Chapter 927: Eight Gates

“All these years… you’ve worked hard.” Qi Xia said, “Let the upheaval begin.”

Yan Zhichun stared into Qi Xia’s eyes and nodded slightly before speaking, “Brother Sheep… Although it hasn’t been long since we parted, I do have some questions for you.”

“What?” Qi Xia asked.

“Do you… truly intend to take responsibility for the entire ‘Extreme Path’?” Yan Zhichun’s voice was low. “Once these people begin participating in the plan you’ve devised, there will be no turning back for them.”

“There’s no need to turn back…” Qi Xia’s eyes darkened. “We don’t have many chances left. This is our all-or-nothing gamble after seventy years. Now, countless powerful figures have gathered in ‘Dao City’ precisely to witness the final moment… So none of us can turn back.”

Yan Zhichun lowered her head. After a few seconds, she asked again, “Brother Sheep… Tomorrow, you want me to join you in the ‘Earth Dragon’ game. This time… will we be teammates?”

“Yes,” Qi Xia replied. “There aren’t many people I trust, and you’re one of them.”

“It feels… so familiar,” Yan Zhichun said. “There aren’t many people I trust either, and you’re one of them.”

“Good. Go prepare, then.” Qi Xia nodded.

Just as Yan Zhichun was about to leave, she suddenly remembered something. Her hand pressed against the doorframe as she slowly turned back, fixing Qi Xia with an eerily intense gaze.

“What?” Qi Xia asked.

“I just thought of something,” Yan Zhichun said, her voice calm. “Brother Sheep, you said something earlier that stuck with me.”

Qi Xia didn’t respond immediately, merely watching her expressionlessly, as if he already knew what she was going to say.

After a few seconds of thought, Yan Zhichun spoke slowly, “When you first entered the room, you said you liked the name ‘Extreme Path’—that it was fitting as a ‘needle’… right?”

“Is there something wrong with that?”

Yan Zhichun’s eyes flickered slightly before she uttered in a low voice, “Don’t you remember… how the name ‘Extreme Path’ came to be…?”

“I—”

Qi Xia narrowed his eyes, his deep gray-white pupils seemingly concealing a wealth of information. But Yan Zhichun, honed by years of experience, could discern at least part of the truth.

“You haven’t fully regained your memories… have you?” Yan Zhichun asked, disbelief creeping into her voice. “I expected you might lie to me, but not that you’d deceive me the moment we met… Are you planning to lead the entire ‘Extreme Path’ to their deaths with fragmented memories?”

“Whether my memories are restored or not, I know I’m in peak condition now,” Qi Xia said. “Even if I’m incomplete, I’m more than capable of winning this battle.”

Yan Zhichun swallowed hard. She knew she was now caught in a dilemma. The White Sheep had returned—he stood before her, alive and well—but his memories weren’t fully intact.

In other words, the current White Sheep wasn’t in his “prime state,” yet he was about to take charge of a plan already fraught with complexity.

“Brother Sheep, do you remember the matter of the ‘Life Gate’ and the ‘Death Gate’…?” Yan Zhichun probed cautiously.

Qi Xia still didn’t answer, only fixing her with an ambiguous gaze.

At that moment, Yan Zhichun realized the most critical part of the plan had gone awry—the leader had lost more than half of his memories.

No matter how she looked at it, this plan now seemed reckless.

“I don’t remember, but you can tell me,” Qi Xia finally replied. “As long as you can reconstruct the situation, I can devise the best countermeasures.”

After a long pause, Yan Zhichun spoke, “Brother Sheep… Though I’d rather not revisit this, it concerns the lives of us ‘Extremists,’ so you must guide us through this.”

“Go on.”

“I…” Yan Zhichun hesitated, unsure where to begin, before finally saying, “Brother Sheep… Have you received a ‘map’?”

“Yes,” Qi Xia answered.

“Good… That makes this easier.” Yan Zhichun took a breath. “You once told me there were seven ‘Life’ Gates and one ‘Death’ Gate on it. Has anything changed since then?”

Qi Xia’s pupils flickered, as if rapidly piecing together the context in his mind. Though he could theorize countless scenarios, his expression suggested he still hadn’t recalled the full picture.

This only deepened Yan Zhichun’s unease.

After nearly a minute of silence, Qi Xia finally parted his lips and said softly:

“Yan Zhichun, all eight gates are ‘Life Gates.’ Don’t worry.”

The air froze for three seconds. Yan Zhichun’s brows slowly furrowed. “Brother Sheep, you… you’re still lying to me…?”

“Oh?”

“You once told me that if I discovered you’d ‘regained your memories,’ I should immediately organize ‘destruction.’ But now… Not only have you only recovered fragments, but you’re still trying to deceive me…”

“Which part of what I said was a lie?”

“‘All eight gates are Life Gates’… You’ve forgotten everything. You don’t know the full context, yet you’ve already decided all eight are ‘Life Gates’…” Yan Zhichun’s voice trembled. “How can I trust you?”

“I truly don’t know the specifics,” Qi Xia said coolly. “But the idea of seven ‘Life Gates’ and one ‘Death Gate’ sounds exactly like a trap I would set.”

“A trap…?” Yan Zhichun’s eyes widened slightly, clearly struggling to grasp his meaning.

“If I’m not mistaken…” Qi Xia smirked. “Did that self-righteous sheep tell you, ‘I’m not sure which one is the Death Gate’?”

“You…” Yan Zhichun swallowed. “How did you—”

“He knew the exact numbers, the types of ‘Zodiacs,’ their locations, and that there was only one enemy… yet claimed not to know who that enemy was. How laughable. Did you really fall for such a lie?” Qi Xia’s grin widened. “That sheep underestimated me… He should’ve left me a harder puzzle to solve, not this childish trick.”

Yan Zhichun hastily raised a hand, as if to stop him—she remembered that even when the White Sheep had explained this before, he’d invoked ‘Silence,’ meaning the details of the eight ‘Zodiacs’ weren’t meant to be spoken openly here.

“There’s no need for caution now,” Qi Xia said. “The schemes we were meant to fall for have already been sprung. The path we were meant to pave is already laid. Even Qinglong stands with me.”

Yan Zhichun’s expression darkened again. The man before her felt increasingly unfamiliar.

“Brother Sheep… Though I believe in your strength, I knew the former White Sheep better. His plans were always beyond my comprehension… What if you can’t hold the plate steady? What if you drop it?” Yan Zhichun’s voice was strained. “What if all these people… end up dying with you?”

“Yan Zhichun…” Qi Xia’s gaze turned icy as he spoke slowly, “Since when… have you doubted me so much?”

“I—”

“Even if I had no memories at all, do you really think you could surpass me?”

His words sent a chill down Yan Zhichun’s spine, wrapping her in a familiar, suffocating tension.

“Besides…” Qi Xia took a step forward, pointing at his own eyes with a grin. “Do you think I’m even… human right now?”