Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Is Your Family Still Alive?

His next destination was Qing Fang Star, the main planet of the Qing Fang Star Cluster.

Wang Jie traveled toward it, and along the route he encountered all kinds of transportation. He didn’t have to pay a thing. The status of a puppeteer here was even higher than he’d imagined.

He also saw how different creatures lived.

The ninth star chain was ruled by the Eight-Hell Mad Clan, and under it gathered countless species. The nine-eyed mantis was one of their subordinates.

Each creature had its own habits. Many were no less intelligent than humans.

Wang Jie even passed a city. There were no humans inside—only every strange creature imaginable. The buildings came in every size, tailored to bodies that ranged from tiny to monstrous.

He couldn’t help wondering how they managed to live together.

High above, birds built nests above the clouds, even in the heart of raging winds.

[What an eye-opener.]

It took more than ten days to travel from the previous planet to Qing Fang Star.

Qing Fang Star was far more prosperous. He even saw a high-tech city—glittering, neon, cold. The sight made him keep his distance. Who knew what kind of identification systems they had?

And the final destination of his mission was here: Qing Shan Cheng.

It was built against the mountains. The ridgelines climbed into the starry sky, the clouds not even reaching halfway up.

High peaks surrounded the city on all sides. The only entry and exit came through tunnels carved into the mountains.

Along the range, starry sky behemoths squatted on guard in every direction. Wang Jie looked again and again. They didn’t feel stronger than the mantis—similar pressure—but their size was terrifying.

They were far larger than the ones at Jin Ling Base on Blue Star.

Standing beneath them, you couldn’t even see their heads. They disappeared above the clouds.

Keeping his profile low, he entered Qing Shan Cheng under his puppeteer identity. Here, it worked just as well.

Passing creatures watched him with respect. Some even bowed.

The more they did it, the more uneasy Wang Jie felt.

He didn’t want attention.

He hurried to find something like an inn.

But it was too late. Two Eight-Hell Mad Clan beings had already noticed him outside the building.

The Mad Clan were towering creatures—five meters tall—with eight arms and bull horns. Their eyes were blood-red, and thick tails dragged behind them.

They were impossible to miss.

This race mostly lived within the third defense line. You rarely saw them this far out, and their status was extremely high.

It was one thing for ordinary creatures to take notice. Being watched by those two made Wang Jie’s skin crawl. Even so, he couldn’t leave. He could only stay put.

Here, a Mad Clan being could speak a single word and mobilize all of Qing Shan Cheng.

He couldn’t run.

The inn’s rooms came in different sizes. He took the largest. The money he used came from the iron chest—currency native to the ninth star chain.

Not long after, someone knocked on his door.

Wang Jie looked toward it and had the puppet open.

As expected, an Eight-Hell Mad Clan being stood outside.

“Your Excellency, are you from Little Round Lake?”

Wang Jie answered without hesitation. “No.”

The two exchanged a look, then stared at him, confused. “Your Excellency isn’t from Little Round Lake?”

“No.”

They left.

Watching them go, Wang Jie tamped down his unease and rested.

The mission site was in Qing Shan Cheng, and he even knew roughly where it was. But after that brief interrogation, he didn’t dare move recklessly.

For the next few days, he kept the area under covert watch. The inn was close enough to monitor without drawing attention.

And the two Mad Clan beings never came back.

That day, another puppeteer checked into the inn.

The puppet was unusual—a four-legged beast.

At first glance, Wang Jie’s heart jolted.

[It’s him?]

This was the man who had shoved them out of the ship when Deputy Domain Lord Yan attacked the fourth defense line.

Wang Jie hadn’t seen his face clearly, but he knew he was young. Wang Jie had long since formed the habit of using qi sight. He couldn’t always remember faces, but he remembered the feel of a person’s qi.

This puppeteer’s qi was exactly the same—distinctive, like little flames scattered across his body.

He had never seen that pattern on anyone else.

A puppet could hide the person inside, but it couldn’t hide their qi.

At least, in this remote star chain, Wang Jie hadn’t yet encountered an expert who could disguise and conceal qi so completely.

Not even the Shuang Hua Sect was known for that.

[Why is he here?]

Hadn’t Deputy Domain Lord Yan said the Mad Clan could smell Shuang Hua Sect members?

That was the whole reason this mission needed infiltrators.

It shouldn’t be a lie. Mu Ran had said the same.

So how did this man exist?

He had only appeared at the end and never shown himself before. Yet now he could show up here openly.

Could it be…

That he was the one who could truly complete the mission?

Wang Jie’s expression darkened.

Deputy Domain Lord Yan had told him to kill everyone else who broke through the fourth defense line, claiming it was to let Wang Jie complete the mission alone. But in truth, Wang Jie was disposable. The one meant to succeed was this man.

His cultivation and strength were far above Wang Jie’s. If he also had a way to avoid the Mad Clan’s scenting, he was the perfect choice.

At minimum he was Star-Breaking. He might even be Full-Star.

With that thought, everything clicked.

Even before the mission began, Wang Jie had found it strange. Could temptation alone really make that many people throw away their lives without hesitation?

Those people had been meant to die. Wang Jie understood that. But what about him?

Deputy Domain Lord Yan had offered him a massive bait—yet never seemed concerned about what would happen if Wang Jie was captured and talked. He had placed no restraints on him at all.

That made no sense.

Now it did.

He had never intended to let Wang Jie live.

The moment the mission began, they had all been dead already.

Did Jin Chu know?

Did Jun Hua know?

Wang Jie returned to his room and stayed quiet.

If he had no ties, he could have abandoned the mission and vanished. But Blue Star lay inside the Silver Radiance Empire.

He had to go back.

