After speaking, Jiang Shi took several deep breaths and once again turned his gaze toward Xuanwu.
Under normal circumstances, he would have gradually sustained injuries, with the pain intensifying as the battle heated up.
But this time, Xuanwu had directly ripped out his heart. The sudden, overwhelming agony nearly made him pass out.
Meanwhile, Xuanwu noticed that the heart she had crushed was beginning to emit a faint black glow—somehow familiar, though she couldn’t recall whose body she had seen it in before.
She casually tossed the heart to the ground and crushed it underfoot.
At the same moment, Jiang Shi doubled over, bracing himself for the pain to subside.
“Evil follows you… retribution starts from the head…” Jiang Shi gritted his teeth. “Xuanwu, now neither of us has a heart. Yet monsters like us can’t even die without one. How pathetic is that?”
**”Pathetic?”** Xuanwu nodded. **”A monster like me… can’t be described with just that word.”**
“Still want to try again?” Jiang Shi challenged. “Xuanwu, you still have a chance.”
**”A chance…? How?”**
Jiang Shi smiled faintly. “Let me think… how did that saying go again?”
After a few seconds, he raised his hand and beckoned to her.
“Come on, Xuanwu. Wouldn’t killing me be great?” He grinned. “Good, so good. Come and kill me.”
Xuanwu tilted her head slightly, lost in thought. No one could tell what she was thinking until she reached into her shoulder and pulled out a broken bone fragment.
The sight only fueled Jiang Shi’s excitement. “Come on, Xuanwu. Drop your weapon—enjoy killing me.”
Xuanwu seemed genuinely provoked. Before today, she had believed she was the only one in **”Taoyuan”** who couldn’t be killed.
But first, it was Qinglong, and now this child—both still standing after losing their hearts. Had she gone mad…?
Or had **”Taoyuan”** changed beyond recognition?
She threw the bone fragment aside and reached out again.
This time, she noticed a difference between the child and Qinglong.
She couldn’t pull out a second heart from this boy.
Her hand clenched empty air three times—meaning this child was standing before her without a heart.
**”Strange.”** Xuanwu paused, then flicked her left wrist, summoning a lung out of thin air.
“Cough—” Jiang Shi felt another icy chill in his chest, followed by an involuntary cough.
**”Other organs remain…”** Xuanwu tilted her head again. **”So you still feel pain?”**
She tightened her grip, crushing the lung into fragments.
“Cough—cough—!!” Jiang Shi hacked violently. The sensation of his lungs being crushed was bizarre—less painful, but instantly suffocating.
The faint, childlike groans echoed across the battlefield. Had it not been for the **”Silence”** enveloping the area, a crowd would have gathered by now.
Jiang Shi clutched his chest, realizing how different his **”Indestructibility”** was from Xuanwu’s.
A normal person in his condition would be long dead, yet here he stood, enduring every ounce of pain.
After a few more seconds of hesitation, Xuanwu stopped speaking altogether and began tearing out Jiang Shi’s organs one by one, tossing them to the ground.
Beyond the heart, liver, spleen, and lungs, there were broken fingers and teeth.
Jiang Shi felt utterly engulfed in agony, his mind fractured, his words slurred.
“Cough—”
Minutes later, he knelt before Xuanwu—neither begging for mercy nor retreating.
The arena was deathly silent. Everyone stared at Xuanwu, Jiang Shi, and the grotesque pile of organs.
Had it been anyone else, they would have been dead ten times over.
**”So you really can’t die?”** Xuanwu looked down at Jiang Shi.
“Of course…”
**”Then, like me, you must want to die, don’t you?”**
“Heh… hehe…” Jiang Shi wiped the fluid from his lips, mumbling, “No.”
**”Why not?”**
“Well… how do I put it…” Knowing his odds were slim, Jiang Shi rolled onto his back, lying on the ground. “I’ve often run to my fifth brother with severed hands, feet, or even my head… begging him to save me. What a nuisance I’ve been.”
**”What…?”**
“But he doesn’t want me to die, and neither do I.” His voice grew softer. “Every time, the pain is unbearable… every time, I feel like I’m about to die…”
**”Then what’s the point of living?”**
“Living is the point.” Jiang Shi replied. “As long as I want to live, it has meaning. I’m just too young to figure it out yet.”
**”That’s wrong.”** Xuanwu said. **”If someone can’t even die, then their life is meaningless.”**
“You’re you… I’m me…” Jiang Shi coughed weakly. “You can try everything to kill me… but I don’t want to die at all.”
Xuanwu fell silent, her head lowered.
“Xuanwu… do you see the looks in everyone’s eyes around me?” Jiang Shi asked. “Not a single one of them wants me to die.”
After a long pause, Xuanwu spoke: **”But no one in Taoyuan wants me to live—not even myself.”**
“Exactly because you don’t want to live, we’re willing to work together to send you to your death.” Jiang Shi continued. “Think about it… are we really enemies?”
Bai Jiu, who was closest to Jiang Shi, could no longer stand by. Without using her ropes, she leapt from the high platform, landing on a cushion of water that softened her fall.
She rushed to Jiang Shi’s side, looking down at him.
He had been mutilated beyond recognition—half his teeth were gone, and one of his eyes had collapsed.
“Cough…” Jiang Shi stared at Bai Jiu. “Guess my time’s up if I’m seeing hallucinations.”
Bai Jiu’s expression hardened as she turned to Xuanwu. “Xuanwu, if you’re so eager to die, then what’s the meaning of your existence?”
**”Me…?”** Xuanwu hesitated. **”I’ve lived this long for only two reasons.”**
“Can you tell me?” Bai Jiu pressed.
**”First, to uphold the rules…”**
But after stating the first reason, Xuanwu fell silent, never mentioning the second.
Bai Jiu seemed to understand. Softly, she interjected, “The second is to die, isn’t it?”
**”Yes.”** Xuanwu nodded. **”First, I must protect the rules. Then, I must die. The order cannot be reversed.”**
Bai Jiu pondered her words, but before she could respond, a sharp whistle pierced the air from the rooftop.
Qiu Shiliu was ready.
She stripped off her leather jacket, revealing a sports bra beneath, and strode toward Xuanwu with barely contained fury.
Seeing this, the others quickly gathered Jiang Shi, lifting him before retreating.
“Hey, Xuanwu, let’s make a deal.” Qiu Shiliu grinned, her voice laced with rage.
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