The Xiongnu and Nanzhao, though located at the northernmost and southernmost extremes of the Longyuan continent, had never, throughout all of recorded history, had any real contact with one another!

But several hundred years ago, before the Longyuan continent had fractured into the divided state it was in now, the Xiongnu people and the Nanzhao people had indeed once had contact with each other!

Even now, there remained shared elements within the faiths they each practiced—such as the art of gu within witchcraft!

The cultivation of poison gu was no secret at all in Nanzhao. But within the Xiongnu’s Great Barbarian Witch-Spirit Faith, it was regarded as a secret art, passed down only to each successive generation’s high priestess!

Cultivating a poison gu—whether an insect gu or a human gu—required poisonous herbs, poisonous insects, and even poisonous beasts!

The land where the Xiongnu nation was situated was the most barren region of the entire Longyuan continent, utterly lacking in the abundance of poisonous herbs and insects needed. And so, over time, the art of poison gu cultivation had gradually fallen into disuse, until by now it had become a secret known to almost no one.

Within the Great Barbarian Witch-Spirit Faith, however, quite a few generations of Great Barbarian Witches had taken an interest in the art of poison gu, leaving behind notes and records of their findings.

Minhan Guxin had been sent into the Great Barbarian Witch-Spirit Faith at the age of six to inherit the position of high priestess. With nothing else to occupy her, she had begun studying the art of gu cultivation, and in the year she turned sixteen, while poring over the records left by her predecessors, she discovered the secret of Nanzhao’s Lone Island!

Within the direct bloodline of Nanzhao’s Lone Island, a male and a female would occasionally appear—one yang, one yin—both individuals immune to all poisons!

Their constitutions were extraordinarily special, and could be used to cultivate the human poison gu within the Poison Den!

A woman immune to all poisons, once cultivated into a human poison gu, could poison the entire world, unmatched by anyone, obeying only her master’s commands—this was called a yin-type human gu!

But the yin-type human gu was not only extremely difficult to cultivate, it was also exceedingly difficult to control. Should its backlash ever strike, the one who had cultivated it would surely die—and once that person died, there would be no one left in the world capable of controlling it!

Only a yang-type gu could suppress this backlash!

In a sense, it could be said that the yin-type human gu was, by its very nature, submissive to the yang-type human gu!

And so, the safest way to cultivate a yin-type human gu was to first find that man immune to all poisons, and cultivate the yang-type human gu first!

Once Minhan Guxin learned this secret, she began searching for someone immune to all poisons. Thirty years ago, by sheer chance, she came across a child.

She had originally intended to keep him at her side, training him to be a guard, and had even given him a rather beautiful name—Gusheng.

But unexpectedly, while working with poison, she discovered this child was immune to all poisons!

She spent a full twenty-five years cultivating him into a human gu!

But just as she was preparing to use him to seek out the other person immune to all poisons, disaster struck!

She had been young back then, after all, and her mastery of the art of gu cultivation had not yet been fully refined. Though she had succeeded in cultivating the boy’s body into a human gu, she had never fully gained control over his mind!

In cultivating a yin-type human gu, the focus lay primarily on cultivating the poisoned body, with cultivating the mind only secondary, since a yin-type human gu’s mind and will were naturally weak by nature—that woman immune to all poisons would necessarily be timid, easily frightened, lacking in strength of spirit.

And so, cultivating a yin-type human gu required almost no attention to the mind at all—but cultivating the poisoned body was exceedingly difficult, requiring vast quantities of poisonous beasts, with a low rate of success.

The yang-type human gu, however, was the exact opposite.

For the yang-type human gu, cultivating the mind took priority, with the poisoned body only secondary—the yang-type human gu’s mind and will were naturally powerful, formidable.

Back then, the very reason she’d taken notice of this orphan in the first place was that she’d been drawn to his stubborn, unyielding nature.

Throughout those twenty-five years of cultivation, she had needed only poisonous herbs—she hadn’t even needed poisonous beasts. Relieved as she was by this, she had neglected the cultivation of his mind.

And it was precisely because of this neglect that, five years ago, the child she had raised, drawing on his astonishing force of will, had regained full clarity of mind—and escaped!

And once he fled, five years passed without a single word of his whereabouts!

