Qinji’s smile sent a chill down Ziqing’s spine—what exactly was wrong with this woman’s head?
Still, Ziqing didn’t want to worry about it. Jun Beiyue was her best shield. Whatever came at her, she’d meet it head-on!
She didn’t believe Qinji could actually do anything to her. As for this kind of silent duel of glances, she had no patience for anything so pointless.
“Prince Yao, please, this way.” Prince Nanzhao was about to lead them up to a higher viewing platform.
The Heavenly Lake of Jade Water and Nectar nearly covered the entire mountaintop—the higher one stood, the more of it one could see.
And when the ice broke, the higher the vantage point, the more magnificent the sight would be.
Jun Beiyue and Prince Nanzhao walked ahead. Ziqing called Xiong Xiaobao and Baili Xiaosheng over, and the group made their way up together.
As the host, Qinji should have stayed behind to guide Ziqing up. Instead, without waiting for her, she gave Ziqing a smile and walked off on her own.
“Mommy, is something wrong with that woman?” Xiong Xiaobao said in a low voice.
“Qinji does seem strange,” Baili Xiaosheng agreed.
That smile of hers had been sweet, but not kind—there was nothing openly sinister in it, and yet it was bone-chilling, as if Ziqing owed her some debt.
“Just keep your distance from her. Let’s hurry up,” Ziqing said flatly, not giving it much more thought.
When they finally reached the highest point of the ship-shaped pavilion and looked down over the whole mountaintop, everyone was stunned.
It was breathtaking.
The entire Heavenly Lake gleamed like a single flawless pearl set into the lush green mountain crown.
Even Jun Beiyue was momentarily captured by the view before him. He turned to look at Ziqing, and found her already looking back at him.
Husband and wife needed no words between them—the final missing note of Lishang’s climax, they both silently agreed, had to be hidden somewhere in the sound of the breaking ice.
Such a vast frozen lake—once the ice broke, what a magnificent scene it would be.
Just thinking of it made Ziqing’s heart race with anticipation.
She was certain the sound of the ice breaking would be earth-shaking.
At that moment, on the platforms slightly below theirs to either side, the heads of the Beast Clan’s Sheng and Xiao families both arrived.
What was puzzling was that the head of the Xiao family came up alone, while the head of the Sheng family had brought Sheng Zimo along.
What was going on?
Could it be that the Sheng family head actually needed Sheng Zimo’s help?
“Sheng Zimo?” Prince Nanzhao asked, puzzled.
An attendant nearby stepped forward at once to explain. “Your Majesty, for this joint performance, the Sheng family has once again sent Sheng Zimo. Just now, down below, the Beast Clan settled the matter among themselves.”
“Sheng Zimo? The head of the Sheng family is rather too confident, isn’t he?” Prince Nanzhao said with a laugh. Although this was an internal matter of the Beast Clan, even as king he had no right to interfere.
Still, he knew the head of the Xiao family well—a ruthless character through and through. Having just lost his position as clan head, he would surely try to embarrass the Sheng family during the joint performance.
Yet the Sheng family, seemingly without a shred of caution, had gone and put forward Sheng Zimo of all people.
Ziqing and Jun Beiyue naturally heard what Prince Nanzhao said, but none of it concerned them.
They knew this was a grand ceremony belonging to the Beast Clan and the Medicine Clan. No matter how fierce the infighting, the Heavenly Lake would open regardless.
What they cared about was the outcome, not the process.
From a distance, Ziqing watched Sheng Zimo. He looked composed and unhurried. She didn’t like him, but she had to admit she admired the boy.
“He seems quite impressive,” Baili Xiaosheng murmured.
“When I grow up, I’ll be even more impressive than him,” Xiong Xiaobao said confidently.
Baili Xiaosheng couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “You’re already pretty impressive as it is…”
Up on the highest platform, whispers spread, and down below, the crowd buzzed as well. Everyone had assumed Sheng Zimo was finished, and yet here he was, making a comeback in this fashion.
What could have led the head of the Sheng family to make such a decision?
Could it be that the Sheng family head was using this very occasion to announce to the world that this illegitimate son of the Sheng family had long ago been secretly chosen as heir, even as the future head of the clan?
At that moment, the head of the Xiao family was also sizing up Sheng Zimo. Down below, when the Sheng family head had first announced his decision, he hadn’t quite believed it.
Only now, seeing Sheng Zimo actually step up onto the performance platform, did he believe the Sheng family head hadn’t been playing some kind of trick.
Whatever the Sheng family head’s reasoning, the head of the Xiao family was more than happy to perform alongside this young man.
If, in the end, they failed to summon the poison beast, or worse, provoked it, no one would be able to say clearly whose fault it was.
Everyone present would only suspect that Sheng Zimo’s cultivation wasn’t up to the task—no one would suspect the white jade flute in the hands of the dignified head of the Xiao family himself.
Just when all had seemed lost, a way forward had appeared after all—the heart that the head of the Xiao family had been holding in suspense finally settled.
At just that moment, beneath the high platform, groups of Medicine Clan disciples had appeared, though no one knew exactly when.
Even from this great height, one could make out the dark, dense clusters of them.
“What is the Medicine Clan going to do to break the ice? Do they have some kind of miracle medicine?” Ziqing asked, puzzled.
At this question, Prince Nanzhao laughed. “Once something is explained, it loses its wonder, Consort Yao. You’ll understand in a moment.”
Ziqing smiled and didn’t press further. Jun Beiyue, too, was left wondering.
Still, they waited eagerly for the sound of the breaking ice, for the sound of the surging waves.
They didn’t know how the ice would be broken, but the word “break” surely meant something dramatic—and however it happened, there would surely be the sound of water.
As the head of the Medicine Clan climbed onto another high platform and turned to look their way, the crowd fell silent.
The opening of the Heavenly Lake was about to begin.
The head of the Medicine Clan bowed respectfully first to Prince Nanzhao and Jun Beiyue, then nodded toward the head of the Xiao family and Sheng Zimo as a signal.
That done, he turned and personally struck the drum. “Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom!”
The drumbeat rolled like thunder, and in an instant the whole atmosphere turned solemn.
Ziqing couldn’t help but sit up straight. After traveling so far and waiting so long, the crucial moment had finally arrived, and she meant to listen with total focus.
But to everyone’s surprise, despite such a solemn and grand opening, all they saw were the dark masses of Medicine Clan disciples below, walking back and forth across the icy surface of the Jade Water and Nectar lake, seeming to be scattering something.
What kind of rhythm was this?
Breaking the ice, breaking the ice—how exactly was this “breaking” supposed to happen?
Could it be that they only meant to—
Ziqing seemed to realize something. She shot to her feet and leaned forward, peering down intently—and the moment she looked closely, she understood at once.
They were scattering medicine. They weren’t breaking the ice at all—they were melting it! Whatever medicine they were using had to have properties similar to salt; once enough of it was applied, it would rapidly dissolve the ice.
But a method like that would never produce any sound of nature!
Seeing Ziqing’s expression, Jun Beiyue frowned. He was about to ask what was wrong when he noticed that the frozen surface of the Jade Water and Nectar lake had, without any sound at all, already begun to melt.
Jun Beiyue didn’t fully understand the principle of salt melting ice, but he understood one thing: this ice-breaking would produce no natural sound at all.
Could it be that they had been looking in the wrong direction the whole time? Or perhaps this final missing note wasn’t as simple as they had imagined?
The Jade Water and Nectar lake continued to melt bit by bit, and to either side, Sheng Zimo and the head of the Xiao family made their final preparations.