Chapter 305

Chapter 305: Unfair

The figure who appeared beside Nan Zhi and seized her was Wang Jie.

He clamped a hand around her arm, lips curling. “Found you.”

Nan Zhi stared at him, disbelief flashing across her face. “How did you find me?”

“Luck.”

She didn’t believe him. But if it wasn’t luck, what else could it be? How could he possibly have tracked her down in a place like this?

“You know who I am,” she said tightly.

“Trouble,” Wang Jie replied. “Lead the way.”

“Lead you where? For what?”

“For whatever it is you came here to do.”

Nan Zhi drew a steadying breath and tried to wrench free. She couldn’t. His grip was like iron, and the strength behind it was far beyond her limits.

“Let go of me first.”

Wang Jie gave a low laugh. “In a place like this? If I let go, you’ll bolt.”

“If you don’t let go, how am I supposed to find the route?”

“That’s your problem.”

Nan Zhi’s brow twitched. “So you don’t want what the Nan family hid anymore?”

“Doesn’t matter. With you in hand, everything comes sooner or later.”

Helpless, one arm pinned and escape impossible, she tried a different angle. “How did you know my identity?”

Wang Jie didn’t answer. His gaze sharpened on her.

Her qi was moving.

She was trying something.

His leg snapped up. His knee drove into her abdomen with vicious force. Nan Zhi doubled over, coughing hard as blood sprayed from her lips. The strike was so sudden and heavy it nearly shook her organs loose.

“You—cough, cough—are you insane?”

One hand clutched her stomach. Her trapped arm screamed with pain where his fingers bit in.

Wang Jie’s eyes were cold. “Don’t try anything. You won’t like what happens next.”

“What did I even do? Cough—I…”

Heat surged through her arm, searing as if it had ignited from within. Wang Jie reflexively released her.

Nan Zhi sprang back. Nine massive wheels wreathed in flame spun into existence around her—a Chen artifact. Her glare was vicious, but she didn’t waste words. She retreated at once.

The heat vanished as abruptly as it had come.

Wang Jie took a step forward, then stopped. She was already gone.

She’d guessed he had Qi Sight. After he struck her, she’d stilled her qi completely, baiting him into relaxing—then attacked with her Chen artifact and fled.

He didn’t underestimate her for a second. She wasn’t just an elite disciple of Cheng Yi Dao with strength comparable to a Six-Path Roamer. She was Nan family blood, with deep resources and deeper cards. People like her didn’t go down cleanly.

Wang Jie pulled out the Star Compass.

There.

She had clearly fled toward the front-right, yet the Star Compass placed her on his left. This formation wasn’t just blocking paths—it was twisting perception itself.

He turned left without hesitation.

A heartbeat later, Nan Zhi came into view again.

Her eyes widened. He really could find her.

She hadn’t run immediately. She’d waited, watching to see whether he could truly track her through the maze.

He could.

“How?” she snapped. “How are you finding me?”

Wang Jie stepped forward, Jia Eight Steps flashing underfoot.

Nan Zhi dodged instantly, her figure slipping away again.

Wang Jie’s eyes dropped to the Star Compass. He chased.

Unless she could blast out of the compass’s maximum range in one burst, she couldn’t shake him.

So it became a hunt—Nan Zhi fleeing, Wang Jie following, neither willing to give the other a breath.

Nan Zhi abandoned her original destination entirely. She didn’t dare lead him anywhere near it. But running like this wasn’t an answer either. They’d already crossed paths with enemies. Keep going, and sooner or later they’d stumble into a Hundred-Star Realm powerhouse.

Wang Jie wasn’t worried. If anything, the Star Compass made this safer. It told him what lay ahead on the route she chose—what cultivation levels, what threats—and he adjusted accordingly.

Nan Zhi gritted her teeth. This couldn’t continue.

She scanned both sides. After all this time, she’d grown more familiar with the formation. Not enough to navigate cleanly, but enough to sense whether someone was nearby.

There—someone close.

If she could pull an ally in, they could pin Wang Jie down.

