“The path to victory…?”

A single short sentence instantly opened up Yan Zhichun’s train of thought. She had never imagined that an “Echo” called “Pathfinding” could actually produce a “Cause and Effect” result.

If she truly followed this line of thinking… then “Voice Transmission” could also transmit messages to her future self, and “Reach into the Bag” could directly seize the fruit of victory. Indeed, only by being crazy enough could one truly touch the essence of “Echo.”

“Watch closely.”

The old man gently pinched Yan Zhichun’s strand of long hair with his fingers, and the hair began moving in his hand like a small snake.

In the distance, Black Sheep was still colliding with Heavenly-Ox, producing tremendous sounds. The two of them seemed like street performers in this empty plaza—the two performed with all their might while everyone around held their breath and watched. Only this street performance would receive no cheers, nor would anyone leave.

Gradually, some “Extreme Path” members began attempting to release their “Echoes” toward what they believed was Heavenly-Ox’s direction, but all those “Echoes” seemed to fall into the depths of the sea, receiving no response whatsoever.

Yan Zhichun stared at the strand of hair in the old man’s hand. After twisting for a while, it pointed rigidly like a hook toward a certain direction.

She looked in the direction the hair tip pointed. It indeed wasn’t pointing toward Black Sheep or Heavenly-Ox, but rather toward a strange corner of the plaza.

If one had to say what was in that corner, there were only “Ants.”

“Do you see it, young lady?” the old man said. “This is the ‘path to victory.'”

Yan Zhichun naturally felt skeptical about this claim. If the strand of hair pointed toward the “Ants,” then it seemed not to be the path to victory in her own heart, but rather something this old man’s subconscious desired.

Seeing Yan Zhichun’s hesitant expression, the old man’s face gradually turned ugly: “You don’t trust me…?”

“I…” Yan Zhichun didn’t know how to answer.

“Even if you knew Heavenly-Ox’s position, what of it?” the old man continued. “Don’t you know now anyway?”

Yan Zhichun looked in the direction the old man pointed, her expression heavy. Yes, everyone knew Heavenly-Ox was right there, yet there was still no way to gain an advantage through numbers or “Echoes.”

When the “Extreme Path” members would die depended on how long Black Sheep could hold out.

This was merely a long, helpless process of waiting for death.

“Perhaps I have no choice but to believe.” Yan Zhichun looked again toward the “Ants” the hair strand pointed to. “When you doubt someone, don’t use them; when you use someone, don’t doubt them. Right now I’ll go over and see what’s strange about that ‘Ant.'”

Just as she was about to leave, the old man grabbed her again and said, “What about the ‘secret’ you promised me?”

“My ‘secret’…” Yan Zhichun paused, then answered, “I can only say that a ‘Faceless Person’ in my memory was created by a certain ‘Zodiac.'”

“A ‘Zodiac’… creating a ‘Faceless Person’?” After hearing this, the old man’s entire expression changed. The ravines on his face relaxed at this moment, as if he had heard something extremely shocking. “Wouldn’t that ‘Zodiac’ be the Creator…?”

“If we can survive this time, I can tell you all about that ‘Zodiac’s’ story.” Yan Zhichun paused. “This might be a very long story.”

After saying this, Yan Zhichun bent down to stand up and walked toward that “Ant’s” direction, leaving only the old man alone standing there in a daze.

Black Sheep had consecutively received six attacks from Heavenly-Ox. Although his arms hurt terribly, he never felt any substantial threat.

Of these six attacks, three came from directly ahead and three came from diagonal upper directions.

Would a normal person launch three out of only six attacks from above?

If it wasn’t a preference for jumping, then there was only one answer.

Black Sheep rubbed his arms, muttering softly: “‘Concealment,’ ‘Amplification,’ ‘Levitation.’ Heavenly-Ox, I’ve seen through you. These three abilities aren’t enough to kill me.”

Though he didn’t know whom he was speaking to, after these words, Heavenly-Ox’s offensive momentum indeed slowed down.

A few seconds later, the body of an “Extreme Path” member not far away instantly shattered into pieces, clearly having suffered an extremely powerful impact.

At this moment, all the “Extreme Path” members’ expressions had changed. Before them, a fierce beast that had been surrounded was clearly out of control.

“Interesting.” Black Sheep walked forward while rubbing his arms. “Even if you kill everyone here, it’s useless. In the end, you still need to deal with me.”

Another “Extreme Path” member beside Black Sheep was shattered by impact, their exploding blood splashing onto his jet-black fur.

Immediately after, a violent wind began sweeping toward Yan Zhichun, the only person moving across the entire field.

Seeing this, Black Sheep slowly grinned: “What an incompetent display… It would take you too long to kill dozens of people yourself. How about I help you kill them?”

With those words, he reached out and grabbed the neck of the nearest “Extreme Path” member beside him, then threw them forcefully toward Yan Zhichun’s direction.

All the “Extreme Path” members on the field widened their eyes at this scene, and even Yan Zhichun turned back with a terrified expression. Just as that “Extreme Path” member was about to crash into her, they suddenly slammed into something invisible right in front of her.

The sound of shattering bones rang out loudly, and the resulting blast nearly knocked Yan Zhichun to the ground.

Anyone could now see that Black Sheep had struck Heavenly-Ox. This should have been good news, yet Black Sheep had just personally killed an “Extreme Path” member mere seconds ago.

Yan Zhichun felt this was Black Sheep’s version of “besieging Wei to rescue Zhao”—this killing served two purposes.

First was to tell Heavenly-Ox that these “Extreme Path” members weren’t his weakness; even if they were all killed, it wouldn’t threaten him. This would greatly reduce Heavenly-Ox’s motivation to kill the “Extreme Path” members. Second was to let Heavenly-Ox know that if his attention wasn’t focused on Black Sheep, Black Sheep would seize the opportunity to find an opening and attack.

Sacrificing a pawn to protect the king—Yan Zhichun felt she had misunderstood Baiyang’s meaning. Black Sheep wasn’t unscrupulous; rather, his methods were simply too brilliant.

Heavenly-Ox indeed concealed his form once again and no longer actively launched attacks.

Yan Zhichun could only take the opportunity to continue toward that “Ant’s” direction. Along the way, she deliberately observed what was different between the other “Ants” and that particular “Ant.” After all, these “Ants” had their five senses gouged out and all looked quite similar in appearance. Only their physiques and behaviors allowed Yan Zhichun to distinguish between them.

She quickly noticed a strange phenomenon. Unlike the situation a few minutes ago, at this moment all the “Ants” seemed to be squatting on the ground with both hands touching the ground. Their movements were becoming increasingly uniform, as if they were all doing the same strange thing.

An idea involuntarily emerged in Yan Zhichun’s heart.

These “Ants” had lost all their senses. Theoretically, they had no idea that people were fighting to the death in this plaza.

Could the method by which they perceived the outside world be through touching the ground with both hands to feel the vibrations of the earth?