The sage was determined to die.

After saying that, he paused and added, "Even a cultured tortoise can suffer from its own culture."

Gongsun Yang nodded as if he understood, then said cautiously, "I think I understand. You mean he's not a reckless man, and having some reservations prevents him from going too far?"

Ji Bai nodded slightly, and after a while, he suddenly said, "Oh, actually, the main problem is that he doesn't have the ability."

He smiled at Gongsun Yang, a smile as warm as a spring breeze, exactly the same as his preparations when he plotted against people. The smile made Gongsun Yang feel several times colder for some reason.

Gongsun Yang asked, "What should we do next?"

Ji Bai glanced into the distance and suddenly said, "Let's wait a bit. I think the results should be out soon."

Someone is waiting.

Some people are getting impatient.

As Chu Ze waited, he couldn't bear his younger brother's intense and impatient gaze any longer, so he simply closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, acting as if he couldn't see him.

Chu Xi, eager to try, asked him, "Brother, how much longer do we have to wait?"

Chu Ze then lifted his eyelids to look at the scene in the distance and chuckled, "It'll probably be soon."

……

"Looks like you didn't use enough bait."

Ji Ying stood there with her arms crossed, speaking calmly as if it were none of her business, and addressed the girl beside her.

The girl glared at him fiercely and retorted, "Isn't it because you're incapable of attracting people?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Ying remained unperturbed as always, and even nodded and hummed in agreement.

He simply said, "Well, I never expected that they were all like tortoises, so patient and tolerant."

After saying that, his tone suddenly became somewhat subtle. His gaze swept over the real turtle, and he said, "I almost forgot, there's a real one here too."

"He is indeed difficult to kill," the girl said calmly. "An immortal puppet must have been quite expensive to produce."

"How can you complain about the price of something that can save your life?"

He spoke with a highly sarcastic tone, and after saying that, he suddenly asked the girl, "Want to make a move?"

The atmosphere between the two eased somewhat after those four words were spoken. The girl's clear black and white eyes narrowed slightly, like a feline eyeing its prey.

She pondered those four words over and over, her gaze lingering in one direction for a long while before finally speaking: "It's time to make a move, but I just feel a little unwilling..."

Despite her words of resentment, her hands moved without hesitation, and in the blink of an eye, she shattered a pale yellow crystal.

If Ji Bai were here now, he would find that this crystal is very similar to the one he had hanging around the old tortoise's neck.

The next second, several beams of light shot into the sky. The girl's eyes widened. Unlike the scene she had imagined, these light sources were being drawn out of the bodies of several people like threads, so faint that they seemed to be about to be blown away by the wind at any moment.

"How could this happen..." she murmured unconsciously.

At the same time, that familiar yet unfamiliar pain spread through every nerve in Ji Bai's body. He groaned and couldn't help but bend over. It felt as if every cell in his body was being pierced one by one with an iron hook. His mind went blank at first, followed by a series of buzzing sounds...

His face turned pale instantly. Gongsun Yang, who was beside him, noticed something was wrong and instinctively tried to help him up, but when he looked up, he saw Ji Bai's almost frightening face.

"Why is it me again...?"