Deep in the silent night, Baili Weisheng stared at the ruined, ash-covered clinic in the desert, absently rubbing his clear black eyes as they rolled in thought, wondering just where on earth Sha Qiuzi might have fled to—and still torn over whether he ought to go into hiding himself.
After all, Jun Beiyue had no time or mind to spare for using the Poison Den against him right now, not for a good while yet!
That battle raging on the Northern Frontier—by his estimate, it wouldn’t be over in less than a year, maybe more.
Jun Beiyue was deep and calculating, but he had no real understanding of the Xiongnu. To dare throw the full strength of a nation into battle against them on his very first encounter—that boy truly had nerve.
After mulling it over for a long while, Baili Weisheng ultimately decided to go into hiding after all. If the Xiongnu meant to strike at the Central Plains, then the one person he feared most would surely come to the Central Plains as well.
And if that person happened to catch even the faintest trace of him, then forget bringing Xiao Qingqing home—he himself would be finished.
The thought alone sent a shiver through him, his whole body trembling several times over.
He himself didn’t fully understand what connection he had to the Xiongnu, or exactly which person among them he feared so deeply—but this fear was no joke. It ran bone-deep.
He glanced up at the sky, then set off toward Akbachu.
If he truly meant to hide, logic would suggest hiding in the sea—after all, he was a Jiao merman. And yet, instead, he headed straight toward the northwest of Akbachu.
To the northwest lay none other than Mingsha Mountain.
Aside from Yanzi’s cave dwelling at Mingsha, where else could he possibly hide?
Even with Western Jing in chaos, its royal house teetering on the edge of collapse, and Akbachu itself liable to fall to rebellion at any moment—after all, the Wolf Army that Yelu Chenyi had left behind had already been taken to the battlefield by General Dugu—Mingsha Mountain, less than a mile from Akbachu, remained the safest place of all. Because no one, whether loyal to the Yelu royal house or in open rebellion, dared lay a hand on this mountain.
This was precisely why the Nanzhao royal family never dared destroy Mingsha Mountain either—for beneath this mountain lay an extraordinarily important secret.
Among all the secrets of the isolated island, the most closely guarded, aside from the twelve notes of Qinse Sea Valley, was this very mountain.
Baili Weisheng knew this place all too well. Slipping in under cover of darkness was effortless for him.
He now stood at the foot of Mingsha Mountain, gazing up at the sacred peak. The season of fierce northwest winds had passed, and the mountain sat in perfect silence, like a slumbering old deity. No sound of shifting sand could be heard—only the whistling wind, which sounded uncannily like the old deity’s own snoring in the dead of night.
“Sigh…” Baili Weisheng let out a long, helpless breath, shook his head, and stepped into the Mingsha cave.
Inside the dim cavern, only the area near the entrance caught any moonlight; further in, it was pitch black, impossible to see one’s own hand. Baili Weisheng advanced step by step, his silhouette gradually fading into the darkness.
No one could say exactly how he made his way through—but when he reappeared, he was already standing in an underground chamber.
A chamber—not a passage.
Clearly, this was different from the hidden passage Jun Beiyue and Yanzi had once fallen into.
But judging by the luminous pearls embedded in the walls, this chamber had to be part of the same complex as that passage.
Under the glow of the luminous pearls, the layout of the chamber became faintly visible—four walls, each with a door, like some kind of maze chamber.
Baili Weisheng didn’t hesitate at all, heading straight for the door directly ahead. He passed through it, walked on, and unexpectedly arrived at a garden.
The garden wasn’t large. At its center lay a deep pool of water, cold air constantly rising from its surface—proof of just how frigid the water was.
The whole garden teemed with life. Several centuries-old banyan trees stood thick with hanging roots cascading down like great tangled beards.
That such an underground chamber could sustain a world this vibrant was astonishing enough on its own—but what was truly incredible was that, aside from the banyan trees, not a single plant here resembled anything found on the surface. All of it was some unknown, unnamed species.
Were this garden set above ground, it would surely be called an oasis in the middle of the desert.
But set underground as it was, there was no proper word for it at all—one could only call it a miracle.
Baili Weisheng seemed thoroughly familiar with this place. He lazily leapt up onto one of the sprawling banyan trunks, laced his hands behind his head, and let out another long sigh.
Just then, a child’s voice suddenly spoke up. “Master, you’ve grown so old.”
The Poison Den’s medicine boy came strolling out from somewhere.
This was a child born of poison and medicine—the only disciple Baili Weisheng had ever taken.
He walked up to Baili Weisheng and said, in a tone far more mature than his years, “Sigh any more and you’ll only get older.”
Baili Weisheng tilted his head to look at him and asked, “Do you think Han Ziqing will really come blow up this mountain?”
He knew perfectly well that Han Ziqing was in the Western Border, and he knew perfectly well why she had come.
She’d come to free Jun Beiyue of any lingering worries, for Yelu Qianqian’s happiness—and, at the same time, for this mountain, and the hidden passage beneath it.
Of the isolated island’s secrets, only two remained: Yaoshun Island, and Mingsha Mountain.
In truth, he himself knew little about the secret of Yaoshun Island—he didn’t even understand the meaning of that totem there.
All he’d been doing, this whole while, was protecting himself while quietly luring them toward Yaoshun Island instead.
He simply hadn’t expected Jun Beiyue to turn the tables on him.
The only secret he truly knew was this one—the secret of Mingsha Mountain. And this was a secret that could never be touched.
“Master, set your mind fully at ease. Someone as clever as the Princess Consort of Prince Yao would never blow up the mountain. She’ll come through the hidden passage instead,” the medicine boy said—referring to the very chamber entrance that Yelu Chenyi had once sealed shut.
With Yelu Chenyi’s death, no one had watched over this place since, and the secret remained unknown throughout all of Western Jing.
But Han Ziqing knew. Jun Beiyue knew. And Yanzi knew, too.
Baili Weisheng almost wished Han Ziqing would hurry up and uncover every last secret of the isolated island—except for this one. This particular secret, he prayed, would remain unknown forever.
The isolated island itself wasn’t here, after all.
“This isn’t even her home. What would she come here for?”
“This isn’t some place you can just wander into either way. Even if she came, it’d do her no good!”
…
Listening to his master mutter to himself, the medicine boy looked thoroughly puzzled. Though he’d been with his master for a long time now, he knew very little. He only knew his master was a Jinjiao, a golden Jiao merman. He only knew that when he’d first met his master at age three, his master had already looked exactly this young—and now, at eight years old, his master hadn’t changed in the slightest.
He also knew that his master’s entire body was poisonous—even his saliva carried poison, let alone his blood.
“Master, the Nanzhao Black Jiao guards the water below,” the medicine boy said, pointing toward the deep pool, his voice lowered.
To say the Nanzhao Black Jiao guarded this underground chamber would be less accurate than saying they guarded this very pool.
Clearly, something significant lay beneath that dark water.
“What good is their guarding it!” Baili Weisheng said, brooding, his brow furrowed tight. Though he was nothing like some fearsome demon by nature, when his brow knit like this, all trace of his usual carefree, joking manner vanished—even his own devoted medicine boy didn’t dare approach him carelessly.
The medicine boy sighed and sat down quietly beside him, waiting.