Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Corpse Sect

Wang Jie lifted a hand. “Forget revenge for now.”

“This qi—can I train it? Will it help my combat power?”

Chu Yao’s grin turned smug. “Of course.”

“Qi and strength are two paths. The major sects won’t let their disciples train both.”

“It can raise combat power quickly, but it limits the future too much—because one represents life, and one represents death.”

“But you cultivate lockforce,” Chu Yao added, eyes narrowing. “Your future is already limited. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“If you master qi and combine it with strength, your combat power doubles.”

Wang Jie’s eyes lit. “Really?”

“Teach me.”

Chu Yao nodded—then froze, frowning. “Wait. You’re not still planning to challenge Shu Mu Ye again, are you?”

Wang Jie didn’t deny it. “I am.”

Chu Yao dragged a hand through his hair. “Brother, how are you still not letting this go?”

“I’m telling you straight—even if your combat power doubles, you still can’t beat Shu Mu Ye. Understand?”

“Impossible.”

“I understand,” Wang Jie said. “I still want to try.”

“That’s suicide.”

“Better than dying like this.”

Chu Yao snapped, “Are you threatening me?”

“You can take it that way.”

Chu Yao surged to his feet so hard his chair tipped over.

Liu Ying, pale and frightened, still stepped out and whispered, “Don’t… don’t be angry.”

Chu Yao glared down at Wang Jie.

Wang Jie simply looked up at him.

After a long silence, Chu Yao turned away and raked his fingers through his hair again, like he wanted to tear the frustration out.

Wang Jie spoke quietly. “You know I cultivate lockforce. You know I have no future.”

“You know training both qi and strength has no future.”

“And you still insist on taking me—even when I threaten you with death.”

He held Chu Yao’s back in his gaze. “Chu Yao. Are you really doing this for me?”

“Or do you have another goal?”

Chu Yao turned back. His expression had smoothed into calm. “I’m saving you.”

Wang Jie nodded once. “Whatever your purpose is… even if I end up at the Corpse Sect and you cut me into pieces, it still gives me one more chance.”

“Just once.”

“I lived last time. I’ll live again.”

“I promise you this: after my duel with Shu Mu Ye, I’ll go with you. No matter what you do to me.”

Chu Yao exhaled slowly. “Is it worth it?”

Wang Jie didn’t answer.

Everyone was selfish. He was no exception.

He didn’t want to die. He wanted to step into the stars and see the true universe.

But some responsibilities couldn’t be avoided.

Some missions had to be carried.

Chu Yao’s voice came again. “Even if I can take your good brothers with us, you still want to throw yourself into one last duel?”

Wang Jie’s expression didn’t change. “I’m an orphan. The director treated me well. He bought me soy milk and fried dough.”

“I like fried chicken,” he added after a pause, “and egg tarts.”

Chu Yao stared, speechless.

Liu Ying swallowed, for reasons she couldn’t name.

Chu Yao flicked the eye at Wang Jie. “Look through it.”

Then he raised his finger.

Wang Jie took a slow breath and lifted the eye to his face.

On Chu Yao’s fingertip, Wang Jie saw it—transparent, like flame or mist, dancing and coiling as if alive.

“That’s qi,” Chu Yao said.

“There are two ways to train it. The faster way is using a tool like this to see it. Look long enough and you might manage it.”

“The second way is self-sensing, but that takes too long. It doesn’t suit you.”

He lowered his hand. “For you, it’s simple.”

“Use that eye and keep looking. When you can see qi without it, you’ll be able to sense the qi inside your body.”

“Then combine qi and strength, and your combat power doubles.”

Wang Jie lowered the eye. “That simple?”

Chu Yao snorted. “Simple?”

“Try it and see.”

He tapped the eye. “In the Dead Realm, the Corpse Sect’s eye is the best. It can let you see qi immediately. What other sect has something like that?”

“Do you know how valuable this is?”

“Even so, seeing qi on your own takes time. Most people get eliminated because they can’t see it.”

“Only those who can see qi themselves are qualified to stay in the Corpse Sect.”

Wang Jie lifted the eye again and kept staring at Chu Yao.

As Chu Yao kept talking, he started to look uncomfortable, like Wang Jie’s gaze was drilling straight through him.

“Enough. Look at other people,” Chu Yao said sharply. “Everyone has qi.”

“Even ordinary people?”

“Of course.” Chu Yao curled his lip. “Ordinary people aren’t people anymore? They can’t have luck? They can’t have something they’re good at?”

“A blacksmith’s qi concentrates in his arms. It depends on what you’re suited to.”

Wang Jie’s gaze drifted to Liu Ying.

Her qi was faint overall, but it clustered most heavily in her chest.

Wang Jie lowered the eye and glanced at Chu Yao.

No wonder this man liked staring at her.

Chu Yao met his gaze.

Both of them kept perfectly straight faces.

Then, simultaneously—

“Can I look?” Liu Ying asked.

“No,” Wang Jie and Chu Yao said at the same time.

Liu Ying froze, mouth half open, then shut it again and turned away without a word.

At the Jia Yi Sect’s side, Gu Yue stared at Wen Si Yuan in disbelief. “You knew he was from the Corpse Sect?”

The moment Chu Yao revealed the eye, everything clicked. That eye was the Corpse Sect’s unique dead artifact.

Wen Si Yuan watched the lake’s projection, expression calm. “Knowing doesn’t change anything. The trial can’t stop.”

Gu Yue exhaled. “A trial that draws Shu Mu Ye and the Corpse Sect…”

“No wonder you tried to prevent us from coming.”

Wen Si Yuan turned to him. “We won’t interfere with how Star Vault Vista reports this.”

“But with Corpse Sect people present, my Jia Yi Sect knows nothing about it.”

