Royalty among the Jiao people, the Golden Jiao!

If the Jiao clan hadn’t been conquered by the Nanzhao royal family centuries ago, the current chieftain of the Jiao clan would certainly be a Golden Jiao!

Centuries ago, the southern border of Da Zhou had no Nanzhao—it was a barbarian wilderness, a place where various tribes lived mixed together. Later, when Da Zhou fell into chaos, many commoners migrated south, integrating into Nanzhao’s various clans and bringing renown with them. Among them, the Bai clan’s chieftain was the most enlightened, humbly learning the culture and production techniques of the Central Plains, gradually growing stronger, and one by one annexing the other clans!

Among these, some surrendered peacefully, others were subdued through war!

The Jiao clan was undoubtedly subdued through war!

The Jiao royal line, the Golden Jiao, was wiped out in that battle!

War was too distant, so distant that people had already forgotten it. Though present-day Nanzhao had clearly drawn lines between its clans, they shared a common faith and complete loyalty to the royal family!

War, in some sense, was also a great step forward for civilization—if not for that southern barbarian rebellion back then, perhaps today’s Nanzhao would still be a wild, uncivilized land!

It was just that Jun Beiyue hadn’t expected Baili Weisheng to be a Golden Jiao.

The history of the Golden Jiao was little known, but Jun Beiyue understood it clearly!

How had a Golden Jiao become a guardian dispatched by the Nanzhao royal family?

Even though the Jiao clan now had countless transformations, the Jiao people were essentially half-beast, half-human—in their bones, they could never change their reverence and awe for royalty!

There had to be something suspicious about what Baili Weisheng was saying!

Jun Beiyue lazily leaned against the doorframe again, watching and listening without revealing his thoughts.

However, Ziqing—who knew nothing of the Golden Jiao’s history or the true nature of the Jiao people—found herself unconsciously drawn in the moment she saw Baili Weisheng like this. Proud as she was, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of reverence rise from the bottom of her heart.

This fellow was so beautiful, so noble—noble enough that people wouldn’t dare approach him, afraid of defiling him!

He really was a Jiao person, he truly hadn’t lied!

Seeing Ziqing staring dumbstruck, a flash of warmth crossed the bottom of Baili Weisheng’s eyes. He quickly returned to his normal manner, saying helplessly, “See, I didn’t lie to you, did I?”

Ziqing nodded. Behind her, her man curled his lips into a cold smile, thinking to himself, “Silly girl.”

Startled as she was, Ziqing hadn’t forgotten the matter at hand. She recovered and immediately asked again, “You deliberately gave the enchanting fragrance to Consort Yi—what were you scheming?”

However, Baili Weisheng suddenly turned serious, saying flatly, “If I could… I wouldn’t want to kill you either.”

Ziqing frowned, saying nothing, waiting for him to continue.

“Though I am the guardian of the lone island’s ruins, if I could avoid it, I wouldn’t want to harm the orphan of the lone island. Wiping out a bloodline is an extremely cruel thing. I discovered your mother’s existence, and I discovered you, but I didn’t want to kill you. If you weren’t someone immune to a hundred poisons, I could have convinced myself not to kill you, and to save you instead.”

“So the incident at the National Beauty pavilion—you were the mastermind behind it all along!” Ziqing suddenly flew into a rage!

“Yes, I deliberately gave the enchanting fragrance to Consort Yi. That night, I deliberately bribed the person beside your Han Xi’er, so she would send you to the National Beauty pavilion! Han Xi’er already intended to kick you out of the house—I merely gave her a push,” Baili Weisheng said flatly.

Ziqing’s breathing gradually grew heavy and labored, her small face turning ashen, while beside her, Jun Beiyue also narrowed his eyes.

“I had everything prepared—the antidote to delay the poison’s onset, and I’d even begun developing an antidote for the enchanting fragrance. But unfortunately, you really were the one.”

As Baili Weisheng spoke, he finally raised his head to look at Ziqing. He hadn’t lied—all of this, he really had done.

He had been searching for this woman for far, far too long.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Ziqing suddenly asked coldly.

“I told you, if I could avoid it, I didn’t want to kill anyone, much less kill the direct descendant of the lone island. I’ve been searching for a way this whole time, but to this day, I still haven’t found one! What Jun Beiyue just said is indeed one method, but the poison on your face cannot be cured—unless it’s cultivated into a gu, it can never be cured!” Baili Weisheng said, sighing, “Once cultivated into a gu, the deadly poison will spread from your face throughout your entire body—even a single drop of your blood would become lethal poison. But the poison scar on your face would disappear, and your face might even become more beautiful than before!”

Ziqing couldn’t help but touch her own cheek—so this was the price of beauty!

But just then, she suddenly leaned forward and, without warning, forced Baili Weisheng to stumble backward onto the ground. Her hand moved with lightning speed, pressing firmly against the right side of Baili Weisheng’s cheek!

The other person immune to a hundred poisons, like her, would have a poison scar on their face, and a thin membrane over their face making it look more beautiful!

She had no idea how much of what Baili Weisheng said was actually true!

She wanted to see for herself right now who he really was!

But after searching thoroughly, Ziqing found nothing at all!

No membrane—this face was real. Ziqing checked his profile again and again, and there was no poison scar!

Could it be that she and Jun Beiyue had both guessed wrong?

She turned to look at Jun Beiyue, whose brow was also tightly furrowed. It was at that moment that Ziqing missed the flash of sorrow that crossed the bottom of Baili Weisheng’s eyes.

“What, you still don’t believe me? Don’t tell me you thought I was the other person immune to a hundred poisons!” Baili Weisheng said, looking helpless, shaking his head.

Only then did Ziqing let go, saying flatly, “Now I know it’s not you.”

With that, she stood up to leave, having done nothing more to Baili Weisheng.

Baili Weisheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, got up, and patted down his clothes. Just as he was about to speak, Ziqing said coldly, “What’s the secret of the rising diagram?”

“Let’s meet at Yaoshun Island in a month. I’ll take you to see it—I can’t make sense of that ancient musical talisman myself,” Baili Weisheng said decisively.

“You can’t make sense of it?” Ziqing snorted coldly. Wasn’t this fellow supposed to know everything? There was an ancient musical talisman even he couldn’t understand?

“I really can’t understand it. You probably won’t be able to either—you’ll understand once you see it,” Baili Weisheng said, shrugging, grabbing the black robe and throwing it back on.

Ziqing glanced at Jun Beiyue, and seeing him nod, only then did she agree, “Fine. See you in a month.”

Just as she turned to leave, Jun Beiyue stopped her again, “Oh, and from now on, come whenever called, and report Duku’s affairs honestly. And also…”

Jun Beiyue leaned in close and instructed in a low voice, “Take good care of Shiliang. Such a fine poison corpse—you should understand her usefulness even better than I do!”

Baili Weisheng’s gaze suddenly turned cold, but he still forced out a strained smile, deliberately bowing with cupped hands, “As you command!”

Jun Beiyue smiled with satisfaction, then took Ziqing’s arm and left.

Baili Weisheng stood by the cave window, watching the two of them leave, their figures gradually swallowed by the darkness in the distance, before finally letting out a huge breath of relief!

It seemed everything that had just happened had had no real effect on them!

He smiled, murmuring to himself, his voice low and pleasantly deep, “Little Qingqing, soon, very soon, I’ll be able to take you home.”