Of course the Qin Elder had seen through Ziqing’s little trick just now. Having taken it upon himself to give Bai Feiyao a hard time, helping Yu Xiao along became, quite naturally, a happy accident.

He played five pieces in a row, all well-known classics that anyone with even a passing knowledge of music could recognize.

Yu Xiao grew steadily more confident, and by the fifth piece, he was even calling out the name the instant it began—just as Bai Feiyao had done earlier!

“Heh, Young Master Bai, you’ve lost again,” the Qin Elder said with a faint smile.

Counting this jar, that would be the tenth—but for Bai Feiyao, this was nothing at all!

Though born a woman, she’d been raised as a man since childhood, and her tolerance for drink had long since been trained up to match.

Drink—she’d just keep drinking!

Having lost several rounds in a row, her mood still remained lighthearted. Glancing toward the east wing, where the fire was gradually dying down, she remarked, “Elder Qin, the fire’s almost out.”

“Mm, it was never anything serious to begin with,” the Qin Elder said flatly.

Everyone present shared the Qin Elder’s view, treating it as a trivial matter. Few knew that the Gu family head had brought Jun Beiyue there at all.

The Situ clan sat not far off, both husband and wife wearing cold expressions. They wouldn’t go so far as to expose Jun Beiyue’s identity, but they certainly weren’t pleased to see Bai Feiyao succeed in fooling Han Ziqing either.

Situ Xin’er sat with her head bowed the entire time, her mood plainly low. If not for Madam Situ’s earnest persuasion, she wouldn’t have come tonight at all.

Only Situ Haonan wore a faint, helpless smile. That fool Bai Feiyao had no idea—last night, when Jiang Chen and Gu Suying had been tampering with things in the Gu residence’s courtyard, Jun Beiyue had already grown angry.

Genuinely angry. When that man’s temper flared, he became something like a devil—and once the devil was roused, there was no way this night was going to end peacefully.

“The Gu family head and the others should be arriving soon, shouldn’t they?” Bai Feiyao thought eagerly, a hint of impatience creeping in, desperate to see the look of despair on the Gu family head’s face—and even more eager, of course, to see Han Ziqing’s reaction.

If that woman started crying—what would she even look like?

“The gathering takes precedence. The Gu family head and the Se Elder will be back shortly. Young Master Bai, you seem awfully concerned about that fire—could it be something valuable of yours went up in flames too?” the Qin Elder asked pointedly.

“Ha, Elder Qin misunderstands. I’m not like some people—if something precious of mine were to burn, I’d simply let it go. Why would I go looking for it?” Bai Feiyao said, sounding magnanimous.

“Then let’s continue,” the Qin Elder said flatly.

And so it continued—Bai Feiyao lost another five jars, but even now, arrogant and self-assured as he was, he still hadn’t grown suspicious at all.

Noticing Gu Suying still hadn’t returned, he wasn’t worried in the least.

That fire had been drawn up according to his own plan—he’d had Gu Suying and Jiang Chen spray a strange concoction all around the courtyard and inside the building. Once that substance caught fire, the blaze would be absolutely ferocious—no matter how capable Yingzi and Imperial Physician Gu might be, there was no way they could possibly rescue Jun Beiyue in time! Just saving their own lives would be difficult enough!

At this very moment, the Gu family head and Han Ziqing were probably clutching a corpse, weeping their hearts out.

No one could have guessed the depth of Bai Feiyao’s inner smugness—no one could have imagined what was really happening back at the Gu residence.

Everyone’s attention remained fixed on the drinking game—Yu Xiao had staged a dramatic comeback, and Bai Feiyao had now lost fifteen rounds in a row. Could he still turn things around, or would he simply keep losing all the way down?

The wine was flowing, the drama was thrilling—everyone waited eagerly for what would happen next!

The Qin Elder was about to speak when Yu Xiao suddenly asked seriously, “Young Master Bai, are you still continuing?”

Yu Xiao was being rather modest, not spelling it out too bluntly—but the deeper implication was clear: if you’re not continuing, then concede.

