The days passed one by one, and at last, in the northern frontier, Minhan Mudeer completely gave up resistance and raised the white flag in surrender.

In the southern frontier, however, Situ Haonan and Wanyan Lie remained locked in stalemate.

Victory and defeat had already been decided; Wanyan Lie was simply fighting for pride now, deliberately waiting for Han Ziqing to arrive — after all, it was Situ Haonan who had stolen away his crown princess!

At this very moment, Ziqing and Yelu Qianqian were on the road, about to arrive.

Many were waiting for Ziqing, and many were searching for her too — Baili Weisheng was one of them.

Beneath Mingsha Mountain, for some unknown reason, even inside the entire secret chamber, one could hear the sound of wind above ground. The young apprentice pharmacist stared suspiciously up at the towering stone-slab ceiling, propping his head with both hands, brow furrowed like a little old man’s.

This was his first year here, and everything he knew about this place came from his master. He didn’t know whether, in years past, it had always been like this — as the days of the sand sacrifice drew closer, the sound of the singing sand growing louder and louder.

But it wasn’t only the young apprentice who didn’t understand — even Baili Weisheng, who had spent years here, didn’t understand either.

He had woken groggily the night before. At first, he’d simply been too exhausted from sleeping so long to move; but the moment he woke, he’d heard the sound of wind, and something felt off. He’d puzzled over it, and puzzled over it, the whole night through.

How could there be the sound of wind?

The secret chamber was buried deep underground, separated from the surface by such a thick layer of sand, and beneath that a thick layer of stone. Even the sound of Han Ziqing’s explosion, back then, had only been audible after a layer of sand had been dug through.

Could something be happening up on the surface?

Mingsha Mountain was the most terrifying secret of the isolated island — the single most important place of all. Without Mingsha Mountain, essentially no one could cultivate the yin-natured gu into true gu creatures. Mingsha Mountain could not afford the slightest mishap.

Unless someone possessed heaven-defying power to destroy Mingsha Mountain entirely — but even destroying the mountain wouldn’t destroy the world of poisonous beasts that lay beneath it. It would only tear open a breach into that world. That was why Mingsha Mountain had to be guarded, generation after generation, for hundreds and thousands of years.

Baili Weisheng thought and thought, but couldn’t puzzle out any explanation. He decided he really did need to go up to the surface.

So he silently sat up, stretched lazily, and after a good while still hadn’t made the slightest sound.

The young apprentice, propping his head with both hands, was just as unable as his master to make sense of things, and he too felt he needed to go up and see what was happening.

Since his master had been knocked unconscious by him, he figured he could go up and check things out on his master’s behalf.

With that thought, the apprentice immediately stood up. “Master, rest easy — I’ll go up…”

Even as he spoke, he was straightening his clothes and turning around — only to find, the instant he turned, Baili Weisheng’s palm slam into his face with a resounding smack!

“Mas—”

Caught completely off guard, the apprentice didn’t even have time to react before he began swaying, wobbling for a good while, his vision going black before he collapsed, face turned to the ceiling, a huge red handprint blazing across it.

Baili Weisheng hurried over, poking and pinching at him with great distress. “Oh no, oh no, his looks are ruined — how’s he ever going to marry a wife and take care of me in my old age now!”

“Master didn’t mean it — Master meant to hit the back of your head. You wretched brat, after following me for so many years, is this the extent of our understanding?”

Baili Weisheng, both distressed and regretful, was already walking away as he muttered, not even glancing back at the apprentice. In moments, his figure had vanished into the exit.

Before long, the apprentice groggily came to. This area often had Nanzhao’s Black Shark scouts prowling about, so of course Baili Weisheng couldn’t leave the boy unconscious there alone — his strike had been calculated with great precision.

He had even anticipated that the apprentice, once he woke, would chase all the way to Mingsha Cavern along the exit path — so Baili Weisheng took a different route.

Entering the secret chamber wasn’t limited to the single entrance at Mingsha Cavern — there was another passage, though only he knew of it, since he himself had dug it years ago to evade the Black Shark soldiers.

Sure enough, just as Baili Weisheng had predicted, the moment the apprentice woke, he bolted straight toward the exit, not even sparing a thought for Black Shark soldiers, plunging headlong through the dim, flickering darkness.

The Gu Nanny must still be around — surely still keeping watch near Akbachu. Master really was throwing his life away like this!

As he ran, the apprentice couldn’t help cursing furiously under his breath. “You old fool, Baili Weisheng, you really don’t value your own life — rushing off to your own funeral, running this fast!”

Young as he was, he sprinted like the wind while cursing with the exasperated tone of someone despairing over a hopeless case — as if Baili Weisheng were the disciple, and he the master.

Soon, the apprentice reached the exit.

The entrance was Mingsha Cavern, and the exit was Mingsha Cavern too — hidden among the rock formations inside was a narrow crevice, like a sliver of sky glimpsed through stone, through which one could pass out among the rocks and into Mingsha Cavern proper.

Though desperately anxious, the apprentice, young as he was, still moved carefully. Upon reaching the exit, he slowed, tiptoeing his way through the crevice.

Because no one could rule out the possibility that someone might be inside Mingsha Cavern, could they?

If he accidentally revealed the location of the entrance, Master would never forgive him!

Slowly, slowly, the apprentice crept forward — and then suddenly froze in place. He heard an old woman’s voice!

There really was someone there!

“You little beast, this is the critical moment. Stay quiet for me — if you move around any more, this old woman won’t spare you!”

“Be good and sniff, hurry up. Once you’ve sniffed through all this poison gas, you can help me find that other person immune to a hundred poisons. Quick!”

…

Who else could this be but the Gu Nanny, who raised parasitic gu-insects here!

Everything had been going smoothly, and the poisonous lizard had been trained to be quite obedient — but for some reason, just now, the lizard had grown restless, constantly trying to run off.

The Gu Nanny, absorbed with delight and anticipation in her work, had no thought to spare for anything else.

At first the apprentice hadn’t heard clearly, but the more he listened, the more something felt wrong. He carefully poked his head out and, by the dim light of the cavern, saw a stern-faced old woman with one hand gripping a poisonous lizard, the other about to burn something.

The apprentice’s gaze drifted lower, and he sucked in a sharp breath of cold air — among the jumbled mess of things beneath the old woman’s hands were quite a few medicinal poison-herbs!

Could it be…

The apprentice immediately understood — and at that very moment, the poisonous lizard’s long-still tail suddenly twitched!

The Gu Nanny was startled, staring in shock.

The poisonous lizard’s tail had actually moved. Inside Mingsha Mountain, the air was saturated with similar poisonous-drug scents — the tail of a poisonous scorpion-lizard shouldn’t have been able to move at all, unless… unless…

Unless that beast Baili Weisheng was, at this very moment, extremely close by!

Something seemed to click for the Gu Nanny, a flash of malice sweeping across her sharp eyes as she suddenly turned to look toward the entrance of the underground secret chamber…

…