Clearly, the Nanzhao royal family knew nothing about that bizarre tornado either.

Because the tornado hadn’t yet blown the underground secret fully into the open, the Nanzhao royal family hadn’t paid it much attention or grown too suspicious. So the Nanzhao royal family had remained composed enough to simply watch how things developed.

But the news Xuanyuan Lige brought made it impossible for the Nanzhao king to just sit and watch any longer.

Someone immune to a hundred poisons had actually appeared — and had vanished in that very tornado. Clearly, something was wrong with that storm!

Once the truth was laid out, the Nanzhao king could no longer contain himself, practically ready to leap up in agitation, glaring furiously at Xuanyuan Lige, waiting for him to reveal what he knew.

“She’s immune to all poisons — resistant to any toxin, except medicinal poison. And even against certain special medicinal poisons, she has some degree of immunity — such as charm poison, seduction incense…”

Before Xuanyuan Lige could even finish, the head of the Medicine Clan nodded at once. “Yes, yes! Exactly, that’s precisely the constitution!”

“When the tornado struck, she happened to be near Mingsha Mountain. After the wind passed, she was gone…”

At this point Xuanyuan Lige stopped speaking, looking coldly at the Nanzhao king, who stared back just as coldly. A moment later, the Nanzhao king slammed his teacup down. “Find her! Better to act wrongly than to miss the chance!”

What Xuanyuan Lige had said was clear enough.

After the wind passed, the person vanished — there were only two possibilities. Either she’d been swept away by the wind and died, or she hadn’t left at all, but had vanished right there in place.

Even if there were only the faintest chance, the Nanzhao king would rather act on suspicion than let it slip past.

“Princess Qianqian digging that deep — she’s looking for that woman?” he demanded coldly.

“Yes.” Xuanyuan Lige didn’t deny it. He could have made up any number of excuses, but he knew the Nanzhao king and the three clan heads weren’t so easily fooled.

“Princess Qianqian knows this woman, and knows her background too?” the Nanzhao king pressed further.

“No. In this whole world, aside from her herself, only I know — because Lishang is in my possession.” Xuanyuan Lige smiled.

“Who exactly is she?” the Nanzhao king demanded coldly.

“That, I cannot say.” Xuanyuan Lige stated it flatly, word by word, refusing to budge an inch.

“You—!” The Nanzhao king had only just sat down, and immediately shot back up.

Xuanyuan Lige smiled broadly, though he looked weak enough to collapse, his bearing remained unbending. “Your Majesty, we share a common goal — preventing the creation of a human Gu. Why not cooperate?”

“I don’t even know who this person is — why should I cooperate with you!” the Nanzhao king snapped angrily.

“You’re perfectly free to declare war on Xijing outright. The moment Nanzhao’s beast-clan army marches, within two months that stretch of sand at Mingsha Mountain will belong to Nanzhao, and no one will care how you dig, how you search — you could even destroy that entrance while you’re at it! You could also silence me right now. But don’t forget — there are other orphans of the lost island scattered across the Longyuan Continent, and no small number of Gu masters as well!”

This — this was the real leverage that gave Xuanyuan Lige the nerve to come negotiate with the Nanzhao king in the first place.

Han Ziqing hadn’t sprung from a rock. Lady Ci’s appearance, and her own — both proved that no one knew just how many orphans of the lost island still existed across the Longyuan Continent, or whether they might be quietly preparing an act of vengeance.

And back then, the lost island’s art of cultivating Gu had been so renowned that even the Medicine Clan had studied it extensively — who could guarantee no one had slipped through the cracks of that massacre back then?

None of this could be confirmed with certainty. And if the Nanzhao royal family actually moved to act, how many more people might it draw out into the open?

At that point, the secret of the lost island would be impossible to keep buried!

Xuanyuan Lige watched the Nanzhao king’s mounting fury, a faint, unhurried smile still lingering on his pale lips as he finally revealed the true purpose of his visit. “Your Majesty, everything must proceed quietly, just as it always has. If you trust me, release me, and I’ll persuade Princess Qianqian to keep digging. All I want is to see her. I have no wish for her to become a human Gu and bring ruin upon the world — our goals are the same.”

The Nanzhao king let out a cold laugh. “Xuanyuan Lige, you’re dreaming! Our goals are not the same at all! Not remotely! If she really has entered the world of poison beasts, by the time you finally dig down to the entrance, the human Gu will already be fully cultivated — the fastest it takes is a hundred days, the slowest, a year! What I intend to do right now is find that entrance as quickly as possible and destroy it! I will never allow her to come out!”

Yet Xuanyuan Lige only kept smiling. Naturally, he’d already considered all of this.

He reached out and gently laid his hand on the table. “Head of the Medicine Clan, would you be so kind as to take my pulse?”

What was Xuanyuan Lige playing at?

Anyone could see he was gravely ill — but why ask for a pulse reading now?

Everyone looked puzzled. Seeing the Nanzhao king nod, the Medicine Clan head stepped forward at once to check his pulse — but the moment he touched Xuanyuan Lige’s wrist, his face went ashen, and he cried out in alarm, “How can this be?”

“What’s wrong?” the Nanzhao king asked urgently.

“Forgive this old man’s dullness — I cannot say precisely what illness afflicts you, young master, but judging by your pulse… you… you…” The Medicine Clan head couldn’t bring himself to finish. As head of the Medicine Clan, his skill in medicine was naturally formidable — one pulse reading was enough to tell him this illness had been with Xuanyuan Lige since childhood, sustained all this time only by medication. To put it plainly, without that constant medication, he could never have lived this long at all.

And now, judging by his pulse, his life was nearly at its end!

A healer’s heart was compassionate, and the Medicine Clan head couldn’t bear to say more — but Xuanyuan Lige only smiled faintly. “My life is nearly spent. A year or two more of borrowed time is already more than I could hope for. Your Majesty, our goals are actually the same — find the entrance, send me in, then destroy it.”

Xuanyuan Lige’s words left the Nanzhao king stunned. After all this back-and-forth, this young man’s true objective turned out to be nothing more than this?

He could have claimed the world of poison beasts and the human Gu entirely for himself. He could have accomplished great things with such power.

He even had more than enough leverage to threaten Nanzhao itself!

And yet he wanted nothing — this was his only demand.

“Why?” the Nanzhao king asked, baffled.

“Because I love her…” He’d let go of her hand once before. This time, he didn’t want to let go. It was that simple.

“Your Majesty, I can help you convince Princess Qianqian to keep digging until the entrance is found. I’m willing to die there myself. But I promise you — tomorrow, the whole world will know that a person immune to a hundred poisons vanished at Mingsha Mountain, and then it won’t just be the two of us digging that stretch of desert to pieces…”

This was a threat — an unmistakable threat.

The Medicine Clan head finally exploded with rage, wrenching his hand away from Xuanyuan Lige, shouting furiously, “Xuanyuan Lige, how dare you! You call yourself a man, yet you have not a shred of mercy in you! Have you no thought at all for the common people of this world? Do you understand what chaos your reckless actions could unleash? Do you know the consequences?”

If the Nanzhao king refused to yield, and the secret came out into the open, the Nanzhao royal family would inevitably send troops — and once troops moved, the resulting turmoil across Longyuan would be beyond measure!

“Head of the Medicine Clan, if you were the Nanzhao king, you’d surely believe me and let me go to Mingsha Mountain. Unfortunately, you’re not.” Xuanyuan Lige smiled, turning to look at the Nanzhao king instead.

The decision rested in the Nanzhao king’s hands.