Chapter 93

Chapter 93: For You

What Wang Jie had done reached Jun Hua quickly.

In the Imperial Palace, she opened a light screen in surprise. The prison scene unfolded before her eyes.

“What is this?” Yu Dong demanded, voice low. Xuan was her capture—she knew exactly how dangerous he was.

In the entire Silver Radiance Empire, aside from her and the Old General, no one could restrain him.

What did Wang Jie think he was doing?

“Let him,” Jun Hua said after a moment. “If he dares, he must have confidence. He came back alive from the Ninth Star Chain, after all.”

In the dungeon, Xuan absorbed starforce from the starstones, forcing strength back into his battered body. A long time passed without interruption.

Finally, he opened his eyes. “You’re close to Jun Hua,” he said, voice flat. “No one stops you. Even Yu Dong doesn’t show up.”

Wang Jie’s reply was calm, almost arrogant. “She doesn’t need to.”

Xuan fell silent.

He was cautious by nature. Ten Seals meant nothing. Even if Wang Jie were an ordinary man, anyone who dared do this would be treated seriously.

This was a fight to the death.

No one knew how long passed—ten hours, maybe more.

At last, Xuan rose. His body looked fuller than when Wang Jie first saw him; even his dried hair had regained a hint of sheen.

“Come,” Xuan said.

Wang Jie clenched his fist and stepped forward. In the cramped dungeon, with no flourish at all, he threw a punch.

Xuan’s specialty was palm techniques. He held nothing back—he lifted a palm, starforce boiling, pressure thick enough to seem to crush the light itself. When he struck, the dungeon shook and dust poured down.

The impact thundered. A section of the prison collapsed outright.

Both men slid back.

Xuan’s eyes widened. He’d used half his strength—enough to kill an ordinary Star-Breaking Realm cultivator.

And this Ten Seals had blocked it.

Wang Jie measured quickly. Twenty thousand combat power?

He still hadn’t fully released his strength.

Again.

The prison trembled harder. Wang Jie increased his force. The destruction spread, shattering surveillance devices until Jun Hua and the others could no longer see what was happening.

Yu Dong couldn’t sit still. She left the Imperial Palace and headed for the prison. If Wang Jie couldn’t hold Xuan, she couldn’t allow Xuan to escape.

Inside, a sharp crack sounded.

Xuan’s palm split open, blood threading down his fingers. He stared at Wang Jie in disbelief.

He was using all his strength now, and Wang Jie still looked unhurried—each strike stronger than the last.

What kind of monster was this?

Ten Seals… could really be this strong?

Around Wang Jie’s body, the air distorted as if heat shimmered over transparent flame, wrapping him in something Xuan couldn’t understand.

Wang Jie’s eyes gleamed. “Again.”

Two streams of qi fused. Air steamed, vision bending around him. His whole body thrummed with explosive power, a craving to vent it.

Xuan gritted his teeth, starforce concentrating in his palm until it trembled and ripples spread outward. He surged forward and struck.

The explosion tore through stone.

Yu Dong arrived just in time to see the sturdiest prison chambers ripped apart like broken scaffolding. The shockwave flung cultivators across the corridor.

She rushed in, swept aside dust and debris, and saw Xuan lying on the ground, gasping, eyes blankly fixed on the ceiling.

Wang Jie stood nearby, leaning against a cracked wall, watching her with a calm face.

“It’s over?” Yu Dong asked.

Wang Jie nodded once. “He really lived up to his name.”

Xuan sat up. He looked at Wang Jie in silence.

“So you lost?” Yu Dong pressed.

Xuan’s voice came rough. “He won.”

Yu Dong stared at Wang Jie, stunned.

Ten Seals, defeating Full-Star Realm?

It sounded ridiculous. Yet even if Xuan was imprisoned and not at his peak, his strength still had to be at the peak of the Star-Breaking Realm.

Which meant Wang Jie had the ability to defeat peak Star-Breaking Realm enemies across realms.

Yu Dong couldn’t do that at Ten Seals.

Her suspicion deepened.

Other than Jia Yi Sect, what place could raise a lockforce cultivator like this?

Xuan rose slowly and extended a hand toward Yu Dong. “Give it to me.”

Yu Dong produced paper and a brush.

Xuan signed his name at the very bottom, then let out a bitter laugh. “Never thought I’d end up here.”

Wang Jie glanced down. “What does this mean?”

Yu Dong turned and left, ordering the guards to imprison Xuan again.

Xuan said nothing as he was escorted deeper into the facility.

Wang Jie watched his back. In that moment, Xuan looked older—much older.

“You’ve grown quickly.”

A familiar voice spoke behind him.

Wang Jie turned and bowed. “Greetings, Old General.”

The Old General studied him. The first time they met, on a warship, the Old General had barely spared him a glance. The second time, in the library, he’d regarded Wang Jie like a stranger. Now there was curiosity in his eyes.

“How did you do it?” the Old General asked.

Wang Jie frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

The Old General sighed. “So many talented people are buried under lockforce. It’s not that they’re weak—it’s that they never find the right method and resources at the right time.” His gaze held something like regret. “It’s a pity.”

Wang Jie didn’t know what to say.

Then the Old General added, “Xuan is also a pity.”

Wang Jie’s brow tightened. “What’s really going on?”

“Xuan is loyal,” the Old General said quietly. “If he swore himself to Jun Tang, he won’t betray him.” He paused. “In truth, Jun Tang’s co-conspirators are already dead. What they want isn’t information—they want an excuse. A legitimate excuse to remove certain people.”

Wang Jie’s eyes widened.

So that was why Xuan had signed only his own name.

Jun Hua would fill in the rest.

