The King of Nanzhao’s wedding proceeded with unexpected smoothness. Once it concluded, everyone would remain for only a few more days before finally going their separate ways!

But how could everything possibly go that smoothly? Both Jun Beiyue and Ziqing found themselves speculating, waiting to see what schemes the Empress of Dongqin, or the ever-lurking Chu Tiange, might yet unleash in these remaining days.

Only, Jun Beiyue hadn’t expected the wedding’s ceremonial music to turn out to be connected to Lishang of all things!

“Your Highness, within the Nanzhao royal family, matters concerning the King’s marriage—whether taking a queen or a consort—are considered profoundly sacred occasions. Rather than paying homage to heaven and earth, the ceremony instead honors the earth-king deity. That particular piece of ceremonial music is, in fact, a sacred hymn, a fixed piece always performed on such occasions—not merely ceremonial music, but a piece meant to bestow blessings upon the King and his new consort!”

Minister Bomiluo, uncertain why Her Highness took such interest in this particular piece of music, spent quite some time explaining before finally managing to convey the full sanctity surrounding the Nanzhao King’s marriage rites.

“Must this particular piece always be performed? When did it first come into use, and who composed it?” Ziqing asked urgently.

“This…” Minister Bomiluo hesitated, clearly troubled. “Your Highness, this is a sacred hymn. Generally speaking, sacred hymns like this are composed by the sacred musicians of the earth-king temple. This particular piece has existed since ancient times, having long since become the traditional wedding hymn of the royal family! I’m not quite sure why Your Highness suddenly asks about this matter…”

Before Minister Bomiluo could even finish, Jun Beiyue cut in decisively. “Bomiluo, was this piece composed by someone from the Lonely Isle? Did the people of the Lonely Isle once serve as sacred musicians within Nanzhao?”

At these words, Minister Bomiluo instinctively took several steps back, and even though they were within a securely closed room, he still couldn’t help glancing anxiously around, making certain no one else was present, before finally letting out a breath of relief. “Prince Yao, shh… the Lonely Isle is an absolute taboo!”

“Never mind the theatrics—just answer the question!” Jun Beiyue had no patience left for such caution.

His purposes in coming to Nanzhao had been twofold: first, to prompt the King of Nanzhao into launching an investigation into the Lonely Isle, so that once an investigation began, he could follow the resulting threads to uncover further clues himself; and second, to bring Shiliang to the Poison Den to seek treatment from the old man there.

Both objectives had now been accomplished—yet he’d never anticipated such a significant new discovery arising from all this!

This was nothing short of a revelation on par with what they’d uncovered in the Sea Valley of Qinse Valley!

“Prince Yao, though this subordinate cannot recall the exact timeframe, I can say with absolute certainty that when this ceremonial piece first came into existence, the Lonely Isle had not yet vanished!” Minister Bomiluo said with complete conviction, clearly harboring a great deal of suspicion himself, yet wisely refraining from asking further questions.

“Go immediately and investigate the composer of this ceremonial piece. Try to obtain the actual score if at all possible,” Jun Beiyue ordered coldly.

Not daring to press further, Bomiluo hurried off at once.

The moment he’d left, Ziqing wasted no time, retrieving the score for Lishang and spreading it out across the long table.

The score bore countless marks where she’d circled and annotated sections, the most prominent of which centered on the climax section.

This was the first time Jun Beiyue had ever examined this particular score with any real attention. Though he had no expertise in music himself, he understood well enough that the climax was, without question, the single most crucial part of any composition.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine scrolls in total—laid out fully, the sheer scope of it was staggering. Ziqing had spread out roughly three hundred to four hundred scrolls’ worth of the climax section across the table.

“Beiyue, take a look—what’s different about these hundred scrolls of the climax?” Ziqing asked flatly.

“This should be the original manuscript. Strangely, only your own annotation marks appear anywhere in these hundred scrolls—there’s no trace of the original composer’s own revisions at all. Even the most gifted musician couldn’t possibly compose an entire climax in one uninterrupted burst without a single correction, unless…”

“Unless the climax wasn’t something he composed at all—but something he heard, then simply transcribed and organized afterward!” Ziqing finished for him!

