The Zizhu Beast couldn’t get in?
What was going on?
The space inside the Qiankun Poison Pouch was supposedly infinite — there was no way it could possibly be filled up by just four sea serpents.
Just then, Old Meng Five suddenly smacked his thigh. “It’s over, it’s over! It’s all over! You troublesome child — don’t tell me your birth chart clashes with your grandmother’s!”
Clashing birth charts?
Everyone looked at him in confusion. The Dream Clan leader’s brow furrowed tightly, as though he’d suddenly understood something.
“Sigh!” Old Meng Five let out a heavy sigh and explained, “This child… well, he’s still just a child, with limited strength. The Qiankun Poison Pouch’s space can indeed be infinite, but exactly how wide it can be opened depends entirely on the strength of its owner!”
At these words, no further explanation was needed — everyone immediately understood what had happened!
Right now, the Qiankun Poison Pouch’s opened space was quite small, and having accommodated the four great sea serpents, there simply wasn’t room left for anything else.
Which meant — unless the serpents inside came back out, no one else could possibly get in!
“You, you, you!” Old Meng Five fumed, having completely forgotten that he’d just praised little Xiong Bao as “a student worth teaching” only moments before.
“If you hadn’t caused that huge disaster in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess today!”
Little Xiong Bao knew he’d messed up again, lowering his head and pouting.
Ziqing and Jun Beiyue’s expressions weren’t much better, but now wasn’t the time to assign blame — it was time to find a solution.
Just then, a disciple came rushing in to report, “Clan Leader, the Jiao Clan army guarding these waters has arrived. Their commander wishes to see you.”
At these words, the Dream Clan leader grew instantly anxious, glancing at Ziqing and Jun Beiyue!
The Jiao Clan had many different factions — the one Ziqing had subdued was merely Jiao Cha, guardian of Qin Sheng Sea Valley. These particular Jiao people were entirely unfamiliar to them!
Ziqing had originally been thinking that, worst case, they could have Xiong Bao pour the four sea serpents back out one by one and everyone could handle them together.
But now that the Jiao people had already reached the island, there was simply no time or opportunity for that!
Even as everyone spoke, the commotion inside the Qiankun Poison Pouch in little Xiong Bao’s hands was growing more and more intense — the fighting inside was clearly fierce beyond imagination.
In truth, capturing creatures with the Qiankun Poison Pouch required proper technique — it wasn’t something you could just casually decide to do the way little Xiong Bao had!
Normally, only already-tamed poison beasts were kept and raised inside it. Only once a certain number of poison beasts had accumulated within the pouch would it be used to capture ordinary wild beasts — creatures like the sea serpents, which hadn’t been tamed, could be released inside, and the poison beasts already within would naturally handle them without the owner needing to worry.
But little Xiong Bao had no idea about any of this — even the Dream Clan leader and Old Meng Five had just been praising him for his quick thinking under pressure, hadn’t they!
Now, in this situation, what were they supposed to do?
“Clan Leader, the Jiao commander is waiting down the mountain!” the disciple felt compelled to remind them. Though the Dream Clan was a great benefactor to the Nanzhao royal family, the founding ancestor’s contribution had always remained a closely guarded secret — the Dream Clan held virtually no standing among Nanzhao’s various clans, and the Jiao Clan, one of the three great clans, was absolutely not someone they could afford to offend!
Furthermore, sea serpents had appeared on the Dream Clan’s main island and then vanished without a trace — this matter demanded some kind of explanation too!
The serpents belonged to the Xiao family of the Beast Clan, and Beast Clan members were surely already on their way as well. Thinking of all this, the Dream Clan leader genuinely felt a splitting headache coming on.
The Dream Clan leader pressed his temples, torn with indecision — how could this be handled in a way that concealed the truth without offending either of the two great clans?
At this point, Jun Beiyue spoke up — just a few words, decisive and to the point: “Keep the story consistent — the sea serpents returned to the ocean. Baili Weisheng, send an underwater message to Jiao Cha. In three days, have word spread that the sea serpents were spotted in the direction of the Eastern Sea!”
At a time like this, Baili Weisheng, being a Golden Jiao himself, could actually be of real help — a Golden Jiao’s underwater voice transmission was among the most powerful there was.
There was no question — if Jun Beiyue intended to keep this matter hidden, hidden it would have to remain.
They weren’t yet in any position to challenge Nanzhao directly — for now, they could only avoid confrontation entirely.
