The Dice of Fate spun rapidly.

The mysterious strong player did not look up.

But it was visibly apparent that his entire body had tensed up.

In the blink of an eye, however, the ice crystal-like teardrop he held between his fingertips suddenly changed color.

Transforming from its original crystal-clear ice blue into an extremely peculiar black.

It was the kind where, at first glance, you'd think it was an extremely pure black.

But when you blinked, you could actually see colorful light and shadow flowing within that pure black!

If forced to describe it with one phrase...

Perhaps it could be called... a colorful black?

When this phrase flashed through Jiang Ye's mind, he subconsciously wondered where he had seen the description "colorful black" before.

He couldn't quite remember.

But he vaguely felt that within this black's "colorful" quality, crimson seemed particularly prominent.

And black mixed with a hint of crimson...

In ancient times, this was called "xuan" color.

At this moment, Jiang Ye also remembered—

The black of crows seemed to be exactly this kind of colorful black!

Under sunlight, from different angles, you could faintly see colorful hues beyond just black.

Xuan color...

Crows...

In ancient times, crows weren't originally endowed with the symbolism of "calamity."

On the contrary, in more ancient mythological periods, crows were actually divine birds.

The most vivid example was that at the center of the red sun, there was a three-legged crow called the Golden Crow!

Sun...

Light...

Golden Crow...

It was precisely at the moment when the Golden Crow flashed through Jiang Ye's mind...

The blackened teardrop in the mysterious strong player's hand suddenly spread out in all directions like a peacock spreading its tail.

Finally, it formed a fan-shaped arc.

The entire arc, while appearing pure black, seemed to have colorful light hidden within it.

Making this entire area of black actually appear dazzlingly brilliant!

To the extent that the entire mysterious strong player seemed to be enveloped by a black holy light.

Just when Jiang Ye thought this holy light could protect him from being erased by the Dice of Fate.

He heard the mysterious strong player's slightly stiff voice:

"I advise you to believe what I'm saying—"

"These teardrops won't drop like Jiang Wenxing's items when I die!"

"On the contrary, if I die, you'll never be able to obtain them!"

The mysterious strong player spoke these words extremely quickly.

Clearly, he wasn't unafraid of the Dice of Fate.

He just had these peculiar teardrops as "hostages," so Jiang Ye couldn't kill him.

Not exactly "couldn't."

But clearly, if what this mysterious strong player said was true...

Jiang Ye killing him would be a massive loss!

Actually, if the effect of these teardrops was merely helping players achieve blood-drip acknowledgment for Formless Leaves.

Jiang Ye wouldn't care so much.

After all, he could try other methods to help players bind with Formless Leaves.

But he had been frozen by these teardrops before, personally experiencing that peculiar sensation.

Not to mention, right now, witnessing the teardrops transform with his own eyes.

This made him increasingly feel—

These teardrops were absolutely no ordinary objects!

So...

Jiang Ye hadn't originally planned to directly eliminate this mysterious strong player anyway.

His Observer clone had only thrown out the Dice of Fate, without using the Prophecy ability.

Originally wanting to see what kind of luck this mysterious strong player had.

With a one in six probability, what would he randomly roll.

But now...

To preserve these teardrops, Jiang Ye decided—

He couldn't gamble on that one in six probability!

So, the Observer clone immediately took action.

The White Decree wrote the prophecy "Dice of Fate produces Holy Grail."

This time, the writing was quite smooth.

When the Dice of Fate stopped, it indeed showed the Holy Grail effect.

Jiang Ye had actually randomly chosen any effect except the Skull.

Of course, he had his own selfish reasons—

The other five effects could all bring positive benefits.

Only the Holy Grail effect was used for healing.

This mysterious strong player wasn't injured, so the healing effect would naturally be almost nonexistent.

Jiang Ye didn't want him to benefit from the Dice of Fate.

That's why he chose the Holy Grail.

Originally thinking that after the Holy Grail effect, nothing would happen, and then he could renegotiate with this mysterious strong player.

Unexpectedly...

When the Holy Grail effect's golden light struck the mysterious strong player.

It simultaneously struck the teardrops he had released!

In that instant, under the illumination of the holy light...

The originally dazzling black actually burst forth with colorful light!

Such light was even more dazzling and brilliant than the original black, so bright it made it impossible to keep one's eyes open!

