How could he possibly hold on?

Such a foolish plan, such an agonizing method—why would he ever choose this?

He had never intended to hold on at all.

His body, riddled with countless wounds, had torn open entirely, every single wound bleeding freely. Soon, he would surely stain this entire stretch of sea red.

Jun Beiyue had brought Jiaoren with him, and the Jiaoren were nearby, attacking the reinforcement ships on either side. The moment they caught the scent of blood, they would surely come!

Once the Jiaoren arrived, Ziqing would be saved!

As long as the blood was concentrated enough, the scent strong enough, the Jiaoren would come.

He had once believed that his brief life, all his remaining strength, should be devoted entirely to the mission of restoring Great Qin.

The year he turned ten, after his birthday, Mother Empress had told him plainly—he should have already been dead, and every extra day he lived belonged to Eastern Qin alone.

He had never imagined he would meet a woman like her, nor had he ever imagined he would exhaust everything he had for her sake.

Ziqing—it was never that he couldn’t let go of Eastern Qin, nor that he didn’t wish to take you far away to the ends of the earth. It was only that, long ago, he had come to understand you could never let go of Jun Beiyue’s hand.

Ziqing, in this life, let this be a life repaid for a life. In the next, we shall owe each other nothing at all.

Ziqing, farewell. You and I shall never speak of Lishang.

He opened his eyes and saw, not far off, a group of figures like schooling fish, swimming rapidly toward him.

At last, his tightly pressed lips curved into a faint, gentle smile, fresh blood spilling from between them.

At last, his hands, still tightly wrapped around Ziqing, slowly loosened their grip, blood seeping even from his own palms.

At last, he let go, gently exhaling a wisp of crimson, beautifully strange—and it was this very release of breath that pulled him downward, his figure vanishing into the thick, crimson water.

Meanwhile, Ziqing was slowly sinking as well, her purple robes billowing outward, her long hair drifting freely around her. She had no awareness at all of what was happening around her; all she could dimly, faintly recall was a pair of gentle hands that had just caressed her ever-burning face—hands that had been not only gentle, but cold, their long fingers calloused with rough patches.

She had no idea who he was, nor did she have any strength left to wonder. Her entire being drifted in a hazy, dreamlike fog.

Suddenly, she felt someone embrace her, pulling her swiftly up toward the water’s surface, dragging her along at tremendous speed.

Her last memory was of the moment Yanzi had shoved her into that water vat. Soon, even that fleeting sense of gentleness and the faint awareness that had briefly returned to her vanished completely.

It was the Black Jiao who had pulled Ziqing to safety—had Situ Haonan not told him about her purple robes, he might never have recognized this as Han Ziqing at all.

He had been ordered to destroy the ships, and as for exactly what had happened here, he himself wasn’t entirely certain.

He couldn’t deny that Han Ziqing’s current appearance had genuinely startled him. His first instinct had been to bring her directly to Jun Beiyue’s ship, but on second thought, he decided instead to sneak her aboard quietly from the stern.

As the Consort of Prince Yao, should anyone see Han Ziqing disfigured like this, heaven only knew what rumors would spread—Jun Beiyue’s reputation would be utterly ruined!

And as a woman, should Han Ziqing be seen disfigured like this by others, how could she ever face the world again afterward?

“Report to Prince Yao—tell him the person is… no, tell him she’s been secured!” Jiao Cha said earnestly. In the water, the Jiaoren’s legs transformed into tails, allowing them to move as freely as fish.

“Yes!” The attendant departed at once to relay the order, silently wondering just who this hideous woman his master had rescued could possibly be, but not daring to ask further.

Amid the churning waves, a golden silhouette rose and fell with the surf, lingering there briefly before turning and diving back beneath the water!

This figure was none other than Baili Weisheng, who had just arrived!

He turned back toward that same stretch of blood-soaked water, his stern, handsome face appearing all the more noble and mysterious amid the wild play of the waves. He scooped up a handful of the bloody water and gently sniffed at it, his stern brow immediately hardening with gravity. Without a second thought, he dove straight down into the deep water…

Meanwhile, every single one of Eastern Qin’s reinforcement ships had by now vanished entirely from the sea’s surface. Jun Beiyue’s great ship finally came to a stop as well, its massive prow resting directly against the bow of Xuanyuan Zhaoxi’s main vessel.