Though fifteen jars amounted to roughly half of what he himself had just downed, Bai Feiyao truly stood no chance of winning at all.

But Bai Feiyao wasn’t afraid in the slightest. He sneered coldly. “Of course we continue. What, is Young Master Yu planning to concede?”

“I already told you—never!” Yu Xiao said, utterly resolute.

The Qin Elder took up the zither himself once more, and the crowd watched, thoroughly absorbed—after all, this was, in the entire history of Qinse Valley’s gatherings, the most drunkenly fought drinking game ever recorded! And an Elder-level figure personally taking over as the zither player, no less!

Who wouldn’t be eager to see how this ended?

Ten more jars followed, and once again Bai Feiyao lost every single round!

Still, Bai Feiyao had genuinely impressive capacity—still not drunk even now, far more than Yu Xiao could claim. As he steadily hoisted his thirty-first jar, the entire hall broke into applause.

But amid that applause, Jiang Chen broke into a cold sweat, his face flickering pale then blue, like the face of a man frightened half to death.

And in that same round of applause, just as Bai Feiyao tipped his head back to drink deeply, two dark figures suddenly appeared, gliding slowly down from the sky—one graceful and elegant, the other tall and finely built, one soft, one hard, arriving hand in hand, drawing curious stares from the entire crowd.

As they drew closer, the two figures came into clear view—a man and a woman, one strikingly handsome beyond compare, the other breathtakingly, devastatingly beautiful, both dressed in matching black combat attire, and yet somehow more striking than white silk finery, colder than purple elegance. The man especially, with his stunning good looks, was almost impossible to look away from!

The woman, everyone recognized at once—it was Han Ziqing.

As for the man—before he had even said or done a single thing, the moment he touched down and simply stood there, his aura of noble dignity alone was enough to dim every hero in the room.

He was…

“Prince Yao!”

Someone cried out in shock, and at once others echoed it. “Prince Yao—Jun Beiyue!”

The hall erupted in an uproar at once. People from the Longyuan mainland had all heard something of this, at least—that Jun Beiyue was gravely ill, that all of Prince Yao’s affairs had been handed over to Han Ziqing, who had later passed them entirely to Prince Baxian. There were plenty of rumors circulating on the Longyuan mainland, some even claiming this prince had already met his end at the Dali Temple!

As for those on Liuxian Isle, all they’d heard was that the Gu family head’s adopted son was too ill to attend—who would have imagined he’d show up now, of all times?

Just then, crack!—Bai Feiyao’s wine jar shattered violently against the ground as he spun around in shock, and the moment his eyes met Jun Beiyue’s icy gaze, the mouthful of wine he’d been holding sprayed right back out!

How…

How was this possible?!

He refused to believe it!

Jun Beiyue had actually woken up—and worse, he had somehow escaped that carefully calculated fire!

No, he refused to believe it!

Jun Beiyue glanced at him briefly, not sparing him another look, and turned instead to bow toward the Qin Elder, saying flatly, “This one is Jun Beiyue, adopted son of the Gu Shi. Greetings, Elder Qin.”

The Qin Elder looked genuinely surprised, but also delighted. “I’ve long heard of Prince Yao’s renown. To have you become part of our Liuxian Isle is truly an honor for us all. I understand Your Highness has been unwell—are you feeling better now?”

“Nothing serious, just a small matter that delayed me. I do apologize for arriving so late,” Jun Beiyue said politely.

“Simply arriving at all is honor enough for our isle!” the Qin Elder said with great delight, hurrying to invite Jun Beiyue to sit.

Ziqing sighed inwardly, helpless. Jun Beiyue’s reputation as the War God Prince truly lived up to its name—wherever he went, he was treated with the utmost respect.

Jun Beiyue had Ziqing sit first before taking his own seat, then said with a smile, “I hear from Qing’er that the first round of the drinking game still hasn’t concluded. Seems I haven’t arrived too late after all. You two, please—continue.”