Golden Jiao!

Baili Weisheng had to be a Golden Jiao!

That child, back then, who had been smothered nearly to death and thrown outside the Innocent Ravine — it had to be him!

Back then, it was Madam Helian who had secretly carried the child away. That child, still in swaddling clothes, had already been remarkably clever — the moment he sensed a stranger’s touch, he immediately began wailing, forcing Madam Helian to clamp a hand over his mouth.

But when Madam Helian moved to kill him, he had suddenly summoned a full body of golden scales, leaving Madam Helian utterly unable to lay a hand on him, unable to finish the deed!

In the end, all she could do was choose to smother him to death!

At that time, once the child was cast away, the entire Golden Jiao clan had gone half-mad searching for him, especially the child’s father. In her haste, Madam Helian had thrown the child’s body outside the Innocent Ravine, unable to spare it any further thought, and had immediately set her poison scheme into motion!

Could it be that this child hadn’t actually been smothered to death — that Madam Helian had botched it?

Could it be that, once thrown outside the Innocent Ravine, he had been rescued by some passerby?

Madam Helian could no longer bring herself to think any further on it now; her mind had gone completely blank. She couldn’t help but glance back toward the great stone pillar — without the barrier raised, she didn’t have anywhere near Meng Wanyue’s ability to see through it with a single glance.

But at this moment, while everyone else’s attention was fixed on Baili Weisheng, only Meng Wanyue, arms crossed over her chest, a faint smile playing at her lips, watched as if enjoying a fine show, gazing at Madam Jinjiao, who by now had already wept herself hoarse with grief.

“What is your relationship to the Lonely Isle?” Baili Weisheng demanded sharply. Of course he intended to avenge his disciple — but first, the matter needed to be made clear.

“The Lonely Isle?” Madam Helian waved her hands frantically. “What Lonely Isle? We don’t know anything about that! Just who exactly are you people?”

“Don’t know, hm? Heh. Showing us this much hostility for no reason at all — do you take all of us for fools? ‘Won’t talk, huh? Don’t believe I’ll strip your scales off you one by one, right this instant?'”

As Baili Weisheng spoke, he suddenly leaned in close, and Madam Helian, terrified, didn’t dare move an inch — all her earlier arrogance vanished in an instant, and she immediately screamed, “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

No matter how formidable a Silver Jiao might be, before a Golden Jiao — especially one with a bloodline as monstrous as Baili Weisheng’s — they were nothing but… trash!

How could they not be afraid?

How could they not feel reverence?

They didn’t even dare imagine the consequences!

Helian Shaoze, always so arrogant and overbearing, now looked like a wilted flower, not even daring to lift his head, staring fixedly at Baili Weisheng’s gleaming golden foot — and damn it all, the longer he looked at it, the more an involuntary reverence for that very foot welled up inside him.

Royalty was royalty — an innate, noble bloodline that could never be changed.

Madam Helian, too, had lost all composure, with only a sliver of reason left to her. She hurriedly threw herself down, kowtowing frantically, pleading, “Lord Golden Jiao, this was a misunderstanding! We had eyes but failed to recognize greatness — we offended you, we beg your forgiveness on behalf of all the Silver Jiao, we kowtow to you now!”

“Enough nonsense — why did you try to kill us? Whatever grudges, whatever grievances you have, spit it all out, and I’ll settle every single one of them with you! I—”

Heaven only knew how much restraint Baili Weisheng was exercising. If it weren’t for the sake of the Lonely Isle, for Ziqing’s sake, there was no way he would still be wasting words on Madam Helian — he would have already struck.

“Lord Golden Jiao, spare us! We… we had our reasons! Lord Golden Jiao, please seek justice for us Silver Jiao!” Madam Helian said, then suddenly turned and looked toward Ziqing, pointing at the dagger hanging at her calf, wailing loudly, “Madam Jinjiao — she is our Silver Jiao’s enemy, an enemy of our Silver Jiao for all eternity! That dagger… that dagger was forged from the scales and blood of thousands upon thousands of our Silver Jiao people!”

