“Xiaosheng, Grandfather said only true soul mates can play the most perfect duet. Even if Mommy hates Xuanyuan Lige so much, even if Mommy were willing and Xuanyuan Lige agreed, they might not be able to perform a proper duet together at all!”
A duet demanded not only an extremely high level of technical coordination and synchrony, but even more importantly, it required the players to be true soul mates, to truly understand one another’s hearts.
Otherwise, the music produced would have form but no soul.
If no one had guessed wrong, that line, “Lishang will carry you home,” must refer to the emotion the Lishang conveyed, rather than merely its notes.
The Lishang was unlike ordinary pieces of music—it made strict demands, whether of the instruments or of the people playing them.
If one didn’t use the Nameless Zither and the Blood Zither, even a complete performance of the piece would carry an entirely different flavor—let alone when it came to the people playing it.
Xiong Xiaobao’s question cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Seeing Baili Xiaosheng slow to answer, he sighed helplessly. “If only Father could play the Lishang too.”
“That wouldn’t help!” Baili Xiaosheng finally spoke up. “Even if he learned every technique perfectly, he still couldn’t control the Blood Zither!”
Compared to the Nameless Zither, the Blood Zither was far more particular about recognizing its master.
For over twenty years, the Blood Zither had been nourished with Xuanyuan Lige’s own blood! Apart from Xuanyuan Lige, no one else could master it.
In other words, performing the Lishang as a duet required Xuanyuan Lige, and no one else. If Xuanyuan Lige were to die, it would take twenty years before the Blood Zither would gradually forget its master and be able to recognize a new one. “What do we do!” Xiong Xiaobao grew anxious.
Baili Xiaosheng propped her chin in her hands, not knowing how to answer either. After a long, long silence, she finally said, “I really miss Master. I bet he’d have a solution.”
“You think so?” Xiong Xiaobao asked doubtfully, watching Baili Xiaosheng lie down flat, and then lying down beside her as well.
“Xiaosheng, why would someone do something that makes the person they like hate them?” Xiong Xiaobao murmured. As for the word “love,” he knew of it, but didn’t quite understand it—he was still too young!
He only knew that he liked Xiaosheng, liked Big Brother Scholar, liked Grandfather, didn’t much like Meng Duo’er, and disliked Fifth Meng entirely. He only knew that he loved his father and mother.
Beyond that meaning, he didn’t understand anything else.
Liking and loving—did Baili Xiaosheng understand them?
She let out a sigh and said with feeling, “It’s either because you don’t love them enough, or because you love them too much.”
Xiong Xiaobao shook his head; he didn’t understand.
Not loving enough, he could just barely grasp. Loving too much, though, was beyond him.
“Why would loving too much make someone want to be hated! Father would never let Mommy hate him,” Xiong Xiaobao said very earnestly.
Baili Xiaosheng laughed at once. “Why does a little kid have so many questions? You’ll understand when you grow up!”
Xiong Xiaobao froze, then shot her a cold glance. “You’re a kid too!”
“I’m older than you, at least,” Baili Xiaosheng said proudly.
Too lazy to argue with her, Xiong Xiaobao lazily lay back down, thinking of summoning his giant poison beast to ask it—but remembering they were in Nanzhao, he held back.
After a long silence, Baili Xiaosheng spoke up. “Young Prince, where do you think Master is right now?”
“He’s probably already found Xuanyuan Lige. Don’t worry, with Meng Duo’er around, nothing big can go wrong!” Xiong Xiaobao said.
“I don’t like Meng Duo’er,” Baili Xiaosheng said very seriously.
“Ha, I don’t like her either! I like her old man even less!” Xiong Xiaobao chimed in at once.
Baili Xiaosheng wanted to say more, but looking back at Xiong Xiaobao’s youthful face, she decided to let it go.
She couldn’t help but wonder—one day, once this little fellow grew up and inherited everything that was Prince Yao’s, becoming the true ruler of Longyuan, would he still sit up here on the roof with her, discussing pointless questions like this? At the thought, Baili Xiaosheng shook her head—she was overthinking things, how could that possibly happen? The two children talked all through the night without sleeping a wink, starting from philosophies of love and drifting who knows where by the end.
The night on Yuqiong Mountain was unusually still. Even in springtime on the Longyuan Continent, Nanzhao had already grown quite hot, yet this mountain didn’t even have the sound of insects.
The still moonlight draped down like a thin veil, cutting the whole mountain off from the mortal world below.
Yet no one knew that beneath this stillness, undercurrents were already stirring!
Having seen the Prince of Nanzhao off to sleep, Qinji, barefoot, dragging the long trailing hem of her robe, hurried anxiously toward the window.
The men she’d sent out still hadn’t sent back any word—they still hadn’t found Xuanyuan Lige!
The matter of the Second Young Master failing to return, she had smoothed over with a string of lies. After the gathering, the Prince of Nanzhao would probably order a manhunt for the Second Young Master.
She had originally thought everything would go smoothly, just waiting for her beloved to win his battle.
But who could have known the fighting on the Longyuan battlefield would take such a drastic turn!
Just a few days ago, she had received a distress signal from him—it meant he was in danger, right here on the Jade Water Nectar mountain!
From the signal alone, that was all she could tell.
Qinji had searched like a madwoman, yet to this day she still hadn’t found him. The Jade Water Nectar mountain had no shortage of caves, deep ravines, and no small number of forbidden areas!
And at a time like this, searching so openly on the Jade Water Nectar mountain was no easy task—one misstep, and if the Prince of Nanzhao found out, her whole life would be over.
Gazing out at the moonlight through the window, Qinji pressed a hand to her chest, her heart burning with anxiety.
If asked why she went to such lengths to help a man who could give her nothing in return, she wouldn’t even know how to answer!
Love was simply like that—willing without reason. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be called love. Yet at this moment, searching the Jade Water Nectar mountain for someone was not limited to Qinji alone.
There were also Baili Weisheng and Meng Duo’er, who had just arrived at the Jade Water Nectar mountain.
Baili Weisheng was a king of the waters; in the blink of an eye he could reach the shore of Nanzhao, going straight from the river to the foot of the Jade Water Nectar mountain.
But faced with an entire mountain, even he had no idea where to begin the search.
Dawn was fast approaching!
Once day broke, the gathering would begin, and Ziqing and the others would be in even greater danger.
“What do we do?” Baili Weisheng asked quietly, unable to hide his anxiety.
Such a capable, seemingly all-powerful man—asking her what to do?
Meng Duo’er looked at his tightly knit brow, feeling an indescribable stirring in her heart—this was the first time she’d seen this man so genuinely serious!
“I… I have an idea.” she said timidly.
But Baili Weisheng, it turned out, had simply been thinking aloud, not actually asking her.
“I have an idea,” Meng Duo’er repeated.
“What?” Baili Weisheng finally heard her, startled.
“Within a certain range, I can sense the presence of anyone whose barrier technique is weaker than mine,” Meng Duo’er explained. This kind of sensing ability was unique to the Dream Clan—it was how her father had once been able to locate Second and Third Meng back in the capital.
Baili Weisheng was startled, then delighted. “Can you sense her now?”
But Meng Duo’er shook her head. “She probably isn’t at the foot of the mountain. Let’s go up and check.”
“Are you certain Meng Wanyue’s barrier technique is weaker than yours?” Baili Weisheng asked seriously.
“Based on what you all said, her barrier can’t hold for long, which means it must have only just been perfected—it shouldn’t be stronger than mine,” Meng Duo’er said, equally serious.
The two of them wasted no more time, hurrying up toward the mountainside…