Chapter 59

Chapter 59: A Mirage

Everyone stared at Shu Mu Ye lying in the crater.

Blood seeped through the sand and swallowed him. He didn’t move.

No one knew if he was dead or unconscious.

On the altar, Wang Jie swayed, smiling bitterly. As the last shockwaves faded, sunlight finally spilled through and warmed his blood-soaked face.

Warm.

Comforting.

At Jia Yi Sect, silence fell like a stone.

Shu Mu Ye—

Had lost.

Gu Yue stood there, hollowed out. He didn’t even know what to write anymore. He had never imagined this ending.

Ting He covered her mouth, eyes shining as she stared at Wang Jie.

Twice now he had been bathed in sunlight.

Twice now he had dragged her gaze out of darkness.

This man was Wang Jie.

Xi He appeared at the lakeside at some point, with a woman behind him—the same young woman who had once sat above the waterfall playing chess when Wang Jie first used the Heaven and Earth Luo Xuan Finger.

Now she stared at Wang Jie with stunned awe.

Out on the crimson sea, Chu Yao froze.

Along the coastline, Mo, Wen Xing Ru, Chong Ruo Ruo, and the others stood as if turned to stone.

Wang Jie had won.

No one knew how.

But Shu Mu Ye lay beneath him.

Wen Zhao stared up at the altar, at the figure standing in sunlight, and understood with absolute clarity—

She would never forget him.

Then she ran.

Wang Jie’s Eye shut, and he toppled off the altar.

He fell through corpses, striking flesh and bone, rolling down toward the shore—

Until Bai Yuan forced an arm out and caught him.

Bai Yuan clung to Wang Jie with everything he had, refusing to let him slip into the heap below.

But Wang Jie was already not breathing.

Wen Zhao arrived, breath ragged.

Hong Jian and Lian Qin rushed in too. They dragged Bai Yuan free, then stared down at Wang Jie in silence.

Mo and the other trialists went to Shu Mu Ye and exchanged looks, shaken all over again.

What kind of battle could reduce Shu Mu Ye to this?

His body was nearly smashed apart.

Then they looked back at Wang Jie.

Mo crouched, eyes scanning, hands moving as if he’d studied medicine. His voice was quiet, heavy. “Every bone is shattered. He’s lost more than half his blood. Imprint Power collapsed. Meridians torn…”

He rose.

“He’s dead.”

Bai Yuan’s body jolted.

Dead?

Wen Zhao sank to her knees beside Wang Jie, grief hollowing her gaze.

Sister Tang’s voice broke as she shouted, “Impossible! He won—how can he be dead?”

Chong Xuan sighed. “He still wasn’t truly equal to Shu Mu Ye. Somehow he carried power that didn’t belong to him, forced it, and won.

“We respect him.

“But Shu Mu Ye only lost. He can return to Cheng Yi Dao and recover.”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

No one needed him to.

Wang Jie had traded his life for this victory.

Hong Jian lunged toward Shu Mu Ye, murderous intent blazing.

A wave of freezing aura blocked him.

Qi Xue Yin stood in his path, expression indifferent. “What are you doing?”

Hong Jian’s voice was low. “What you won’t do, I will.”

Lian Qin stepped forward too.

Wen Xing Ru’s tone was calm. “He can’t be killed.”

Hong Jian’s eyes burned. “You want him dead too!

“If he dies, the trial becomes yours to decide!”

Chong Ruo Ruo pressed her lips together. These natives still didn’t understand.

Wen Xing Ru lifted her gaze. “We wanted to stop him. When did you ever see him try to assassinate us?”

Hong Jian froze, grip tightening around his blade.

Bai Yuan crouched beside Wang Jie, face compressed into something darker than pain.

This was a trial.

A trial for starry-sky cultivators—nothing more.

They were natives of Blue Star, the ones being tested.

They could die—ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million. It didn’t matter.

But these prodigies couldn’t die.