With defeat so total, surrender was the only option left.

Yet, strangely, there was no sign of activity at all aboard the main ship—as if it were entirely empty!

Just moments ago, at least within Jun Beiyue’s field of view, he hadn’t seen anyone jump ship, nor had he seen any reinforcements arrive from behind—so how could there be not a single soul aboard? Where had everyone gone?

“Situ Haonan, search it!” Jun Beiyue ordered coldly. With that, he was just about to step across when a Black Jiao guard suddenly arrived to report. “Prince Yao, my master sent me to report that she’s been secured!”

“Secured?” Situ Haonan repeated, puzzled. What did that mean?

But Jun Beiyue’s face lit up with sudden, overwhelming joy. “It’s Ziqing!”

He turned to leave at once, but just then, Situ Haonan suddenly shoved Jun Beiyue aside, planting a foot firmly on the ship’s railing and kicking out with tremendous force!

It was the poisonous leopard, suddenly lunging out from the ship’s hold above—a razor-close call, Jun Beiyue had very nearly been caught!

Situ Haonan’s kick was brutally effective, sending the poisonous leopard flying, slamming it hard against the ship’s hold before it bounced back down!

But the poisonous leopard was no easy foe—it sprang back up at once, snarling and roaring furiously at Situ Haonan!

“What in the world is that thing!” Situ Haonan said coldly, eyeing this beast that resembled a leopard yet clearly wasn’t quite one, moving to approach it. But Jun Beiyue stopped him. “It’s a poisonous beast—its fangs carry a deadly venom!”

“A poisonous beast? How could such a thing exist!” Situ Haonan couldn’t understand it, and neither could Jun Beiyue, a flicker of unease crossing his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to rush and check on Ziqing at once, but the situation before him left him no room to step away.

“Beiyue, don’t let it get near you—I’ll draw it off!” Situ Haonan said, and without waiting for Jun Beiyue’s response, leapt across to land atop the opposite ship’s hold!

At the sight of him approaching, the poisonous leopard roared even louder, immediately lunging straight at Situ Haonan—its speed rivaling that of a top-tier martial master!

But unfortunately for it, it had run headlong into two of the continent of Longyuan’s very finest fighters!

Jun Beiyue didn’t hesitate. Just as the poisonous leopard lunged at Situ Haonan, he immediately raised his sword, unleashing a blade of sword energy in an instant. The leopard, extraordinarily keen-sensed, immediately detected the attack and shifted its body—Jun Beiyue had intended to cleave it clean in two, but the blade only managed to slice off a chunk of its flesh.

Dragging its bloodied, mangled wound, the leopard immediately lunged straight at Jun Beiyue with reckless abandon, Situ Haonan hard on its heels. Jun Beiyue didn’t dodge, instead charging straight to meet it head-on!

With enemies on both sides, the leopard found itself unable to advance or retreat, rolling to one side and fleeing into the ship’s hold!

Jun Beiyue and Situ Haonan immediately gave chase, moving back-to-back down the stairs with practiced ease—a leopard’s ambush could prove fatal, after all!

Yet as the two of them followed the trail of blood, they discovered the ship’s hold filled entirely with corpses, blood flowing like a river—clearly the poisonous leopard’s doing, judging by the carnage.

“Is this… a tiger?” Situ Haonan stared down at the dead beast at his feet, resembling a tiger yet somehow not quite one.

“This too is a poisonous beast—a poisonous tiger,” Jun Beiyue said in a low voice, murmuring to himself. “Could it be they intend to cultivate a beast Gu as well?”

Given his connections with Nanzhao, he had some passing familiarity with the practices of Gu-cultivating tribes—but how could he possibly have known, how could he ever have imagined, that there existed something even more terrifying still: the human Gu?

Just as Jun Beiyue puzzled over this, someone suddenly crawled out from the pile of corpses nearby. “Help! Someone save me…”