If everything the King of Nanzhao had described was accurate, then there was only one possible explanation—the Poison Beast World wasn’t a living barrier at all, but a rare and extraordinary dead barrier!
Back then, the great Gu master and the Meng Clan’s ancestors had deceived everyone!
That tornado hadn’t been a natural disaster at all—it had been caused by the dead barrier’s seal closing shut!
Hearing the Meng Clan chieftain’s explanation, the King of Nanzhao took a long while to recover. “A dead barrier…”
He had at least some understanding of living barriers, but of dead barriers, the King of Nanzhao knew absolutely nothing!
“Generally speaking, once a dead barrier’s seal closes, it will only open again with the next cycle. Every barrier’s cycle differs, but judging by the Poison Beast World, this particular cycle must span at least a thousand years!”
At these words from the Meng Clan chieftain, the King of Nanzhao was suddenly overjoyed. He cared nothing for the distinction between living and dead barriers—he had only one goal: to make the Poison Beast World vanish from this world forever, so that the crisis of the human Gu and the poison beasts could be eliminated once and for all!
Only then could the Kingdom of Nanzhao remain forever Longyuan’s understated hegemon, safe from any nation’s power, however strong, and untouched by war no matter how chaotic the continent became!
“A thousand years—as long as the seal can’t be opened, we have a thousand years to search for a solution. At least for now, it seems the crisis is averted!” the King of Nanzhao said seriously.
Yet the Meng Clan chieftain shook his head. “Your Majesty, that is… mistaken!”
“How so!” the King of Nanzhao asked urgently.
“The Poison Beast World is an exceptionally unusual dead barrier—it must have some special method of opening it!” the Meng Clan chieftain said, stroking his beard, his expression still deeply grave.
If the Poison Beast World was a barrier deliberately created, then the poison-herbs and poison-beasts within it must have been deliberately introduced—for a barrier-master was no god, capable of creating an intangible barrier, but not capable of creating all living things from nothing.
But judging by what the King of Nanzhao had described, the Poison Beast World was a barrier that possessed medicinal-poison power in its own right.
This was enough to prove that the dead barrier itself already contained naturally-growing poison-herbs from the very beginning—the Isolated Island’s great Gu master back then must have discovered this, and only then introduced beasts, cultivating them into poison-beasts!
Such a special kind of dead barrier must have a special method of being opened!
Hearing this from the Meng Clan, the King of Nanzhao grew anxious. “What method?”
The Meng Clan chieftain’s expression turned grave, and he offered no answer—the King of Nanzhao’s heart sank considerably at this. Clearly, even the Meng Clan chieftain didn’t know.
If such a method existed, that meant the danger was still very much present.
The two men fell into a long silence. The King of Nanzhao, with no thought left for pride, said earnestly, “Elder Meng, this matter is of the utmost gravity for my Kingdom of Nanzhao, and indeed for the entire Longyuan continent. You must help me find a way forward! I am counting entirely on the Meng Clan!”
Hearing this, the Meng Clan chieftain quickly stepped back and bowed. “Your Majesty speaks too gravely. Rest assured, Your Majesty—if the Meng Clan can help in any way, we will spare no effort!”
A dead barrier was a treasure beyond price for any Gu cultivator—barrier-masters could use a dead barrier to expand the boundaries of barrier magic, unlocking mysteries they had never been able to grasp before.
Even without the King of Nanzhao’s request, the Meng Clan chieftain would likely have agreed regardless.
Seeing the chieftain agree, the King of Nanzhao asked urgently, “What does Elder Meng propose? How do we go about searching for the seal?”
Since the Meng Clan’s ancestors had once placed four seals upon the Poison Beast World themselves, this secret—the method of sealing a dead barrier—must surely be recorded somewhere in their archives. After all, this represented a major breakthrough in the art of barrier magic.
“I will personally search our clan’s scriptures for any record. I’ll dispatch disciples to Longyuan at once to search for the seal. What does Your Majesty think of this plan?” the Meng Clan chieftain asked seriously.
“Can it truly be found?” the King of Nanzhao asked hurriedly.