That was the rule of the universe.

Then Mo moved.

His sword—thin and gnarled like a dead branch—flickered four times.

Bai Yuan collapsed.

Lian Qin collapsed.

Sister Tang collapsed.

Hong Jian collapsed.

The other trialists didn’t even react in time.

Among everyone still standing, beneath Shu Mu Ye and Wang Jie, Mo was the strongest. There was no argument.

Mo looked up.

“Jia Yi Sect,” he said evenly. “The trial is over.”

The trial had two goals: conquer Blue Star, and conquer the trialists.

Blue Star’s strongest—Wang Jie—was dead.

The next strongest were these four.

Mo had defeated them in one breath.

The second goal was complete.

And that meant the trial ended.

Mo ended it by force.

A beam of light descended from the heavens and wrapped Shu Mu Ye, lifting him slowly into the sky and dragging him away.

Then beams fell onto Mo, Wen Xing Ru, and the other trialists.

A few scattered beams also fell in distant places across Blue Star—other trialists still existed, but not many.

Wen Zhao looked at the light surrounding her, then looked down at Wang Jie, eyes soft with helplessness and unwillingness. “It was an honor,” she murmured. “Meeting you.”

Chong Ruo Ruo stared down too.

That vicious man… was dead.

One beam fell on Bai Yuan, to everyone’s surprise—until they remembered he had mastered Jia Yi Divine Sword. He had earned the qualification to stand with trialists before Shu Mu Ye.

Then another beam fell on Wang Jie.

Shock flashed through the watchers.

He was dead.

Wen Xing Ru’s gaze slid to Wang Jie’s left wrist. The wrist guard—surely a Chen Artifact. Perhaps that was why Jia Yi Sect tried to take him. Even in death, his “value” remained.

The beam lifted Wang Jie—

Then vanished.

His body fell back onto the sand with a dull thud.

Wen Zhao and the others rose into the sky, staring down in confusion.

Farther away, Chu Yao sat in an aircraft, the Eye in his hand, face twisted with resignation.

“They can’t take him,” he muttered. “That big brother might be dead, but his corpse still has value—especially to Corpse Sect. Jia Yi Sect tried to seize him by force.

“Good thing Corpse Sect prepared.”

He couldn’t approach Wang Jie’s body either—not with Jia Yi Sect’s lock still hanging in the air.

“Pity,” Chu Yao said, rubbing his head. “Only those two can be taken.

“Jia Yi Sect… I’ll settle this debt later.”

—

At Jia Yi Sect’s waterfall, the lakeside was no less tense.

Wen Si Yuan and others stared at Gu Yue and Ting He. “What do the two of you mean?

“Star Vault Vista never interferes in sect affairs. Don’t tell me you think you can suppress Jia Yi Sect.”

Gu Yue looked helplessly at Ting He.

Ting He forced her face into solemn calm. She stepped forward, faced Xi He, and bowed. “Sect Master, this has nothing to do with Star Vault Vista. It’s my request.

“I beg you—give Blue Star a chance.”

Xi He studied her. “I recognized you the moment you arrived. I held you when you were little. How are your elders?”

“They’re well,” Ting He said softly.

Xi He nodded. “Why help Blue Star? Do you understand what it will cost?”

“This junior understands,” Ting He said. “But…”

She looked toward the lake’s projection. Wang Jie’s corpse lay on a blood-soaked beach, strangely peaceful, a faint smile still on his face.

“It’s worth it.”

Wen Si Yuan’s voice cut in, dark with warning. “No one gives up Origin Bridgeway Art. If you want to help Blue Star, you must push Blue Star away and replace it with another star—without affecting the bridge-building. If it affects anything, you bear the consequences.

“And that native carried a Chen Artifact.”

Xi He lifted a hand, stopping him, then looked back at Ting He. “The native is dead. His secrets die with him. As for the Chen Artifact—your face is enough to cover it.

