Facing Xuanyuan Lige’s steady advance, the King of Nanzhao ultimately did not trigger the mechanism.
The gravity of the situation was enough to override all his fury, forcing him to face Xuanyuan Lige with cold composure.
The King of Nanzhao had always been an easygoing man, but where matters of the Isolated Island were concerned, he never took anything lightly.
Finally, he stopped retreating, and with a grand gesture, offered a seat. “Since Master Xuanyuan has come, let us sit and talk properly.”
Whatever Xuanyuan Lige’s true purpose, at least he had come to talk, not to cause trouble—otherwise he needn’t have come at all.
Seeing this, Xuanyuan Lige felt a flicker of grudging respect for the King of Nanzhao.
In truth, among all the powers of the Longyuan continent, the Nanzhao royal family was the one he held in the least regard.
The Nanzhao royal house was the weakest, yet bound by the most rules and formalities. If not for the fierce loyalty of Nanzhao’s various tribes to the royal family, and the King’s long-standing policy of isolation, the Nanzhao royal line likely wouldn’t have held onto the throne at all.
Seeing Xuanyuan Lige take a seat, the King of Nanzhao sat as well, and the three clan chieftains returned to their original positions, forming a standoff—Xuanyuan Lige alone, facing the four of them together.
“Master Xuanyuan, you say someone immune to all poisons appeared at Mingsha Mountain—what exactly is this about? How do you know the secret of our Nanzhao Isolated Island?” the King of Nanzhao asked first, forcing himself to be patient.
But Xuanyuan Lige acted as though he hadn’t heard, countering instead, “Your Majesty, what secret lies within the passage beneath Mingsha Mountain? And that tornado—what caused it?”
This was what Xuanyuan Lige most wanted to know!
He stubbornly believed Ziqing wasn’t dead. If she hadn’t died in that tornado, then there was only one possibility—she had gone missing right there at Mingsha Mountain.
Mingsha Mountain was one of the great ruins of the Isolated Island, yet it had never seemed connected to the song Lishang. Either it truly had nothing to do with the song, or there was still something about the secret chamber he didn’t know.
And asking the King of Nanzhao directly was the most straightforward way to find out.
“Master Xuanyuan, please answer my question first,” the King of Nanzhao said, showing no intention of backing down.
Xuanyuan Lige coughed lightly several times, suppressing the taste of blood rising in his throat, and asked the King of Nanzhao for a zither.
“What do you need a zither for?” the Yao clan elder couldn’t help asking. He could see the young man was gravely ill, perhaps even at death’s door, yet he couldn’t fathom what illness afflicted him.
“Since His Majesty doesn’t trust me, I’ll play a piece to prove it to you,” Xuanyuan Lige said flatly.
The King of Nanzhao started, the words tumbling out before he could stop them. “Lishang!”
He was Xuanyuan Lige, after all—the greatest zither master under heaven, famous precisely for the piece called Lishang!
Once, the Nanzhao royal family had looked into this very matter. But there were so many pieces in the world called “Lishang” that none matched the famous piece left behind by the Isolated Island’s zither master. Back then, the Nanzhao royal family had investigated Xuanyuan Lige too, only to conclude that his “Lishang” was merely a piece that happened to share the same name.
Now, recalling this, the King of Nanzhao couldn’t help but feel a chill of alarm. Could it be that their investigation back then had been deceived by Xuanyuan Lige after all?
Seeing the King’s shock, Xuanyuan Lige smiled. “I still remember—after I once performed Lishang, a Nanzhao envoy mocked me for it, calling it hollow verse composed for effect, pain without cause.”
Hearing this, the beast clan chieftain’s face flushed red at once—it had been he himself who’d personally gone to investigate Xuanyuan Lige’s Lishang back then!
He’d long since forgotten the incident, never imagining he might have missed something so important.
The zither was never brought up, because by now the King of Nanzhao and the three great chieftains had all gone deathly pale. They knew that the piece called Lishang had been left behind by that very zither master of old—the Nanzhao royal family had captured the musician, but never found the score, and had been secretly searching for it ever since.
