowed through his body, spreading into ripples that reinforced the Forward Camp again and again.

Several more days passed.

That day, Si Zhuo lifted a hand.

Inside the hidden space, the coffin lid snapped open.

Wang Jie sat upright, sucking in air like he’d been drowning.

Si Zhuo looked at him and smiled. “For now, I have no task for you. Walk your own path. Some Hundred Coffins never receive a mission, even until death.”

With a flick, a chain dropped from above and wrapped around Wang Jie.

The world spun.

Wang Jie reappeared not far from Su Su, Jiang You Sheng, and the others. They were all unconscious.

If it weren’t for Wang Jie, Si Zhuo would have taken those people away with the Forward Camp—or erased them outright.

But he couldn’t.

He needed them as cover, so Wang Jie’s “shared experience” would hide his true identity.

Si Zhuo turned back toward Han Heng.

He took one step forward.

Corpse aura erupted, surging like a black ocean that slammed into the three Star-Refining Realm experts without warning.

The three were caught off guard and thrown back.

Si Zhuo’s grin widened. “I’m done playing with you today. The Beidou Bridge-Pillar is truly useless—you actually managed to reach this place.”

With a strange laugh, he turned and left.

Xie Jian Feng moved to chase, but Han Heng stopped him.

There was a shared rule in the cultivation world: when you encounter dead-realm cultivators, if you can gang up and kill them, do it. If you cannot—then unless you’re at the absolute pinnacle of your realm, do not chase.

It was too dangerous.

“Check first,” Han Heng said.

As the Forward Camp withdrew, Wang Jie and the others were exposed.

They were all unconscious, their bodies corroded by corpse aura.

Han Heng gave the order. “Take them all.”

Wang Jie truly was unconscious.

Si Zhuo’s methods were meticulous. The moment Wang Jie was taken, he ensured everyone else lost awareness as well.

In everyone’s understanding, they had all suffered the same fate.

One by one, they were dumped into Fengmen prison cells.

When Wang Jie woke again, Hou Xiao’s familiar face was the first thing he saw.

“You’re awake?” she said, casual as if greeting him on the street.

Wang Jie pushed himself upright, rubbing at his head. “What happened?”

“You got captured by the Corpse Sect, then corroded with corpse aura,” Hou Xiao said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Wang Jie tried to stand, but dizziness punched through his skull, forcing him back down.

[Did Si Zhuo hit me too hard?]

Hou Xiao snorted. “Stop trying to act tough. You can’t even move properly right now. If you hadn’t resisted with lockforce, you’d already be a half-dead corpse.”

Wang Jie looked around. “Where am I?”

“On the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar’s logistics warship,” Hou Xiao said. “You were lucky. The Corpse Sect’s Forward Camp was discovered, and Senior Han Heng personally shattered it. If not for that, you’d all be finished.”

“What about the others?”

“Some are resting. Some are imprisoned.”

“And me?”

Hou Xiao’s eyes narrowed with amusement. “Relax. No one knows. Everyone’s held separately. Nobody knows this traitor is resting in here.”

Wang Jie coughed and shifted again. It felt a little better.

Hou Xiao stared at him. “Hey. You really are lucky. That massive battle didn’t kill you. Did you get swapped with a body double too?”

Wang Jie glanced at her. “My own side didn’t kill me. The enemy saved me instead.”

Hou Xiao giggled. “Enemy? Who’s the enemy?”

Wang Jie didn’t answer.

Not long after, the Hundred-Star Realm elder who had seen Wang Jie before arrived. He inspected Wang Jie for a moment, then waved him off.

Wang Jie wanted to leave. The problem was, he didn’t know where to go.

“What about Jiang You Sheng and the others?” Wang Jie asked.

“Of course they’re detained,” the elder said.

Wang Jie frowned. “I was with them in the Corpse Sect’s Forward Camp. If I just walk away, and the story ever spreads, won’t everyone know I’m a mole?”

“They won’t spread it,” the elder said flatly.

“Maybe,” Wang Jie said. “But Su Su and Qingxiao—those people are all sect elites.”

The elder didn’t argue. If certain agreements were reached, they really might be released.

Otherwise, they could just be killed now.

