Chapter 43

Chapter 43: A Battle

In the distance, Wen Xing Ru and the others stood silent.

Wang Jie’s strength had shattered their understanding of what “possible” meant.

To push back Shu Mu Ye—third rebuild Shu Mu Ye—was the kind of thing that would shake the universe.

If word got out, it would explode across Star Vault Vista and become a legend argued over by countless powers.

And now Shu Mu Ye was offering to take him.

A single step into heaven.

Yun Lai stared at Wang Jie with naked jealousy, rage twisting his features.

Wang Jie looked down at his blood-soaked hands. His arms were ruined with exhaustion and impact, barely able to lift. The more he’d fought, the clearer Shu Mu Ye’s terror had become.

Without the wrist guard he’d found in the fields—without the strength he’d carved out through constant exercises—his old self wouldn’t have survived even one move.

He took a breath and met Shu Mu Ye’s gaze.

“If I go with you,” he asked, “will you spare Blue Star?”

Shu Mu Ye smiled faintly. “If it were only the Bloodline Bridgeway Art, I could abandon it for you.”

His eyes sharpened, hunger surfacing.

“But what I want is the Origin Bridgeway Art.”

He shook his head as if amused by the question.

“You’re not worth that.”

Wang Jie exhaled, slow and heavy. “Then I can only fight you to the end.”

Shu Mu Ye’s brows rose. “For a planet this ordinary? When you widen your gaze to the universe, you’ll understand how little value it has. Trading your life for it is even more foolish.”

He gestured toward the watching Trialists. “Ask them. Following me, Shu Mu Ye—what kind of glory is that? If I offered them the chance, would they refuse?”

The Trialists didn’t speak.

Of course they wouldn’t refuse.

Even Wen Xing Ru—prideful, from the Wen lineage of Jia Yi Sect—couldn’t be sure she could turn Shu Mu Ye down.

“I would,” Mo said.

His voice was calm. His eyes were serious.

Wang Jie moved at the same instant, lifting a finger.

Spiral Qi Force shot forward and struck from afar.

Shu Mu Ye frowned and dispersed it with a casual flick—

And the sky turned black.

A tide of mutant insects plunged down toward him.

At the same time, the ground ruptured as swarms of mutant ants burst upward, their hissing loud enough to crawl under the skin.

Shu Mu Ye turned his left palm.

Power pressed down.

The earth caved, spread, and shattered as a surge of force ripped through subterranean cracks and blasted upward, sweeping the sky.

Wang Jie retreated fast.

Insects streamed past him like a living storm.

“Insect Xuan’s here!” someone shouted.

“Surround him!” Insect Xuan’s voice cut through the chaos.

Insect Ruo Ruo leapt up, pointing and barking orders as the boundless insect sea poured in from all sides.

Old Nine reached Wang Jie and hoisted him onto his back without asking.

Wang Jie grimaced. “Put me down. My arms are just drained—my legs still work.”

Qing Zheng flashed him a fierce grin and a thumbs-up. “Old Boss, you’re insane.”

Old Five stared as if seeing him for the first time. “I knew you were strong, Old Boss. I didn’t know you were this strong. Look at them—those offworlders are stunned.”

Wang Jie didn’t answer. His eyes stayed on Shu Mu Ye beneath the insect sea.

Only someone who had fought him could feel it: how deep that abyss went.

Could the insect sea truly drain his Starforce?

A boom shook the air.

Space seemed to distort and burst apart.

Shu Mu Ye stepped out over piles of insect corpses as if he were walking on a carpet.

He didn’t even look at Insect Xuan.

He looked straight at Wang Jie.

With a flick of his wrist, he threw a broken insect leg.

Wang Jie shoved Old Nine away. The leg sliced past his throat, leaving a thin red line of blood before vanishing into the distance.

Shu Mu Ye’s eyes narrowed.

He wanted Wang Jie dead.

Mo struck.

A sword slash—Imprint Power and Starforce boiling together—caught Shu Mu Ye’s attention. Snow fell from a clear sky as Qi Xue Yin moved, and Wen Xing Ru’s palm wind shook with the weight of mountains.

Wang Jie’s voice was low. “Get me out of here.”

He wasn’t suicidal.

He could keep growing. Absorb more. Break higher.

