Meng Wanyue was a clever woman. Seeing Ziqing’s stance, she knew at once that neither the family-ties card nor the filial-duty angle would work on her.

Enduring the filth covering her body, she said coldly, “Han Ziqing, I can tell you the truth about the Dream Clan’s ancestors, but…”

But before she could finish, Ziqing cut her off coldly, completely direct, leaving Meng Wanyue no room to bargain at all. She simply said, “Baili Weisheng, what are you standing around for?”

The moment the words left her mouth, Baili Weisheng immediately scooped up a huge spoonful of the filthy waste water and thrust it right at Meng Wanyue’s face!

Meng Wanyue instantly squeezed her eyes shut and screamed. “Get it away! Get it away now, or I won’t say another word — Baili Weisheng, did you hear me! Get it away!”

The smell of the filth was, to her, far more unbearable than being stabbed with a knife.

Meng Wanyue kept her eyes squeezed shut, shrieking furiously, nearly breaking down entirely. The moment her lips had brushed that substance earlier, she’d already been unable to bear it — let alone now.

Heavens, she couldn’t even bring herself to imagine it!

“I can put it away, sure — as long as you obediently tell me the secret of the second level of the Dream Clan’s Momentary Tower. I promise, we’ll get you washed clean, spick and span,” Baili Weisheng said, all smiles, an expression of pure harmlessness.

“Put it away — put it away first, and then we’ll talk!” Meng Wanyue said urgently.

Baili Weisheng was just about to pull it back, but Ziqing said coldly, “Talk first, then we’ll pull it away. I never allow bargaining here.”

“You—!” Meng Wanyue choked with fury, while Baili Weisheng chimed in at the same time, “As you command!”

With that, he gave the full spoon a deliberate little shake. Meng Wanyue could feel the filth splashing onto her face, and terror made her snap her eyes open — only to see the filthy spoon hovering right at her mouth, a hair’s breadth away, just about to touch her lips!

“No… no… get it away, get it away right now!”

Meng Wanyue trembled violently with terror, every pore in her body seeming to contract, as though she too were utterly terrified of the thing before her.

“Still not talking?” Ziqing said with a cold smile.

Baili Weisheng immediately adopted his servile posture again, saying respectfully, “Don’t worry, mistress, this humble servant will have her talking in no time!”

Baili Weisheng moved quickly — but even faster than his movements came Meng Wanyue’s voice. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! The Dream Clan’s ancestors were actually partners with the Isolated Isle’s Great Gu Master — they wanted to use ren-gu and the Cosmic Poison Pouch to deal with South Zhao’s beast clan and medicine clan! After the Great Gu Master was captured, the Dream Clan’s ancestors concealed the truth and their own involvement, helped the South Zhao royal family destroy four of the poison-beast world’s barriers, and hid the truth about the Death Barrier, leaving the secret hidden within the Momentary Tower, waiting for a disciple capable of claiming the Cosmic Poison Pouch to discover it! The Dagger of Flowing Light was forged by the Dream Clan’s ancestors from the slaughter of thousands of Silver Jiao — crafted specifically for the purpose of claiming the Cosmic Poison Pouch!”

Meng Wanyue barely paused for breath as she poured out the secret all at once!

Ziqing’s tone turned abruptly sharp. “So the Dream Clan’s ancestors already knew that the Dream Clan bloodline itself was the way to break the ren-gu constitution — but the Dream Clan’s ancestors kept that secret hidden! The Dream Clan’s ancestors wanted to cultivate ren-gu, and so do you!”

Though still shaken, Meng Wanyue had calmed considerably. Unwilling as she was, she could only nod.

“You led us to the Innocent Abyss specifically to kill me and Baili Weisheng?” Ziqing asked further.

“Yes!” Meng Wanyue admitted outright, a flicker of malice crossing her eyes. This version of Han Ziqing didn’t just make her hate the woman — it actually made her afraid of her.

She deeply resented that feeling. She’d decided to gamble everything — she’d originally planned to keep the secret of the Jinjiao hidden as a final bargaining chip, but now she had no choice but to lay it out. She simply refused to believe it wouldn’t work as leverage against Han Ziqing, or at least against Baili Weisheng.