No one could realistically expect sect elites to betray their sects or clans.

“So what do you want?” the elder asked.

Wang Jie didn’t know.

Rescuing them and leaving together? Impossible.

Staying here? Meaningless.

He wanted to save Jiang You Sheng, but he didn’t have that kind of power.

“Don’t worry,” the elder said, impatient. “Those above will consider things more thoroughly than you can. Even if they’re released, they won’t suspect you.”

Wang Jie opened his mouth, but the elder was already pushing him to move.

Hou Xiao had wanted to drag Wang Jie into studying the Rain Sword Art too, but she was refused.

To anyone who understood Zhong Yi, Wang Jie was bad luck. They didn’t want to draw that woman’s attention.

This man could die anywhere—just not on the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar’s side.

As the elder escorted him off the warship, he spoke in a low voice.

“The Beidou Bridge-Pillar is divided by the Dual-Wind Line. Cross it, and you enter the main battlefield.”

“We’ve occupied the Dual-Wind Line. For the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar, that’s a result we’ve never achieved before. Reinforcements from our Bridge-Pillar will keep coming.”

The elder’s gaze sharpened.

“You cannot cross the Dual-Wind Line to regroup with Black-White Heaven. Your only way out is to enter the asteroid belt, find scattered Beidou Bridge-Pillar cultivators, regroup with them, and provide their positions to us for merit.”

Wang Jie asked, “What about the Skeleton Clan?”

The elder frowned. “Not our concern.”

“How many Beidou Bridge-Pillar people are still on this side?”

“Plenty,” the elder said. “That enormous sword formation killed a huge number of cultivators, but many were outside its range. After Beidou’s defeat, they all flooded into the asteroid belt.”

He paused, eyes flickering. “We’re worried they’ll regroup in large numbers and coordinate inside and outside at the Dual-Wind Line. That would be trouble. Especially since there are Star-Refining Realm experts among them.”

The elder looked at Wang Jie, and something calculating slid into his expression.

“If you can locate a Star-Refining Realm expert, we can remove your restrictions. Your ‘mole’ identity will remain a secret forever.”

Wang Jie stared at him for a moment, then lifted an arm and pointed into the distance.

“You sure about that?”

The elder followed his finger—and saw Fang He.

Wang Jie hadn’t expected to run into Fang He here either.

Fang He looked even more confused.

The moment Fang He saw Wang Jie, he seemed to think he was hallucinating.

Then he saw Wang Jie pointing at him.

Fang He’s pupils trembled. He looked at Luo Kui, then at the elder, and it was as if his entire world had become absurd.

Why was Wang Jie here?

And why did he look like he was familiar with Fengmen’s elder?

Memories flashed through Fang He’s mind, and the words burst out of him. “You’re a traitor.”

Wang Jie rolled his eyes and didn’t bother replying.

The elder looked utterly speechless.

Luo Kui didn’t know what to say either.

Fang He had betrayed the Beidou Bridge-Pillar largely because Wang Jie had driven him there.

After joining Fengmen, Fang He’s first demand had been to kill Wang Jie. On a battlefield that chaotic, if Wang Jie wasn’t a mole, Fang He would have been obsessed with chasing him down.

But now Wang Jie actually was a mole.

The contrast was sickening.

Fang He’s face twisted again and again. He clenched his jaw and glared at Wang Jie.

[So my guess was right. He really was taken by Fengmen…]

[How else could he have escaped Luo Kui? How else could he?]

He was a mole.

A damned mole.

This bastard had ruined him.

Forced him to betray his sect. Made him a joke. Branded him as a coward who fled the battlefield, forever stained in Black-White Heaven’s name.

The more Fang He thought, the more furious he became.

He finally snapped.

His blade flashed.

“One Blade!”

Wang Jie didn’t move.

Luo Kui stepped in at once. His sword rang, knocking Fang He’s strike aside, and he barked, “Fang He! Stop!”

Fang He roared, eyes bloodshot. “He’s a traitor!”

Luo Kui stared at him in silence.

Fang He realized what he’d just said—

A traitor?

No.

Right now, they were allies.

Because Fang He himself was a traitor too.

The realization hit him so hard he nearly coughed blood.