The venomous lizard’s eyes grew redder and redder, as if they might burst at any moment!
How could this be happening!
What exactly was Grandmother Gu trying to do!
Suddenly, that crimson red didn’t burst out—it began seeping out from the eye sockets instead, flowing across the venomous lizard’s entire body!
Such deep red—so intense that even the lizard’s black skin couldn’t conceal it!
Streak after streak of crimson, like blood flowing through veins, seeped from the eyes and spread instantly through the dense network of blood vessels across its entire body, quickly staining it red from head to tail, not even sparing the very tip of its tail!
Grandmother Gu watched, the smile at the corners of her lips deepening, growing more and more mysterious, as if waiting for something to happen!
No one knew how much time passed, but finally, all the crimson red drained out of the venomous lizard’s eyes entirely, and its eyeballs and the whites of its eyes returned to their original green and white.
Gradually, its limbs, body, and tail began returning to black as well!
What exactly was that crimson substance, and where had it gone?
Grandmother Gu seemed to know. Satisfied, she stroked the venomous lizard’s head, and under her gentle touch, it quickly lost all its energy, its head drooping low.
Grandmother Gu didn’t even need to restrain it—she set it aside with ease and eagerly returned to poring over the scripture.
What exactly was she up to?
She was following the instructions recorded in the scripture, searching for a person of pure yin constitution immune to all poisons. If she could raise this venomous lizard into a tracking beast, it would be able to lead her straight to that person!
The scripture recorded every secret of gu-cultivation!
And this secret was one of two she had recently discovered—by finding a person of pure yang constitution immune to all poisons first, and then domesticating them, she could use them to locate a person of pure yin constitution immune to all poisons.
Grandmother Gu thought to herself—if only she had understood this scripture sooner, how different things might have been!
She might already have found the person of pure yin constitution immune to all poisons long ago!
Of course, it wasn’t too late now. As long as she hurried to raise the venomous lizard into a proper tracking beast, and managed it before the day of the sand ritual…
The scripture recorded that in the year, month, and day of Jiazi, a great calamity would befall Akbachu—precisely the day of the sand ritual!
And this great calamity was itself the second secret she had discovered within the scripture!
“You little brat, this old woman doesn’t even need you anymore to find the other one. Once I’ve finished raising this gu creature, we’ll see if you still refuse to show yourself!”
Grandmother Gu muttered to herself with great satisfaction as she flipped through the scripture.
She had raised Baili Weisheng herself, from childhood—she knew that brat’s temperament all too well.
That brat had always been kind-hearted by nature; he would never stand by and watch a gu creature destroy everything. He would surely come out of hiding once it happened!
And once he appeared…
Just thinking about it, Grandmother Gu couldn’t help but burst into gleeful laughter again.
The wars across Longyuan had largely settled, and everything was gradually returning to calm. But beneath that calm, storm clouds seemed to be gathering once more, hiding a coming tempest.
At the center of it all remained that same woman—Han Ziqing.
And the source of it all lay in the secret she carried within her.
Right now, the most critical secret of all rested in Nanny Qin’s hands.
Ever since leaving the northern desert, Nanny Qin had been traveling steadily eastward. Past the Three Realms, she turned north, her destination clear: Jun Beiyue!
She carried Eastern Qin’s one and only hope—the secret brought back from Yaoshun Island.
She intended to use this secret to negotiate the Eastern Qin Empress’s right to attend the peace conference at Akbachu—and to attend such a conference, one had to hold the status of either a defeated nation or a victorious one.
Was Eastern Qin a defeated nation?
It wasn’t, because as things stood, Eastern Qin had, for all practical purposes, already ceased to exist on the Longyuan continent—it had long since fallen. How could something no longer existing be called a nation?
If Jun Beiyue had the power to make Minhan Mude’er withdraw from the northern frontier plateau, and if he was willing to acknowledge that the plateau still belonged to Eastern Qin, then Eastern Qin would not have truly fallen!
