Chapter 356

Chapter 356: Old Ginger

Wang Jie laughed. “So what if I admit it? So what if I don’t? Does it change anything?”

Jiang Yu pointed at him, furious. “How dare you! Grandfather is right here—if you really are a spy, you’ll be made to suffer!”

Wang Jie shrugged. “I entered Third Zen Heaven with a Zen Token. The sect never asked about my past, and it never will.”

He didn’t give Jiang Yu a chance to cut in.

“And if I were a spy, why would I waste money so openly? If some little brat can see through me, what kind of spy would be that stupid?”

“Who are you calling a brat?” Jiang Yu roared.

Wang Jie smiled. “Aren’t you?”

Then, as if it were an afterthought, he tilted his head. “Hey—did you cry in front of Madam Miao?”

The room went dead quiet.

Jiang Jing Yue and Old Ji both glanced at Jiang Yu on instinct. Even the Second Zen’s heavy lids lifted a fraction.

Jiang Yu’s face flashed from green to white. “Lu Bu Qi, you’re lying! Who cried? I’ll kill you! Old Ji—kill him!”

Old Ji didn’t move. With the Second Zen present, on Zen Mountain itself, he didn’t dare. Besides, Lu Bu Qi was a Chengchan disciple of Zen Mountain. And honestly… what spy behaved like this?

Jiang Jing Yue’s voice cut in, sharp. “Jiang Yu. Enough.”

Jiang Yu swung toward her, face twisted. “Clan Elder Sister, you have to decide this! Lu Bu Qi is suspicious—how can a lockforce cultivator have so many things? He even fought Shu He. He’s only full-star realm, but Shu He was taught by Grandfather and has few equals even in the roaming-star realm!”

Jiang Jing Yue’s expression tightened. “Stop. I understand.”

She turned to Wang Jie. “Junior Brother Lu. The rules are clear: those who enter with a Zen Token are not questioned about their past. That’s true. But you are… unusually strange.”

Wang Jie raised an eyebrow. “So Eldest Senior Sister is trying to condemn me without evidence?”

“Of course not.” Jiang Jing Yue held his gaze. “If you want to explain, you may. If you don’t, then don’t.”

“As Eldest Senior Sister of Zen Mountain, within the rules, I will not allow anyone from Zen Mountain to be bullied by outsiders.”

Wang Jie bowed. “Thank you, Eldest Senior Sister.”

Jiang Yu panicked. “Clan Elder Sister, I—”

Jiang Jing Yue’s tone cooled. “This is Zen Mountain, not Zen Hall. Everything is for the Second Zen to decide. Don’t be rude.”

Old Ji stepped forward and pulled Jiang Yu back. Jiang Yu glared at Wang Jie, unwilling to let it go.

Silence stretched.

At last, the Second Zen spoke, bored. “Finished?”

Jiang Jing Yue bowed. “Yes.”

“Then leave.”

Jiang Yu blurted, “But he knows the Jia Eight Steps!”

No one moved.

Wang Jie’s heart lifted—and hung.

The Second Zen waved a hand. “The Jia Eight Steps aren’t forbidden. I know them too.”

Jiang Yu froze, stunned into emptiness.

“Enough,” the Second Zen said. “All of you, go. This was a farce.”

As the Second Zen left, the pressure drained from the room.

Wang Jie relaxed. As expected, the Zen Token still carried weight.

As long as no one could prove he came from the Dead Realm, no one would dare press too hard.

On his way out, he flashed Jiang Yu a small, infuriating grin.

Jiang Yu’s eyes hardened. “Little kid. Just wait. I won’t let you go.”

Jiang Jing Yue snapped, “Stop acting like this.”

Jiang Yu rounded on her, face ugly. “Clan Elder Sister, why are you helping an outsider?”

Jiang Jing Yue frowned. “Let me say it again.”

“Lu Bu Qi is a Chengchan disciple of Zen Mountain. If he has done nothing against Third Zen Heaven, you are not allowed to trouble him for any reason.”

“If you do, I will go to Zen Hall and have you confined.”

Jiang Yu opened his mouth, but Shu He intercepted him, signaling urgently with her eyes.

In the end, Jiang Yu swallowed his fury and tried to leave.

“Wait,” Wang Jie said.

He looked at Jiang Yu, then back to Jiang Jing Yue. “Eldest Senior Sister. Are we really letting him chase me and destroy my ship as if nothing happened?”

Jiang Yu exploded. “You still dare bring that up?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Wang Jie drawled. “A Chengchan disciple of Zen Mountain being hunted by his own sect—one of your people even showed up at the hundred-star realm.”

“I only thought you were suspicious and wanted to bring you back for questioning!” Jiang Yu snapped. “Who chased you?”

Wang Jie smiled. “So you’re a brat and a coward. You won’t even admit what you did.”

“Not much of a man.”

“Lu Bu Qi—!”

Jiang Yu surged forward in rage, only to stop when Jiang Jing Yue’s voice cut through.

“Enough!”

Her eyes locked on Jiang Yu. “From now on, do not go near Lu Bu Qi again. And you are not to enter Zen Mountain without permission. If you disobey, you will bear the consequences.”

Jiang Yu trembled with fury, but Old Ji and Shu He dragged him away.

When they were gone, Jiang Jing Yue turned to Wang Jie. “Junior Brother, I’m sorry. Please don’t hold it against us.”

Wang Jie waved a hand. “No grudge. But my ship was destroyed. It was a nebula-grade ship.”

Jiang Jing Yue didn’t hesitate. “Put the bill on Jiang Yu. When you return to Outer Zen, commission another. I’ll arrange it.”

