Xuanwu looked around and felt that the situation before her had become somewhat strange.

Aside from the corpse whose neck she had just broken, there was only that short, fat man half-kneeling to one side.

Wang Ba struggled to make his consciousness clearer, then slowly sat down on the ground, raising his head to look at the woman before him who seemed as vast as the universe itself.

After a moment, a bitter smile squeezed out from his fat face.

“Laughing…?” Xuanwu said hesitantly. “Why laugh?”

“That whistle sound just now was truly interesting,” Wang Ba said. “I’ve never heard such a simple, violent, yet interesting plan.”

“But they all seem to have left,” Xuanwu said again. “Leaving only you here alone. What are you going to do?”

“I can’t survive anyway,” Wang Ba said in a low voice. “To be able to witness a ‘Divine Beast’ replacement here is already an extreme fortune.”

“Replacement is easier said than done…” Xuanwu said softly. “Few people in this entire Peach Blossom Spring are stronger than me, not even Baihu and Zhu Que.”

“You’re saying… if we were to make a move, Zhu Que and Baihu would both be easier to kill than you,” Wang Ba chuckled softly. “Is that what you mean?”

Xuanwu seemed to feel she had said something wrong, then shook her head, causing her long hair to sway. “I didn’t say that.”

As soon as the words fell, Xuanwu suddenly felt an extremely familiar aura coming from not far away. She turned her head and stared blankly at the corner of a low building for a long time.

After a moment, she unconsciously took a step backward.

A pitch-black, thin figure as brilliant as the vast universe was now materializing from the billowing smoke.

Looking closer, that person wasn’t even walking on the ground—their feet were off the ground, floating out.

Xuanwu looked at him somewhat curiously, seemingly trying to judge what this person’s background actually was.

“Xuanwu, put down your weapon and enjoy killing…” That person paused. “No, I mean enjoy slaughtering.”

A similarly ethereal and distant voice came from that person, causing Xuanwu to tilt her head in confusion once again.

…

In the low building behind Jiang Shi, almost all the ‘Cat’ members were lying by the windows, watching carefully.

After hearing the whistle sound just now, they had begun gathering at the low buildings.

That whistle sound was very short, just one sentence—

“‘Cat’ emergency retreat from battle, apply all faith to ‘Shi.'”

Everyone looked at Jiang Shi’s pitch-black silhouette. Although Jiang Shi appeared to have no problems, Luo Shiyi was already drenched in sweat.

“I really hope Tenth Brother isn’t in pain right now…” Luo Shiyi said with a pale face.

“Don’t worry, Eleventh Brother,” Ma Shier, the ‘Displacement’ user, said. “You’re exhausted to this fucking state, so Tenth Brother’s pain must have all been ‘Forgotten.'”

“That makes sense…” Luo Shiyi nodded blankly, but then felt something was off and cursed back, “You’re the one in a fucking state.”

Song Qi watched Xuanwu and Jiang Shi begin their conversation, then turned back to give orders to Ma Shier the ‘Displacement’ user, Wu Shisan the ‘Levitation’ user, and Cui Shisi the ‘Passage’ user, telling them to be ready to fully activate their ‘Echoes’ at any moment.

Seeing this, Officer Li also hurried to the window and put his right hand into his pocket.

At this moment, only Su Shan stood apart from everyone on the rooftop. She looked down at this astonishing scene.

Right now, Jiang Shi’s state was exactly the same as Xuanwu’s—both of them constantly flickering with the ‘ripples’ of ‘Immortality.’

However, the ‘Immortality’ ‘ripples’ on Xuanwu’s body were far more powerful than Jiang Shi’s—they weren’t even on the same level.

Her ‘ripples’ looked vast and boundless like ocean waves, rippling outward with Xuanwu as the center. Some ripples looked like they were about to collide with each other—both expansive and fierce, as if endless.

But the ripples on Jiang Shi’s body were like drops of clear water falling into a pond, circles of weak ripples slowly swimming outward. These ‘ripples’ looked gentle and delicate, and could disappear at any moment.

The four words ‘oil exhausted, lamp extinguished’ had already surfaced in Su Shan’s mind. She didn’t know what final plan Song Qi and the others had decided on, only knowing that Jiang Shi couldn’t hold on much longer.

Perhaps three minutes, perhaps the next second, this child called Jiang Shi would dissipate all his ‘ripples’ and fall directly to the ground, never to stand up again.

Su Shan looked more carefully and saw that besides the ‘Immortality’ emanating from Jiang Shi’s own body, there were several other strange ‘ripples’ surrounding him.

The outermost was a circle of powerful ‘ripples’ called ‘Forget Worry.’ This ‘Forget Worry’ echoed with ‘Immortality,’ but while powerful, it was also precarious.

Beyond that, Jiang Shi’s feet stood on ‘Levitation,’ and the rings floating before him had not only ‘Levitation’ but also ‘Passage.’

The numerous ‘ripples’ were chaotic yet orderly, all revolving around Jiang Shi like satellites orbiting him independently.

Xuanwu finally couldn’t help but speak: “Who are you?”

“I am the one who has come to guard the rules in your place,” Jiang Shi answered. “With me here, you can die in peace.”

Hearing this, Xuanwu clearly didn’t quite understand. The person before her did indeed look exactly the same as herself, but why would this allow them to replace her?

“You say you want to replace me… how will you accomplish this?”

“Xuanwu, I am far more powerful than you,” Jiang Shi said. “Even more powerful than the Bodhisattva you speak of.”

“Audacious,” Xuanwu said. “You can be greater than the Bodhisattva?”

“You are audacious!!” Jiang Shi snorted coldly. “How dare you question me?”

Whether stirred by anger or competitiveness, Xuanwu then extended her only remaining left hand and raised it to mid-air. In that hand, a heart suddenly appeared.

Jiang Shi was startled and wanted to lower his head to touch his own chest, but then remembered that there had long been no heart in his chest.

If that was the case, then this heart was…?

Wang Ba immediately frowned and covered his chest with his only remaining left hand.

“Eighth Brother…” Jiang Shi was startled, and that face without features also looked in Wang Ba’s direction.

“Don’t worry about me…” Wang Ba said through clenched teeth. “Do what you need to do. I was already…”

Before the words fell, Xuanwu immediately crushed the heart in her hand. The blood in the heart, like squeezing a water-soaked sponge by hand, splattered in all directions around them.

At this moment, Wang Ba opened his mouth wide, and his staring eyes also lost all vitality in an instant.

He didn’t even have a last word to leave behind, dying quietly at Xuanwu’s hand.

“Eighth Brother… rest well.” After a brief moment of silence lasting only a second, Jiang Shi turned back to Xuanwu and said, “Xuanwu… what a crude method…”

“Crude…?” Xuanwu threw the crushed heart in her hand to the ground and said in confusion. “Then what about you?”

After hearing this, Jiang Shi slowly turned his head to look at Luo Shiwu’s corpse on the ground.

Then he extended his hand, pointed at the corpse, and his mouth moved slightly—”Heart, come.”