Chapter 296

Chapter 296: Red Moon Method

Yu Zhi stared at Wang Jie. “Junior Brother… what are you getting at?”

Wang Jie met his eyes and smiled faintly. “Announce to everyone that I can find Red Moon—but I want compensation.”

Yu Zhi’s throat bobbed. “Compensation?”

“Two conditions,” Wang Jie said. “One for the Club: Black-White Heaven Club must be the first to enter wherever the Nan family is.

“One for me personally. I’m the one doing the searching. I’ll decide what I want and tell them after I see their attitude.”

Yu Zhi froze, then glanced at Wu Yuan.

Wu Yuan looked at Wang Jie in silence.

The others exchanged uneasy looks. It hadn’t occurred to any of them to demand personal benefits. They’d only been thinking about being first through the door.

Han Ling hesitated. “Junior Brother Wang, the first condition makes sense. If you find Red Moon, we should be the first to enter.

“But the second… you’re going to search anyway. Why should anyone pay you?”

A disciple spoke up more bluntly. “If you refuse, they’ll force you.”

It was what every other Club was thinking, too.

Wang Jie didn’t argue. He only smiled. “That’s why I want Senior Brother Yu Zhi to announce it. If they won’t pay, I won’t search.”

Some people scoffed openly. Not search? Easy to say. Did he think the forces behind these Clubs were kind-hearted?

Yu Zhi gave a bitter laugh. “It won’t work. Even if you refuse, the sect will pressure you.”

Wang Jie’s confidence didn’t waver. “Announce it.”

Mo Wan Yin’s lips curved slightly. They didn’t know, but she did: with a Star Dao Master behind him, who in the sect would dare force Wang Jie?

Yu Zhi looked at Wu Yuan again.

Wu Yuan nodded once. “Do it.”

Yu Zhi clearly didn’t want to be the one to step into the fire, but Club matters were his responsibility. He went out and made the announcement.

The backlash arrived like a wave.

Mockery and scorn rolled in from every direction, loud enough to reach the Lakeside Residence itself.

“A mere Six-Path Roamer thinks he can shake a sect’s will?”

“Contact the sect. Pressure Black-White Heaven. I want to see whether Wang Jie still ‘won’t search.'”

“Demanding benefits is one thing. Threatening us? What nerve.”

“He’s courting death.”

Before the noise could settle, another party arrived: Madam Yun Club—representing Madam Yun and, by extension, Jia Yi Sect.

The newcomer, Yun Jian, carried himself with quiet steadiness. He nodded to Mo Wan Yin first, then turned to Wu Yuan.

“No need to cooperate with outside Bridge-Pillars,” Yun Jian said evenly. “The Bei Dou Bridge-Pillar’s resources belong to the Bei Dou Bridge-Pillar. You understand.”

Wu Yuan’s spine stiffened. He treated Yun Jian with more caution than he’d shown Ke Mu Sheng or even Cheng Yi Dao. No matter how overbearing Cheng Yi Dao was, they couldn’t directly crush Black-White Heaven. Jia Yi Sect could.

“If we cooperate, we’ll naturally prioritize the Bei Dou Bridge-Pillar,” Wu Yuan said.

Yun Jian’s gaze slid to Wang Jie—calm, unreadable. “Are you willing to find Red Moon? I can guarantee Black-White Heaven will be first to enter.”

He did not mention the second condition at all.

Wang Jie smiled. “Two conditions. Que Yi is not acceptable.”

Yun Jian’s brows jumped. He’d come personally, and Wang Jie still spoke like this?

Behind Yun Jian, a young woman studied Wang Jie with open curiosity. A lockforce Full-Star Realm cultivator. Where did that confidence come from?

Outside, people had mocked Wang Jie as foolish—but no one truly believed it. If they did, Yun Jian wouldn’t have been the one to come.

The other sides weren’t simply “asking” Black-White Heaven. They were pressuring them. Even Madam Yun and Jia Yi Sect had applied pressure. Yet Black-White Heaven still stood behind Wang Jie. That meant something.

Yun Jian left without threats. Jia Yi Sect was the strongest in Bei Dou, but it wasn’t wise to bark orders at Black-White Heaven. Losing face gained nothing—especially with that woman watching.

Outside, when they saw even Yun Jian couldn’t move Wang Jie, the crowd had no choice but to wait for a response from behind the scenes.

It came quickly.

Black-White Heaven’s reply to every side was the same: “This is Wang Jie’s personal matter. He will decide for himself.”

One sentence, and the message was clear—Black-White Heaven was backing him.

Shock rippled outward.

They hadn’t been pressuring Black-White Heaven gently. They’d been leaning on them with the weight of multiple Bridge-Pillars. And Black-White Heaven still refused to bend.

What kind of background did a lockforce cultivator like Wang Jie have?

Inside Black-White Heaven, the Council of Elders became a boiling cauldron.

“The boy wants benefits—then give him benefits! Why offend every major force in the four Bridge-Pillars?”

“Outside Bridge-Pillars are one thing, but we cannot offend Madam Yun of Jia Yi Sect!”

“Zhi family has already spoken. Everything follows Wang Jie’s decision.”

“Call Old Ancestor Zhi Qing out of seclusion. We can’t let Zhi Xing Xue run wild.”

“Not only Zhi family—Black Realm Lord has acknowledged that Wang Jie decides for himself.”

