There were only three days left to rush from the border pass of the Southern Frontier to the boundary between the Beast Clan and the Medicine Clan. If anything delayed them along the way, they would basically not make it in time.

As for how the grand gathering at the Jade Water Nectar Heavenly Lake would actually unfold, neither Ziqing nor Jun Beiyue felt certain.

After all, this was a gathering held only once every few decades, so not only did they need to avoid arriving late, if at all possible they also had to do their utmost to arrive early.

Only by arriving ahead of time would they have time to get a clear picture of the situation!

Three days—would that be enough?

After receiving the invitation, Ziqing and Jun Beiyue had not delayed at all, setting out immediately. They passed through the gate of the Southern Frontier and entered Nanzhao territory, where they met with the envoys together, then headed straight southwest toward their destination!

Two carriages followed one after another, and for two full days, aside from necessary stops, they barely paused at all!

The envoys, relying on their knowledge of shortcuts, managed after two days to bring them, from atop one tall peak, leaping across to another towering mountain!

Nanzhao was full of hills, with little flat ground at the foot of the mountains. At this moment, Jun Beiyue gazed at the tall peak in the distance while listening to the envoy explain the route.

“Prince Yao, the Jade Water Nectar Heavenly Lake is on that mountain. From here to there looks close, but it is actually still quite far. By water, it will take at least two days; if we go around by the mountain roads, three days will be necessary.”

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing listened with their brows knit tight. If it were not for the envoys, with their own speed—even bringing along Jue Mingzi and the two children—they could have arrived in half a day!

Only, this was Nanzhao!

A Nanzhao full of all sorts of restrictions!

Everything had to be done according to the proper rules; they had to follow the officials. Moreover, Jun Beiyue was here in the status of a prince of Da Zhou, a distinguished foreign guest, and every word and action had to be measured carefully!

“Let’s go by water,” Jun Beiyue decided at once. The envoy immediately arranged for a boat, leading them toward the dock.

As they made their way down the mountain, Ziqing asked quietly, “With the Beast Clan changing leadership, is there any news of the Second Young Master of the Beast Clan?”

Even though the Second Young Master of the Beast Clan had committed a grave error back then, it hadn’t really affected his standing within the Beast Clan.

No one was quite sure what his relationship with Xuanyuan Lige actually was, nor why someone so ambitious had still not exposed her true identity after all this time. But regardless, at a time like this, surely he would have returned long ago to compete for the position.

“All I know is that this time the candidate list doesn’t include the Second Young Master’s name, and this time the succession for the clan chief position isn’t hereditary but by election—the direct Beast Clan line, the Gu Mo lineage, must compete against the other clans within the Beast Clan,” Jun Beiyue said flatly.

In Nanzhao, without someone absolutely trustworthy to gather information, it wasn’t easy to find things out. Much of this news had come from Baili Weisheng’s inquiries.

“The Second Young Master…” Ziqing’s brow furrowed. She couldn’t understand it—there was no reason for the Second Young Master not to come, and no reason for the Beast Clan Chief not to have let him return!

Back when they were searching for the Death Barrier, the Second Young Master had been under orders from the Prince of Nanzhao to keep watch over Xuanyuan Lige!

The Prince of Nanzhao had entrusted the search to the Second and Third Brothers of the Dream Clan on one hand, while on the other hand ordering the Second Young Master to supervise Xuanyuan Lige as he searched together.

A year had already passed, and to this day, that lie had somehow managed to hold together.

On the Dream Clan’s side, it was the Dream Clan Chief who had been propping it up, meeting the Prince of Nanzhao’s occasional inquiries with lie after lie.

And on Xuanyuan Lige’s side? Could it be that Xuanyuan Lige had done something?

Ziqing walked on, head lowered, mulling it over. She was just about to speak when, at that moment, they reached the dock!

Except a group of people suddenly cut in ahead of them from the side. Leading them were a young man and woman, both quite young—the young man looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, with an imposing bearing, and the girl about thirteen or fourteen, delicate and lovely. From their appearance, they looked to be siblings. Ziqing noticed at once that both of them carried on their backs an instrument rarely seen on the Longyuan Continent—a sheng.

In the world Ziqing had originally come from, the sheng was a very common instrument, one used by the Han people.

Yet in all the time she had spent in this era on the Longyuan Continent, the first time she had heard the word “sheng” was not from the sound of one being played, but from the four characters of the name “Baili Xiaosheng.”

In a world where even gunpowder was a rare thing, she hadn’t paid much mind to such a small detail.

But seeing one now, it was quite the rarity. Could it be that the sheng was something found only in Nanzhao? And who were those two?

The pair were clearly in a hurry, visibly travelers rushing to somewhere.

The two groups were actually quite close to each other; Ziqing and the others could see them, and the others could easily see them too without even trying.

Except the newcomers didn’t stop at all, acting as if they’d seen nothing. The young girl took several quick steps forward and leapt onto the deck. “Brother, hurry up and get on! We’re taking this boat!”

What did she mean, they were taking this boat?

There was only one boat left at this dock, wasn’t there!

She made it sound as though there were others to choose from!

They were clearly trying to seize the boat!

The moment those words came out, both Jun Beiyue and Ziqing kept their expressions blank, entirely unbothered. A matter like this could simply be left to the envoy to handle; there was no need for them to step in personally.

The envoy, well aware of his duty, shook his head with some embarrassment and hurried over to negotiate.

Xiong Xiaobao watched from a distance, unable to resist touching the white jade flute he always kept hidden in his sleeve—the first treasure he’d picked up in Nanzhao after seizing the road, and it had turned out to be quite the find.

Those two rude fellows—could the things on their backs be treasures too?

“Brother Xiaosheng, what treasure is that thing they’re carrying?” Xiong Xiaobao asked quietly.

“I don’t know either,” Baili Xiaosheng said. She, too, was studying the dark green object with over a dozen bamboo pipes, puzzled.

Her master had told her that when she was found by the roadside, someone had been playing a sheng nearby, and it was around dawn, so she had been named Xiaosheng—”dawn sheng.”

She had once asked what a sheng was, and her master had said it was an extremely rare thing, rarely seen, so she hadn’t thought much more of it.

Anyway, when it came to instruments and music, she’d never had any talent. She had once tried to learn mountain songs from the messengers, but couldn’t even carry the simplest tune!

She sang worse than she could play, so she’d given up—she had no interest in it anyway.

Baili Xiaosheng knew of the existence of something called a sheng, only she had no idea that what she was looking at right now was precisely that.

Negotiations with the envoy should have gone smoothly, by all rights!

After all, Jun Beiyue and his party were foreign guests; barring special circumstances, they were entitled to be received with the highest honors!

Except very soon, the receiving envoy came trotting back, his face clouded with worry, the young man in tow.

“This junior of the Sheng Clan of the Beast Clan, Sheng Zimo, greets Prince Yao. I had no idea Prince Yao himself had graced us with his presence—please forgive any offense.”

Up close, the young man was courteous and refined, a true gentleman, neither servile nor arrogant, with an air of scholarly elegance about his handsome brow that put people strangely at ease.

Only the tangled, conflicted look on the face of the envoy beside him kept Ziqing from feeling at ease. She knew this was going to be difficult.