How could this possibly be here?

Had they not looked down, the place where Ziqing and the others stood would have seemed nothing more than an ordinary coastal cliff, forested and overlooking the sea — the kind of place found commonly enough throughout both Da Zhou and Nanzhao.

Even so, none of them had ever imagined that the place the Nanzhao zither master had conjured into being would turn out to be this exact location.

Seeing Ziqing’s shock, Baili Weisheng and Xuanyuan Lige both leaned over to look as well, and there below the cliff, they saw crashing waves, rows of jagged, oddly shaped cliffs rising up from the sea — a truly spectacular sight!

“Liuxian Island!” Baili Weisheng blurted out at once. There was no place they knew better than Liuxian Island, especially this very cliff!

This particular cliff was Liuxian Island’s most famous landmark, Xiyang Cliff — named “Xiyang” because it stood on the island’s western coastline, and “xiyang,” meaning west sun, was a near-homophone for “sunset.” This spot was, without question, the finest place on the entire island to watch the sunset!

Of all places, it was Liuxian Island!

Looking at it this way, the ground beneath their feet right now truly was Liuxian Island — and if they passed through the forest behind them, they’d be able to see everything the island had to offer!

Because this particular spot was the second-highest point on Liuxian Island, surpassed only by Liuxian Mountain itself.

The weather wasn’t particularly clear today — but on a bright, cloudless day, one could gaze westward from here and see all the way to Da Zhou itself.

Xuanyuan Lige had used “Sorrow of Parting” to conjure the cliffside cavern of the Innocence Ravine, precisely because that place held deep feeling for him, held memories dear to his heart!

And the Nanzhao zither master — why had he chosen to conjure Liuxian Island with “Parting Sorrow”?

What connection could this place possibly have to the deserted island?

“I originally thought the ground beneath our feet was the deserted island itself,” Ziqing said thoughtfully.

Clearly, Liuxian Island could not possibly be the original deserted island!

The deserted island had vanished more than three hundred years ago, while Liuxian Island’s own history stretched back far longer than that.

“Or perhaps… the deserted island lies somewhere nearby?” Baili Weisheng wondered aloud, a thought about the Innocence Ravine suddenly surfacing in his mind.

Before reaching the Golden Jiao Palace lay a stretch of ocean, one of the great wonders of the Boundless Deep.

No matter how the sea beasts churned it, no matter how violently the ocean floor trembled, that particular stretch of water always remained perfectly calm, utterly undisturbed.

Only the Jiao people had ever been able to stir up waves within that stretch of ocean — and it was, moreover, the sole passage connecting the Boundless Deep to the outer seas.

Years ago, Lady Jinjiao had activated the “Death Vortex,” churning that very stretch of ocean, dragging his father down into the Boundless Deep.

And last year, when he and Ziqing and the others had entered the Boundless Deep, it was through that very same stretch of ocean, through that same Death Vortex, that they had finally escaped. Though they had been drilling ever deeper into the heart of the vortex the entire time, they had somehow, inexplicably, ended up near the waters of Liuxian Island instead!

The Boundless Deep and Liuxian Island were separated by tens of thousands of li, with no connection between them whatsoever, ordinarily speaking.

And yet, this Death Vortex had somehow linked the two places together — and that, in itself, was one point worth questioning.

But what had truly jogged Baili Weisheng’s memory was another point entirely.

Baili Weisheng wasn’t merely of the Jiao bloodline — he also carried the blood of the deserted island within him. His mother was Lady Jinjiao, and without question, he had inherited his father’s lineage as well — and his father had been a man of the deserted island himself!

That a man of the deserted island had been swept by the vortex all the way to the Innocence Ravine — that was certainly something worth pondering deeply!

Baili Weisheng’s words struck a chord with everyone present.

Perhaps the deserted island truly was nearby, somewhere close at hand!

“When we came out of the Innocence Ravine that time, we ended up right in these very waters!” Baili Weisheng remembered it clearly — when they’d emerged from the Death Vortex, they had surfaced precisely in the waters west of Liuxian Island.

