Qinglong knew the situation had somewhat spiraled out of control, but how could he salvage it now?

“A ‘wood’ (木) and an ‘inch’ (寸)…” A smile slowly appeared on Qi Xia’s face. “Qinglong… this is a mistake only you would make. No matter which ‘participant’ it was replaced with, they wouldn’t lose their life due to such a simple rule. Only you would, because you’ve always been contemptuous of the most fundamental rules. So it doesn’t matter what character I form—I’ve won this round.”

At this moment, Chen Junnan’s eyes slowly widened as if he’d thought of something: “Fuck me… only when you mentioned ‘the most fundamental rules’ did I realize—this little deity’s third character doesn’t fucking contain ‘Soldier’ at all.”

“Damn.” Qiao Jiajin also nodded. “You’re right! Scarecrow girl, go beat him up. He violated the rules!”

“Two components…” Xuanwu also thought of something at this moment. “Two components is indeed wrong. There’s not even half a ‘Soldier.'”

Seeing this scene, Qinglong stood expressionlessly in place for a long time. Everyone had no idea what he was thinking.

However, at this moment, Zheng Yingxiong suddenly smelled a vague thought in Qi Xia’s mind. His brow furrowed, then he turned his head to look at Qi Xia, and Qi Xia also nodded slightly at this moment.

After a long while, Qinglong slowly opened his mouth: “So-called gaming… truly is a troublesome matter.”

Qi Xia frowned and looked at Qinglong expressionlessly. He knew that to defeat Qinglong, victory in one game was far from enough. This could only count as a fairly decent start.

“Qi Xia, I could clearly reach out and smash you into meat paste, yet I still have to lower myself to match wits with you.” Qinglong said. “This is truly troublesome…”

“Looks like you’ve also raised your stakes.” Qi Xia said. “If you win, you’ll say you defeated me through gaming. If you lose, you’ll say you lowered yourself. That’s indeed a good sophistry approach.”

“Still talking tough.” Qinglong said. “Perhaps you don’t know just how dangerous your current situation is.”

Everyone only felt thick killing intent emanating from Qinglong’s body, and Zheng Yingxiong beside them was choked by this scent of “killing intent” to the point of difficulty breathing. Before they could react, a cold voice had already sounded beside their ears.

“Qinglong, violation…” Xuanwu said. “Accept punishment.”

Qinglong turned his face to look at Xuanwu with cold eyes, quickly showing an angry laugh, then fiercely swung a palm toward her.

After landing, Xuanwu quickly stabilized her form, then flew up at him again.

All her long hair danced in the air, like a mass of ink-dyed flames.

Her hands became claws—one rushing toward Qinglong’s throat, one rushing toward Qinglong’s chest.

Qinglong reached out to block Xuanwu’s claw strike, then another sharp palm wind attacked, sending Xuanwu flying more than ten meters again.

Xuanwu fell heavily to the ground, coughed lightly a few times, then stood up expressionlessly again.

Then she took a deep breath and slowly extended her hand in the air, as if to directly take out Qinglong’s heart: “Qinglong… accept punishment…”

But before she could make any movement, her whole person stood in place like a statue.

“Damn… what happened to scarecrow girl…?” Qiao Jiajin cursed under his breath. Just as he was about to walk forward, he discovered that his entire body couldn’t move either.

Then came everyone’s confused voices, because they discovered they were controlled in place by some powerful force.

It turned out Xuanwu hadn’t given up—rather, she simply couldn’t move at all.

“It’s ‘Seizing the Soul.'” Qi Xia said.

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin understood: “Qinglong, you’re not allowed to cheat!”

After these words, a burst of starlight, neither large nor small, erupted from Qinglong’s body, then dissipated in the pitch-black space.

But after a moment, Qiao Jiajin discovered the situation didn’t seem quite right, because he still couldn’t move.

The people around him also gradually discovered this problem. Even though something like an “Echo” seemed to have disappeared from Qinglong’s body, they were still firmly controlled in place by “Seizing the Soul,” as if cement had been poured over their entire bodies.

“What’s going on?” Qiao Jiajin was stunned. “Qinglong, are you still cheating? Stop!”

After the words fell, not even starlight burst forth from Qinglong’s body.

“Unfortunately…” Qinglong opened his mouth and laughed maniacally. “‘Seizing the Soul’ isn’t my own thing.”

“What…?” Chen Junnan’s eyes widened. “You old bastard, you…”

“This truly is an interesting puzzle.” Qinglong said. “I’m carrying ‘Seizing the Soul,’ but who was the previous owner of this ‘Seizing the Soul’? What’s his name? And how will you guess whose spell you should break?”

Only now did Chen Junnan and the others realize that Qinglong’s “Seizing the Soul” came from a certain “eye” on his body.

He had definitely done as White Snake had said—through “eyeball grafting,” he had implanted various powerful abilities in his body. The current “Breaking Ten Thousand Laws” could only break Qinglong’s own “Echo,” but had no way to break the “Echo” of the “Seizing the Soul” owner.

“I won’t hide it from you.” Qinglong laughed again. “Even I’ve forgotten what the owner of that eye was called.”

Zheng Yingxiong swallowed, feeling the situation was extremely urgent. Just as he was about to speak, he once again sensed Qi Xia’s thoughts.

That thought was—”Wait a bit longer.”

At this moment, Zheng Yingxiong’s own heart was pounding rapidly. He didn’t know why, at this critical moment… Qi Xia would place all his bets on himself?

“Qi Xia.” Qinglong said. “It’s hard to believe you didn’t anticipate this ending. From the moment you agreed to bet your life with me, you should have known you were destined to lose.”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia said expressionlessly.

“The referee was chosen by me, the game was designed by me, even the entire victory and defeat rules of ‘Taoyuan’ were established by me. How could you possibly win against me?” Qinglong continued to laugh. “This is probably the most failed decision you’ve made in your life.”

“Perhaps there’s still a chance.” Qi Xia said again.

“A chance?” Qinglong walked forward a step, and everyone present, including Xuanwu, also walked forward a step. “Qi Xia, you tell me, where is the chance?”

As soon as the words fell, Qinglong slightly frowned, then raised his head to look at the pitch-black sky.

He blinked somewhat hesitantly, feeling the situation seemed a bit off.

Just now, something seemed to have drilled into his mind.

That seemed to be… a memory?

But how could he possibly have a memory forcibly infused into his mind…?

Zheng Yingxiong once again sensed Qi Xia’s thoughts. That thought said “now is the time.”

He hurriedly spoke while Qinglong’s mental state was turbulent:

“The scent of ‘Seizing the Soul’… seems to have disappeared.”