Chapter 289

Chapter 289: We Have to Go

“Why would this spread across the Bridge-Pillar?” a disciple demanded. “Someone did it on purpose. What’s the goal? Could it be a trap?”

“And if the nan family was destroyed,” another added, “wouldn’t the killer have taken the legacy already? How do we know there’s anything left at all?”

“It reeks of a trap.”

“Then who would set a trap like this?”

Questions flew freely.

This was the Club. There was no rigid hierarchy here—everyone could speak.

Han Song leaned close to Wang Jie and murmured, “Captain, what do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Wang Jie said honestly.

Han Song laughed under his breath. “Your mind’s quick. Say something. If we all get buried in an ambush, it won’t be funny. Skyport is still fresh in my memory.”

Wang Jie nodded. He agreed.

Yu Zhi noticed and turned. “Junior Brother Wang, if you have thoughts, speak.”

Everyone looked at Wang Jie.

Some were curious—some even unconvinced—that a lockforce cultivator at Full-Star Realm could become a Six-Path Roamer.

Others genuinely wanted his judgment. After all, everyone knew that without Wang Jie, the Ying Yang Battlefield would not have ended as it did.

And since Wang Jie came from Frostflor Sect of Third Nebula, perhaps he knew more about the nan family than the rest.

Even Wu Yuan looked at him, calm and waiting.

Wang Jie pressed his lips together. “I think… we have to go.”

Silence.

Then someone let out a quiet breath.

That was the truth. Trap or not, with the location out in the open, no one could afford to stay away.

Wang Jie continued, deadpan, “And if we have to go, why are we discussing whether we go?”

More silence.

Then several people turned toward Wu Yuan.

Wu Yuan nodded. “Correct. We don’t need to debate whether we go. We need to study how we go, how we find Red Moon, and how we handle strong enemies.”

Han Ling asked, “Elder, will the strong ones from First Nebula and Second Star Cloud go?”

“I don’t know,” Wu Yuan replied.

Mo Wan Yin said, “I don’t know about the rest, but those from Third Zen Heaven will definitely go.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re vile.”

Yun Que laughed. “I heard Senior Sister Mo suffered at their hands before. Looks like it’s true.”

Han Ling said, “Third Zen Heaven isn’t vile. They’re the opposite. They’re very real.”

Yu Zhi nodded. “Because they’re real, they do whatever they want. One moment they’re your friend. The next, your enemy.”

Wang Jie remembered the Third Zen Heaven expert his cheap master had shown him on the battlefield.

Vile didn’t even begin to cover it.

Yu Zhi’s expression tightened. “Elder, there’s one thing I need to know. Will the Club that includes Guarding Star Realm people come?”

At once, the bamboo stools went quiet.

That was the real danger.

They could still fight First Nebula and Second Star Cloud, at least in theory.

But if Guarding Star Realm experts appeared…

Wu Yuan’s answer was the same. “Unknown.”

Yu Zhi’s face darkened. “If Guarding Star Realm people appear, I propose we abandon the operation.”

Han Ling nodded. “Agreed.”

Zhi He asked, “What about Dead Realm? Will Dead Realm beings come?”

Another knife at the throat.

Guarding Star Realm people. Dead Realm experts.

Either one could turn this into slaughter.

The quiet deepened.

Only then did Wang Jie truly see it.

Black-White Heaven was weak.

Against almost anyone, they seemed outclassed.

Wu Jiang’s voice cut through, cold and sharp. “You’re afraid before you even fight?”

Yu Zhi met his gaze. “It’s not fear. It’s refusing meaningless risk. Junior Brother Wu, do you believe we can fight Guarding Star Realm people?”

Wu Jiang answered calmly, “I believe Guarding Star Realm people won’t announce themselves. If they come, they come. If they don’t, they don’t. We cannot predict it.

“So we cannot treat ‘they might come’ as a reason to give up before we start.”

Yu Zhi considered, then nodded. “That’s fair.”

He turned toward Wu Yuan. “Elder, disciple proposes we move to the area where Red Moon may be, but we do not act rashly. If we encounter Guarding Star Realm people or Dead Realm beings, we retreat.”

Han Ling agreed immediately. Mo Wan Yin agreed. One by one, the others nodded.

Wang Jie agreed as well.

He still remembered Qing Huan splitting Skyport with a single strike. Both were Roaming-Star Realm, yet the gap had been an abyss. Fighting someone like that was suicide.

Wu Yuan said, “Good.”

He opened his terminal and projected a star map, circling a broad region.

Wang Jie leaned in and felt his brow jump.

That area… wasn’t far from Silver Radiance Empire.

It lay in the latter half of Third Nebula’s Eighth Star Chain.

Wu Yuan said, “The position is here. I propose we go to Silver Radiance Empire first. Elder Zhi Ye had foresight and already included Silver Radiance Empire within Black-White Heaven’s control. We can rest there openly.”

Everyone agreed.

The Club truly was different from the sect at large. Even Wu Yuan, an elder, wasn’t an autocrat here. Decisions were made by consensus.

Yu Zhi stared at the map. “If we can go to Silver Radiance Empire, other Clubs can too. We need a way to stop them from reaching the area ahead of us.”

“Then we should speak to whoever holds authority in Silver Radiance Empire,” someone suggested. “It’s their territory. They can help monitor.”

“I’ll do it,” Wang Jie said. “I know that place.”

All eyes turned to him.

Wang Jie smiled faintly. “I am an emperor guard of Silver Radiance Empire.”

—

A warship tore through the starry sky at a terrifying speed.

