The icy, appraising looks from Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing made Fifth Elder Meng suddenly realize he’d offended the wrong people!

He hurried to explain, “You… please, listen to me, let me explain! He… this child shouldn’t have touched the dagger! The Imprint is on Beiyue’s body — only Beiyue has the power to restore the Poison Beast World to its original form!”

“Isn’t this exactly its original form now?” Jun Beiyue tilted his chin toward the object in the toddler’s hands.

Fifth Elder Meng sighed heavily. “It’s restored, yes, but it won’t open! The Flowing Light Dagger is surely trapped inside now — ugh!”

Hearing this, everyone realized the dagger was no longer in the toddler’s hands — it had vanished.

Half-doubting, Ziqing took the Qiankun Poison Pouch from the toddler’s hands and tried to open it herself, but no matter how she pulled or tugged, it wouldn’t budge!

Seeing this, everyone finally believed him.

Watching Jun Beiyue and Ziqing’s brows furrow, the toddler looked utterly innocent. Fifth Elder Meng’s anger flared again. “It could have been opened, the seal on the Flowing Light could have been undone — but now, who knows how many more years the Fourth Sister will have to stay trapped inside! This shouldn’t have happened at all! Ugh… If that pouch could be opened, it would have been an enormous advantage to you all! And most importantly, Beiyue, your mother consort would finally get to see you — see how much you’ve grown! How happy she would have been!”

The toddler wasn’t a child without understanding — all he’d wanted was to help Mommy grab the dagger. If he’d had any selfish motive at all, it certainly wasn’t to show off, but simply to make his ever-busy Daddy finally notice him. Heaven only knew how long he’d been longing for his father!

Listening to Fifth Elder Meng’s endless sighing and lamenting, the toddler unconsciously lowered his head. He knew he’d caused a huge disaster — the consequences of this were serious indeed.

Fifth Elder Meng, no longer as fierce as before, kept sighing over and over.

Finally, Ziqing couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you quite finished? The Flowing Light is mine — if it wants to stay inside, so be it. As for the Qiankun Poison Pouch, I’m perfectly happy leaving it unopened, and giving it to my son as a toy. Is that a problem?”

Honestly! If Fifth Elder Meng had bothered explaining any of this earlier — the child was barely past his first birthday by a few months. Was this any way to scold a baby? Didn’t children have feelings? Didn’t they feel guilt?

Since the day he was born, the toddler had never felt this dejected before!

Seeing the child hang his head, Ziqing’s heart ached even more.

As she spoke, she casually handed the Qiankun Poison Pouch back to the toddler, saying generously, “Here you go, son. Play with it however you like. What you won fair and square is yours!”

Hearing this, Fifth Elder Meng sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. Unfortunately, he was no match for Ziqing in an argument. Anxiously, he turned to Jun Beiyue instead. “Beiyue, your mother consort is still trapped in there! She’s been inside the Flowing Light this whole time, watching over you all along!”

Jun Beiyue studied Fifth Elder Meng for a long moment before finally speaking. “You have a way to open it?”

The moment those words left his mouth, not only Ziqing but even the toddler, who had been hanging his head, snuck a peek up at Jun Beiyue. He had no idea what his father’s temperament was like, but he cared so much about what his father thought of him — this was, after all, their very first meeting, and he’d wanted so badly to make a good impression.

Instead, he’d caused his father a huge disaster. Surely Daddy must care deeply about this. From what they were saying, it sounded like he’d harmed Daddy’s own mother. (Be good now — Daddy’s mommy is your grandmother, you know…)

“Yes, yes, yes!” Fifth Elder Meng answered hurriedly.

“Hm?” Jun Beiyue’s expression remained largely unreadable, making it impossible to tell how he truly felt about all this.

“Beiyue, the fact that your body can house the Imprint proves you have extraordinary talent. If you’ll just come back to the Meng Clan with me, the Clan Leader will surely find a way!” Fifth Elder Meng promised with absolute confidence.

Fifth Elder Meng could hardly wait to drag Jun Beiyue and the Qiankun Poison Pouch straight back to the Meng Clan this very instant — how overjoyed the old Clan Leader would be! The position of Clan Leader would finally have an heir, and the art of barrier magic would surely see a breakthrough in the new generation!

Yet Jun Beiyue didn’t respond right away. Instead, he continued asking, quite seriously, “If the Flowing Light stays inside there, will anything happen to her?”

Seeing Jun Beiyue take this so seriously, Fifth Elder Meng’s spirits soared, and he answered hurriedly, “Nothing will happen to her, no — it’s just that, given the pace of your mother consort’s cultivation within the Flowing Light, breaking through on her own would probably take several more years. If it weren’t for the dagger being brought inside this time, and someone breaking the seal, the Poison Beast World couldn’t have reverted to its original form so quickly.”

Jun Beiyue nodded thoughtfully, then said casually, “This prince is quite busy. Let her stay a few more years, then.”

He said it so casually, so offhandedly — not because he hadn’t thought it through, but because it required no thought at all!

Fifth Elder Meng’s jaw nearly dropped in shock. His mouth hung slightly open, unable to form a single word. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined Jun Beiyue would brush the whole matter off with a simple “this prince is busy.”

Ziqing blinked in surprise for a moment, then couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Now THIS was more like it — if this man had dared to say a single bad word about her son, she’d have flatly refused to acknowledge the boy as his!

As for Jun Beiyue’s mother consort — perhaps Ziqing hadn’t been in a position to judge before, but now that she was a mother herself, she knew one thing for certain: no matter how precious the Qiankun Poison Pouch might be, she herself could never have valued a treasure over her own child and abandoned him.

On that point alone, Ziqing felt this yet-unmet mother-in-law of hers could simply wait her turn.

Just as Ziqing was suppressing a laugh, Jun Beiyue’s still-serious, still-solemn gaze suddenly swept across her face. Ziqing blinked in surprise, but his eyes didn’t linger — they moved on, settling on the toddler instead!

At that very moment, the toddler happened to be staring right back at him. Father and son locked eyes for the very first time. The toddler couldn’t help but tense up, especially under Jun Beiyue’s scrutinizing gaze — for all his usual precocious composure, he found himself utterly unable to stay calm.

His little hand unconsciously grabbed at Ziqing’s sleeve, tugging gently, again and again, silently pleading for help!

Mommy, why didn’t you ever tell me Daddy was such a serious person!

Mommy, you’re so quiet — I always thought all my sunny, cheerful, outgoing, wonderful qualities came from Daddy, but why is Daddy even scarier than you!

Mommy… where did I even come from?

The toddler’s palms were sweating. If this kept up much longer, he wouldn’t be able to bear it. Finally, he burst out, “Mommy, who is he? Why does he look so much like me?”

Never mind how Daddy planned to acknowledge his son — the son would acknowledge the father first, or his poor little heart wouldn’t survive!

This, he supposed, was what they called striking first to seize the advantage.

The moment the toddler said this, Jun Beiyue actually laughed, and Ziqing laughed along with him. “He is your father. When Mommy was pregnant with you, he didn’t know — actually, Mommy didn’t know either — and still went and won the war in the western frontier with you in her belly!”

These words weren’t really an answer for the toddler at all — they were clearly meant for Jun Beiyue’s ears.

“Ohh…” the toddler drew out the word meaningfully, though in truth there was nothing particularly meaningful about it — it was purely to mask his nervousness.

“That would have been during the Northern Desert Campaign. By the time of the peace conference, you must have been about three months along.” Jun Beiyue finally spoke.

This, too, wasn’t really addressed to the toddler — it was clearly a question for Ziqing.

The toddler took a deep breath and let out another meaningful “Ohh…”