Even all the Jiang Yes struck by it once again felt the sensation of their entire bodies being "frozen," completely stiff and unable to move!

This feeling...

Was very similar to when he was previously "frozen" by the mysterious strong player.

And also similar to the state when the pure black variant clone was bound by the Little Red Snake!

In that moment, because all clones couldn't move, alarm bells rang loudly in Jiang Ye's mind!

He even somewhat suspected that this operation was being directed by the mysterious strong player!

He hadn't used the Dice of Fate to eliminate the mysterious strong player...

But the mysterious strong player was launching a counterattack against him?!

However, when the dazzling light gradually faded, Jiang Ye realized he had misunderstood...

The mysterious strong player hadn't taken advantage of his immobility to attack him in any way.

Even from his astonished expression...

He seemed to not have anticipated this change either!

So...

Jiang Ye basically determined—

This recent change wasn't caused by the mysterious strong player.

But rather...

Was it caused by the Holy Grail effect he rolled with the Dice of Fate?

Jiang Ye quickly regained his composure and was surprised to discover—

The clone bound to his main body...

Had somehow turned into a pure black body wrapped in red chains!

That is, it had transformed into the appearance of the previous variant clone!

Previously, to temporarily avoid Jiang Wenxing's sharp edge, Jiang Ye had fused the variant clone that was impersonating the Nomadic Merchant at the time, and the light clone that was cheering for the variant clone, all into the Formless Leaf where his main body resided.

He had hesitated at the time—

After all, the variant clone's situation was quite special.

He seemed to rely on being restrained by the Little Red Snake to preserve his life.

Jiang Ye wasn't sure at the time—

If he fused the variant clone...

The Little Red Snake most likely wouldn't be fused along with it.

So if the variant clone fused alone, wouldn't he lose the Little Red Snake's restraint and die on the spot?

Therefore, fusing the variant clone carried enormous risks.

But at that time, Jiang Wenxing was arrogant and aggressive.

Even if Jiang Ye didn't fuse the variant clone...

He would probably be directly exposed by Jiang Wenxing and become a lab rat in Jiang Wenxing's hands!

So, Jiang Ye had no choice.

What surprised him was—

The fusion of the variant clone wasn't a separate fusion that abandoned the Little Red Snake.

But actually fused together with the Little Red Snake!

It felt as if... the Little Red Snake had become part of the variant clone!

Anyway, the variant clone was fine, so Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

Later, all clones couldn't undo the fusion effect, and the variant clone was naturally no exception.

But at that time, Jiang Ye had maintained the Formless Leaf's appearance.

So he didn't deeply investigate whether the variant clone would affect his appearance.

Later, when he broke with this mysterious strong player, all the "loving family members" present were taken over by the clone consciousness from Jiang Ye's Formless Leaf.

Jiang Ye's main body also took over the clone physical body bound to the main body's Formless Leaf at this time.

But at that time, that clone physical body showed no abnormalities.

And Jiang Ye's attention was entirely on the mysterious strong player, so he didn't carefully consider the variant clone's influence on him.

Until now, under the Holy Grail effect, after the mysterious strong player's teardrops emitted dazzling light...

This clone physical body of his uncontrollably transformed into the variant clone's appearance.

Including the Little Red Snake that restrained the variant clone, which also emerged...

At this moment, Jiang Ye still felt his entire body stiff, with only the left hand he had exchanged with the Nomadic Merchant remaining flexible and usable.

But he still keenly detected—

The current stiffness was different from the original variant clone's stiffness!

For example...

With great difficulty, he managed to tremble his eyelashes!

And this was something the previous variant clone couldn't do!

That is to say...

The stiffness effect wasn't as strong as before?

Since the mysterious strong player was still nearby, Jiang Ye didn't have time to investigate deeply.

He also didn't want to face this mysterious strong player in a state so stiff he couldn't speak.

So, with a thought, this Formless Leaf where his main body resided shrank back into the clone physical body's heart position.

That is, the clone itself was now in control of this clone physical body.

However, the clone itself and Jiang Ye's main body already shared consciousness.

So from his consciousness perspective, there was actually no change.

But on the physical level...

When the Formless Leaf shrank back, relinquishing control of this physical body.

The pure black effect and Little Red Snake of this clone physical body both disappeared again...

