Chapter 1098: Important Item

Chapter 1098: Zhongyao Zhi Wu

"Half a 'Bing'..." Qinglong's face darkened noticeably. "Xuanwu... are you lying to me?"

"No, I won't lie." Xuanwu shook his head, her long hair swaying with the motion.

"Then you don't recognize the character," Qinglong said. "If you don't know what 'Bing' looks like, how could you know that Qi Xia used half of it?"

"I don't recognize 'Bing', but I recognize half of 'Bing'," Xuanwu replied in a cool voice.

Qi Xia found it amusing; even Xuanwu was standing by his side within the rules' limits.

"I don't believe it," Qinglong said. "I want to come and see for myself."

"How dare you," Xuanwu snapped coldly. "There's no rule for that."

"You..." Hearing Xuanwu's words, Qinglong's eyes filled with killing intent in an instant.

But Xuanwu seemed completely unaffected, meeting his gaze with an icy stare.

"Today, here, I am the judge," Xuanwu said. "Follow the rules."

"You're really crazy," Qinglong said. "Do you know the consequences of talking to me like this?"

Xuanwu was silent for a moment before speaking: "The consequences are all severe."

"'All'?"

"Not fulfilling my duties as judge has severe consequences, and defying you has severe consequences," Xuanwu said. "But you said this time I could defy you."

Qinglong wanted to rush forward and remind Xuanwu who the true "god" was here, but that would end the game early and make the "Gambling One's Life" invalid.

For the first time, after years of doing as he pleased in the Zhong Yan Zhi Di, Qinglong experienced how frustrating it was to be bound by rules.

"Qinglong's lost his mind," Chen Jun Nan whispered to Qiao Jia Jin. "That 'Bing' character was picked by Xuanwu herself. Even if she doesn't recognize it, how could she not know what she chose? She must have seen it at a glance and known it was used."

"Yeah, yeah, he's confused."

A flicker of anger crossed Qinglong's face, but he still couldn't figure out how Qi Xia had pieced together the character "Li".

This strange character not only couldn't be pronounced but also didn't show any parts of "Bing".

"Two 'Mu'..." Qinglong's eyes flashed with surprise. Could there be two "Xiang" in the character pile now?

After confirming the answer, Qi Xia quickly removed all the characters from the Feng Huang Xiang Shu Tai and went to stand in front of the massive wall.

"So, Qinglong?" Qi Xia asked. "This time, the win is clear for all to see, right?"

Xuanwu nodded slightly upon hearing this: "Your character looks harder to write, so it has more strokes."

"Can I take that as the judge saying I won?" Qi Xia stared at Qinglong and asked.

Qinglong nodded reluctantly, as the rules were clear and there was no point in arguing further.

"Fine, you win," Qinglong said. "Best of three, let's start the second round."

Xuanwu nodded after hearing this and walked over to the wooden box to draw the rules for the second round.

She extended her pale gray arm and rummaged in the box for a while before pulling out another slip of paper.

This time, she didn't read it herself but simply unfolded it and showed it to everyone.

Everyone tilted their heads as they looked, because Xuanwu was holding the paper upside down.

Chen Jun Nan tilted his head and read softly: "The thing more important to humans wins?"

Realizing what was happening as everyone tilted their heads, Xuanwu reached out and turned the paper around.

Everyone straightened their necks and saw that the words were indeed as Chen Jun Nan had read.

"How abstract..." Zhang Lü Shi said beside them. "Something more important to humans?"

Tian Tian pondered for a moment and asked: "Does this mean physical objects... or something on a spiritual level?"

"Both are fine," Qinglong answered for Xuanwu. "As long as the character we create is considered important to humans, it counts. The more important one wins, but it has to be just one character, and it must include part of 'Bing'."

Hearing these increasingly difficult rules, everyone fell silent.

They could only use one character, and victory would be decided by its meaning, but it also had to include all or part of "Bing".

"You're just being outright cheats," Chen Jun Nan frowned and said. "You've probably thought through all these rules yourself, haven't you? How is Qi Xia supposed to play against you when he hears them for the first time?"

"Sorry..." Qinglong said. "The arrow has left the bow; no turning back. Besides, I'm going first this time."

After saying that, he turned to Qi Xia with a mocking smile and asked: "No objections, right?"

Qi Xia knew this was obviously a trap.

There weren't many characters that included part of "Bing", and even fewer that met the conditions, so this puzzle likely had only one solution.

If Qinglong went first, his chances of losing would skyrocket.

But now, this was the only way to make it a real gamble.

Under the pressure of possibly losing, he would push his potential to grow again.

"No problem," Qi Xia said. "You go first."

Qiao Jia Jin, standing nearby, could see the game was rigged and quickly tried to stop him: "Don't do it, buddy. Last time he chose to go first, so this time you should."

"It's fine," Qi Xia said. "Consider it me giving you a handicap."

"Showing off," Qinglong smirked and walked over to the giant wall, then started sorting through the characters on the ground.

Soon, he selected one and placed a "Mu" on the screen.

A few seconds later, he added a "丷".

"Mi".

"Damn it..." Chen Jun Nan cursed upon seeing the character. "Qi Xia... you see how shameless this guy is?"

Qi Xia nodded; Qinglong's choice was undeniable. "Mi" represented "food", which was extremely important for human survival, and it was likely the only standard answer that fit.

"First off, I don't agree!" Chen Jun Nan hurriedly explained to Xuanwu. "Even though he's written 'Mi' on the screen, I don't think it's that important. I can get full on meat and veggies."

"Yeah, yeah, I can get full on alcohol," Qiao Jia Jin nodded beside him.

"Or at worst, a bowl of Zhajiangmian with fried dough and soybean milk. Anyway, I don't buy 'Mi'."

"Yeah, yeah, curry fish balls and bowl wings work too; 'Mi' doesn't cut it."

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly after hearing this.

Xuanwu looked up at the massive "Mi" on the screen, as if studying how to write it, and after a few seconds, she slowly said:

"'Mi'... it's really important to humans."