“Whooosh…”

The sound rang out almost simultaneously with Baili Weisheng’s horrified shriek, so loud it completely drowned him out.

But little Xiong Bao still caught sight of Baili Weisheng’s terrified expression, his hand thrown out in an exaggerated gesture to stop him!

So, right after that single note, he hurriedly set down the white jade flute.

Seeing Baili Weisheng’s sudden look of despair, and then glancing at everyone else turning to stare at him, a thought immediately flashed through his mind: “Oh no, don’t tell me… I’ve caused trouble again?”

Sure enough…

“Whooosh…”

That single note — he’d only blown it once, yet the sound kept going, like the call of a conch shell, spreading far out toward the sea. Though it grew more distant, it didn’t grow quieter — it grew louder and louder!

How could that be? He’d only blown it once, so how could it produce a sound with such endless, boundless power?

And such an eerie sound, too — nothing like a jade flute at all, more like the call of a conch shell, resonating with the distant ocean waves!

Everyone’s gaze lingered on Xiong Bao’s face for only a moment before turning immediately toward the direction the sound was spreading — out toward the sea.

Little Xiong Bao, too flustered to worry about everyone else, looked timidly at Baili Weisheng and murmured, “This… this isn’t the sound of the flute… is it?”

“A dizi flute is played horizontally — a xiao flute is played vertically! Didn’t your parents ever teach you that?” Baili Weisheng roared furiously.

“N-no…” little Xiong Bao managed to say, the honest confession costing him great effort.

Baili Weisheng’s expression crumbled even further, and at that moment, Ziqing turned to look over as well, murmuring just as honestly, “That’s true. No, they didn’t.”

Jun Beiyue had already risen to his feet, gazing out toward the distant sea, as though he’d noticed something.

“Where did this thing come from!” Baili Weisheng demanded.

“Picked it up along the way,” Xiong Bao said, looking at him pleadingly, not daring to raise his voice. Well — the thing had flown out on its own, and even without reaching for it, it would’ve fallen anyway, and he’d picked it up after it fell — that counted as finding it, right?

“This is the Xiao family’s heirloom treasure — the White Jade Demon Flute! It has only four holes total, and each of the four holes can be played two ways, horizontal or vertical, each producing a different effect. And blowing it horizontally is far more powerful than blowing it vertically!” Baili Weisheng explained with great seriousness — he had to be the one who knew everything!

But little Xiong Bao couldn’t help interrupting, “What exactly does it do? What’s this thing even for?”

The moment those words left his mouth — suddenly, “BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

All at once, four towering columns of water shot up with a deafening roar.

Baili Weisheng’s expression collapsed completely. No explanation was needed — he simply stared at the strange disturbance out at sea.

What did it do?

This was what it did!

Of course any treasure belonging to Nanzhao’s Beast Clan would be used to summon creatures!

And with just one note, this kid’s strength was clearly quite something, wasn’t it!

He’d directly summoned four sea serpents that the Xiao family had been raising in the depths of the southern seas for several hundred years!

Four flute holes, each with two playing methods — that made at least eight variations, each with a different degree of power, each producing a different result.

Was little Xiong Bao’s luck incredibly good, or incredibly terrible? One blow, and he’d summoned something this formidable!

These four elite poison beasts were the Xiao family’s most powerful creatures — the very foundation of their standing within the Beast Clan!

As the water columns fell, four enormous, glistening black sea serpents rose up in midair — no one knew just how long, how massive, or how terrifying their bodies hidden beneath the water truly were!

The four colossal, slick-bodied serpents slowly closed in on the Dream Clan’s main island, Xuyu Peak, from four different directions!

Such an extraordinary sight immediately threw the entire Dream Clan into an uproar — the Great Elder and the young masters of every branch all rushed out, but the moment they saw the scene, they too were thrown into panic!

How could this be happening?

What on earth had occurred?

Yet atop Xuyu Peak, Jun Beiyue and the others quickly slipped into full combat readiness, every nerve on high alert!

Only little Xiong Bao clung desperately to the fuzzy Zizhu Beast, terrified, gripping and kneading and squeezing at its fur frantically — fortunately the Zizhu Beast had plenty of fur, or the consequences would have been dire!