Deputy Domain Lord Yan didn’t need to bind him. Wang Jie had already put the shackles on himself.

But now that this man was here, how could Wang Jie still complete anything?

And even if he abandoned the mission, how could he return?

The method Deputy Domain Lord Yan had given him earlier now looked like a dead end.

Maybe the puppeteer identity left in that mine wasn’t meant to help him at all. Maybe it was bait—meant for any survivor who stumbled this far to be found by that man and silenced, instead of falling into the Mad Clan’s hands.

Everything had been calculated.

Yet the mission location was real. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have run into that man.

Had Deputy Domain Lord Yan been careless?

Or had he simply never believed anyone would make it here?

A knock sounded.

Wang Jie opened the door. A puppeteer stood outside, hiding within a human-shaped puppet.

But it wasn’t that man.

“I am Jiang Cai from the Puppeteer Tower. Your Excellency, please come to the Puppeteer Tower for a meeting.”

Wang Jie frowned. “Why do I have to go?”

Jiang Cai’s tone didn’t change. “Your Excellency, please come to the Puppeteer Tower for a meeting.”

No explanation.

Wang Jie agreed. Refusing would only end badly.

The same summons went out to the other man.

When Wang Jie waited outside the inn, that man was brought out by Jiang Cai as well.

They headed to the Puppeteer Tower together.

Wang Jie had no idea what kind of place it was, so he glanced at the man beside him.

He couldn’t see his face through the puppet, but the qi was unmistakable.

“Brother, what is your honored name?”

The man’s voice came low. “Bei Feng.”

“A good name.”

Bei Feng lifted his gaze and glanced at Wang Jie.

Even if he could see Wang Jie’s face, he wouldn’t have recognized him. He had never once looked directly at that group of expendables.

A puppet blocked their view. A powerful cultivator could sense the realm of whoever was inside, but they couldn’t see through the shell—unless they had some special ability.

His name wasn’t Bei Feng.

It was Xia Bei Yi, one of the Shuang Hua Sect’s true disciples.

But since birth, he had never entered the sect, so the Mad Clan couldn’t smell him.

He was one of the Shuang Hua Sect’s arrangements within the ninth star chain.

This time, using the chaos created by Deputy Domain Lord Yan’s attack on the fourth defense line, and using that group of lockforce cultivators as cannon fodder, he had slipped in for one reason: to complete the mission.

Once it was done, he could return to the sect and claim massive resources and contributions.

He had expected it to be smooth. He hadn’t expected to be dragged into the Puppeteer Tower.

Now he was thinking only about how to get away. He had no patience for Wang Jie.

Xia Bei Yi didn’t want to deal with him, but Wang Jie wasn’t about to let him go.

“Brother Bei Feng, you look like a bold, straightforward man. Are you from Little Round Lake?”

“No.”

“Then where are you from?”

“None of your business.”

“Is your family still alive?”

“They are.”

“How many?”

“What does that have to do with you?”

“Brother Bei Feng, that’s a bit cold. All puppeteers under heaven are one family. Why keep people at arm’s length?”

Wang Jie’s tone turned warm—too warm.

“Traveling is hard. Who knows when you might die on the road? If you died unexpectedly, I could at least bring your belongings back to your family as a keepsake.”

Jiang Cai looked back at them. “Well said.”

Xia Bei Yi’s annoyance only grew. His cultivation was extremely high. Since childhood he had never lacked resources, and his talent was excellent.

But people like him lacked something far more important: experience with the outside world.

How could he handle Wang Jie?

A few sentences were enough for Wang Jie to read his temperament.

They reached the Puppeteer Tower. Xia Bei Yi let out a breath. The chatterbox beside him had been yapping the entire way. He wanted nothing more than to slap him to death.

“Brother Bei Feng,” Wang Jie said, bright as ever. “Why don’t you ask my name?”

Xia Bei Yi ground his teeth. “Brother, what is your honored name?”

“Next time.”

Then Wang Jie walked off.

Xia Bei Yi’s chest tightened with fury. [That bastard.]

The Puppeteer Tower had been established by people stationed from the seventh star chain within the ninth. It existed to give visiting puppeteers from the seventh star chain a place to gather.

Essentially, it was the seventh star chain’s office here.

It wasn’t only Wang Jie and Bei Feng who had been brought in. Every puppeteer in Qing Shan Cheng had been summoned.

Qing Shan Cheng was enormous. The inn where Wang Jie stayed was just one corner.

More than a hundred puppeteers gathered.

All eyes turned toward the human-shaped puppet at the front. Inside was Tower Lord Jiang You Sheng of the Puppeteer Tower.

“I called everyone here on short notice because the eighth star chain has launched an attack on the fourth defense line of the ninth star chain,” Jiang You Sheng said, “and a group from the eighth star chain has slipped in.”

“They are skilled at using a puppeteer identity as cover.”

“So the Mad Clan has asked us to identify every puppeteer in Qing Shan Cheng and see whether anyone from the eighth star chain is among us.”

Wang Jie’s heart sank. [This is bad.]

He wasn’t a real puppeteer. If they truly verified everyone, he would be exposed in an instant.

Someone spoke up. “How can we tell? The eighth star chain came prepared. They must have learned puppeteer methods too.”

Jiang You Sheng smiled. “The infiltrators are only little Ten Seals brats. Even if they’ve learned a few tricks, how far can they really go?”

“Besides, we will use artifact craft to identify them.”

“As everyone knows, puppeteers must be skilled in artifact craft. They repair their own puppets.”

“As long as each of you demonstrates a distinctive artifact-craft method, I will be able to tell.”

“As for those above the Ten Seals, you are exempt. But during this period, please remain within the Puppeteer Tower. We will take good care of everyone.”