Wasn’t the Qiankun poison pouch only supposed to hold beasts?

All those disciples had been holding weapons — how had they simply vanished into thin air?

While the entire courtyard stood frozen in shock, Ziqing and Jun Beiyue both stared thoughtfully at Xiong Xiaobao — it was clear their son had been hiding quite a bit from them!

The two of them simply stared, their gazes suspicious and searching. Not a word needed to be said — their gaze alone was enough to instantly crush their son’s little heart.

“I opened up a small little space — it can hold these things,” Xiong Xiaobao said timidly.

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing both nodded, still saying nothing, continuing to stare at him.

Xiong Xiaobao pouted, looking utterly wronged, and confessed without even needing to be pressed further. “Fine, actually there are about ten small spaces — I accidentally discovered the Qiankun poison pouch has this function. These spaces can hold anything, but… the space is pretty limited.”

Yet even after Xiong Xiaobao had confessed everything, Jun Beiyue and Ziqing still said nothing, continuing to stare at him!

Seeing his father and mother’s expressions, Xiong Xiaobao pressed his lips together tightly, nearly in tears. “Fine, there are only three spaces left usable — I’ve filled up all the rest!”

“Three?” Finally, Ziqing spoke, looking thoughtful.

Thinking she didn’t believe him, Xiong Xiaobao immediately assured her, “Just three.”

Who would have thought — the very next moment, Jun Beiyue cleared his throat and spoke up. “Then leave one for me.”

Xiong Xiaobao pressed his lips together, sniffling, trying to hold back tears!

Who would have guessed — Ziqing then said, “Then give the last two to me!”

At this, Xiong Xiaobao burst into tears. “Waaah… waaah… fine!”

Even through the tears, he still agreed.

Who could blame him? He’d never once been able to refuse his father and mother anything.

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing were both quite pleased, each taking one of their son’s hands. “Let’s go — next one!”

Xiong Xiaobao, looking thoroughly displeased, tugged hard at his father’s and mother’s hands, swinging them back and forth with all his might. The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt. As they walked, his gaze suddenly darkened. Instantly, more than twenty twin-bladed sabers and swords materialized out of thin air behind them, hovered for a moment in midair, then shot straight toward the disciples of the Flame Mountain Gate! In an instant, everyone in the courtyard scattered in a mad panic, chaos erupting everywhere!

“Ah… the weapons are back!”

“How can this be, are they gods?”

“No! They’re demons!”

“Run! Quick!”

…

The sect leader hid behind a large pillar, dodging the flying twin blades as they streaked past, and even after all the weapons had clattered to the ground, he still didn’t dare come out, only shouting loudly, “Someone! Someone, shut the gate quickly! Hurry!”

As for warning the other peaks, he’d tossed that thought completely out of his mind by now.

In truth, whether he warned the others or not made no difference — the outcome would be the same either way. Jun Beiyue’s family of three continued onward, passing through nearly ten mountain peaks along the way, every sect’s gate kicked down by Jun Beiyue himself. Jun Beiyue and Ziqing took turns striking, and the disciples of every peak were beaten into complete disarray — it had to be said, Ziqing was almost starting to feel embarrassed for the other side, they truly were pathetically weak!

At this point, Jun Beiyue was about to kick open yet another gate, when Xiao Bao stopped him with a very serious expression.

“Daddy, let me do it!”

Since their son had spoken up, how could Jun Beiyue refuse?

He silently stepped back to the side. After all, though these sects were weak, their gates weren’t — without a certain level of internal strength, one couldn’t kick these doors down at all!

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing watched their son with keen interest, curious to see what method he’d come up with. This was also a good opportunity to train their son, wasn’t it?

But who would have guessed — Xiong Xiaobao toddled cheerfully up the stone steps and knocked on the door with his chubby little hand, calling out, “Anyone home? Open the door, anyone home?”

Um…

Xiong Xiaobao, do you realize the two people behind you just nearly collapsed on the spot?

“Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!” Xiong Xiaobao knocked with all his might.

Before long, the door actually did open — though not the main gate, but the side door beside it. Out stepped a hefty young man who, upon seeing Xiong Xiaobao and the others, immediately barked coldly, “Who are you people? What are you doing? Do you think you can just go around knocking on the Flame Stone Gate’s door?”

Jun Beiyue raised an eyebrow and said nothing; Ziqing crossed her arms and leaned against the wall nearby, closing her eyes to rest.

Only Xiong Xiaobao, undeterred, toddled right up to the small door and answered in his sweet, milky voice, “We came from down the mountain, we want to find your sect leader.”

“Go away, go away!” the heavyset young man immediately waved his hand. “The sect leader isn’t someone the likes of you get to see. Off you go, off you go, right now, or don’t blame me for being rude!”

Xiong Xiaobao blinked his big eyes, looking at him pitifully, and said nothing.

“Scram!” the heavyset young man snapped fiercely, and immediately slammed the door shut with a bang.

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing watched, brows furrowed. They’d expected their son to do something, but this little guy truly had no intention of resorting to force at all!

Soon, Xiong Xiaobao came back to Jun Beiyue, his young face showing no disappointment at all, but instead earnestly pondering a question that had been nagging at him the whole journey. “Daddy, is it true that in the martial world, force is the only thing that solves everything?”

The martial world?

Strictly speaking, neither Jun Beiyue nor Ziqing really belonged to the martial world — they belonged to the battlefield.

But they both knew — the answer was no.

“Silly little fool! Come here, Mommy will teach you.” Ziqing said, taking Xiong Xiaobao’s hand and walking back to knock on the main door, “Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!”

This knocking was far more forceful than Xiong Xiaobao’s had been. Soon, the heavyset young man emerged again through the side door, shouting angrily, “Can’t you people understand plain speech? Scram now, or I won’t be polite! This is the Flame Stone Mountain gate—”

But before he could finish speaking, Ziqing casually tossed over a large ingot of Xiliang official silver, her tone even more arrogant than his had been. “Crown Prince Lie sent us to find your sect leader. Your Flame Stone Mountain has quite the high threshold — even Crown Prince Lie can’t get through?”

At this, the heavyset young man’s jaw dropped instantly, staring at Ziqing and the others, his legs trembling nonstop!

“No — no, it’s not, it’s not that! This lowly one failed to recognize such esteemed guests! I’ll — I’ll open the door right away!” He stammered, turned, and bolted off, and in the blink of an eye had personally thrown open the main gate!

Jun Beiyue smiled without a word. A power as weak as the Flame Mountains — how could they possibly have abducted Situ Haonan? Someone was clearly using the Flame Mountains’ name as a front!

Or perhaps, they’d been deliberately lured here to the Flame Mountains on purpose!

As for who was behind it all, he already had a good idea in his heart.

The gate now open, without needing to be told, the heavyset young man rushed off on his own to fetch the sect leader.

Ziqing patted Xiong Xiaobao’s head and smiled. “Didn’t need to use force, did we? Son, no matter what position you hold in the future, no matter how great your abilities become, always be wary of two kinds of people: those who wield the pen — a single stroke of their brush can rewrite the history of an entire dynasty; and those skilled with words — a pair of thin lips alone can deceive the entire realm.”

Xiong Xiaobao didn’t quite grasp it all, but nodded earnestly anyway — he’d remember this!

Meanwhile, the sect leader of Flame Stone Mountain was leading a group of disciples, emptying the entire sect to come greet them…