Her ear?

Yanzi instinctively raised a hand to the side of her face, but all she felt was a mess of blood and torn flesh — nothing else.

Her ear!

Only now did she remember it again, and she immediately began screaming like a madwoman. “My ear! My ear! My ear…!”

Sha Qiuzi watched from the side and murmured to the medicine boy beside him, “She’s going mad, truly going mad, scaring herself half out of her mind.”

“She’s faking it, probably. This woman seems the type to put on an act,” the medicine boy said seriously.

“This time’s different. Look at her eyes.” Sha Qiuzi’s years of experience told him he wasn’t wrong — if Yanzi received even the slightest bit more stimulation, she would genuinely lose her mind.

Jun Beiyue, who had interrogated countless war criminals, naturally took note of Yanzi’s abnormal state — but he didn’t care about that at all.

What he wanted was answers.

He wanted the true guardian of Mingsha Mountain.

The last time the Nanzhao royal house had sent out its merfolk troops, they had vanished the moment they reached Western Jing. Wherever they were now, one thing was certain: they had come to protect the lost island’s ruins.

But Yanzi knew nothing of this!

Before Yanzi could even answer, Jun Beiyue demanded coldly, “The Yan clan wasn’t stationed here by the Nanzhao royal house — you don’t answer to them!”

Yanzi clutched her head, shaking it desperately, occasionally reaching up to grab at her one remaining ear, yanking at it frantically, her eyes distant with terror, dazed and lost.

Seeing this, Sha Qiuzi was about to speak, but Jun Beiyue suddenly barked, sharp and cold, “Answer me!”

The sheer force of that shout startled not just Yanzi, but even Ziqing. Sha Qiuzi shuddered several times and murmured to Jun Beiyue, “You could scare a madwoman back to sanity with that. Terrifying.”

Whatever else could be said of Yanzi, her heart was vicious, but also formidably strong — how could she truly go mad?

Cunning as she was, however afraid she might be, she was still testing the waters.

But in front of Jun Beiyue, none of her tricks would work.

She glanced at him timidly, shaking her head repeatedly. “I don’t know! I don’t know anything! My parents told me to guard this place — even they didn’t know why, didn’t know what exactly they were guarding! I don’t know! I only know the secret of cultivating the human gu, I know she’s ugly, I know there’s poison on her face.”

Yanzi was afraid, yes — but she still hadn’t given up trying to probe, hadn’t given up a single chance to hurt Ziqing. As she spoke, she suddenly burst into unhinged laughter. “I always knew she had poison on her face! She’s ugly! She’ll always be poison-immune, she’ll never be beautiful, always ugly, always ugly!”

She hammered the word “ugly” with vicious weight.

Ziqing watched coldly, not bothering to respond, which only made Yanzi seem like a clown performing for no one — almost pathetically funny.

And this time, she hadn’t managed to provoke Jun Beiyue either. He hadn’t forgotten his earlier question. “Who did you encounter in that secret chamber?”

“A ghost. Not a person.” Yanzi’s voice suddenly dropped, grew quiet — and, strangely, she suddenly grew bold, leaning in close to Jun Beiyue, whispering, “A ghost. Dressed all in white. No one is allowed into that passage — if you go, he’ll cut off your ears! Break his taboo, and the punishment is severe.”

“Who exactly is it?” Jun Beiyue’s patience was wearing thin.

But this time, his sharp tone didn’t frighten Yanzi at all. She stared blankly at him, and then, out of nowhere, began laughing to herself. “I escaped. I already escaped, hahaha!”

But then, mid-laugh, she suddenly burst into tears instead, clawing frantically at the side of her face. “My ear is gone! My ear fell off!”

She paid no attention to anyone, laughing and crying in a frenzy, muttering to herself.

The room fell silent. Jun Beiyue suddenly raised his foot, ready to kick out viciously.

This time, even so, Yanzi showed no fear, continuing to mutter to herself.

But, unexpectedly, it wasn’t Yanzi who surprised everyone — it was Jun Beiyue. His kick didn’t stop just because Yanzi failed to react; instead, he drove it forward with brutal force, sending Yanzi flying into the wall.

“Ahh…!” Yanzi cried out in shock, then immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed unconscious.

Everyone present — whether martial artists or those trained in medicine — could see at a glance that Jun Beiyue had just destroyed Yanzi’s cultivation entirely. Even once her injuries healed, her martial arts would never return.

“Master, might as well kill her now. Who cares if she’s mad or not!” Yingzi said in a low voice.

Jun Beiyue said nothing, turning instead to look at Ziqing. This was a matter for Ziqing to decide — even though he still saw use in keeping Yanzi alive, he would defer to Ziqing’s judgment.

“Please have Physician Sha look after her properly. Once she’s no longer out of her mind, I still have questions for her.” Ziqing said flatly.

Yanzi truly couldn’t be allowed to die. The lost island’s ruins were all secretly guarded by people from the Nanzhao royal house, and to prevent them from banding together to find the lost island, they had always kept each other in the dark.

Yanzi, however, was the exception.

Mingsha Mountain, too, was an exception.

The secret passage clearly held something important — but there had to be more hidden within Yanzi herself, otherwise the Yan clan would have had no reason to exist at all. As for why the Yan clan existed at all, why they guarded Mingsha Mountain without even knowing its true secret — perhaps the answer lay within Yanzi herself, the clan’s sole heir, without her even realizing it.

“Your Highness is too kind. This old fool will see to it properly.” Sha Qiuzi said respectfully, offering up the antidote with both hands, then added in a low voice, “Your Highness, this medicine…”

This medicine could restore Ziqing’s face — but the thin protective film had already been destroyed by the poison. Even once restored, Ziqing’s face would never be truly beautiful again.

“Yingzi, prepare things. We’re going to Nanzhao. Remember — no one is to know our whereabouts.” Jun Beiyue instructed quietly.

Going to Nanzhao?

What for? Even if this man wasn’t going to bother with the Eastern Qin empress, wasn’t going back to the capital — surely he’d at least go to Yao Shun Island first!

The final secret of the “Lament of Parting” was surely on Yao Shun Island!

So why on earth would he want to go to Nanzhao instead?

Could it be — was he going to present himself to the Nanzhao king to admit his fault? To explain the whole affair with the black merfolk?

After all, he and the Nanzhao king could work through nearly anything — except when it came to the lost island. On that subject, the Nanzhao king would show no mercy to anyone, no matter who they were.

The Nanzhao royal house wouldn’t act rashly — at the very least, they could still be stalled a while longer, could still buy time to find the lost island themselves.

Or — had this man given up the search for the lost island entirely?

Everyone was puzzled. Ziqing watched Jun Beiyue in silence — days without sleep had left dark shadows heavy under his eyes, and whether from exhaustion or something else, he looked, in this moment, thinner, more careworn. Even standing right there among everyone else, he seemed to carry a quiet, distant loneliness.

What was wrong with him?

Nothing was wrong, exactly. She was simply thinking — perhaps searching for the lost island had no real meaning after all, beyond curing the seductive fragrance still lingering in her body. Beyond that, there seemed to be no greater necessity.

The lost island wasn’t a good place. It wasn’t a home at all.

It was a scourge.

If Jun Beiyue meant to stop searching, if he meant to lay everything bare before the Nanzhao king — in truth, she understood.