As soon as Han Yimo finished speaking, the surrounding atmosphere suddenly changed.

Zheng Yingxiong also reached up to cover his nose at this moment.

Before Bai Jiu and Luo Shiyi could react to what was happening, Jiang Shi slowly raised his head.

He keenly sensed that something had descended, and it even caused his “Immortality” to tremble for an instant.

Seeing Jiang Shi’s reaction, Bai Jiu immediately became alert. She then extended her hand to give Luo Shiyi on the opposite rooftop the signal to prepare for battle. Luo Shiyi and the two behind him—”Displacement” Ma Twelve and “Suspension” Wu Thirteen—immediately focused intently on examining their surroundings.

However, they didn’t discover any other “Divine Beasts.”

Like everyone on the rooftop, Zheng Yingxiong felt surrounded by an enormous scent, yet he still didn’t know where the other party was.

“It’s Xuanwu…” Zheng Yingxiong said. “I remember this scent… she’s here…”

Han Yimo froze for a moment. “How could this be… speak of the devil and the devil appears…”

Everyone hurriedly looked around, but they couldn’t find Xuanwu’s figure anywhere.

Right now one Baihu had already blocked everyone here… if Xuanwu was added on top of that, would there be even the slightest chance of victory?

Jiang Shi slowly stood up, sensing that “Immortality” which was far stronger than his own. She was too close, practically right in front of him.

“A three-foot dragon sword and ten thousand scrolls of books, what did Heaven mean by creating me?” Jiang Shi slowly lowered his arms that he had been raising. “Unable to serve the nation and bring peace to the world, I’m unworthy of being called a true man…”

After delivering these verses from traditional storytelling, Jiang Shi’s expression gradually became serious, and his earlier drowsiness began to completely dissipate.

“Little Jiang Shi… where?” Bai Jiu asked with a frown.

Luo Shiyi and the others on the opposite side, along with Bai Jiu, looked in the direction Jiang Shi was pointing. They discovered it was neither the ground nor a rooftop.

Rather, it was a huge and chaotic tangle of wires on an electric pole.

At this moment, the wires seemed even more chaotic than before, with many black threads about to droop down to the ground.

Only then did Luo Shiyi realize that some of these black things weren’t wires at all, but Xuanwu’s black hair.

Xuanwu’s curled-up body among the wires slowly straightened, revealing her incredibly pitch-black form.

At this moment, not an inch of skin existed on her body. Everywhere the gaze fell, aside from her long black hair, she had completely transformed into the vast cosmos.

Everyone had witnessed Jiang Shi’s abilities—whenever he suffered great damage, the injured parts would display a pitch-black starry sky appearance. But the Xuanwu before their eyes was entirely pitch-black all over… was this entering some transcendent state, or had she suffered some fatal injury?

If “Immortality” truly covered her entire body… didn’t that mean the current Xuanwu had no physical body?

How could one kill a person without a physical form?

“This damn…” Luo Shiyi chuckled lightly. “Hell difficulty right from the start… not in vain that we waited so long.”

Xuanwu lowered her head and looked at the plaza currently engaged in chaotic battle with eyes that didn’t actually exist, then murmured in confusion:

“How did I end up here…?”

A ethereal and void-like voice emanated from Xuanwu’s surroundings, making Luo Shiyi and the others feel a chill down their backs.

The current Xuanwu seemed to have already transcended the realm of “Divine Beasts” and transformed into something else entirely.

Baihu also seemed to have sensed the anomaly. She hurriedly extended her hand to release an unprecedented hurricane, shocking all the people before her back three steps. Then she lifted those aged and turbid eyes to look toward midair.

A bizarre figure stood atop the wires—pitch-black and gleaming, without a face and devoid of expression.

The two seemed to be looking at each other, yet this one second of eye contact felt as if it spanned several decades.

“You… could you possibly be… Xuanwu…?” Baihu asked in a somewhat incredulous hoarse voice.

Though his voice wasn’t loud, it allowed the many “Extreme Path” members present to hear it crystal clear. Everyone raised their heads to look, and indeed discovered a figure resembling Xuanwu standing in midair.

But this Xuanwu was far too different from the image everyone had in their memories.

Xuanwu stared at the elder before her, then slowly tilted her head. Although she had no expression, anyone could see her confusion.

After a moment, she opened her mouth and asked:

“Who are you?”

“I…” After hearing this, the elder paused, then smiled bitterly. “I have no name… but here, they all call me ‘Baihu.'”

After hearing this, Xuanwu remained silent for a while, then tilted her head once again.

All the people present held their breath at this moment, because they didn’t know what Xuanwu intended to do. If the two “Divine Beasts” joined forces to attack, everyone present would probably die.

“Bold.” After thinking for a long time, Xuanwu spoke. “Divine Beasts must not be deceived. How could Baihu be an old man?”

“I…” After hearing this, Baihu paused slightly, then broke into a grin. “Yes… it’s just a pity that none of you cared whether I lived or died. If someone had discovered my abnormality earlier, they probably would have already exposed that monstrous lie.”

“I don’t understand.” Xuanwu shook her head and continued in an ethereal voice. “Why exactly have you aged?”

“Because I’ve waited for far too long,” Baihu said with a crazed laugh. “One person, alone, waited for far too long.”

“I haven’t aged yet, but you have.” Xuanwu pondered aloud. “Then what are you doing now? And why have I appeared here?”

“I don’t know why you appeared. I only know that I’m stopping these ‘Participants’ from destroying the giant bell and the display screen,” Baihu answered truthfully.

“Stopping destruction…” Xuanwu paused. “Stopping destruction is good… These people want to destroy the giant bell and the display screen, and they’re also attacking you…”

Everyone looked at Xuanwu with terror on their faces, then heard two ethereal words drift out from around that pitch-black figure:

“Violation.”

As soon as the words fell, the smallest tree among those previously planted in the ground moved, then slowly rose into the air. After reversing its roots, it flew toward Xuanwu.

*Swoosh—*

Xuanwu didn’t dodge at all, allowing the small tree to pierce into her abdomen.

The slender trunk pierced into her body from the roots, yet it didn’t emerge from her back, as if the entire length had been absorbed into Xuanwu’s form.

Xuanwu looked down at the tree in her abdomen, then raised her head to look in Luo Shiyi’s direction.

The one who had acted was precisely “Displacement” Ma Twelve behind Luo Shiyi.

“Hey!” Luo Shiyi laughed. “Xuanwu, throwing this tree into your belly—does that fucking count as a violation?”

Only then did the “Extreme Path” members realize that several people in black clothing were standing on the rooftop. Some among them had even traded with “Cat” before, and recognized the identities of these black-clad figures at a glance.

Xuanwu didn’t speak. She only lowered her head and reached out to pull at the small tree. After discovering she couldn’t pull it out, she pushed it with her other hand into the vast starry sky within her body.

“Violation,” Xuanwu said again.

“Well, that’s just perfect then,” Luo Shiyi laughed angrily. “Brothers, this worthless life of ours is just waiting for you to come kill us.”

With those words, Bai Jiu gave a signal. Everyone on the rooftop lowered their heads to grab the ropes beside them, then rapidly rappelled down from the rooftop before disappearing one after another into the streets.

Xuanwu looked at the direction where everyone had fled and murmured to herself: “As long as I uphold the rules, I will die this time.”