Chapter 77

Chapter 77: The One Who Walks the Starry Sky

Su Ying Yu smiled and left. Before she went, she reminded Wang Jie that the transaction process would take a month—meaning he had a full month to hunt.

And a month was enough to clear out the best Ten Seals beasts on a harvested Slaughterstone planet.

Wang Jie watched her retreating figure, thoughtful. The paperwork would take a month, yet she’d already settled payment now.

Su Ying Yu…

A storage ring sat in his palm, heavy with value. Inside were vast quantities of disaster materials—payment for the rental, already converted and prepared in advance.

He looked at Cheng Qian. “What’s that exchange’s background?”

Cheng Qian answered respectfully, “The Star Vault Materials Exchange. It’s said to be under Star Vault Vista.”

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed. “Star Vault Vista?”

“Yes. It’s the largest intelligence power in the universe. Even Frost Bloom Sect of the Eighth Star Chain can’t afford to offend it.”

Wang Jie nodded and let the matter go. A colossus like that wasn’t something he could touch.

For now, he had one priority.

Hunt.

He chose the other Slaughterstone planet—he’d already visited one and harvested it clean, leaving nothing truly dangerous behind.

This planet was farther away. Wang Jie had to file a report before leaving Imperial Capital’s planet.

During the voyage, he continued cultivating, continuing his exercises, continuing to build imprint power.

After arriving, he used a combat power detector to locate Ten Seals creatures.

There weren’t many. The planet had already been harvested once.

But there were still some.

In a little over ten days, he cleared them out. The materials weren’t much, but it was better than nothing.

He returned.

His fifth seal deepened into light black.

Around him, three hundred bean-sized particles whirled faster and faster. His qi refining had also improved, but without a method to truly increase qi, he could only become more familiar with what he already had.

Then an alarm shrieked.

Wang Jie looked at the ship’s screen. A vessel was closing fast.

This route was private.

Where had this ship come from?

He sent a signal ordering the other ship to yield.

It ignored him and kept coming straight on.

Wang Jie had no choice but to dodge.

As they passed, he got a clearer look. The other ship was small and ordinary, and from the outside he couldn’t see anything inside.

He immediately sent the ship’s data back for investigation. If he’d misjudged that maneuver even slightly, a collision would’ve meant death.

The thought had barely formed when another alarm sounded.

Again?

Wang Jie’s eyes snapped to the screen.

This time it wasn’t a ship.

It was… a person.

He turned to the window.

Ahead, a black-robed figure swept into view, distant to near in an instant. A sheet of white ice spread through space like a road, connecting starry darkness into frozen brightness. The figure skimmed across it, stepped once on Wang Jie’s ship, and vanished.

Wang Jie spun and looked back.

He saw something that made his scalp go cold.

White spread across the starry sky as if the universe itself had frozen. The ship that had nearly collided with him was caught in that spread—first sealed in ice, then shattered into drifting dust.

Dead.

Whoever had been inside had died with it.

The white slowly faded, darkness swallowing the sky again.

Wang Jie stared, stunned.

Roaming-star realm.

A realm beyond the star-breaking realm and even the full-star realm—a height he could only look up at.

A lockforce cultivator might reach the star-breaking realm, perhaps even the full-star realm, but he’d never heard of one reaching the roaming-star realm.

Yet he had seen it with his own eyes.

A ship was nothing in front of that power—destroyed at will. And the man’s speed had been even faster than flight.

Was that still human?

How did someone cultivate to that level?

He was still reeling when a knock sounded.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Wang Jie’s expression changed sharply.

They were in open space.

He turned toward the hatch.

The black-robed man was outside, calmly knocking like this was a door in a tavern.

Then the man tilted his head up. Under the hood, a face appeared—smiling, amused—and he pointed at the door.

Wang Jie swallowed hard and opened it.

Refusing wasn’t an option. That man could shatter a ship with a thought.

The black-robed man stepped in, dropped into a chair, and tossed aside his robe, looking exhausted. “Got water? Give me a drink.”

He was middle-aged, slouched like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Wang Jie poured him water with trembling hands.

The man drank, sighed, and set the cup down. “Ah. That’s better.”

Then he looked at Wang Jie and smiled again. “You treated me to water, so I’ll apologize in advance—but I still have to kill you.”

Wang Jie’s throat tightened. “Why?”

The man shrugged. “No choice. You saw me. For safety’s sake, you need to die.”

A droplet of water lifted from the cup and spun in front of his eyes.

In that instant, Wang Jie felt death’s chill bite into his bones.

He stared at the man. “You’re from Frost Bloom Sect?”

The smile widened. “See? Now I really have to kill you. You even guessed it.”

“Wait,” Wang Jie blurted. “So am I!”

The man’s brows knit. “There’s no Frost Bloom Sect power on you. Lying won’t help.

“Die standing. It’ll be quick.”

Wang Jie immediately opened his terminal and pulled up his contribution record.

The man glanced at it, surprised. The water droplet fell back into the cup. “Huh. You really are.”

His gaze swept Wang Jie again. “But you’re not from my sect. You’re from the Silver Radiance Empire?”

Wang Jie nodded.

The man blew out a breath and rubbed his forehead. “Your odds of surviving aren’t great, but I’m a kind person. I’ll give you a chance.”

He raised his terminal. “Life or death will depend on someone else.”