“Contact White Realm Lord!”

“We did. White Realm Lord said the same: Wang Jie decides for himself.”

“How? Zhi Xing Xue can’t possibly overpower White Realm Lord. And White Realm Lord doesn’t even like him—so why?”

In the end, Si Shang He cut through the noise. “Enough. Since it’s come to this, we proceed as is.”

His gaze was deep, thoughtful. Wang Jie’s backing ran deeper than the outside imagined.

The ripples reached far beyond Black-White Heaven.

In the Silver Radiance Empire, Yuan Qiao Qiao stared at a reply from Sword Court in disbelief. The message was simple: do not make things difficult for Wang Jie.

Since when did Wang Jie have anything to do with Sword Court? Black-White Heaven protecting him was one thing. But even Sword Court didn’t want to press?

Could he be a mole?

No. A mole wouldn’t act this loudly.

What was going on?

The same question gnawed at Yun Jian as well. He’d received the same instruction: do not make things difficult for Wang Jie.

That made no sense. At most, Wang Jie could influence Black-White Heaven and perhaps gain support from Zhi family. Why would he alarm the upper sect?

“Even Jia Yi Sect won’t trouble him?” the woman behind Yun Jian asked. “Can you find out what he is?”

Her name was Xue Jian.

Yun Jian’s expression hardened. “I’ve already sent word to the family. If Sword Court doesn’t want us to touch him, he must have left traces. We’ll find them.”

The mockery outside dwindled. The air turned strangely calm.

If even Nine Swords Club and Madam Yun Club were backing off, people could no longer pretend Wang Jie was a reckless fool. Instead, everyone began asking the same question in a different form:

Who is he?

Wang Jie knew this would happen. The moment he stepped into the light, secrets would be dragged up whether he wanted them or not. So he intended to take what he could before everything was exposed.

And he needed leverage. The Nan family wouldn’t be safe. Acting mysterious now could keep him alive later.

He sat by the lake when Star Vault Vista’s mission arrived: obtain the Red Moon Method.

A supreme inheritance of the Nan family—one only the direct line could cultivate.

How was he supposed to obtain it?

Unless the Nan family’s cache still existed within that strange place.

Along with the mission came a “gift”: information.

The one spreading news of Red Moon was a Nan family descendant. Star Vault Vista provided a detailed identity profile.

Perhaps, among all those gathered in the imperial capital, only Wang Jie knew who that person was—aside from Star Vault Vista itself.

The logic was clear. That descendant could not return to the Nan family alone. So she’d used everyone else.

And she’d chosen the Club channels for a reason: they attracted the most Hundred-Star Realm experts, a level she might still be able to handle. If Star-Refining Realm experts got involved—or a truly terrifying Hundred-Star Realm—she’d be crushed before she reached her goal.

Which meant another wave of information would come soon.

Sure enough, not long after, the Red Moon Method’s opening passage spread across the imperial capital.

It wasn’t enough to cultivate the full method, but it could resonate with Red Moon and reveal its direction.

Every faction began practicing it.

Wang Jie did as well.

“The moon has three forms, born in fullness at the peak. Only in the waning moon does the great Dao reveal killing intent. Three-by-three meridians expand, nine-by-nine cycles without end…”

It wasn’t difficult. It was only the opening.

As he cultivated, a strange, profound sensation rose in him. It felt as if his lockforce could spill out through his body and gather where his will pointed, like an external incarnation forming into something.

And he didn’t need to guess what that “something” was meant to be.

Red Moon.

But why Red Moon? Lockforce could manifest different hues depending on cultivation. Why was it fixed as Red Moon?

Wang Jie stopped mid-breath.

He had sensed a second resonance—far, far away.

The Nan family’s Red Moon.

He’d found it.

If he kept cultivating, he might shake the distant Red Moon into full manifestation. That was dangerous.

The next day, everyone gathered again to compare results.

“I cultivated the opening,” someone said, “and I can force starforce out of my body. It feels like it can condense into something.”

“I felt that too.”

“Elder Wu?”

Wu Yuan’s face was solemn. “I can also condense something, but this is only the opening. It has shape but no spirit.

“As for Red Moon itself… I sensed nothing.”

Wang Jie fell into thought.

So it truly was lockforce—this power so unlike starforce—that could resonate with the Nan family’s Red Moon?

The hidden descendant wouldn’t have lied. She needed Red Moon too.

“Wang Jie?” someone pressed. “What about you?”

Wang Jie kept his voice even. “I have a vague sense of direction.”

Yu Zhi stared. “You really sensed it?”

Wang Jie nodded.

Mo Wan Yin’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “If Junior Brother Wang can sense it, maybe other lockforce cultivators can too.”

“Then we wait,” Wu Yuan said. “Every side is testing. If anyone finds Red Moon, they’ll move.”

His gaze flicked to Wang Jie. “If no one else can find it… they’ll come back to us.”

That prediction proved true.

Lockforce cultivators had never been treated like this. Resources poured into them. Hundred-Star Realm experts gave personal guidance. Many lockforce cultivators leaped directly to Star-Breaking Realm—something unheard of before.

From all directions, lockforce cultivators were delivered to the imperial capital and forced to practice the opening passage.

Again and again, they failed.

No one else could sense Red Moon.

When word spread that Wang Jie could, every gaze in the imperial capital slid back toward the Lakeside Residence.