Yao Shun Island!

Ziqing had been puzzled all along — how had Jun Beiyue managed to track down such precise information, chasing all the way to Yao Shun Island to save her?

How had he arranged everything so far in advance, even calling in Jiao Cha?

Yanzi and Yelu Chenyi were thoroughly detestable, but she had to admit — they operated with extreme precision. They were not enemies to be trifled with.

So it was this note that had leaked the secret!

The handwriting — Jun Beiyue couldn’t place it, but she recognized it at a glance. Its owner had shown her plenty of hand-copied music sheets while teaching her to play the qin; she knew this hand better than anyone’s.

It was him. Xuanyuan Lige.

He was the one who had left it.

In truth, even without recognizing the handwriting, Ziqing would have thought of Xuanyuan Lige first.

Back in that secret chamber, he was the only one who could possibly have done it.

So — he had deliberately surrendered to Yanzi. To save her.

In that instant, the image surfaced in Ziqing’s mind: that solitary, dejected figure slumped against the wall in the drug den at Sha Qiuzi’s place, so weak he looked as though he might fall apart at any moment.

Why would he do this?

Yanzi had colluded with Xuanyuan Zhaoxi — if Lige had truly thrown in his lot with Yanzi, perhaps things wouldn’t have ended up like this at all.

If he and Yanzi had joined forces, they would have been a thousand times stronger than Xuanyuan Zhaoxi.

Yanzi wouldn’t have lost. He wouldn’t have fallen this low.

Eastern Qin might even have formed an alliance with Western Jing — and Jun Beiyue would certainly not have been able to scheme against Yelu Qianqian the way he had today, seizing the chance to drive a wedge between Western Jing and Western Liang.

Xuanyuan Zhaoxi — his own younger sister — wouldn’t even have died.

With the man-gu cultivated as Yanzi had promised, reclaiming Western Chu’s territory for Eastern Qin would have been child’s play.

And yet Xuanyuan Lige — a man who had lived his entire life for one single purpose, restoring Great Qin — had actually given it up!

Ziqing couldn’t help clenching her fists, feeling a pain in her palms as sharp as a blade.

Without realizing it, she had drawn close — close enough to see into the neighboring drug den. Xuanyuan Lige was inside.

Why would he do this?

Her heart ached — but she was even angrier.

She didn’t want him to be like this.

She would rather stand in total opposition to him than have him do this.

She would rather he be ruthless and calculating, using any means necessary to restore Eastern Qin, than have him make this kind of sacrifice.

Giving up a dream he’d held onto his entire life — how much pain must that take?

How much grief must a person bear, to face the shattering of everything they’d fought for?

She was already at the entrance now. Ziqing wanted nothing more than to storm in, grab Xuanyuan Lige by the collar, and demand to know why.

But she didn’t. She stood there, jaw clenched, unmoving for a long moment.

“That’s Xuanyuan Lige, isn’t it.” Jun Beiyue said it quietly, evenly. Watching Ziqing’s reaction, he had already guessed.

Ziqing didn’t answer. Jun Beiyue continued, just as evenly, “I should thank him.”

As he spoke, he pushed the door open. Inside, the outer chamber was empty — only Xuanyuan Lige sat there alone. He seemed to be asleep, deeply asleep, his back against the wall, his head tilted onto his left shoulder, his pale, exquisite face so still it seemed a shame to disturb him.

To be able to sleep so soundly even in a place like this — how exhausted must he be?

Jun Beiyue strode in. At that moment, Xuanyuan Lige woke, and immediately saw Jun Beiyue and Ziqing. A flicker of barely perceptible helplessness crossed his eyes; he merely raised them slightly, without looking at them for long.

Jun Beiyue stopped before him. This man had always been his mortal enemy; he had never once shown him courtesy. But this was one matter, and that was another — this man had saved Ziqing.

So he would repay the debt.

Jun Beiyue crouched down, level with Xuanyuan Lige, and immediately unsealed all his acupoints, saying in a low voice, “Sha Qiuzi says you won’t live past thirty. Within a year, I will find you medicine and give you back your life.”

With that, he stood up.

Yet even as Jun Beiyue said this, Ziqing didn’t so much as glance his way — she strode straight past, heading into the cave.

Xuanyuan Lige watched this, and finally understood what was happening. He slowly rose to his feet and suddenly smiled, about to speak — when Ziqing, who had already walked off, abruptly turned back!

The contrast with her earlier coldness was total. She stormed over, fury blazing.

Rising onto her toes, she seized Xuanyuan Lige by the collar and roared, “Why? Why did you do this? Have you lost your mind? Do you know Xuanyuan Zhaoxi’s body is sitting right there in Akbachu? Do you know your mother the empress has been waiting a full half month at Eastern Qin’s southern border, with the whole world watching? Jun Beiyue is not going to go! If you dare set one foot into Great Zhou’s territory, our three tiger armies will march straight to Eastern Qin’s capital! Do you understand — now that I’ve survived this, Eastern Qin has no chance left at all!”

Jun Beiyue stood silently to the side, not interfering with Ziqing. Xuanyuan Lige let her grip him, smiling helplessly, indifferently, without a word.

Seeing him so utterly defeated, Ziqing grew even angrier. She yanked his collar tight and slammed him hard against the wall. “Xuanyuan Lige, you have at most thirty years to live. You’ve been staking your very life on this — how could you give it up so easily? Do you want me to despise you?”

It was disappointment — but even more, it was heartache for him.

She would rather meet him on the battlefield, blade against blade, life against death, a fight neither would regret, neither would carry any remorse from — anything but this.

This would leave a regret for a lifetime.

Ziqing shouted until her voice went hoarse, and the small hands gripping Xuanyuan Lige’s collar finally went slack, falling limp.

Yet Xuanyuan Lige only kept smiling. “There’s no why, Han Ziqing. Your man doesn’t like owing people favors. Neither do I. You saved my life once before — I’ve repaid it. From now on, neither of us owes the other anything.”

Han Ziqing…

How long had it been since he’d called her by her full name?

Ever since she’d counted him as a friend, ever since she’d called him A-Li, he had called her Ziqing. Even afterward, even after she never once called him A-Li again, he had still called her Ziqing — even when she’d said they owed each other nothing, and that in the future they’d show no mercy to one another.

Even when she truly never had shown him mercy.

He had still called her Ziqing. He had never once spoken to her so coldly.

But today, he said — Han Ziqing… no debts owed either way.

These words were meant for her to hear. And clearly, they were also a refusal of the promise Jun Beiyue had made him earlier.

This kind of finality was exactly what Ziqing had always wanted from him. But now that it had truly arrived — arriving right after he’d repaid his debt with his very life — Ziqing found she couldn’t quite bear it. She watched as Xuanyuan Lige slowly pried her hands off him, and for a moment, she felt hollow, at a loss for how to respond.

What he’d said wasn’t wrong.

Back on the Eastern Qin grasslands, she had saved his life from beneath Jun Beiyue’s cavalry. Now, he had repaid it. Debts settled, accounts clear — that was correct.

Xuanyuan Lige was still weak, but he walked steadily toward the door, step by step. As he passed Jun Beiyue, his gaze fixed silently on the doorway, he said flatly, “You two will always be enemies. Eastern Qin and Great Zhou will always be locked in opposition… one woman… can’t change that.”

Even though his dream had shattered for Han Ziqing’s sake, even though he had already given up on Eastern Qin — he would never become friends with Jun Beiyue.

A life for a life. By rights, he should have died at the bottom of the sea. Every extra day he lived was simply his good fortune.

With that, he walked out the door without looking back.