Chapter 297

Chapter 297: Gone Mad

A few days later, Wu Yuan announced the outcome.

The other Clubs had agreed to Wang Jie’s terms.

Black-White Heaven Club would be the first to enter the Nan family’s location.

And Wang Jie would receive compensation—whatever he demanded.

Wang Jie exhaled, tension loosening from his shoulders. So the others truly had failed. Good.

If someone else had succeeded, he would gain nothing and, after his earlier bravado, he’d become a laughingstock—and an easy target.

Now the initiative was in his hands.

Everyone watched him, waiting.

Wang Jie took a breath, walked out of the Lakeside Residence, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“I want ten six-tribulation chen artifacts!”

The words rang out and echoed across Imperial Capital Star.

For a heartbeat, the entire world froze.

Ten six-tribulation chen artifacts?

Had he lost his mind?

A six-tribulation chen artifact belonged to World Realm experts. It was a weapon that could anchor a sect. Even the forces behind these Clubs could produce only a handful—if any.

Black-White Heaven itself possessed only one. It was in Old Ancestor Zhi Yu’s hands.

And Wang Jie wanted ten?

Even one was impossible.

Imperial Capital Star fell into an eerie silence.

Wang Jie stood there, oddly satisfied.

One of the materials he needed for the Undying Body had just been secured: make everyone think you’re insane.

He’d done it. Nobody doubted his madness now.

Mo Wan Yin stared at him, stunned. “Junior Brother Wang… what did you just say you wanted?”

Wang Jie blinked, perfectly earnest. “Was that too much? Then I’ll ask for less. One?”

The drop was so steep it made people dizzy—ten down to one.

But that wasn’t the problem. One was still impossible.

Yu Zhi looked like he’d swallowed sand. “A six-tribulation chen artifact can serve as a sect’s suppressing treasure. Junior Brother Wang, are you joking?”

“Oh.” Wang Jie nodded as if he’d been corrected. “Fine. Then forget the chen artifacts. Give me a hundred billion starstone. That’s not too much, right?”

Silence again.

Compared to a six-tribulation chen artifact, a hundred billion starstone really wasn’t much. With this many Clubs, each could contribute ten billion without straining.

But the whiplash was unreal. Was this how bargaining worked?

Outside, people nearly choked on their own anger. They hadn’t even recovered from “ten six-tribulation artifacts” before he’d dropped it to starstone.

It felt less like negotiation and more like being toyed with.

Still, now that the demand had fallen, cursing him became awkward. So they swallowed it and transferred money through the Star-Fusion Card Wang Jie provided.

Wang Jie watched the numbers climb, his heart thumping in sync.

These people truly didn’t lack money.

He’d asked for a total of a hundred billion starstone. Two Clubs, as if making a point, paid the entire amount by themselves. With the rest adding their shares anyway, Wang Jie ended up with over three hundred fifty billion starstone.

It was absurd.

Wu Yuan pressed a hand to his forehead. Wang Jie looked steady most of the time, but when he decided to cause trouble, it came without warning—and nobody could predict why.

That same day, the Lakeside Residence welcomed every Club that actually had a voice.

They shared one trait: a Hundred-Star Realm expert sat behind them.

Some were familiar—Young Ling Er, Yuan Qiao Qiao, Ke Mu Sheng, Yun Jian.

Others had only been seen through projection screens: Su Ji Kong of Xu Huang Club; Candle-Shadow Madam of Deng Xia Hei Club; Chen Song of Third Zen Heaven Club; and Lan Tui and Guan Sou of Guan Shan Club.

Now they were all here.

Including Wu Yuan, ten Hundred-Star Realm experts sat under one roof.

And they weren’t ordinary Hundred-Star Realm either. Youth alone was proof. To hold a place in a Club meant their future was bright, and most of them had an eighty percent chance of reaching Star-Refining Realm.

In other words: this room held the next generation of decision-makers for the four Bridge-Pillars.

Wang Jie studied them and, for a fleeting moment, thought: If someone wiped out everyone here in one stroke, the four Bridge-Pillars would quake.

“Old brother,” Candle-Shadow Madam drawled, leaning back with a grin. “That’s an unfriendly look.”

Her smile matched the eerie expression reflected in the face-like patterns flickering within her candlelight, unsettling enough to make the air feel cold.

Wang Jie kept his tone respectful. “Senior is overthinking it. I’m only a Full-Star Realm cultivator. How could I be unfriendly to a Hundred-Star Realm Senior?”

Candle-Shadow Madam laughed softly. Even the “face” in the candlelight seemed to smile.

Behind Chen Song, Mo watched Wang Jie with a stillness that felt heavier than hostility.

