These three scrolls of ancient scripture, one could say, had cost Baili Weisheng dearly, paid for with his very life!

But in truth, to protect himself, to avoid becoming a human Gu that the whole world would fight over, he hadn’t needed to go to such lengths at all!

At the very least, he hadn’t needed to struggle with the Gu-nanny like this—he could simply have killed her outright just now!

At the very least, as far as things stood, the Gu-nanny was the only one who knew his secret!

The only one who knew Han Ziqing was trapped in the Poison Beast World undergoing Gu cultivation was likely the Gu-nanny alone!

Kill the Gu-nanny, and he’d be perfectly safe!

So why had he fought so desperately for these three scrolls of ancient scripture, missing his chance to kill the Gu-nanny instead?

Baili Weisheng himself couldn’t understand it. It seemed almost instinctive—even as the pain nearly made him black out, he’d still clutched the three scrolls tightly, terrified someone might snatch them away.

After a long, long while, he finally opened his eyes slightly, and catching sight of the great swath of dead fish and shrimp floating belly-up around him, he forced himself to focus.

He couldn’t sleep. If he let himself drift off now, there was no telling how long it would take him to wake again.

This was an enclosed lake—his poisoned blood would contaminate the entire body of water. Once enough dead fish and shrimp floated to the surface, his location would be exposed!

He had to recover his strength quickly, and move to another location as soon as possible!

Meanwhile, on the surface, no one had noticed a thing. The Gu-nanny had already been rescued, gravely wounded and unconscious. Minhan Mude’er had sealed off all news of it, taking her to a hidden chamber for treatment.

The guards had found no one in that courtyard, and had moved on to search elsewhere—for now, the courtyard was quiet again.

Only, Baili Weisheng still had no strength to leave.

He needed a little more time to recover, but he forced himself to stay fully alert, just in case.

If he could, he’d have opened the scriptures at once—unfortunately, he didn’t have the energy for it right now. All he could do was close his eyes and rest.

But the moment he closed his eyes, all those questions he’d never once considered before came flooding uncontrollably into his mind!

Who were his parents—was it his father or his mother who belonged to the Golden Jiao clan?

Why had he gone looking for the entrance to the Poison Beast World—did he want to destroy it, or did he want to fish Han Ziqing out?

And the more he wrestled with it, the more questions surfaced, far beyond just these!

He even found himself wondering whether, in this lifetime, he might find his parents, might get to see what they looked like—and he realized he seemed to actually hope to pull Han Ziqing out.

But if she’d already become a human Gu, pulling her out would only be a windfall for the Gu-nanny!

After all, it was the Gu-nanny who had cultivated her mind!

At first, Baili Weisheng hadn’t even realized how much he was thinking about all this—but the more he thought, the more he sensed something was wrong.

Why was he thinking about so many questions, why was he so conflicted, when none of the questions had any answers?

And even more strangely, as he thought about all this, he suddenly felt a sharp, aching pain in his chest!

Hadn’t he always been a heartless person? Though his heart was perfectly intact, beating normally, he had never once felt his heart ache before!

Was this what heartache felt like—this deep, sorrowful feeling?

Why was this happening!

He deeply disliked this feeling. He wasn’t Xuanyuan Lige—what did he have to be sorrowful about!

He’d always been decisive, a man of his word, never one for this much inner conflict!

Yet now here he was, troubled, genuinely unable to make up his mind—should he destroy the entrance to the Poison Beast World, or should he rescue Han Ziqing?

He truly couldn’t bear to give up that girl!

“Why…”

He murmured suddenly to himself, then a self-mocking smile rose unbidden to his lips.

Yes, he should mock himself for this. He’d always done exactly as he pleased—since when did he need to ask so many whys, need so many reasons to agonize over?

He’d always followed the truest, deepest voice within himself, never caring what the world thought, never needing to justify himself to anyone!

Simply because—he felt like it!

That reason alone had always been enough!

He drew a deep breath, tucked away the ancient scriptures, and immediately swam upward toward the surface despite the pain. He needed to find somewhere safe, and study these scriptures properly!

He knew—everything the Gu-nanny knew was recorded right here.

Just as Baili Weisheng got hold of the ancient scriptures, over on Xuanyuan Lige’s side, they had nearly dug all the way to the bottom—what the Nanzhao royal family had called the depths.

The entrance beneath that spring, from before.

“Give it another ten days or half a month, and we’ll definitely hit the bottom!” Second Young Master Beast said seriously. As the depth increased, so too did the strangeness he sensed all around him, growing worse and worse.

But Xuanyuan Lige had long since been on guard—he hadn’t even feared the King of Nanzhao himself, so why would he fear Second Young Master Beast?

Getting no response, Second Young Master Beast added, “If we add more manpower, rotate four shifts a day, wouldn’t that speed things up?”

Yet neither Xuanyuan Lige nor Yingzi paid him any mind!

A flicker of resentment crossed Second Young Master Beast’s eyes, and he shut his mouth sullenly.

These past days, everyone had kept watch continuously, including Yelu Qianqian—she had just left a few days prior, partly to visit Situ Haonan, partly to plead with the Xijing emperor!

Without the emperor’s fondness for her, how could such a massive undertaking possibly have been carried out so freely?

Suddenly, Yelu Qianqian approached silently from a distance. Second Young Master Beast spotted her first, sneering, “Princess Qianqian’s finally back. Hopefully she’s not bringing bad news!”

Only then did Yingzi and Xuanyuan Lige look up, and immediately noticed something was wrong with Yelu Qianqian. In the past, this girl would have come rushing over eagerly the moment she arrived, checking on the sand-digging progress!

But this time, even from a distance, it was clear something was very wrong—she seemed utterly dejected.

What had happened!

Could it be that the Xijing emperor meant to halt this massive project?

Second Young Master Beast noticed the oddity too, shrugging and remarking sourly, “If they call a halt at this critical juncture, all this work will have been for nothing!”

Xuanyuan Lige and Yingzi both ignored him, hurrying over to her together.

Yelu Qianqian’s eyes were clearly red, rimmed with the marks of crying, but the moment she saw Xuanyuan Lige and Yingzi, she managed to force a smile for them.

“It’s nothing, nothing, don’t worry, I’m here, no need to fear my father—he just told me to go home and rest a few days.”

Neither Xuanyuan Lige nor Yingzi were fools—they could tell at a glance that this girl had been crying, and crying hard.

“Qianqian, did your father give you a hard time?” Yingzi asked urgently. Through all these months of working together to find the princess consort, Yingzi had long since forgiven Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan. He could see how much this girl had grown, matured—if only Situ Haonan could know it, how wonderful that would be!

Except, Situ Haonan’s injuries were too severe—he still hadn’t woken.

“No, it’s nothing! Sand blew into my eyes!” Yelu Qianqian hurriedly explained.

Yingzi grew anxious and was about to press further when Xuanyuan Lige spoke first. “Princess Qianqian, this is, after all, the old Xijing capital. It won’t do us any good if you’re at odds with your father. Whatever’s troubling you, tell us, and we’ll find a way through it together.”

“It’s nothing!”

Yelu Qianqian’s voice was clearly choked, and despite waving her hands, tears began spilling uncontrollably over her eyes. “It’s nothing, really, my father didn’t give me a hard time.”

Only then did realization dawn on Yingzi, and he cried out in alarm, “Could it be…”