“The sky… it’s light…”

Meng Wanyue murmured to herself. Light streamed in through the cave mouth behind her, gradually brightening the dim cavern.

Dawn had come. The Jade Water Nectar Gathering was about to begin. The Nanzhao royal family, the various clans of Nanzhao, and Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing would all soon be making their way up the mountain.

Meng Wanyue’s face was etched with exhaustion, her eyes heavy with fatigue, as she silently stared at Xuanyuan Lige before her. She had to admit it — both her hands and her heart were worn out.

An entire night of struggling, threatening, even compromising, persuading, coaxing.

But no matter how she alternated between force and flattery, none of it worked.

Xuanyuan Lige paid her no attention at all, as though he no longer cared for his own life, determined only to hold her back.

Glancing back toward the mouth of the cave, Meng Wanyue finally spoke, her voice so hoarse it was impossible to tell just how much shouting she’d done. “Xuanyuan Lige, what exactly are you doing this for?” She simply could not understand.

She had thought about it all night and still couldn’t understand. She had told Xuanyuan Lige the truth. She had said that if he would only let go and cooperate with her, she would absolutely never use his body again. Yet Xuanyuan Lige hadn’t even given her a single response.

At that moment, Xuanyuan Lige still had his eyes closed, saying nothing at all.

“Say something! Why!” Meng Wanyue couldn’t help but shout. She had never been a patient person, and after a whole night locked in this standoff, she had reached her limit.

At that, a cold smile curved at the corner of Xuanyuan Lige’s lips, and he finally spoke. “Because… I love that woman even more than your son does.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Meng Wanyue froze.

She stood stunned for a long moment, then let out a disbelieving laugh. How could that be possible?

Had this boy gone mad?

Was he talking about Han Ziqing?

“You’re lying!” Meng Wanyue burst into laughter again and again.

If you loved someone, shouldn’t you pursue her, fight for her, even seize her? But Xuanyuan Lige had done none of that.

No — what he had fought for, what he had seized, was not Han Ziqing herself, but Jun Beiyue’s empire.

To love someone yet seize what belonged to her husband, to hurt her sister — how could there be such a foolish man, loving someone while risking everything to earn her hatred?

Meng Wanyue could only feel that Xuanyuan Lige was playing some enormous joke on her, toying with her.

Time was short — she had no leisure to sit here trading jokes with him.

In an instant, Meng Wanyue’s eyes turned cold, and she issued a chilling warning. “Xuanyuan Lige, I don’t care what your purpose is. Let me tell you — I’ll count to three. If you still haven’t let go, then I won’t bother keeping your life either.”

Yes!

If Xuanyuan Lige still refused to let go, Meng Wanyue was prepared to go all out.

Over the course of the night, she had drained the power of the Five Elements seal on Xuanyuan Lige’s body down to its very last layer, and her sealing arts had advanced by leaps and bounds as a result.

By now, even Meng Duo’er was no match for her.

Compared with Xuanyuan Lige, if she had to choose between Han Ziqing and the Qiankun Poison Pouch, she would choose the former without hesitation.

Such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — she would absolutely not let it slip away.

As she spoke, her cold phoenix eyes narrowed slowly. Meng Wanyue’s hand curled into a sharp claw, purple light streaming from her fingertips.

She meant to kill Xuanyuan Lige — a single strike of her claw would do it instantly.

Every person kept alive by a Five Elements seal had a fatal point on their body, and she knew exactly where Xuanyuan Lige’s was.

Her clawed hand crept closer, inch by inch.

Xuanyuan Lige’s left hand had a grip on her collar, and the nails of his right hand had already pierced her neck. But his strength was far too weak — all of it was concentrated in his left hand. All he could manage was to hold her in place; he couldn’t kill her outright.

Xuanyuan Lige knew perfectly well where his own fatal point was. Even sensing the danger drawing near, his expression remained utterly blank.

Until… until Meng Wanyue’s sharp claw touched the Tanzhong point on his chest.

Yes — this was exactly the place.

Even the lightest strike there would be enough to kill him instantly.

Let alone the terrifying force Meng Wanyue had gathered into her claw.

“Xuanyuan Lige, your body really is a treasure to a Sealer like me. What a pity… since it won’t serve me, I can only…”

“Kill me, and you won’t survive either. Go ahead and try.”

Xuanyuan Lige suddenly cut through Meng Wanyue’s arrogance. His eyes opened slowly — those naturally quiet eyes of his remained perfectly calm.

There was no panic or fear of death in them, nor the fierce arrogance of someone issuing a warning — yet that very indifference was enough to inspire dread. Meng Wanyue faltered slightly, instinctively averting her eyes from his.

“A stalling tactic. Do you really think I’d believe you?” Meng Wanyue scoffed coldly.

“I already told you — go ahead and try,” Xuanyuan Lige said flatly.

All through the night, Meng Wanyue had tried every manner of persuasion and temptation, mixing truth with lies, but Xuanyuan Lige had not believed a single word. He knew that not one syllable this woman spoke could be trusted.

And yet this was the first thing Xuanyuan Lige had said all night that actually shook Meng Wanyue’s firm resolve.

“I refuse to believe you have any tricks left!” Meng Wanyue’s voice turned icy. She was completely certain that Xuanyuan Lige had only the very last layer of power remaining, and all of it was being used in his two hands.

The instrument he was most skilled with wasn’t even with him.

She had abducted Xuanyuan Lige and brought him here in complete secrecy, without being tracked, and she had watched him day and night without pause — there was no way he could pull off any tricks.

Even if he had reinforcements coming, they should have arrived long ago. If anyone knew where he was, they wouldn’t have waited this long.

Xuanyuan Lige must simply be trying to intimidate her. “If you don’t believe me, then why not just do it?” Xuanyuan Lige countered, the faint smile at his lips dripping with the utmost contempt.

Meng Wanyue, mocked and infuriated, found herself, to her own frustration, unable to strike.

By now the sun had risen, and the faint sound of ceremonial music drifted in from outside the cave. The guests must already be making their way up to the mountaintop.

Furious and anxious in equal measure, Meng Wanyue glared fixedly at Xuanyuan Lige.

After clenching her jaw for a long while, she finally threw all caution to the wind, instantly casting a great barrier meant to trap both herself and Xuanyuan Lige within it.

But just as the barrier was about to form, a crisp cry of “Break!” rang out, and in an instant the unfinished barrier shattered into midair into scattering shards of purple light, vanishing in a moment.

How could this be…

It was Meng Duo’er!

Meng Wanyue froze, and just as she turned to look back, a sharp whistling sound of wind cutting through the air reached her ears.

Heedless of Xuanyuan Lige still gripping her, she twisted her body aside in a rush to dodge.

Almost at the same moment, Xuanyuan Lige released his grip, and with no strength left to support himself, his whole body crashed heavily to the ground.

Yet even so, a faint smile lingered at his lips. Lifting his eyes, he saw Baili Weisheng and Meng Duo’er standing right at the mouth of the cave.

For the first time in his life, he realized he wasn’t quite as annoyed by this insufferable scholar as he usually was.

“Little Lili, I went to no end of trouble fishing you up from the bottom of the sea — and here you are giving up on life again!”

Baili Weisheng spoke with easy, joking charm, his careless manner making it seem as though that fierce hidden weapon a moment ago hadn’t come from his hand at all.