Chapter 30

Chapter 30: What Is He Doing?

Wang Jie finally finished his strange “workout.” His eyes were still closed, yet he knew exactly what had just happened.

Wen Zhao could barely stay on her feet. He stepped in, scooped her into his arms, covered the longsword she was holding with his hand, and swept it in a flat, horizontal slash.

Imprint power detonated inside him. The burst of force was savage. The blade tore through the air itself, carving visible cracks around them as sword light flared in a wide circle, sweeping a full kilometer in every direction.

Where it passed, two Eighth Seal bugs and a swarm of lesser insects were cut down. Even Chong Ruo Ruo jolted.

What vicious sword qi.

Wen Zhao went limp in his arms. “Go.”

Wang Jie didn’t hesitate. He leapt and shot into the distance with her.

Back where they’d been, Chong Ruo Ruo stared after them for half a beat before snapping out of it.

“Keep chasing!”

The insect tide was endless. She would grind them down until they collapsed from exhaustion.

Wang Jie carried Wen Zhao through the night for hours. Only when the darkness fully settled did he finally breathe.

They hid in a basement.

Wen Zhao shoved him away the moment his feet hit the ground, then glared up at him, eyes blazing.

Wang Jie grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Wen Zhao’s face was pale. She pulled out healing medicine and began spreading it over her wounds.

“I can help—”

“Get lost.”

He took the hint and backed away a few steps, standing there like a scolded dog while she worked.

After a moment, Wen Zhao looked up sharply. “Turn around. Close your eyes.”

He obeyed at once.

It took a long time. When she finally finished, she lowered herself into a sitting position, careful not to lean back against the wall. Just moving made her wince.

“What’s wrong with you?” she hissed.

Wang Jie gave a dry, awkward laugh. “A lot. I swear it won’t happen again.”

Wen Zhao stared at him, then looked away like she didn’t even know where to begin. For some reason, she remembered him pestering someone for a proposal letter, and an infuriating thought surfaced: maybe his earlier behavior really did make a twisted kind of sense.

She didn’t have the energy to argue anymore.

“…Thanks.”

Wang Jie exhaled like he’d been holding his breath. “Thank you.”

Wen Zhao fell silent.

Somehow, staying around this man had forced curses out of her. She’d never been like that before. He was infuriating.

Wang Jie sighed and touched his wrist guard. It was all this thing’s fault.

Still, his “workout” had absorbed a huge amount of imprint power and converted it into strength. He could feel it—his raw power had jumped again.

About four times what he’d had when he first arrived at Shang Jing City.

That was why the earlier slash had been so outrageous. It hadn’t been a Sword Method at all—just brute force driven by imprint power.

He really had gotten stronger.

And if they hadn’t been chased by the insect tide, they never would have gathered this many disaster materials.

They could keep going.

“We should strike back,” Wang Jie said suddenly.

Wen Zhao had her eyes closed, resting.

Wang Jie looked at her. “That centipede is the worst. Strong. Not weaker than the Moon Plant outside Jin Ling Base. But we’re not weak either. What about Chong Ruo Ruo herself? How strong is she?”

Wen Zhao opened her eyes, calm again. “Terrible.”

Wang Jie nodded. “So as long as we can get close to her, it’s enough.”

Wen Zhao’s voice stayed flat. “The Heaven-Insect People know they’re their own weakness. That’s why they protect themselves ridiculously well. Catching her won’t be easy.”

“Her best skill is Jia Eight Steps.”

Then she corrected herself. “Actually, every Heaven-Insect Person is required to learn Jia Eight Steps. All of them.”

“She can take seven steps.”

Wang Jie frowned. “One step faster than us?”

“That’s a problem,” he muttered.

With that centipede guarding her, if Chong Ruo Ruo stayed one step ahead, they would never catch her.

And Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger was a killing move. Wen Zhao had warned him: don’t kill Chong Ruo Ruo.

Wang Jie was ruthless when it mattered, but he wasn’t stupid. If Chong Ruo Ruo died, the one who suffered wouldn’t just be her—it would be Blue Star.

