Xiong Xiaobao rushed through the night to reach the Sheng Clan, only to be told that the clan had long since mobilized everyone, and was, at that very moment, some three hundred li away, locked in fierce battle with the Medicine Clan.

The Sheng Clan wasn’t naturally inclined toward war — but the Beast Clan was the most battle-hungry tribe in all of Nanzhao, and Elder Sheng, unable to withstand the pressure, had no choice but to step forward and answer the challenge on behalf of the entire clan!

With his wife gravely ill and his daughter missing, Elder Sheng had no heart left for the battlefield — he went merely to put on a show of support, to steady morale. And with the Phoenix-Tail Sheng gone missing along with Baili Xiaosheng, and Elder Sheng’s own command of beast arts limited, he rarely appeared on the front lines himself, leaving most of the fighting to his sons — and of these, the one he trusted and relied on most was, without question, Sheng Zimo.

Elder Sheng returned to the clan every few days — but as luck would have it, by the time Xiong Xiaobao arrived, Elder Sheng had only just left.

At present, the Sheng estate held only the gravely ill Lady Sheng and a handful of maidservants — and Lady Sheng herself lay unconscious, unable to wake.

“What — in seclusion?” Xiong Xiaobao asked, taken aback.

The maidservant had no idea what the truth of the matter actually was — all she knew was that the Ninth Miss had been in seclusion in the back hills for some time now, said to require quite a long while, though exactly how long, even the servants themselves didn’t know.

“Yes, the Ninth Miss has been in seclusion for several months now. The Master gave strict orders that no one, under any circumstances, is to disturb her,” the maidservant answered honestly.

“Where?” Xiong Xiaobao asked.

“In the back hills,” the maidservant answered. The seclusion grounds in the back hills were forbidden territory, riddled with countless mechanisms and traps — without knowing the terrain well, even finding the entrance would be difficult. The maid had no fear in telling him, knowing Xiong Xiaobao would never manage to find it on his own.

“Lead the way!” Xiong Xiaobao said, suspicion clouding his expression. Hadn’t Baili Xiaosheng said she’d wait for her master to return? Why would she suddenly go into seclusion instead — without even leaving a single letter? He had assumed that, after the war, once the girl found herself unable to wait any longer for Baili Weisheng, she would come looking for him in Da Zhou.

The maidservant led Xiong Xiaobao to the back hills, but all he found there were the words “Forbidden Ground” — nothing else in sight but ancient trees and boulders, not even so much as a gate!

He shot the maid a cold glance, knowing full well that asking further would be pointless, and muttered to himself, “Has she had some kind of change of heart? Grown this diligent all of a sudden?”

With that, he turned to leave, intending, naturally, to head to the battlefield to question Elder Sheng directly.

But just as Xiong Xiaobao was about to depart, Yingzi came looking for him!

“Young Master, you’ve had your servant searching high and low for you!”

“Well, you found me, didn’t you?” Xiong Xiaobao replied, thinking to himself that perhaps his mother had been missing him.

But what Yingzi said next left Xiong Xiaobao utterly bewildered. Yingzi said, “Young Master, a mountain of urgent documents has arrived from the Imperial Study, and there’s no one left at the estate to make any decisions. If you don’t return soon, the palace is bound to fall into chaos!”

Xiong Xiaobao froze for a moment, then a wave of unease washed over him. “What do you mean? Where are my parents?”

“Ah… this servant… this servant doesn’t know where they’ve gone either, to be honest. It’s a long story, Young Master — you’d best come back with me right away, and I’ll explain along the way.” Yingzi spoke urgently.

Xiong Xiaobao’s face went pale with shock. He grabbed the front of Yingzi’s robe, his voice sharp. “Where are my parents? What do you mean by that?”

If his father and mother had decided to return to the capital, they surely wouldn’t have left so easily — and to vanish without a word was simply not like either of them, especially not his father, who would have made certain court affairs were handled properly no matter what.

What he didn’t know was that, after their return, rumors in the capital had only grown wilder and wilder — Da Zhou was already facing a crisis of the sort where a court could not go even a single day without its ruler, a nation could not go even a single day without its master.