Gu Yue nodded. “Understood.”

Then he looked back at the lake. “If this native learns qi and succeeds… he might fight Shu Mu Ye again.”

Wen Si Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I’m more curious how he healed.”

Ting He glanced at Wen Si Yuan, remembering the conversation she’d seen between Wang Jie and Chu Yao. Her expression turned complicated.

To someone just learning qi sight, everything felt new.

Wang Jie carried the eye everywhere, watching qi like it was the only thing that mattered.

He saw Doctor Si Yan’s qi concentrated in his head.

He watched passersby from upstairs—everyone had qi, only differing in how much.

Cultivators were clearer still. Their qi revealed what paths they leaned toward.

Eventually, Wang Jie lent the eye to Liu Ying.

After that, Liu Ying’s gaze toward Chu Yao turned icy. When Chu Yao spoke, she didn’t answer. She looked at him like he was a pervert.

In the courtyard, Wang Jie asked, “If the Corpse Sect has an eye like this, do other Dead Realm forces have one too?”

Chu Yao rolled his eyes. “I told you. This is unique to the Corpse Sect.”

“It’s called a dead artifact. Paired with our cultivation, it’s unstoppable. The moment people see this eye, they know it’s ours.”

“Across the starry universe, the Corpse Sect commands a million civilized planets under its banner.”

“It’s not something anyone can get.”

Wang Jie studied him. “So your status is special.”

Chu Yao laughed. “You’re being polite.”

“I’m one of the Hundred Coffins,” he said, and his grin sharpened. “Name’s Dead Chu Yao.”

Liu Ying stepped out with tea and set it down without a word.

Wang Jie lifted the eye and stared at Chu Yao again.

Chu Yao chuckled. “You won’t be able to tell. I can control my qi. What you see is a disguise.”

Liu Ying looked surprised.

Chu Yao lifted his head and grinned at her. “Little Sister—still want to keep looking?”

Liu Ying pointed at his mouth. “Why is there qi in your mouth?”

Chu Yao burst out laughing. “That’s shifting qi. I’m demonstrating—”

Then he stopped.

His eyes widened as he stared at Liu Ying. “What did you just say?”

Wang Jie’s stare snapped to her too.

Liu Ying looked between them, confused. “I asked why there’s qi in your mouth.”

“You can see it?” Chu Yao said, stunned.

Liu Ying nodded.

Wang Jie lifted the eye and checked. Yes—Chu Yao’s mouth held qi. He lowered the eye.

Without it, Wang Jie couldn’t see anything.

Silence fell like a curtain.

Liu Ying turned to walk away.

“Wait,” Chu Yao said, stepping in front of her. “Tell me where my qi is right now.”

Liu Ying looked at him and pointed. “There.” Three inches above his wrist.

Chu Yao shifted his qi.

Liu Ying pointed again without hesitation.

Chu Yao went blank.

He let Liu Ying walk inside, then slowly turned his stunned gaze to Wang Jie.

Wang Jie met it.

They’d discussed qi while Liu Ying wasn’t even present. She didn’t know how to train it.

She had only looked through the eye once—and now she could see qi on her own?

It was insane.

Chu Yao looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Wang Jie asked quietly, “How long did you say it took you to see qi?”

Chu Yao’s mouth twitched. Whatever his answer, it wouldn’t matter next to her.

He looked toward the house, eyes sharpening with a new kind of hunger.

This woman was a terrifying qi refining genius.

One native like Wang Jie was already bizarre. Now there was a second—this woman.

She had to be taken too.

Even if she cultivated lockforce, bringing her back might not be impossible. Her cultivation wasn’t high.

Liu Ying’s talent being discovered was an accident. But that accident pulled Chu Yao’s attention off Wang Jie for the first time.

He locked onto Liu Ying so hard that Liu Ying only became more certain he had bad intentions.

Wang Jie recovered enough to go outside Shang Jing City Base and slaughter mutated creatures.

The news that he was alive hadn’t spread—not because he was hiding it, but because no one familiar was here.

Qing Zheng, Old Five, Wen Zhao—they were at Jin Ling Base.

Here, it was only Bai Yuan and the others.

Bai Yuan came to see him.

And he saw Wang Jie.

He froze, then surged with raw emotion. He hadn’t expected Wang Jie to be alive.

Even though Wang Jie had lost to Shu Mu Ye twice, it didn’t change the truth: on Blue Star, Wang Jie was the closest one to Shu Mu Ye. Maybe even the closest within Ten Seals across the wider universe.

If Wang Jie was alive, then maybe it wasn’t over.

“Humanity is shrinking every day,” Bai Yuan said. “Jiang City has fallen.”

“The only intact bases left are Nan Guo, Jin Ling, and Shang Jing City.”

“Across all of Blue Star, humans aren’t the main story anymore. Shu Mu Ye’s gaze has shifted away from us. He’s watching the ocean.”

“Yesterday, Nan Guo Base sent word. A terrifying Ten Seals creature appeared on the seabed and struck Shu Mu Ye across the entire ocean in a single blow.”

“The trialists weren’t lying. The moment the Jia Yi Sect released that many Heavenstones, they put their hope in the mutated creatures.”

Wang Jie’s mood turned heavy.

The more mutated creatures existed, the more would rise to challenge Shu Mu Ye.

But the more likely the bases were to be destroyed, too.

Humanity was already too weak.

Chu Yao snorted. “The Jia Yi Sect has no choice. They’re actually trying to use mutated creatures against Shu Mu Ye.”

“Forget Shu Mu Ye. Brother Wang, you could wipe out Blue Star’s strongest mutated beasts.”

“A planet-breaking monster can’t be born here. As long as it’s within Ten Seals, you’re invincible.”