Chapter 1141: The Meaning of Life

After finishing his words, Jiang Shi took a few deep breaths and looked at Xuanwu again.

Based on past experiences, he should have been gradually sustaining injuries, with the wounds and pain intensifying as the battle heated up.

But this time, Xuanwu had directly removed his heart, and the sudden immense pain nearly made him black out.

Xuanwu noticed that the heart she had crushed seemed to emit a faint black glow, which looked familiar, though she couldn't recall seeing it on anyone before.

She casually tossed the heart at her feet and then stomped on it, flattening it completely.

At that moment, Jiang Shi hunched over sharply, waiting for the intense pain to subside.

"Wicked deeds fill my body... retribution starts from the head..." Jiang Shi gritted his teeth and said, "Xuanwu, now neither you nor I have a heart, but as monsters like us, we can survive without one. How tragic is that?"

"Tragic." Xuanwu nodded. "A monster like me can't be described with just the word 'tragic'..."

"Do you want to try again?" Jiang Shi asked. "Xuanwu, you still have a chance."

"A chance...? How to try...?"

After hearing this, Jiang Shi smiled slightly. "Let me think about how that phrase goes."

A few seconds later, Jiang Shi extended his hand and beckoned to Xuanwu.

"Come on, Xuanwu, wouldn't killing me be great?" Jiang Shi laughed. "It's good, so good—come and kill me."

Xuanwu tilted her head slightly at his words, as if deep in thought. The others had no idea what she was pondering, but they saw her reach out and pull a broken bone from her shoulder.

Seeing this, Jiang Shi grew even more excited. "Come on, Xuanwu, put down your weapon and enjoy killing me."

It seemed Xuanwu was truly provoked. Before today, she had thought that in Taoyuan, the only one who couldn't be killed was herself.

But today, first Qinglong, and now this child in front of her—they could stand there even after having their hearts removed. Had she gone mad...?

Or had Taoyuan already changed beyond recognition?

Xuanwu threw the broken bone on the ground and extended her hand again.

At this point, she felt there was still a difference between this child and Qinglong.

After all, she couldn't pull a second heart from this child's body.

She clenched her hand in the air three times, but each time it was empty, meaning this child was standing there without a heart.

"How strange." Xuanwu paused, then with a flick of her left hand, she conjured a piece of lung tissue out of thin air.

"Cough..." Jiang Shi felt a chill in his chest once more, and a cough escaped his lips involuntarily.

"Are there other things left...?" Xuanwu tilted her head. "So, you still feel pain?"

She tightened her grip with her left hand, crushing the lung tissue into fragments.

"Cough, cough, cough!!" Jiang Shi coughed violently. The sensation of his lung being crushed was odd—he didn't feel as much pain, but he suddenly struggled to breathe.

The muffled, childish grunts echoed through the area. If not for the Jianmo barrier covering the place, it might have drawn a large crowd.

Jiang Shi clutched his chest, realizing that his "immortality" was still quite different from Xuanwu's.

A normal person would have died in this state by now, but he had to endure all the pain and remain standing.

After staring blankly for a few more seconds, Xuanwu stopped talking and simply pulled out all of Jiang Shi's organs at once, throwing them on the ground.

Besides the heart, liver, spleen, and lungs, there were also severed fingers and teeth.

Jiang Shi felt completely enveloped by excruciating pain, his mind foggy and his speech slurred.

"Cough..."

A few minutes later, Jiang Shi knelt before Xuanwu. He neither begged for mercy nor took a step back.

The atmosphere in the area was eerily silent, with everyone staring at Xuanwu, Jiang Shi, and the horrifying pile of organs on the ground.

Anyone else in his position would have been dead.

"So, you really won't die?" Xuanwu looked down at Jiang Shi and asked.

"Of course not..."

"So, like me, you must want to die, right?"

"Hey... heh heh..." Jiang Shi wiped the fluid from his mouth and stammered, "No."

"Why wouldn't you want to die?"

"How... how to put it..." Jiang Shi knew he was in grave danger, so he simply rolled over and lay on the ground, saying, "I often run as fast as I can, holding my severed hands, feet, and head, to find my fifth brother for help. I've caused him so much trouble, haven't I?"

"What...?"

"But he doesn't want me to die, and I don't want to die either." Jiang Shi said softly. "Every time, the pain is unbearable... every time, I feel like I'm about to die..."

"Then what's the point of you living?"

"Living is the meaning." Jiang Shi replied. "As long as I want to live, it has meaning. It's just that I'm still young; I haven't had time to think about it."

"That's wrong." Xuanwu said. "If a person can't even die, then living has no meaning."

"You're you... and I'm me..." Jiang Shi coughed a few times. "You can try every way to kill me... but I don't want to die at all."

Xuanwu fell silent, just lowering her head.

"Xuanwu... have you seen the way everyone around me is looking?" Jiang Shi asked. "Not a single one of them wants me to die."

After a long pause, Xuanwu said, "But in Taoyuan, not a single person wants me to live—not even I do."

"It's precisely because you don't want to live that we're willing to join forces to send you to your death." Jiang Shi added. "Think carefully... are we really enemies?"

Bai Jiu, who was closest to Jiang Shi, couldn't bear to watch any longer. Without using a rope, she leaped down from the high platform, her feet turning into a pool of water that cushioned her fall.

She quickly walked over to Jiang Shi and bent down to check on him.

Jiang Shi was mutilated beyond recognition—half his teeth had been pulled out, and one eye was deflated.

"Cough, cough..." Jiang Shi stared at Bai Jiu and said, "It seems my time is almost up; even hallucinations are appearing."

Bai Jiu lifted her head solemnly and looked at Xuanwu. "Xuanwu, since you want to die so badly, what's the point of you living?"

"Me...?" Xuanwu hesitated. "The reason I've lived this long is for two things."

"Could you tell me?" Bai Jiu asked.

"First, to protect the rules..."

But after saying "first," Xuanwu paused and didn't mention "second."

Bai Jiu seemed to realize something and gently interjected, "Second is to die, isn't it?"

"Yes." Xuanwu nodded. "First, I must protect the rules; second, I must die. These two things have an order; they can't be mixed up."

Bai Jiu pondered Xuanwu's points carefully, but before she could respond, a whistle sounded from Song Qi on the roof.

Qiu Shiliu was ready.

She took off her leather jacket, revealing her sports tank top, and slowly approached Xuanwu with an angry grin.

Everyone else quickly moved to Jiang Shi's side, picked him up, and retreated swiftly.

"Hey, Xuanwu, let's make a deal." Qiu Shiliu said with a furious smile.