Chapter 1118: Song of Obsession

The Ji Dao group had assumed that Xuanwu would immediately join forces with Baihu, but to their surprise, Xuanwu dashed away, pursuing several members of the Mao Dui team at full speed.

"Eleven ge!"

The man who appeared to be around fifty, Zhi Kong Wu Shisan, was sprinting wildly while shouting "ge" at the younger Luo Shiyi, creating an oddly mismatched scene.

"Speak!"

"Is this really okay, Eleven ge?! That black-skinned Xuanwu is chasing us?!"

"Cut the crap!"

Luo Shiyi shouted back, "We were already in deep trouble if we ran into her before, and now it's even worse! Just run!"

"Will our strategy work?!" Wu Shisan asked. "What about Xuanwu's back and eyes?! Damn it... where are the weak points?!"

Luo Shiyi's face was naturally grim. They had just been laughing about the Ji Dao group's first phase mission starting with casualties, and now here they were, being chased by a disheveled cosmic entity.

The situation had gone from bad to absurd in an instant.

As they ran, Luo Shiyi glanced back at Xuanwu and saw her performing consecutive Yue Qian maneuvers, closing the distance between them rapidly.

Each Yue Qian propelled her forward by several dozen meters, and her long hair was pulled straight by the immense speed.

The sight made Luo Shiyi's hair stand on end.

"Eleven ge!" Wu Shisan called out again. "Damn it... we seem to have lost track of Jiu Jie and the others!"

"We need to report Xuanwu's position to them—attack first!" Luo Shiyi said. "Shi Er, stick to the plan. No one dies!"

After hearing this, Nuo Yi Ma Shi Er nodded, stopped running, turned back toward Xuanwu, and yelled, "Hey, Xuanwu, do you want to die?!"

Xuanwu halted in the distance and replied, "I do."

"We want to kill you—give us a chance!"

"Kill me..." Xuanwu paused. "Good, that's perfect. Come kill me..."

Ma Shi Er quickly pulled a slender stick from his pocket, yanked open the ring at one end, and used Nuo Yi to hurl it at Xuanwu. She didn't dodge, letting it lodge in her shoulder.

A few seconds later, a burst of bright red smoke erupted from the stick—it was clearly a signal flare.

The red smoke billowed upward into the sky in mere seconds.

Xuanwu merely turned her head to look at her shoulder but showed no other reaction.

"Eleven ge! The mark's on her!" Ma Shi Er shouted as he turned and ran, catching up to Luo Shiyi.

"Six jie!" Luo Shiyi called out, lowering his voice. "Get everyone to confirm their positions! The plan seems to be back on track, damn it!"

"Tsk!" Zhou Liu's Chuan Yin transmission came through quickly. "Is it really 'back on track'? I think that Xuanwu seems off!"

"At this point, off or not, we have to make it work!" Luo Shiyi said. "The Ji Dao side is already in big trouble, so it's normal for us to have a few surprises, right?!"

"Tsk!" Zhou Liu had no retort. "I'll get the nearby people to rendezvous with you all first! Remember, you need to provoke Xuanwu more, or you'll die way too fast."

"We've already provoked her! Hurry up!" Luo Shiyi yelled, then continued running for his life.

If they had encountered the old Xuanwu, they wouldn't be this panicked—they could have just taunted her a bit and led her to the ambush site. But the current Xuanwu could even swallow an entire tree into her body.

What the hell was she now?

"Ji Dao... we're all on our own luck," Luo Shiyi muttered to himself.

...

Qin Dingdong stood panting at the doorway of a classroom in Tian Tang Kou school, trying to steady her breathing.

She had no idea how this disorganized organization operated—early in the morning, a bunch of people had left, and just now another group had gone out. Now, the entire Tian Tang Kou was practically deserted, with hardly a living soul in sight.

After thinking for a moment at the door, she pushed it open with an irritated expression.

Wei Yang was lounging in a chair inside, gazing at the sky with interest.

Hearing the noise at the door, he turned to look at Qin Dingdong and smiled. "Well, if it isn't my beloved disciple...?"

"You..." Qin Dingdong's face darkened. "I went all the way to Nong Chang for nothing... only to find out you're not there at all. You're here in Tian Tang Kou... what are you up to?"

"Oh?" Wei Yang raised an eyebrow casually, then stared into Qin Dingdong's eyes. "When Tian She Shi Ke arrived, I wanted to ask your senior brother a question. But he's gotten too big for his britches and doesn't acknowledge me anymore. He just said Tian Tang Kou has enough resources for me to set up a new Nong Chang, so I came over."

"Qi Xia...?" Qin Dingdong hesitated. "Are you sure this place is better than Nong Chang?"

"Who knows if your senior brother is just tricking his old master? Anyway, I can't read those eyes of his."

"He never really saw you as a 'master,' did he? You just thought you were nurturing talent and wanted to take him as a disciple, but he's always been stronger than you."

"What a perfect candidate for a con artist." Wei Yang said with a regretful expression. "Such a shame. What a waste of good material—now he's gone straight."

"You..." Qin Dingdong shook her head, at a loss for words.

Wei Yang's lips curled into a smile as he looked back at Qin Dingdong's eyes. "What is it...? Are you even more anxious than I am?"

"How could I not be..." Qin Dingdong said. "Didn't you hear that huge noise in the sky just now?"

"I can hear the voices in your heart... so how could I miss that one's voice?" Wei Yang slowly lifted his head, his pale lips stretching into a smile. "An old friend... it's Tian Niu."

"So you're still sitting here?" Qin Dingdong asked. "Old Wei, you told me before that someone asked you to find a way to control the Yuan Zhu Min and lead them into the battle at the critical moment... isn't this that time?"

"Unfortunately." Wei Yang shook his head. "I've been reading the Yuan Zhu Min's minds for too long—now I've become one of them."

"So... you're not going?" Qin Dingdong asked again.

"I'm still thinking about it." Wei Yang said heavily. "Over these years, I've heard too many songs from the Yuan Zhu Min's hearts, and even I've gotten lost in them."

"Lost...?"

"All they sing in their hearts is Zhi Nian." Wei Yang gave a bitter laugh. "I've planted all that Zhi Nian in the ground and watered it with blood, but it never fades. Countless Zhi Nian echoes as a song... and now, to use that Zhi Nian to turn them into weapons again... I'm a con artist, but I'm not a monster."

Wei Yang turned back to Qin Dingdong, his murky eyes flickering. "Life's already hard enough, isn't it?"

Qin Dingdong blinked at his words, then let out a deep sigh. She opened her mouth to say something, but figured Wei Yang could hear her thoughts anyway, so she just shook her head and turned to leave the room.