The Ancient Music Temple towered high above, majestic and imposing, standing atop the mountain like some ancient colossal deity, eternally unmoving.

Compared to the temple, people seemed to shrink smaller and smaller the closer they approached, involuntarily submitting to its solemn grandeur.

Yet neither Ziqing’s nor Jun Beiyue’s expressions, nor their footsteps, showed the slightest sign of being awed by the temple’s presence. If anything, they carried themselves with a cold, proud dignity, untouchable and noble.

They knew exactly what they’d come here to do, and they were resolute about it, so whatever awaited them, they had no fear.

The couple walked hand in hand, step by step, toward the main gate of the Ancient Music Temple. If searching for the isolated island had been a long road without direction, then this stretch beneath their feet was the final leg of it.

Fortunately, all the way to the end, neither had ever let go of the other’s hand—not once had there been even a moment of distrust between them.

In the darkness of night, the entire temple blazed with light, yet was utterly silent.

The closer they drew, the more they sensed that stillness. At last, the couple stopped hand in hand before the main gate, right at the towering threshold.

“Prince Yao, it seems there are quite a few here to greet us,” Ziqing said with a laugh, her voice clear and unafraid of being heard.

“Even if the whole of Nanzhao were here, this king could bear it,” Jun Beiyue said coldly.

They’d barely exchanged two sentences, hadn’t even stepped through the door yet, when Prince Nanzhao, who’d been hiding in the shadows, could no longer contain himself. He stepped forward at once, looking down at Ziqing and Jun Beiyue from atop the tower, roaring furiously, “Jun Beiyue, Han Ziqing, I never thought you’d actually come! You two! You’ve deceived me most cruelly!”

Prince Nanzhao’s fury was indescribable—he seemed ready to beat his chest and stamp his feet on the spot, his roar echoing through the empty hall.

Ever since returning from the Jade Water and Nectar Heavenly Lake to the palace, Qinji had confessed everything.

Not only had she confessed her collusion with Xuanyuan Lige, she had also exposed the secret of Han Ziqing’s true origins, along with the long-standing deception by the Meng Clan and the head of the Beast Clan.

Prince Nanzhao had been so furious he hadn’t held court for three days and three nights, and had refused to even see Qinji.

He’d never imagined this world still harbored a survivor of the isolated island’s people, let alone that this person would be none other than Han Ziqing, Prince Yao’s own consort from Da Zhou!

He’d entrusted the Meng Clan with searching for the death barrier, ordered the Beast Clan’s second young master to monitor Xuanyuan Lige regarding the barrier’s whereabouts—and to this day there had been no breakthrough at all, and he’d never once suspected that the entire thing had been fabricated!

They’d done absolutely nothing!

Both elders of the Beast Clan had long since been imprisoned in the clan’s dungeon, and the second young master of the Beast Clan was himself a traitor, having defected to Xuanyuan Lige!

But what Prince Nanzhao had least expected of all was Qinji! The woman he’d doted on for so many years, and her heart had belonged entirely to Xuanyuan Lige all along!

All these unexpected revelations were not only a threat to the safety of the Nanzhao royal house, but an even greater blow to Prince Nanzhao personally.

Prince Nanzhao felt like a complete fool, played for a puppet by this group of people. If Xuanyuan Lige hadn’t run into trouble, would he ever have learned the truth at all, until the very moment Han Ziqing and the others found the isolated island themselves? Prince Nanzhao simply could not accept any of it.

It had taken him three full days and nights to recover from the shock, and finally he’d resolved to come personally to verify whether everything Qinji had said was true or false.

It wasn’t Qinji who had deliberately leaked the news—it was he himself.

He’d been waiting, waiting to see whether Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing would come, and he had to admit—deep down, how desperately he’d hoped they would not.

How he’d wished this was all just Xuanyuan Lige using Qinji to sow discord, to sabotage the relationship between Jun Beiyue and the Nanzhao royal house!

