Chapter 246

Chapter 246: Cloudstream Domain

“Hide again!”

Wooden shields slammed to the ground, bracing for impact—only for sword edges to scythe in immediately after.

Amid the chaos, Wang Jie’s Thunder Pattern shone like a beacon.

Then the Thunderflare Hou charged.

No more lightning. This time they attacked directly.

Behind them surged a sea of cultivators, battle cries rolling like thunder.

A Thunderflare Hou barreled straight at Wang Jie, its momentum terrifying.

Wang Jie swept a leg out.

The creature flew—kicked clean off its feet, launched away like a rag doll.

For a heartbeat, the people around him forgot to breathe.

Sword qi slashed in. Wang Jie batted it aside, killed one man, snatched his sword, and started cutting.

His swordsmanship was brutally efficient. Every swing drew blood. Heads fell. Bodies dropped.

This was Wang Jie’s first real look at how the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar fought.

He’d heard stories.

Seeing it was different.

The Second Star Cloud and Third Nebula were messy, chaotic—a patchwork of styles. Here, everyone wielded a sword. The only difference was how strong your sword was.

Roaming-Star Realm fighters were common on this battlefield.

And even more common on the enemy’s side.

Worst of all was that Roaming-Star Realm Thunderflare Hou—at least two hundred and fifty thousand battle power. It crushed Black-White Heaven’s forces until no one could lift their heads.

On average, their cultivators were weaker than the enemy.

People began to retreat.

Someone had already severed a chain, taking control of a star body and dragging it away from the fight.

The enemy kept coming in a steady stream.

No one knew what monsters were still hidden in the fog.

A cold unease crawled up Wang Jie’s spine.

He leapt to a star body drifting away from the battlefield. Distance was safety.

“Everyone here understands this battle is lost,” a Roaming-Star Realm woman shouted. Her expression was hard, her aura steady. “Leaving now is the smartest option.”

“But they won’t let us go. Keep your eyes open. The moment a strong enemy comes, you stop them.”

The people around her were all experts. Two of them were Roaming-Star Realm as well.

They stood at the edge of the star body, staring toward the receding battlefield.

That battlefield was no longer theirs.

Suddenly, lightning tore through the void and crashed toward them.

The woman looked up, flexed her fingers, and ripped earth and dust from the ground in a violent wave, hurling it skyward.

The lightning struck the dust cloud. Dirt exploded outward.

A Thunderflare Hou stomped through the air toward them. The woman’s face tightened. She had no choice but to meet it head-on.

Their star body kept drifting away.

The Thunderflare Hou came alone, lightning raging around it.

No one else helped. The others watched the battlefield, wary of pursuit.

But the pursuit never came.

The enemy had the advantage, overwhelming and absolute—yet they didn’t chase. From far away, they simply watched with cold eyes, as if they were staring at corpses.

It made everyone’s skin crawl.

The woman fought while flicking her gaze back toward the battlefield.

This was the worst kind of situation—the kind that felt wrong.

And, sure enough, a figure walked out.

The woman went ashen. “Cheng Feng…? How is he here?”

On the battlefield, a young man stepped forward, walking through carnage as if it were empty ground. His gaze landed on their fleeing star body, and a hint of amusement curled at the corner of his mouth.

Someone beside Wang Jie spoke with a trembling voice. “Cheng Feng is here? He shouldn’t be on a battlefield this small…”

“It’s over. No one can stop him.”

“That Thunderflare Hou looks familiar… it’s Cheng Feng’s mount.”

Wang Jie stared at the beast.

A mount?

He hadn’t even considered the possibility.

And this one was absurdly strong.

Cheng Feng looked down at them, smiling faintly.

“Surrender. I won’t kill you.”

Four words.

The woman’s fighting spirit collapsed. She stumbled back again and again.

The Thunderflare Hou threw back its head and roared, lightning crashing down.

