Chapter 304

Chapter 304: You Again?

By her own power, Shao Ling Er had defeated three famed hundred-star realm experts in a row.

The entire train seemed to hold its breath.

From another direction, Ke Mu Sheng surged out and shouted, “Everyone! This woman has gone too far. I’m willing to fight her to the death—only ask that you lend me your strength!”

Shao Ling Er’s eyes snapped to him, killing intent flashing. “So it was you, Ke Mu Sheng. You’re courting death.”

Wu Yuan rose into the air. He’d agreed to cooperate—so he had to move now.

At the same time, Chen Song struck with his palm, still polite even with blood on his lips. “Junior Sister Ling Er, you’re too stubborn. This is the Beidou bridge-pillar. You may take many things, but this bridge-building—leave it behind.”

Yun Jian wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. “I don’t like ganging up on a woman. But you’ve gone too far. Leave the coordinates.”

Four hundred-star realm experts surrounded Shao Ling Er.

Dao Yi Club disciples cursed them as shameless, but they were already fighting for their own lives.

Shao Ling Er sneered at the four. “Ke Mu Sheng is a mortal enemy of Cheng Yi Dao. I’m not surprised he attacks.

“But you three—are you claiming to represent the Beidou bridge-pillar to drive out outsiders?

“What? People from other bridge-pillars aren’t allowed to take Beidou bridge-pillar’s things? When it was our things, you fought for them often enough.”

She turned her head and called out, “Yuan Qiao Qiao! Guanshan! What are you waiting for?

“Do you really think if they kill me, they’ll let you live?”

Yuan Qiao Qiao drew her sword, aiming straight at Yun Jian.

Yun Jian had no choice but to slash back. The collision rang like a bell, shaking the void.

Wang Jie watched from below. The whole train had erupted into a melee.

Shao Ling Er wasn’t stupid. She was dragging the Nine Swords Club and Guanshan Club into the fight, turning it into a clash between Beidou bridge-pillar and the outsiders. In that chaos, she could slip away.

Yu Zhi let out a hard breath. “Looks like we’re past talk. Senior Brothers—move. Protect yourselves.”

He charged, because Nine Swords Club disciples were already closing in.

An unprecedented brawl spread across the train.

Wang Jie immediately avoided Shen Yan.

That man’s strength exceeded a six-path roamer. Wang Jie couldn’t touch him yet.

Fortunately, Shen Yan didn’t bother with him. Wang Jie’s value had vanished the moment the Four Seasons Train swallowed them. Only Pei Lin still wanted his blood.

Pei Lin had been humiliated because of Wang Jie and would be punished when he returned to the sect. Of course he’d come looking for payback.

Sword qi clashed like a storm against rain sword art.

Pei Lin adjusted after their first exchange. He condensed sword qi along the edge of his blade, a trembling strip of killing power that forced rain sword art apart.

Wang Jie’s eyes narrowed. As expected of a sword court true disciple—one fight was enough for him to find the counter.

But Wang Jie wasn’t limited to rain sword art.

Thunder roared.

Mo Wan Yin’s thunder pattern slammed in head-on.

Pei Lin’s brows rose. “Green Moss Sword Method.”

Sword qi formed steps beneath his feet. He met the charge.

The collision detonated. Wang Jie’s thunder pattern cracked.

Pei Lin stepped up the sword-steps and cut down from above.

Wang Jie swung his left arm. His wrist guard met the blade with a metallic shriek.

Pei Lin pressed down hard—then his sword was jolted away.

His eyes flickered with surprise.

Wang Jie’s finger shot out—Myriad-Stars Finger, fused and focused, striking straight at Pei Lin’s centerline.

Pei Lin barely snapped his sword back to block.

The finger landed on the blade and drove him backward step by step.

Pei Lin was about to counter when thunder flared again—Mo Wan Yin’s thunder pattern.

Pei Lin dodged, and Wang Jie used sword steps to close the gap, driving in with a simple, brutal punch.

The fist carried no flourish—only crushing force.

Pei Lin twisted away, but that was enough.

Mo Wan Yin’s killing strike landed cleanly, blasting him aside.

“Thanks, Senior Sister,” Wang Jie said.

“We’ve got numbers,” Mo Wan Yin snapped. “Surround him. Kill him.”

Pei Lin’s eyes widened. He fled without hesitation.

“Stop!” Mo Wan Yin chased.

Wang Jie followed—he couldn’t let her face Pei Lin alone. She might not win if she got isolated.

Not far away, bone-deep cold spread as Shen Yan fought multiple experts at once: Han Ling, Xue Jian at Yun Jian’s side, and a roaming-star realm cultivator from the alliance club.

Three against one—and they still couldn’t suppress him.

Worse, Shen Yan turned the pressure back and chased Xue Jian. Yun Jian was forced to abandon Yuan Qiao Qiao and intercept. Yuan Qiao Qiao chased him in turn.

The battlefield tangled tighter and wider.

Zhi stood at a distance, staring up with an unsettled expression.

If this chaos continued, the grand array would be triggered.

No.

She had to leave now, before it sealed.

She turned and sprinted.

“Senior Sister Zhi—save me!” a Dao Yi disciple screamed.

Zhi didn’t even look back.

Wang Jie and Mo Wan Yin, still chasing Pei Lin, saw Zhi cut across their path.

Both of them halted.

They’d nearly forgotten her.

