On one side, the situation was dire, both of them screaming and shouting — but on the other side, Jun Beiyue believed they were momentarily safe. The misunderstanding… was far too great!

Jun Beiyue wanted to deal with the person at his feet as quickly as possible, because as long as this person remained, the danger would persist. Dealing with her would only take a moment, and Ziqing and the others, buried in the sand, could hold out for at least that long!

But no matter how loudly Ziqing and Situ Haonan shouted, Jun Beiyue simply couldn’t hear them. They couldn’t understand why he would turn back, why he would bother with the old witch clinging to his leg.

With his current level of power, even in this wind, he had more than enough strength to reach back and grab that person — surely he had enough strength to come and grab Ziqing too!

Even with the old witch clinging to him, he could still reach over and pull Ziqing to safety, couldn’t he?

Ziqing couldn’t hold on any longer!

Situ Haonan couldn’t hold on either!

For some reason, at such a critical moment, he had actually turned his head back.

“Beiyue! I can’t hold on!” Ziqing cried out, her voice choked with sobs.

Situ Haonan had gone half-mad, roaring furiously, “Jun Beiyue, forget the old witch, come here first, come here first! We really can’t hold on any longer over here!”

Situ Haonan felt it most acutely of all — even though he was the one holding onto Ziqing, he could feel himself being dragged down along with her, inch by inch, and the pace was clearly quickening.

He had absolutely no idea what to expect. If they really were dragged down, what would happen? He had no idea at all — and it was precisely that not-knowing that terrified him most.

By the end, both he and Ziqing gave up shouting altogether. All they could do was wait, staring fixedly at Jun Beiyue, waiting for him to finish off whoever was beneath the sand. But neither of them knew whether they would actually be able to hold out long enough for him to reach them.

Meanwhile, Jun Beiyue had one hand pressed into the sand, steadying himself against the force of the crosswind, while his other hand gripped that wrist. As he pulled on the wrist, a flicker of suspicion suddenly crossed his mind.

Situ Haonan and Ziqing had both said it was an old witch down there — but this hand was clearly not an old woman’s hand. It felt like the hand of a young woman!

Still, he had no time to dwell on that now — he was in a hurry to finish this off and turn back to save Ziqing!

He gritted his teeth, gathered his strength, and with a violent heave, yanked the person clean out of the sand. At the same instant, the hand he’d pinned to the ground struck out in a sudden palm strike — the pulling motion and the strike happening almost simultaneously!

But—!

In the very instant Jun Beiyue executed these two motions, just as the person was pulled free from the sand, she suddenly gripped a dagger in her hand and plunged it viciously through Jun Beiyue’s palm, straight through, all the way into his chest!

It happened so suddenly there was no way to guard against it!

And it was only then that Jun Beiyue finally saw the person’s face!

That’s right — she wasn’t an old woman at all. She was a young woman. At this moment, her face and hair were completely caked with sand, and blood streamed from all seven of her facial orifices from the strain of holding her breath and exerting herself for so long.

The wind blew, tossing her disheveled hair and scattering the sand from her face.

Bai Mengmeng!

No one could have imagined it would be her. Jun Beiyue stared in shock, his vital energy already completely spent, and now, struck by this blade as well, his body felt like a ball riddled with holes, his essence utterly drained, every ounce of strength gone.

How could it be her… Bai Mengmeng!

He had never once given this woman a second thought — never once imagined this.

Hadn’t Ziqing and Situ Haonan both said the person in the sand was an old witch, one who knew the secret of Ziqing’s origins?

And yet, however unexpected, however unbelievable, Jun Beiyue had no time to dwell on it now. Almost by instinct, he wanted to turn back, wanted to look at Ziqing!

Because he understood exactly the state his own body was in — he was afraid that if he didn’t look now, he might never get the chance to look again.

At this moment, none of the tangled complications mattered anymore. He had only one single thought — just one glance, just one look at his woman, his Qing’er, just one look, that was all he wanted.

But how could he possibly have the strength left?

The wind had already begun to weaken, and yet he had no strength left at all. That blade had struck his old wound directly in the chest — if not for sheer willpower keeping him upright, he would already have collapsed.

He wanted to turn around — but Bai Mengmeng suddenly burst out laughing, because she was facing him directly, and she could see, not far behind him, the expression on that woman’s face — an expression of such shock, such utter despair.

“Jun Beiyue, I’m going to make you — make both of you — pay the price!” she said coldly, and with the last ounce of strength left in her dying body, she gripped the dagger tighter and drove it in even deeper.

In that instant, Jun Beiyue suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, spraying it across her clothes, and his body slowly slumped forward, collapsing into unconsciousness.

Bai Mengmeng smiled — a smile of pure, overwhelming happiness. She released the dagger and pulled Jun Beiyue’s limp hands up around her own neck.

The greatest wish of her entire life had been to receive just one embrace from him. If she had to die, she wanted to die in his arms — to die together with him.

She pressed her cheek against his shoulder, her small face turning slowly to rest against him, and gazed into the distance at Ziqing, who stood frozen in shock. A provocative smile curved at the corners of her lips, as if to say to Ziqing, “See? Your husband loves me. He’d rather let you die than fail to save me.”

The wind, though weakening, was still fierce — and yet the force beneath Ziqing’s feet hadn’t lessened in the slightest.

By now, the sand had already risen past Ziqing’s chest; her entire body was on the verge of being swallowed whole.

But she had already forgotten to be afraid, forgotten to cry out. She stared fixedly at Jun Beiyue’s back — so, so close, and yet, amid the swirling wind and sand, her husband held another woman tightly in his arms!

Why was this happening?

Who was that woman? Shouldn’t it have been the Gu Nanny down there? How could Jun Beiyue have pulled out a woman instead!

Was it because of this woman that he had turned to save her, ignoring her and Situ Haonan’s cries?

Her body kept sinking, faster and faster. In moments, the sand had risen past her neck, and yet she made no move at all, feeling as though her entire world had collapsed, as though everything were over — gone, all of it, gone!

“Bai Mengmeng…”

At that moment, Situ Haonan, equally stunned, murmured the name aloud without meaning to. “Bai Mengmeng… it’s Bai Mengmeng… how could this be…”

Ziqing had never met Bai Mengmeng — she only knew of her through what Jun Beiyue had told her. But Situ Haonan had seen her before, several times, in the White Tiger Army camps — there was no way he could be mistaken.

What on earth was going on?

And what had happened to Jun Beiyue — why was he holding her so tightly? How had Bai Mengmeng ended up here, and why was she bleeding from all seven orifices?

Suddenly, Situ Haonan seemed to realize something, and turned urgently to explain to Ziqing!

But in that very instant of clarity, he felt a violent pulling force beneath his own feet, and his body was yanked down in a single sharp motion!

“Ziqing!”

Situ Haonan cried out in alarm, the hand buried in the sand gripping Ziqing as tightly as he could — but it was too late, far too late!

That force struck in an instant — he had no way to resist it at all. He felt Ziqing’s small hand slip free from his grasp in a heartbeat!

“No…”

Situ Haonan didn’t know where he found the strength — heedless of his own life, he tore himself free from the sand and lunged toward where Ziqing’s head had been, but he grasped nothing but empty air, completely, utterly empty!

He caught only that one final glimpse, the instant Ziqing sank beneath the surface — her eyes reddened, so empty, so terribly empty!