He returned to his normal human physical appearance.

Jiang Ye had a thought and used the Formless Leaf to take over the clone physical body again.

So this time, the clone turned black again, and the red snake chains reappeared...

Alright.

Jiang Ye had thought that after retaking the clone physical body, he would still need to be irradiated by the teardrops combined with Holy Grail light to turn black...

Now it seemed that once turned black, there was no going back...

So, the Formless Leaf shrank back again.

He returned to normal human appearance, then looked at the mysterious strong player in this form.

"..."

The mysterious strong player's mouth twitched inexplicably.

He gently rubbed his fingertips, and the numerous teardrops that had spread into a giant arc merged back into the single teardrop in his hand.

Moreover, the teardrop returned to its ice crystal blue color.

At this point, the mysterious strong player dropped another bombshell:

"Perhaps this ice crystal teardrop can help you better control that pure black physical body?"

This "perhaps" was spoken with uncertainty in the mysterious strong player's tone.

So it was quite likely just to facilitate the transaction.

Jiang Ye stared at the ice crystal teardrop and said bluntly:

"First, this teardrop doesn't seem very useful to you? On the contrary, there's something in Jiang Wenxing's remains that you absolutely must have?"

The mysterious strong player remained silent for a moment, then nodded:

"And Jiang Wenxing's remains aren't actually that important to you."

"So our transaction will be a win-win situation where both sides get what they need."

Wow!

Such familiar rhetoric!

Back during the chess game, Jiang Ye had also used "win-win" to trick Lin Ling into cooperating!

So of course he didn't believe in any win-win.

In his view, the best outcome was him winning double!

He had an idea in mind.

But he felt this mysterious strong player probably wasn't that stupid.

So he directly asked his question:

"According to what you said—"

"If you die, these ice crystal teardrops won't drop, but will die with you..."

"In that case, aren't you afraid that after trading with me, once I get the ice crystal teardrops, I'll attack you?"

At that point, he could use the Dice of Fate to kill the mysterious strong player without any concerns.

Clearly, the mysterious strong player had also considered this point, and he directly answered:

"So our transaction will be conducted in steps."

"Step one: I give you the ice crystal teardrops, and you give me Jiang Wenxing's Permission Iron Piece."

"Step two: I bind Jiang Wenxing's Permission Iron Piece and unbind the ice crystal teardrops."

"Step three: After you confirm the ice crystal teardrops are unbound, you give me Jiang Wenxing's other two items."

Hmm...

These three steps sounded quite reasonable at first hearing.

But the problem was—

"After I confirm the ice crystal teardrops are unbound, couldn't I still directly attack you?"

"And you should also know that the Dice of Fate's attack effect can't even be constrained by rules."

That is, signing a contract would be useless.

And the mysterious strong player had naturally already considered Jiang Ye's confusion.

But he didn't explain, instead saying directly:

"You don't need to worry about that for me—"

"Once I bind Jiang Wenxing's Permission Iron Piece, I'll naturally have a way to escape from your Dice of Fate."

This explanation was similar to what Jiang Ye had guessed.

Otherwise, the mysterious strong player wouldn't have needed to come up with this "three-step transaction method."

However, Jiang Ye quickly raised another objection:

"But if you're not threatened by the Dice of Fate, how can I ensure you won't attack me later and take back the ice crystal teardrops?"

"You don't need to worry about that either." Clearly, the mysterious strong player had already thought through all transaction details. "What I just said was escaping from the Dice of Fate, not being unafraid of the Dice of Fate."

"Moreover, didn't we already experiment just now?"

"Right now, you are the Formless Leaf!"

"Any player who makes harmful moves against you will be erased by the rules!"

"So after step two, constrained by the erasure rules in the announcement and the Dice of Fate's Skull effect, I can't possibly attack you."

At this point, the entire transaction was arranged flawlessly.

However, after careful consideration, Jiang Ye spoke quite confidently to the mysterious strong player with his speculation:

"Actually, what you really want from Jiang Wenxing is the Permission Iron Piece from your transaction's second step, right?"

Sure enough, when the mysterious strong player heard this, his expression stiffened: "What do you mean?"

Jiang Ye didn't beat around the bush: "The meaning is simple—"

"Of Jiang Wenxing's three inheritances, I'll only give you that Permission Iron Piece."