Before the gunmen could pull their triggers, Chen Chuan was already moving. He shot forward abruptly, but the men seemed just barely able to track his movements. Muzzles flashed in an instant.

Chen Chuan simply raised an arm to shield his head and face, ignoring the rest of his body. When the bullets struck him, he only felt slight jolts against his Protective Clothing before they ricocheted off, one after another.

He spun fiercely with his blade. A flash of light was followed by a sound—a sickening mix of slicing flesh, guns, metal, and leather. In that same instant, a gash appeared on the walls of the car.

The row of gunmen ahead of him froze for a moment before their upper torsos all toppled to the ground. Everything they held, including their weapons, had been neatly severed along a single, perfectly smooth line.

Chen Chuan stared straight ahead and lunged, his body wreathed in the light of his blade. He tore forward like an avalanche, and by the time he stopped, the train cars behind him were littered with severed limbs and torsos.

He had now reached the third-to-last car. There were no seats here. Three men with Shields stood at the front, while others in the back held guns to the heads of the company representatives.

But despite their predicament, the representatives were still just repeating the same words over and over.

At first, the members of the resistance group found it amusing, but now they were just annoyed, itching to put a bullet in each of them.

Bao Yuan stood behind the others, staring at Chen Chuan with shock and suspicion. He clenched his jaw. ’Everything was a success. I even sent the telegram.’ He hadn’t expected a Fighter, possibly at the Third Limit, to show up and ruin everything.

He wasn’t sure if this man was part of Yangzhi City’s guard detail for the train or if his presence was premeditated. But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. In any case, he already had the most important hostages.

He shouted, "Stop! Are you with the Yangzhi City Government? These are representatives from major corporations! One more step and they’re dead! You’re fast, but so are we. You can bet your life on who’s quicker—our trigger fingers, or your feet!"

He wasn’t just bluffing. The moment they heard gunshots outside, the elites of their team had all taken combat drugs. Now, their eyes were bloodshot, and they were in a state of heightened awareness and excitement, allowing them to barely keep up with Chen Chuan’s movements.

But Chen Chuan seemed not to have heard him. He brandished his Long Blade and continued to walk forward. Seeing that he was unfazed, Bao Yuan raised his gun and, BANG, shot one of the company representatives dead.

He snarled, "I’m not joking! These are all representatives of foreign companies. If they die here, you can’t bear that responsibility! Back off now, or none of them will leave here alive!"

The drug’s effects were limited. If they didn’t show Chen Chuan their resolve and just waited, they would be dead for sure once the drug wore off. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Chen glanced over, stopped, and then slowly began to back away. The men watched him nervously, but seeing him retreat, they relaxed slightly.

Chen Chuan’s expression was calm. ’I need to resolve this quickly. The Esoteric Ritual has an invasive effect as well. If this drags on, even if the passengers are lucky enough to wake up later, they will likely suffer irreversible damage.’

’Compared to all the other passengers, these company representatives are just a few. I’ll save them if I can, but if I can’t, so be it. If this standoff continues, everyone will be lost.’

’But if I act now, they at least have a slim chance of survival.’

’So...’

He had now retreated to the doorway, putting some distance between himself and Bao Yuan. Then, he stomped down hard. The wooden floorboards beneath him cracked instantly, and the wall panels near the doorframe twisted and warped as he shot forward like an arrow!

The instant he moved, the members of the resistance group opened fire on their hostages without hesitation. And amid the gunshots,

Chen Chuan crashed right into them. Whether it was the Shields blocking his path or the bodies behind them, anything he touched was sent flying. They landed with shattered bones and ruptured organs. Then, the light of the Snow Monarch Blade bloomed, and with every flash, heads flew into the air.

At the back, Bao Yuan saw Chen Chuan charge in recklessly and was filled with fury and astonishment. He roared and threw a punch straight at Chen Chuan. The drug he had taken was undoubtedly the best, and his own strength was the greatest here. The punch was perfect in both accuracy and power.

Chen Chuan’s gaze flickered. He saw that the skin on the back of Bao Yuan’s hand was tinged green, and something inside looked like it was about to burst out. Realizing something was wrong, he didn’t try to cut it with his blade. Instead, he thrust his elbow outward while simultaneously using the hilt of his blade to parry, deflecting the arm with a burst of Soft Force.

But then, something unexpected happened. With a HISS, three tongue-like whips shot out of Bao Yuan’s mouth. One came from the front, while the other two pierced through his cheeks, stabbing at Chen Chuan’s head from both sides.