Though five years had passed without seeing him, if Minhan Guxin ever laid eyes on him again, she would recognize him instantly, without fail.

Once a human gu was fully cultivated, that person’s appearance would never change again for the rest of their life. Minhan Guxin’s impression of that child was seared far too deep into her memory—his features weren’t the most striking, but when at rest, he was pure and clean as a blooming lotus, and when he smiled, it was as radiant as sunlight.

For the entire five years, she had never once had a reason to leave the Xiongnu lands—otherwise, she would have hunted him down long ago!

Now, at last, her chance had come!

The brightly colored poisonous lizard in her hand flicked its long, demonically red tongue in and out repeatedly, its tail swishing without pause, searching for the scent of the human gu. Though it couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, the general direction would never be wrong!

This poisonous lizard had accompanied that child for the full twenty-five years of his cultivation—it knew his scent far too intimately to ever mistake it.

Suddenly, the lizard’s tail went still, pointing in one direction—west!

“West?”

Minhan Guxin frowned in suspicion, gazing off toward the west. Traveling west from here in a straight line would lead through the Innocence Ravine! And beyond the Innocence Ravine lay Xichu!

Though she could only determine the general direction, she could still follow it, step by step!

A cold, confident smile of certain triumph curled at the corners of Minhan Guxin’s lips as she gave the order for the group to set out. She could hardly wait for the fifteenth of next month to arrive…

Given the current state of affairs, Xichu, like Nanzhao, ought to be among the calmest of all the nations—given its present strength, all it could really do was bide its time, conserving its energy while watching how events unfolded.

At this moment, Nanny Qin stood at the border between Xichu and the Xiongnu lands, gazing out in silence at Xichu’s vast, boundless grasslands.

This was the very first time in her entire life she had ever set foot on Xichu soil—this land that had carried the dreams of so many generations of Eastern Qin’s Xuanyuan imperial house!

This land that had carried the entire lifetime’s hopes of Crown Prince Li!

Nanny Qin felt a deep pang of emotion. If Crown Prince Li could, within his lifetime, reclaim this vast grassland of Xichu for Eastern Qin, then surely he would have no regrets left in this life!

“Nanny Qin, this is a letter sent by Consort Qinji of Nanzhao. We couldn’t locate His Highness the Crown Prince, so we could only deliver it to you instead.”

A guard brought over several letters. Nanny Qin took them, about to open them, but then stopped herself. She knew His Highness’s temperament well, and she had always been careful never to touch his things without permission!

His Highness was still alive—she would never overstep the bounds of a servant!

“Just put it together with the other letters. I believe we’ll be seeing His Highness again soon enough,” Nanny Qin said earnestly.

Along this journey, she had thought about a great many things.

If His Highness the Crown Prince hadn’t met with some misfortune, then he must be in hiding somewhere!

Neither the war between Eastern Qin and Da Zhou, nor anything else, had been able to draw him out—but what if Da Zhou were to fall?

Surely, then, he would come out!

“Hey, old nanny, are you coming or not? If you’re too slow, it’s not my fault or my father the emperor’s fault that Xuanyuan Lige left Eastern Qin!” Yelu Qianqian urged from atop her horse!

Reports of battle had been pouring in nonstop along the way. Xijing had lost several more cities these past few days, and she was half-tempted to head straight for Xiliang without even returning to Xijing at all!

Only, she still needed this old nanny to escort her part of the way.

“I know you’re in a hurry. Once we’re past the Xiongnu lands, we’ll head through the northern desert, and once we reach Xijing territory, you’ll notify your father the emperor at once to surrender to Xiliang. How does that sound?”

“As long as the letter can be delivered, I can write it right now!” Yelu Qianqian said, pouting with displeasure.

Nanny Qin was quite satisfied and gave the order to set out at once. She had changed her mind—she was no longer in a hurry to find Crown Prince Li. Instead, she intended to use Yelu Qianqian as leverage to negotiate with the Emperor of Xijing, persuading Xijing and Xiliang to reconcile and cooperate, joining forces to attack Da Zhou’s western border, and wipe away their disgrace once and for all!

Wasn’t this, after all, exactly what the Emperor of Xijing had been scheming for from the very start?

Nanny Qin was eager to meet with the Emperor of Xijing, unaware that Ziqing and Situ Haonan had already arrived at Akbatsu City.