“On the second level of Xuyu Tower, I saw the dying instructions left behind by the Dream Clan’s founding ancestor — the very sealing master who once opened the four great seals of the poison-beast world on behalf of the isolated island’s Great Gu Master.”

The room fell utterly silent as Meng Wanyue spoke, her voice calm and measured.

“Back then, the founding ancestor not only opened the four seals — he was also invited by the Nanzhao royal family to personally destroy those same four seals with his own hands. However, the founding ancestor never revealed to the Nanzhao royal family that the poison-beast world was actually a death seal, not a living seal that a sealing master had created.”

Up to this point, her account matched exactly what everyone had already suspected, and it aligned perfectly with what the Nanzhao royal family had claimed as well.

Ziqing listened intently, Jun Beiyue’s gaze growing deep and grave, while only the Dream Clan leader kept nodding along.

Glancing around at everyone, Meng Wanyue continued, “The reason the founding ancestor… concealed the truth about the death seal — there was a reason behind it.”

At this point, Meng Wanyue paused once more.

Surely, at this moment, everyone in the room was thinking the exact same two words: “Get on with it!”

Yet this time, even Baili Weisheng said nothing.

The entire room fell silent, leaving Meng Wanyue with no choice but to continue on her own.

“Because the founding ancestor knew the true reason the Nanzhao royal family destroyed the isolated island back then!” Meng Wanyue’s voice rose noticeably, her anger barely contained!

Hearing this, Ziqing’s heart gave a violent lurch, her palms instantly damp with sweat. She had always known that the Nanzhao royal family’s destruction of the isolated island couldn’t possibly have been solely because the island’s human-gu practice threatened the realm — there had to be something else at stake, something tied to Nanzhao’s own interests.

Yet hearing Meng Wanyue state it with such certainty, she still couldn’t help but tense with anxiety.

At this moment, Jun Beiyue continued watching Meng Wanyue, his expression giving almost nothing away, utterly unreadable — yet his hand quietly found Ziqing’s, slowly tightening his grip around it!

Only now was the room truly, completely silent — silent enough that a dropped pin would have been audible.

Meng Wanyue took a slow, deep breath, steadying her emotions, yet in the end she couldn’t hold back, her voice tinged with fury. “The Nanzhao royal family — that hypocritical, self-serving, utterly merciless royal line! They destroyed the isolated island not because of the human-gu threat at all — it was because they feared that if the Dream Clan and the isolated island ever rose together, they would never be able to maintain their own footing within Nanzhao! And so, they destroyed the isolated island! And they kept the founding ancestor in check!”

“Nanzhao slaughtered every single person who’d ever left the isolated island — man, woman, young, old, all of them, wiped out without exception — and they even severed every path leading to the isolated island itself. From that day on, no one has ever known where in that vast, boundless sea the isolated island even lies!”

“What exactly happened!” Ziqing finally couldn’t hold back, her voice breaking free. Meng Wanyue’s outrage, combined with everything she’d said earlier about the grave injustice done to the isolated island, had stripped away every last shred of her composure — in this moment, her mind was consumed entirely by thoughts of the isolated island.

And Baili Weisheng, too, found himself unable to keep his composure — for the very first time in his life, he felt an overwhelming, burning desire for vengeance.

Those people had been his own kin, his own family!

Kin, family — for an orphan, that was the greatest hope one could ever hold onto, the one thing they spent their entire lives yearning to belong to!

“Why do you say it has nothing to do with the human-gu!” Even Jun Beiyue, who had remained silent throughout, couldn’t help but speak up.

Meng Wanyue sniffed, her gaze drifting toward little Xiong Bao, and only then did tenderness surface in her eyes. “Anyone from the isolated island who is immune to all poisons — once that bloodline combines with our Dream Clan’s own bloodline, it breaks the nightmare of the human-gu constitution entirely. The human-gu was never as great a threat as the Nanzhao royal family claimed — the human-gu constitution can, in fact, be broken!”

“As long as the direct bloodline of the isolated island combines with Dream Clan bloodline, the negative human-gu constitution simply doesn’t manifest at all — which means the tendency toward cultivating gu doesn’t exist either!”

“And the positive human-gu, unlike the negative variety, never carries anywhere near the same destructive potential!”