“But Elder Wen is right. Origin Bridgeway Art is beyond what you can shoulder.

“Especially with the Starry Sky Martial Tournament approaching.”

Ting He bowed again, deeper. “This junior has already asked Great-Grandfather Ting Can to come out of seclusion.

“He will push Blue Star away and replace it with another star. It will not affect Jia Yi Sect’s bridge-building.”

Xi He’s eyes widened. “Senior Ting Can is still alive?”

Even Wen Si Yuan looked stunned.

“Yes,” Ting He said. “Great-Grandfather has always been here. He often tells this junior to respect every senior of Jia Yi Sect. This junior would never forget.”

Xi He and Wen Si Yuan exchanged a look.

Ting He bowed fully. “Please—on account of Wang Jie driving Shu Mu Ye away for you—give Blue Star a chance.”

Xi He nodded once. Wen Si Yuan followed after a breath.

“Fine,” Xi He said. “We’ll do as you propose.”

Ting He finally released the breath she’d been holding. “Thank you, Sect Master. Thank you, seniors.”

As they turned to leave, Gu Yue shot Ting He a look of reluctant frustration. “You,” he said quietly. “Why do this? Do you know what you’re paying?”

Ting He’s gaze stayed on the lake projection. “My clan sent me out to temper myself,” she said. “The first thing I saw was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

“He brought sunlight.”

She swallowed. “Twice.

“He stepped in on sunlight—and he was sent away by sunlight.

“That was his fate.

“All I can do is help him complete it, so I don’t betray my own heart.”

Gu Yue sighed, unable to argue.

Bridge-building was always blood-soaked. That was why Ting He had been brought—to see the universe’s darkness.

She saw it.

But it was too much.

And then, somehow, that native stepped out and broke the darkness anyway.

—

When Sister Tang and Hong Jian finally woke, every trialist was gone.

Bai Yuan was gone.

The Martial Hall projection in the sky was gone as well.

Only Wang Jie’s corpse remained.

Ten years of apocalypse—gone in an instant, like a mirage.

—

Chu Yao returned to Shang Jing City.

He dragged Liu Ying out from Doctor Si Yan, and Zuo Tian came with them.

Liu Ying fought like a wild thing. “I’m not leaving! I want to stay on Blue Star!”

Zuo Tian struck her once and knocked her unconscious, then gave Chu Yao a short laugh.

Chu Yao rolled his eyes. “You’re perfect for Dead Realm.”

He glanced toward the sky. “Let’s go. If we’re any later, we won’t get out. Blue Star will be used for bridge-building soon. And this time…”

His grin turned sharp. “No one’s stopping it.”

He jerked his chin toward the horizon. “Want to say goodbye to your hometown? You’ll never see it again.”

Zuo Tian shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.

“The starry sky is my home.”

Chu Yao shook his head. “Move.”

—

Nan Guo Base.

Wang Jie was carried back.

Hong Jian and the others summoned every doctor they could find. They refused to accept it—not even when there was no breath left in him.

But every conclusion was the same.

Wang Jie was dead.

“Calling it a miracle he lasted this long is already generous,” one doctor said, exhausted. “His body is almost entirely shattered—like a mountain rolled over him.”

Lian Qin waved them out.

Then doctors came from Jin Ling Base. Then from Shang Jing City.

The result never changed.

They all knew Wang Jie was dead.

They just couldn’t accept it.

Qing Zheng and the others arrived and stood guard around him, silent.

Outside, people celebrated, believing the crisis had ended.

Inside, Hong Jian and the others knew the truth.

Shu Mu Ye had been taken.

But Blue Star was still meant to be pinned and staked.

Their time was still running out.

The clearest sign was the Martial Hall projection vanishing from the sky.

Ten years of living under its shadow—and now, suddenly, it was gone.

They didn’t know how to exist without it.

Old Five broke the silence at last. “Bring Old Boss back to Jin Ling,” he said hoarsely. “That’s where his home is.”