In the blink of an eye, it crossed Fourth Nebula’s Third Star Chain and aimed for Third Nebula.

Wang Jie stared out at the stars in awe. This speed was absurd—far beyond anything he’d experienced.

A universe-class ship. It could cross a star chain in half a day.

The best ship he’d ever used—a nebula-class—needed five days to do the same.

This ship was called Feiyue, and it was headed toward Third Nebula’s Silver Radiance Empire.

Two days later, Wang Jie opened his terminal, found Jun Hua, and contacted her.

Since leaving Silver Radiance Empire, he hadn’t spoken to her once.

After a brief delay, the call connected.

“Wang Jie?” Jun Hua’s voice carried a thread of uncertainty.

“It’s me,” Wang Jie said.

“Do you need something?”

Wang Jie glanced up. In the distance, Wu Yuan, Yu Zhi, and the others waited quietly.

“I’m on my way back to the empire.”

“You’re coming back? When will you arrive?”

“Soon.”

“Then do as you please,” Jun Hua said. “The lakeside residence is still there. You don’t need to report to me.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

He ended the call and looked up, face grim. “Something’s wrong in Silver Radiance Empire.”

The conversation had been wrong—off in a way he couldn’t ignore.

No matter how you framed it, Silver Radiance Empire was under Black-White Heaven’s control. With Wang Jie returning from within Black-White Heaven, Jun Hua should have sounded far warmer than that.

Instead, there had been distance.

Yu Zhi’s eyes sharpened. “Someone may have reached Silver Radiance Empire before us.”

Wu Yuan’s voice stayed calm. “Then we meet them. Soldiers come, we block. Nothing more.”

Feiyue continued forward.

—

Silver Radiance Imperial Palace.

Jun Hua set her terminal down and turned her gaze to the side.

A woman stood there, watching her with keen interest—Lan Qi, said to be from falling bow hall.

Lan Qi’s voice was cool. “Good answer. Who is this Wang Jie?”

“A cultivator who left my Silver Radiance Empire,” Jun Hua said evenly.

She emphasized the important part. “A lockforce cultivator.”

Lan Qi sneered. “Lockforce? That’s cannon fodder.”

Jun Hua didn’t respond. Her eyes drifted to another corner of the hall.

Yu Dong sat there, face pale, clearly badly injured.

A few days earlier, a group had arrived in Silver Radiance Empire. They’d suppressed Jun Hua and her people with terrifying ease. They hadn’t slaughtered anyone—only controlled them.

But controlled them completely.

If Wang Jie returned now, he would be walking into disaster.

Yet Jun Hua couldn’t warn him.

If she spoke too much, she might die first.

—

Back aboard Feiyue, Wang Jie kept checking the star map of Silver Radiance Empire. He also tested his authority through the lakeside residence, probing for control over imperial warships.

It still worked.

He still had access.

Han Song approached and handed him a drink.

“Thanks,” Wang Jie said.

Han Song studied him with open curiosity. “Captain, I didn’t expect you to have status in Silver Radiance Empire. You came from here?”

Wang Jie nodded, setting the map aside. “I’m from a planet called Blue Star. Blue Star was once a slaughterstone planet that forced me onto the cultivation path. It’s within Silver Radiance Empire’s territory.”

He didn’t bother hiding it. There was no point.

The people of Blue Star had already been moved to Lockspace.

Han Song exhaled slowly. “To climb to this point from a slaughterstone planet… Captain, that’s a legend.”

“What about the people of Blue Star?” Han Song asked.

“They’ve been brought to Lockspace.”

Han Song’s gaze turned respectful. Not everyone remembered their homeland once they rose.

Wang Jie had clawed his way here with blood, and still he’d reached back for his people. That alone made him someone worth trusting.

Soon, Feiyue entered Third Nebula’s Ninth Star Chain. Less than a day remained before Silver Radiance Empire.

Wang Jie went to Wu Yuan and asked, “If enemies have taken control of Silver Radiance Empire, what do we do?”

Wu Yuan answered without hesitation. “If the enemy lacks Hundred-Star Realm, I can act directly. The key is identifying who they are and what realm they’ve brought.”

He added, voice grim, “Do not discount the possibility that First Nebula or Second Star Cloud has sent someone.”

“Could the older generation intervene?” Wang Jie asked.

Wu Yuan didn’t deny it. “The Club has rules. In principle, elders don’t interfere, because that escalates everything. But someone may interfere in secret—breaking the rules so long as they aren’t caught.”

Wang Jie frowned. “Club rules?”

Wu Yuan looked out into the stars. “Resources can appear anywhere in the universe. That doesn’t mean they belong to whatever force controls the region.

“Anyone can compete for them—if they have the strength.

“If a World Realm expert’s dojo appeared inside Black-White Heaven’s sphere, would that dojo automatically belong to Black-White Heaven? Not necessarily.

“But other forces cannot simply start a war to seize it. If they did, there would be endless wars, without end. No one would survive it.”

He continued, “The Club is the simplest—and most effective—mechanism for competing over resources.

“We cannot stop other forces’ Clubs from entering Fourth Nebula. And if resources appear in another nebula, they cannot stop our Club from entering either. That’s the rule.”

Wu Yuan’s voice hardened. “If someone outside the Club interferes and is discovered, then in the future, that side loses the right to compete under the name of the Club.

“And this rule is protected by every Club.

“Because if they choose to seize resources through open war instead, what awaits them is the combined retaliation of all forces within Beidou Bridge-Pillar.

“No one can bear that.”