Just what had truly happened would only be known once Baili Xiaosheng woke up!

Ziqing gently stroked her cheek, her fingertip slowly coming to rest against the girl’s nose, tenderly caressing it as she said softly, “Child, relax. It’s alright now.”

“Child, trust me — you will surely live through this.”

“Child, relax. Breathe…”

“Child, I’m here for you. Just like with Xiong Bao — don’t be afraid. Xiong Bao’s mommy is your mommy too. Good girl…”

As Ziqing’s gentle words of comfort continued, Baili Xiaosheng, still unconscious, truly began, little by little, to release her suspended-breath technique, and gradually, her breathing returned.

Feeling the faint stir of breath against her fingertip, Ziqing’s anxiously suspended heart finally settled.

There was hope!

Preserving her vital energy — that, at least, could be done!

She gently channeled her palm energy, pressing it against Baili Xiaosheng’s shoulder, using her internal power to protect the girl’s heart meridian and safeguard her vital energy.

Only once Baili Xiaosheng’s complexion was no longer so deathly pale did she stop, wiping away the fine beads of sweat at her temples.

Howler Rabbit was still carefully tending to the wounds — there were simply too many of them on her body.

Ziqing furrowed her brow, trying to arrange the girl’s clothing properly, but helplessly, the fabric was so utterly shredded that every attempt to adjust it only tore it further apart — there was no way to cover her properly no matter what she did.

In the end, she simply tore off her own outer robe, ripping it strip by strip, and in front of them fashioned it into a short skirt and a length of veil.

“Oh dear, this child… how… how did she end up wounded like this, it’s just too…”

Meng Wanyue’s voice choked with emotion as she urgently patted her own chest, “Thank goodness! Thank goodness our Xiong Bao got away in time — otherwise this… oh, oh! I don’t even dare think about it! I really don’t dare!”

Even as she voiced her feelings, she crouched down, about to reach toward Baili Xiaosheng, but Howler Rabbit suddenly raised its head, bared its fangs wide, and let out a hissing sound like a venomous snake — unusually fierce, not the least bit friendly!

Meng Wanyue was the mistress’s mother-in-law, but that meant absolutely nothing to the beasts — as creatures of instinct, they had no fondness for such distantly-implied family ties, and their beast instincts simply did not like this old woman.

Ziqing, still tearing at the outer robe, glanced up now and then to check Baili Xiaosheng’s wounds. Howler Rabbit’s licking was proving quite effective at stopping the bleeding, but helplessly, several of the wounds on her face and arms were extremely deep and would need much longer to treat properly!

During this time, Meng Wanyue made several more attempts to touch Baili Xiaosheng, but each time was blocked by Howler Rabbit’s warning hiss. She didn’t try to force her way past, though a cold smile curled at the corner of her lips as she waited off to the side, disdainful.

This girl — even if they managed to save her, even if she woke up — Meng Wanyue wasn’t the least bit afraid of her.

She had already given the girl a warning: if she dared try something like that a second time, she would guarantee that the consequences next time would be far, far more severe.

At last, all the wounds had been treated. Ziqing quickly dressed Baili Xiaosheng in the makeshift “skirt,” tying the excess fabric at the sleeves into little bows, hitching up the length of the skirt and tying more bows near her ankles.

Though it had been torn together from scraps, once properly arranged, it actually took on a certain unexpected beauty of its own.

Ziqing did her best to use the clothing to conceal the wounds, then draped the thin veil over Baili Xiaosheng’s face, leaving only her eyes and forehead exposed.

It wasn’t that her thinking was shallow — it was simply that, for a girl, her looks didn’t need to be beautiful, but they absolutely could not be left looking gruesome.

Ziqing couldn’t bear to imagine how devastated this child would be, once she woke and realized just how badly scarred she now was.

For now, with no medicine on hand, all she could do was hope to find good medicine somewhere that could erase the scars covering her body.

With everything now taken care of, Baili Xiaosheng remained unconscious. Meng Wanyue smiled and said, “Ziqing, you’ve worked so hard too. Let me carry her.”

