Chapter 88

Chapter 88: That Almost Sent Me Off

Wang Jie didn’t understand why the Mad Clan had to “give an explanation” for what happened to him, but he didn’t argue. He liked Jiang You Sheng’s stance, and that was enough.

He also couldn’t help thinking: that shadow-hunting beast was terrifyingly useful.

Too bad he’d stomped it into paste.

Jiang You Sheng, however, still looked shaken. Normally, the greatest danger at the Thunder Well was the Thunder Well itself—the lightning. Anyone who came had the Mad Clan’s permission, and open slaughter was rare unless grudges were involved.

Who could have expected spikehorn beasts to slip past the Mad Clan and set up shop?

After that, Jiang You Sheng refused to leave Wang Jie alone there again. He brought him back immediately.

Wang Jie didn’t protest. He had no desire to cultivate there anymore.

Too dangerous.

On their way back, news arrived.

The war had begun.

Frost Splendor Sect of the eighth star chain had officially launched its invasion of the ninth star chain.

The fifth defense line collapsed almost instantly. Frost Splendor Sect had prepared for far too long. The Eight Hells Mad Clan had noticed and made preparations, but it still wasn’t enough.

Now the battlefield was pushing toward the fourth defense line.

“The fourth defense line won’t hold,” Jiang You Sheng said bluntly. “Master, I should take you back to the seventh star chain.”

“Return to the puppeteer tower first,” Wang Jie said. “I need to buy things.”

Jiang You Sheng nodded.

—

Across the starry sky, warships streamed like metal rivers.

They met swarms of starry sky behemoths. Light-beams swept down like rain, tearing through flesh and bone, shredding bodies into drifting fragments.

And still more beasts surged through the fire, slamming into hulls, raking armor with claws and horns.

Warships exploded one after another.

Each blast was a bloom of light in the void—and the death of tens of thousands.

The same scene repeated across countless positions outside the fourth defense line. The starry sky became a battlefield as far as sight could reach.

The void filled with severed limbs. Blood vaporized under the heat of bombardment.

Stars watched, indifferent.

—

Inside one warship, Deputy Domain Lord Yan stood rigidly before a man whose calm presence made the air feel heavy.

He reported battle conditions without pause.

Then the man spoke, voice low. “Why hasn’t Xia Bei Yi completed his mission?”

Deputy Domain Lord Yan bowed. “By rights, the mission shouldn’t be difficult. Xia Bei Yi should have returned long ago. I don’t know why he’s delayed.”

The man didn’t respond.

Yan swallowed and continued, careful. “Domain Lord… should I force my way into the fourth defense line to retrieve him?”

Frost Splendor Sect had long spoken of three peaks and four domains. This man was one of the four: the domain lord of Congealing Splendor Domain.

Yan was his deputy.

Congealing Splendor Domain was the strongest of the four domains—and the spearpoint of the invasion.

“The war has begun,” the domain lord said at last. “If you enter recklessly, you die.”

He paused, eyes cold and distant. “Wait. Even if Xia Bei Yi fails, he shouldn’t die there.”

A faint shift of his gaze. “When we push to the third defense line, we’ll pick him up.”

“Yes,” Yan said.

—

Back in the ninth star chain, at the Qing Fang Star Cluster, Wang Jie returned with Jiang You Sheng.

Mad Clan creatures were already waiting at the puppeteer tower.

The moment Wang Jie arrived, he handed over forty chen artifacts.

The Mad Clan was pleased. They took the weapons and left at once.

Jiang You Sheng stared at Wang Jie, stunned. “Master… your speed is frightening.”

Wang Jie gave a simple explanation: after the spikehorn beasts, he hadn’t gone back into the Thunder Well. He’d spent the time star-refining instead, working until Jiang You Sheng returned.

The change around Qing Shan Cheng was obvious. The four enormous beasts that once guarded it were gone.

War was pressing in. The ninth star chain was losing ground.

“Tower Lord,” Wang Jie asked quietly, “if the Mad Clan loses, will little round lake intervene?”

Jiang You Sheng shook his head. “Unlikely. The situation in third nebula is… simple, in a cruel way. Some star chains have formed alliances to ‘rebuild’ the star nebula and seize more resources. Others are determined to defend the current order.”

“That’s why this war exists.”

He sighed. “The seventh star chain and the ninth star chain are allied, yes. But if we intervene rashly, it could expand into something far worse.”

Wang Jie frowned. “And the Nan family? They won’t act?”

“The Nan family is a mystery to people like us,” Jiang You Sheng said bitterly. “They haven’t appeared in a long time. Third nebula’s nine star chains have been fighting for so long that everyone’s numb to it.”

He looked toward the distant warfront. “In my view, the fourth defense line won’t hold. We need to prepare.”

Wang Jie nodded. “Understood.”

Jiang You Sheng left to handle his own matters.

Soon after, Xia Bei Yi arrived—practically vibrating with urgency.

The war had started, and his mission still wasn’t done. That mission, by his own estimation, could affect the war’s direction.

He’d argued with the puppeteer tower repeatedly about the sealing, but it had done no good.

“Brother!” Xia Bei Yi nearly lunged at Wang Jie with relief. “You’re back. Thank the heavens.”

Wang Jie looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. This man really was about to crack.

“Yes,” Wang Jie said flatly. “I’m back. I’m exhausted.”

“Was the trip smooth, Brother?”

“Not smooth. The chen artifact you gave me got destroyed.” Wang Jie kept his face serious. “Not sturdy.”

Xia Bei Yi froze. “The… bell?”

