As Ziqing and the others entered the small grove, they began to faintly hear the sound of Lament of Parting playing somewhere ahead. And as they continued forward, step by step, the music grew steadily closer.
Ziqing and Xuanyuan Lige quickly recognized that this rendition of Lament of Parting was being played as a duet—and, moreover, it was clearly the plain zither and the blood zither playing together.
Could it be the Nanzhao musician himself performing Lament of Parting? But if this was a duet, who could the other musician possibly be?
Ziqing glanced at Xinyun, only to find her seemingly lost in the music, drifting off into her own thoughts.
This kind of distraction wasn’t a matter of soul-capture or mind control—it was simply the natural response to being moved by music, feeling something through the melody itself.
Hearing Lament of Parting within the very illusion of Lament of Parting—the piece had clearly lost its soul-capturing power here, otherwise, after listening to it for so long throughout their journey, none of them could possibly have remained so clear-headed.
Soon, they came upon a cliff. The small grove ended abruptly at its edge, and they could even hear the crash of ocean waves against rocks below.
Could the isolated island lie just beyond this cliff?
At once, everyone’s spirits soared with excitement, their pace quickening involuntarily. Though none of them had ever laid eyes on the isolated island before, they found themselves gripped by an odd, bittersweet nervousness—the closer one gets to home, the more timid one feels.
Ziqing found her own reaction rather baffling. Perhaps it was simply that she’d searched for it for so long, grown so familiar with it in concept and yet remained so utterly unfamiliar with it in reality—ever since crossing over into this world, this had been the singular purpose behind everything she’d done for over a decade.
Ziqing had originally been walking fastest of them all, but as they neared the edge, she nearly found herself coming to a stop instead, unconsciously taking deep breath after deep breath, unable to suppress the surge of excitement, of exhilaration, of pure happiness welling up inside her.
Jun Beiyue glanced back and, seeing Ziqing falling behind, smiled helplessly and reached out his hand toward her.
At that moment, Xuanyuan Lige and Baili Weisheng also came to a stop, waiting for Ziqing to catch up. Only Xinyun had already walked ahead, all the way to the cliff’s edge, seemingly long accustomed to whatever lay beyond it, showing no reaction at all.
She seemed to have finally snapped out of her reverie from the music, sitting alone now, gazing out silently, her expression largely unreadable. Meanwhile, Ziqing and the others were far too overwhelmed with their own excitement to spare Xinyun any further thought.
One could easily imagine it: a place searched for over nearly a decade, a secret painstakingly pursued for nearly ten years, finally found, finally right there before their eyes—how could anyone not feel nervous, not feel overwhelmed with excitement?
Seeing Jun Beiyue’s outstretched hand, Ziqing took a deep breath and finally walked over to him, taking his hand.
Beside them, Xuanyuan Lige and Baili Weisheng both smiled helplessly.
In this moment, Baili Weisheng found himself wanting, very much, to reach his own hand out toward Ziqing as well. But he knew there was no need—that woman had long since chosen Jun Beiyue’s hand instead.
In this moment, Xuanyuan Lige looked at Ziqing, covered in wounds yet radiant with happiness, then looked at Jun Beiyue standing there safe and sound, and a faint smile touched his lips—tinged with something like self-mockery, as though, in this instant, everything that had come before simply dissolved into indifference.
Jun Beiyue held Ziqing’s hand as they walked, step by step, toward the cliff’s edge, with Xuanyuan Lige and Baili Weisheng walking alongside them, shoulder to shoulder.
No matter how many times, over all these years, they’d stood in each other’s way, no matter how many times their paths had diverged—at the very least, for this final stretch, they walked it together, side by side.
Step by step, drawing closer, sea breeze brushing against their faces, the sound of the zither caressing their ears. At last, they reached the cliff’s edge, and the moment they laid eyes on everything below, without exception, without warning, every single one of them was struck utterly speechless with shock!
The isolated island!
It truly was the isolated island!
But why did it look like this?