Even reduced to a vassal state, that was still better than being erased entirely!
Nanny Qin, carrying her secret, traveled day and night without rest, stopping only when a sealed letter arrived for her. To this day, no one had been able to locate Crown Prince Li, and all his sealed letters were being received on his behalf by her—and the ones she received most often were from Princess Qinji of Nanzhao.
At this moment, Nanny Qin had stopped once again.
She hadn’t originally opened these letters, but later, in her search for clues to Crown Prince Li’s whereabouts, she had begun reading through all of them.
Princess Qinji’s letters, beyond expressing her longing for him, also relayed a great deal of information about Nanzhao. Much of what Xuanyuan Lige knew about the Isolated Island had, in fact, come from Princess Qinji.
But what Princess Qinji herself could overhear was, after all, quite limited—most of what she conveyed concerned Crown Prince Li’s past arrangements in Nanzhao, including his surveillance of the young master of the Beast Clan, the Second Young Master of the Beasts.
Nanny Qin skimmed through it roughly, then carefully put the letter away. She knew that once Nanzhao became involved in Longyuan’s affairs, Princess Qinji would prove to be an extremely useful pawn.
What a pity Crown Prince Li had let go too soon.
If not for Han Ziqing, whatever the reason, Crown Prince Li would never have given up.
Thinking of this, hatred deepened in Nanny Qin’s eyes. Once she had secured Eastern Qin’s future, she would find a way to destroy that woman—it was she who had ruined Xuanyuan Lige’s entire life!
Nanny Qin rode hard, galloping her horse at full speed. Crossing over a mountain ridge, she found the other side shrouded in cold, drizzling rain—the bite of early spring, the chill of spring rain freezing on contact.
Nanny Qin didn’t pause, pulling her hat down firmly before charging down the mountainside.
But just as she descended, she spotted, far in the distance, a strangely familiar figure!
A wickedly vivid crimson cloak billowing wildly, black tactical attire beneath, a tall, lean, yet powerfully built frame; that face, with its ever-present cold, sharp severity; those eyes, with their ever-present icy indifference—a man to whom no one else in the world seemed to register at all!
Even soaked through by the rain, he showed no trace of disarray, his entire being cloaked in a mysterious black that radiated an intimidating presence no one dared approach!
Though his head was slightly bowed, no matter the angle, Nanny Qin recognized him at a glance.
This person—could it actually be… Jun Beiyue!
Nanny Qin immediately reined in her horse. So, this really was finding something with no effort at all!
Wasn’t Jun Beiyue supposed to be at the northern frontier plateau, accepting Minhan Mude’er’s surrender right about now?
Why was he here?
In such bitterly cold weather, he wasn’t even using an umbrella.
What… had happened to him?
Nanny Qin watched from a distance, not daring to approach carelessly, yet the longer she watched, the more something felt off!
Jun Beiyue must be dealing with some serious matter—otherwise, why would a man like him, at a time like this, be standing idly beneath a tree in the pouring rain? Even if he had nothing else to do, his temperament would never allow him to behave this way.
Something must have happened to him!
Nanny Qin waited a while longer. Seeing that Jun Beiyue still hadn’t moved at all, a slow, satisfied smile crept across her lips.
Though the distance wasn’t close, it wasn’t terribly far either—with Jun Beiyue’s capabilities, he should have noticed her presence long ago.
And yet, this man remained utterly motionless, even now!
Being a practitioner of the martial arts himself, Nanny Qin understood there was only one reason he would remain here like this: he was injured—and quite possibly gravely so!
Nanny Qin didn’t know whether her choice to trade the secret for territory had been right or wrong, but now, she knew one thing for certain: the path she had chosen wasn’t wrong at all.
Jun Beiyue—so this day has finally come for you too!
Silently, she dismounted from her horse and began walking toward him, step by step…