Qi Xia looked toward Xu Liunian, only to discover her entire body was trembling.
Mortals were fleeing, while deities gave chase.
Flee… but where could they flee to?
“Qi Xia…!” Even Xu Liunian’s voice was shaking. “The ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ has special magical reinforcement that allows those within it to gain ‘Divine Power’ under extreme emotions. This plan was originally called the ‘Nuwa Game’! But all the original ‘Referees’ were killed by ‘Heavenly-Dragon’! He replaced them with people he selected himself and completely took control of this place!”
The instant they exited the small path, Xu Liunian spun the car around on the spot and continued racing toward the main road.
“Now, all the ‘Zodiacs,’ all the ‘Divine Beasts’ are nothing but lies!! Not a single one of us can escape from here!!”
As soon as her words fell, the ground before them suddenly began to shake, and massive boulders rose up from the earth, blocking their entire path forward.
Seeing the situation turning dire, Xu Liunian shifted into reverse and turned around again.
The moment she turned around, she discovered the air had suddenly gone silent—Qinglong was already sitting in the back seat of the car.
This turbulent taxi, like a yacht that had dropped anchor in giant waves, now slowly came to a halt in place, swaying but going nowhere.
Seeing Xu Liunian’s expression change dramatically, Qi Xia couldn’t help but turn his head as well, and his eyes met directly with Qinglong’s.
“I seem to recall saying… I dislike it when ‘chess pieces’ have their own consciousness.”
Qinglong’s androgynous voice slowly rang out, making Qi Xia feel it was exceptionally familiar.
This voice was identical to the one he had heard in his dream, but strangely, when he heard this voice in his dream, he felt his hair stand on end—he couldn’t even manage to look at him once.
But the man before his eyes seemed somewhat different.
Qi Xia stared at Qinglong carefully, scrutinizing him thoroughly.
After pausing for a long while, Xu Liunian spoke again: “I don’t have much time left. Let me tell you my ‘Final Hypothesis’ now.”
Qinglong didn’t stop her, merely watching Xu Liunian quietly, as if observing a jumping, cavorting monkey.
“Speak,” Qi Xia said in a heavy voice.
“We are ‘Replicas’ born from your power. The real us have already escaped from this godforsaken place long ago.” She struggled to organize her thoughts, speaking word by word to Qi Xia. “I suspect we escape every ten days, but because of your stubborn ‘Endless Life,’ there’s always a replica left here to endure the suffering of reincarnation!”
Hearing this, Qi Xia narrowed his eyes, then turned his head to look at Qinglong. He discovered Qinglong’s smile had grown even wider, as if he truly regarded Xu Liunian as a clownish buffoon.
“Are you finished?” Qinglong asked.
“I…” Not knowing what Qinglong meant, Xu Liunian could only cast a pleading gaze toward Qi Xia in the passenger seat.
But Qi Xia remained unmoved.
“Xu Liunian, you truly disappoint me.” Qinglong slowly extended his hand and placed it on Xu Liunian’s forehead. “After merely allowing you to recover your sanity for just over twenty days, things have already begun spiraling out of control. Why should I keep you around?”
Qi Xia saw Xu Liunian’s entire body trembling uncontrollably, but given the current situation, how exactly could he intervene?
When Xu Liunian decided to speak these truths aloud, regardless of whether her hypothesis was right or wrong, she would completely enrage Qinglong.
Looking at it this way, Xu Liunian had once obeyed Qinglong’s commands. Many of her previously unexpected and unpredictable schemes had very likely been guided by Qinglong.
That would make everything reasonable.
Including why Qinglong had appeared here now.
“Wait a moment,” he spoke up, stopping Qinglong.
Qinglong paused slightly, turned his head to look at Qi Xia, then slowly broke into a grin: “You’re telling me to… ‘wait a moment’?”
An extremely domineering Pressure Aura burst forth from Qinglong’s body, causing Qi Xia to furrow his brow momentarily.
If he were still an ordinary person, he would probably be forced back directly by Qinglong’s imposing presence. But the current Qi Xia felt he was no different from his opponent.
Since both of them possessed ‘Divine Power,’ they had bargaining chips for negotiation.
“That’s right, I’m telling you to wait a moment,” Qi Xia said coldly.
“How interesting… how interesting…” Qinglong nodded but didn’t withdraw his hand. Instead, he stared at him with a pair of ink-green eyes. “What am I waiting for? And what are you going to do?”
“Qinglong… I possess ‘Endless Life,'” Qi Xia said. “You cannot kill Xu Liunian.”
Hearing this, Qinglong’s hand movements indeed stopped.
“No matter what you intend to do…” Qi Xia continued to add, “Xu Liunian is an ordinary ‘Participant.’ She will be resurrected with her ‘Echo.’ You cannot kill her.”
“Ha… haha…” Qinglong withdrew his hand, his eyes filled with madness. “It really is you… seventy years ago it was you, seventy years later it’s still you…”
“It’s me…?” Qi Xia felt somewhat confused.
“Qi Xia, I’m going to tell you two jokes now. Here’s the first one.” Qinglong leaned forward slightly, drawing closer to Qi Xia. “If you hadn’t self-righteously spoken those words just now, Xu Liunian would have been completely liberated already.”
“What…?”
“Now let me tell you the second joke.”
Qinglong extended a single finger and placed it at the center of Qi Xia’s brow, and Qi Xia didn’t dodge.
“Qi Xia, if you hadn’t self-righteously made that boast seventy years ago, no one would be suffering this reincarnation torment.”
The instant Qinglong touched Qi Xia’s brow, a bizarre memory suddenly exploded in Qi Xia’s mind.
In the memory, Qi Xia stood covered in blood before a man with an indistinct face. Behind that man stood Qinglong, while behind Qi Xia were mountains of corpses—tens of thousands of bodies piled up.
The sky at that time was incredibly blue.
Qi Xia slowly lowered his head, gritting his teeth as he said: “‘Heavenly-Dragon’… we cannot possibly just die like this… I swear all the ‘Participants’ will return, and the ‘Echoers’ will lead everyone forward with these painful memories… until you are completely defeated.”
As soon as his words fell, Qinglong behind Heavenly-Dragon suddenly covered both ears, his expression becoming extremely pained.
“What is it?” Heavenly-Dragon turned back to ask.
After a long while, Qinglong’s complexion slowly eased. After pondering for a few seconds, he shook his head: “It’s nothing.”
Qi Xia glanced at Qinglong, then revealed a trace of a smile. He spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood and fell straight to the ground.
This memory came to an abrupt end.
Qi Xia’s eyes also slowly widened. He turned his head to look at Qinglong, gritting his teeth as he asked: “What kind of joke are you playing on me…? You’re saying all of this is because of me?”
“Isn’t it?” Qinglong smiled. “I heard it… that voice frequency was so high that even you yourself couldn’t hear it, but I heard it.”
“Ridiculous.” Qi Xia laughed angrily. “Even if it’s because of me that they endure endless reincarnation, what’s wrong with that? Are we as ‘humans’ supposed to just accept being slaughtered by you, not even worthy of having a chance to resist?”