Whoever she filled in as the “confessed co-conspirators” would die without question.

A complicated heaviness settled in Wang Jie’s chest.

He had come here to test himself, to measure his strength.

He hadn’t expected to become someone else’s chess piece.

He remembered the emptiness in Xuan’s eyes.

Without another word, Wang Jie turned and left.

The Old General left as well.

—

Back at the Imperial Palace, Wang Jie found Jun Hua and demanded the paper.

Jun Hua regarded him calmly. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“It does,” Wang Jie said, voice low. “I won the bet. I only told him to submit. I never told him to write that.”

Yu Dong’s eyes flashed. “Wang Jie—know your place. You’re only a guard.”

“It’s because I know my place that I came,” Wang Jie said.

Jun Hua and Yu Dong exchanged a look, surprise flickering between them. That certainty… that audacity…

Jia Yi Sect, again.

Jun Hua’s tone softened slightly. “Xuan isn’t a pure cultivator. He is a general of my Silver Radiance Empire. He took part in rebellion. From the start, he could never be pure. I understand you have your own path, but you shouldn’t interfere in my empire’s affairs.”

“If it truly had nothing to do with me,” Wang Jie said evenly, “I wouldn’t interfere. But he wrote that because he lost to me.” His gaze was steady. “I’m taking the paper. If you want names, get them from him yourselves.”

Jun Hua looked at him for a long moment, then turned to Yu Dong. “Senior Sister Yu Dong. Give it to him.”

Yu Dong frowned, clearly displeased, but she still took out the paper and tossed it to Wang Jie.

He caught it. “Thank you.”

Jun Hua’s eyes hardened slightly. “This happens once. Not twice.”

Wang Jie nodded. “From now on, I’ll make sure I understand what I’m stepping into before I act.”

He glanced around. They weren’t inside the palace halls but in a garden. When he’d arrived, Jun Hua and Yu Dong had been speaking quietly together.

“Apologies, Emperor,” Wang Jie said. “I’ve disturbed you.”

Jun Hua shook her head. “It’s fine. Would you like to sit and talk?”

Wang Jie refused and turned to leave. Yu Dong’s gaze at his back was openly hostile.

He took only a few steps before a splash of color drew his attention.

A bed of seven-colored flower bloomed under the sun, vivid and beautiful. Dew clung to the petals, refracting tiny seven-colored rainbows.

He remembered Cheng Qian mentioning that the Imperial Palace had seven-colored flower.

It was one of the materials for Sword Steps.

Without thinking, he walked toward them. The seven-colored flower here was far prettier than what Cheng Qian had found.

Jun Hua and Yu Dong watched him, baffled.

Was he… picking flowers?

At the edge of the bed, Wang Jie turned. “May I pick one?”

Jun Hua blinked. “Go ahead.”

Wang Jie carefully plucked a bloom.

The material requirement was simple: give it to the nearest person.

He glanced back.

The nearest person was Yu Dong.

If he didn’t give it, the material would be wasted—and he had no idea whether picking another would still work.

If he did give it… it would be awkward.

After a heartbeat, he gritted his teeth.

Sword Steps mattered.

He walked over and stopped in front of Yu Dong, holding the flower out. “For you.”

Yu Dong froze, stunned into silence. In all her life, no one had ever handed her a flower.

Jun Hua also stared, visibly thrown off.

Wang Jie studied Yu Dong for a second. She wasn’t breathtakingly beautiful, but she wasn’t plain either—she had the feel of a capable, neighborly older sister.

Who would have thought she was Jun Hua’s sharpest blade?

“For you,” Wang Jie repeated, awkwardly sincere. “Will you take it?”

Yu Dong accepted it on reflex, eyes flicking between Wang Jie and the bloom in her hand.

Wang Jie finally exhaled. If she refused, the requirement would fail.

Assuming the seven-colored flower actually counted.

“Thanks,” he said, and immediately turned and walked away, adding nothing else.

Jun Hua and Yu Dong stood there in the garden wind, both still stunned.

Once outside the Imperial Palace, Wang Jie checked.

Success.

He smiled, genuinely pleased. Good.

Now, for Sword Steps, he only lacked two things: Star-Gazing Sword Form: Extinguish the Stars, and an exquisite sword tassel.

He already had a tassel, but he couldn’t bear to use it. He’d find another.

As for Star-Gazing Sword Form: Extinguish the Stars—he could achieve it. He just needed the right opportunity.

Next, the prison.

Xuan had been transferred after the earlier cell was destroyed. Wang Jie found him again, tore the paper into pieces in front of him, and let the scraps fall.

“Sorry,” Wang Jie said quietly. “This wasn’t what I intended. I disturbed you.”

Then he turned and left.

Xuan stared after him, then looked down at the torn paper on the floor.

Not what he intended?

—

Back at the Lakeside Residence, Wang Jie returned to cultivating.

A few days later, news arrived from the front lines.

The Third Defense Line of the Ninth Star Chain had collapsed, and warships from the Eighth Star Chain were advancing toward the Eight Prisons Realm.

That wasn’t surprising. The Third Defense Line was bound to fall sooner or later.

The next report was what mattered.

The Eight Prisons Realm had been hit by a surprise strike.

The Mad Clan suffered devastating losses.

When Wang Jie heard it, his first thought was the mission.

The Eight Prisons Realm was the Mad Clan’s core. Unless you tore through each defense line one by one, you shouldn’t be able to reach it at all.

Yet the Frost Splendor Sect was slaughtering within it. There was only one explanation: they’d found another route.

And only insiders of the Eight Prisons Mad Clan would know such a route.

Wang Jie exhaled and shook his head.

Not his concern.

He went back to cultivating.

Several days later, another message arrived—this one bad.