“Young Master, that day, His Highness took Her Highness and Young Master Baili to the bamboo forest zither pavilion, saying they intended to play some piece of music, and ordered that no one was to approach. This servant kept watch outside the grove for half a month, and when His Highness still hadn’t emerged, finally had no choice but to go in and check — only to find… only to find that everyone had simply vanished. This servant waited for several more days, and still there was no sign of anyone, which is when the panic finally set in. These past few days, people from the palace have been coming constantly, saying that all the officials are gathered in the Imperial Study, demanding to see His Highness — and now the urgent documents have all been sent over as well.” Yingzi answered honestly.

Knowing his master as well as he did, Yingzi was certain that if his master had truly meant to leave, he never would have gone without leaving any instructions at all, simply vanishing without a trace.

There had been instructions given regarding court affairs during those days, certainly — but nothing that suggested any plan for a long-term absence!

Could something have gone wrong?

While Yingzi fretted with worry, Xiong Xiaobao murmured to himself, “The music… could it be…”

“Could it be what?” Yingzi asked quickly.

“Could it really be an enchanting melody? But it shouldn’t take this long!” Xiong Xiaobao muttered to himself, a sudden unease washing over him. In that instant, he no longer had any thought to spare for Baili Xiaosheng, and turned at once to leave. “Let’s go back and see!”

Yingzi wasn’t familiar with enchanting melodies at all, and seeing his master’s urgency, didn’t dare ask further, hurrying along behind him instead!

Nearby, the two maidservants exchanged puzzled glances.

“That boy is said to be the young lord of Prince Yao’s estate.”

“What’s he here looking for the Ninth Miss for? Should we mention it to the Master?”

“He didn’t seem like it was anything urgent — if it were urgent, he wouldn’t have just left like that. Let’s just wait until the Master gets back. I heard from the young servant boy in the Eldest Young Master’s room that the Master’s been extremely busy lately.”

At the mention of “the Eldest Young Master,” the other maidservant grew gossipy, saying timidly, “Have you heard? The Eldest and Second Young Masters still haven’t earned any merit at all — all the credit’s been stolen away by Young Master Mo.”

“Really?”

“It’s the talk of the whole estate. They say Young Master Mo has quite a way of dealing with the Medicine Clan, especially with their poison arts,” the maidservant said quickly.

“I see. Such a shame Young Master Mo isn’t the legitimate son — otherwise… otherwise…” the maidservant said, her voice dropping lower and lower, “otherwise, the position of clan head wouldn’t have fallen to the Ninth Miss.”

“That’s so true!”

The two of them whispered together, gradually walking off into the distance.

Had Xiong Xiaobao stayed in Nanzhao just a little longer, he certainly would have discovered that Baili Xiaosheng had gone missing — but as it happened, once he left, he wouldn’t set foot in Nanzhao again for a full ten years! Of course, that’s a story for later.

This return trip was nothing like the leisurely pace of his journey there — within just a few days, Xiong Xiaobao and Yingzi made it back to the capital of Da Zhou. But no sooner had they reached the gates of Prince Yao’s estate than they saw the entire body of civil and military officials kneeling before the estate’s main gate — anyone unfamiliar with the situation might have mistaken it for some grand collective plea for Jun Beiyue’s mercy!

All around, the capital’s citizens had gathered as well, the crowd abuzz with discussion.

And yet the gates of Prince Yao’s estate remained firmly shut — heaven only knew how long this crowd had been kneeling there.

“These wretched fools — do they wish for chaos to consume the whole realm?” Yingzi cursed furiously. Aside from a handful of trusted confidants, no one was supposed to know that Prince Yao had gone missing!

For this crowd to come kneeling at the gates of Prince Yao’s estate — what did they mean by this?

Yingzi was about to charge down to confront them, but Xiong Xiaobao stopped him, pulling him instead to scale the wall and slip inside.

Clearly, even returning to his own home now required scaling a wall. The moment Xiong Xiaobao’s feet touched the ground, his handsome young face had already darkened, an air of unspoken authority radiating from him without any need for anger — even Yingzi felt a certain distance from him, sensing that his young master had lost some of his usual easygoing warmth.

Just then, he saw Guxi and Hongyi standing by the main gate. Hongyi paced back and forth anxiously, while Guxi leaned against the gate, head lowered, a few loose strands of hair falling over one side of his face, obscuring the emotion in his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Xiong Xiaobao demanded loudly the moment he arrived.

The two of them startled, and Hongyi rushed over at once. “Young Master, you’re finally back! There’s no one left at the estate who can go out and speak to them!”