Chapter 303

Chapter 303: Three-Tribulation Bone

Ke Mu Sheng hadn’t expected Wu Yuan—who looked so upright—to agree to a plan like that.

The idea had come from Yu Zhi during their discussion, and not a single person had objected.

Ke Mu Sheng acted immediately. A rumor of that magnitude couldn’t be planted by one or two mouths.

Days passed. Then the rumor began to bite.

They caught an unlucky cultivator fleeing with striped key fragments. Desperate to live, he handed them over—and, babbling, repeated the story now circulating everywhere: the Dao Yi Club had opened bridge-building coordinates.

Wu Yuan’s mood lifted enough that he let the man go.

On their side, spirits rose.

On Shao Ling Er’s, the air turned poisonous.

Shao Ling Er’s face was dark. The number of watchers around her had clearly increased.

“Senior Sister,” Zhi said cautiously, “could it be Black-White Heaven? You beat Wu Yuan, so he’s spreading this out of spite.”

Another disciple shook their head. “I think it’s the alliance club. They’ve always been our enemies. Wu Yuan doesn’t look like the kind of man who’d do something that low.”

Shao Ling Er’s jaw tightened. “Whoever it is, we’re being watched now.”

And there was no way to prove a negative.

They had opened a red striped key—that much was certain. Outsiders didn’t know what it produced.

Even if Shao Ling Er truly had obtained bridge-building coordinates, she would deny it. Otherwise she might never leave the Beidou bridge-pillar alive.

No one would believe her either way.

Zhi’s expression was just as grim.

She was a Nan family inheritor. As a child, she had been sent to the Nandou bridge-pillar and placed inside Cheng Yi Dao. It had been a secret move, meant to preserve a seed.

Her talent had been real. Even without leaning on the Nan family’s name, she had climbed until she joined the Dao Yi Club as one of Cheng Yi Dao’s elite disciples.

She learned the truth from her old ancestor—the last of her bloodline who had witnessed the slaughter with their own eyes and lived.

On their deathbed, they told her: go back. Retrieve the family inheritance. Rebuild the Nan family.

Only then did she understand. It hadn’t been the Nan family that had “sent” her to Cheng Yi Dao. There had been nowhere else. And it wasn’t that the Nan family refused her resources—it was that the Nan family was gone.

She hadn’t planned to move this fast. She meant to wait until she reached hundred-star realm.

But a sect elder had started watching her. He’d noticed traces of the red moon method in her circulation. He hadn’t confirmed it yet, but Zhi knew what would happen if she delayed.

So she acted.

She used club channels to spread information and used club activity as cover to leave the sect.

Once she retrieved the family inheritance, she wouldn’t return to Cheng Yi Dao.

Everything had been going smoothly.

There were bumps in acquiring red moon, and Nan Ling had died, but once inside the Four Seasons Train, Zhi’s knowledge should have let her seize the most important legacy.

Instead she’d been hunted.

First by Black-White Heaven’s steady tailing. Now by this bridge-building coordinates rumor.

Who was targeting her?

Why did it feel like an unseen hand was pushing every wave higher?

“Senior Sister,” someone warned, “Third Zen Heaven is coming.”

Shao Ling Er looked up.

Chen Song approached with two companions, smiling like a gentleman—far too much like He Xu for comfort.

Behind him, one man wore a leering grin and kept pulling exaggerated faces, restless arrogance written all over him. The other was bald and quiet, eyes calm.

Shao Ling Er’s gaze sharpened. “What do you want?”

Chen Song bowed. “Junior Sister, I came to ask whether these bridge-building coordinates are the same as the location held by Third Zen Heaven.

“If they are, then please—have Cheng Yi Dao relinquish them. That location lies within Third Zen Heaven’s territory.”

Shao Ling Er’s brow furrowed. “I didn’t get any bridge-building coordinates. Stop letting people stir you up.”

Chen Song’s smile didn’t change. “Junior Sister, that isn’t right. You and I are both clear-minded people. We can speak plainly.

“I’m even telling you that Third Zen Heaven holds bridge-building coordinates within our own domain. There’s no need for secrecy.”

“I said I don’t have them,” Shao Ling Er said coldly.

Chen Song sighed theatrically. “Junior Sister, you’re too stubborn.

“I came only to resolve a misunderstanding. I just want to confirm whether your coordinates match ours. Yet you refuse to let go.”

He tilted his head. “I understand, of course. Bridgeway art is a chance to ascend in a single step.”

Shao Ling Er’s temper snapped. “Are you deaf?

“I said I never got any bridge-building coordinates.

“And you—” She pointed at the flippant man behind him. “Provoke me again and I’ll kill you.”

The man spread his hands, innocence exaggerated. “Senior Sister, I was just greeting you.”

Shao Ling Er’s eyes went cold. “Watch your damn eyes.”

Chen Song sighed again. “Junior Sister, are you using that as an excuse to attack us?

“Even if the three of us die here, it won’t change anything about the bridge-building coordinates. The coordinates belong to all of Third Zen Heaven, not to us.”

Zhi leaned in, urgent. “Senior Sister, don’t get tangled up with Third Zen Heaven. They’re always like this.”

She didn’t want this conversation to continue. Chen Song could talk himself into making any lie sound like truth. Zhi was already wondering if Third Zen Heaven had started the rumor.

