Chapter 330

Chapter 330: Must Win – Wang Jie

Shao Gu Chen’s face twisted as starforce flared beneath his feet. He charged straight at Zhou Ye.

Zhou Ye fixed his gaze on a single point and raised his bow.

The arrow shot forward. Shao Gu Chen flicked his hand, certain he could swat it aside—only for his fingers to pass straight through it. The arrow grazed his shoulder, slicing a thin line of blood.

The arena went still.

What was going on?

Shao Gu Chen had been the first to bleed?

He’d already thrown out two moves, yet that cross-eyed man acted like none of it mattered. How?

Zhou Ye studied him with quiet seriousness. “Careful. No one can catch my arrows.”

Arrogant.

Shao Gu Chen lunged again. Another arrow came. This time he reached for it, determined to see what was special about Zhou Ye’s archery.

His hand closed on air.

He’d expected that. He twisted aside and dodged.

Then arrows appeared one after another, filling the sky. Zhou Ye’s firing speed turned the air into a downpour of shafts.

Starforce surged inside Shao Gu Chen, shaking the void as he tried to scatter the rain.

The arrows didn’t even tremble.

It felt like: you block your way, I shoot mine, and neither of us cares what the other is doing.

Shao Gu Chen watched the arrows draw closer and could only keep dodging. What the hell was this?

He looked at Zhou Ye. Zhou Ye stared back, deadly solemn, his cross-eyed gaze nearly overlapping as he loosed another shot.

Shao Gu Chen dodged again.

He still couldn’t understand it.

Even Bu Zou Guan’s void power wasn’t this bizarre.

Over at Bu Zou Guan, even Qin Xiao Shu frowned. “What’s going on?”

Beside him, a girl shook her head, eyes wide. “Strange. It’s similar to ours, but completely different.”

She turned to the old man beside her. “Master, what is it?”

A weathered gaze rested on the light screen. His voice stayed calm. “Watch. Figure it out yourself. If you can grasp it, you can take one more step.”

For once, Qin Xiao Shu watched with real focus.

No one expected a single Zhou Ye to push Shao Gu Chen—the one awarded the Enlightenment Tea—into this state.

Mostly because no one could understand Zhou Ye’s style.

Neither he nor his arrows could be touched. If you couldn’t solve that, you couldn’t deal with him.

Shao Gu Chen stared at Zhou Ye and wove through the arrow rain.

If he couldn’t block it, he’d dodge it.

Far away, Wang Jie watched as well. With Qi Sight, the qi within Zhou Ye looked ordinary—nothing special. Starforce flowed from his body, condensed into arrows, and flew. That was all.

Bridgeway Art.

It was the only explanation Wang Jie could come up with.

Many others thought the same.

But no one knew how Zhou Ye was using Bridgeway Art.

Shao Gu Chen closed the distance and struck with his palm.

White frost gathered in his hand, tracing the lines of his palm like ice veins. With a single strike, even the void seemed to freeze.

Frost Calamity Palm.

One of Cheng Yi Dao’s signature techniques.

Anyone struck by it would have their starforce locked in ice. The cold would follow the starforce, freezing meridians, blood, even thought itself.

But the palm still missed.

Zhou Ye kicked Shao Gu Chen away instead, sending him stumbling back in a mess.

Terrifying strength.

Shao Gu Chen lifted his head, grim. This man’s methods weren’t just strange—his raw power was monstrous, too.

Trouble.

On a nearby arena, Gui Xiao Die watched with rare seriousness. The smile she usually wore was gone, replaced by a heavy, wary stare fixed on Zhou Ye.

She couldn’t see through it either. If Zhou Ye were in the Hundred-Star Realm—or even the Roaming-Star Realm—it would make sense. But at the same realm… she’d never expected anyone’s methods to surprise her like this.

Zhou Ye kept firing as if he could never tire. Each arrow carried just enough force—not too much, not too little—while Shao Gu Chen could only keep dodging. The longer it dragged on, the more suffocating it felt.

How could the Enlightenment Tea recipient look this miserable?

He was someone meant to surpass Shu Mu Ye.

As that thought flashed, a bone in his chest lit up—the Earth-Abyss Tribulation Bone.

