Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Chu Yao

Wang Jie was breathing hard when he finished. He could feel it clearly—near the end, imprint power surged toward his realm, but it no longer translated into raw strength.

Is this the limit?

He stared at the wall, at Shu Mu Ye’s overwhelming power in the footage, like a bottomless pit. If Shu Mu Ye could do it, why couldn’t he?

If eighth seal wasn’t enough, then ninth seal wouldn’t be enough. Ten seals wouldn’t be enough.

The extreme of limitless. Extreme. Beyond Human.

Which was he?

“Training?”

The voice came out of nowhere.

Wang Jie’s expression sharpened. He spun toward the window—and saw a young man clinging to the outside wall like a gecko, waving cheerfully.

This close, and he hadn’t sensed him at all.

Even Wen Zhao and the others hadn’t noticed.

Wang Jie had never seen him before. He looked young. He was smiling.

“What?” the newcomer said. “Not going to invite me in?”

Wang Jie moved to the window with careful, measured steps and opened it.

The man slipped inside.

Under the light, Wang Jie saw his skin was an unhealthy gray, like someone who hadn’t seen the sun in years. Even his smile carried something damp and eerie.

“I’m Chu Yao,” he said, cupping his fists in the old Hua Xia salute. “A pleasure, Wang Jie.”

Wang Jie studied him. “Trialist?”

“Then return the salute,” Chu Yao said, still holding the gesture. “Hua Xia people are supposed to be polite.”

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed. There was no aura, no readable realm, yet the air in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Up close, there was even the faint stink of dust and rot.

Chu Yao lifted a brow. “Come on. Don’t be shy. I like this fist-cupping greeting. It has weight.”

Wang Jie returned the salute.

Chu Yao’s grin widened. “In that case, I am Chu Yao.”

“Wang Jie.”

Chu Yao opened his mouth as if to continue with some grand oath, then paused, scratched his head, and laughed awkwardly. “Sorry. Wrong script.”

Wang Jie didn’t smile. “Your purpose.”

Chu Yao’s gaze drifted around the room and landed on the video on the wall. He stepped closer, back turned, as if Wang Jie weren’t a threat at all. “Honestly? I never expected someone on a trial native planet could duel Shu Mu Ye. Sure, Shu Mu Ye didn’t even use half his strength… but it’s still insane.”

He turned around and said it like a casual suggestion.

“Wang Jie. Come with me.”

Wang Jie’s voice stayed flat. “What do you want?”

“To take you with me,” Chu Yao said. “No one can stop Shu Mu Ye. Trust me. You can’t, I can’t. But I can get you out. If I bring you back, it counts as merit for me, too.”

“Where are you from?”

“Dead Realm. Corpse Sect.”

Wang Jie’s brow furrowed.

Chu Yao waved it off. “Don’t worry about the details. Just understand this: once Blue Star is bridged, every Blue Star person dies. Those few special trialists are the exception.

“And the only ones who can keep you alive are Shu Mu Ye… or me.”

He leaned in, voice dropping as if sharing a secret. “Jia Yi Sect is another option, sure—but think about it. Shu Mu Ye is going to build the bridge and destroy Blue Star. You can’t go with him. That’s blood-deep hatred.

“And Jia Yi Sect? Even if Shu Mu Ye wasn’t here, they don’t care whether you people live or die. After the trial, you’ll be taken away as war slaves anyway.”

Chu Yao’s grin widened. “And now Jia Yi Sect already knows Blue Star can be used to build bridges. Even if Shu Mu Ye gets driven off, Jia Yi Sect will still do it. Some genius disciple or some elder will claim bridgeway art. Either way, it ends the same.”

He thumped his chest. “Only me. I have no grudge with you. I can take you away and give you a future.”

He paused, then corrected himself with a shrug. “Well. A dark future. But still a future. I can help you live. I can even help you get revenge. Not a bad deal, right?”

Wang Jie’s face didn’t change. “In a month, I’ll fight Shu Mu Ye again.”

Chu Yao sagged like he’d been expecting that answer and still hated hearing it. “Brother, don’t be stubborn. You can’t beat Shu Mu Ye.

“In the entire universe, there isn’t a single person in his realm who can win against him. He and everyone else his age aren’t even comparable.”

Chu Yao jabbed a finger at the footage. “He’s only at the eighth seal. Even if you can barely fight him at the eighth seal, what about the ninth? He rebuilt three times. The higher the realm, the bigger your gap becomes.

“And he can reach ten seals in a short time.”

He spread his hands. “Even if you reach ten seals, the gap just gets wider.”

“The fate of Blue Star won’t change,” Chu Yao said. “But yours can.”

Wang Jie’s eyes sharpened. “Outside Tian Fu Base, Shu Mu Ye was going to kill me. He stopped because of you.”

Chu Yao laughed. “You finally remember? Yeah. You owe me a life. If I hadn’t threatened him, you’d be dead.”

“Then you and I together—”

“Together?” Chu Yao cut him off, horrified. “Brother, if you want to die, don’t drag me with you. Those so-called prodigies couldn’t block a single move together. The difference is absurd.

“He’s a freak who can use Chen Art at the eighth seal.”

Wang Jie didn’t blink. “I don’t believe Jia Yi Sect has no way at all.”

Chu Yao rubbed his temples like his head hurt. “If Jia Yi Sect had a way, they wouldn’t have opened the highest-level trial. That draws outside attention.

“They can’t handle Shu Mu Ye. Do you think Cheng Yi Dao is a joke?

“And even if Shu Mu Ye is chased off, Blue Star still gets sacrificed.”

He looked at Wang Jie, eyes cold now. “You think Jia Yi Sect will spare you?

