It wasn’t long before not just the Great Beast Zizhu, but the other three poisonous beasts noticed it too.

There, tucked against Ziqing’s calf inside her boot, was the dagger — and somehow it had become wrapped in a layer of five-colored light.

“Master!” the Great Beast Zizhu cried out in alarm.

Ziqing’s attention was entirely on the little baby; she hadn’t noticed a thing. Without even turning her head, she said sternly, “I’ll settle accounts with you all later!”

But the Great Beast Zizhu cried out again, “Master, your dagger — it’s acting strange!”

At those words, Ziqing instinctively reached toward the shimmering light on the dagger, and looking down at the same moment, she drew a sharp breath of cold air.

How could this be happening!

She hurriedly drew the dagger fully out. As a mother’s protective instinct kicked in, her very first move was to leap down off the Big Dopey Bear’s back, putting distance between herself and her son.

And just then, the dagger in her hand let out a sharp ringing sound and began trembling violently in her grip.

The light wrapped around the dagger, in the dim evening sky, gradually turned into a dazzling swirl of color, magnificent and resplendent, living up to its very name — Liuguang, the “Flowing Light.”

How could this be happening!

The dagger’s ringing vibration wasn’t overly violent; Ziqing gripped it tightly and still managed to keep it under control.

This blade had been a token of love from Jun Beiyue, the only thing his birth mother, Consort Wan, had left behind for him.

Which meant, in truth, that this dagger had originally belonged to Consort Wan.

This dagger — not only had Jun Beiyue puzzled over it many times, Ziqing herself had studied it closely more than once, yet she could never determine exactly what material it was made of.

It looked like iron, yet it didn’t behave like iron at all.

Its surface was a pure silvery white, and its light-reflecting quality was extraordinary — even the faintest sliver of light would make the blade’s edge shimmer, as if the blade itself already carried its own flowing radiance within it. Not only that, but this very dagger had once blocked a wind blade unleashed by Xuanyuan Lige, and had also deflected the black shark scales wielded by one of Jiao Cha’s men!

Ziqing had always known this dagger was different, but she had never managed to uncover its origins.

Now, instead of merely reflecting a faint glow, it was radiating a dazzling swirl of color for no reason at all — what could be causing this?

For no reason at all — why would this happen?

Ziqing eyed the dagger in her hand warily, feeling more and more that some force was calling out to it.

On second thought, she immediately loosened her tight grip, but the light didn’t get summoned away as she had imagined — instead, the dagger fell to the ground with a clatter.

Even lying on the ground, the dagger kept ringing nonstop — such a small blade, yet its clang rivaled that of a long sword!

“Master, what’s going on?” the Great Beast Zizhu was the first to step forward, shielding Ziqing behind it.

To the Four Great Poisonous Beasts, this wasn’t strange at all — it was outright sinister.

“I don’t know either — it’s never done this before!” Ziqing said, puzzled. As it stood now, the Liuguang light didn’t seem to pose any danger.

She carefully picked up Liuguang, and before long, the dagger fell silent, the dazzling light gradually dimming until it returned to normal.

Ziqing was utterly baffled. Beside her, the little baby watched curiously too — he had no idea what danger might be involved; to his eyes, Liuguang had simply become a new toy.

“Mommy, I want the dagger!”

This was no laughing matter. Ziqing frowned at the little baby and told him no.

The little baby immediately pouted, his little face scrunching up, on the verge of tears.

Seeing this, the Four Great Poisonous Beasts all panicked, but Ziqing grew even more serious.

“I’m not joking with you. This thing is dangerous.”

Just as the Four Great Poisonous Beasts were about to cover their eyes, the little baby suddenly dropped his stormy expression and nodded very seriously. “Understood. Yes, ma’am!”

Even though this little troublemaker was mischievous most of the time, he understood his mommy’s temper perfectly well — he knew exactly when he could joke around and when he couldn’t.

Even though she couldn’t explain why it had happened, Ziqing didn’t discard Liuguang — she tucked it back against her calf inside her boot as always.

Wuzheng and Liuguang were her only two weapons, and her most precious possessions.

“Son, how about coming with mommy to patrol the mountain today?”

Since the little baby’s gift for language was so strong, Ziqing no longer worried too much, and she needed to keep searching for a way out anyway.

The little baby immediately sprang up excitedly from the bear’s back and shouted, “I do!”

Ziqing blinked, then said helplessly, “Sweetie, that’s not how you use ‘I do.'”

The little baby, not listening at all, scrambled onto the Big Dopey Bear’s neck and patted its head. “Let’s go!”

At once, the Four Great Poisonous Beasts scurried into formation behind the Big Dopey Bear, forming a proper honor guard of four.

Seeing this, Ziqing laughed helplessly and leapt up onto the bear’s back as well.

Sometimes Ziqing wondered — if they truly never got out, and her clever little boy kept growing up day by day, what would she say if one day he asked her, Mother, when are we going home?

How should she answer him?

Ziqing had no idea that, outside the Poisonous Beast World, her husband and her friends had never once given up on her — they had been trying, endlessly, all along!

Jun Beiyue was working to break through the seal’s power; Baili Weisheng was working to pinpoint the seal’s exact location; Situ Haonan and the others were doing their part too!

Deep in the night, two figures flickered faintly outside the gates of the Da Zhou imperial capital — none other than Fifth Elder Meng and Meng Duo’er.

“Father, are you sure they’re in there?”

Even Meng Duo’er, for all her recklessness, knew this was the imperial palace of Da Zhou, a place not to be taken lightly.

“A hundred percent sure. They’re in there, and right in this direction, due north! And there are two of them!” Fifth Elder Meng said firmly.

“Father, why would they be in the palace?” Meng Duo’er asked, puzzled.

“I’d like to know that too.” Fifth Elder Meng couldn’t figure it out either. Though the royal house of Nanzhao and the royal house of Da Zhou were allies, that shouldn’t have anything to do with the Meng Clan. Even if Nanzhao’s royal family sent envoys, it certainly wouldn’t fall to the Meng Clan to be involved — and the Clan Chief had no interest in meddling in state affairs anyway.

“Let’s sneak in — maybe… maybe we’ll find out!” Meng Duo’er said timidly.

Fifth Elder Meng nodded firmly at once, an expression that made it hard not to wonder whether the father was even more reckless than the daughter.

But they soon discovered that, unable even to scale the city wall, there was no way they’d manage to get over the palace wall.

Dejected, father and daughter crouched at the foot of the wall, chins resting on their hands, staring hopelessly up at the sky.

Just then, a figure suddenly toppled over from the other side of the palace wall, landing hard on the ground not far away, and immediately a flurry of footsteps and shouting rose up from behind it.

“Catch the assassin!”

“There’s an assassin, quick! Open the gates, hurry!”

…

Hearing this, father and daughter were both startled, and without a thought for the other, they scrambled up to run — except Fifth Elder Meng ran for cover, while Meng Duo’er instead ran straight toward the person who had fallen.

Fifth Elder Meng skidded to a halt. “You little wretch, what are you doing, not running!”

“Father, if we don’t save him it’ll bring divine punishment! This is the second time already!” Meng Duo’er had a naturally warm heart, and she still felt guilty about not saving the person at the city gate the last time.