“I can’t say for certain,” Qi Xia answered. “I can keep my teammates alive, so naturally I might also consider you just an ordinary ‘Participant.'”

“But you… can you do it?” Qinglong took a step forward, the terrifying aura on his body bursting forth, forcing Qi Xia to retreat half a step. “Your subconscious fears me. You believe I come from the ‘Upper Layer.’ You believe I am one of the masters of this place. How could you possibly mold me into a ‘Participant’?”

“Heh…”

“So the initiative rests neither in your hands nor in mine,” Qinglong said, pointing at his own temple. “Rather, it rests in the hands of your ‘subconscious.’ Qi Xia, don’t control it—just fear my existence.”

Qi Xia swallowed slightly, seeming to discover an even more terrifying problem at this moment.

Qinglong wouldn’t vanish with the passage of time.

If Qi Xia were to “reshape” a new Qinglong, then the “Land of the End” would simultaneously have two Qinglongs.

Before the first Qinglong died, a second Qinglong would follow on his heels.

“It seems you understand…” Qinglong smiled. “All ‘Divine Powers’ are double-edged swords. From ‘Endless Life’ at the top to ‘Word Hearing’ at the bottom, not one is an exception.”

Qi Xia had nothing to say and could only stand in place with his head lowered in thought. He had felt that “Endless Life” had completely developed his brain, allowing him to think of countless new paths, but now it seemed he must control his thoughts, or everything would spiral out of control.

Just then, the sound of a bell suddenly rang out in the distance, and a tremendous sound came pouring forth.

Although not as massive as the sound Qi Xia had created, it sounded at least like “Twin Flowers” level sound waves.

“Painful, isn’t it…?” Hearing this sound, Qinglong slowly walked to Qi Xia’s side, leaning in to whisper in his ear. “If it’s too painful, go find ‘Law Breaker.'”

“Qiao Jiajin…?”

“Qi Xia… to liberate this place, we need to rely on Qiao Jiajin,” Qinglong said.

Seeing that Qi Xia didn’t respond, Qinglong continued: “You’re trapped by your existing line of thinking. Look at it from the perspective of ‘Echo’… As long as Qiao Jiajin can say to you ‘Don’t cheat,’ all reincarnation and rebirth will cease. ‘Endless Life’ will come to a halt, and tens of thousands of souls will be scattered… How simple is that?”

“You…” Qi Xia was slightly stunned.

Using “Law Breaker” to break “Endless Life”… was this actually the closest path to leaving this place?

So when Baihu had said “to leave this place still requires borrowing Qiao Jiajin’s power,” it wasn’t any kind of “hope” at all—instead, it was a path of despair leading to total annihilation.

“I’ve even given you my ‘trump card,'” Qinglong said. “Would any of the other ‘Heavenly-level Zodiacs’ or even ‘Divine Beasts’ lay bare their hearts to you like this? Qi Xia, this is the sincerity of cooperation between us.”

Xu Liunian on the side only felt her entire body turn ice-cold.

Every sentence of dialogue between Qi Xia and Qinglong made her whole body tremble.

Had things spiraled out of control… or had the truth finally come to light?

“You bunch of lunatics…” Qi Xia lowered his head, his bangs covering his eyes. “You truly never stop…”

“Every path is before your eyes. How will you walk?” Qinglong laughed loudly toward the sky. “Hahahaha! This is truly too interesting! ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ isn’t completely worthless after all! At least he’s let me watch a joke for seventy years.”

Qi Xia gritted his teeth and raised his head, only to discover that Qinglong before him had already disappeared.

Xu Liunian hurriedly opened the car door and got out, standing beside Qi Xia.

“Qi Xia… what should we do now…?”

Qi Xia only felt his mind was somewhat chaotic. Qinglong seemed to have explained many things, but why had his thoughts become even more confused?

…

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin were stumbling and running along the road, both their faces looking as if they had reached their limit.

“Old… Old Qiao…” Chen Junnan was gasping for breath, feeling his eyes going dark.

“What is it…”

Qiao Jiajin clutched his ribs, his brows tightly knitted.

The two had been running continuously for nearly two hours, their legs moving almost entirely by inertia.

“You kid… just admit defeat now…” Chen Junnan said. “This young master… I won’t laugh at you…”

“What…?” Qiao Jiajin’s footsteps didn’t stop, still walking and talking. “We… we agreed… whoever can’t run anymore is the pink sausage…”

“You… don’t do this…” Chen Junnan ran a few steps then clutched his stomach and lowered his head, breathing deeply several times, then looked back at the black lines drawing ever closer. “This young master… my glorious reputation cannot die as… as a pink sausage…”

“Then… then you run…” Qiao Jiajin struggled to regulate his breathing. “Don’t stop… if you stop you won’t be able to run…”

“Run my ass…”

The two were using their last strength to stagger along the street. Qiao Jiajin’s condition looked somewhat better than Chen Junnan’s, and he kept turning back to look at Chen Junnan.

“Junnan… you really can’t stop… you’ll die…”

“You think I want to stop…?” Chen Junnan felt that with every sentence he spoke, he lost a portion of all the air in his lungs. He was about to suffocate. “It’s fine, Old Qiao, I’m fine… don’t worry about me…”

Although Chen Junnan kept saying “I’m fine” with his mouth, his mind was already filled with thoughts of death.

During their run, they had already seen too many people die under the black lines behind them. Chen Junnan knew his chances of survival were extremely slim. Now he only had one last move left.

Before he could make his move, a tremendous sound suddenly came from the distance.

“CLANG”!!!!

The two were already unsteady on their feet, and this change caused them to be knocked about by the massive sound wave.

After swaying several steps to one side, Qiao Jiajin nearly fell, while Chen Junnan directly collapsed to the ground.

“Junnan! Get up quick!” After steadying himself, Qiao Jiajin shouted. “Why are you falling for no good reason?!”

Chen Junnan had hit something and looked extremely pained, while Qiao Jiajin looked toward the direction the bell sound came from, feeling this sound was somewhat familiar.

“I heard this sound once during the ‘Heaven’s Gate Battle’…”

“Fuck… This young master isn’t running anymore!!” Chen Junnan rolled over on the ground, then gasped heavily for breath. “I thought after so long there’d be some change… ha… turns out it’s still the same…”

Qiao Jiajin steadied his breathing, and while the black lines hadn’t yet reached them, hurriedly went over and grabbed Chen Junnan’s arm: “Don’t fall down! Come with me!”

Chen Junnan was practically dragged up from the ground by Qiao Jiajin’s forceful pulling. He hadn’t expected that Qiao Jiajin still had so much strength at this moment.

“Old Qiao… were you fucking waiting for me?” Chen Junnan felt something was off. “If you have this much strength, why were you running so slowly?!”

“Don’t talk so much…” Qiao Jiajin grabbed Chen Junnan and pushed him forward forcefully. “If we live, we live together. If we die, we die together.”