The sage was determined to die.

Ji Bai thought for a moment, clapped his hands, and said to Chu Ze, "I guess I'm done now?"

Chu Ze looked at him with some surprise, then pointed to the ground and replied, "You're really out of the picture, but aren't you curious about what will happen to this guy next?"

"What will happen?" he asked listlessly. "Even if I try my best to let him go now, he'll just kill me too, right?"

"Well," Chu Ze said, "it should be quite difficult."

Ji Bai shook his head slightly and said, "You're really confident. You cast the bait 800 meters away, but what if that old yellow croaker just won't take the bait?"

"What should we do?"

Chu Ze gave him a tactful reply: "Then let fate decide."

……

Resigning oneself to fate is certainly not Ji Bai's style.

He yawned as he walked, and Yan Ming, standing beside him, looked like he had something to say but couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Why were you whispering to him for so long? What did you say?"

Yan Ming nudged Ji Bai with his elbow, his eyes filled with suspicion: "You and him could have a secret?"

Ji Bai stopped and looked at him, saying, "We were discussing murder and arson with him."

Yan Ming: "...Do we need to communicate when we're killing or setting fires? Just do it directly!"

"Your coarse tone often surprises me," Ji Bai said in astonishment. "Isn't murder and arson a highly skilled profession?"

"Really?" Yan Ming, caught in his trap, followed the other's lead and asked, "Where do we go next?"

"Naturally, we'll split into two groups."

Yan Ming: "?"

Ji Bai added, "Just like before, I'll travel by myself."

Yan Ming's suspicious eyes lit up again, and he couldn't help but ask, "You wouldn't happen to have some clues about Wenxin and then deliberately sent us away so you could reap the benefits alone, would you?"

Ji Bai gave him the "you guessed right" look the other person was hoping for, then denied it, saying, "It really is what you thought, so do you want to come with me?"

Such a straightforward invitation made Yan Ming hesitate. In the few moments of hesitation, Ji Bai's figure turned around and disappeared.

Yan Ming: "!!!"

Where are they?

……

"The person has arrived."

The girl pulled out a fruit from somewhere, munching on it with relish, and then pulled out another one to give to Ji Bai.

Ji Bai looked at the black handprint on the green fruit and politely declined, saying, "I'm not hungry."

The girl put the fruit away, and after a while it dawned on her: "Oh, I forgot to wash my hands."

After she finished speaking, she let out a burp.

The two were currently squatting in a mud hole, which the girl had dug herself. Ji Bai didn't comment on it, but couldn't help asking, "Do we really have to stay here?"

The girl stopped eating the fruit and explained, "Actually, we can go somewhere else too."

"But don't you think," the girl said, her voice lowering slightly, "that this place has a great atmosphere?"

Ji Bai: "..."

He abruptly changed the subject, asking, "How is Ji Ying?"

They were spying on...their target was Ji Ying. As an examiner here, it wouldn't be difficult for the girl to follow someone.

"It seems he's close to finding it." The girl wiped the fruit from her hands and hesitated, "But I don't quite understand."

Ji Bai asked, "What don't you understand?"

After wiping herself clean, the girl took a bite of fruit and said, "I don't understand why he wanted to die."