“I…” Heavenly-Snake’s eyes gradually became more respectful. “I am ‘Heavenly-Snake,’ acting under the orders of ‘Heavenly-Dragon’… If necessary, I can kill anyone who gets in the way.”

“What…?!” Baihu’s hoarse voice burst out. “I was originally waiting before the giant bell for those two youngsters, but never expected to encounter such an enormous joke…”

“So… so…” Heavenly-Snake lowered his head and said, “If I’ve caused any offense… I apologize to you here… I didn’t know this was your territory…”

“Did Heavenly-Dragon… truly say this?” Baihu slowly approached Heavenly-Snake, forcing him to retreat step by step. “He said you could kill at will…? He doesn’t even take the Master’s words to heart anymore…?”

The instant Heavenly-Snake’s conviction wavered, the vines at the several young women’s feet rapidly withered, drying up and breaking apart within seconds.

They quickly gathered together, standing at a distance watching these two strange individuals.

Now they couldn’t decide whether to stay or run.

“I don’t know about any ‘Master’…” Heavenly-Snake answered. “I only follow ‘Heavenly-Dragon’s’ arrangements…”

After hearing this, Baihu slowly raised his head, gazing at the void above, as if searching for someone in mid-air.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “You can create three thousand six hundred things called ‘Dao,’ yet you violate the Master’s orders and kill at will… Aren’t these two things contradictory? Don’t you plan to come down and explain this to me?”

Unfortunately, the sky above remained completely silent. Baihu received no answer.

Heavenly-Snake’s head remained respectfully lowered. He dared neither speak nor raise his head to look.

“Why don’t you tell me…” Baihu lowered his head to look directly at Heavenly-Snake at eye level. “Why did ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ issue this order? And why can you Heavenly-level Zodiacs kill at will without initiating a ‘game’?”

“I’m not entirely clear on the specifics…” Heavenly-Snake said nervously in a low voice. “One night, ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ was awakened by an enormous bell sound. From that moment on, he could neither sleep at night nor eat during the day… He ordered us to definitely find the person who triggered that bell sound.”

“An enormous bell sound…?” Baihu furrowed his brow, the wrinkles on his face becoming even deeper. “I have an impression… I have an impression of this…”

“Senior, you know?” Heavenly-Snake raised his head to look at Baihu’s expression. “Do you know who that ‘Echoer’ is? Do you know what his ability is?”

After hearing this, Baihu was about to speak, then slowly closed his mouth.

He extended his hand and viciously slapped Heavenly-Snake across the face.

Smack!

This slap was exceptionally loud, almost like a firecracker exploding right before their eyes.

Heavenly-Snake’s head twisted to the side from the force of that slap, but he quickly recovered and lowered his head again.

“What kind of thing are you?” Baihu sneered. “If ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ has questions, let him come ask me in person. Sending you here—does he look down on me?”

“Yes… yes… Senior, you’re absolutely right…” Heavenly-Snake’s eyes turned cold, seemingly recording this grudge in his heart. “I’ll go notify ‘Heavenly-Dragon’…”

“Get lost,” Baihu said. “Remember that you’re a ‘Zodiac.’ The purpose of your existence is not to slaughter the innocent indiscriminately. I’ll wait right here for ‘Heavenly-Dragon.’ If he wants to come, I’ll receive him at any time.”

“Yes, yes, yes…” Heavenly-Snake respectfully bowed to Baihu. “I’ll leave right away… I won’t disturb you any further…”

Heavenly-Snake turned his face and looked at the several young women with a sinister gaze, then turned and left the area.

But for the people present at the scene, they couldn’t yet feel at ease, because there was still “Baihu.”

What was his stance?

“You’re not leaving?” Baihu asked.

“Ah…?” Yun Yao was stunned. “Yes, we should be leaving too. Thank you so much this time.”

“No need to thank me,” Baihu waved his hand. “You’re ‘Participants.’ Your endings can only be dying miserably in the games… or eternally cycling here, that’s how it should be…”

This short sentence caused cold sweat to break out on everyone’s backs.

“Old man,” Zhang Chenze boldly stepped forward to speak at this moment. “May I ask, how exactly can we ‘Participants’ get out of here?”

“Get out of here…” Baihu’s gaze gradually became desolate. “Perhaps only he… only Qi Xia can do it…”

“Qi Xia…?”

Zhang Chenze and Lin Qin felt rather strange. Since waking up today, it seemed everyone was searching for Qi Xia.

What exactly had he done?

“Only by becoming a ‘God’…” Baihu coughed a few times, then reached up to scratch his messy white hair. “As long as a ‘God’ is created in this ‘paradise’… everyone will be liberated…”

“What…?” Zhang Chenze felt she couldn’t quite believe her ears. “Old man, if we don’t want to become a ‘God’… can we escape?”

“Escape… out?” The old man was stunned. “Where would you escape to?”

“Back to the real world!”

“Ha…” Baihu’s mouth split open, revealing only a single tooth hanging in his hollow mouth. “Silly child… where would you still have a real world? You’re destined to live here, to die here.”

Lin Qin also silently lowered her head at this moment, her expression equally sorrowful.

“What do you mean…?” Yun Yao was somewhat stunned. “Didn’t you just say that if someone becomes a ‘God’… we can be liberated?”

“Haha…” Baihu laughed. “Someone here is already starting to see through the truth… Because someone told an enormous lie… How could anyone escape…”

Zhang Chenze’s lips trembled. “Then what do you mean by ‘liberation’?”

“Liberation… yes, you will be ‘liberated’…” Baihu nodded. “As long as someone passes through all these trials and becomes a ‘God,’ you won’t have to suffer this cycle of reincarnation anymore… You can die forever, forget all of this forever…”

“What did you say?!” Yun Yao felt her beliefs somewhat collapsing. “What do you mean the real world doesn’t exist… What do you mean we’re suffering the pain of reincarnation…?”

“No… I didn’t say ‘the real world is gone’…” Baihu shook his head, speaking with a vacant gaze. “It’s just that your real world is gone, so you must really broaden your hearts… Your families are all still there. The ones who disappeared from the world are only you. Rest assured, rest assured.”

“Then… but… but…” Yun Yao clearly wanted to ask something, but was obviously devastated by this news. Her entire person could only stand there stunned, unable to say a single word.

“Every time he ‘shuffles,’ the next batch of people will be full of new enthusiasm…” Baihu smiled. “You should have already experienced it. This is precisely what I call the ‘pain of reincarnation.’ Rather than preserving your memories and suffering here continuously, it’s better to forget everything and let yourselves live properly. Every day of less suffering counts…”

“That’s not right…” Zhang Chenze was stunned, then looked toward Baihu. “Old man, you just said… ‘only Qi Xia can do it’—what does that mean? Is he the only one here who can get out?”

“Him…?” After hearing this, Baihu scratched his head, his withered hair swaying back and forth. “He can’t get out either. The only thing he can do is liberate everyone, make all of this end.”

“You mean…” Everyone present thought of something at this moment.

“That’s right…” Baihu nodded. “He’s closest to becoming a ‘God.’ On the day he becomes a ‘God,’ all of your existences will lose meaning. You will be destroyed along with this place.”

Upon hearing this sentence, Zhang Chenze and Yun Yao’s hearts let out a muffled “thump.”