By now, the four great sea serpents were drawing ever closer!

“Master, these four sea serpents are extremely difficult to deal with — like earthworms, they can survive being cut into several pieces, and it’s the same with poison: the toxin will simply concentrate itself and then sever off, detaching from the body!” Baili Xiaosheng quickly spoke up.

Neither Ziqing nor Jun Beiyue knew much about beasts of this kind, and the two of them turned in unison to seek Baili Weisheng’s opinion.

Baili Weisheng blurted out without thinking, “Perhaps… the only option is to blow the White Jade Demon Flute again to control them?”

At those words, even little Xiong Bao shook his head firmly! He never wanted to touch that thing again…

“Poison beasts…” Ziqing began, but Jun Beiyue immediately cut her off. “No!”

If the sea serpents appeared, Nanzhao would surely take notice, and the Xiao family would surely investigate. Poison beasts couldn’t be used for now.

Just as everyone was deliberating, one of the serpents suddenly lunged forward, seemingly aiming straight for the white jade flute in little Xiong Bao’s hand!

“Then we fight!” Jun Beiyue snorted coldly, immediately launching himself skyward, and everyone else quickly followed.

Baili Weisheng and Baili Xiaosheng stayed behind to guard the white jade flute.

Soon, the sky above became a battlefield of slaughter, while inside the Xuyu Tower’s barrier, the Dream Clan leader and Old Meng Five had made considerable progress.

Having gained control of the Liuguang Dagger, they finally pushed through in one continuous effort, tearing open a small, pellet-sized gap in the Qiankun Poison Pouch!

Just then, the Liuguang Dagger suddenly convulsed violently, startling Meng Duo’er into gripping it tighter — her left hand clamped around her right wrist, adding more force.

Seeing that neither her grandfather nor her father beside her had lost focus, she finally let out a long breath.

“You wretched girl, ruining my plans!”

Suddenly, a curse rang out from somewhere unseen, low and faint, yet unmistakably vicious.

Meng Duo’er immediately glanced at her grandfather and father, but seeing neither of them react, she wondered if she’d simply misheard.

So she paid it no further mind.

She kept gripping, tighter and tighter!

Being closest, she was the one who personally witnessed the opening of the Qiankun Poison Pouch gradually, slowly, widening from the size of a pellet.

Soon she could even faintly glimpse what lay inside.

Heavens, it was so beautiful, so achingly beautiful inside — this was no ordinary bag’s inner lining. Inside was an entire world, vast and boundless — the phrase “a glimpse through one hole reveals an entire universe” must have been describing exactly what she was seeing!

Meng Duo’er was utterly transfixed, so much so that Old Meng Five called out to her several times to “let go,” and she didn’t hear a word of it.

The opening of the Qiankun Poison Pouch — this was as far as they could manage to widen it. The bag itself was large enough to wrap both arms around, yet the opening was barely fist-sized in proportion.

Seeing Meng Duo’er in such a hopeless daze, the Dream Clan leader and Meng Duo’er simultaneously let go, as if by unspoken agreement!

Instantly, the purple dragon and purple phoenix vanished into thin air, and at the same moment, the Qiankun Poison Pouch abruptly shrank and dropped to the ground!

“Thud!”

A loud crash rang out — the Qiankun Poison Pouch itself was genuinely lightweight and wouldn’t have made any sound falling on its own; this was the sound of Meng Duo’er collapsing.

Only then did she come back to her senses, cradling the small, purse-sized Qiankun Poison Pouch in her hands, realizing she could no longer feel the grip of the Liuguang Dagger in her hand at all!

“Did it work?” she asked, raising her hand and looking up in delighted surprise.

The Dream Clan leader and Old Meng Five both nodded at the same time, laughing helplessly with relief. A flicker of hope crossed the Dream Clan leader’s eyes — he thought to himself, no matter what, the Dream Clan would never lack for successors now!

Meng Duo’er was an uncut jade that had gone unnoticed all this time!

It had taken just two days and two nights — a full day ahead of schedule. Overjoyed, the Dream Clan leader tucked away the Qiankun Poison Pouch and stepped happily out the door — unaware of just how catastrophic the scene outside truly was…