Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Master Wang

Everyone fell silent. How many people here were above the Ten Seals, really?

Most of them were Ten Seals cultivators.

Of course, those below the Ten Seals rarely went out in the first place.

“The materials have been handed out,” Jiang You Sheng said. “All right. Everyone may begin.”

Wang Jie looked down at the broken armor plate in front of him.

Repair this?

Around him, puppeteers went to work. Some hammered, some lit small fires, some stitched and patched. A thousand methods, all practiced hands.

Wang Jie didn’t understand artifact craft. He had only one option: his field, the strange space that could break a Chen artifact down into materials.

He had the puppet pick up the armor plate. From inside the puppet, the world shifted slightly, as if he were viewing the room through a mask.

He tossed the plate into the field, then fed in starforce extracted from the Chen artifact he’d refined earlier.

He forcibly converted the armor plate into a Chen artifact.

A Chen refiner’s method.

He’d learned a little through Mu Ran.

Not much—but enough.

The process was fast.

Inside the puppet, Wang Jie stared at the plate now laced with starforce. Would it fool them?

The starforce he had on hand was limited. He couldn’t infuse too much.

Because as far as he understood, even a Chen refiner couldn’t casually pour starforce into anything without limits.

His gaze drifted instinctively to Bei Feng. Bei Feng remained still. His cultivation was clearly above Ten Seals, so no one questioned him.

An hour later, Jiang You Sheng began inspecting each puppeteer’s plate.

They came in all shapes and styles—patched, reforged, reinforced, reshaped.

When he reached Wang Jie, the room’s attention followed.

Their eyes filled with disdain. Wang Jie’s plate didn’t look repaired at all.

There was nothing to discuss. This person clearly didn’t know artifact craft.

He wasn’t a puppeteer.

Bei Feng stared too. Then he glanced at Wang Jie.

Could someone from that expendable group really have made it here?

[No way.]

For a Ten Seals cultivator to reach this place with only a spaceship was like claiming a fish had crawled onto land—and crawled into a bustling human city.

Absurd.

And yet… this person had been staying in the same inn as him. And that inn was near the mission site.

“Master,” Jiang You Sheng said, “may I know your name?”

His tone carried solemn respect, utterly different from before.

[Master?]

The crowd’s confusion deepened.

From what angle did that plate look like the work of a Master?

“A Chen artifact?” someone cried out, voice sharp with disbelief.

Silence slammed down.

All eyes fixed on the armor plate.

Bei Feng leaned forward, staring hard. A Chen artifact?

It had been an ordinary plate—until now. If it was truly a Chen artifact, that meant…

A Chen refiner.

There was a Chen refiner here?

Wang Jie had no idea how much shock he had just triggered. He knew very little about Chen refiners—but he had no choice. If he wanted to survive this, it was his only way through.

Jiang You Sheng rose, then bowed slowly toward Wang Jie.

“I never expected a Chen refiner to grace us,” he said. “Please forgive my discourtesy.”

No one else moved, but their eyes turned complicated—envy, awe, suspicion, resentment—layered all together.

Especially Bei Feng.

He hadn’t expected that annoying chatterbox to be a Chen refiner.

If he had known, he would have knocked him out and dragged him away.

Wang Jie kept his voice calm. “There’s no need for courtesy.”

For a Chen artifact, the materials either naturally carried starforce or had starforce infused into them. Only an expert who could refine himself into a star could infuse starforce—except for one kind of person:

A Chen refiner.

And now, they were treating him as one.

Being able to pour starforce into an ordinary object was the mark.

Jiang You Sheng’s expression shone with awe. “What incredible fortune—to meet a Chen refiner here. Master, please rest first. Whatever you need, the Puppeteer Tower will do its utmost to satisfy.”

“And this place?” Wang Jie asked.

“Master may observe or leave. Please do as you wish.”

Wang Jie left immediately. The longer he stayed, the more chances he had to slip.

Only after he was gone did the puppeteers begin murmuring in hushed voices, their tones thick with envy and reverence.

Bei Feng watched Wang Jie’s back. A Chen refiner?

Then that removed suspicion. If that expendable group had included a Chen refiner, Deputy Domain Lord Yan would have taken him straight to the sect. How could he possibly have let such a treasure enter the ninth star chain to die?

Even the Shuang Hua Sect didn’t have a Chen refiner.

After that, Jiang You Sheng was clearly distracted. He finished verifying the rest and left.

Qing Fang Star had many cities. Each had a Puppeteer Tower branch doing the same checks.

Under normal circumstances, there should be no infiltrators at all. For a Ten Seals cultivator to pass through every blockade and reach Qing Shan Cheng was nearly impossible.

Right now, the most urgent matter was the Chen refiner.

The Puppeteer Tower sprawled across a huge area, its courtyards spaced far apart, as if even here puppeteers guarded their privacy.