Jun Beiyue smiled and nodded, giving her an approving thumbs-up. Without question, the secret of Lishang lay hidden within this climax section—and by extension, the secret of the Lonely Isle itself must lie there as well!

The clues they’d gathered pointing toward the Lonely Isle numbered only three: the Sea Valley of Qinse Valley, Xijing’s Mingsha Dunes, and the Fusang Sacred Tree. Of these, the Sea Valley already bore an unmistakable connection to Lishang—could it be that Mingsha Dunes and the Fusang Sacred Tree were somehow connected to Lishang as well?

No wonder this girl had never been able to master the climax section properly, no matter how hard she practiced!

“Beiyue, look here—the true climax actually begins at scroll three hundred. From scroll three hundred to scroll three hundred and ten, this entire span of ten scrolls, I’ve practiced over and over, again and again. I can play the notes perfectly well, technically speaking, yet it never comes together as an actual piece of music. Neither the melody nor the fingering ever quite falls into place, no matter how hard I try,” Ziqing said seriously.

Jun Beiyue listened intently. “These ten scrolls…”

“That’s exactly the ceremonial music! I can’t play it properly myself, but I can hear it clearly enough! Without having studied both scores side by side, even the most brilliant musician alive would likely never notice the difference between them,” Ziqing continued.

“What do you mean?” Jun Beiyue asked, not quite following.

“The ceremonial music’s score and these ten scrolls sound identical when compared side by side—but when actually played, they come out completely different. Comparing these ten scrolls against the ceremonial piece, notes are clearly missing from this section!”

At this revelation, Jun Beiyue was genuinely startled. What Ziqing meant, essentially, was that the composer of Lishang had actually taken the ceremonial hymn, altered a single note within it, and incorporated it into Lishang as the climax section.

What extraordinary mastery of musical theory would it take to accomplish something like that—to make two pieces sound identical to the ear, yet be entirely different when actually performed?

This wasn’t mere imitation or plagiarism—this was a masterful, ingenious transformation, surpassing the original entirely!

Even upon hearing the piece performed, without knowing precisely which note had been omitted, one would find it utterly impossible to reproduce it accurately!

“So you’re saying, if we can find the actual score for the ceremonial hymn, we’ll know exactly which note is missing!” Realizing this, Jun Beiyue grew visibly excited.

Ziqing nodded at once. “Exactly!”

She spread the score out further and continued, “And look here—after these ten scrolls, from scroll three hundred eleven to scroll three hundred thirty, this next span of twenty scrolls, no matter how I play it, something feels off there too. Let’s set these twenty scrolls aside for now and move on to the following thirty scrolls—these thirty scrolls are the very passage I heard resonating within the Sea Valley, and just like before, a note is clearly missing there as well.”

Ziqing had spent months meticulously practicing, analyzing, and puzzling over this section before finally arriving at this realization.

Had this been an ordinary piece of music, she would have immediately detected the discrepancy, immediately identified exactly which note was missing. But the true marvel of Lishang lay precisely in this—no matter how carefully she listened, no matter how thoroughly she compared the two versions, she simply couldn’t pinpoint where exactly the gap lay, or which note had been left out!

She’d even relied on her vivid memory of the sound of the waves to transcribe the entire melody from the Sea Valley itself—yet even then, whatever missing note she managed to identify, once inserted back into Lishang, still felt somehow wrong.

“This missing note must be something extraordinary, no ordinary note at all.” Though Jun Beiyue was no expert in music himself, he was far from foolish, and understood at once that the key to everything lay precisely in this missing note.

Ziqing smiled warmly, offering him a thumbs-up in return, and immediately retrieved the twelve ancient musical symbols she’d recorded from the Sea Valley of Qinse Valley.

“These are from the Sea Valley!” Jun Beiyue recognized them at a glance.

“Yes. These twelve symbols, both in their notation style and in the actual pitches themselves, are extraordinarily ancient—several of these notes aren’t even used anymore in modern music.” As Ziqing spoke, she carefully began inserting each of the twelve symbols, one by one, into the first ten scrolls of the climax section!

Jun Beiyue watched quietly from the side, not daring to interrupt. Ziqing continued writing and playing, testing endlessly—and before either of them realized it, dawn had already begun to break outside…