Nangong Jun led Baili Weisheng toward another stretch of deep sea. Baili Weisheng was full of suspicion—though this fellow was, like him, one of the golden dragonkin, of the same lineage and clan, they weren’t exactly close, were they?
What matter could possibly need to be discussed underwater, that couldn’t wait until they got to shore?
His Xiao Qingqing back home would worry about him!
They swam onward into the depths, nearly reaching the bottom, when Baili Weisheng finally couldn’t hold back. “Hey, don’t tell me we’re relatives?”
He truly couldn’t think of anything else Nangong Jun might need his help with—the only thing that came to mind was something concerning the golden dragonkin clan.
“We already are relatives,” Nangong Jun said with a smile.
“What exactly is this about? We’ve been underwater a long time already. If we don’t surface soon, they’ll worry.”
“Don’t worry, they’re safe. No matter how worried they get, they won’t come down into the water.”
Nangong Jun said this with confidence, and he wasn’t wrong—the Great Gu Master had already been subdued, the poison corpses were blocked off at the cliff, and as far as the Lishang Illusion Realm was concerned, peace had been restored to the world.
Those on shore, no matter how skilled in water, wouldn’t recklessly dive down without knowing the situation.
So Baili Weisheng settled his mind and followed Nangong Jun deeper down.
“Tell me, how did your golden scales get burned? If your golden scales were burned, how are you still alive?” Nangong Jun asked—he was genuinely curious about Baili Weisheng.
Helplessly, Baili Weisheng gave a rough account of his background. Nangong Jun listened, stunned again and again. “Don’t tell me some people from the solitary island clan really did escape back then!”
The moment those words came out, Baili Weisheng was instantly alarmed. “What do you mean?”
“Your father was from the solitary island clan!” Nangong Jun said with certainty.
“Yes!” Baili Weisheng said, even more certain.
Nangong Jun laughed helplessly and told Baili Weisheng everything that had happened in the Lishang Illusion Realm back then. But as Baili Weisheng listened, something felt more and more off.
“You said the Prince of Nanzhao’s musician opened an exit from the illusion realm about twenty-some years ago?” Baili Weisheng asked cautiously.
Nangong Jun nodded. “Yes, around twenty years.”
“The Lishang Illusion Realm has only existed for a bit over twenty years?” Baili Weisheng exclaimed in shock.
“Hm?” Nangong Jun was puzzled—what was there to be so worked up about?
“Hasn’t it been over three hundred years?” Baili Weisheng nearly shouted, unable to believe what he was hearing. How could the numbers be so far off?
“What?” Nangong Jun was shocked too. “Over three hundred years?”
“Outside, over three hundred years have already passed! Not just over three hundred—at least three hundred! What’s going on?” Baili Weisheng asked urgently, his first thought immediately going to Xiong Xiaobao.
“Could it be that time passes more slowly inside the illusion realm? If that’s the case, three hundred years versus twenty-some years, then…”
Before Nangong Jun could finish, Baili Weisheng suddenly moved to surge upward. He couldn’t be bothered calculating exactly how long they’d been in the Lishang Illusion Realm, or how many years had passed outside!
He had to tell Ziqing and Jun Beiyue immediately. They’d been gone too long—Da Zhou would fall into chaos.
In his heart, chaos in Da Zhou didn’t matter much; what mattered was that Xiong Xiaobao would be devastated. They’d left without a word, without a word for so many years!
What kind of thing was that to do?
But just as Baili Weisheng was about to shoot upward, Nangong Jun grabbed hold of him.
Nangong Jun said seriously, “I really do have something. I need your help with it.”
Nangong Jun lived up to his name—clean-cut in bearing, handsome of feature, three parts refined elegance and seven parts sunny warmth, a gentle man. Seeing his dark eyes gleaming, filled with earnestness, Baili Weisheng’s restless heart unconsciously settled. He realized that whatever Nangong Jun wanted help with, it certainly wasn’t a small matter.
Baili Weisheng sighed softly, thinking to himself that he’d already been here so many days—what difference would a little more time make. He said flatly, “Go ahead, then.”
Who would have thought Nangong Jun would get straight to the point: “I’m giving you my golden scales.”
As he spoke, he immediately summoned a full body of golden scales, gleaming gold, and under the glow of the golden light, swaying with the rippling seawater, there was an indescribable beauty to it—breathtakingly beautiful.
But Baili Weisheng was alarmed. “I don’t want it! What’s actually going on? Tell me first!”
What could possibly be happening, for Nangong Jun to be willing to give up his entire body of golden scales?
Without understanding the situation, Baili Weisheng didn’t dare agree recklessly.
Seeing him frightened pale, Nangong Jun’s lips curved into a helpless smile. He said flatly, “I just need you to keep a secret for me—after I die, help me strip the golden scales from my body.”
The moment those words came out, Baili Weisheng was startled again, and he immediately roared, “Are you insane? What exactly are you planning to do?”
Nangong Jun smiled warmly, looking especially gentle against the backdrop of the golden light. “I just want to stay behind. To be with Xinyun.”
“What do you mean?” Baili Weisheng was still completely confused.
“I always thought she wasn’t a spirit, but I never expected…” As he said this, Nangong Jun’s smile grew more and more helpless.
He did, in fact, have a betrothed “beloved” waiting for him—only, it wasn’t a match he wanted, but one arranged by his mother, a woman from the silver dragonkin clan.
He had genuinely intended to go back at one point, to return and fulfill his promise to marry that woman.
He had also always assumed that Xinyun wanted to go back too—Xinyun wasn’t dead, so going back, she could still go on living a good life.
He couldn’t possibly be unaware of Xinyun’s feelings for him. Every time that girl looked at him, she looked utterly smitten, utterly infatuated. To say he didn’t understand her feelings would be a lie!
But he hadn’t known—that foolish girl had long since become a spirit, and had been deceiving him all this time.
Spirits couldn’t go back. A spirit either faded into nothingness, or could remain in the illusion realm forever. Xinyun was already a spirit, and yet back then she had begged the Prince of Nanzhao’s musician so desperately, had tried every possible means to help him get back.
She’d worked to help him leave, while resigning herself to staying behind forever.
What a foolish woman.
Whether it was twenty-some years or over three hundred, he no longer dared to think about it that much. He just wanted to stay and be with that foolish woman. That was all.
As Baili Weisheng listened to Nangong Jun recount everything from back then, his heart couldn’t help but stir, and his impression of Xinyun unconsciously shifted.
That woman—aside from being rather annoying when she put on airs—seemed pretty decent in every other respect!
No wonder she’d been so singularly devoted to him—it was probably because he and Nangong Jun, both being golden dragonkin, had so much in common!
“So you want to die, you want to remain here as a spirit?” Baili Weisheng said seriously. “Have you really thought this through?”
Nangong Jun smiled faintly. “I’m giving you my golden scales. You keep my secret. You’re not losing out.”
Looking at Nangong Jun’s smile, Baili Weisheng felt his heart ache little by little—he couldn’t imagine such a gentle man having the courage to do something like this.
Before he could even recover, Nangong Jun, without waiting for his agreement, smiled faintly, and in an instant, a burst of golden light erupted, swallowing his figure whole.
Baili Weisheng stood rooted to the spot, smelling the increasingly thick scent of blood, and he too smiled faintly. “What is love, that people ask after it so?… All fools, every one of us. All fools!”