“The most strokes…”

Qinglong muttered these words, then turned his head to look at Qi Xia.

“Let me reiterate the rules one last time,” Qinglong said. “The ‘characters’ we create must use ‘Qiu’ and ‘Ba’, or use both parts, then we’ll see whose has more strokes.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia nodded. “Understood. Who goes first?”

Qinglong lowered his head and pondered for a while. The combinations that could be formed from all the ‘characters’ were fixed, which meant that the character with “the most strokes” might very well be unique. Therefore, taking the initiative first was the best choice at this moment.

Zhang Chenze, Tiantian, and Han Yimo, who were watching from the sidelines, all began tracing with their fingers in their palms when they saw this rule.

Creating a ‘character’ that contained a part of “Bing” and had the most strokes didn’t sound difficult, but both sides had just eliminated one ‘character’ from the game. Could Qi Xia have some plan?

“I’ll go first,” Qinglong said.

Qi Xia nodded and took a step back.

Qinglong turned his head to say to Xuanwu, “Bring me all the ‘characters’. I need some time.”

After hearing this, Xuanwu vanished from her spot and instantly appeared beside the pile of ‘characters’. She lowered her head to pick up the ‘characters’, then disappeared and reappeared beside Qinglong.

“I say…” Chen Junnan interjected. “Xuanwu Big Sis is the referee—she wouldn’t hide any ‘characters’ at this moment, would she?”

After hearing this, Xuanwu was stunned. “I have nowhere to hide them.”

“Uh…”

Although there were many times when the “Land of the End” left Chen Junnan dumbfounded, this time was particularly so. Xuanwu wasn’t wearing a single piece of clothing on her body, relying entirely on her hair for coverage. How could she possibly hide ‘characters’?

Chen Junnan laughed awkwardly a few times, then said nothing more.

Qinglong took all the ‘characters’ to the back of the wall structure, and Qi Xia and the others raised their heads to look at the display screen in front.

The display screen soon showed the character “石” (stone). Qi Xia also reached up to stroke his chin. It appeared that Qinglong had first used the radical from the character “砲” (cannon), so the answer he would give was quite obvious.

Then a “士” (scholar) appeared next to “石”.

A few seconds later, the “士” character rotated and became “幹” (stem/trunk), and then “八” (eight) lit up on the screen.

“八” rotated and became “丷”.

“石”, “幹”, and “丷” combined, and the character “砰” (bang) appeared on the screen.

“Ten strokes,” Zhang Chenze said.

“Not enough yet,” Qi Xia said.

Qi Xia knew that Qinglong’s thinking couldn’t be so limited.

After all, when learning that they needed to use the character “Bing” or a part of “Bing” to create a character with the most strokes, many people’s first reaction would be to utilize the entire “Bing” character.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, the character “砰” disappeared from the screen. It looked like Qinglong had modified his answer.

This time, everyone waited a bit longer—a full ten seconds later, the character “木” (wood) appeared on the screen.

Soon, a “兵” (soldier) appeared beside “木”, and the character “梹” (betel nut) was now prominently displayed on the screen.

“Eleven strokes now…” Zhang Chenze said, looking at the screen. “Can it be more?”

Qi Xia didn’t speak, only shook his head.

Qinglong tried again, changing his answer to “眯” (squint), but everyone discovered this character was also eleven strokes.

“Has this old bastard already reached his limit?” Chen Junnan asked quietly from the side.

“Hard to say,” Qi Xia said. “After all, it’s a best-of-three game. No one would use all their killer moves in the first round.”

After the answer settled on “眯”, Qinglong sighed and slowly emerged from behind the wall structure, saying, “Let’s leave it at this.”

“Not going to try anymore?” Qi Xia asked.

“I’d rather see what you’re planning to try,” Qinglong said with a smile. “The ‘characters’ are right there. Do you have some more brilliant insight?”

“What if I do?”

“Then I’ll look forward to it with great anticipation.” Qinglong nodded.

Qi Xia glanced around at everyone, then walked behind the massive wall structure.

He looked at the layout here and found it was similar to the previous “preparation area” layout—a “Phoenix Book-Carrying Platform” for placing ‘characters’, and a “display screen” for handwriting.

But this game had one huge advantage: there was no need to write down “homophonic characters”. Theoretically, one could win using “obscure characters”, but this time…

Everyone stared at the massive display screen for a long time, and Qinglong finally became somewhat impatient. “What’s this? Qi Xia, are you planning to admit defeat directly?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a ‘character’ appeared on the screen.

“目” (eye).

Seeing this ‘character’, Qinglong couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

There weren’t many characters with the “目” radical that also included a part of “Bing”. Could Qi Xia’s final answer also be “眯”?

“Do you want a draw?” Qinglong asked again.

Qi Xia didn’t answer. After a few seconds of silence, he placed another “木” (wood).

Seeing this scene, everyone was puzzled.

Could Qi Xia be continuing to form a “相” (mutual)?

Before everyone could figure it out, Qi Xia rotated “目” to become “罒”, and after combining it with “木”, formed a “?”.

“Holy crap!” Qiao Jiajin said. “I know this character!”

“What the hell?” Chen Junnan turned his head to look at him. “You recognize it?”

“I recognize it.” Qiao Jiajin nodded seriously. “It’s probably pronounced ‘Lin’ (forest), ‘four woods’ so it’s pronounced ‘Lin’.”

“Makes sense.” Chen Junnan nodded.

But after seeing this scene, Qinglong furrowed his brow tightly and said, “Qi Xia… Did I not explain the rules clearly…?”

“What’s wrong?”

Qi Xia’s voice came from behind the wall structure.

“The new ‘character’ formed needs to use all or part of ‘Bing’,” Qinglong said. “Which part exactly does this obscure character of yours use?”

After a pause, he shook his head again. “Moreover, your strokes are only nine. Even if you’re going easy, you can’t go this easy, right?”

“I’m truly not going easy,” Qi Xia said. “Why don’t you see how this works?”

After several seconds of silence, the massive screen flickered again.

The structure of “?” began to change. The “木” at the bottom began to continuously shift left, looking extremely strange.

As everyone looked on with puzzlement, another “木” suddenly appeared on the screen.

The original “?” underwent a brief transformation and remarkably became a new obscure character—

“罧”.

Qinglong and everyone present widened their eyes at this scene.

“What…” Qinglong was stunned. “Are you using ‘obscure characters’ to mess with me… Does this ‘character’ of yours actually use a component of ‘Bing’?”

“Unfortunately, it really does,” Qi Xia said.

“You…”

Qinglong was momentarily at a loss for words and hastily turned his head to look at Xuanwu. Xuanwu also understood Qinglong’s meaning and turned to walk behind the massive wall structure to verify whether Qi Xia’s combination violated the rules.

A few seconds later, Xuanwu said, “No violation. He used half of ‘Bing’.”