The secret of the isolated island had been written into a single code — a code so complex not even the Nanzhao royal house could decipher it — carved beneath Qinse Valley itself. Should that carving ever be destroyed, Qinse Valley would collapse entirely, and all of Liuxian Island would be devastated along with it.
Precisely for this reason, this particular relic, once discovered by the Nanzhao royal house, had never been destroyed.
The key to deciphering the code lay within Lishang itself, and the secrets of Lishang, in turn, were scattered across numerous relics connected to the isolated island.
And these various relics, for one reason or another, had likewise never been destroyed, just as Qinse Valley had not — each one guarded, generation after generation, by its own dedicated protector.
These guardians didn’t know one another, had no idea where the others were located — but they shared one thing in common.
They all possessed the Charm Incense. They were all capable of raising poison-immune warriors — and the warriors they raised were distinctly different from those trained by ordinary poison masters and physicians in the martial world. Anyone knowledgeable in such matters could tell the difference at a glance.
The moment Jiao Cha finished explaining, everything clicked into place for Ziqing. “Well, well — so you two lied to me before, didn’t you!”
These two had claimed they knew each other simply because they’d both happened to be stationed on Liuxian Island. Now it was clear — they’d actually recognized one another by identifying each other’s poison-immune warriors!
“What about the antidote for the Charm Incense?” Jun Beiyue asked sharply, his voice suddenly cold.
Earlier, Jiao Cha had fabricated bloodstains laced with genuine Charm Incense to fool Physician Gu — he’d claimed the incense was simply something he already possessed, but he’d never mentioned that every guardian carried the same substance. How many other lies had he told besides?
Seeing Jun Beiyue’s cold expression, Jiao Cha immediately scrambled to hide behind Mu Fusang. “Prince Yao, this humble one swears — this really is our only remaining secret! It belongs to all of us together, not just to the two of us alone, so we didn’t dare reveal it carelessly! We really did hesitate over this for a long, long time! And truly, all this humble one has is the Charm Incense itself — I have no antidote for it at all. If I did, I’d have already used it to trade for the antidote to your poison ages ago!”
Jiao Cha spoke timidly, but truthfully — if he genuinely possessed an antidote for the Charm Incense, he would absolutely have already offered it in exchange with Han Ziqing. He was still thoroughly terrified of her signature poison!
Jun Beiyue and Ziqing both remained skeptical, until Mu Fusang finally spoke up. “The two of you — everything Jiao Cha has said is true. If there is a single false word in it, may we both be struck down by lightning.”
Seeing Mu Fusang so earnest, Jun Beiyue’s expression finally softened somewhat, while Ziqing murmured to herself, “So that means… that purple-clad woman must also be a guardian of one of the isolated island’s relics, and…”
Before Ziqing could finish her thought, Yingzi couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “My lady — Yaoshun Island! That’s where Consort Yiqing’s Charm Incense came from! Yaoshun Island must have one of the isolated island’s relics as well!”
Jun Beiyue nodded thoughtfully — the picture was becoming considerably clearer now.
Was this purple-clad woman from Yaoshun Island, or from Mingsha Mountain — or perhaps from somewhere else entirely, a place they hadn’t even discovered yet?
Jun Beiyue immediately gave the order. “Keep investigating. Xuanyuan Lige’s injuries are extremely severe — they can’t have gotten far.”
Situ Haonan gave Jiao Cha a sharp smack on the forehead. “Sitting on a secret this important all this time — you deserve to die!”
Jiao Cha winced, looking utterly wronged.
Mu Fusang, though, spoke up seriously. “Boss, this really is the last secret we have left. We only hope… we hope that once you learn the true secret of the isolated island, you’ll tell us as well. We want to know too — what exactly is the secret our ancestors have guarded, generation after generation?”
Ziqing couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you.”
What exactly was this secret? Why had the isolated island been annihilated in the first place? And why had every guardian been ordered to kill any surviving descendant of that island on sight?
Though the true secret still lay some distance away, compared to their earlier state of complete ignorance, everything now felt considerably clearer.
Ziqing sometimes couldn’t help but wonder — if she’d never been poisoned by the Charm Incense, if Jun Beiyue had never noticed her that night, would the secret of the isolated island have simply remained buried forever, scattered across countless hidden corners of this continent, never to see the light of day?
And she herself would never have learned the secret of her own origins either.
What a terrifying thought that was.
