“Mingsha Mountain… Mingsha Mountain… the day of the singing sands…”
The Gu Matron kept murmuring to herself, and the guard beside her, seeing this, didn’t dare disturb her further. These past days, the Gu Matron had kept watch while poring over the scriptures.
These scriptures were secret texts of the Great Barbarian Witch-God Cult, recording not only the cult’s history but also many of its little-known secrets and arcane arts.
These particular volumes could only be read by the Great High Priestess of the Great Barbarian Witch-God Cult herself, and yet even the High Priestess could not fully understand all of the texts.
These books were normally kept locked away within the cult, out of reach, and no one knew why the High Priestess had taken several of the volumes out with her.
Just as everyone was marveling at this, the Gu Matron suddenly leapt to her feet. “I understand now!”
Everyone was utterly baffled, exchanging glances but not daring to step forward and ask. They had long grown used to the Gu Matron’s muttering and eccentric behavior.
But this time was different. The Gu Matron abruptly seized one of them by the arm, staring and staring, until a smile slowly bloomed across her aged face, gradually turning into wild, ecstatic joy. “I know! I finally understand! Hahaha! I know how to cultivate the Gu! I never imagined it—so that’s how it is!”
The guard didn’t dare respond. The Gu Matron kept talking to herself. “So that’s how it is! Who would have guessed! Tell me, who could have guessed that the truth of Mingsha Mountain was this?”
“I’m telling you, I’ll soon be able to find another person immune to all poisons! Before long, I will absolutely succeed in cultivating the Gu! Absolutely!”
“So that’s it! Hahaha, all those years of effort weren’t wasted after all!”
Finally, the guard timidly spoke up. “High Priestess, didn’t you already know how to cultivate a human Gu long ago?”
“No!” the Gu Matron immediately denied loudly.
“I know the method for cultivating a human Gu, but not just me—in the entire several-hundred-year history of Longyuan, no one has ever truly succeeded. Do you know why?”
“Matron, cultivating a human Gu requires a poison-immune beast, and such beasts are hard to find…” the guard answered timidly, feeling that the High Priestess before him was on the verge of madness.
“Poison-immune beasts are indeed hard to find—but beneath Mingsha Mountain, they’re everywhere!” The Gu Matron’s eyes narrowed.
The guard still didn’t understand. Wasn’t this secret already known?
Beneath Mingsha Mountain lay a world of poisonous beasts, a natural ground for cultivating Gu. As long as one captured a human Gu vessel and sent them into that world of poisonous beasts beneath the mountain, in a hundred days, the cultivation would surely succeed.
Beyond that, what other secret could Mingsha Mountain possibly hold?
Of course, gaining entry to Mingsha Mountain wasn’t easy either. Guarding it from the outside was the Xijing royal family, and from within, people of the Nanzhao royal house. Even now, having found someone immune to all poisons, it wasn’t as though the cultivation could begin the moment they wished.
Watching the guard’s confused expression, a mysterious smile curved at the corners of the Gu Matron’s lips. She slowly leaned in close to his ear and murmured something in a low voice. The guard’s expression changed again and again, until finally his jaw dropped in shock, as though he had heard something utterly horrifying!
At last, the Gu Matron lifted her head and gently pressed a finger to the guard’s lips, signaling that this was a secret he must keep sealed forever.
The guard nodded hastily, but couldn’t stop himself from shivering uncontrollably where he stood.
The Gu Matron’s expression had already turned sharp and severe. She gazed far off toward the east and said coldly, “This time, this old woman will stake everything on one gamble!”
Hearing this, the guard couldn’t help but remind her, “High Priestess, if the Great King discovers you’ve abandoned your post, you’ll—”
“I can’t worry about that anymore. The day of the singing sands isn’t far off. We must find that other poison-immune person as quickly as possible!” With that, the Gu Matron immediately pulled the five-colored venomous lizard out from her sleeve, and after feeding it some unknown poisonous concoction, the lizard’s entire body instantly turned black.
“Little thing, you’ve longed for Mingsha Mountain for a long time now, haven’t you? Let’s go there right now!” the Gu Matron said, and without warning flung the lizard away. The moment it landed, it seemed to be seized by some Gu compulsion and dashed madly forward.
“Wait here for me!” the Gu Matron instructed, and in a flash her figure vanished, chasing after the lizard.
Exactly what secret the Gu Matron had uncovered, and why she was now so certain she could find another poison-immune person—only the guard behind her knew.
Watching her figure disappear into the distance, he shivered again and again. Just thinking about that matter made his blood run cold.
He raised his face to meet the northwest wind blowing straight at him, and, mimicking the Gu Matron’s earlier posture, closed his eyes to feel the wind’s breath, listening for its secrets… He thought, before long, this desert would be turned completely upside down…
And not far from this stretch of the Gobi, an old nanny was also standing alone in the northwest wind, lost in thought.
This was none other than Nanny Qin of the Eastern Qin.
Ever since losing track of Yelu Qianqian, she had fled all the way here, gathering news of the war as she went.
By now, Eastern Qin could be said to have fallen.
All that remained was the northern highland plateau, now split in two between Jun Beiyue and Min Han Muder. Eastern Qin’s territory existed no more!
Thinking of this, two lines of clear tears slowly slid down from the corners of Nanny Qin’s eyes.
Eastern Qin was destroyed—so why hadn’t the crown prince Li appeared yet?
Was he… truly dead?
Or… was it his heart that had died?
The thing Nanny Qin least wanted to see was Xuanyuan Lige’s heart dying—if his heart died, that would be even more devastating than his body dying!
Tears streaming down her face, Nanny Qin clutched a silk handkerchief tightly in her hands. This very handkerchief was the one she had fought so hard to obtain—racing ahead even of the Eastern Qin Empress, even ahead of the Guxi that Han Ziqing had sent—she had gotten to the secret of the totem first!
Not only had she obtained the secret of the totem, she had also secretly destroyed the ruins!
All the secrets were imprinted on this handkerchief!
She had carried this secret meaning to give the crown prince a wonderful surprise, but who could have known that by the time she left Yaoshun Island and returned to Eastern Qin, everything had changed—nothing was the same!
To this day, she still hadn’t been able to find the crown prince!
All because of this handkerchief, all because of this secret—that was why she had stayed away from the crown prince for so long, all because of this secret!
Nanny Qin wanted desperately to tear the handkerchief to pieces, but she didn’t.
She slowly lowered her gaze to the handkerchief in her hands, worn nearly to shreds from handling. She knew this was her last bargaining chip, and quite possibly the final, final hope for the Eastern Qin royal house.
What if she used this secret to threaten Jun Beiyue?
With the war about to end and the peace conference soon to be convened, her only chance was to reach Jun Beiyue before the conference and trade this secret with him—at the very least, she might be able to preserve the northern highland plateau for Eastern Qin, and get both the Xiongnu and Da Zhou to withdraw their troops!
This was truly a last resort, born of having no other choice!
With this thought, Nanny Qin abruptly unfolded the handkerchief and saw that the imprinted characters and patterns were still intact—only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Without further hesitation, she rose, mounted her horse, and galloped off immediately in the direction of Eastern Qin…