He didn’t need to die in a useless grind.

But Shu Mu Ye was suddenly gone.

He slipped through every attack as if he’d never been there at all.

Wang Jie’s pupils contracted.

He shoved his people back and stepped—

Jia Eight Steps.

The instant his first step landed, Shu Mu Ye appeared where he’d been. The air itself split in a clean, terrifying seam, as if it had been cut.

Cold washed through Wang Jie.

If he’d been even a fraction slower, he would already be dead.

Shu Mu Ye looked genuinely surprised.

Such sharp instincts.

Snap.

Wang Jie snapped his fingers.

Above the clouds, a colossal finger tore down through the sky.

The earth rolled and heaved, and a second finger rose.

Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger.

Shu Mu Ye looked down, then up. A slow smile spread across his face. “That’s the lost Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger of Jia Yi Sect.”

He turned his gaze to Wang Jie. “You took it from the Martial Hall remnant image.”

Wang Jie was drenched in sweat. He’d never cast it so fast.

Not to win—only to stop Shu Mu Ye from taking a second killing strike.

Because a second strike might be unavoidable.

Shu Mu Ye chuckled. “Then you’re even more worth killing.”

He lifted his hand.

A blade-shaped insect limb slid into his grasp, sharp as forged steel.

He slashed upward.

Heaven and earth flowed—formless, without technique.

A single arc of light tore through the world, splitting Heaven-and-Earth Luo Xuan Finger in two.

The scattered blade-light fell like rain, shredding swaths of insects.

Mo, Wen Xing Ru, and the others were within its reach. Snowflakes froze midair and shattered. The forming mountain peak collapsed into dust.

Only Mo’s sword turned at the last instant and still thrust toward Shu Mu Ye.

Shu Mu Ye slashed a second time.

Mo’s sword broke.

Three bone-deep wounds opened across Mo’s body, and he was flung away like a discarded doll.

“Ten Thousand Insects Overturn the Sea!” Insect Xuan roared.

The insect sea around them compressed, dragged together by a vast unseen force, forming a gigantic palm that slammed down toward Shu Mu Ye.

Shu Mu Ye answered with a third slash.

The insect palm split apart.

Insect Xuan coughed blood, body thrown back.

Then Shu Mu Ye’s gaze snapped to Wang Jie.

A fourth slash formed—aimed to kill.

Old Nine and the others had already carried Wang Jie far, sprinting through broken ground, but Shu Mu Ye tracked him as if the distance meant nothing.

Kill.

Then—

The fourth slash didn’t fall.

Shu Mu Ye twisted his head toward a distant direction. His expression changed for the first time into something solemn, cautious, almost reverent.

“Dead Realm.”

Wang Jie didn’t know what that meant.

He only knew one thing: Shu Mu Ye’s killing strike had stopped.

A giant flying insect swept down, and Wang Jie was dragged onto its back as they fled into the distance.

A voice called from the front, bright and sharp.

“Hey. I saved your life, didn’t I? How are you going to repay me?”

Insect Ruo Ruo.

Wang Jie steadied himself against the insect’s back. Old Five, Old Nine, and Qing Zheng were with him. Wen Zhao crouched near Insect Ruo Ruo, veil fluttering in the wind.

“Thank you,” Wang Jie said.

Insect Ruo Ruo scowled. “Just ‘thank you’?”

Wen Zhao cut in dryly. “Your brother told you to do it. Stop acting like it was your personal charity.”

“I still did the work,” Insect Ruo Ruo snapped. “What, you want me to do it for free?”

Wang Jie didn’t argue. He looked back toward Tian Fu Base, jaw tight with unwillingness.

“Old Boss,” Qing Zheng said softly, “you did everything you could.”

Old Five and Old Nine said nothing.

They had gathered Blue Star’s strongest cultivators and the insect sea—and still been crushed.

If they fled now, Tian Fu Base was finished.

But they had truly done their best.

Wang Jie tried to stand. His arms trembled; weakness nearly pitched him off the insect’s back.

Old Five caught him. “Old Boss—what are you doing?”

Wang Jie moved behind Insect Ruo Ruo and bowed deeply. “Thank you.”

The others stared, thrown off.

Even Wen Zhao looked at him with quiet surprise.

