Ziqing’s cry came too late — the little water jar came down with a heavy “crack,” and though there was no blood, the blow surely hadn’t been gentle.

The great foolish bear looked at Ziqing, whimpering nonstop, as if begging for forgiveness.

The great foolish bear had always been simple and good-natured, and its cautious, pleading manner now was almost endearing. Ziqing felt both exasperated and amused, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “What a foolish bear you are!”

Looking at the battered, wounded bear, then at her own bedraggled state, Ziqing found she couldn’t stop laughing once she started.

Perhaps, in that moment, only this simple, foolish bear could make her forget everything else for a while and laugh from the heart.

Bold now, she reached out and touched the great foolish bear’s head, smoothing its fur, and asked, “Was it you who saved me?”

The great foolish bear didn’t understand a word, but seeing Ziqing smile, it was overjoyed, certain she had forgiven it, its eyes brimming with gratitude.

After all, in all its years, this was the first time it had ever seen such a friendly top-tier poison beast.

Like Howling Hare and Henggong Fish, it too had taken Ziqing for a top-tier poison beast.

Across the entire world of poison beasts there were only four top-tier beasts. Even though Henggong Fish and Howling Hare were the weakest of the four, wherever they went, every other beast still had to give way.

Whatever the other two top-tier beasts were like, these two alone had never once shown any first-tier poison beast a friendly face!

In their eyes, first-tier poison beasts were as good as dirt!

Seeing how friendly Ziqing was, the great foolish bear suddenly felt a swell of smug pride, chuckling foolishly to itself — it had been saved by a top-tier poison beast, and could even be her friend! In the entire world of poison beasts, no first-tier beast had ever been given such an honor! What incredible luck!

It thought: if such a powerful top-tier beast thought so highly of it, it would gladly devote everything it had to her, even give its life.

Seeing the great foolish bear give no answer, only chuckle away, growing sillier and sillier by the moment, Ziqing was now completely certain — this great foolish bear didn’t understand human speech at all.

And the word “top-tier poison beast,” which those other two beasts had used earlier — it seemed to suggest that poison beasts here were ranked by tier. Could it be that only top-tier poison beasts could speak?

So then, what exactly was this place?

Was this a world beneath the desert?

Besides poison beasts, was there anything else in this world?

How was she supposed to get out of here?

A flood of questions surged through her mind, giving Ziqing a headache. But soon, she remembered the mural she’d seen in the hidden chamber of Yelu Chenyi’s storage room — the scene of poison beasts cultivating a Gu.

Suddenly it dawned on her, and she murmured to herself, “A world beneath the desert, a world of poison beasts… a world for cultivating Gu!”

That mural — neither the beasts nor the plants matched anything on the Longyuan Continent at all. It was clearly a different world entirely!

She had been pulled down by an unfamiliar force — could it be that she had fallen into the world of poison beasts?

Suddenly Ziqing looked up sharply at the great foolish bear, her brow furrowing. Could this unusually large bear before her also be a poison beast?

And this so-called cultivation of a human Gu — wasn’t that exactly this, making her fight poison beasts to the death?

Cultivating a Gu — someone wanted to cultivate her into one!

Realizing all of this at once, Ziqing froze, her hand reaching unconsciously for her chest. Just before she’d lost consciousness, her chest had ached faintly, and it had felt as though another consciousness in her mind was trying to seize control!

Could that have been the Gu cultivation process beginning?

Ziqing’s hand clenched tight over her chest. She finally understood — if her mind had been under someone else’s control while unconscious, then that fight with the poison beasts earlier might well have been the very start of the Gu cultivation process!

She wouldn’t act with restraint, wouldn’t have thoughts of her own — she’d be controlled, driven to fight the poison beasts to the death, over and over, until one day her body was fully cultivated into a true human Gu, invincible, immune to all poison.

That was close — too close!

Ziqing clutched at the front of her clothes, still shaken. If her willpower had been even the slightest bit weaker just now, then the person before you right now would no longer be Han Ziqing at all — she would be a puppet, entirely under someone else’s control.

She remembered — when the tornado struck, she’d felt something pierce her chest, a brief flash of pain.

Could that have been the moment the Gu was planted in her?

At that time, in the cave, besides Situ Haonan, there had only been that old nanny!

It was her!

She was the one who cultivated the Gu!

She knew the true secret of Mingsha Mountain — the underground world of poison beasts was the real secret, and the most terrifying one of all.

Even that eerie tornado — she must have understood it perfectly.

Mingsha Mountain, in truth, had nothing to do with the lost island at all — that was why Ziqing had never been able to find any connection, no matter how she searched, between the ruins of Mingsha Mountain and “Lishang”!

In fact, the ruins of Mingsha Mountain had absolutely nothing to do with Lishang!

The secret of the lost island had two separate threads: one was this world of poison beasts, the place for cultivating human Gu; the other was Lishang itself — the location of the lost island.

The more Ziqing thought about it, the colder and heavier her heart grew. So that was how it was!

She and Jun Beiyue had been searching for the lost island’s location all this time, never imagining that the location itself wasn’t the dangerous part at all — Mingsha Mountain was.

Jun Beiyue…

Suddenly, the furrow in Ziqing’s brow slowly eased, and a wave of sorrow she couldn’t hold back crept across her face.

She had been avoiding thinking of him this whole time, and yet here she was, thinking of him again.

Don’t think about it!

Ziqing clutched her head, shaking it hard, refusing to think, forcing herself to push it aside, not letting herself spiral.

“Don’t think… don’t think about anything, don’t guess at things…”

“When I see him, I’ll ask him properly… don’t let your imagination run wild… don’t!”

…

But the harder she tried to control it, the more she couldn’t help herself, drawn further and further down a rabbit hole of doubt.

Jun Beiyue had promised her he would keep Bai Mengmeng locked away forever, never to be seen again — so why had Bai Mengmeng shown up at Mingsha Mountain?

She and Situ Haonan had both fallen — why had Jun Beiyue ignored them and turned back to grab Bai Mengmeng instead?

Why… why… why had he embraced Bai Mengmeng!

Finally, Ziqing slowly let her hands fall, murmuring in despair, “Why…”

Did he not want her anymore?

Or was she simply nowhere near as important to him as Bai Mengmeng?

Did he even know she had been waiting all this time, working so hard, trying so hard to keep peace between him and his brother, trying to win over the people around him who held her origins against her, until they were convinced?

Did he know that if he had only been devoted to her, she would have given everything, even her life, gladly?

And yet, at the moment of life and death, he had chosen to reach for another woman’s hand!

“Jun Beiyue… Jun Beiyue…” Ziqing didn’t cry, shed no tears, and yet her voice clearly carried the sound of weeping. “Jun Beiyue… what use are you to me!”

What use are you to me — when I needed you most, you chose another woman. What use, what use at all?

“Jun Beiyue, I don’t want you anymore! From now on, I don’t need you at all!”

But could she really do it?

…

A note to readers: Did the system send you your guaranteed monthly votes?