Whether it was Ziqing or Jun Beiyue, Baili Weisheng or Xuanyuan Lige, for a long moment, none of them could quite believe what lay before their eyes. What they’d expected, what they’d imagined, was that beneath the cliff should lie a peaceful island.
The Nanzhao musician’s own words had said Lament of Parting would lead them home, that there, sorrow would not exist!
The isolated island shouldn’t hold any sorrow at all!
And yet, what lay before them now was…
Aside from Xinyun, the other four stood frozen for a long, long while, unable to snap out of their shock, unable to believe what they were seeing, what was unfolding right before their eyes.
They felt lost, confused, even doubtful.
But just as they stood there in shock, Xinyun, seated nearby, suddenly darkened her gaze and, without warning, violently yanked Ziqing toward her.
“Ah!”
Ziqing cried out, caught completely off guard. But she reacted quickly, and so did Jun Beiyue—he immediately struck out at Xinyun’s shoulder with a palm strike, while Ziqing grabbed hold of Xinyun’s other wrist with her free hand, attempting to break free.
Yet, to everyone’s shock, despite their swift reactions, Xinyun proved even faster still!
Letting Ziqing’s grip remain on her wrist, Xinyun deflected Jun Beiyue’s attack with a barrier, then instantly retreated backward, dragging the still-struggling Ziqing along with her. Jun Beiyue, Baili Weisheng, and Xuanyuan Lige all lunged forward in pursuit at nearly the same instant.
Jun Beiyue moved fastest of all, quickly closing the distance to stand right before Xinyun. But to his utter shock, even at such close range, he found himself unable to touch Ziqing at all—somehow, at some point, a barrier had already sprung up between them!
“What exactly do you want!” Jun Beiyue shouted furiously. Though he’d remained wary of Xinyun, he never could have imagined she’d strike at this particular moment, nor that her mastery of barriers would be so formidable, matched by equally impressive martial skill.
Ziqing continued struggling, but it was clear she had no real chance of breaking free from Xinyun’s grip. What was most terrifying was that, at this very moment, Xinyun was holding onto just one of her hands!
Baili Weisheng slammed his fist against the barrier, shouting furiously, “You wretch!”
Xinyun flinched visibly for a moment, but quickly composed herself, offering a cold smile instead. “The fact that I haven’t killed you already is exception enough!”
Hearing this, Jun Beiyue calmed himself somewhat—at least this confirmed that Xinyun harbored no murderous intent toward them, or toward Ziqing, for now.
None of them possessed any skill with barriers, leaving them utterly powerless against this woman. Their only option was to try negotiating with her.
“Then what exactly do you want? Is there truly no room for discussion?” Jun Beiyue asked.
To his surprise, Xinyun gave him no chance to say anything further, offering a cold smile before dragging Ziqing away, retreating rapidly into the distance!
“Ziqing!” Jun Beiyue cried out in alarm. Helplessly, by now Xinyun had already moved far away, her figure growing smaller and smaller until, gradually, she vanished from sight entirely!
Jun Beiyue slammed his fist violently against the barrier, the veins at his temples bulging with fury!
Baili Weisheng searched their surroundings and discovered, to his horror, that Xinyun had trapped them all within a barrier of her own making.
His expression turned dark with rage, an ugly scowl twisting his features.
To think that after being on guard for so long, they’d still been played for fools by that woman in the end!
“We never should have pulled her up in the first place!” Baili Weisheng said angrily.
“Without her, they might never have made it this far,” Jun Beiyue said coldly, his eyes dark and sunken, deep in thought about something.
Beside him, Xuanyuan Lige let out a soft breath. “That woman, Xinyun… at the very least, she harbors no intent to kill them. We can’t get out, but no one else can get in either.”
“You mean the one behind the poison corpses.” Jun Beiyue’s brow furrowed. “This is a world created by the Nanzhao musician, but as it turns out, it seems even the Nanzhao musician himself…”
“…no longer has control over this world,” Xuanyuan Lige finished, his expression growing complicated. For a moment, all three men’s faces mirrored the same troubled uncertainty…