# 534
Chapter 534 – Coordinates
Inside the car, deathly silence reigned.
Horns and engines rose and fell outside, yet not a whisper pierced the cabin; with its monstrous sound-proofing and shock absorption, the vehicle might as well have been severed from the world.
Lin Qiye and the others sat on the couch, wordless.
“This… can’t be real,” Baili Pangpang muttered, brows locked tight. “He’s Great Xia’s Sword Saint, a man who can stand equal to gods—how could he…”
“Being equal to gods doesn’t mean invincible.” An Qingyu spoke slowly from the side. “What lies beyond the Fog has always been beyond human control. The Sword Saint can duel a single god, but who can guarantee… there’s only one out there?”
“You think he was besieged by several?” Lin Qiye’s face was grave.
“Only a guess.” An Qingyu adjusted his glasses. “After all, few beings can threaten the Sword Saint. In single combat, even if he couldn’t win, he could still withdraw safely—unless the enemy numbered more than one god.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Nothing… at least, nothing we can do…”
“So we just sit here?” Baili Pangpang’s voice cracked. “That’s the Sword Saint! The man who swept floors, washed dishes, led us all the way here! He’s done everything for us, and now he’s dying while we wait?”
When Baili Pangpang’s outburst faded, the cabin was quieter than ever.
Lin Qiye sat in silence for a long time, then exhaled. “Commander Ye was right: we don’t know where that city drifts within the Fog, we have no way to protect ourselves out there, and the city flies— even riding an earth-dragon we couldn’t catch it…”
An Qingyu’s eyes narrowed behind his lenses, as though something had clicked. “Actually… we can learn its location.”
Everyone turned to him at once.
“How?” Lin Qiye asked.
An Qingyu pushed his glasses. “Qiye, remember the array you drew with worker-ant blood in the primeval forest outside Fengdu?”
Lin Qiye blinked. “The dimensional-summoning circle?”
“That one.” An Qingyu nodded. “While you drew, I was using [Unique Correct Answer] to analyze it. It’s essentially an ‘anchor’ that can link multiple spaces.”
Correct.
Lin Qiye had inherited the complete knowledge of summoning magic; he knew the array’s principle. The circle acted as an anchor fixing his soul in place. While his soul drifted across planes, the anchor kept it connected to his body, letting him sign contracts and then recall his spirit.
In short, the array functioned as a “coordinate.”
“If I draw an identical array somewhere else, causing it to resonate with the original anchor in the forest, I can reverse-calculate the spatial coordinates.” An Qingyu spoke calmly.
Lin Qiye’s brows knitted. “But the two arrays must be perfectly identical. When I drew it, the ant blood spread slightly, shifting the coordinates. Unless every minute deviation is reproduced, the arrays won’t resonate.”
His tone turned helpless. “At the time, I didn’t note those details…”
“I did.” An Qingyu smiled; a faint grey glint flickered behind his lenses. “I can replicate it perfectly.”
Hope stirred in everyone’s chest.
“So we can locate the city?” Shen Qingzhu mused. “Then how do we get there?”
Moving through the Fog and catching a flying city—this was the crucial problem.
The question dropped like a stone; silence returned.
Modern electronics fail in the Fog—flying a plane was impossible.
A Flame-Vein Earth Dragon could tunnel underground, but the moment it surfaced the Fog would swallow them again…
They simply had no means.
As the group racked their brains, Lin Qiye’s phone rang.
He glanced at the unknown number, hesitated, then answered.
“Hello?”
“…”
“Instructor Yuan?!” Lin Qiye exclaimed.
At those words, Cao Yuan, Baili Pangpang, Shen Qingzhu and Jiang Er all turned.
“…All right.”
A brief exchange, and Lin Qiye hung up.
He looked at the others.
“Instructor Yuan says to meet him for a meal later.”
“Now that’s a good instructor,” Baili Pangpang drawled. “Heard we’re in Shangjing and treats us—unlike certain surnamed Ye and Zuo…”
Under normal circumstances, reuniting with the boot-camp chief instructor for food and drinks would be pure joy.
But after today’s news, no one felt festive.
“Should we go?” Jiang Er’s voice drifted from the MP3.
“Yes. We haven’t seen Instructor Yuan in ages; since we’re in Shangjing, we go.” Lin Qiye paused. “Besides, he’s the Night Watch’s head drillmaster—half a top-brass. Maybe he can help…”
Eyes lit up around the cabin.
…
Evening.
Dressed in casual clothes, the group stepped onto a bustling snack street.
“Instructor Yuan picked… here?” Baili Pangpang rose on tiptoe. “It’s just a snack street.”
“This is the address.” Lin Qiye double-checked and nodded.
“What’s wrong with a snack street?” Jialan sniffed the fragrant air, eyes sparkling. “Smells amazing…”
To avoid complications, An Qingyu had left Jiang Er’s body in the car. The street was short and within her magnetic range, so Jiang Er tucked herself into the MP3 on An Qingyu’s waist, peeking out secretly.
They followed the aromas until a shop sign reading “Barbecue King” made them stop.
At the long table outside, a familiar figure waved.
“Over here.”
It was the first time any of them had seen Yuan Gang in civilian clothes. Even a loose knit sweater couldn’t hide the slabs of muscle beneath, and his ram-rod posture made him stand out in the crowd.