The dim cave sat in dead silence, the air thick with the reek of blood and decay, lending an eerie, otherworldly quality to the stillness.

Xuanyuan Lige stood there for a long, long time, and in the end, forced himself to swallow every last trace of his fury back down into his gut.

He wasn’t naive—he knew perfectly well that Yanzi and the man in black had long since suspected the true motives behind his surrender. The only reason he still remained useful to them was that he still had value left to offer!

Having come this far, if he broke openly with them now, he would lose even the last sliver of a chance he had left.

At the very least, he still retained a measure of relative freedom for now. No matter what, he still had a chance.

Xuanyuan Lige took a deep breath and continued forward.

Yanzi looked genuinely surprised, about to speak, but the man in black signaled her to stay silent, and followed after him.

Soon, an enormous water vat came into view. Every trace of the stench of blood and decay emanated from within this very vat!

Xuanyuan Lige stopped five or six paces short of the vat, not daring to take another step closer.

Because even a single step further would let him see everything contained within.

He had already imagined it clearly enough the moment he’d caught the scent of decay and blood—but he hadn’t even dared to imagine it, let alone actually look upon it now.

There was no anger left in him, only pure hatred—hatred enough to want to plunge a blade into his own chest, straight into his heart.

Why was he so utterly powerless? Forget saving an entire nation—he couldn’t even save a single woman!

She was right there before him, and he couldn’t save her. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at her.

And yet, precisely amid this hatred, his habitually cold face suddenly, forcibly bloomed into a smile—breathtakingly beautiful, like a blue lotus blooming in darkness, beautiful enough to steal one’s breath.

“So you were testing the poison. I thought you’d already begun in earnest!”

He turned back to look at Yanzi, saying this with a smile.

Yanzi stood momentarily stunned. It wasn’t as though she’d never seen this man smile before, but at this particular moment, she found herself unable to find any word to describe his expression—for some reason, though the man before her was unmistakably smiling, she found herself gripped, inexplicably, by a sense of despair, a despair so profound it was genuinely frightening.

Composing herself, Yanzi instinctively looked away, walking toward the vat. “You really do know your craft, don’t you!”

“Raising a human gu differs from raising an insect gu or a beast gu right from the very first step. Before beginning a human gu, one must first test the poison—using the world’s deadliest corpse-poison to verify whether the subject truly possesses complete immunity!” Xuanyuan Lige said coldly.

“Truly an expert, heh heh. I came to you originally for Lishang—it seems I underestimated you all along!” Yanzi said, rolling up her sleeve, her jade hand slowly reaching down into the vat!

So-called corpse-poison was a toxic liquid formed by mixing together the decayed remains of a hundred different corpses—naturally including human remains among them.

Simply soaking a person in corpse-poison for roughly a month would confirm, beyond doubt, whether they truly possessed complete poison immunity.

Though Han Ziqing’s identity was already fairly evident, given Yanzi’s characteristic caution, this step still couldn’t be skipped.

Yanzi’s hand slowly stirred within the vat. Xuanyuan Lige watched in silence, his expression utterly blank, and yet his entire being clearly radiated a dangerous, simmering menace.

For anyone with complete poison immunity, this month-long soaking would allow their body to absorb every last trace of corpse-poison from the bloody water without triggering any toxic reaction whatsoever!

Complete poison immunity didn’t actually mean poison had no effect—it meant the toxins were absorbed into the body without ever triggering symptoms, without any reaction at all!

Once every trace of corpse-poison had been fully absorbed from the bloody water, that water would naturally become entirely non-toxic!

Watching Xuanyuan Lige’s blank expression, the smile at Yanzi’s lips grew ever more pronounced. She deliberately stirred the water slowly and unhurriedly, and after a long while, finally drew her hand out, lifting a lock of long hair!

There was no doubt—it was Ziqing’s hair!

“Hah!” Xuanyuan Lige let out a low, muffled groan, so quiet no one could have heard it. Yet the taste of blood spread through his tightly clenched mouth, and the blood he’d coughed up he forcibly swallowed back down without a trace of outward reaction!

The strand of hair quickly slipped from Yanzi’s fingers. Her jade hand remained unmarked, and as she casually wiped it clean, she said with a smile, “Truly complete immunity to every poison—look, my hand hasn’t been affected in the slightest. If there’d been even the faintest trace of corpse-poison left in that water, my hand would surely be covered in blackened corpse-marks by now.”

As she spoke, she deliberately shivered. “Tsk, tsk, how terrifying.”

Corpse-poison was no ordinary toxin—it was the deadliest poison of all. Merely touching it with a hand was horrifying enough, let alone having an entire body submerged within it!

The less reaction Xuanyuan Lige showed, the more delighted Yanzi became—she genuinely enjoyed men like this, capable of such restraint.

She clapped her hands together and said with a smile, “All right, let’s go. We should be setting out now too.”

With that, she finally walked away from the vat, stopping in front of Xuanyuan Lige with a smile. “Want to take a closer look? Help me confirm it?”

“No need.” Xuanyuan Lige said flatly.

Yanzi shrugged. “Suit yourself, then!” With that, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing, turning to exit the cave. Xuanyuan Lige walked silently beside her, gently wiping the trace of blood from his lips, utterly without a sound!

The man in black had been about to leave as well, but hesitated a moment, then stepped closer to the vat instead, glancing inside. His usually clear eyes darkened slightly for a long, long moment before he finally composed himself, saying flatly, “Someone come take her away…”

After a few steps, he stopped again, adding just four words before finally leaving. “Take good care of her.”

Once they left the cave, Yanzi and her companions set out immediately!

To Xuanyuan Lige’s surprise, they still didn’t travel together with Ziqing—instead, it was Yanzi’s tiger-leopard beast that accompanied them on the journey.

“Where is she?” Xuanyuan Lige couldn’t help but ask. He was certain the person in that vat had been Ziqing—the scent of corpse-poison was unmistakable, and only a body with complete poison immunity could have fully absorbed such toxicity.

“She’s following behind, being escorted separately. Don’t worry about it.” Yanzi said with a smile.

“East Sea Cliff is treacherous. Without knowing the way, it’s practically impossible to climb.” Xuanyuan Lige explained.

“Don’t worry about that, I guarantee we’ll make it through!” Yanzi offered no further explanation, refusing to elaborate. Xuanyuan Lige understood that pressing further would be pointless.

From here to East Sea Cliff was only a three-day journey. For now, all he could do was pin his hopes on the note he’d left for Jun Beiyue. A lifetime of mutual hostility, and this was their first attempt at cooperation—he had no idea whether they’d manage the necessary understanding between them.

At this very moment, the snow atop East Sea Cliff’s highest peak had already melted more than halfway—in truth, this made the mountain path even more treacherous than usual.

Jun Beiyue stood alone at the summit, gazing in silence at his mother’s gravestone, recalling the time he’d offered Ziqing the dagger Liuguang. She’d refused it, so he’d brought her here instead, told her the secret of his mother.

Who would have thought that woman would still refuse Liuguang, tossing it right off the cliff edge!

He’d watched her throw it away with his own eyes—yet when that dagger next appeared, it had been at the Grand Court of Judicature, plunging straight into his own chest!

“Mother, she threw Liuguang away, then secretly went back to retrieve it. Do you think she’s foolish or not?” Jun Beiyue said, gently brushing the fallen snow from the gravestone, a helpless, bitter smile curving at his lips. “Mother, you tell me—is our Qing’er… is she… is she safe right now?”