“Searching for a barrier’s seal… is seven parts effort, three parts fortune. Man proposes, heaven disposes—all I can promise is our best effort!” the Meng Clan chieftain answered honestly, neither modest nor boastful.
With matters at this point, the King of Nanzhao had no other recourse and could only nod.
That very day, the Meng Clan chieftain announced he would enter seclusion, handing over clan affairs to his eldest son, and dispatched his second and third sons—Meng Clan’s Second and Third—to accompany him. Naturally they didn’t travel alone, bringing along several of their most trusted disciples to return to Nanzhao with the King.
However, it was precisely this act of traveling together that caused the matter to leak.
However carefully the King of Nanzhao guarded against every possibility, how could he have guessed that the old servant who had attended him personally for decades had long since been having an affair with one of his own favored consorts?
Whenever the King left the royal palace, this very servant handled all the large and small affairs in his absence—how difficult could it possibly be to uncover the truth?
Before the King of Nanzhao’s party had even made landfall, Consort Qinji had already secretly passed word of the dead barrier to Second Young Master Beast.
Over a month had passed. Xuanyuan Lige had long since regained consciousness. Just as before, he appeared weak but could still stand on his own, and even his coughing had grown much rarer.
Yet everyone present knew—this man was forcing himself to hold on, truly, genuinely forcing himself through sheer will.
But everyone tacitly agreed not to call him out on it. Instead, without anyone quite noticing, their wariness toward him had softened, replaced by a growing measure of respect.
Setting aside the question of friend or foe, everyone genuinely hoped Xuanyuan Lige would live.
While waiting for word from the King of Nanzhao, they continued keeping watch near Mingsha Mountain as before.
Second Young Master Beast received Consort Qinji’s letter, hesitating for a long while before finally handing it over to Xuanyuan Lige—he understood clearly that he couldn’t accomplish anything alone. Returning to the King of Nanzhao meant imprisonment; staying with Xuanyuan Lige, at least, gave him a fighting chance!
“A dead barrier!”
In the silence, it was Yelu Qianqian, as always, who cried out first in shock—but the others’ expressions weren’t much better.
This news outright invalidated everything they’d worked toward these past several months at Mingsha Mountain—the entrance to the Poison Beast World had already shifted; it wasn’t here at all.
And worse still, not only did they not know where the seal’s entrance now lay, but even if they found it, they had no idea how to open it!
Everyone fell silent, the situation clearly at an impasse.
Yelu Qianqian wrung her hands together and said loudly, “Might as well just tag along with that Meng Clan group!”
At these words, even Xuanyuan Lige turned to look over. Situ Haonan and Yingzi both thought it a terrible idea—but to their surprise, Xuanyuan Lige nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s the most effortless approach, and the safest one too!”
In this whole world, aside from the still-unconscious Jun Beiyue, aside from their own group, it was probably only the Nanzhao royal house that was as desperate as they were to find the Poison Beast World’s seal.
Barrier magic was something they knew nothing about. Even if they wanted to search, they’d have to rely on the Meng Clan’s people—unfortunately, the Meng Clan served the Nanzhao royal house!
Yelu Qianqian’s suggestion was a solution born of having no solution—and also the best one available!
“Second Young Master Beast, come with me back to Nanzhao at once—we must catch up with them before they leave!”
Xuanyuan Lige decided immediately. If the Meng Clan people were still in Nanzhao, Consort Qinji could track their movements—but once they left, there was no telling.
“We’re coming too!” Yelu Qianqian said urgently.
But Second Young Master Beast stopped them. “Too many people will ruin things, especially in Nanzhao. You should all wait for word here!”
Ask Situ Haonan and the others to simply sit and wait? How could that possibly happen?
After Xuanyuan Lige and Second Young Master Beast left, Situ Haonan and the others set out for the Da Zhou capital—waiting for word, sure, but they might as well do something useful in the meantime. Even with Prince Baxian firmly holding power for now, they couldn’t take down Imperial Physician Gu just yet—but at the very least, they could go stand right in front of him and make a nuisance of themselves!