Really nothing?

Watching the blood-red tip of Baili Weisheng’s index finger, Xuanyuan Lige felt a faint stirring of unease.

Just then, Old Fifth Meng suddenly turned to look sideways, crying out in alarm, “Heavens! It’s a spider gu!”

The moment those words left his mouth, a wicked and mysterious smile curved at the corner of Baili Weisheng’s lips, and his hand loosened elegantly and slowly — in an instant, the poison spider dropped down through the gap between the roof tiles!

Angle, distance — he’d calculated it all perfectly!

He didn’t even need to look; he could have staked his life on it that the poison spider would land squarely on Jun Beiyue’s heart!

“What is that thing!”

Xuanyuan Lige cried out in shock, while Old Fifth Meng stood there dumbstruck, utterly bewildered, repeating over and over, “You’re from the Nanzhao Medicine Clan? How could you leave without authorization—”

Old Fifth Meng had clearly been out of touch with the world for a very long time. Baili Weisheng only chuckled at Xuanyuan Lige, then turned to look down, and Xuanyuan Lige hurriedly dropped to one knee, peering through the narrow gap!

Sure enough, he saw the poison spider slowly falling, and directly below it, lying there still unconscious, was none other than Jun Beiyue!

What in the world was going on?

The poison spider’s descent gradually picked up speed, and yet, of the many people inside the Xuanlong Palace, not a single one looked up, not a single one noticed!

Everyone’s attention remained fixed on Jun Beiyue’s chest, on the white gauze cloth, its throbbing so pronounced that the faint outline of a heart could almost be made out beneath it!

At a moment like this, no one dared lift that layer of white gauze to see what power lay hidden underneath!

It could be said that everyone present had gone completely blank. This, perhaps, was true helplessness in its purest form!

But just as everyone’s attention was fixed on that heart, Jun Beiyue’s beautiful lashes were clearly trembling!

Trembling, trembling ever so gently… then, all at once, his eyes snapped open!

But in that very instant, a sudden “smack” sounded — a strange, furry black spider dropped from above and landed precisely on Jun Beiyue’s chest!

“Ah—”

Yelu Qianqian was the first to snap back to her senses, letting out a terrified scream.

And in that same moment, to everyone’s utter shock, Jun Beiyue abruptly sat bolt upright!

Those eyes — deep as the sea, boiling with towering rage!

That face — cold and hard as ice, fury barely contained.

He was awake!

The frigid air radiating from his entire body left everyone too afraid to make a sound, too afraid even to move.

He seemed like some demon that had slumbered for thousands of years in dark ice, now awakened — the kind that made people instinctively want to shrink back.

The second Meng elder instinctively wanted to flee, but his legs felt as though they’d been filled with lead, refusing to obey him no matter what.

But more terrified than any of them, in truth, was Imperial Physician Gu. He had wished with all his heart for his master to wake — yet seeing him now, awake and consumed with such towering rage, Physician Gu realized just how precarious his own situation had become, and for the first time in his life wanted nothing more than to flee as far from his master as possible.

Everyone else stared fixedly at Jun Beiyue’s chest, where the black spider that had fallen from the sky had latched on with a death grip, refusing to fall off even as he sat up!

What was going on with that spider?

Just as everyone stood there baffled, Jun Beiyue slowly lowered his head to look down — and the instant he did—

“Boom—”

It was as though dozens of sticks of gunpowder had exploded at once, a deafening roar, and a column of bloody energy shot skyward. In an instant the entire world was cloaked in crimson, and the Xuanlong Palace began to collapse!

Amid the chaos, Old Fifth Meng’s terrified voice rang out, “The Death Barrier! It’s the Death Barrier! The Death Barrier has been activated!”

“Ah— help! Somebody help!”

“Beiyue! Jun Beiyue, where are you!”

“Qianqian, hold on tight, quickly!”

“Look, it’s Xuanyuan Lige, Xuanyuan Lige is over there!”

“What in the world is happening?”

“Run for your lives, the Xuanlong Palace is collapsing!”

“It’s the Death Barrier, the Death Barrier, the Death Barrier was on Jun Beiyue’s chest, the Death Barrier has been activated!”

Utter chaos, a jumble of shouting voices tangled up in the thunderous rumble of the Xuanlong Palace collapsing!

“What, the Death Barrier? How could that be?”

“The Death Barrier was here of all places, and it’s been activated! Activated!”

…

No one could say how long the chaos lasted before the shouting gradually died away, and the bloody haze in the air slowly dispersed.

When everything finally settled into stillness, what had once been the towering, magnificent Xuanlong Palace had been reduced to nothing but rubble.

Prince Baxian, Physician Gu, and Sha Qiuzi stared at one another in bewilderment — somehow, amid the chaos, the three of them had ended up standing together.

Across from them stood Situ Haonan, Yelu Qianqian, and Yingzi, some distance apart, likewise staring at each other in confusion.

And besides that — no one else!

The Xuanlong Palace had collapsed, and Jun Beiyue was gone!

Not only was Jun Beiyue gone — the two Meng Clan elders were gone too, and Xuanyuan Lige, Baili Weisheng, and Old Fifth Meng, who had been hiding up on the roof, had all vanished as well!

Where had everyone gone?

The truth was, the moment the Death Barrier’s seal had activated, all of them had already been swept into the Poison Beast World!

Jun Beiyue had only been unconscious for two or three months, but his awareness had long since returned to full clarity; it was only his body that had been powerless, unable to communicate with the outside world. Whatever Physician Gu and Sha Qiuzi had discussed, whatever Physician Gu and Prince Baxian had said to each other, and everything the two Meng elders had said and done at his bedside — he had heard and understood every bit of it!

Whether it concerned his Meng bloodline, or everything Situ Haonan and Yelu Qianqian had discussed regarding Ziqing, he was fully aware of all of it as well!

He had been struggling this entire time, fighting to break through the binding force on his chest. What understanding he had of the Poison Beast World and of barrier seals, he’d gained from listening in when Situ Haonan revealed the secret to Sha Qiuzi.

He hadn’t known the Poison Beast World was a Death Barrier, and he certainly hadn’t known that the seal’s entrance, once hidden beneath Mingsha Mountain, had shifted onto his own chest.

The moment the seal activated, he heard a voice — Baili Weisheng’s — and he had followed the sound, only to find himself leaping straight into the seal and arriving in the Poison Beast World!

As for Xuanyuan Lige, it was because of the startled cry from Old Fifth Meng beside him that he had clung tightly to Baili Weisheng and been dragged along with him into the seal!

As for the three Meng Clan elders — the seal had already been activated, and if these so-called barrier masters lacked the sharp instincts and awareness to immediately grasp what had just happened, then they hardly deserved the title of “barrier master” at all!

By all rights, once the seal was activated, it should have formed an entrance, similar to the one that had once opened beneath Mingsha Mountain leading to the deep pool.

But this time, the situation was entirely different. Not only had the seal appeared strangely on Jun Beiyue’s body, but even more strangely, no entrance had formed after it activated!

The moment the group tumbled through the seal’s gate, it was as though they’d been caught in a whirlpool, spinning and spinning until no one could tell one person from another — each of them too consumed with their own survival to spare a thought for anyone else!

Meanwhile, inside the Poison Beast World, Ziqing had no idea what was happening outside, and even less did she suspect that so many people — people she longed to see yet dared not even hope for — had already broken through the seal’s entrance and were about to arrive in the Poison Beast World!

At this very moment, in truth, Ziqing could barely take care of herself.