In this chaos, Shao Ling Er couldn’t protect her. And from the way Zhi moved, she was heading somewhere with purpose.

Wang Jie grabbed Mo Wan Yin’s wrist. “Senior Sister. Come with me.”

“We’re giving up Pei Lin?”

“Something more important.”

He kept their speed controlled, wary of alerting Zhi too soon.

Mo Wan Yin frowned. “Who is she?”

“She’s suspicious,” Wang Jie said, eyes fixed ahead.

Mo Wan Yin had helped him more than once. If he left her to chase Pei Lin alone, she could get trapped or killed. So he brought her with him.

Behind them, Pei Lin slowed and began following instead, careful not to be noticed.

Elsewhere, Wu Ming spotted Wang Jie and started moving toward him.

Zhi didn’t realize how many eyes were on her. She kept running toward her goal.

Almost there.

Almost—

The world flipped.

Lines of starforce speared through the void and appeared throughout the train at once. The air trembled, and everything Wang Jie could perceive blurred, as if the void itself were turning inside out.

Wang Jie froze. “What…?”

Mo Wan Yin’s face hardened. “Lost-Trace Grand Array.”

Wang Jie’s chest tightened. “The Lost-Trace Grand Array that scrambles space and time?”

Mo Wan Yin nodded. “The melee must have triggered the array path. This has to be something the Nan family laid down. Once you’re trapped, unless the array’s starforce runs out or your strength far exceeds the one who set it, you won’t break free.”

Her eyes flicked across the distorted void. “And this level of work… the one who laid it is at least star-refining realm.”

Brute-forcing the array was impossible.

Wang Jie’s voice sharpened. “We can’t tail her quietly anymore. Chase!”

They sprinted.

If they lost Zhi now, finding her again would be nearly impossible. The array twisted the void, warped perception, even altered time-sense. One wrong step and you could walk forever without reaching what had been right in front of you.

It was an array made to trap.

An array made for the Nan family.

The Nan family’s four seasons bridgeway art paired with it perfectly.

Normal cultivators couldn’t promise they’d move freely here.

Only Nan family people could.

Zhi looked around. The roof was gone. The crowd was gone. Even the colored land fragments seemed to dissolve into a shifting haze.

Good.

The exit was close.

She drew a slow breath, searching her memory for the method to leave the array—a method every Nan family inheritor was forced to master.

Wang Jie and Mo Wan Yin reached her position, startling her.

Zhi turned, eyes widening. “You?”

“Now,” Wang Jie snapped.

He lunged with Jia Eight Steps. Mo Wan Yin struck with him.

Zhi stepped back once—clean, decisive—

And vanished.

Their attacks tore through empty air.

Wang Jie and Mo Wan Yin spun, searching, but Zhi was gone.

Mo Wan Yin’s eyes narrowed. “Most people wouldn’t move recklessly inside an array like this. But she stepped back without hesitation. She knows it.”

She looked at Wang Jie. “She’s the Nan family descendant.”

Wang Jie’s jaw tightened. “So it’s her.”

He exhaled, bitter. “The one who kept stoking Shao Ling Er’s rage… the one who pushed everything… I should have realized sooner.”

Mo Wan Yin gave him a look, half disbelief. “Pushed? We really were tailing Shao Ling Er.”

Wang Jie didn’t argue.

Mo Wan Yin kept her voice low. “What now? She’s gone. In this array, finding her again is nearly impossible. Moving blindly is suicidal.”

Wang Jie forced himself to steady. “Lost-Trace Grand Array isn’t a killing array. It’s meant to trap. Let’s move carefully. Feel out the surroundings.”

They edged forward, staying close.

Then a familiar figure emerged from the haze ahead.

Pei Lin.

Mo Wan Yin’s expression went flat. “Looks like we still have a score to settle.”

Pei Lin sneered. “You really think you can beat me? You’re underestimating a sword court true disciple.”

Mo Wan Yin’s eyes flashed. “Junior Brother, he’s looking down on us.”

Thunder flared.

She attacked.

Pei Lin retreated instantly, his figure slipping away into the shifting void.

Mo Wan Yin chased a few steps—then stopped, frowning. He was gone.

She turned.

“Wang Jie?”

No answer.

The air swallowed sound. The array turned distance into nonsense.

Wang Jie, meanwhile, stood alone in a different patch of distorted space, realizing Mo Wan Yin was gone.

Just like that.

He swallowed, not daring to move too fast. In this array, one careless step could put him into a predator’s arms.

He pulled out the star compass.

If star dao masters were truly as unfathomable as everyone claimed, then let it prove itself here.

He poured qi into it.

The star compass stirred. Three distinct streams of qi appeared within its detection range.

Wang Jie’s eyes lit up.

So the array could twist space and time… but it couldn’t fully block the star compass.

One of the qi streams was moving away.

Wang Jie locked onto it and moved, heart hammering.

That had to be Nan Zhi. Everyone else would be as cautious as he was. They wouldn’t walk boldly through the array unless they knew the way.

He took a few steps.

The void shifted.

Wang Jie glanced back—and cold sank into his gut. The place he’d been a moment ago was already unreachable, as if it had never existed.

He checked the star compass again.

The moving qi was still there.

He followed.

Elsewhere in the array, Nan Zhi watched starforce threads cut across the void and silently calculated. She picked a direction.

Just as she moved, a chill swept in from behind.

She dodged—too slow.

A crushing force seized her whole body.

Nan Zhi’s eyes snapped up.

“You again?”