After Qinglong confirmed his answer on the screen, he flicked his sleeves and slowly walked before everyone, as if victory was already in his grasp.

“Qi Xia, your turn,” Qinglong said.

A trace of hesitation flashed across Qi Xia’s face. He only knew that admitting defeat was not something he would do, so he lifted his leg and walked behind the giant wall.

“Playing dirty,” Chen Junnan said irritably.

“How is this playing dirty?” Qinglong said. “Just now, Qi Xia also agreed to let me create first. This is the result after both parties negotiated.”

“Ha.” Chen Junnan laughed. “If we were fighting, would I stab you first, then you stab me? What, now you get to stab first every time?”

“Unfortunately, that’s how life wagers work,” Qinglong said. “As long as both parties agree, there’s no room for regret.”

At this moment, Zheng Yingxiong lifted his nose and sniffed. He clearly detected the scent of hesitation coming from Qi Xia not far away.

It seemed that even he himself wasn’t confident about this answer.

Right now, everyone couldn’t see Qi Xia’s face and had no idea what he was pondering.

What other possibilities were there for a ‘character’ that included “Bing” and was important to humans?

Han Yimo stared blankly at everyone in the field at this moment, still somewhat unclear about his own position.

Was he actually someone on Chu Tianqiu’s side or on Qi Xia’s side?

If Qi Xia failed the life wager… should he follow along to his death?

But fortunately, Chu Tianqiu’s entire team had already left this place, so he could be considered to have accomplished his mission and retired. Naturally, he wasn’t that worried.

Now the “rules” were becoming increasingly abstract, and whether they could win the next round was hard to say.

If Qi Xia could achieve victory in the second round, there would be no need for the third round.

But now… could he still find a ‘character’ more important than “米” (rice) from the remaining ‘characters’?

Everyone waited quietly for almost a minute, but Qi Xia still made no move.

He stood in front of the “Phoenix Book-Carrying Platform”, stroking his chin and beginning to carefully consider this abstract rule.

Qinglong had clearly practiced in advance. When he created “米”, he hadn’t even hesitated. Thinking from this angle meant that even after practicing in advance, Qinglong believed that “米” was the only answer. As long as he created “米”, this game was already in an invincible position.

If that was the case… was there still any way to break through this round?

The rules were unfavorable to him, the situation was unfavorable to him, the order of moves was unfavorable to him… so what was favorable to him?

Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and looked up at Xuanwu standing on one side of the massive wall structure.

That was it—the most favorable thing for him in this game might be the “referee”.

Because it involved a “life wager”, this game hadn’t continued using the display screen’s built-in scoring system, but instead had Xuanwu judge victory or defeat.

So was there a ‘character’ that could switch concepts and disturb Xuanwu’s thoughts?

Qi Xia silently closed his eyes, and the thoughts in his brain spun rapidly.

Countless ‘characters’ spread out in his mind like bamboo shoots after rain, then disassembled into countless radicals.

These radicals combined with each other and then dispersed and rotated, like dancing butterflies in his mind, all coming forward to rotate and recombine with “Bing”.

And Qi Xia, like a creator, looked down from above, simultaneously examining all the possibilities that the ‘characters’ could rotate into.

Ninety degrees, then another ninety degrees—the various radicals had already rotated two hundred seventy degrees, but Qi Xia still hadn’t found a suitable ‘character’ to counter “米”.

“Wait…”

With his eyes closed, Qi Xia furrowed his brow and discovered a trace of strange inspiration in the darkness.

Just now, it seemed like some ‘character’ had flashed by, but that ‘character’ was fleeting, disappearing into the vast sea of ‘characters’ if one wasn’t careful.

If that ‘character’ really existed… perhaps it could disturb Xuanwu’s thoughts.

He separately imagined the radicals that composed these two ‘characters’ and performed several ninety-degree rotations, but after a moment, he realized something was wrong.

This ‘character’ wouldn’t appear when the radicals rotated ninety degrees—it only appeared for that instant when the radicals rotated forty-five degrees.

So to compose this ‘character’, one of the radicals needed to rotate forty-five degrees and be created at an inclined angle.

After learning this answer, Qi Xia couldn’t help but raise the corners of his mouth.

Was this the hidden mystery of “Chinese characters”?

He had just been saying that Qinglong’s thinking had limitations, but unexpectedly, he himself had also been confined.

Who said that each rotation of a radical could only be ninety degrees? Why couldn’t there be a forty-five-degree rotation?

Qi Xia slowly opened his eyes and looked at the various equipment before him.

Now the only difficulty… was whether the “Phoenix Book-Carrying Platform” could recognize this bizarre ‘character’.

“The strokes aren’t the same, only the shape is the same,” Qi Xia muttered softly.

If it could be recognized… this round of the game might still have hope.

After all, when the ancients created characters, they didn’t consider strokes—they only pursued shape.

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. Who could have imagined at the start of “Cangjie Chess” that this ‘character’ would appear in this game?

Everyone stared at the empty screen in front of the massive display. Lawyer Zhang and Tiantian’s palms were sweating, but Qi Xia still made no move.

Qinglong’s face was full of displeasure. He turned his head to say to Xuanwu, “That’s about enough, right? Even ‘character creation’ should have a time limit. Are we supposed to wait until dark?”

“Alright…” Xuanwu nodded and was just about to say something when she noticed the massive screen beginning to flicker.

Everyone raised their heads to look at the answer Qi Xia was giving this time.

A few seconds later, an “八” (eight) slowly lit up.

Seeing this, everyone remained silent. Although it used a part of “Bing”, they all mentally calculated the possible combinations. Besides “米”, what else could be important to humans?

Qinglong let out a cold laugh. After all, he had already thought of all the possibilities involving “八” in advance. There was absolutely nothing more important than “米”. But before he could speak, the screen flickered again, and a ‘character’ appeared that he could never have imagined.

“父” (father)!

Everyone’s eyes widened as they stared at the screen. The air became extremely quiet for an instant.

After a few seconds, Chen Junnan slowly squeezed out three words: “Holy shit…”

“Unfortunately, I can’t form ‘母’ (mother), but ‘父’ is enough to represent what I want to express,” Qi Xia slowly emerged from behind the massive wall structure and said in a calm tone. “Only parents can grant life to humans. This principle even comes before ‘米’.”

Qinglong still found it somewhat incredible…

That pile of ‘characters’… could actually be assembled into “父”?