But Ziqing’s next question left Meng Wanyue utterly, completely hopeless.

Ziqing’s expression turned deadly serious, and she demanded, word by cold word, “Why does the Jinjiao’s roar have a connection to ‘Lament’? ‘Lament’ was composed by a South Zhao musician. The Jinjiao were wiped out before South Zhao’s unification — but the Jinjiao weren’t actually extinct. The vortex within the Innocent Abyss can produce an echo — what exactly is the connection between the Innocent Abyss and the Jinjiao?”

In truth, she’d sensed something was off the moment she’d heard that echo!

It was only that the situation had been too dangerous at the time — they’d needed to get out of the Innocent Abyss quickly and deal with Meng Wanyue immediately!

So she’d had no choice but to set it aside for the time being.

The Innocent Abyss — of course she’d need to go back. She needed to go back and listen to that echo carefully, needed to go back and get to the bottom of it — why had they seen only Silver Jiao, and not a single Jinjiao?

Hearing Ziqing’s question, Meng Wanyue wasn’t the only one shocked — so was Baili Weisheng!

His grip went slack, letting the large spoon fall to the ground, and he slowly turned his head to look at Ziqing, utterly dumbstruck.

Back then, so preoccupied with Baili Xiaosheng, how had he never thought of that?

“Lament” had been composed after the Jinjiao’s destruction — and its climactic passage was drawn from a sound found in nature. That South Zhao musician must have heard that very echo within the Innocent Abyss!

That echo had originally belonged to the Jinjiao — so who had been producing it within the Innocent Abyss?

The room fell silent. Ziqing wanted to know the answer too.

Suddenly, Baili Weisheng spun around abruptly, seizing Meng Wanyue’s collar in a fierce grip, his eyes flashing with a murderous, ravenous intensity, saying coldly, “Are you going to talk or not?”

Meng Wanyue froze — she had never seen such a vicious look in his eyes before, and it terrified her so thoroughly that she could think of nothing but survival.

Ziqing, too, was taken aback — she could tell with absolute certainty that Baili Weisheng was different right now, utterly unlike he’d ever been before.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk… the Jinjiao… after the South Zhao wars, the Jinjiao weren’t actually wiped out entirely — a small branch fled far from the fighting in South Zhao and hid themselves away in the Innocent Abyss, living in seclusion ever since, their whereabouts unknown to anyone. Back then…”

Meng Wanyue’s lips and teeth trembled as she spoke. The killing intent radiating from Baili Weisheng’s eyes, his face, his entire body was terrifying beyond words.

“Back then, when the Dream Clan’s ancestors colluded with the Silver Jiao, the Jinjiao didn’t agree to it, and never showed themselves. It was only later, when the Dream Clan’s ancestors went back on their word, that the Jinjiao finally stepped in to save them.”

“Which means Madam Helian was lying! She never once mentioned the Jinjiao at all!” Baili Weisheng ground out through clenched teeth, his heart overflowing with hatred — he was finally, truly experiencing raw, genuine emotion.

The Silver Jiao and the Jinjiao had once lived together, the Silver Jiao serving as the Jinjiao’s servants — so why, in the Innocent Abyss, was there no trace of the Jinjiao at all, with the Silver Jiao having become the masters instead?

The Jinjiao people — what had happened to them?

Baili Weisheng looked around frantically, at a total loss, memories from his childhood suddenly flooding his mind all at once.

The Innocent Abyss, the Innocent Abyss — he remembered that for as long as he could recall, he’d been an orphan living off scraps of charity, wandering the edges of the Innocent Abyss, within Xiongnu territory!

Where had he truly come from?

Who were his parents? Where were they now?

At that thought, Baili Weisheng suddenly turned to look at Meng Wanyue again, a flicker of gold flashing through his eyes, and said coldly, “Are you going to talk, or not!?”

“I’ll talk… I’ll talk! I don’t know why, but I saw a Jinjiao woman, imprisoned within a barrier cell inside the Deep Sea Palace.” Meng Wanyue timidly revealed the truth, then hastily added, “This barrier — only I… only I can open it!”