The Dagger of Flowing Light — forged from scales and blood?

At these words, the entire scene fell into instant silence. Everyone had assumed this all had something to do with the Lonely Isle, but no one had imagined that the Golden Jiao’s hatred, their killing intent, stemmed from the Dagger of Flowing Light!

How… how could this be?

Ziqing abruptly furrowed her brow and turned to look at Meng Wanyue. The Dagger of Flowing Light — wasn’t that an artifact of the Meng Clan? Wasn’t it the Meng Clan’s most sacred ritual tool? The very artifact left behind by their ancestors, the finest tool for opening the Poison Beast World?

How could this be…

Baili Weisheng, too, was abruptly startled. He stepped forward and pinned Madam Helian’s hand under his foot, demanding sharply, “Exactly what happened here? Explain yourself clearly!”

Madam Helian winced in pain at being stepped on but didn’t dare cry out. A flash of panic crossed her eyes, and even as fear gripped her, she warned herself sternly in her heart — she absolutely must not say the wrong thing, must not let anything slip!

The matter of the Golden Jiao — absolutely, absolutely could not be spoken of!

If she let it slip, she and Helian Shaoze would certainly not keep even their last breath!

The Golden Jiao’s son had returned!

“L-Lord… Lord Golden Jiao! We Silver Jiao were originally the guards of your Golden Jiao clan, generations of loyal servants sworn to protect you closely by your side. But ever since the great war in Nanzhao, when the Golden Jiao clan suffered a severe blow to its vital energy and withdrew into seclusion, we Silver Jiao… we also believed the Golden Jiao had perished. We… we too left Nanzhao, and found our way to this world cut off from all others — the Innocent Ravine, this Boundless Deep Sea — and we have survived here ever since, until…”

At this point, Madam Helian couldn’t help but glance timidly at Baili Weisheng, but the moment she met that cold, sharp gaze, she immediately lowered her head again. “Until several hundred years ago, when the Meng Clan’s clan leader from Nanzhao came seeking us out, saying he wished to build an undersea barrier palace for us, and demanded the scales of our three thousand Jiao soldiers. But once the undersea barrier palace was completed, the Meng Clan’s greed only grew — they demanded the entire Silver Jiao clan, all for the sake of forging a single dagger. At that time… at that time…”

The truth was, at that time, the Golden Jiao had stepped in just in time.

But how could Madam Helian possibly say so — she wouldn’t dare say it even if it killed her; she knew that the moment she mentioned the Golden Jiao, even after death, her fate would be unbearably wretched!

“At that time… the Silver Jiao resisted fiercely. Though we managed to escape that disaster, we suffered countless losses, and our people…” As Madam Helian spoke, there was genuine hatred, genuine resentment in her voice, and she couldn’t help but choke up. “At first, we thought all they wanted was for our three thousand Jiao soldiers to serve as guards — but we never imagined they would want our scales, our blood, just to forge a single dagger!”

The truth?

The truth behind the Dagger of Flowing Light?

In that moment, Ziqing, Jun Beiyue, Baili Weisheng, and Xiong Xiaobao all turned to look toward Meng Wanyue at once — surely Meng Wanyue would know whether this was the truth or not!

Was it because the Meng Clan had come here in the past that Meng Wanyue knew this place was connected to the Lonely Isle? Back then, what exactly had been the relationship between the Meng Clan and the Lonely Isle’s Great Gu Master?

In an instant, countless questions surged up in Ziqing’s mind. She held no suspicion toward her mother-in-law, yet she was filled with a great deal of confusion and doubt — and at this moment, she had to admit, she truly was suspicious now.

Yes — suspicious. Not merely confused.

In the silence, Jun Beiyue spoke up calmly, “Mother, you should know the origins of this dagger better than anyone, shouldn’t you?”

Who could have known — Meng Wanyue’s face, too, showed an expression of shock. She glanced at Jun Beiyue, then at Baili Weisheng, and hurried forward, brow furrowed, demanding, “Madam Helian, this event you speak of from several hundred years ago — exactly which year was it, and exactly which Meng Clan leader was in power at the time?”