“It’s fine.” Ziqing said, holding Baili Xiaosheng close as she walked outward. Meng Wanyue genuinely felt she’d been ignored, as if she were invisible, unnecessary.

Even though Meng Wanyue had considerable patience, this feeling truly did not sit well with her at all.

Relying on Jun Beiyue’s favor toward you, is it? Watching Ziqing, a scheme immediately took shape in Meng Wanyue’s mind!

The moment Ziqing stepped outside, she saw Baili Weisheng dragging Madam Helian with his left hand and Helian Shaoze with his right, storming furiously into the barrier. The instant he landed, he flung both of them aside with brutal force!

This fellow had recovered every one of his Golden Jiao abilities — if he could pluck out old needles from the seafloor, then surely fishing people up was nothing at all.

Madam Helian and Helian Shaoze were both grievously wounded. Down beneath the whirlpool, when they had summoned the outer sea’s waters to open the whirlpool, they’d had no idea what was happening above — until suddenly a massive force surged back at them; if they hadn’t reacted quickly, they would have been killed outright by the force of the water.

Even so, right now they were barely clinging to half a life!

They had been about to surface to see what was going on when, without warning, they encountered Baili Weisheng diving down to drag them up.

The moment they were thrown to the ground, despite the pain, mother and son both bared their reverse scales, protecting their bellies like a pair of hedgehogs — even though they had no way to escape, they refused to believe this group could really do anything to them.

“You band of bandits — just what do you think you’re doing!” Madam Helian’s arrogance was still fully intact!

Who could have known — Baili Weisheng suddenly swung a kick straight at her, and just as it was about to strike her stomach, he stopped it, hovering in midair!

Madam Helian froze for a moment, then quickly guarded her belly even more tightly, sneering arrogantly, “Try it, if you dare! Don’t say I didn’t warn you — we are the most noble Reverse-Scaled Silver Jiao…”

But before Madam Helian could even finish speaking, Baili Weisheng abruptly gathered his strength and kicked down savagely — “BOOM!”

In that instant, golden light erupted, accompanied by a thunderous crash — Madam Helian was sent flying straight into the wall, her entire body embedded into the stone, while Baili Weisheng’s foot, still suspended in midair, blazed with golden light, illusory golden scales shimmering, noble and mysterious.

Madam Helian was left utterly dumbstruck, so stunned that she’d even forgotten the pain, letting blood pour continuously from her mouth.

Beside her, Helian Shaoze was equally stunned, muttering to himself, “Golden scales…”

“The most noble Reverse-Scaled Silver Jiao?” Baili Weisheng let out a disdainful cold snort, leaning sideways with a look of utter contempt, looking down on this mother and son to the very marrow. “My foot alone is worth more than the both of you!”

With that, without the slightest mercy, he swept his leg in a wide arc, sending Helian Shaoze flying — had it not been for the barrier wall of the Golden Jiao Palace, heaven only knows how far this mother and son would have been kicked!

“Talking to me about nobility? As if you two are even worthy?”

Baili Weisheng said coldly, angrier than he had ever been in his life. He strode forward, ignoring the reverse scale at Helian Shaoze’s throat, reached out and seized him by the neck, then hurled him bodily toward Madam Helian!

Mother and son collapsed together in a heap, staring at each other, unable to process what was happening!

Golden Jiao!

This fellow was actually a Golden Jiao!

Every Golden Jiao in this world was confined to the Innocent Ravine — could it be that he…

Could it be that this was the very child who had, years ago, been smothered to death and cast out of the Innocent Ravine — the sole surviving grandson of the Golden Jiao clan?

As mother and son sat there in terror, Baili Weisheng walked toward them step by step, a beam of golden light slowly rising up from below, quickly enveloping him entirely, and at the same time, the illusory image of his golden scales appeared once more.

At that moment, Baili Weisheng — a human body wrapped in the shadow of a Jiao, dressed in white with golden light radiating around him — was noble as a god descended from the heavens, filling Madam Helian and Helian Shaoze with an involuntary reverence, an urge they could not suppress to submit and bow before him…