Seeing Xuanyuan Lige watching him, the toddler froze for a moment, then flashed a cheeky grin his way, making a shushing gesture.

He didn’t yet know who this silver-haired uncle was, but since Mommy had just called him “A’Li,” and Daddy had kicked him, he could reason that this man was surely Daddy’s romantic rival.

Daddy’s rival was, by extension, his own enemy. And when facing an enemy, the toddler liked nothing better than to smile — the more harmless the smile, the better.

Xuanyuan Lige glanced at the toddler, then at Jun Beiyue, seeming to realize something. His already-quiet eyes grew even quieter.

Even so, in the face of the toddler’s friendly smile, he graciously returned a faint smile of his own.

Meanwhile, the Flowing Light Dagger had already carved the cliff face down to a single remaining stone pillar!

Ziqing’s attention kept shifting between the cliff and Jun Beiyue. Seeing the veins bulging on his forehead, she couldn’t help but ache with worry for him.

“Hah!”

Suddenly, he let out a muffled grunt and spat out a mouthful of blood — but unlike before, this time the strange sensation in his chest vanished all at once!

Had the Imprint finally broken through?

At once, everyone — even Jun Beiyue himself — looked up sharply into the air!

But almost simultaneously, the Flowing Light Dagger shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, straight at the cliff. Boom!

The impact was earth-shattering, catastrophic! The cliff face crumbled instantly, massive chunks of rock crashing down with a deafening roar!

In an instant, the entire earth trembled, and the sky itself seemed to shake, as though the heavens might collapse and the earth might cave in at any moment!

The stone lock was destroyed — what would happen next?

The Poison Beast World had already gone through one collapse. If it happened again, Ziqing couldn’t even imagine what might follow!

This time, the violent tremors were even more terrifying than before, and showed absolutely no sign of stopping!

Everything happened in an instant. Dust billowed up, engulfing a vast area in a haze. Through the blurred air, the Flowing Light Dagger could be seen suspended in midair, blazing with brilliant light!

Everyone was stunned, momentarily at a loss in the face of this sudden turn of events, torn between watching the dagger and steadying their own bodies.

Just then, Fifth Elder Meng suddenly cried out in alarm, “Prince Yao, quick, grab the dagger! The Poison Beast World is about to revert back into the Qiankun Pouch — hurry!”

So that was it!

The moment the words left his mouth, three figures shot up into the air at once — Jun Beiyue, Xuanyuan Lige, Baili Weisheng!

Ziqing chased after them a moment later, but none of them moved as fast as the giant beast.

The giant beast, which had been lagging behind, suddenly swelled to enormous size, filling the entire space. With a tilt of its head, it sent the toddler sliding right off its back, straight in front of the Flowing Light Dagger!

“Child, don’t—!”

Fifth Elder Meng shrieked in terror, but amid the chaos, the toddler couldn’t hear a thing. He seized the Flowing Light Dagger in a firm grip, standing atop the enormous beast, and let out a triumphant laugh, looking every bit the conquering hero!

Everyone froze, only now noticing the little troublemaker’s presence. Fifth Elder Meng’s legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, paralyzed with shock.

In the brief moment of stillness that followed, the toddler turned around, surveying the crowd from his perch, and declared solemnly and loudly, “Heh heh, this thing was a gift from my daddy to my mommy — nobody’s allowed to take it!”

Xuanyuan Lige landed silently on the ground. Baili Weisheng shrugged and stepped back as well. Only Jun Beiyue and Ziqing turned their heads slowly, as if by some unspoken agreement, and their eyes met… Even as the heavens seemed to be falling and the earth caving in, with the whole world shaking apart, the two of them seemed to exist in a world of their own, utterly still and calm.

A warm, faintly mischievous smile touched the corners of Ziqing’s lips, and little by little, it turned into soft laughter. Jun Beiyue, meanwhile, furrowed his brow, his expression grave, staring at Ziqing in disbelief. After a long moment, he slowly turned his head toward the toddler!

Only now did he truly notice the child’s presence — only now did he see his face!

In his entire life, he had never known what it felt like to be truly shocked. But in this moment, his expression made it plain: he had been utterly stunned. It would be no exaggeration to say he’d been struck dumb in an instant.

The toddler grinned smugly, thinking that his grand entrance, his self-introduction, had gone rather well.

Watching his own father’s expression — impossibly strange, impossibly amusing, and clearly overloaded with information — the toddler couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself. He held out the Flowing Light Dagger, about to say something, when suddenly Fifth Elder Meng, having scrambled back to his feet, roared furiously, “You little brat—!”

“Huh?” The toddler jumped in fright and was about to look over when, at that very moment, the ground beneath everyone’s feet suddenly gave way. Before anyone could react, they were all falling along with it.

In the chaos, Jun Beiyue grabbed Ziqing and lunged toward the toddler.

But just as he was about to leap into the air, the sky of the Poison Beast World suddenly collapsed!

The boundless sky came crashing down all at once, an indescribably terrifying sensation. The toddler buried his face into the giant beast’s white fur in fear.

Amid the panic and chaos, he felt a warm, large hand grip his little one. Before he could even lift his head to look, the entire world was destroyed — everything around him seemed to be falling, spinning, as if he’d been swept into a whirlpool!

Before long, he lost consciousness entirely.

He had no idea how much time had passed when everything finally grew still. In the toddler’s ears still echoed the sound of Fifth Elder Meng’s furious roaring.

“You brat!”

“You’re nothing but a little brat, a brat!!”

…

The toddler shook his head uneasily, sweat beading on his forehead, until a familiar warm hand — Mommy’s — wrapped around his little one, and only then did he settle down, snapping his eyes wide open!

He saw… he saw that he was surrounded by people, everyone was there, but everything around them had completely changed!

The sky was nothing like the Poison Beast World’s — a deep, brilliant blue, impossibly high above.

The surroundings were nothing like the Poison Beast World either — this was a garden bursting with life, flowers blooming everywhere, and all around, sprawling palace halls and pavilions, red walls and golden roofs, grand and magnificent.

This was the imperial palace of Da Zhou’s capital — the site of Xuanlong Palace. Only, Xuanlong Palace had long since been reduced to rubble.

The toddler blinked, taking in his surroundings, and found that everyone was there — the four great poison beasts, the big dumb bear, all of them. Something occurred to him, and he turned his head sharply, confirming that it was Ziqing holding his hand. Only then did he break into a smile. “Mommy… did we… did we get out?”

Yes, they had all made it out!

Ziqing herself had only just regained consciousness, and her first thought, naturally, had been to find her child. She was about to speak when, beside her, Fifth Elder Meng suddenly bellowed furiously, “You brat! This is all because of you, you little troublemaker! Do you have any idea what disaster you’ve caused! What good is getting out!”

The unexpected outburst startled the toddler, and he instinctively buried himself against Ziqing, trembling as he stared at Fifth Elder Meng, having no idea what he’d done wrong. Had he really caused a disaster?

Meanwhile, everyone’s eyes were fixed on the shimmering, radiant, purse-like pouch in the toddler’s hands — unmistakably, the Qiankun Poison Pouch.

Fifth Elder Meng, still fuming, had no patience left to explain anything. Seeing the toddler cower, he leaned forward again, shouting angrily, “You little disaster—”

“Enough!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Two voices cut him off at once — one furious, one icy cold. Fifth Elder Meng froze, seeing Han Ziqing’s eyes narrowed in fury, and Jun Beiyue’s gaze sharp and cold, both fixed on him, sizing him up…