Seeing no objection from the Dream Clan leader, Baili Weisheng immediately went off to handle it. Ziqing looked at Jun Beiyue’s stern, grim expression, then glanced at little Xiong Bao, curled up nearby looking utterly self-reproachful, like a scolded little daughter-in-law — her heart ached with a tangle of pain, anger, and frustration all at once!
On the Longyuan continent, they were powerful, dominant, unbeatable in battle.
But faced with Nanzhao, they still weren’t strong enough — even knowing full well that the destruction of the isolated island hadn’t happened the way the Nanzhao royal family claimed, they still lacked the standing to confront the Nanzhao king directly and demand answers!
For now, all they could do was conceal the truth, all they could do was avoid confrontation!
Ziqing despised this feeling of having to sneak around, to shrink back in fear. Watching the usually composed and unflappable Dream Clan leader now so anxious and worried, watching the usually commanding, decisive Jun Beiyue forced to hold back so much, and especially watching her own son — once so free and unrestrained in the poison-beast world, now gradually growing timid — Ziqing couldn’t help but clench her fists.
She knew — only by rising above everything could she ever be free from fear of anything.
The isolated island, her origins, her true backing — these were the prerequisites for one day rising above it all!
The isolated island!
Ziqing clenched her teeth, silently repeating those words to herself in her heart!
The Dream Clan leader couldn’t afford to delay. He glanced at the Qiankun Poison Pouch, seemingly about to say something, then thought better of it, simply nodding firmly at Jun Beiyue before hurrying down the mountain to receive the guests!
As things stood now, what else could be done about the Qiankun Poison Pouch? The sea serpents absolutely could not be released — for now, it would simply have to be set aside.
Helplessly, Old Meng Five still couldn’t let it go. “Beiyue, what are we going to do about the Qiankun Poison Pouch? We went through so much trouble to open it, all just to bring my sister out, and now…”
Now what? Everyone already understood the situation perfectly well — was there really any need to keep complaining about it?
“Do you have a solution?” Jun Beiyue asked, remarkably calm.
“No! If I had a solution, I’d have said so already!” Old Meng Five sighed repeatedly, over and over. “Sigh! This really is… this shouldn’t have happened! It really shouldn’t have!”
Everyone was already feeling miserable enough, and hearing Old Meng Five sighing on and on like this only made things more irritating. Even Meng Duo’er couldn’t take it anymore. “Father, enough! What’s done is done. Besides, if Xiong Bao hadn’t captured the sea serpents, things would be far worse — we might well have run straight into the Jiao people!”
“Why on earth did he have to go playing that flute — how did it end up summoning sea serpents! Sigh…”
“Father!”
“Sigh! I’m not blaming him for anything, it’s just… your fourth aunt was right there, about to come out, and then… sigh, sigh!”
Finally, even Meng Duo’er gave up trying to reason with him, while Jun Beiyue’s expression grew darker and darker. But no matter how dark his expression, he still personally scooped little Xiong Bao up into his arms.
Ziqing, who’d remained silent throughout, quietly let out a breath of relief — only to quickly notice that little Xiong Bao’s dimmed eyes hadn’t brightened at all despite his father’s embrace. He kept his head bowed, silent in a way that worried her deeply.
His small hands gripped the Qiankun Poison Pouch tightly, so hard that the webbing between his thumb and fingers had turned red, and still he kept clenching tighter.
In the face of Old Meng Five’s complaints, Ziqing had said nothing at all throughout. In all fairness, whether it was summoning the sea serpents or capturing them, the one responsible either way was Xiong Bao — but as his mother, she wouldn’t blame him for it. At most she’d scold him a little in private, but she would absolutely never scold him in front of so many people, especially not when he was already blaming himself this much!
And of course, as a wife, when her husband fell silent, the wisest thing to do was simply to stay silent alongside him.
Whatever Jun Beiyue was thinking, he simply scooped Xiong Bao up in one arm, took Ziqing’s hand with the other, and turned to leave.
“Beiyue, where are you going? What about all this?” Old Meng Five asked anxiously.
To his surprise, Jun Beiyue replied coldly, “You don’t have a solution either, do you? Then what’s the point of talking? You should head back to the dungeon.”
These words landed like a killing blow, leaving Old Meng Five utterly speechless, unable to say another word.
And it was at exactly that moment that little Xiong Bao suddenly looked up, his eyes bright. “Mommy, she’s broken free!”
With that, he loosened his grip on the Qiankun Poison Pouch’s opening, and in that very instant, a streak of shimmering, iridescent light shot out like an arrow released from its bowstring…