Even Meng Wanyue’s raised palm was trembling.
At this moment her strength was fully ten times that of Xuanyuan Lige—wasn’t it just her collar being grabbed?
Yet even she herself didn’t understand why she’d become this frightened.
Meng Wanyue took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. No matter how tightly Xuanyuan Lige held on, one strike down and he’d have to let go, whether he wanted to or not.
“I’ll give you one last chance!” Meng Wanyue said, her arrogant demeanor returning, issuing the cold warning.
But Xuanyuan Lige’s silence was like a slap to the face, shattering the composure Meng Wanyue had only just managed to reclaim!
Her fury flared, and she struck viciously at Xuanyuan Lige’s shoulder. “I order you to let go!”
The blow shook Xuanyuan Lige’s entire body.
But he still did not let go—he didn’t even open his eyes.
Meng Wanyue was shocked. Where was this fellow’s strength, his persistence, coming from? What exactly was he trying to do?
The fear she’d been suppressing finally burst out all at once. Meng Wanyue, as if gone mad, began striking wildly, blow after blow.
“Thud, thud, thud!”
“Smack, smack, smack!”
Blows rained down on Xuanyuan Lige’s shoulders, chest, abdomen, even his head!
Striking with all her strength, striking as if to kill!
Her palms curled into fists, and she kept hitting, treating him like a sandbag, an utter thrashing.
Yet no matter how hard she struck, no matter how much force she used, Xuanyuan Lige remained unmoved, letting his body absorb blow after increasingly savage blow!
His eyes stayed closed the whole time, and he didn’t cry out once, as if this body no longer belonged to him at all—only the hand gripping Meng Wanyue was truly his.
This hand, gripping not her collar, but his own salvation.
But did he need salvation?
He had never needed it at all!
What he was holding onto was everything he had—the meaning of living, the very thing Jue Mingzi had once demanded he answer for. After a spell of frenzied beating, Meng Wanyue herself grew tired. Looking at Xuanyuan Lige, unmoving, blood trickling steadily from the corner of his mouth, she felt no anger at all—only fear.
“What exactly do you want?”
“Don’t you also hate Han Ziqing? Don’t you always want to defeat Jun Beiyue? Xuanyuan Lige, yes! I used your body, but I never meant to harm you!”
“Xuanyuan Lige, let go, and we can still work together. I’ll help you reclaim Dongqin. Let go, truly.”
…
Meng Wanyue’s tone softened, but no matter how she pleaded, Xuanyuan Lige turned a deaf ear to all of it.
His body, riddled with wounds inside and out, so frail and sickly it seemed it might crumble to ash at any moment, nevertheless gave off an indescribable sense of hardened resolve.
At last, Meng Wanyue gave up trying to persuade him, her gaze turning cold and sharp. “Xuanyuan Lige, don’t make me kill you!”
At that very moment, Xuanyuan Lige actually laughed, his blood-stained lips curling into an expression of utter nonchalance. “Go ahead. Try it.”
Die?
Even in death, he wouldn’t let go! He’d said it, and he’d do it!
If she had the ability, let her drag his corpse out, out in front of everyone!
Tomorrow was the opening of the grand gathering, and the whole event would only last five or six days.
To trade one life to hold out for five or six days—it would be worth it!
Seeing Xuanyuan Lige so utterly indifferent, Meng Wanyue was nearly driven mad with frustration—how could she possibly kill Xuanyuan Lige?
A constitution this rare only benefited her cultivation of the sealing arts; she still intended to draw more strength from Xuanyuan Lige to stabilize her instant sealing technique!
Though the instant sealing technique was essentially complete, it still needed to be stabilized in order to withstand Meng Duo’er’s power to “break” seals! Xuanyuan Lige couldn’t die.
Meng Wanyue took deep breath after deep breath, telling herself there had to be a perfect solution—there had to be!
The two remained locked in this standoff. Because of the power of the Five Elements seal, Xuanyuan Lige’s strength kept recovering bit by bit,
Suddenly, a gleam lit up in Meng Wanyue’s eyes, and she smiled.
Xuanyuan Lige, I’ll leave you with only the very last shred of your strength—let’s see how much longer you can hold out!
With that thought, a faint layer of purple light rose from Meng Wanyue’s hand, quickly enveloping Xuanyuan Lige entirely.
It was already noon, but Meng Wanyue was confident that before tomorrow’s sun rose, she would surely force Xuanyuan Lige to let go.
Tomorrow—tomorrow was the opening of the grand gathering! At this moment, Ziqing and Jun Beiyue were still on the road, and along the way, Jun Beiyue had asked quite a lot of questions about the gathering.
They were right to hurry the way they had! At the opening ceremony of the Jade Water Nectar gathering, there would be quite a show!
At that time, musicians from various great clans within the Beast Clan would perform together in an ensemble, among them the Xiao Clan and the Sheng Clan performing a particularly spectacular sheng-and-xiao duet, summoning the poison beasts slumbering beneath the Jade Water Nectar Lake, while the Medicine Clan would also display their finest skills, breaking ice with medicine.
“Prince Yao, Princess Yao, in truth this gathering is the most impressive event in all of Nanzhao. It’s just that, being an internal clan affair, outside guests are rarely invited,” the receiving official said with a smile.
Ziqing could well imagine how spectacular the scene tomorrow would be, and secretly wondered in exactly what form the very last missing note of the Lishang would appear.
Everything remained unknown, yet everything filled her with anticipation.
This was, after all, the very last missing note—the final, final secret of the Lishang!
Once they found this missing note, the truth would finally come to light!
By the time they’d set out for Nanzhao, word had come from the capital of Da Zhou that progress on deciphering those fourteen notes had been going well—she wondered how far along things were by now.
With this thought, Ziqing felt her nerves settle a little, hoping above all that Baili Weisheng and Meng Duo’er could hold Meng Wanyue back.
Even if they couldn’t kill the woman, at least holding her off would be enough—just a few more days, enough time to find the last missing note and leave Nanzhao safely!
Even if in the end someone exposed the whole matter, as long as they could return to Da Zhou, they wouldn’t need to fear Nanzhao!
With the abundant ore from Flame Mountain, combined with the gunpowder stockpile still left in the Southern Frontier, Ziqing believed that even if it came down to an all-out war, she and Jun Beiyue could still fight it and fight it well!
There was no denying it—these next few days were absolutely critical.
Just as they were speaking, Xiong Xiaobao suddenly shouted, “Land ho!”
Everyone looked over and, sure enough, saw a dock not far ahead. Jue Mingzi, delighted, looked up. “This mountain must be Yuqiong Mountain!”
“That’s right, that’s right—all thanks to that young master of the Sheng family,” the receiving official said, also overjoyed, seeing Jun Beiyue safely to shore, his duty now complete.
The sturgeon beast swam faster and faster, and soon they could see the dock crowded with attendants waiting to receive them. Although the Prince of Nanzhao had not come in person, the Jiao Clan Chief stood at the very front, clearly there on the prince’s behalf.
As everyone came ashore, they all quietly breathed a sigh of relief—but no sooner had they steadied themselves than the Jiao Clan Chief presented a sealed letter with both hands. At the sight of it, both Jun Beiyue and Ziqing sucked in a sharp breath!
This sealed letter…