In the next instant, starforce surged from the glowing bone and formed a chain that whipped toward Zhou Ye. Zhou Ye jolted and dodged on instinct.

It was the first time he’d dodged in this fight.

The chain pierced the void and lashed at him again.

This time, Zhou Ye didn’t dodge. He let it sweep through him.

It passed straight through.

The chain smashed into the arena, carving a deep gouge.

Hearts tightened across the stands.

That arena was absurdly tough. Leaving a mark like that meant that among everyone in the Full-Star Realm tournament, fewer than ten people could take that move head-on without injury.

But it didn’t matter if it couldn’t hit.

A bone on Shao Gu Chen’s forehead lit up—the Heaven-Surge Tribulation Bone.

An arrow appeared before him. His eyes widened. With a roar, starforce erupted in an explosive surge that twisted the void. He shook the entire space in front of him, and for the first time, the arrow wavered.

Zhou Ye immediately fired a second arrow. It shattered the first—and then followed the first arrow’s path straight into Shao Gu Chen.

Shao Gu Chen raised a hand to catch it.

The arrowhead slipped through his palm and stabbed into his body, but it didn’t pass through.

He’d jammed it in place with sheer flesh and force.

He stood there, unmoving.

Blood ran down the shaft. Slowly, he lifted his head to look at Zhou Ye, the corner of his mouth curling into a faint smile. “So that’s how it is.”

Zhou Ye tightened his grip on the bow and pointed at him from afar. “Your Excellency, you see it now?”

Shao Gu Chen clicked his tongue, half in awe. He yanked the arrow out, spraying blood across the stone.

“If I hadn’t used the Heaven-Surge Tribulation Bone to triple my battle power and force my body to erupt, that arrow would have passed through me. I’d never have seen it.”

He looked at Zhou Ye with a proud, bitter smile. “But even if I see through it, what then? The direction can change.”

Zhou Ye lowered his bow, genuine admiration in his eyes. “Since I stepped into the cultivation world, no one at the same realm has ever seen through it. You’re Shao Gu Chen. I’ll remember you.”

Shao Gu Chen held his gaze. “I’ll remember you too.”

He drew a slow breath. “My Shao Clan has the Three-Tribulation Bone. Right now, even if I push my Human-Pinnacle Tribulation Bone to the limit, I still can’t do anything to you. But it’ll be different at the Roaming-Star Realm tournament.”

His eyes sharpened. “By then, I—Shao Gu Chen—will transform. Zhou Ye, remember this: I will beat you at the Roaming-Star Realm tournament.”

Zhou Ye’s expression turned solemn. “Don’t worry. I’ll remember.”

Shao Gu Chen had lost.

Only then did he truly see the gap between himself and Zhou Ye. Even at full power, he still couldn’t win.

The truly tragic ones were those who couldn’t even see the gap.

The Full-Star Realm tournament was only a warm-up. The real Starry Sky Martial Tournament had two stages: the Roaming-Star Realm stage, which could decide a Wandering God, and the Hundred-Star Realm stage, which could earn a place in Tian Cang.

Too many geniuses suppressed their cultivation to stay in the Full-Star Realm, just to trade blows with the top experts of the Four Bridge-Pillars. Even then, it was only a greeting. Their true battlefield was the next tournament.

That was true for Shao Gu Chen.

And it was true for Wen Qing, too.

With Shao Gu Chen’s defeat, the atmosphere surged again.

No one expected that cross-eyed man to actually beat him.

Now everyone was desperate to know what Zhou Ye’s power really was—what kind of method forced Shao Gu Chen to use the Three-Tribulation Bone and Bridgeway Art just to see through it.

After Zhou Ye defeated Shao Gu Chen, his gaze returned to Gui Xiao Die.

He still wanted her to apologize.

Gui Xiao Die’s expression had changed completely when she looked at him—heavy, wary, and hungry with curiosity about his power. But apologize?

No chance. Men. Hmph.

This round ended quickly.

The next few matches weren’t anything special. The only exception might have been Ting Chen. The Star Vault Vista hadn’t reported on her, so most people lumped her together with the lucky ones.

Only Wang Jie knew better.

This woman had to be strong.

She just hadn’t met a real opponent yet.

When Wang Jie opened his eyes, he was back in Lockspace. He stood.

He could rest another day.

Ten people remained.