Even the Nanzhao royal family didn’t know exactly how many secrets of the Isolated Island that musician had hidden within Lishang—whether it even held the secrets of the Poison Beast World.
If Lishang ever fell into the wrong hands and was deciphered, the consequences would be beyond even the Nanzhao royal family’s ability to estimate!
The Poison Beast World—what a terrifying realm that was.
The Kingdom of Nanzhao had always relied on its beast legions; though it didn’t openly dominate the Longyuan continent, none dared provoke it either—in a sense, it was the true hegemon of Longyuan.
But within the Poison Beast World, a single poison beast could rival an entire Nanzhao poison army!
The Poison Beast World held not only the danger of cultivating human Gu, but also the danger of annihilating Nanzhao’s beast legions!
Centuries ago, the Nanzhao royal family had once secretly bred a great host of Gu beasts, but had ultimately still had to wipe out the poison beasts within that world.
So many years had passed since then—there was no telling how powerful the Poison Beast World had grown by now!
Facing four faces gone pale as paper, Xuanyuan Lige made no further request for the zither, saying instead, “The Lishang in my possession consists of nine hundred and ninety-nine scrolls in total. The secrets of the Isolated Island are hidden within the climactic section, connected to several of the island’s ruins.”
The more Xuanyuan Lige spoke, the paler the King of Nanzhao’s face grew, cold sweat beading unconsciously on his forehead. Everything Xuanyuan Lige said was accurate!
What he possessed truly was the genuine Lishang—the very piece left behind by that zither master of old.
“These ruins include the Liuxian Isle Zither Valley, the Bai Clan’s Mulberry Tree, the Ancient Music Cave of Nanzhao, the Yao Shun Isle of Eastern Qin…”
By the time Xuanyuan Lige reached this point, he had already proven beyond doubt that he wasn’t lying. He paused, then began to press further. “Your Majesty, as to whether Mingsha Mountain is connected to Lishang, I believe you can give me a satisfactory answer.”
At these words, the King of Nanzhao snapped out of his shock, staring coldly at Xuanyuan Lige. After a long, long silence, he demanded sharply, “How many others know of this besides you! Where did your copy of Lishang come from?”
Xuanyuan Lige laughed coldly. “It seems His Majesty still isn’t showing sincerity in this negotiation.”
To his surprise, the King of Nanzhao slammed his hand down on the table. “Xuanyuan Lige, I’ve seen no sincerity from you either! Why exactly have you come!”
At last, Xuanyuan Lige’s own anger flared. He slammed his palm down as well, rising sharply, his voice fierce. “I’ve come for the human Gu! I will not have the woman I love most cultivated into a plague-bearing, walking corpse of a human Gu! Even if it costs me my life, I will stop this from happening!”
As he spoke, a mouthful of blood burst from his lips despite himself, his entire body swaying with weakness. Yet still he stood tall, glaring at everyone present with overwhelming force, not like a sick man at all, but like a king—regal, commanding, not to be disrespected.
Watching the blood trickling from Xuanyuan Lige’s lips, and the resolve burning in his eyes, the King of Nanzhao felt a secret admiration well up within him. He said seriously, “Xuanyuan Lige, for those words of yours, I will tell you… everything.”
But there was one thing the King of Nanzhao did not say aloud—in his heart, he silently vowed, “Xuanyuan Lige, even if it is the person you love most—once we find her, she dies.”
“What is the secret of Mingsha Mountain!” Xuanyuan Lige demanded, word by word. He could easily guess at the killing intent hidden in the King of Nanzhao’s eyes without even needing to look—otherwise, Jun Beiyue, with all his resources, could have negotiated with the King of Nanzhao himself long ago.
Xuanyuan Lige, too, issued his own silent warning in his heart to the King of Nanzhao. “Find her, and even if it plunges the world into chaos, even if the Nanzhao beast legions invade every nation of Longyuan, I will never hand her over to you.”
Ziqing—Jun Beiyue wants both the world and you. But I, Xuanyuan Lige, would rather overturn the world for your sake alone.