Chapter 1103: Where the Heart Goes
The Azure Dragon kept fiddling with the "qiu" character in his hand, carefully thinking about the rules of this round from the Black Tortoise's perspective.
It was almost laughable—for so many years, when he made the rules, he never had to consider the participants' circumstances, but now he had to take the Black Tortoise's life into account.
Was there something... that had once felt overwhelmingly vast to the Black Tortoise...
At the very least, it wasn't "qiu" (mound). The Black Tortoise might not even know what "qiu" meant.
This thing had to be even larger than "qiu"—not physically larger, but psychologically larger.
As long as it existed, the Black Tortoise would be trapped inside it forever, unable to escape. Even if others could leave, she never could.
The Black Tortoise was born in it, lived in it, and would die in it.
In her heart, this character was even more terrifying than "mi" (rice).
The Azure Dragon pondered for a long time before finally arriving at an answer.
It was an answer that only the Black Tortoise would consider "correct"—in her mind, it was absolutely larger than "qiu."
With that thought, the Azure Dragon picked up a "mu" (wood) character and gently placed it on the "Phoenix-Bearing Scripture Platform."
The crowd outside saw the "mu" and began to think quickly, trying to determine what the Azure Dragon was creating.
Meanwhile, Chen Junnan also realized that the thing the Azure Dragon intended to create didn't seem to be "qiu."
Moments later, a "cun" (inch) character from the "jiang" (general) slowly appeared. The Azure Dragon's final answer in the last round was—
"cun" (village).
When Qi Xia saw this character, his eyes flickered rapidly, a sense of confusion washing over him.
The Azure Dragon's answer was "cun"? Had he stopped caring about the rules?
The Black Tortoise stared at it blankly for a moment, then asked, "What character is that?"
"Cun'er," Chen Junnan replied. "The 'village' in 'towns and villages.'"
"'Cun'..." The Black Tortoise's eyes glimmered as she said, "'Cun' really is huge..."
"Hiss..." Chen Junnan was taken aback. "A village is huge?"
"Hey..." Qiao Jiajing scratched his head. "Brother Jun, how big is the biggest village in the world?"
"How the hell would I know?" Chen Junnan frowned, feeling that the Azure Dragon had given a very bizarre answer.
How big could a "village" really be? Could it be bigger than a "mound"?
From a certain perspective, comparing a "hill" to a "village" in terms of size... you couldn't tell at a glance which one had a larger area.
After all, "mounds" vary in size, and "villages" can flourish or decline.
To determine which one was bigger, they'd rely partly on Chen Junnan's eloquence and partly on Qiao Jiajing's reasoning.
Chen Junnan figured brainwashing should start early, so he spoke up: "Sis, a village isn't that big. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"'Cun' is too big," the Black Tortoise said. "I've never left the 'cun'... In the 'cun,' there's 'mi' (rice), and 'mi' is very important, but I don't have 'fu' (father)..."
"Hold on!" Chen Junnan felt his brain short-circuiting. "Are you playing matching games with me? We're talking about the size of 'cun'..."
"Isn't it big?" The Black Tortoise turned her face, revealing a sliver of her cheek through her hair. "I can't get out... I've never been able to get out..."
Tian Tian, without any change in expression, reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Her eyes flickered as she said softly, "'Cun' is indeed very big. Some people are trapped there their whole lives. But it's not that big either—if you want to leave, you definitely can."
"Is that so...?" The Black Tortoise was stunned. "If I want to...?"
Zheng Yingxiong, for the first time, clearly smelled the scent emanating from the Black Tortoise—it was "sorrow."
Chen Junnan realized something was wrong with the situation. Tian Tian and the Black Tortoise seemed to have sunk into some emotional low, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.
He quickly reached out and tugged at Lawyer Zhang. "Sister Zhang! What's going on here? Do you want to say something? I'm at a loss—what's wrong with 'village'?"
Zhang Chenze's eyes turned cold. "I don't want to talk about this."
"Hey...?"
Chen Junnan was stunned, completely clueless about what had just happened, so he fell silent in this strange atmosphere.
The Azure Dragon stepped out from behind the screen, glanced at the Black Tortoise's condition, and then, somewhat relieved, stood to the side with the others.
Seeing this state, Qi Xia couldn't hold back a question that had been bothering him. He asked the Azure Dragon, "Azure Dragon, what are other people's suffering to you?"
"Oh?" The Azure Dragon raised an eyebrow. "Suffering is suffering. What else could it be?"
"'Other people's suffering'—is that your secret weapon to win at critical moments?" Qi Xia asked.
"Now that's an interesting question," the Azure Dragon said. "Let's just say, not just 'suffering'—anything that makes me feel comfortable is my secret weapon to win."
"Alright, that makes sense." Qi Xia nodded, then ignored the Azure Dragon and went behind the screen.
He picked up a pile of characters from the ground and tossed in his own "zu" (pawn).
The situation was indeed taking a turn for the worse.
Every time, the Azure Dragon created a character according to the "rules," but Qi Xia could only think in response to the characters the Azure Dragon had made.
So he had very little time each round.
From what they had so far, the Black Tortoise thought "cun" was huge because she had never left the village her entire life, she had no parents, and she had been starving since childhood.
"No wonder you always wanted to die..."
For the Black Tortoise, the desire to die had probably peaked even before she entered the "Land of the End."
Unfortunately, she died and came here, and because of the "Indestructible" nature, she was now immortal.
She always wanted to die, yet she could never die.
This was the first time Qi Xia truly felt how tragic "immortality" could be.
If that was the case... for someone like the Black Tortoise, what "character" could possibly be bigger than "cun"?
Unfortunately, "cun" was like a fully enclosed cage, pressing down on the Black Tortoise, blocking her entire view.
Even if Qi Xia could create mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, the sky, or the universe—things that physically dwarfed "cun"—they might not be bigger than "cun" in the Black Tortoise's heart.
Qi Xia had to quickly abandon that line of thought and consider another possibility: was there a way to temporarily let the Black Tortoise leave "cun"...?
If any "character" could break through the boundaries of "cun," he could win this game outright.
Everyone waited a long time in front of the screen. Based on the previous round, no one spoke.
After a while, a "mu" (wood) character appeared on the screen.
Everyone frowned. Both the Azure Dragon and Qi Xia had started with "mu"—the answers couldn't be too far apart.
Moments later, another "mu" appeared.
"lin" (forest).
Once again, the crowd fell into silence, but this silence was very different from the last.
They weren't shocked by Qi Xia's answer—they just felt like he was about to lose.
Comparing "lin" to "cun"... although it was hard for a normal person to tell which was bigger, to the Black Tortoise, "lin" didn't seem that important.
"Ha..." The Azure Dragon slowly grinned. "Qi Xia, Qi Xia... even the largest forest in the world can't compare to the 'cun' in the Black Tortoise's heart."
But Qi Xia didn't stop after creating "lin."
He took a "xi" (evening) from the "jiang" (general) and carefully placed it beneath "lin."
Perhaps only like this... could he gamble on that faint possibility.
"meng" (dream)!