Only two locations remained on the map — one was the Flame Valley within Western Jing territory, west of the Western Jing desert; the other was a place none of those present had ever expected, an extremely troublesome, extremely dreadful place.

If they could have avoided it, everyone would have wished never to go there at all.

Only Madam Jinjiao didn’t understand the reluctance. Pointing at the other location on the map, she asked curiously, “Why not go here first? It’s much closer to us.”

“Mother, are you planning to come with us too?” Baili Weisheng asked quickly. There was still so much his mother didn’t know yet — he would need time to explain everything to her, gradually.

At Baili Weisheng’s question, Madam Jinjiao immediately shot back, “Are you saying you don’t intend to bring your own mother along?”

Uh…

“Mother, I think you just got out of that prison barrier — shouldn’t you rest up a bit? Besides, where we’re headed is the Flame Valley. I hear that place could scorch a fish right through — you wouldn’t be able to handle that!”

Baili Weisheng ventured cautiously. In truth, having his mother along would normally be a good thing — but with Meng Duo’er added to the mix as well, it was absolutely not going to be good at all.

The only one who caught Baili Weisheng’s true meaning was Ziqing — though unfortunately, she genuinely couldn’t manage to laugh right now, because her waist hurt terribly.

“You and I are both Golden Jiao — if you can handle it, why couldn’t I?” Madam Jinjiao shot back, completely shutting down every single one of Baili Weisheng’s excuses in one sentence!

Baili Weisheng’s royal Golden Jiao bloodline, though extraordinarily powerful, was only truly effective underwater!

Once Madam Jinjiao summoned her own set of golden scales, she likely wouldn’t be much weaker than Baili Weisheng at all.

Baili Weisheng, thoroughly defeated, decided to act as though he’d said nothing at all.

But Madam Jinjiao was still fixated on her earlier question. “This place is so close — Weisheng could take us all there in the blink of an eye. Why not go here first?”

“Auntie, why don’t you let your son explain the reasons to you slowly. Everyone’s exhausted after today — let’s all rest early. We’ll set out first thing tomorrow morning.”

The moment Jun Beiyue spoke, Ziqing’s heart gave a violent lurch!

She knew, then, that she was doomed.

Xiong Xiaobao, ever perceptive, immediately climbed onto Baili Weisheng’s back. Clearly, tonight, he had no intention of playing third wheel — he was sticking with Baili Weisheng instead!

Unlike Madam Jinjiao, Jue Mingzi was remarkably sharp-eyed, and had already noticed something off about Jun Beiyue. He quickly rolled up the map and handed it to Ziqing. “Keep this map safe.”

After a brief hesitation, he added, “Ziqing, your father is proud of you. Your talent surpasses even your mother’s.”

Ziqing’s heart ached faintly at this. The words rose to her lips, but she swallowed them back down, silently accepting the map instead.

“That girl Meng Duo’er should be fine — she’ll probably wake up soon. Which of you will stay behind to look after her?” Jue Mingzi asked next.

Naturally, Ziqing couldn’t help with this at all, because by now, Jun Beiyue had already, silently and without a word, pulled her along toward the door.

“Weisheng, you stay here!” Madam Jinjiao immediately jumped in ahead of Baili Weisheng.

“Mother, I’ve still got things to attend to! You stay instead — or, better yet, share a room with her tonight. Whatever you don’t know, just ask her — she knows everything,” Baili Weisheng quickly deflected.

“No, no, Mother has things to attend to tonight as well. Mother needs a good night’s rest to recover properly. Son, are you really going to make your mother, the very moment she’s freed from prison, stay up all night tending to someone else?” Madam Jinjiao asked, her expression the picture of pitiful suffering.

Baili Weisheng’s mouth twitched repeatedly. He decided to turn to Jue Mingzi for help — but when he looked around, Jue Mingzi had already vanished. And along with him, gone too was Xiong Xiaobao, who had just moments ago been perched on his back!

This bunch — they’d all learned how to “help others achieve happiness” too, hadn’t they!

Madam Jinjiao glanced back at Meng Duo’er, then let out a warm chuckle, a smile just as radiant as Baili Weisheng’s usual one. “Son, you must remember — she’s our benefactor. Now’s your chance to repay that debt of gratitude!”

Baili Weisheng looked like a wilted flower, encountering for the first time in his life someone who left him utterly speechless, utterly helpless — and of all people, it had to be his own birth mother.

He chose silence instead.

“Son, you’ve worked so hard.” Madam Jinjiao patted his shoulder and turned to leave.

But just then, Baili Weisheng grew serious. “Mother, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Ask tomorrow, ask tomorrow!” Madam Jinjiao said cheerfully.

“Mother, my father… what kind of person was he?” Baili Weisheng asked directly. The moment he said this, Madam Jinjiao froze, the smile on her face stiffening into something painfully awkward.

She had always tried so hard to forget — because even though the vengeance had already been taken, looking back, the memories would always remain bitter.

It was like being stabbed viciously with a knife — even after you’d stabbed back in return, the wound on your own body would remain forever; even once healed, a scar would always linger.

Revenge was, after all, only ever something that came after the fact. Far better, always, to never have been wronged in the first place.

“Mother, how exactly did my father and our clan people die.” Baili Weisheng asked again. He had always wanted to know — he simply hadn’t wanted to ask in front of so many others earlier.

“Poisoned to death. Fortunately, it wasn’t too painful — just rather sudden…” Madam Jinjiao said lightly, the words “poisoned to death” casually glossing over the slaughter and displacement of those years. If a wound could never truly heal, then the greatest, most responsible protection she could give her son for the rest of his life was to never let him see that wound for what it truly was.

The wound would never heal — but as long as her son was still here, that was enough.

“Poisoned to death? Was my father the same? Was my father a merfolk?” What Baili Weisheng most wanted to know, in truth, was the origin of his own Lonely Isle bloodline.

His mother was Golden Jiao — which meant, without question, his Lonely Isle bloodline had to come from his father!

Jue Mingzi had said that Baili Weisheng was the sole direct heir of the Lonely Isle’s royal bloodline — which meant his father couldn’t have been of the direct royal line himself, but rather an ordinary Lonely Isle bloodline, someone who had been poisoned to death, meaning his father hadn’t been immune to all poisons.

“No, your father wasn’t Golden Jiao. Your father was an ordinary man. There was one time…”

As Madam Jinjiao spoke, she couldn’t help but drift back through fragments of the past. Hatred was a force that could sustain a person’s will to live — but warmth was just as powerful, sometimes even more so!

“My husband, I will care for our son in your place, and in the place of the entire Golden Jiao clan!” Madam Jinjiao silently swore to herself in her heart.

Baili Weisheng listened intently, and as he listened, found himself unconsciously moved by the happiness his mother had once known, feeling a warmth spreading through his own heart!

So it turned out his father had been a man who cherished his wife and child so dearly!

“So you’re saying, Father was drawn in from the outer sea by the whirlpool you summoned, and that’s how he ended up in the Boundless Deep Sea.” Baili Weisheng said thoughtfully.

“Yes. He must have been out at sea at that time — only, I never imagined he would deceive me too…” Madam Jinjiao sighed helplessly. She never could have guessed her husband was a Lonely Isle orphan; she remembered clearly, back then, he’d said nothing at all, only wanting to leave, and in the end had been forcibly kept there against his will. Gradually, though, he had come to stay willingly, for her sake.

“Father… where did he come from?” Baili Weisheng murmured to himself…