Baili Weisheng had assumed the old woman wouldn’t catch up to him this fast, but she’d been waiting beneath the very tree he was hiding in!

Good grief!

Baili Weisheng immediately threw his arms around the tree trunk and shot straight up it in a flash!

That’s right — he was the Yang Gu. He was the Gu-creature the Gu nanny had raised from childhood!

Back then, the Gu nanny’s Gu-cultivation skills hadn’t been thorough enough. She had successfully cultivated his body, but never fully mastered his mind.

For a Yin Gu, the focus was on cultivating the body — since a Yin Gu was female and inherently weak-willed, there was less need to focus on the mind. Once the body was properly cultivated, the will could easily be brought under control.

But a Yang Gu was the complete opposite. For a Yang Gu, the focus needed to be on cultivating the mind. In reality, the Gu nanny had never fully finished cultivating his mind — which meant he’d found an opening to break free of her mental control and develop thoughts of his own!

And so, he’d escaped!

Having grown up at the Gu nanny’s side since childhood, he knew everything she knew — about the isolated island, about Gu cultivation, about every kind of poison!

After fleeing the Gu nanny, he’d infiltrated Nangong City’s Duku, the poison den. He’d poisoned the old master of the Duku to death, and had been impersonating him ever since, enjoying everything that came with the role!

But his true purpose all along had been to kill the person carrying the Yin-type poison immunity!

Because the entire existence of a Yang Gu was meant to counter a Yin Gu!

Once the person carrying the Yin-type poison immunity died, his existence as a Yang Gu would lose all purpose — no one would come after him anymore!

He could finally live however he pleased, free and unbothered, happy at last!

He had been searching for the Yin-type Gu poison all along, and the moment Jun Beiyue had entrusted Lord Situ to inquire at the Duku about the orphan of the isolated island, about someone with a constitution immune to all poisons, he had known at once: another person immune to all poisons had appeared!

He’d been waiting all along — waiting for that woman to deliver herself right to his doorstep!

But for some reason he still didn’t understand, the moment he’d first laid eyes on her, he’d abandoned every trace of his killing intent!

To this day, he still didn’t understand why — he only felt as though something in his head had simply broken!

In that single moment of hesitation, not only had he failed to kill Han Ziqing, he had appeared before her as a scholar and had been helping her ever since!

He’d thought to himself — since his conscience had gotten the better of him and he didn’t want to kill her, then why not just take her back to the isolated island instead?

The Nanzhao royal family had always concealed the island’s location, always kept its secrets hidden, creating a false impression across the world that the isolated island was some extremely dangerous place!

But in truth, it wasn’t like that at all!

He had read records about the isolated island in the historical scrolls of the Gu nanny’s Great Barbarian Shaman Cult.

It was actually an island even more peaceful and beautiful than the small Mobei town. The danger of the isolated island didn’t lie in the island itself, but in the direct bloodline born there!

Namely, the existence of the two of them — himself and Han Ziqing, one Yang and one Yin, both immune to every poison!

They could be cultivated into human Gu — with the Yin Gu being by far the more terrifying of the two!

The real danger wasn’t the island itself, nor even the two of them — it was the island’s secret!

The secret concerning Mingsha Mountain!

Among all the ruins connected to the isolated island, only Mingsha Mountain had no connection whatsoever to the island’s location itself!

Only within the ruins of Mingsha Mountain was there nothing about Lishang, nothing about the totem’s secret. Mingsha Mountain held a secret entirely its own!

Mingsha Mountain was, in fact, the single most terrifying element of the entire isolated island secret!

Mingsha Mountain was a place for cultivating Gu — a true prison built specifically for cultivating a Yin Gu!

If the person carrying the Yin-type poison immunity wasn’t placed beneath Mingsha Mountain, no one could ever cultivate her into a human Gu!

Because cultivating a person immune to all poisons in the Yin manner required a vast number of medicinal-poison beasts!