But now!

Here they stood, right before his eyes!

Prince Nanzhao’s fury blazed to the heavens, both hands pressed on the railing, the entire row of railings trembling stiffly beneath his grip—proof of just how much rage he’d been suppressing to finally roar out these words.

“Jun Beiyue! You’ve betrayed my trust in you!”

“Jun Beiyue, I will make you pay for this!”

“Jun Beiyue, for the sake of one woman, you dared violate Nanzhao’s most sacred taboo—you should remember how Yelu Chenyi died. Let me tell you, you will be no exception!”

…

Roar after roar, all directed at Jun Beiyue. Yet Jun Beiyue merely regarded Prince Nanzhao with cold detachment—even looking up from below, it wasn’t a look of deference but more like sizing him up, as though appraising him as nothing more than a clownish upstart.

Prince Nanzhao must have assumed they’d be shocked at being discovered, but they had anticipated an ambush long before ever arriving.

“It seems all three great clans are here as well. Should we call this our honor, or our misfortune?” Ziqing said with another smile. The best way to deal with someone wasn’t to defeat them, but to humiliate them—and there was no greater humiliation than letting them rage themselves into fury while you simply ignored them.

“It’s both their honor and their misfortune.”

Jun Beiyue had always possessed the arrogant confidence to say such things. As he spoke, he slowly clasped his hands behind his back, and almost simultaneously, the head of the Medicine Clan, the head of the Jiaoren, and the newly appointed head of the Beast Clan, Elder Sheng, emerged from three different directions, forming a half-circle to surround Ziqing and Jun Beiyue.

Unlike Prince Nanzhao’s fury, what they showed was far more shock and disbelief.

No matter who it was, no one could ever have imagined, even racking their brains, that Prince Yao’s consort was actually a survivor of the isolated island’s people—and that they had been searching for the isolated island all along!

“Prince Yao, Prince Nanzhao and Da Zhou have been generations-long allies of good faith. However could you, for the sake of one woman—”

Before the Medicine Clan head could finish, Jun Beiyue cut him off coldly. “Head of the Medicine Clan, the Medicine Clan hasn’t been wiped out yet—today, here, you have no standing to speak.”

“You—!”

That single sentence left the Medicine Clan head utterly speechless. It was a clear message.

This time, he hadn’t come for the sake of one woman.

He had come as a survivor, for the sake of an entire people!

Yet Prince Nanzhao spoke sharply, chastising him, “Jun Beiyue, what do you know! If the isolated island hadn’t been eliminated back then, there would be no peace across Longyuan today! Those with the human-Gu bloodline from the isolated island were a plague upon the entirety of Longyuan. I, as king of Nanzhao, was rooting out evil for Longyuan’s sake, and yet here you are, aiding the wicked and twisting right and wrong. I see the rumors were true—you truly have let a woman blind your eyes!”

At these words, Jun Beiyue was about to retort, when suddenly Ziqing spoke sharply, “Enough!”

The single word instantly silenced everyone present.

She couldn’t understand why, even to this day, people still insisted on painting her as some calamitous temptress.

In the silence, Ziqing strode boldly over the threshold, ignoring the wary postures of the three clan heads, pointing straight at Prince Nanzhao.

Prince Nanzhao assumed Ziqing was about to say something to him, but instead, she said nothing—she merely held her finger pointed at him as a warning, while her eyes fixed on the three clan heads.

Both the Medicine Clan head and the Jiaoren clan head wore grave expressions. Though their combined numbers and overall strength far exceeded Jun Beiyue’s and Ziqing’s, they’d long heard of the consort’s formidable skill, and now, knowing her body was immune to all poisons, they couldn’t help but stay on guard.

Elder Sheng, however, remained calm and composed, his gaze steady.

After surveying the three clan heads, Ziqing’s eyes settled on the head of the Sheng family. “We are benefactors to the Sheng family.”

…