She veered sideways.

And came face-to-face with a man waiting in wary stillness.

Pei Lin.

He’d been here a long while, afraid to move. When Nan Zhi burst out, his eyes widened.

“You’re from Dao Yi Club?” he demanded.

Nan Zhi’s gaze flicked over him, then she pointed behind her. “Wang Jie is coming.”

Pei Lin’s pupils flared. “Who?”

The next instant, Wang Jie appeared.

Wang Jie’s stomach sank. Pei Lin would definitely pounce on him.

Sure enough, Pei Lin’s lips curled into a cold smile. His sword lifted, pointing at Wang Jie from afar. “What a coincidence, little kid. And tell me—how do you have the nerve to run around in here?”

“Pei Lin,” Nan Zhi said quickly, “we’re both outsiders to the Bei Dou Bridge-Pillar. Join me and kill him.”

She wasn’t afraid Wang Jie would expose her identity. If he did, he’d lose everything too.

Besides, she had no intention of actually killing him.

She only needed Pei Lin to tie him up—long enough to escape. If the situation turned into a real kill attempt, Wang Jie would absolutely drag her secret into the light.

Wang Jie frowned, about to speak, but Pei Lin’s sword was already coming.

Nan Zhi exhaled and turned to run.

Wang Jie tried to shake Pei Lin with Jia Eight Steps, but then Nan Zhi’s path was cut off again.

A bald man stepped into view.

Wu Ming.

Nan Zhi halted, startled. Another one?

Reverse-Delusion Mountain… the Full-Star Realm genius?

Pei Lin saw him too and snorted, unbothered. “Just a Full-Star Realm.”

Maybe impressive if he’d been brought here, but how many monsters could there really be?

Nan Zhi shifted, searching for another route.

Wang Jie used the opening to slip away from Pei Lin with Jia Eight Steps. Rain fell, and sword qi swept out toward Nan Zhi.

She released Starforce. With both hands, two opposing forces slammed together, forming a shockwave that scattered the rain. Sword qi struck—and she didn’t move, steady as stone.

Pei Lin’s sword came down.

Wu Ming raised a hand.

A strange light gathered in his palm, a vortex spinning within it. He struck.

Pei Lin’s spine went cold. He twisted his blade to meet the palm strike—

Clang.

The impact drove Pei Lin back.

For a moment, everyone froze.

Pei Lin was a top-tier expert. Wu Ming was only Full-Star Realm. And yet he’d forced Pei Lin to retreat with a single palm.

Nan Zhi’s jaw tightened. Another freak.

Wang Jie wasn’t surprised. Wu Ming had always felt dangerous in a way he couldn’t name. Power like this made sense.

Pei Lin didn’t tolerate being pushed back. He lashed out, dense sword qi threading through every gap.

Wu Ming’s footwork blurred.

Afterimages layered and merged, spreading outward until even Pei Lin couldn’t tell where the real man stood.

Wang Jie and Nan Zhi couldn’t see through it either.

Pei Lin barked, “Reverse-Delusion Mountain. Three Thousand Steps. You cultivate the Non-Abiding Heart Scripture.”

All the afterimages fused into one. Wu Ming appeared directly in front of him and struck again.

Pei Lin retreated.

Among the four great Bridge-Pillars, Dong Dou was the hardest to read. It held Bu Zou Guan, who specialized in void power. It also held Reverse-Delusion Mountain, who cultivated mind over force.

Their methods were uncanny—capable of lifting someone higher… or “saving” them straight into death.

Even as a Full-Star Realm, someone who could cultivate the Non-Abiding Heart Scripture was enough to make Pei Lin wary.

Nan Zhi’s eyes narrowed. “I remember a legend. Dong Dou’s Reverse-Delusion Mountain has a youth who can ‘convert’ the world. They call him the Self-Imprisoned One.”

Pei Lin kept backing away, his sword qi condensing into steps that Wu Ming’s palm technique shattered. “You’re the Self-Imprisoned One?”

