“Of course not.” Qinglong shook his head. “What we need is not a specific man or woman, but rather an ‘omnipotent god.’ Therefore, neither pure yang nor pure yin will do. As the books say, ‘when the two qi interact and resonate, all things are born’—this is precisely the principle.”

Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia exchanged glances, then slowly frowned. Qinglong seemed to have revealed a situation they had never heard of before.

Could it be that because someone had gotten too close to the peak… Qinglong had disclosed information that had never been disclosed before?

“As the saying goes, ‘when heaven and earth unite, all things are born; when yin and yang connect, transformations arise.'” Qinglong continued. “Two men naturally won’t work. Without ‘yin and yang,’ one cannot generate all things.”

Qi Xia suddenly thought of something at this moment.

This was indeed an obviously apparent issue that had always been overlooked.

“Qi Xia, do you see?” Qinglong extended his hand to point at the sky. “The sky is called ‘sky’ because it stands in opposition to the ‘earth.'”

The two turned their heads to look at the sky, pondering the meaning within Qinglong’s words.

“‘Yin’ and ‘yang’ are both opposed to each other and mutually dependent.” Qinglong said. “Without the ‘earth,’ even ‘heaven’ cannot be called ‘heaven.'”

“An interesting statement.” Qi Xia nodded. “You believe we are two ‘men,’ so we cannot succeed.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Qinglong nodded.

“So do we need to bring in a female teammate now?” Qi Xia asked again.

“No, no, no.” Qinglong shook his head with a smile. “Why go to such trouble?”

“Then what do you mean?” Qi Xia asked again.

“Just find a way to make it so only one of you two remains.” The madness in Qinglong’s eyes became increasingly uncontrollable. “You clever people often think of things as too complicated, but to me this matter is very simple.”

Chu Tianqiu also smiled as he looked at Qinglong: “Qinglong, we’ve already reached this point today. Do you think we would do such a thing? No matter how many grudges Qi Xia and I have, no matter how different our endpoints are, in front of you we two represent the same camp.”

“You may have misunderstood.” Qinglong sighed. “If I merely had you kill each other here, it would be far too lacking in entertainment for me. Ants that have climbed up with such difficulty—how could they stab knives into each other’s hearts?”

“Then what do you want?”

Rather than answering directly, Qinglong turned his head to look at Qi Xia: “I have a more interesting way to play… Qi Xia, have you already met those eight ‘Zodiacs’ on the map?”

“No.” Qi Xia answered. “I’ve only met one, but I’ve already achieved my own purpose, so there’s no need to meet the remaining seven.”

“You’ve achieved your purpose, but you haven’t achieved mine.” Qinglong’s expression suddenly changed, carrying a trace of gloom as he spoke. “Is our contractual relationship this unstable? That map had a full eight ‘Zodiacs,’ yet you only met one. How does this make me dare to continue cooperating with you?”

“Your purpose…?” Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly. “Wasn’t your purpose to let me know that these eight people were all my former teammates? They went through life and death with me, and they are also the ‘needles’ I planted. Thanks to your map, I remembered them.”

He stated his question straightforwardly, then looked at Qinglong.

“Oh…? Such a coincidence? Hahahahaha!” Qinglong suddenly threw his head back in laughter. “Qi Xia, oh Qi Xia, do you remember what I said when I gave you that map?”

After thinking carefully, Qi Xia realized this matter was indeed somewhat strange.

His attention had always been focused on his relationship with these eight people, but he had overlooked the relationship between Qinglong and these eight people.

When he handed that map into his own hands, he had clearly stated that these eight people were all “Tianlong’s trusted confidants” and needed to be killed as soon as possible.

Qinglong had also said that these eight people represented the lives of Qi Xia’s current eight teammates. If one less person was killed in this cycle, then one more of Qi Xia’s teammates would disappear in the next cycle.

“You…” Qi Xia felt there was a key piece of information that hadn’t been clarified. “These eight people were clearly my teammates, so how did they become ‘Tianlong’s trusted confidants’?”

“‘Tianlong’s trusted confidants’ was naturally a lie.” Qinglong laughed madly. “I originally wanted you to risk your life killing three or four of them, then I would appear and tell you these people were your teammates all along. At that time, I could see your sad and desperate appearance. But I didn’t expect you to awaken much faster than I anticipated. After meeting just one ‘Zodiac,’ you no longer needed to meet the other seven.”

“If that’s the case, then what was your purpose in deceiving me?” Qi Xia asked again. “If it was truly for entertainment, why go to such trouble? You could have simply told me to kill them without giving me any reason. You also know the principle that ‘the more you say, the more mistakes you make.’ No matter how you look at it, those people don’t seem like Tianlong’s people.”

“Qi Xia, people change.” Qinglong said. “Even if those people were all your teammates before, how can you be certain that over these ten-plus years they’ve maintained their original intentions?”

Upon hearing this, Qi Xia finally understood roughly what Qinglong meant, so he nodded and said: “You’re saying someone has already betrayed, they’ve become yours and Tianlong’s people, preparing to turn against us at the critical moment.”

“That’s exactly the principle.” Qinglong nodded. “Tell me, could there be such a possibility—you think you arranged eight needles as eight ‘Zodiacs’ planted separately on the train, but the actual situation is exactly the opposite? These eight people were originally needles that Tianlong planted by your side?”

“Haha!”

Qi Xia was clearly amused by this statement: “Interesting. That would be too bizarre. You’re saying those eight people were originally Tianlong’s people, and I ended up staging a ‘spy within a spy’ drama with myself. Does that make sense?”

Qinglong neither confirmed nor denied it, merely shrugging lightly and saying softly: “Perhaps that’s exactly how it is?”

“Then my curiosity has been ignited again.” Qi Xia asked with a smile on his face. “What is Tianlong’s purpose then? Is he as bored as you? Things that could clearly be done very simply, yet he insists on going through such great trouble. Whether he wants to kill me, seize my sanity, or drive me mad, it should all be as simple as moving a finger. So why would he, like me, choose to use such a long time to lay out plans?”