Chapter 286

Chapter 286: You’re Still Alive?

Plenty of people carried the same fear.

But Qing Zheng and the others hadn’t been slacking. They’d pushed themselves so hard they’d worn themselves out.

They were more anxious than anyone, desperate to reunite with Wang Jie.

They couldn’t let him charge ahead alone every time.

They were brothers.

Back on Blue Star, Wang Jie had dragged them forward. Now it was the same again.

They wanted to share the burden.

Just then, Hong Jian’s terminal chimed. He glanced down—and froze. “Senior Zong Cheng Ping is here.”

Both women stiffened in surprise.

With Wang Jie gone, Zong Cheng Ping was arguably the strongest lockforce cultivator in Lockspace. They’d only met him once before.

Why would he come now?

“Wake Old Five,” Hong Jian said quickly. “Wake them all.”

Not long after, Hong Jian, Qing Zheng, and the others met Zong Cheng Ping.

And Zong Cheng Ping didn’t come alone. Lie Qiu came with him, as did Feng Wen Cheng and several others—basically every lockforce cultivator in Lockspace with the authority to make decisions.

The people of Blue Star had been settled on Windwhisper Star for one reason: peace and time.

Any ripple from the outside made them uneasy, because they had no power to answer a true crisis.

Seeing so many important figures arrive at once made their stomachs knot.

Zong Cheng Ping greeted them with a broad, genial smile. “Old Brother Hong, are you getting used to Windwhisper Star? No one’s been bothering you, right?”

The tone alone eased their tension.

Hong Jian stepped forward and smiled politely. “No, no. It’s been very good here. Thank you for your concern, Old Brother.”

“If anything feels uncomfortable, tell me,” Zong Cheng Ping said. “I’ll arrange it. Lockspace is your home. Don’t be a stranger.”

They exchanged a few more courtesies.

Qing Zheng couldn’t hold back any longer. “Senior Zong, did you come because you have news about our Old Boss?”

Zong Cheng Ping met the anxious faces of the Blue Star group and nodded, his expression solemn.

Everyone’s hearts tightened.

Then he said, “Congratulations.”

Just two words.

The fear in their eyes cracked into sudden, breathless hope.

“Senior Brother Wang Jie has officially become one of the Six-Path Roamers.”

Even saying it out loud still felt unreal to Zong Cheng Ping.

When the people of Lockspace learned that Wang Jie had become a Six-Path Roamer, the shock was like discovering the sect master had been living incognito right beside them all along.

Six-Path Roamer—what did that even mean?

It wasn’t just strength.

It was status. Resources. Influence inside the sect.

Wang Jie, a lockforce cultivator who wasn’t even Roaming-Star Realm—no matter how you looked at it, he shouldn’t have fit that title.

And yet he had it.

Lockspace had been cut off from information. They didn’t know what Wang Jie had endured outside.

But the moment word spread that he was now a Six-Path Roamer, lords from all sides began reaching out to Lockspace, eager to build ties through the people of Blue Star.

Even stewards who once looked down their noses at them now tilted resources their way with forced enthusiasm.

Even the Council of Elders reached out—black roamer, white roamer, figures under the black-and-white realms—all wanting to meet Blue Star people.

In that instant, Lockspace became the focus of all Black-White Heaven.

All because Wang Jie had become a Six-Path Roamer.

Zong Cheng Ping and the others still understood the title only shallowly. They didn’t truly grasp what it meant for Wang Jie—at his current realm, with his current identity—to hold that position.

It meant most of the sect’s lords stood behind him.

It even reached into First Nebula.

Even the Zhi family had begun paying attention.

That was why Zong Cheng Ping and the others had come—to ask the people of Blue Star who they wished to meet, who they wished to befriend. Greetings and invitations had piled up for them.

Hong Jian and the others had only been in Lockspace for a year, but they already understood the weight of the title.

Hearing it confirmed, their faces flushed and their hands clenched. Some looked ready to shout.

Old Five tightened his fist. Old Boss really was Old Boss—wherever he went, he rose.

Hong Jian let out a long breath. In truth, they didn’t need status.

They only wanted Wang Jie alive.

Doctor Si Yan was there too, smiling quietly.

Lian Qin couldn’t help remembering her swimsuit—and the awkward man who’d taken it from her. How high would he climb?

Zong Cheng Ping and the others spoke with them for a long time, explaining what Six-Path Roamer meant and sharing the latest news about Wang Jie.

Once Wang Jie became a Six-Path Roamer, Lockspace was no longer information-starved.

Messages came constantly.

And in return, the people of Blue Star began to learn more about the sect’s lords, about the shifting winds outside.

The more they heard, the clearer it became what Wang Jie must have endured.

On the battlefield, one wrong step meant death.

For Wang Jie to reach this point… he had clawed his way here.

Lie Qiu finally asked, “So, do you want to contact the people reaching out and keep good relations?”

The Feng brothers exchanged glances. Each of them had been contacted by lords hoping to use Blue Star people as a bridge to Wang Jie.

Hong Jian and the others looked at one another, uncertain.

In the end, they handed the decision to Qing Sheng—Old Two Qing Zheng’s father.

Before the apocalypse, Qing Sheng had been only a moderately successful businessman. After the apocalypse, through sheer ruthlessness and shrewdness, he had risen to a position that rivaled the five major bases, controlling vast resources.

Even the trial disciples of Jia Yi Sect had tried to recruit him.

His eye for strategy was frighteningly sharp.