“Do you know what driving piles is? It’s done with flesh and blood. Blue Star itself is a rock—what’s there to drive?”

Wang Jie’s pupils tightened. “What did you say?”

“I’m saying,” Chu Yao replied, “that even if Shu Mu Ye leaves, Jia Yi Sect will still use Blue Star—use every Blue Star life—to drive piles. You can’t run from that.

“And even if they take you away, they won’t do it out of mercy. They’ll study why you’re so strong. Then they’ll kill you anyway. Slowly.”

Wang Jie’s jaw clenched. He heard Wen Xing Ru’s oath in his mind—and it slipped out before he could stop himself.

Chu Yao’s smile turned into pure mockery. “See? You thought of it.”

Wen Xing Ru had sworn in the name of her Wen surname that if Shu Mu Ye was driven away, Blue Star people would be removed from the war slave list. But she’d only promised they’d be removed from the list—she’d never promised where they would go afterward.

She hadn’t lied. She’d simply left the cruel part unsaid.

Back then, no one pressed the point because her other claim sounded so absolute: Blue Star would be bridged. And no one knew the bridge required flesh and blood.

“What about mutated beasts?” Wang Jie demanded. “Their flesh and blood—won’t that work?”

“Maybe,” Chu Yao said. “Maybe it won’t be enough. You get one chance to build the bridge. Do you really think Jia Yi Sect will gamble on ‘maybe’?”

They were helpless. Both Shu Mu Ye and Jia Yi Sect were forces they couldn’t steer.

For the first time in a long while, Wang Jie felt a kind of confusion that wasn’t fear.

He wasn’t afraid of Shu Mu Ye. No matter how strong the man was, Wang Jie would still challenge him—just like he’d once led a team to assassinate Zuo Tian.

But even if he won against Shu Mu Ye, what then?

He couldn’t win against all of Jia Yi Sect.

Chu Yao’s voice softened, almost pitying. “Once you step into the starry sky, you’ll understand how small a planet is. There’s no need to die here.

“You care about Blue Star. You care about Hua Xia. Fine. Live. Get stronger. Take revenge later.”

“There’s no second road,” Wang Jie said.

“Unless,” Chu Yao said, baring his teeth again, “you beat Shu Mu Ye and make Star Vault Vista’s headline. Maybe a Lord-level figure notices you and decides to save Blue Star.

“Of course, the chance is tiny.”

Wang Jie latched onto it. “Beating Shu Mu Ye would really shake the universe?”

“You could say that,” Chu Yao replied. “Star Vault Vista is the biggest intelligence network and media force in the universe. Its influence surpasses even humanity as a whole. Defeating Shu Mu Ye is absolutely news.”

Wang Jie fell silent.

Chu Yao shook his head, amused. “How could a tiny native understand Shu Mu Ye’s power? He’s the brightest star in the night sky.”

He looked Wang Jie up and down. “And you are microdust.”

With that, he turned for the window. “Think about it. When the month ends, don’t accept the fight. Otherwise, no one can save you.”

Wang Jie watched him leave. Part of him wanted to stop Chu Yao—this man clearly wasn’t on the same side as Wen Xing Ru and Lord Mo, and his attitude toward Shu Mu Ye was different.

But Wang Jie hadn’t sensed him until he was already at the window. Someone who could approach like that had methods Wang Jie couldn’t afford to test right now.

He let him go.

The sea stretched to the horizon. Dozens of kilometers off the coastline sat Nan Guo Base.

The base had been built there because, over all the years since the apocalypse, most ocean mutated creatures rarely pushed inland. At worst, they prowled along the coast.

But that day, sirens wailed across all of Nan Guo Base.

An endless tide of ocean creatures surged farther out than they ever had before, charging straight toward the walls.

At their head was a mutated octopus so large it rose like a living mountain—hundreds of meters high, visible even from the base.

It whipped up shattered rock and hurled it like artillery, smashing toward the base interior.

A burst of freezing cold shot into the sky, nearly locking the air itself in ice. Countless stones stopped mid-flight.

Qi Xue Yin.

She was there.

Lian Qin turned pale and sent an urgent call for help.

That octopus had ten seals combat power.

In Jin Ling Base, Wang Jie received the request and left immediately.

He didn’t lack disaster materials anymore. The mutated beasts outside Jin Ling Base had been torn apart by the insect sea and could no longer threaten the walls.

Chong Xuan didn’t come. He needed to command the insect sea toward Shan Cheng.

Only Chong Ruo Ruo accompanied Wang Jie.

On the way from Jin Ling Base to Nan Guo Base, their craft was attacked five times.

Before the trialists descended, that would have been unthinkable. Now it felt like the world itself was sharpening its teeth.

They arrived that night. The ocean tide was still pressing in.

Lian Qin hurried out with Lian Fei to greet them.

“Miss,” Qi Wu reported, “Wang Jie is here.”

Qi Xue Yin stood atop the wall, repeatedly freezing the earth. Ice spread far into the sea. If she weren’t there, the tide would have reached the base long ago.

She looked out into the distance. Wang Jie?

At the same time, Wang Jie lifted his gaze to the wall.

Their eyes met.

Qi Xue Yin gave a small nod.

Wang Jie withdrew his gaze.

“The worst part is the octopus,” Lian Qin said quickly, voice tight. “We asked that trialist to act, but she refused to leave the base.”

Despite the crisis, she had the kind of seductive charm most women didn’t—older than Wang Jie by quite a bit, but every glance and every faint scent seemed designed to make a man’s throat go dry.

She knew exactly how to look weak.

Lian Fei, by contrast, had none of that presence.

As for Chong Ruo Ruo and Wen Zhao… they were beautiful, sure, but they were still just little girls.