Line after line of scars—some horizontal, some vertical, some slanting right, some leaning left. If Yanzi’s face had once been a flawless piece of white jade, it was now a shattered mess, riddled with spiderweb cracks running every which way.

Of course, jade covered in spiderweb cracks, however unsightly, was never truly terrifying—but this wasn’t jade. This was a living human face, with its own contours, its own features, and the horror of it was almost beyond imagining. What could be imagined, though, was that whatever Jun Beiyue’s hand had done, it had certainly not been done lightly.

Ziqing said nothing, lifting the mirror. Yanzi immediately turned her head away—she refused to look!

She absolutely refused to look!

Yet she couldn’t help it either—no one was more desperate than she was to see what had become of the face she had always taken such pride in, cherished above all else!

But she didn’t dare!

She wasn’t even sure she could bear the blow!

“Take a look. Uglier than me?”

At this point, Ziqing finally spoke.

“No! Take it away, I’m still prettier than you, even scarred like this I’m still prettier than you, you can never change that!”

Compared to Han Ziqing, aside from her superior martial skill, her looks had been her greatest asset.

But skill in combat could be improved—looks, however, could never be changed.

This was something given by one’s parents at birth, like one’s origins—an immutable fact, a woman’s inherent, unshakable capital.

This was a chip she refused to give up.

“Still not ugly enough?” Ziqing murmured to herself, pressing the blade against Yanzi’s cheek once more. Everyone assumed she would stop there—but she didn’t, cutting again, mercilessly.

“Ah…” Yanzi’s cry rang out sharp and shrill—clearly this cut had been deep, brutal.

“Uglier than me?” The question came just as calm, just as merciless.

“No!” Yanzi still refused to yield!

Another cut, this time from top to bottom. “How about now? Take a look, well?”

“No!” Yanzi screamed in fury, tears finally spilling from her eyes. She was crying now.

Ziqing said nothing, moving the blade again—but just as it touched her skin once more, Yanzi finally broke, unable to hold out any longer. “I’ll give you the antidote!”

At last, it was over.

Even Jun Beiyue let out a quiet breath of relief, feeling for how hard this must have been for Ziqing—but to everyone’s astonishment, Ziqing raised the blade once more. “Whether or not you give it to me isn’t the point anymore. Say it—who’s uglier?”

Nearly everyone present, Jun Beiyue included, was stunned speechless.

And the once-arrogant, once-noble, once-coldblooded Yanzi finally, completely broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. “I’m ugly! I’m uglier than you! Please, stop cutting! I’m begging you!”

Only then did Ziqing’s gaze grow calm again. She lowered the blade and said quietly, “Yingzi, take her away.”

Yanzi collapsed, utterly drained of strength, her face streaked with both blood and tears. She never once found the courage to look in the mirror again, staring instead with pure hatred at Han Ziqing, and then at Yelu Chenyi, her gaze fixed on them both until she was dragged too far away to see anymore.

Han Ziqing—I may give you the antidote. And you may say I’m uglier than you.

But you will never be beautiful again, not ever!

Don’t you forget it—even before you were poisoned, you were already born hideous.

Before Yanzi was taken away, Jun Beiyue gently put his arm around Ziqing’s shoulders, meaning to lead her away. Yanzi still needed to be interrogated—not just for the antidote, but for far more than that.

The secrets of Mingsha Mountain, the human gu, this hidden passage, and the matter of Yanzi’s severed ear—all of it needed answers.

He knew the Black Jiao soldiers sent by the Nanzhao royal family had already entered Xijing—and the moment they crossed into Xijing, all trace of them had vanished.

Could it really be the Black Jiao?

If it truly was them, the trouble ahead would be considerable—but only now, with this woman awake, her revenge exacted, the antidote secured, would Jun Beiyue finally have room to spare a thought for the word “trouble.”

Of course, none of this needed to be discussed in front of Yelu Chenyi.

At that moment, Yelu Chenyi spoke up. “Prince Yao, perhaps we could go have some tea in the palace and discuss this matter in detail.”

Sharp as ever, Jun Beiyue noticed at once that Situ Haonan and Wanyan Lie were nowhere in sight, which meant Yelu Qianqian had already been taken away.

This matter?

Which matter, exactly?

Was it the matter of him and Yanzi joining forces to abduct Ziqing, or the matter concerning Yelu Qianqian?

Ever since he’d sent Xuanyuan Zhaoxi’s corpse to the palace as a formal gift, Yelu Chenyi should already have understood—there was no room left for negotiation.

“There’s nothing between us worth discussing in detail. Crown Prince Yelu, until we meet again.”

Jun Beiyue said coldly, wrapping an arm around Ziqing, turning to leave.

Yelu Chenyi’s admiration for Han Ziqing didn’t mean he had any intention of submitting to Jun Beiyue.

His hands, clasped behind his back, clenched into fists, though his tone remained courteous. “Could it be that Prince Yao has no interest at all in this hidden passage?”

This was Akbachu, the capital of his own Xijing, guarded by his finest soldiers, with his own wolf army stationed nearby as well.

If it weren’t for the fact that Han Ziqing wielded some never-before-seen secret weapon, he would never have yielded this much ground.

Only Yelu Qianqian could possibly appease Wanyan Lie’s fury now—though the damage couldn’t be fully undone, it might at least buy them a chance for Wanyan Lie to agree to negotiate.

Jun Beiyue would never do this, and Han Ziqing certainly wouldn’t either.

If she could, Ziqing would have loved nothing more than to seize this opportunity to blow up Mingsha Mountain entirely, just to see what secrets it truly held inside.

But at the moment, she had only three bombs left.

Blowing up a mountain was out of the question—she couldn’t even hold off the Xijing guards present with that.

Yanzi was only one person, but Yelu Chenyi was different—he commanded far too much. On his own territory, pushing him too far would only backfire.

Mingsha Mountain, for now, they would have to leave alone.

Perhaps using Yelu Chenyi’s own hands to explore its secrets wasn’t such a bad delaying tactic after all.

At the very least, when it came to Lishang, and to the Lonely Islands, they held more secrets than anyone—there was no trace of the Lishang score anywhere on Mingsha Mountain.

“Jun Beiyue!” Yelu Chenyi’s voice turned cold.

“Heh, Crown Prince Yelu, this prince advises you to prepare for war immediately, or else…”

Jun Beiyue left the sentence unfinished, but Yelu Chenyi understood perfectly well in his heart.

To let Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing swagger out of Akbachu so brazenly now, with Akbachu—the capital itself—left utterly without dignity, and him, the crown prince, made to look thoroughly spineless…

But compared to that humiliation, if he clashed with Jun Beiyue again and provoked Han Ziqing into throwing a second bomb at Mingsha Mountain, the consequences…