“Let’s go down and take a look! We came ashore on that very beach!” Ziqing said, pointing toward the northeast.

Jun Beiyue glanced at them both but said nothing.

“You two stay here. The scholar and I will go take a look around,” Xuanyuan Lige said flatly. Even knowing this was Liuxian Island, this was, after all, a world conjured by a soul-seizing enchantment — no one could be certain what they might encounter next, so caution was essential!

Ziqing nodded, and Xuanyuan Lige shot Baili Weisheng a glance before leaping off the cliff, soaring through the air as though walking on empty space, his purple robes and silver hair billowing outward, cutting across the misty white expanse of the sea like a lost kite drifting away.

In that instant, Ziqing, for the first time, truly saw the ethereal, insubstantial quality of Xuanyuan Lige’s form, and was struck once more by the reminder that he was, after all, nothing more than a solitary soul lingering within this illusion.

Baili Weisheng stood at the cliff’s edge, turning back with a bright, dazzling grin. “Little Qingqing, that fellow just now — he called me ‘scholar’!”

“Is there a problem with that?” Ziqing asked lazily.

“None at all! Ha ha.” Baili Weisheng laughed, then turned and leapt off the cliff as well. Xuanyuan Lige, meanwhile, searched the skies above — naturally, he intended to bring out his own particular talents and search the depths of the sea itself.

Once the two of them had gone, Ziqing and Jun Beiyue settled down together on a nearby rock.

It was only then that Ziqing noticed Jun Beiyue’s silence.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, puzzled.

“If the deserted island truly lies near the waters of Liuxian Island, then its disappearance three hundred years ago would surely have caused an enormous stir — the people of Liuxian Island couldn’t possibly not know of it. Not to mention, if it truly is nearby, this area sees plenty of maritime traffic, with fishing boats and passenger ships passing through regularly — someone would surely have spotted such an island at some point!”

These words struck a chord with Ziqing — there was no question, this whole matter was far more complicated than they had imagined.

She turned to look at Jun Beiyue, and saw his handsome brow furrowed tightly.

This man rarely furrowed his brow at all, let alone looked this deeply troubled.

Ziqing reached out gently, smoothing the crease from his forehead, and said with a faint smile, “We managed to find our way all the way here — surely we’ll be able to dig up the whole truth too!”

Only then did Jun Beiyue speak quietly. “Qing’er, they left… without a single word of explanation.”

This was what truly weighed on his mind above all else. He understood the current state of affairs within the Da Zhou court better than anyone, and understood the situation across the four territories better than anyone as well!

This particular stretch of time was, in truth, a turning point for the entire continent of Longyuan — one might even call it a critical juncture!

If they could navigate it successfully, Da Zhou would become a true, genuine great empire, worthy of the name Longyuan.

But if things weren’t handled properly, the factions at court, the rebels and unruly commoners across the four territories — these two forces combined would be more than enough to destroy the very realm he and Ziqing had spent years fighting east and west to build, might even shake the very foundations of Da Zhou itself!

To leave at a moment like this was, without question, an extraordinarily unwise decision — but unfortunately, he’d had no way of knowing that a single piece of music, “Sorrow of Parting,” would end up trapping them here.

Though, by their own reckoning, it had only been a few days since they’d left, none of them had any idea how to get out of this illusion.

What truly struck Ziqing, reminded her of the gravity of it all, was that very sentence from Jun Beiyue. A faint tremor passed through her heart, and her first thought went immediately to their son.

No matter how difficult what lay ahead might be, no matter how much uncertainty they might face, they would not fear it — they had faith that, someday, somehow, they would find their way out!

But time — time was something they couldn’t afford to gamble with!

If they could uncover everything within a few days and leave this place, all would be well. But if it dragged on — a year, two years, even just a few months — they could hardly imagine the chaos that would engulf Prince Yao’s estate, vanishing without a single word of explanation, leaving Xiong Xiaobao to face all manner of unfamiliar trouble entirely on his own. What would he even do?