Chapter 1117: The Old Man

As soon as Han Yimo finished speaking, the atmosphere around them changed abruptly.

At that moment, Zheng Yingxiong also covered his nose with his hand.

Bai Jiu and Luo Shiyi hadn't yet realized what was happening when Jiang Shi slowly lifted his head.

He keenly sensed that something had descended, even causing his "Bu Mie" to tremble for a moment.

Seeing Jiang Shi's reaction, Bai Jiu immediately became cautious and signaled a battle-ready stance to Luo Shiyi on the opposite rooftop. Luo Shiyi, along with "Nuo Yi" Ma Shier and "Zhi Kong" Wu Shisan behind him, focused intently, scanning their surroundings.

However, they didn't spot any other "Shen Shou".

Like the people on the rooftop, Zheng Yingxiong felt enveloped by an overwhelming scent but couldn't pinpoint its source.

"It's Xuanwu," Zheng Yingxiong said. "I remember this scent... She's here..."

Han Yimo was stunned for a second. "How could it be... Speak of the devil and she appears..."

Everyone quickly scanned their surroundings, but there was no sign of Xuanwu anywhere.

With one Baihu already blocking everyone's path, adding Xuanwu to the mix—could they still have any chance of winning?

Jiang Shi slowly stood up, feeling the presence of "Bu Mie" that far surpassed his own. She was so close, almost right in front of him.

"Three-chi Longquan and ten thousand scrolls of books—born under heaven, what is my purpose?" Jiang Shi lowered the arm he had raised. "If I cannot serve the country and bring peace to the world, then I am unworthy to be a man among men..."

After reciting those lines from the storytelling verse, Jiang Shi's expression turned serious, and his earlier drowsiness vanished completely.

"Xiao Jiang Shi... Where is it?" Bai Jiu asked with a furrowed brow.

Jiang Shi slowly extended his hand, pointing in a strange direction.

Luo Shiyi and the others on the rooftop, along with Bai Jiu, looked toward where Jiang Shi was pointing, only to see it was neither the ground nor the rooftop.

It was a massive, tangled bundle of wires on a utility pole.

The wires seemed even more chaotic than before, with many black strands dangling as if about to touch the ground.

That's when Luo Shiyi realized that some of those black things were not wires at all, but Xuanwu's black hair.

Xuanwu's curled body within the wires slowly straightened, revealing her utterly pitch-black form.

Not an inch of skin was visible on her; wherever one looked, beyond the black hair, it had all transformed into a vast cosmos.

Having witnessed Jiang Shi's abilities before, everyone knew that whenever he suffered major injury, the affected areas would display a dark, starry void. But Xuanwu was entirely black... Had she entered some kind of realm, or sustained a fatal wound?

If "Bu Mie" truly covered her entire body... then did Xuanwu no longer have a physical form?

How could one defeat someone without a physical body?

"This damn..." Luo Shiyi chuckled lightly. "Hell difficulty from the start... It's been worth the wait."

Xuanwu lowered her head and gazed with her nonexistent eyes at the chaotic battlefield in the square below, then murmured in confusion:

"Why am I here...?"

Her ethereal, void-like voice echoed from around her, sending chills down Luo Shiyi and the others' spines.

At that moment, Xuanwu seemed to have transcended the category of "Shen Shou", becoming something else entirely.

Baihu seemed to sense the anomaly too. She quickly swung her hand, unleashing an unprecedented gale that forced everyone back three steps, then lifted her aged, cloudy eyes to look up at the air.

There on the wires stood a strange figure, pitch-black and gleaming, with no face and no expression.

The two appeared to be locking eyes, yet in that instant, their gaze seemed to span decades.

"You... Could you be... Xuanwu...?" Baihu asked in a hoarse, incredulous voice.

Though her words were not loud, every "Ji Dao" present heard them clearly, and everyone looked up to see a figure resembling Xuanwu standing in midair.

But this Xuanwu was vastly different from the image they had in mind.

Xuanwu stared at the old man before her, then slowly tilted her head. Though she had no expression, anyone could see her confusion.

After a moment, she asked:

"Who are you?"

"I..." The old man paused, then gave a bitter laugh. "I have no name... But here, they all call me 'Baihu'."

Xuanwu fell silent for a while, then tilted her head again.

Everyone held their breath at that moment, unsure of what Xuanwu intended. If the two "Shen Shou" joined forces, everyone there would likely perish.

"Bold." Xuanwu pondered for a long time before speaking. "The divine beasts must not be deceived. How can Baihu be an old man?"

"I..." Baihu paused slightly, then smirked. "You're right... But unfortunately, none of you cared about my fate. If you'd noticed my strangeness sooner, you might have uncovered that massive lie."

"I don't understand." Xuanwu shook her head, continuing in her ethereal voice. "Why are you so aged?"

"Because I've waited too long." Baihu laughed maniacally. "Alone, in solitude, for far too long."

"I am not yet old, but you have aged." Xuanwu mused. "Then what are you doing now? And why am I here?"

"I don't know why you're here, only that I'm stopping these 'participants' from destroying the giant clock and the display screen." Baihu answered honestly.

"Stopping the destruction..." Xuanwu paused. "Stopping destruction is good... These people want to destroy the giant clock and display screen, and attack you..."

Everyone looked at Xuanwu in horror, then heard two ethereal words drift from the black figure:

"Violation."

No sooner had the words fallen than the smallest tree embedded in the ground stirred, slowly rising into the air. It turned its roots and hurtled toward Xuanwu.

Whoosh—

Xuanwu did not dodge, allowing the small tree to pierce into her abdomen.

The narrow trunk entered her body from the front but did not emerge from her back, as if the entire thing had been absorbed into her form.

Xuanwu glanced down at the tree in her abdomen, then looked up toward Luo Shiyi.

The one who had made the move was "Nuo Yi" Ma Shier behind Luo Shiyi.

"Hey!" Luo Shiyi laughed. "Xuanwu, if I throw this tree at your belly, does that count as a violation?"

It was only then that the "Ji Dao" crowd noticed several figures in black standing on the rooftop, and some had even dealt with the "Cat" before, recognizing their identities at a glance.

Xuanwu said nothing, merely lowering her head to pull at the small tree. Finding she could not remove it, she pushed it deeper into the vast starry void within her body.

"Violation," she said again.

"Well, that's just perfect." Luo Shiyi grinned fiercely. "We're all ready for you to end our sorry lives."

With that, Bai Jiu gave a signal, and the people on the rooftop grabbed the ropes nearby, quickly rappelling down and vanishing into the streets.

Xuanwu watched the direction of their escape and murmured to herself:

"As long as I uphold the rules, this time I will die."