Unless he had no choice, he wouldn’t use that move.

Wen Zhao drifted back into rest.

The basement was sealed on all sides. Under normal circumstances, this was the last kind of place you’d hide—it was too easy to get surrounded.

But they had no choice. Chong Ruo Ruo had learned. During the chase, any time she spotted a tall building, she had it torn down, denying them cover.

They would be found sooner or later.

Wen Zhao needed sleep.

At least they still had the Combat Power Detector. As long as no Eighth Seal bug came too close, even if they got boxed in, Wang Jie could carve a way out.

That night, Wen Zhao slept deeply—dead to the world.

The Combat Power Detector shrieked.

Wen Zhao snapped awake. “Go.”

Wang Jie reached for her out of instinct, but she slapped his hand away. Only then did he notice her wounds: the cuts had already scabbed over.

Fast. Unnaturally fast.

“Lend me your sword,” Wang Jie said.

Wen Zhao handed it over without a word.

He gripped the hilt and slowly breathed out, searching his memory for something he’d once seen in the sky projection.

He didn’t like sword techniques. They were too flashy. He’d always felt that the cooler a move looked, the less useful it was. He preferred practical.

Besides—what if the sword snapped?

Not using sword techniques didn’t mean he couldn’t.

There was one sword-drawing move he’d seen that had been so ridiculously cool it had stuck with him.

He crouched slightly, blade angled behind him, shoulders sinking as he tightened his grip and lowered his head.

Wen Zhao’s eyes narrowed as she watched his stance. She seemed to recognize it.

A sword-drawing technique?

Imprint power streamed down his arm and poured into the blade, spiraling into faint wind-traces around its edge. His breath compressed, tighter and tighter, until—

He lifted his head and yanked the sword free in a savage upward slash.

Sword qi erupted like a rising blade of light, splitting the ground cleanly in two. The five-story building overhead was sliced apart in the same instant. The lingering arc tore into the sky, cutting through the swarming flying insects and letting a thin thread of sunlight spill down.

The sword shattered at the end of the strike, unable to bear the force.

Wang Jie stared at the broken hilt. “That thing was brittle.”

“Move!” he barked.

Wen Zhao sprinted after him.

The moment they burst back to the surface, Wang Jie snatched a length of spider silk—disaster material from an Eighth Seal spider. That earlier slash had killed the spider too.

The insect tide surged.

Wang Jie’s movements were sharper now—faster, more ruthless. The power he’d gained made everything he did more decisive.

Even Chong Ruo Ruo noticed.

Why was that man stronger again?

He was still clearly at the Eighth Seal.

Wang Jie turned his head mid-run and fixed his eyes on Chong Ruo Ruo, then made a throat-cutting gesture.

A chill shot down her spine. Anger followed so fast it drowned out reason.

“Native!” she shrieked. “You dare threaten me? You dare threaten a Heaven-Insect Person?”

“You’re dead! No one can save you!”

Wang Jie laughed, loud and bright. “Little bug. Wait for me. I’ll catch you.”

He flicked a finger forward. Spiral Qi Force surged out, twice as thick as before, bulldozing a path through the swarm. He dragged Wen Zhao along and vanished into the distance.

Behind them, the giant centipede reared, hissing.

Chong Ruo Ruo’s face flushed red as she screamed for more insects—more, more, more. This man was worse than Little Zhao Er.

Over the following days, the safe zone northeast of Shang Jing City expanded by dozens of kilometers.

Wang Jie wanted to widen the entire perimeter, but it was too vast. In the end, he chose to loop back the way they’d come.

His real goal was still the disaster materials.

Chong Ruo Ruo only had two Eighth Seal bugs left under her control now—not counting the centipede.

A few more days passed.

While they were still being hunted, Wen Zhao suddenly said, “You’re about to do it again.”

Wang Jie glanced at her. “You can tell that?”

“I don’t care why,” Wen Zhao said coldly. “Pick the exact time. I don’t want to die.”

“I’ve got it. Tomorrow afternoon.”

“Then find a place.”

“The lake we used before.”