Wang Jie was given a large courtyard to himself.

He closed the gate and reviewed everything.

The situation was simple: they believed he was a Chen refiner. That meant he had to play the role—more convincingly than anyone expected.

But there was a problem.

A Chen refiner should cultivate starforce.

Wang Jie cultivated lockforce.

How was he supposed to explain that?

And was a Chen refiner’s ability limited to infusing objects with starforce? Did they have other techniques, other habits, other knowledge that people would expect?

If so, what then?

If he’d known, he would have pressed Mu Ran for more details.

In the end, he could only take things as they came.

Because he couldn’t leave.

All puppeteers were being kept inside the tower—Bei Feng included.

So Wang Jie had no choice but to step forward, one foot at a time.

Not long after he settled in, Jiang You Sheng came to visit.

Wang Jie guided his puppet out to meet him.

To his surprise, Jiang You Sheng wasn’t inside a puppet at all. He appeared in person.

It was a deliberate show of respect.

“Master, are you settling in well?” Jiang You Sheng asked. “Whatever you need, just say it. The Puppeteer Tower will definitely satisfy you.”

He spoke with careful politeness, carrying a scholarly air—nothing like the brute image Wang Jie had imagined of puppeteers.

Wang Jie’s voice came from within the puppet. “Tower Lord is too kind. What brings you here?”

“I wouldn’t dare call it an order,” Jiang You Sheng said quickly. “I only wish to ask Master for help. Of course, if Master has no time…”

“Tower Lord, please speak.”

Refusal wasn’t an option anyway.

Jiang You Sheng studied the puppet. It was crude, nothing like what a Chen refiner would normally use. But perhaps that was exactly why Chen refiners were rarely seen—too low-key, too hidden.

“Master, have you heard of the Thunder Well?”

“No.”

Jiang You Sheng gave a brief explanation.

The Thunder Well was a strange region of space within the ninth star chain, filled with lightning. It warped a stretch of starfield into a sunken shape like a well. The deeper you went, the more violent the lightning became.

And beneath it existed a rare metal: thunder pattern gold.

The moment he said the name, he paused, clearly assuming Wang Jie understood its significance.

Wang Jie didn’t. Not even a little.

“I came to ask Master for help,” Jiang You Sheng continued. “I want you to infuse starforce into lightning-resistant materials—turn them into Chen artifacts and strengthen their resistance. That way, I can descend deeper into the Thunder Well and mine thunder pattern gold.”

Wang Jie let out a quiet breath. So that was it. For a moment he’d feared Jiang You Sheng would try to send him into the Thunder Well himself.

“All right.”

Jiang You Sheng blinked. “Master agrees?”

Wang Jie hummed. “Send the materials over. But…”

“Master, don’t worry.” Jiang You Sheng’s tone sharpened with relief. “We won’t ask you to work for free. Name your price.”

“You decide. But I want starstone.”

Jiang You Sheng looked startled—not because Wang Jie asked for too much, but because he asked for too little.

“I will prepare the starstone at once,” Jiang You Sheng said. “Master, please wait.”

When he left, the pressure in Wang Jie’s chest eased.

Wang Jie didn’t know the market for Chen refiners, but he had to ask for starstone. Starstone contained starforce. He needed to extract it and infuse it into the materials. Otherwise, he’d have no starforce at all.

The starforce he’d used on the armor plate had come from the Chen artifact he already possessed.

As for starsea stone or star-river stone, he hadn’t even considered them.

Jiang You Sheng should have been able to tell Wang Jie didn’t cultivate starforce. Yet he hadn’t pressed further.

Was he testing him? Confirming whether Wang Jie could truly perform star-refining?

Jiang You Sheng moved quickly.

By the next day, he sent over materials to be infused with starforce—along with a massive batch of starstone.

Wang Jie began.

He didn’t know how other Chen refiners did it. He only knew his method was brutally efficient: toss the item into the field, extract starforce, infuse, done.

Simple. Fast. Effortless.

Of course, he couldn’t let Jiang You Sheng see just how fast.

Just like with the armor plate—if he infused too much, or finished too quickly, it would raise suspicion. Real Chen refiners weren’t that fast.

He had Jiang You Sheng assign him an assistant—ostensibly to deliver meals and handle errands. In truth, Wang Jie wanted information.

“Jiang Cai.”

“I’m here, Master. What are your orders?”

“I’ve seen you peeking into the courtyard several times,” Wang Jie said. “What is it? Are you interested in the methods of star-refining?”

Jiang Cai panicked. “Master, forgive me! How could I dare covet the method of star-refining?”

“It’s fine,” Wang Jie said lightly. “Tell me—how much do you understand about star-refining?”

Jiang Cai thought for a moment. “Artifact craft is divided into artisan refining and star-refining. Star-refining has no fixed inheritance and no specialized cultivation method. It is almost always bestowed by heaven itself…”