Chen Chuan executed a simple, nimble duck. In a single step, he not only dodged all three tongue-whips but also slipped past Bao Yuan. At the same time, he brought his blade to Bao Yuan’s neck and, using his forward momentum, dragged it across. The sound of scraping against something hard immediately rang out.

The skin was torn, revealing a black, chitinous subdermal plate. Chen Chuan’s expression remained unchanged. He twisted at the waist and, with a surge of strength, dragged his blade!

This time, the protective plate couldn’t hold. As the blade slid through, the head was pulled off. It bounced once on the floor before rolling to the side. The three tongue-whips were still thrashing about.

Seeing no other living enemies around, Chen Chuan finally stood up straight. He stared at the tongue-whips, recognizing the origin of these Implants.

"This is... a Secret Snake Sect Implant?"

He had seen Tan Wang’s shopping list for Implants, and this item was on it. It seemed the Secret Snake Sect both performed surgical implantations for its own members and sold their products to others. He couldn’t tell if this man was personally connected to the Secret Snake Sect or had simply purchased their implant services.

But that had nothing to do with him.

He looked away, took a few steps, and grabbed the handle of the door to the next car, intending to see if there were any more resistance members behind it.

But when he opened the door, his eyes narrowed.

Because on the other side lay several familiar-looking bodies. One was smashed against the wall of the car, another had its head blown apart by a rock, and on the nearby car door, he could still see the gash from his blade. This was clearly the scene from the first car he had entered.

But he was clearly in one of the last cars now!

He glanced at his Second Self and saw that it was flickering erratically—a sign of being under a strong invasive influence.

His mind raced. He closed the door, turned around, and looked back the way he came, only to find the exact same scene he had just witnessed.

He had clearly turned around, yet nothing was different.

’Even if an Esoteric Ritual could have an effect, it would be mostly mental. The physical influence would be relatively weak. So this isn’t an Esoteric Ritual... it’s a *kaidan*!’

’Esoteric Buddhism can bind a *kaidan* through certain rituals and then utilize it—like the Two-Faced Heart-Monster, the Mountain Ghosts of Xieshan, and now... this one.’

’However, while I don’t know much about Esoteric Rituals, when it comes to *kaidan*... this is a field I’m familiar with.’

He thought calmly, ’This *kaidan* couldn’t have been created from thin air by a ritual. No Esoteric Ritual is capable of that. It must have been taken from Xieshan, its source, and then bound.’

He searched his memory for a moment and found a very similar phenomenon in the Three Mountains Legend: the Mizang Road.

According to legend, there is a path on Xieshan that, if someone accidentally wanders onto it, they can never reach the end, whether they go up or down. They are forced to walk in circles on the same stretch of road until they are trapped there and die.

In this legend, it’s said that a little ghost is playing hide-and-seek with people. To escape, you must hide somewhere the ghost can’t find you.

’But if you actually try to find a physical hiding spot, you’ll probably never get out. There’s only one way.’

He closed his eyes, reached out, and grabbed the doorknob to the side. He turned it, then took a step through.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a car he had never been in before.

When you encounter the Mizang Road, all you have to do is close your eyes. In doing so, you have "hidden" where the little ghost cannot "find" you. Then, you can leave the mountain.

The most difficult part of this on a mountain path, however, is that it’s impossible to walk with your eyes closed; you’d most likely fall to your death first. But on a train, that wasn’t a problem.

Of course, this only worked because he knew the solution. Anyone else would have been truly trapped for some time. The most dangerous part of a *kaidan* isn’t the phenomenon itself, but the constant, invasive influence. A person can only withstand it for so long.

But just because he had escaped didn’t mean the problem was solved. He had broken free of the influence, but the others were still trapped within it. He had to break the *kaidan* itself, and to do that, he needed to find the ghost!

He surveyed his surroundings. This should be the second-to-last car. Strangely, there was no sign that the resistance members had come here. It was as if they had automatically overlooked this car.

But the problem was, even if this car had no passengers, they should have posted one or two guards here to watch their backs under normal circumstances.

Considering the nature of the *kaidan*, an answer had already formed in his mind.

He continued forward to the last car. He closed his eyes, grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door. Then he opened his eyes.

There were no seats in the car ahead, only various pieces of luggage. And on one of the crates in the middle sat a person whose face was painted with Secret Ceremony Patterns.

When this person saw Chen Chuan open the door, they looked up in astonishment. Then, panicking, they scrambled to their feet and shuffled backward, stammering, "You... how did you get here? Y-You, stay back."

...

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