Wen Zhao considered, then nodded. The lake had mutated creatures, and the water made it easier to watch their surroundings.

Wang Jie also wanted to see if Zuo Tian was dead.

The next afternoon, they reached the area where Zuo Tian had been swallowed by insects.

There was only a pool of blood.

Nothing else.

Wang Jie gathered the disaster materials nearby and headed toward the lake in silence.

Zuo Tian wasn’t dead.

He was sure of it.

After days of fighting Chong Ruo Ruo, they’d learned she wasn’t cruel. She wanted to win over Wen Zhao, not slaughter them. If she had killed Zuo Tian, there would’ve been a body. She wouldn’t have let the swarm consume it.

No body meant only one thing.

She’d let him go.

Wang Jie shoved the thought aside when he saw the lake. He leapt onto the open ground in the center.

The viewing pavilion was gone.

“When?” he asked.

“No idea,” Wen Zhao said.

She studied him. “So you really do it passively.”

Wang Jie didn’t deny it. “Is this common in the universe?”

“I don’t know,” Wen Zhao said.

In the distance, the black tide drew near.

“We wait five minutes,” Wen Zhao said. “If you don’t start, we run.”

She paused, then added, “This time, we split up.”

Wang Jie nodded. He had no right to ask her to keep risking her life for him.

Even after killing several Eighth Seal bugs, the centipede was still there. The insect tide was still a nightmare.

Less than two minutes later, a familiar voice sounded in Wang Jie’s ears.

He released a breath and began his “workout.”

Wen Zhao exhaled too.

Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she didn’t want to abandon him.

He wasn’t bad.

From the far shore, Chong Ruo Ruo stared at Wang Jie—standing there in the middle of the lake, doing that bizarre routine. Her expression went soft with confusion, almost cute.

She pointed. “What is he doing?”

Wen Zhao answered evenly, “Working out.”

Chong Ruo Ruo blinked. “Huh?”

“I don’t believe you. What are you really doing? What is he doing?”

Wen Zhao didn’t even change her expression. “Performing a ritual.”

Chong Ruo Ruo froze.

The insect tide pressed in from all directions.

This time, Chong Ruo Ruo showed off—grinning as she revealed two new Eighth Seal bugs under her control.

Wen Zhao’s face tightened.

“Don’t think you’re the only ones getting stronger,” Chong Ruo Ruo bragged. “I’ve absorbed lockforce too. I’m not far from the Ninth Seal. And I’m controlling more insects.”

She waved her hand. “Go!”

Four Eighth Seal bugs attacked Wen Zhao from above and below. Chong Ruo Ruo herself stepped onto land, and the centipede charged toward the lake.

Wang Jie kept moving through his routine, drawing in imprint power, watching everything.

Heavenstone’s imprint power made mutated creatures evolve at a terrifying pace—insects, plants, beasts. If he and Wen Zhao hadn’t been dragging the insect tide into dangerous zones to clash with other mutated creatures, Chong Ruo Ruo would’ve had at least ten Eighth Seal bugs by now.

Maybe more.

As things were, they were lucky.

“Wait.” Wen Zhao spoke suddenly.

Chong Ruo Ruo sneered. “Little Zhao Er. Don’t tell me you think you can stall for time.”

Wen Zhao looked at her with an unnerving seriousness. “The three great houses of Jia Yi Sect share the same roots. Do you know why Xiao Hui has never accepted your feelings?”

The insect tide halted.

Chong Ruo Ruo’s face darkened. “Because you keep getting in the way.”

“It has nothing to do with me,” Wen Zhao said. “Someone else is already in his heart.”

“I didn’t want to say it. I promised that person. But now I don’t have a choice.”

Wen Zhao was buying time. Wang Jie would’ve seen it even if he hadn’t been half-tranced by his routine.

Chong Ruo Ruo saw it too.

But compared to the answer, she was willing to let time slip.

“Who?” she demanded.

“If I tell you,” Wen Zhao said, “you let us go.”

“Fine. Talk. But it has to be true.”

Wen Zhao glanced toward Wang Jie, her jaw tightening.

Why wasn’t he done yet?