Wu Ming didn’t deny it. He didn’t confirm it either.

Wang Jie reached for Nan Zhi, forcing through the opposing forces with brute strength. But her Starforce was deeper and more violent than he expected. Her movement technique was no less refined—Cheng Yi Dao’s lineage showed in every step.

“Self-Imprisoned One!” Pei Lin shouted. “We’re outsiders to Bei Dou Bridge-Pillar. We should be hunting Bei Dou’s people. Why are you attacking me?”

Wu Ming stopped. Then, slowly, he turned toward Wang Jie, expression earnest.

“That’s a fair point.”

Wang Jie’s face twitched.

If Wu Ming turned on him, and Pei Lin stayed hostile, and Nan Zhi decided to pile on, he’d be facing three monsters at once.

Not good.

He stared at Nan Zhi. “And you? What do you say?”

Pei Lin looked at him like he’d lost his mind. Nan Zhi had been the one to suggest teaming up in the first place. Why ask her now?

But Nan Zhi hesitated.

Pei Lin’s voice turned sharp. “Cheng Yi Dao. What’s that look supposed to mean? You were the one who wanted to surround-kill him.”

Wang Jie wasn’t afraid of her. If she tried to truly kill him, he’d expose her identity on the spot.

Nan Zhi ground her teeth. “I think… three against one is unfair.”

Pei Lin went blank.

Wang Jie lifted his chin and murmured to Nan Zhi, low enough that only she could hear, “Find a chance to run.”

She shot him a furious look. As if she needed the reminder.

Pei Lin finally exploded. “Are you sick? You started this! Two people surrounding him is fine, but three isn’t?”

Nan Zhi spread her hands, deadpan. “I hate the number three. Happy?”

Pei Lin stared, speechless.

Wu Ming moved first, stepping through Three Thousand Steps as he charged Wang Jie.

Cold poured into the space around them.

Wang Jie answered with Jia Eight Steps.

In the cramped space, footwork clashed like blades.

Pei Lin slashed for Wang Jie. Nan Zhi struck—her opposing forces slammed into Pei Lin instead. Pei Lin nearly choked on a curse.

Nan Zhi tried to retreat while she had the opening.

Wu Ming’s steps appeared behind her.

No retreat.

Pei Lin leapt, Starforce detonating. Sword qi rained down in a brutal sweep.

Wu Ming’s palm came for Wang Jie.

The mysterious light and the vortex within it were viciously strange. Wang Jie raised his left arm and took it head-on. His whole body felt as if it were being torn apart by that light—while the vortex tried to swallow the Lockforce he’d released.

Reverse-Delusion Mountain’s battle art.

But the bracer on his wrist dulled the worst of it.

Wang Jie flashed to Nan Zhi with Sword Steps. His finger stabbed out—Myriad-Stars Finger.

Nan Zhi snapped out her Chen artifact, and heat roared into the sky, breaking through the clashing Starforce and wiping out sight itself.

In that instant of obscured vision, they ran.

A single breath later, they entered an adjacent zone. The formation swallowed the aftershocks of the battle behind them as if the fight had never happened.

Nan Zhi kept running.

Wang Jie checked the Star Compass and followed.

Don’t even think about losing me.

Behind them, Wu Ming and Pei Lin chased—only to head the wrong way. The formation’s distortion had fooled them.

Not long after, Nan Zhi found herself face-to-face with Wang Jie again, and the look she gave him was pure outrage. Her eyes dropped to the Star Compass in his hand.

“No wonder. That’s how you’ve been sticking to me. You’re a star dao master.”

Wang Jie’s lips twitched. “You have decent eyes. But you’re wrong. I’m not a star dao master.”

Nan Zhi shook her head. “You are. You’re just not at Roaming-Star Realm yet, so you’re not official. But with that thing, you can use star dao methods.”

She stared at him hard. “Who are you, really? How does a Lockforce Cultivator become a star dao master?”

Wang Jie shrugged. “Is this really the time for that?”

He tilted his head. “Well? You ready to admit you can’t shake me?”