Insect Ruo Ruo looked uncomfortable. She turned her face away. “Stop. Don’t get dramatic. You still owe me—don’t forget that.”

“I won’t,” Wang Jie said. His voice was firm. “But I need one more favor.”

Insect Ruo Ruo shot him a look. “What now?”

“I need disaster materials,” Wang Jie said. “As many as possible.”

Insect Ruo Ruo’s frustration flared. “It’s useless. Even if you break through to Ninth Seal or Ten Seals, you still won’t beat Shu Mu Ye. You don’t understand—he’s a monster. He’s the kind of monster that keeps stepping from invincible back into invincible.”

Wang Jie’s gaze darkened. “Even if that’s true, I still have to gamble. I’m confident I can strip away most of his combat strength.”

He looked at her steadily. “Your brother came here because of Jia Yi Sect. If I can drag down Shu Mu Ye and help you complete your mission, your brother benefits. You benefit.”

“Trust me.”

Insect Ruo Ruo hesitated.

She remembered the duel.

She remembered chasing him for days, watching his strength evolve in ways that shouldn’t exist.

Wen Zhao’s voice was quiet but sure. “Help him. You won’t regret it.”

Insect Ruo Ruo narrowed her eyes, glancing between Wen Zhao and Wang Jie. “What exactly are you two?”

Qing Zheng groaned. “Big sis, is now really the time?”

Insect Ruo Ruo snorted and looked away.

Wen Zhao gave Wang Jie the smallest nod.

They understood.

She’d agreed. She just wasn’t going to say it out loud.

The flying insect turned south.

The north had fewer insects; the south had more.

If Wang Jie wanted disaster materials by the mountain, he needed the insect sea.

That was why he’d asked Insect Ruo Ruo.

As they fled, the battle at Tian Fu Base ended behind them.

Shu Mu Ye stood among ruined land and insect corpses, gaze sweeping the horizon. “I didn’t expect one of Corpse Sect’s Hundred Coffins to sneak in. Jia Yi Sect really is useless.”

“If Corpse Sect builds the bridge,” he said, voice amused, “then that will be truly entertaining.”

He smiled faintly. “I can help you deal with it. But remember—after this, we owe each other nothing.”

Far beyond Blue Star, beneath a waterfall that poured into a silver lake, stars turned in slow silence. One by one, the lords of Jia Yi Sect gathered.

A line of disciples knelt by the water, heads bowed, not daring to breathe too loudly.

“Sect Master,” they said in unison. “We greet Sect Master.”

The newcomer was an old man with white hair and a youthful face, plain and calm.

No one dared underestimate him.

He was the current Sect Master of Jia Yi Sect—Xi He.

“How is it?” Xi He asked.

The elder who answered hesitated. “The situation is unfavorable. Xing Ru and the others joined with the insect sea and a native siege, but they still couldn’t handle Shu Mu Ye. Worse…”

He swallowed. “Someone from Dead Realm appeared.”

“Shu Mu Ye claims it was one of Corpse Sect’s Hundred Coffins.”

Xi He’s gaze settled on the lake. “Which one?”

“We don’t know.”

Dozens of images floated over the water’s surface—every Trialist shown clearly. Insect Ruo Ruo. Wen Zhao. Insect Xuan retreating with his sea. Wen Xing Ru and Mo dragged away by insects.

Trialists scattered across oceans and glaciers.

Every one accounted for.

Yet none could be singled out as the infiltrator from Dead Realm.

“Corpse Sect has Hundred Coffins,” an elder said grimly. “Each seals a cultivator of a different realm. Their identities are deliberately kept blank so they can infiltrate other powers. I didn’t expect even our trial would draw them.”

“Could Shu Mu Ye be lying?” another asked. “Trying to keep us from settling accounts with Cheng Yi Dao after he builds the bridge?”

“It’s possible,” the first elder admitted. “But if a Hundred Coffins really slipped in—and builds the bridge—then the damage to Jia Yi Sect’s reputation will be catastrophic. Far worse than Shu Mu Ye building it.”

Xi He watched the lake in silence for a long moment.

Then he spoke.

“Pass the order. Release one hundred Slaughterstones.”

The disciples stiffened.

Xi He’s voice didn’t change.

“Retrieve all Trialists.”

Everyone bowed. “We obey.”