The moment Meng Wanyue asked this question, Madam Helian immediately sensed something was off, but there was nothing she could do about it — she had no choice but to answer obediently. “It was over three hundred years ago. I don’t know exactly which clan leader was in power at the time — all I know is that it was the Meng Clan! There’s no mistaking it — the barriers on these two palaces here, only someone of the Meng Clan could have created them!”

Madam Helian hadn’t personally witnessed the events; this debt, this grudge, had simply been passed down through the generations.

Meng Wanyue listened, shaking her head repeatedly, her brow knitting with worry. She glanced at Jun Beiyue, then at Ziqing, and shook her head once more. “Over three hundred years ago, the Meng Clan was still in chaos — all sorts of different factions, not yet unified. This dagger only came into the founding ancestor’s hands around two hundred-some years ago.”

Timing — that was the best evidence of all!

With a single sentence, Meng Wanyue washed herself clean of all suspicion.

She looked at the Silver Jiao with an expression of pity, sighing repeatedly — while inwardly sneering coldly. This one scheme had killed both Han Ziqing and Baili Weisheng in one stroke — but no, she would absolutely not let them leave this place either way!

All she wanted was her son and her grandson — everyone else here was to be left behind, no exceptions!

One sentence, and all suspicion cleared?

How could that possibly be!

After all, the people present weren’t just anyone — they were Jun Beiyue, Han Ziqing, and Baili Weisheng!

Ziqing glanced at Jun Beiyue, pursing her lips slightly but saying nothing, while Jun Beiyue silently took her hand and held it tightly — the feeling behind it, the meaning behind it, known only to the two of them, husband and wife!

A cold, bloodthirsty smile curled at the corner of Baili Weisheng’s lips as his gaze swept past Meng Wanyue and settled on Madam Helian.

The instant she met Baili Weisheng’s icy stare, Madam Helian was too terrified to even speak, pleading over and over, “Spare us, Lord Golden Jiao, spare us! I didn’t know your true identity — otherwise, I never, never would have made such a mistake!”

“Lord Golden Jiao, we belong to the same clan — please, I beg you, spare us, please!”

Helian Shaoze, too, hurried forward, kneeling at Baili Weisheng’s feet, kowtowing over and over, begging without end!

Off to the side, within the great stone pillar, Madam Jinjiao clenched her fists tight, murmuring to herself, “Son, don’t go soft-hearted, my son! Avenge the Golden Jiao — avenge your father!”

Meng Wanyue turned to look back, taking in Madam Jinjiao’s reaction. Madam Jinjiao immediately looked back at her too, her hatred barely contained. “Just who exactly are you, of the Meng Clan? What exactly are you trying to do? You know the entire truth, and you’re deceiving them! Isn’t that right! Even the most vicious tiger does not devour its own cubs — you, woman, heaven will surely punish you for this!”

Meng Wanyue smiled, turning slowly around. Even the most vicious tiger doesn’t devour its own cubs — which was precisely why she cherished and protected Beiyue and Xiong Bao so dearly. But Han Ziqing, this woman who hadn’t even properly married in, who had never once served her so much as a cup of tea — she was no flesh and blood of hers.

Seeing Baili Weisheng hesitate, Meng Wanyue felt pleased — after all, when it came to his own clan, surely this young man’s heart had softened; that must be why he still hadn’t said anything.

Right in front of Madam Jinjiao, Meng Wanyue deliberately walked over and, in a tone heavy with meaning, advised him, “Weisheng, in this matter… they, too, have some justification, don’t they? If you must blame someone, blame the Meng Clan’s ancestors… oh dear… Weisheng, this aunt, on behalf of the Meng Clan, offers her apologies to the Jiao clan… I’m so sorry!”

Meng Wanyue’s words were, without question, a lifeline thrown to Madam Helian and Helian Shaoze!

Mother and son could no longer even remember their feud with the Meng Clan — right now, all they cared about was saving their own lives. They were so grateful to Meng Wanyue they could barely express it, repeating over and over, “Yes, yes, yes!”

“Lord Golden Jiao, it was we who let our hatred blind us and struck without properly investigating first, which caused this misunderstanding. Lord Golden Jiao, so many of our Silver Jiao have already lost their lives, wrongfully, so very wrongfully… Lord Golden Jiao, please, in your great magnanimity!”

“Lord Golden Jiao, generation after generation, the Silver Jiao have served the Golden Jiao as loyal servants — we are your devoted subordinates, Lord Golden Jiao… in your great magnanimity…”

Amid this chorus of wailing, Baili Weisheng remained silent throughout, simply staring at the mother and son.

To Meng Wanyue, and even to the Helian mother and son, it seemed there was still hope — this fellow hadn’t struck immediately, which surely meant hesitation, and hesitation meant hope.

Madam Jinjiao clenched her jaw so tightly that blood trickled down along the corner of her lips, her heart so choked with grief she couldn’t even speak.

She had lived her whole life kind and gentle-hearted — yet now, she wished she could rush forward and tear Meng Wanyue apart, limb from limb.

This grudge — it ran as deep and vast as the heavens themselves!