He hadn’t expected to see this man alive.

When rumors first spread that a lockforce cultivator named Wang Jie had become Black-White Heaven’s Six-Path Roamer, Mo had wondered—could it be the man from the Blue Star trial?

But it sounded impossible. That man had died. Jia Yi Sect had confirmed it. If he’d lived, he would’ve been taken away long ago.

Yet now Wang Jie stood before him, breathing, speaking, unchanged.

Mo knew.

It was him.

The one who’d defeated Shu Mu Ye.

The one Mo would remember for life.

Wang Jie’s gaze swept over Mo, then drifted to the other bald youth—one Si Yao had once pointed out as a prodigy. Full-Star Realm, yet capable of helping more than ten people break through to Roaming-Star Realm.

The moment Wang Jie met that youth’s eyes, unease prickled along his spine. The youth looked harmless, almost mild—but something hidden stirred beneath that calm surface.

The bald youth looked back with an expression like an ancient well: no ripples, no emotion. Not like a young man at all, but like a weathered elder wearing a youthful shell.

Wu Yuan cleared his throat. “Everyone who can speak for their Club is here. Then I’ll be direct.”

His gaze moved around the room. “You all agreed: if Wang Jie finds Red Moon, Black-White Heaven Club enters first. Does that promise still stand? Confirm it.”

Ke Mu Sheng nodded. “I confirm.”

“Confirmed.”

“Confirmed.”

One voice after another followed, until the promise was locked in again.

Wu Yuan nodded once. “Good.”

He looked at Wang Jie. “Begin.”

Wang Jie sat down in full view of everyone and began cultivating the opening passage again.

He had to. If he did it out of sight, nobody would trust him. They would always suspect he’d found Red Moon and pretended he hadn’t.

To be honest, Wang Jie had considered doing exactly that—if it would earn him more of the Red Moon Method.

After the time it took incense to burn, Wang Jie opened his eyes and rose.

Everyone leaned in.

“Found it?” someone asked.

Wu Yuan wasn’t surprised. Wang Jie had sensed it before.

Wang Jie pointed into the distance. “That direction. I can feel it.”

Someone immediately pulled out a star map. “Where exactly? Mark it.”

“I can’t.”

The room went dead.

Wu Yuan’s brows pinched. “You can’t?”

Wang Jie’s frown looked genuine. “I can sense Red Moon, but I can’t pinpoint its location, and I can’t force it to reveal itself. The method is incomplete. If I had more of it, I could do it.”

Candle-Shadow Madam’s eyes narrowed. “The person in the shadows has already leaked a great deal. She wants to use everyone’s strength to enter the Nan family too. That should be enough.”

Her smile turned sharp. “Unless you don’t want everyone to go in.”

Wang Jie met her gaze without flinching. “I’m a lockforce cultivator.”

He enunciated the words as if carving them into stone.

“The one spreading this method is a starforce cultivator. She doesn’t understand the gap between lockforce and starforce. She thinks starforce cultivation is enough—but lockforce still falls short.

“Or are you saying the person in the shadows cultivates lockforce too?”

No one could answer that. Lockforce was despised everywhere. In this room, only Wang Jie cultivated it.

Candle-Shadow Madam stopped smiling.

Wang Jie looked into the distance. “Give me more of the method to cultivate. Or give me time. I can narrow the range and eventually find it.”

“How long?” Pei Lin snapped. “Who has time to wait—”

Yuan Qiao Qiao’s cool glance cut him off. Pei Lin swallowed the rest of his words.

Wang Jie spread his hands in helpless frustration. “Lockforce is weaker. I can’t do what starforce can.”

Wu Yuan watched him for a long moment. Wang Jie claimed he couldn’t pinpoint it. Was that truly the limit—or a calculated delay?

Wang Jie sat down again and continued cultivating, calm as still water.

Star Vault Vista wanted the Red Moon Method. If he didn’t seize this chance to squeeze out more, entering the Nan family might not give him another opportunity.

He wasn’t in a hurry.

The person hiding in the dark was.

And Wang Jie was right.

Far away, someone watched him, their gaze sinking colder with every passing breath. The opening passage was already a dangerous leak. If more was given, some of these Hundred-Star Realm experts might piece together the full Red Moon Method later—perhaps even by the third “car” of the train.

That could not be allowed.

But if nothing more was given, how long would this drag on? And if her identity was uncovered…

Her eyes sharpened, restless.

There was only one problem: anything she released would become public. She couldn’t give Wang Jie alone.

Wang Jie didn’t worry about that. If she needed him, she’d find a way. All he had to do was wait.

Eventually, something big happened outside.

The one spreading the messages in secret—

was caught.