Qi Xia nodded. “Tell me the rules.”

After hearing this, Qinglong flicked his sleeves and walked to the back of the huge wall. Seeing this, everyone followed.

Upon taking a closer look, they discovered there was something else behind the huge wall—a smaller screen and a “Phoenix Book-Carrying Platform.”

“Qi Xia, this is your and my ‘Character Creation Platform,'” Qinglong said. “We’ll take turns writing three rounds of ‘characters’ here. Each round will determine victory or defeat separately.”

“Oh?” Qi Xia looked at these rules that were nearly identical to “Cangjie Chess,” then nodded.

“I’ll have ‘Xuanwu’ randomly select one from all the previous ‘characters,’ and then you and I will use this character as a ‘blueprint’ to create new ‘characters.'”

“‘Blueprint’?”

“That’s right,” Qinglong said. “The new ‘characters’ you and I create must use part or all of the ‘blueprint.'”

“Good.” Qi Xia nodded. “Then how do we determine victory or defeat with the new ‘characters’ we create?”

“Naturally, each created ‘character’ must meet the requirements.”

After Qinglong finished speaking, he waved his hand, and an old wooden box actually floated down from midair.

“This contains twenty written requirements,” Qinglong said. “Before each character formation, you and I will take turns drawing requirements to serve as the requirement for that round of character formation. We need to draw three times in total.”

Qi Xia looked at that wooden box and couldn’t help but curl up the corners of his mouth.

Using three “requirements” to create three “characters”?

He smiled and raised his head to look at the pitch-black sky above.

“Oh?” After hearing this, Qinglong paused. “I’m no longer a ‘mortal.’ Is it strange that such a thing can appear?”

“Not really,” Qi Xia replied, looking up into midair. “Earlier we raised our heads multiple times to look at the sky, but we didn’t see anything hanging there. Could there be a ‘door’ in the sky?”

“You…” Qinglong frowned, showing a trace of displeasure. “What does this have to do with this game?”

“Right, nothing,” Qi Xia answered. “Then I’d like to ask… for this game that has never been released before, why did you separately prepare rules and props for a life gamble?”

“That’s a good question,” Qinglong smiled. “Naturally, it’s because I planned to kill you in this game.”

“That’s too bizarre,” Qi Xia said. “Earlier on the rooftop, you were telling Chu Tianqiu and me that you hoped we two would decide the outcome fair and square, to show you who was the true candidate to become ‘God,’ yet behind the scenes, you prepared props for gambling your life with me.”

“Heh.” Qinglong shook his head. “So what? The ‘rules’ here are all set by me. I adjust the rules according to my own needs—what’s wrong with that?”

“It’s quite wrong,” Qi Xia answered. “In my view… even you are afraid of those ‘ears.’ Do you think there would be problems if ‘Heavenly-Dog’ knew about your despicable behavior?”

After hearing this, Qinglong narrowed his eyes but didn’t speak.

“So in places where he can’t hear, you resort to such underhanded methods,” Qi Xia said. “Even if you don’t want to admit it, if all the ‘Celestial Level’ beings turned against you together, it would be a very tricky situation for you, wouldn’t it?”

“Qi Xia,” Qinglong said. “You should know that we currently have a relationship of ‘mutual exploitation.'”

“Yes.”

“So don’t try to anger me,” Qinglong said. “The deal between you and me will end someday, and there will come a moment when I can no longer tolerate it. At that time, even if I actively abandon the deal, I will definitely take your life.”

“I only spoke the truth. Why did you get so angry?” Qi Xia asked.

Qinglong snorted coldly and continued, “Regarding the ‘rules,’ is there anything else that needs to be confirmed?”

Before Qi Xia could speak, Chen Junnan in the distance directly raised his hand. “I have something.”

Qinglong looked at Chen Junnan with furrowed brows, then asked, “What’s your question?”

“After this ‘Life Gamble’ ends…” Chen Junnan’s gaze casually glanced toward Xuanwu. “If you lose, will this thing kill you?”

After hearing this, Xuanwu paused. Her eyes flickered for a few seconds, then she said, “I cannot disobey Qinglong.”

“Hm?” After hearing this answer, Chen Junnan was so angry he laughed, looking at Qinglong with mockery. “Then what the hell’s the point of playing?”

Qinglong snorted coldly. “Xuanwu is my subordinate. Not being able to disobey me is her bottom line.”

“Listen to yourself—is that even human speech?” Chen Junnan said. “If we lose, we die. If you lose, you can’t be disobeyed. You’re fucking playing with invincibility mode on?”

Qinglong hadn’t expected Chen Junnan to question Xuanwu before the game. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat angry, so he could only pretend to say,

“You’re right. Since it’s a ‘Life Gamble,’ what we seek is fairness.”

He grinned and turned to Xuanwu, saying, “This time, you can disobey me.”

“This time…” Xuanwu repeated these few words. “I can kill you?”

Xuanwu’s demeanor became obviously excited. Her whole body began to tremble slightly, and she muttered,

“Kill you… killing you would be good…”

Qinglong frowned slightly. “How is it good?”

“If I kill you… I can be liberated, right?” Xuanwu asked with a trembling voice. “If I don’t kill you, you’ll turn around and kill me, right?”

Everyone present who had seen Xuanwu before noticed this was the first time Xuanwu had spoken so many words. It was clear her emotions were truly very agitated.

Qinglong felt Xuanwu’s state wasn’t quite right, then said, “Don’t overthink it. It’s limited to this one time.”

“One time…” Xuanwu trembled slightly. Due to her excessive hair, her expression couldn’t be seen. “Only this one time…”

After hearing this, Qi Xia’s mouth curved upward. He said, “Shouldn’t we have Xuanwu choose the ‘blueprint’ for us?”

“‘Blueprint’…” After hearing this, Qinglong nodded. “Yes.”

After understanding the rules, Xuanwu slowly walked to the pile of scattered “characters,” then began to reach out and rummage through them.

During this time, Qi Xia and Qinglong stood face to face, staring into each other’s eyes without moving.

Soon they heard a “rustling” sound coming from Xuanwu’s direction. Before long, the sound stopped. Xuanwu reached out and picked up a chain with two radicals attached to it.

“Good… this is good…” Xuanwu muttered to herself. “Finally there’s a ‘character’ I recognize. It’s ‘eight’…”

Qinglong and Qi Xia turned to look. Xuanwu was holding a “兵” (soldier) in her hand.

“Good,” Qinglong said. “This ‘character’ will be the ‘blueprint’ for this life gamble game.”

“No problem.”

“Each ‘character’ we construct next must contain ‘丘’ or ‘八,’ or include both parts,” Qinglong continued. “If there are no issues, we’ll draw the requirements for this round of character creation.”

“Wait,” Qi Xia interrupted. “Since you’ve added one rule, I also want to add one rule.”