Hong Jian and the others trusted his judgment.

Qing Sheng’s decision was simple.

Meet no one. Wait for Wang Jie to return.

Feng Wen Cheng couldn’t help objecting. “Senior Brother Wang has had conflicts with plenty of people in Lockspace. Isn’t now the perfect time to resolve them? Some grudges don’t even need him to step in. You could smooth them over yourselves.”

Qing Sheng smiled. “Wang Jie’s grudges are his to settle.

“Our job is to wait for him.

“Who we befriend, who we avoid—that should be his choice too.

“At a time like this, we meet no one.”

Zong Cheng Ping stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. “All right. We’ll tell them you’ll decide whether to deal with the outside once Senior Brother Wang returns.”

“Thank you,” Qing Sheng said.

Leaving Windwhisper Star, Zong Cheng Ping glanced back. The people of Blue Star had risen in a single step, yet they remained calm—rational, not arrogant.

If nothing went wrong, this group would become a real force in the sect one day.

—

Elsewhere, aboard a warship, Wang Jie sat studying the Roam-Refining Scripture and the method his cheap master had given him.

After a long stretch of reading, he stared down at two jade slips on the table.

They couldn’t have been more different—almost opposite in philosophy.

The Roam-Refining Scripture was the standard method: guiding the power he cultivated—starforce or lockforce—from the surface inward, fusing it into the bones. It mirrored the logic of cultivating within the ten seals: absorb, guide, merge, until the bones themselves carried that power.

Its greatest strength lay in the “connection.” The process of bringing external cultivation power into the bones wasn’t left to chance—it was built into the method like a clasp, linking bone to technique and raising the success rate of stepping into Roaming-Star Realm.

For ordinary cultivators, it truly would improve their odds.

And it was gentle, as breakthroughs went.

But what his cheap master had given him wasn’t gentle at all.

Calling it a scripture would be generous. It was a method—a brutal one.

He was to spread his own power over his body like a vault of sky, then press that “sky” inward against his lockforce, forcing it into his bones and blood through sheer pressure.

Simple. Violent. Efficient.

And the pain promised by the description alone made his scalp prickle.

For anyone else, it would be unusable. But Wang Jie’s power was enormous—absurdly so.

He almost suspected his cheap master had devised this method on the spot for his body.

It fit him too perfectly, provided he could endure it.

Wang Jie set the Roam-Refining Scripture aside. It wasn’t suited to him.

The heaven-reversal path within him simply couldn’t be “linked” and guided into the bones by a standard connection method. The difference in level was too great.

Only brute force—pressing lockforce inward—could work on him quickly and precisely.

He began.

Eyes closed, he used the ten seals on his skin as the starting point. He let his power spread outward, knitting through his body until it formed an outer “sky” of lockforce.

That part wasn’t hard. It was only focus and sensation.

Days later, the lockforce outer sky stabilized.

Then came the next step.

Press.

He choked—and spat blood.

Pain detonated through him so violently that, for an instant, he felt as if his soul had been ripped free of his body. His face went paper-white.

The moment the pressure drove inward, it was like his body had been torn apart from the inside.

He sat there shaking, staring at the blood on the floor.

Should he keep going?

He clenched his teeth.

Yes.

Pain was pain. If it worked, it was worth it.

The nameless tendon-and-bone tempering method had been agony too, and he’d endured that. His cheap master seemed to specialize in methods that hurt like hell.

He tried again.

And again.

Every time, it felt like he was racing death. Every time, it felt like his skin was being peeled away.

He remembered something Si Yao had once said—something a senior at Star Vault Vista had said: everything in this world is cultivated. No blessing comes without a price. If it seems like it did, then either you paid the price without realizing it… or you haven’t paid it yet.

Wang Jie possessed vast lockforce. By all logic, stepping into Roaming-Star Realm should have been slow for him—maybe even impossible.

So this was the price.

Everything he’d endured at ten seals, everything he’d endured at Star-Breaking Realm, every narrow escape—none of it had been wasted.

The floor was slick with red. The stench of blood seeped beyond the rest room.

After another long session, Wang Jie forced himself to slow down. He couldn’t rush this. Push too hard and he wouldn’t be outrunning progress—he’d be outrunning life.

When he finally stepped out, his pallor drew stares.

“Senior Brother Wang.”

“Greetings, Senior Brother.”

A young woman hesitated, then leaned closer, her voice soft. “Senior Brother, you don’t look well. Do you want a junior sister to attend you?”

Wang Jie didn’t even glance at her.

Temptation was floating clouds. Perfume was poison. Pretty faces were nothing but pink-painted skeletons.

He walked faster.

Still… he couldn’t help thinking her figure was ridiculous.

Not long after, he ran into someone he hadn’t expected to see alive.

Xiao Rong.

Wang Jie stared. “You’re still alive?”

Xiao Rong bowed deeply. “Greetings, Senior Brother.”

Wang Jie looked him over and even used qi sight, but saw nothing special—just an ordinary lockforce cultivator at Roaming-Star Realm.

How in the world had this man survived Cloudstream Domain, through all those battles? With the slightest bad luck, he should’ve died a hundred times over.

“How did you make it this far?” Wang Jie asked. It was blunt, but he couldn’t help himself.

Xiao Rong glanced left and right. Seeing no one nearby, he lowered his voice. “When you’ve been on the battlefield long enough, you develop ways to stay alive.”

“Like what?”

Xiao Rong coughed once. “Playing dead.”