The woman dodged, eyes locked on Cheng Feng. “You said surrender means you won’t kill.”

Cheng Feng’s gaze sharpened. “Do you want to surrender?”

“I…”

She bit down hard, unable to force the word out.

She’d fought tooth and nail just to win a measure of freedom on this battlefield—hiding in corners, avoiding the giant wars. And now she’d run into Cheng Feng.

If she surrendered and went to the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar, she’d be cut off from her family and friends forever.

Worse, the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar would never let her leave the battlefield. They would keep her here, killing for them—war after war after war.

And the most terrifying fate of all would be to serve as a mole. If she was discovered… death would be mercy.

Cheng Feng’s voice turned colder. “If you surrender, these people die.”

“No one will know what you did.”

The woman’s body stiffened.

So that was it.

He wanted to turn her into a mole.

The people around her went pale, staring at her as if the ground had vanished beneath their feet.

“Senior Sister, don’t listen to him! We’ll fight!”

“That’s right—fight!”

“Fight!”

They wanted to surrender too, but Cheng Feng had made it clear: he would choose only one side—her or them.

Anyone with a brain knew which he would choose.

The woman’s face twisted in pain.

In the distance, Cheng Feng straightened.

In that moment, he looked like a sword drawn from its sheath, killing intent so sharp it sank into bone.

The pressure on the woman only grew.

She could feel it—the edge of his intent, the certainty of death—and she nearly opened her mouth.

Then someone moved.

A figure stepped between her and the Thunderflare Hou and kicked.

The Thunderflare Hou blasted backward, lightning scattering.

The woman froze.

Everyone froze.

They stared at the man who had just kicked a Thunderflare Hou aside as if it weighed nothing.

The beast crashed down at Cheng Feng’s feet, half buried in earth.

Cheng Feng’s face darkened. His eyes locked on the newcomer.

“Your Excellency,” he said coldly. “Who are you?”

Wang Jie lifted his head and met his gaze without flinching.

“A nobody.”

Everyone stared at him.

He’d been part of the fleeing group. No one had paid him any attention until now.

Now they felt it—lockforce. A lockforce cultivator?

And he dared step out now?

At Cheng Feng’s feet, the Thunderflare Hou burst out of the ground, eyes bloodshot, staring at Wang Jie like it wanted to tear him apart.

Wang Jie narrowed his eyes.

“Control your beast,” he said flatly, “or I’ll slaughter it.”

The woman’s shock deepened.

He spoke to Cheng Feng like that?

The Thunderflare Hou understood. It lunged.

Cheng Feng barked a command.

The beast stopped, trembling with rage.

Cheng Feng stepped past it and descended onto their star body.

“My instincts aren’t wrong,” he said, studying Wang Jie. “You haven’t reached Full-Star yet.”

The others went rigid.

Star-Breaking Realm?

No way.

Wang Jie shrugged. “And you’re Full-Star, aren’t you?”

Cheng Feng’s lips curled. “You want to compare yourself to me?”

“Can’t I?”

Cheng Feng narrowed his eyes, then nodded once.

“Fine. Compare.”

He vanished.

In the next breath, he was in front of Wang Jie, sword flashing toward his brow—fast enough to make the air scream.

Wang Jie exhaled slowly.

So soon, a powerful Full-Star Realm opponent.

That chill he’d felt earlier had come from this man.

Full-Star, but his battle power was beyond that Thunderflare Hou.

Strong.

But as long as Cheng Feng wasn’t Roaming-Star Realm…

No one was making Wang Jie back down.

The blade stabbed for his forehead.

Wang Jie lifted a finger and flicked.

Clang!

The sword point snapped aside.

Cheng Feng’s eyes widened.

He flowed with the deflection and struck again, sword shadows like willow leaves in a gale—unsteady, drifting, yet each one aimed precisely at Wang Jie’s brow.

Wang Jie kept flicking the blade away.