Shao Ling Er turned to leave.

Chen Song called after her, voice loud and smiling. “Junior Sister, those coordinates lie within Third Zen Heaven’s territory. You can’t take them. You’re already under surveillance.

“Unless the Nandou bridge-pillar wages full war on the Beidou bridge-pillar and breaks into first nebula, it’s useless.”

“Why become a target over one set of coordinates? Think it through, Junior Sister.”

Shao Ling Er spun back, furious. “I said I don’t have any coordinates!”

“Junior Sister is still too stubborn,” Chen Song sighed.

“You’re courting death.”

Shao Ling Er attacked.

Mirrors formed in the air and slammed inward as her starforce surged.

Chen Song shoved his companions behind him with one arm and met her head-on, voice still calm. “Junior Sister… are you trying to kill us to silence us?

“Even if you kill me, can you block the eyes of everyone here?”

Zhi’s voice cut in sharply. “Senior Sister, don’t—”

Too late.

The Dao Yi disciples surged toward Chen Song’s companions.

The bald man—Mo—was only full-star realm. He turned and ran.

The flippant one ran too, calling over his shoulder, “I’m Lu Li! I hate fighting! Let’s talk this out!”

All around, people looked up.

Another fight.

Again, Shao Ling Er.

Wang Jie saw it from a distance and didn’t need to ask why. If Chen Song was involved, provocation was guaranteed. With Shao Ling Er’s temper, battle was inevitable.

Chen Song’s words were soothing, but his attacks weren’t.

He struck in the formless realm, starforce condensing into a revolving shower of starlight—vast, grand, oppressive.

Shao Ling Er answered with the same mirror technique that had crushed Wu Yuan. Ripples layered and folded, collapsing inward.

Unlike Wu Yuan, Chen Song took it.

He swept his starforce outward. It expanded like branching limbs, filling the void until it felt as if the world itself were being pried apart.

His starforce was even more immense than Wu Yuan’s—and it was ordinary starforce, not an exotic variant.

Cheap Master had once said: the more you see, the less you chase exotic starforce. Because the foundation of the universe is what appears ordinary.

Shao Ling Er snorted. Her starforce surged again, forming a visible storm that blasted outward like a gale snapping trees.

Chen Song was forced back, his face turning grim.

Wu Yuan could briefly brace against her with gravity starforce. Chen Song couldn’t. He had more starforce than Wu Yuan, but it didn’t matter. He still couldn’t hold.

Mirrors filled the sky.

“Water Moon Shatter-Mirror Chant.”

Sound echoed through reflections, folding into a corridor of death.

The void exploded.

Chen Song flew backward and spat blood.

A wave of shock rolled through the onlookers.

Chen Song was an elite of Third Zen Heaven—and he’d still been defeated.

Then Yun Jian surged in, rusty firewood knife in hand, and slashed.

“Shu Mu Ye once laid hands on Jia Yi Sect’s bridgeway art,” Yun Jian snapped. “Now you want to take Beidou bridge-pillar’s bridgeway art too? I won’t allow it.”

Shao Ling Er’s eyes flashed. “I told you. I didn’t get any bridge-building coordinates.”

She didn’t slow. She pressed down with starforce.

Yun Jian cleaved it apart.

He moved within his own saber-light, slipping through pressure that would have pinned others in place.

Shao Ling Er raised mirrors again.

The sound-kill corridor formed.

Yun Jian halted, planted his feet, and rotated his body—one hand on the handle, one bracing the blade.

One Blade fell.

Shao Ling Er narrowed her eyes.

Rumor claimed Yun Jian’s rusty firewood knife carried poison so vicious it tainted even the light of his blade.

Those who truly knew understood: it wasn’t poison. It was blood-curse starforce—an exotic power that crept along starforce itself and corroded what it touched like a curse.

Yun Jian was more dangerous than Chen Song.

Shao Ling Er exhaled slowly.

So many people were forcing her hand.

Fine.

She would show them a gap that couldn’t be bridged.

She raised one hand toward Yun Jian, fingers pressed together.

“Blast.”

The void twisted.

Yun Jian dropped out of the sky.

Everyone stared, stunned. How?

Wu Yuan and Chen Song had both lost to the same kind of move. Yun Jian had to have prepared for it—so why did he still fall?

Wang Jie’s eyes widened. For an instant, Shao Ling Er’s qi had tripled.

That meant the power of her Water Moon Shatter-Mirror Chant had surged threefold in a heartbeat.

No wonder Yun Jian couldn’t withstand it.

Wu Yuan’s voice, distant but clear, carried upward. “This is the bridgeway art of Cheng Yi Dao’s Madam Shao clan—Three-Tribulation Bone.”

“Three-Tribulation Bone has three parts: heaven-surge tribulation bone, earth-abyss tribulation bone, and human-pinnacle tribulation bone.

“Every bone has a unique power. And human-pinnacle tribulation bone… differs from person to person.”

He paused, eyes on Shao Ling Er. “When Shao Ling Er was born, her first cry shattered every mirror around her. Ever since then, people have wondered what her human-pinnacle tribulation bone truly does.”

He exhaled. “Today, we may finally see it.”

Shao Ling Er stood in the sky, looking down on everyone like a blade held over their throats.