He contacted someone.

A moment later, a voice came through. “Deputy Domain Lord Yan, did you resolve it?”

Wang Jie recognized the voice immediately—Jin Chu. He’d met her once.

Yu Yan lounged in the chair. “Resolved, but there’s a complication.”

He explained Wang Jie’s situation, then looked back up. “What’s your name?”

“Wang Jie,” Wang Jie said quickly. “I’m one of the Emperor’s guards. Greetings, Miss Jin Chu.”

On the other end, Jin Chu paused as recognition clicked. “Wang Jie…?”

Then she asked, “Deputy Domain Lord Yan, what do you plan to do?”

Yu Yan shrugged. “You’re responsible before the war. Your call.”

Wang Jie’s heart slammed. He knew calling Jun Hua would be meaningless. If Jin Chu assigned him to something, Jun Hua couldn’t simply refuse—it would require approvals, negotiations. The difference in status was obvious.

“Our sect’s plan has been laid for years,” Jin Chu said. “We can’t afford any mistakes. My opinion is to kill him.”

Wang Jie went pale. His fist clenched without him meaning to.

Then Jin Chu continued, voice calm. “But Deputy Domain Lord Yan, don’t you have that mission? I wanted him involved before, but Jun Hua stopped it. Now, let him participate.

“He’s earned merit and helped Mu Ran lay out formations. Use him.”

Wang Jie finally drew a full breath. He didn’t know what “the mission” was, but anything was better than dying here.

Yu Yan glanced at Wang Jie and nodded. “Fine. One more doesn’t matter, one less doesn’t matter. And this kid does have some ability.”

The call ended.

Yu Yan looked at Wang Jie and grinned. “Congratulations. You get to live.”

Wang Jie exhaled, almost collapsing with relief. “Thank you, senior.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Yu Yan said lazily. “Sometimes living is harder than dying.

“I’m Yu Yan. People call me Deputy Domain Lord Yan. You can call me that too—if you survive what comes next.”

He pointed toward the navigation display. “Change course.”

The ship shifted direction, angling toward a familiar stretch of space—the border of the Silver Radiance Empire, where Wang Jie had once followed Mu Ran to set up formations.

So he was being dragged into the war after all.

He’d dodged it once. He couldn’t dodge it twice.

But Wang Jie wasn’t afraid. If it came, he would face it. He’d fought for ten years on Blue Star, clawing through the apocalypse with his own hands.

Besides, the Sorrowwater Art’s materials already demanded blood.

War was the fastest way to complete them.

Not long after Wang Jie’s ship deviated, Imperial Capital detected the anomaly.

“Hurry! Report to the Emperor. Guard Wang’s ship has left its route. He hasn’t returned.”

Jun Hua’s eyes narrowed. “Left its route?”

Her mood darkened. She turned to Yu Dong.

Yu Dong’s voice was low. “We can’t contact him.”

Jun Hua immediately ordered the border sealed. At a time like this, a single flaw could shatter all their preparations.

They couldn’t afford it.

Then a message from Jin Chu arrived. Jun Hua read it and lifted her hand. “Cancel the lockdown.”

Yu Dong stared. “What happened?”

Jun Hua’s expression was unreadable. “Wang Jie has joined the mission.”

Yu Dong’s brow furrowed. “Didn’t you refuse on his behalf?”

“I don’t know,” Jun Hua said. “But right now, aside from Senior Sister Jin Chu, no one can contact him.”

Yu Dong’s gaze sharpened. “Why would Senior Sister Jin Chu demand he join twice? A Ten Seals who cultivates lockforce shouldn’t draw attention unless…”

She and Jun Hua exchanged a look, both thinking of the same thing.

That ship from Jia Yi Sect.

Not far from the stars where Wang Jie had once assisted Mu Ran, there was a young tech civilization—its technology still primitive, barely budding.

A ship could land in its deep wilderness without anyone noticing.

That was where Wang Jie was taken.

In a mountain valley, he saw more than thirty people—every one of them a Ten Seals cultivator.

Mist and clouds curled around towering peaks. Standing at the edge, you could almost touch them.

Yu Yan spoke once and left. “Until the mission ends, you go nowhere. You obey orders. All actions follow commands.”

Wang Jie’s arrival drew no attention. Nobody seemed surprised.

The cultivators here were strong—and every one of them cultivated lockforce.

Wang Jie found a corner and stayed quiet.

Days passed. More Ten Seals cultivators arrived, others left. The number in the valley shifted constantly.

Then, one day, disaster materials rained from the sky.

Every piece was the kind Wang Jie had seen labeled “ten-tier” at the exchange—each one containing ten times the imprint power of ordinary Ten Seals materials.

The kind that sold for a fortune.

He’d had a few of them in the batch he’d bought before—but only a few.

Now they fell like rain.

Wang Jie was shaken.

So was everyone else.

Yet not a single person moved. Nobody reached down. Nobody asked a question.

No one outside spoke.

For two days, the valley floor filled with priceless materials, and no one touched them.

On the third day, someone finally bent down and picked one up.

Nothing happened.

The person picked up another. Still nothing.

That was all it took.

Greed snapped the valley awake. People surged forward, scrambling, grabbing, fighting for space, for scraps, for anything they could stuff into storage.

Within moments, the entire valley became a swarm.