Ordinary venomous beasts were simply no match at all for someone naturally immune to every poison — raising ordinary poisonous creatures for this purpose would be completely pointless!

Only medicinal-poison beasts would do — not artificially cultivated ones, but creatures born naturally as medicinal-poison beasts!

If the person with Yin-type poison immunity was placed among a horde of these beasts for a full hundred days, and if she managed to walk out alive, she would become a human Gu that no one and nothing could defeat!

Not even Nanzhao’s beast-clan armies could stand against her. And, of course, if she died in the process… then she simply died.

Only beneath Mingsha Mountain did such a world exist — a place teeming with poisonous beasts, utterly devoid of human presence.

As the guardian of Mingsha Mountain, even Yanzi’s knowledge was limited — she didn’t even know about the hidden passage beneath the mountain, so how could she possibly know the true secret?

The only ones who knew the real secret were the ever-inscrutable Nanzhao royal family!

Within the hidden passage beneath Mingsha Mountain lay the Black Jiao soldiers of the Nangong royal house. Last time, when Jun Beiyue and Yanzi had broken in, it was only thanks to his careful cover that the Black Jiao soldiers had been fooled.

Unwilling to kill Ziqing, yet needing to protect himself, his only option was to send Ziqing to the isolated island — far away from this continent!

But that wretched girl, of all places to search for the isolated island, had gone and found Mingsha Mountain instead!

His kidnapping of Yelu Qianqian had been meant to force a total break between Xijing and Da Zhou, to make sure Jun Beiyue and Ziqing would never again have a chance to reach Mingsha Mountain!

Unfortunately…

Man proposes, but heaven disposes!

He’d already started turning the thought over in his mind — might as well go all the way and just kill that wretched girl outright. That way, he’d finally be safe!

Even if the Gu nanny caught him, it wouldn’t matter anymore!

Baili Weisheng clung to the tree trunk, climbing while sighing with total indifference, “You old hag, you got here way too fast — I haven’t even decided whether to kill little Qingqing yet!”

The Gu nanny looked up, the corner of her mouth curling into a cold smile. She was in no hurry to deal with him — he was caught now, and she could take her time settling accounts with him however she pleased.

The Gu nanny let Baili Weisheng climb as high as he possibly could, then pointed up at him, warning coldly, “You little brat, I’ll count to three. If you don’t come down here obediently, don’t blame me for what happens next!”

To her surprise, Baili Weisheng shouted back, “Whatever, do your worst — you think I’m scared of you?”

“You little brat, who gave you permission to be so disrespectful to me? Have you forgotten I raised you myself, with my own two hands?” The Gu nanny was practically choking with anger.

“So what if you raised me? I’m not even your own flesh and blood — if you want a child that badly, go have one yourself!” Baili Weisheng shot back immediately, showing no restraint whatsoever!

“You! You! You, you, you! Get down here!”

“If you’ve got the guts, come up here!”

“If you’ve got the guts, come down here!”

“Not happening, bite me!”

“Are you coming down or not?”

“Are you coming up or not?”

“Heh, haven’t seen you in all this time and you haven’t improved one bit — all you’re good for is running your mouth! Come down if you’ve got the nerve!”

“Ha! Haven’t seen you in all this time and you’ve really aged — ugly and old, and you still dare show your face!”

“Gu-child!”

“What. What do you want?”

“I’ll say it one last time — get down here right now! I have something important to discuss with you!”

“And I’ll tell you one last time too — not a chance in hell!”

“You!”

“What?”

Baili Weisheng, who had originally still felt a flicker of fear, found himself getting more and more into it the longer they traded insults, growing more confident with every exchange — he was thoroughly in his element!

The Gu nanny was so furious she nearly coughed up blood. She took several deep breaths in a row. She’d actually hoped to reason with this brat calmly, to persuade him to help her find the woman with the Yin-type poison immunity!

After all, sneaking away from her post hadn’t been easy at all!