Again and again.

Cheng Feng’s sword grew faster.

Wang Jie’s finger never missed.

Then starforce erupted.

Dark starforce wrapped the blade, forming a massive, shadowy edge that descended like a guillotine.

Wang Jie looked up.

Sharp.

He stepped forward.

Jia Eight Steps.

He slipped past Cheng Feng in a blur.

Cheng Feng’s sword cleaved into the star body beneath them and split it in two.

Wang Jie was behind him.

He flicked Cheng Feng’s sword hand.

The force jolted through Cheng Feng’s palm. His grip shattered—his sword fell.

For any sword cultivator, being disarmed by brute force was humiliation beyond measure.

Cheng Feng fought it with everything he had, but that single flick had nearly pierced his hand through. His fingers refused to close.

He could only watch the sword drop.

Their eyes met.

Cheng Feng had never imagined being suppressed by a mere Star-Breaking Realm cultivator.

Wang Jie raised a finger.

Myriad-Stars Finger.

Star shadows poured down in endless layers, crashing toward Cheng Feng.

Cheng Feng’s expression shifted. “Chen Art?”

No—lockforce.

A Lock Art.

He exploded with starforce, turning himself into a sword and shooting upward, trying to pierce through the falling shadows.

Myriad-Stars Finger had failed against Roaming-Star Realm opponents more times than Wang Jie cared to count.

But Cheng Feng wasn’t Roaming-Star Realm.

He was one of the rare Full-Star Realm enemies Wang Jie had used it on.

Cheng Feng’s sword was fierce—his starforce bloom nearly rivaled Han Song’s—but even so, he couldn’t break through completely.

A shadow punched through his starforce.

Another slammed into him and drove him down into the ground.

Lightning crashed.

The Thunderflare Hou attacked.

Wang Jie raised his left hand.

Thunder Pattern.

Lightning struck the barrier and scattered without leaving a mark.

The Thunderflare Hou lunged at him, claws scything down.

Wang Jie flickered upward with Jia Eight Steps and stamped down on its head.

The creature was crushed into the ground—just like Cheng Feng.

Then an indescribable coldness swept over them.

The same chill as before.

Wang Jie moved without thinking, shifting away with Jia Eight Steps.

Cheng Feng rose from the earth, face like storm clouds. The Thunderflare Hou clawed its way free, roaring at Wang Jie.

Around them, people stood in stunned silence.

They’d thought Cheng Feng was unstoppable.

Instead, he’d been pressed down from beginning to end.

Who was this man?

Some kind of sect reinforcement?

Wang Jie stared at Cheng Feng—and then noticed something that tightened his brow.

Sword qi.

It was spilling from Cheng Feng’s back.

What was that?

Sword qi… from his spine?

“Senior Brother, be careful!” the Roaming-Star Realm woman shouted. “That’s the Cheng Clan’s Bridgeway Art from Fengmen—Sword Spine.”

“Cheng Clan cultivators can fuse gathered sword qi into their spine and release it together with their own sword qi. The more sword qi they’ve absorbed, the stronger the release.”

“This move goes beyond normal battle-power standards. No one can measure how high it truly climbs.”

Faces tightened.

That was the terror of the Cheng Clan.

Compared to them, Black-White Heaven fell short.

Even the Zhi family’s fixed-star technique wasn’t as lethal as a move built purely to kill.

Sword Spine.

Wang Jie’s eyes sharpened.

With Qi Sight, he could see it clearly—the qi condensed along Cheng Feng’s back like a blade. Its sharpness was terrifying.

That was sword qi.

Cheng Feng stared at him. “What’s your name?”

Wang Jie met his gaze. “Your Bridgeway Art is practically cheating. How much battle power does it add?”

Cheng Feng took a slow breath.

Then, instead of releasing it, he suppressed Sword Spine. The qi sank back into his body.

Wang Jie blinked.

He wasn’t going to use it?