Chapter 554: Let Me Hear

"Xu Liunian... I'm feeling very troubled right now." Qinglong slowly lifted his eyes, which glowed in the night.

"What are you troubled about...?"

"I'm thinking about whether to smash the four giant Zhong here," Qinglong said.

"You're going to destroy the Zhong here...?" I asked tentatively. "Why?"

"Xu Liunian... you died back then, so you don't know the origin of the 'Zhong', right?"

"That's true, I don't know." I shook my head. "But you said Qi Xia built them."

"To be precise... it was Qi Xia leading a group of 'Can Yu Zhe' who built them," Qinglong said. "He's an extremely meticulous person. He actually thought of building four giant Zhong in the city to greatly increase the visibility of everyone's 'Hui Xiang'."

"So...?" I felt that Qinglong's words were somewhat contradictory. "In that case, shouldn't you preserve these four giant Zhong? That way, the 'Can Yu Zhe' can one day stand before you again. Eventually, they'll find a way to kill you and 'Tianlong', thereby completely liberating this place."

"From certain perspectives, you're right." Qinglong nodded in agreement. "Thanks to these four giant Zhong, this city is the only one that hasn't completely gone mad yet. But precisely because of that, all the 'Sheng Xiao's attention is focused on this 'Dao Cheng'. However..."

Qinglong gave me a meaningful look, then shook his head. "Never mind, I don't want to shatter everyone's hope."

Although Qinglong didn't spell it out, I could roughly guess—

Once Tianlong and Qinglong are truly killed, will this place be liberated?

If it's truly 'Sheng Sheng Bu Xi', how can we ever achieve liberation?

"I just want to destroy those four Zhong," Qinglong spoke again. "This action might put all the 'Can Yu Zhe' in danger, but it could preserve 'Sheng Sheng Bu Xi'. He's the key to all of us being liberated."

"But I still think that's too risky," I said. "Even if Qi Xia is 'Sheng Sheng Bu Xi', how well does he utilize that ability? He only retained one memory. What level of 'Hui Xiang' can you expect from him? He's not mad enough yet."

"I..."

Qinglong fell silent upon hearing my question, as he could hear everything Qi Xia did and knew that Qi Xia was still relatively normal right now.

"Qinglong, if you destroy all the 'Zhong', then 'Dao Cheng' will quickly turn into something like the neighboring 'Yu Cheng', where everyone wanders the streets like headless flies. Only you would be able to hear everyone's 'Shen Li'. Regardless of whether Qi Xia can emerge victorious, the others will surely get lost."

After thinking for a moment, Qinglong said slowly, "To be honest, 'Yu Cheng' is on the verge of falling."

"What do you mean by 'falling'...?"

"The good people are less than ten percent. 'Tianlong' is preparing a massacre, during which ninety percent of the 'Can Yu Zhe' will disappear outright. The survivors will be trapped forever in the interview rooms. Five cities will fall to four, and this place will be the last hope for all 'Can Yu Zhe'."

"Wha... 'Wo Cheng' has fallen in the past two years too?"

"That's right. When 'Tianlong' shifts his attention from 'Yu Cheng' to 'Dao Cheng', he'll naturally see Qi Xia as the biggest threat. No one will be able to protect him then."

Qinglong's words made me slowly cover my forehead. Time isn't looping forever—it's moving forward.

We thought we had plenty of time, that it was always looping... but now 'Tianlong' is winning.

As long as he can thoroughly kill all the 'Can Yu Zhe', he'll truly win.

Regardless of whether he becomes a 'Shen' or not, this 'Taoyuan' will belong to him alone.

"So, is there really no way out...?" I asked quietly. "Once you smash the four 'Zhong', it's like all the 'Can Yu Zhe' unknowingly starting a life-or-death gamble with 'Tianlong'... What's our chance of winning?"

After hearing that, Qinglong turned around, standing with his hands behind his back on the roof of 'Tian Tang Kou', gazing into the distance.

"Xu Liunian... perhaps there's still one way."

"Tell me."

"What you just said woke me up..." he murmured to himself. "Since this is a war initiated by Qi Xia against 'Tianlong', we can't let everyone be unaware of it."

"So...?"

"So, you can go all in and play it openly." Qinglong smiled. "Let the four Zhong stand there proudly. Once a massive Zhong Sheng rings out, that will be the horn signaling the start of the war."

I took a deep breath after hearing that. Although I refused to dismantle the four 'Zhong', Qinglong's idea was incredibly bold.

"Let Qi Xia awaken..." Qinglong slowly revealed a strange smile. "Let the giant Zhong ring! Let the four giant Zhong sway in the 'Zhong Zhan'! Let the sound of metal colliding sing for me, sing for 'Tianlong'!"

Before I could say anything, he suddenly turned back, his eyes wide with excitement as he said to me, "You're right, Xu Liunian! The reason I've been so lonely for seventy years is because only I heard that massive sound back then... That's not right... You all should hear it! Let all the 'Can Yu Zhe' hear it! Let 'Tian Di Ren' hear it! Let the 'Si Shen Shou' hear it! That's the way it should be!"

"Hold on..." I swallowed and said, "Qinglong, even if you really want us to go all in against 'Tianlong'... how do we get Qi Xia to gain 'Shen Li'? Will the war Zhong start swinging so easily?"

"Let's try it!!" Qinglong shouted, his eyes gradually turning frantic. "First, we need to test if that giant Zhong can handle such high-frequency sounds! After all, humans can't even detect that kind of sound... I'm not sure if Qi Xia was that meticulous back then, to anticipate the appearance of supersonic sounds."

"Then... how do we make him 'Hui Xiang'?"

"You've got this!" Qinglong said. "Xu Liunian, aren't you still part of my plan? Let's make a new deal... If you can't make Qi Xia gain 'Hui Xiang' this time, in the next cycle, I won't promise you the 'Can Yu Zhe' identity anymore... Your life and death will be up to fate. How about it?"

"What...? You..."

In the end, I boarded the madman's ship.

This wasn't a deal at all—it was a threat.

"You mean... I have to figure out how to make Qi Xia 'Hui Xiang' myself?"

"That's right... You've succeeded once before." Qinglong extended a finger and gently tapped his temple. "Use this person, use his deepest 'Zhi Nian' to make him 'Hui Xiang'. Wouldn't that be such an interesting thing?"