Wang Jie bowed. “Thank you, Eldest Senior Sister. Then I’ll leave?”

“Go.”

Wang Jie didn’t press for more. He couldn’t, and he didn’t need to.

All he wanted was for Jiang Yu to keep his distance.

Even if the Second Zen and Jiang Jing Yue hadn’t interrogated him, they would be watching now. He would have to move more carefully.

Back in the Sunset-Glow Mountain Range, Wang Jie returned to cultivation.

He didn’t rush to Nian Wei for resources. He didn’t make waves. He stayed in the mountains and cultivated in silence.

When he wasn’t cultivating, he took out the wooden figure and stared at it.

If he was honest, he didn’t know what he was supposed to see. Ting Chen hadn’t explained anything.

Just: look.

Two years passed in a blink.

Over those two years, he focused on merging lockforce into his meridians and bones. The progress was steady, but not fast.

With how vast his lockforce was, without the technique Master had created, he would never have matched a normal cultivator’s pace. He might never have reached the roaming-star realm at all.

This was already enough.

But the wooden figure never responded.

He tried everything he could think of—sleeping with it, dripping blood on it, forcing lockforce into it. Nothing changed.

It wasn’t meant for him.

The two-year deadline was closing. He had no choice but to return it.

He stowed the wooden figure and decided to go to Outer Zen to see Nian Wei.

Since the Madam Miao incident, he hadn’t met her once.

Jiang Yu hadn’t come looking for trouble, either. Good.

Su Qing was quiet too, despite swearing she wouldn’t let him go.

Wang Jie almost wished she would make a scene. He needed an eyelash from her.

But she didn’t show, and if he went to her, getting it would be even harder.

He couldn’t exactly snatch it.

Less than eight years remained until the Wandering-Star Tournament.

Tight.

He left the Sunset-Glow Mountain Range and boarded a ship for Outer Zen.

The moment his ship lifted off, someone reported his movement to Jiang Jing Yue.

Jiang Jing Yue opened her eyes. He went to Outer Zen again?

After Jiang Yu’s accusations, how could she not care?

The Zen Token rules kept her from questioning him directly, but he was too strange to ignore.

“Watch him,” she ordered. “Every move. Everywhere he goes. Everyone he meets.”

“Yes, Eldest Senior Sister.”

In Outer Zen, Wang Jie went straight to the Star Fusion Center.

He didn’t know he was being watched. Nian Wei told him the moment he arrived.

“Jiang Jing Yue is watching you,” she said.

Wang Jie sighed. “That brat Jiang Yu really did leave me trouble.”

“If she suspects you, that’s normal,” Nian Wei said. “Don’t worry. Just visit a few places. As long as you’re not from the Dead Realm and you haven’t betrayed Third Zen Heaven, even if they learn you came from the Jia Yi Sect—or another bridge-pillar—it won’t matter.”

“You won’t stay in Third Zen Heaven forever anyway.”

Wang Jie didn’t deny it.

He wasn’t as cautious here as he’d been in Frostglory Sect.

Because he only planned to stay in Third Zen Heaven for ten years.

After ten years, he would leave. What these people thought didn’t matter.

“Will Jiang Jing Yue guess my connection to the Star Vault Vista?” he asked.

Nian Wei looked helpless. “Maybe. But she can only guess.”

Wang Jie nodded once. “Fine. I’m going to replenish lockforce at the lockforce star-devourer.”

“While I’m gone, help me find a few things: powerful formation scrolls, a Five Tribulations chen artifact—a blade—and buy me a piece of old ginger.”

Nian Wei stared at him. Everything else sounded normal. The last request did not.

“Buy… what?”

“Old ginger.”

Wang Jie left. He still had another task—commissioning a ship.

His Starwatch ship had been destroyed, and Jiang Jing Yue had promised he could order a replacement and bill Jiang Yu.

Then he had no reason to hold back.

At the Star Vault Ship Exchange, he commissioned a new ship for seven hundred million starstones.

If the pricier options didn’t take longer to build, he would’ve pushed it to a billion or more.

Seven hundred million was already more than twice the Starwatch’s cost—lavish enough.

Delivery: ten days.

So he cultivated and waited.

Back at Zen Mountain, Jiang Jing Yue studied the reports. First stop: the Star Fusion Center. Again.

Was he connected to the Star Vault Vista?

It would explain the Zen Token.

But would the Star Vault Vista really value a lockforce cultivator?

Everyone knew the Star Vault Vista placed people everywhere. Third Zen Heaven did the same.

As long as no betrayal happened, it wasn’t worth stirring conflict.

And in any case, she couldn’t be sure.

Jiang Yu called, furious. “Clan Elder Sister! That bastard Lu Bu Qi spent seven hundred million starstones of mine on a ship!”

Jiang Jing Yue’s voice remained calm. “So what? You chased him. Spending money is already lenient.”

“He has to be suspicious!” Jiang Yu snapped. “Did you investigate him?”

“That has nothing to do with you,” Jiang Jing Yue said flatly. “I’ll handle his matters. You just stop making trouble.”

Jiang Yu ended the call in rage.

Ten days later, Wang Jie departed in his new ship.

He didn’t name it. Somehow, he felt ships without names lasted longer.

He went to the lockforce star-devourer, replenished lockforce, then returned.

When he met Nian Wei again, she brought him formation scrolls—more than ten.

Wang Jie accepted them with a smile.

The bill could go to Ting Chen.

“We couldn’t find a Five Tribulations chen artifact blade,” Nian Wei said. “That’s a star-refining realm weapon. It’s not easy to acquire.”

Then she hesitated, still caught on the absurd request. “And the last thing. The… old ginger.”

She held it out to him.