A few days later, though the Bai clan’s main hall lay in ruins, the tree-worship ceremony proceeded as scheduled — and this time, both Jun Beiyue and Ziqing had come specifically for the mulberry sacred tree itself.
They had originally planned to use the newcomers’ ranking tournament as an opportunity to unify Liuxian Island under their control, seizing everything the Bai clan possessed.
But with Jiao Cha and Mu Fusang’s unexpected surrender, everything had changed course entirely — what might have been a violent storm had transformed instead into a peaceful, gradual transition of power.
The day after the tournament concluded, the Gu clan head bought up the land at the Yu clan’s harbor. Whether it was the Yu clan, the Hai clan, or the Bai clan, all three had suffered devastating losses — massive expenditures on rebuilding their main halls, on manpower, on resources.
And with the Gu clan now controlling roughly ninety percent of Liuxian Island’s resources, even if the Bai and Yu clans had the silver to spare, they had no way to purchase construction materials if the Gu clan simply refused to sell.
Importing materials from overseas was, after all, hardly practical.
The Yu clan, thoroughly disgraced, had since become utterly compliant toward the Gu clan. Only the Bai clan still held out, clinging stubbornly to their control of the harbor.
For an island with only a single point of entry, control of the harbor carried undeniable significance. If the Gu clan ever managed to seize the Bai clan’s territory there, Liuxian Island would fall entirely and completely under the Gu clan’s control.
Who came, who went — it would all be entirely up to the Gu clan’s own discretion.
These past few days, Jun Beiyue had been thoroughly occupied tracking down the whereabouts of the purple-clad woman, paying little attention to this particular matter, while the Bai clan, busy with their tree-worship ceremony, hadn’t raised any conflict with the Gu clan either.
For now, at least, everything remained peaceful.
Out on the vast, boundless sea, a large ship sailed slowly from the direction of Liuxian Island toward Nanzhao.
Though sizeable, the vessel was remarkably plain, indistinguishable from an ordinary merchant ship on the outside — and yet no one would have guessed that the three clan heads of Nanzhao’s ruling tribes were all aboard this very ship.
“There’s a rumor going around that Prince Yao is actually the Gu clan’s own illegitimate son. I find that rather interesting, don’t you?”
“Ha, you’re clearly out of the loop. Young Lady Gu once went before the Da Zhou imperial court to report exactly this to the Worthy Prince. Prince Yao personally underwent a blood-drop paternity test at the Court of Judicial Review, before the entire assembled court, and confirmed his true Da Zhou bloodline beyond any doubt. I have no idea where you heard such an outdated rumor from!”
“Oh? Is that really true?”
“Absolutely true, without question!”
“Ha, well, in that case, Prince Yao really must be the Gu clan’s adopted son after all — no wonder his mastery of the Wind Blade technique runs so deep.”
“Haven’t you seen how formidable those young Gu disciples turned out to be? After all, it is the foremost clan of an entire century — Mu Fusang and Jiao Cha were simply overreaching themselves.”
…
Nanzhao kept itself sealed off from the outside world, making it exceedingly difficult to learn any news from beyond its borders. The three clan heads rarely got the chance to venture out like this, and once they’d started gossiping, they found themselves growing more and more animated by the moment.
“Elder of the Medicine Clan, your words are… mistaken. Mu Fusang and Jiao Cha helping the Bai and Yu clans fight for first place is precisely their proper duty — the King himself even praised them for it.”
A single emblem had caused a tremendous uproar within the Nanzhao royal house — the Prince of Nanzhao was practically desperate to seal off every relic connected to the isolated island entirely.
If Jiao Cha and Mu Fusang could have secured control over Liuxian Island, they would surely have been ordered to seal the entire island off, barring outsiders from ever setting foot on it again, for any reason whatsoever.
“Ah, what a shame! Neither of them managed to pull it off!”
“Ha, well, Liuxian Island falling under Prince Yao’s control is safe enough too — at the very least, it’ll keep out a lot of unwanted riffraff. Just watch — over the coming days, Liuxian Island is about to change completely!”
“That’s not our concern. As long as Mu Fusang and Jiao Cha manage to secure their own territory and give the royal house a proper accounting, that’s good enough for us to report back.”
The three great clans had, remarkably, reached a rare consensus. Little did they know that Jiao Cha and Mu Fusang had already surrendered long ago — this whole peaceful transition of power was proving remarkably easy for Jun Beiyue to keep hidden from their eyes.