At these words, everyone’s gaze, following Meng Wanyue’s own, immediately turned to little Xiong Bao, making the boy’s skin crawl with unease…

Ziqing felt her heart pounding, thudding so loudly she could hear it clearly herself.

She couldn’t help but pull Xiong Bao into her arms, unable to put words to what she was feeling in that moment — she only knew she was on the verge of tears.

So that was how it had happened!

By a strange twist of fate, she’d crossed paths with Jun Beiyue — seemingly by accident, and yet, somehow, it seemed as though it had been destined all along!

“Then the human-gu blood running through Xiong Bao’s veins…” Jun Beiyue asked, his voice tinged with disbelief — it had to be admitted, even as a father, he couldn’t stay entirely composed either.

“It’s precisely because of this union that a child is born with an inherently powerful bloodline, one that is genuinely immune to all poisons — and that is exactly what the Nanzhao royal family feared!”

As she spoke, Meng Wanyue rose and walked over to little Xiong Bao, smiling as she teased at his mouth. “Grandson, has your teeth ever felt itchy, or a little swollen, engorged, aching?”

At these words, everyone grew even more astonished!

Heavens, she even knew about that!

Little Xiong Bao immediately nodded, bobbing his head up and down like a little chick pecking at grain!

“That confirms it — this is his natural gift, an innate ability. Anyone he bites is guaranteed to die of poisoning!”

This nearly sent Old Meng Five toppling right out of his seat, the memory of that moment in the dungeon flashing back to him, and he genuinely shuddered in retrospect.

This little baby, this troublesome child — was actually this formidable!

Facing everyone’s astonished stares, little Xiong Bao timidly bared his two small fang teeth, grinning like a little devil.

At this, Ziqing, too stunned to know what else to say, couldn’t help but burst into laughter, immediately pulling little Xiong Bao into a tight, tight embrace!

Joy and astonishment both — words could hardly capture what she felt in that moment. Even Jun Beiyue, unable to hold Xiong Bao himself, reached out and took hold of his small hand instead.

The Dream Clan leader, listening nearby, frowned deeply and quickly asked, “Then why would the founding ancestor, knowing all this, still allow Nanzhao to carry out such atrocities! Why would he bind our Dream Clan’s descendants to eternal loyalty to the Nanzhao royal family?”

“Father… because at that time, Nanzhao had already massacred the isolated island and killed the Great Gu Master before the founding ancestor even knew what was happening. By the time he learned the truth, it was already too late to undo any of it — and besides, even if the isolated island and the Dream Clan had combined their strength at that time, they still would have been no match for the three great clans under the Nanzhao royal family’s command! All the founding ancestor could do was conceal the secret of the death seal, and devote himself in secret to researching how to break it — because only with the Qiankun Poison Pouch could they ever hope to counter the Beast Clan, Nanzhao’s most terrifying force!”

Meng Wanyue spoke with passionate conviction, righteous indignation blazing in her voice. “The founding ancestor placed this secret within Xuyu Tower itself, sealed behind a barrier, waiting for the day someone with sufficient talent would come to unlock it.”

At these words, the Dream Clan leader’s expression, which had remained so grave and weighted throughout, suddenly seemed to relax, as though a burden had finally been lifted.

Even though he still felt this woman’s demeanor seemed somehow slightly off from what he remembered of her — he couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly what felt wrong, yet something nagged at him regardless.

But when Meng Wanyue spoke of talent and destiny, the Dream Clan leader, too, found himself letting go of that lingering unease!

This matched perfectly with everything they’d all theorized about Xuyu Tower — that the founding ancestor had been waiting all along for someone with sufficiently powerful natural gifts to appear, because only such a person, upon learning the secret, would possess the ability to fight for and claim the Qiankun Poison Pouch!

The Dream Clan leader had to admit — he himself had never been able to set the “lure” mechanism, nor break through the poison-beast world’s seal.

Yet Meng Wanyue had managed it.

And so, at long last, the truth had come fully to light — so this was it, this was all part of Nanzhao’s conspiracy, Nanzhao’s cruelty all along!

Flying the banner of preserving peace across Longyuan, they had destroyed the isolated island under the guise of noble justification, and erased the entire truth from history forever!

Yet Ziqing and Baili Weisheng still seemed to have questions of their own…