The next round would cut ten to five. Maybe someone could ride their luck a little longer, but the round after that would be different.

He didn’t know who his next opponent would be.

—

At the Eastern Dipper Bridge-Pillar, at the Cold-Smoke Ferry, Gui Xiao Die opened her eyes. Beside her was a huge eye—the Three-Legged Mystic Turtle.

She patted the eye lightly. “Don’t worry. No one is my match.”

The turtle looked at her gently. Then its pupil rolled and fixed on the space ahead. The softness vanished from its aura, replaced by sharp menace.

“You don’t have to do that, old friend,” a voice drawled. “We’ve met a few times.”

The turtle’s gaze stayed hard. Its body sank slightly, and at the same time, starforce wrapped around Gui Xiao Die as if shielding her.

Gui Xiao Die leaned forward, curious. Who was here?

“What are you here for?”

A deep voice answered. She recognized it instantly—her own Old Ancestor.

“I’m delivering a message for someone.”

“Speak.”

“If, in the next match, Gui Xiao Die meets Wang Jie, she must win—no matter what it costs.”

Gui Xiao Die’s eyes widened. Wang Jie?

That lockforce cultivator who’d been awarded the Enlightenment Tea alongside her?

He’d beaten Yuan Mu. His strength was decent. She remembered him.

—

At the Ancient Sword Bridge-Pillar, at the Sword Pool, Hou Qing Ge sat on her meditation cushion, replaying the fight between Zhou Ye and Shao Gu Chen.

What power was that?

Void?

No. If it were void, Shao Gu Chen wouldn’t have been helpless.

Cheng Yi Dao had fought Bu Zou Guan before.

And Jing Hong, Gui Xiao Die—each of them was unfathomable. Reaching the end would be brutal.

Mother and daughter would fight like hell to stand at the end.

A voice came from outside. “Xiao Ge, are you in there?”

Hou Qing Ge frowned toward the door.

Her room was tiny, perched right on the cliff’s edge. No one came here.

Dry vines hung from the eaves. Dust lay everywhere.

“Xiao Ge?”

“What is it?”

“Xiao Ge, in the next match, if your opponent is Wang Jie, you must win.”

Hou Qing Ge froze.

Even after she’d been awarded the Enlightenment Tea, her nominal father—the Sword Pool’s successor Sword Lord—hadn’t once come to see her.

Now he came… because of Wang Jie?

She said nothing.

The successor Sword Lord spoke again, unusually gentle. “Xiao Ge, Father knows he’s wronged you. Just help Father this once. No matter what, you must win. Use any method you can. Don’t worry about the Roaming-Star Realm tournament. Don’t worry about others seeing through your sword arts. I promise—if you win, from this day on, the Sword Pool’s resources will all tilt toward you. Learn whatever you want.”

His voice hardened. “And your mother—oh, that woman—Father guarantees she won’t trouble you again.”

Hou Qing Ge stared out through the doorway. “I understand.”

The successor Sword Lord finally exhaled. “Good. Rest. Father won’t bother you.”

With that, he left.

Hou Qing Ge’s gaze trembled.

She knew her father well. What would force him to lower himself and bargain like this?

Wang Jie?

Was he worth that?

But even if he hadn’t asked, she would still win. She would win to the very end—to show Mother, and to show the entire Sword Pool.

—

At the Eastern Dipper Bridge-Pillar, at Reverse-Delusion Mountain, a voice asked softly, “Old friend, are you still there?”

“What is it?”

“Help me. If Wu Ming’s next opponent is Wang Jie, he must win.”

“You’ve gone too far,” the other voice said coldly. “Why make things hard for a child with no future?”

“He can only blame himself for following the wrong person.”

“Heaven has its justice. Cause and effect will come around. Don’t push people too far.”

“I only know how to cut weeds by the root. When this is over, Grave Chain’s favor is wiped clean.”

—

At the Star Vault Vista, a furious roar echoed through the stars. “Get lost. I’m not getting involved in your petty mess, and don’t you dare try to command my Star Vault Vista people.”

The voice didn’t stop. “Let me tell you—even the Dao of Heaven isn’t perfect. You think you can wipe everything out clean, but you’re only leaving trouble for yourselves.”

“And one more thing—that child’s life is one I’ve protected.”