Chapter 1101: How to Win

Everyone present then realized that Qiao Jiajin’s persuasion had actually worked.

Xuanwu’s previously unwavering certainty began wavering at this moment.

For Xuanwu, between the characters “Father” and “Mi,” which one should be judged as the winner?

Although Xuanwu only revealed one eye from behind her hair, that eye expressed extreme confusion.

In previous games, she could easily determine the outcome, but this time, no matter what, she couldn’t make a decision.

Since she was no longer “human,” naturally she couldn’t think from a human perspective.

But what should she do now?

“It’s okay,” Qi Xia suddenly said to Xuanwu. “You don’t need to listen to what others say. Just judge based on the answer you believe in.”

These brief words were like a lifeline, pulling Xuanwu out of her inner conflict.

“The answer I believe in…” Xuanwu lowered her head in thought for a moment.

A moment later, she slowly lifted her head: “Draw.”

“Draw…” Qinglong frowned. “Have you thought it through?”

Xuanwu nodded slightly, her hair swaying: “I have. I can’t determine the winner for this round, so both are correct.”

“Woaaaahhhhh~~~”

Chen Junnan suddenly spoke loudly at this moment: “Old Qiao, Old Qiao! If I’m not mistaken, a certain little god played two rounds with us and scored zero points!”

“That’s right!” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “Looks pretty helpless, huh?”

Upon hearing these words, Qinglong’s expression turned icy cold. He could no longer tolerate Chen Junnan’s sharp tongue and instantly vanished from the spot.

Seeing this, Xuanwu frowned and also disappeared from her place in an instant.

The next second, Qinglong suddenly appeared in front of Chen Junnan, raising his palm to strike. Xuanwu immediately appeared beside Qinglong and grabbed his wrist.

Within one second, the two had already taken action, but at the last moment, Xuanwu saved Chen Junnan’s life.

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin, who stood nearby, reacted quickly and hastily stepped back, finally getting a clear view of the situation.

Xuanwu’s actions clearly enraged Qinglong. His wrist was held motionless, his expression growing increasingly dark.

A few seconds later, he suddenly shook his wrist with force, actually pushing Xuanwu back several steps.

Xuanwu rapidly retreated a few steps, finally steadying herself, and lightly coughed.

No one could tell how much strength Qinglong had used, but it was clear to everyone that Xuanwu was now in considerable discomfort.

“Xuanwu…” Qinglong, furious to the point of laughter, turned to look at her, “Remember this moment. I won’t let you live, nor will I let you die. I will only give you even greater torment.”

After hearing this, Xuanwu’s eyes revealed a hint of panic, but it quickly faded as she said calmly, “The game has not ended. Fighting between both sides is not allowed. Only ‘Cangjie Chess’ can decide the outcome.”

Qinglong let out a cold snort, flicked his sleeve, and returned once more to stand before the giant display screen.

Seeing his state, the others couldn’t help but exchange glances.

It seemed that no matter how the game proceeded, Xuanwu would not escape punishment. If Qinglong won the third round, the game would still end in a draw, possibly leading to a fourth round as a tiebreaker.

But Qi Xia knew that he couldn’t possibly keep winning until the fourth round.

Qinglong would soon discover where the trick in this game lay. Trying to continuously defeat Qinglong four times through such methods was simply absurd.

The sole reason for his victory was the “Soldier.”

When Chu Tianqiu conceded defeat outside the ‘Cangjie Chess’ arena, Qi Xia, as a precaution, took the “General” from him and the “Soldier” from Jin Yuanxun.

After thinking for a while, Qi Xia placed the “Soldier” into his pocket and returned the “General” to the pile of characters.

Combined with the “Scholar” subtly created by Tiantian, the total number of characters in the game had not decreased.

Therefore, Qinglong couldn’t immediately find which “character” was missing among the numerous messy radicals.

At this moment, Qi Xia had Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin engage in “Psychological Attack,” making the truth, already difficult to discover immediately, even more obscure.

But Qi Xia also knew that Qinglong would eventually realize this issue. For greater safety, he proactively proposed that each side remove one “character” without informing the other which one had been removed. Then, he handed the “Scholar” created by Tiantian to Xuanwu.

Thus, even if the opponent discovered the “Soldier” was missing, they would immediately assume it had been removed by him, absolutely unable to imagine that there was another vague and uncertain “Scholar” in this game.

As Qi Xia previously said, as long as this “character” wasn’t carefully examined in one’s hands, it would always remain real.

Therefore, Qi Xia used “Eye” and “Wood” to form “Ao.”

Then he used the “Ten” from “Soldier” and the “Eight” from “Infantry” to create a second “Wood,” together forming “Sen.”

As Xuanwu had said, the combination Qi Xia used contained half of “Infantry.”

In the second round, while Qi Xia was mentally combining characters, he discovered that “Ten” could be rotated into “Yi.” Adding “Eight” to it formed “Father.”

However, “Ten” and “Yi” had different strokes, only being highly similar in shape. The only concern was whether the “Phoenix Bearing Writing Platform” could recognize such an abstract font.

Originally thought impossible to form, Qi Xia suddenly recalled Chen Junnan’s creation of “Ce” in a flash of inspiration.

Theoretically speaking, “Ce” and “巾” also had different strokes, only being highly similar in shape. If “Ce” could be recognized, then “Yi” should also be recognized.

Soon, he found his guess was correct, and this game must have been influenced by Aries.

After all, even Qinglong hadn’t realized that “Yi” could be received by the “Phoenix Bearing Writing Platform.”

From this perspective, the questioner and answerer had reached a draw, with only Qinglong remaining unaware.

Thus, he and Chu Tianqiu realized how important the “Soldier” truly was. After all, the components “Ten” and “Heaven” could form a vast number of characters. If one could freely use all the characters available for combination, the “Soldier” would be practically omnipotent.

But Qinglong wasn’t stupid. If three rounds were played consecutively, he would inevitably discover that Qi Xia had used characters not originally present in the pile. If he didn’t win this round, the “Soldier” could no longer be used.

In that case, Qi Xia would be placed in a completely passive situation. After all, Qinglong had already considered various possibilities in advance. If both sides could use the “Soldier,” the best possible outcome Qi Xia could imagine would be a draw, but there was a much higher chance of consecutive losses.

Therefore, the third round had to be a victory, ending the game decisively right here.

“Now, let’s draw the rule for the third round.”

After hearing this, Xuanwu paused and reached into the box to draw the final rule for the third round.

The few of them focused their gaze, only to see the slip of paper read:

“The one with the largest occupied area wins.”