Wang Jie stared. “A bell. A ‘sending-off bell.’ Do you understand how awful that sounds? I barely crawled back alive.”

“Brother, that wasn’t my fault. That was a good chen artifact.”

“It almost sent me off.”

“It also saved you.”

“It almost sent me off.”

Xia Bei Yi’s jaw tightened. “Then… Brother, I’ll give you another chen artifact.”

Wang Jie’s expression eased slightly. “Don’t give things casually. I don’t need you sending me off again.”

Xia Bei Yi looked like he’d swallowed blood.

He’d grown up a celebrated talent, a true inheritance disciple reserved by Frost Splendor Sect. Praise and privilege had been his natural air.

This mission was tailor-made: low risk, high merit.

He’d thought he’d return in glory.

Instead, he’d been trapped here, forced to smile at a man who made him want to slam his palm through a wall.

But he needed Wang Jie to finish the mission.

So he swallowed it.

He cleared his throat, softened his voice until it sounded almost gentle. “Brother… I have a second-tribulation chen artifact. A cauldron. It’s excellent for defense and pill refining. A pillmaster once tried to buy it from me and I refused. I’ll give it to you.”

He emphasized “cauldron,” as if begging fate to understand the difference.

Wang Jie frowned. “Why are you always giving me bells and cauldrons? One’s missing the bottom, one’s missing the top. Are you doing this on purpose?”

Xia Bei Yi’s smile twitched. “This cauldron can refine pills. It’s not an ordinary second-tribulation chen artifact.”

“Fine.” Wang Jie sighed like a martyr. “I’ll take it.”

He tossed it into his storage ring and looked up. “Anything else?”

Xia Bei Yi hesitated. “Well… maybe we go out for a stroll?”

“I’m tired.”

“Then I—”

“If you want to go out, go out yourself,” Wang Jie said. “Why are you asking me? I’m not a woman.”

Xia Bei Yi’s face went stiff. “I… can’t go out.”

Wang Jie laughed. “So you want me to take you out again? The rules—”

“The chen artifact,” Xia Bei Yi said through clenched teeth.

“That was compensation,” Wang Jie replied smoothly.

Xia Bei Yi nearly snapped.

He couldn’t increase his price again. It would look suspicious. Paying a chen artifact once was already risky. Paying more would practically announce that he was desperate to get outside.

Wang Jie clearly understood that, too. After a beat, he softened. “Relax. I was joking. We’re family, Brother. Don’t take it to heart.”

Xia Bei Yi exhaled slowly, forcing his rage down. “Then… we go out?”

Wang Jie nodded. “Fine. But honestly, Brother Bei Feng, you’re too restless. That won’t do. As cultivators we must—”

Xia Bei Yi nodded obediently, agreeing with every word, until they finally stepped out of the puppeteer tower and he could breathe again.

He guided Wang Jie subtly toward the mission location.

Wang Jie squinted. “Brother Bei Feng, didn’t we walk this road already? Why are we going again?”

Xia Bei Yi answered vaguely, eyes fixed on the distance.

Good. The contact hadn’t left.

He just needed the right moment.

They returned to the puppeteer tower not long after.

Once Xia Bei Yi left, Wang Jie went out again, claiming he needed to buy materials and equipment—he’d used up supplies at the Thunder Well.

Jiang Cai offered to accompany him, but Wang Jie refused.

In truth, if not for Wang Jie, the puppeteer tower would have unsealed long ago. So no one bothered to question his solo trip.

Wang Jie went straight to the mission location.

He knocked.

“Come in,” a voice said.

Wang Jie stepped inside and didn’t waste breath. “Give me the item.”

Silence. Then, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let me be clear.” Wang Jie’s voice dropped. “Frost Splendor Sect sent us as scapegoats to cover for someone else. The person meant to meet you is dead—I killed him.”

He leaned forward. “Now you either hand the item to me, or the mission fails. Choose.”

The other side didn’t speak for a long time.

Wang Jie knew what he was doing.

He was gambling.

Gambling that the unknown creature truly had ties to Frost Splendor Sect, and that this mission mattered enough that it couldn’t fail—not now, not with the war already burning.

At last, the voice asked, “How did you find this place?”

Wang Jie answered without hesitation. “Because the mission location and the mark were wrong. Frost Splendor Sect used us.”

His eyes stayed steady. “But I’m here, and I’m saying this to you. That should tell you I’m telling the truth. Otherwise, the one coming for you wouldn’t be me.”

He let the threat hang in the air. “It would be the Mad Clan.”

“Now decide,” Wang Jie said. “Give it to me, I return to Frost Splendor Sect, and the mission is complete. It doesn’t matter to you who delivers it—only that it reaches them. Right?”

The room was silent again.

Then something flew toward him.

A storage ring.

The creature left immediately.

Wang Jie stared at the ring.

He couldn’t open it.

If it was real, then someone in Frost Splendor Sect could unlock it—which meant the creature truly didn’t care who completed the handoff.

As long as the item reached Frost Splendor Sect.

The war had begun. Neither side could afford to wait.

But if it was fake…

Taking it back would be suicide.

A few hours after Wang Jie returned, Qing Shan Cheng plunged into darkness.

Inside the puppeteer tower, Xia Bei Yi stepped out.

Leaving the tower would be noticed quickly.

But he couldn’t wait anymore. The fourth defense line was on the brink. The mission had to be completed now.

He rushed to the mission location.

His blood ran cold.

The mark was gone.

He pushed inside.

Nothing.

Then a sharp chill stabbed across his spine.

He turned—

A massive figure appeared and swung a hammer down at him.