Hearing Baili Weisheng’s words, Jun Beiyue’s brow furrowed sharply. “What’s wrong with my son?”

Finally seeing Jun Beiyue this anxious, Baili Weisheng relaxed considerably, settling back with an air of ease, his white robes flowing elegantly, radiating the refined air of a well-read scholar steeped in classical learning. He raised an eyebrow at Jun Beiyue. “It’s a rather serious matter!”

Jun Beiyue placed a hand on his shoulder, his voice cold. “Skip the theatrics. What exactly is strange about it?”

A sharp pain shot through Baili Weisheng’s shoulder. He tried to channel his energy to deflect the force of Jun Beiyue’s grip — but the moment he did, his qi and blood suddenly threw into chaos, his already-pale face growing paler still.

A flicker of surprise crossed Jun Beiyue’s eyes as he noticed something was clearly wrong with the man’s condition, and he immediately released his grip.

The two exchanged a brief glance, seeming to reach a silent understanding. Jun Beiyue didn’t press further. Baili Weisheng coughed lightly a few times, dropping his usual carefree demeanor, and said, “Given the Lone Island bloodline, your little Xiong Bao shouldn’t be able to have this kind of constitution at all.”

“I know. But he’s definitely not a human-gu. Aside from his blood being human-gu blood, everything else about him is completely normal!” Ziqing cut in urgently. She knew about Xiong Bao’s constitution, but had never been able to make sense of it.

Jun Beiyue, however, was unclear on the details. “Blood immune to all poisons?”

“No, Xiong Bao’s blood is exactly the same as mine — human-gu blood, immune to both medicine and poison alike. Only someone with a naturally poison-immune constitution who’s then cultivated into a human-gu can possess blood like this — inherently lethal, yet immune to all poisons at the same time!” Baili Weisheng explained seriously.

“Why shouldn’t the Lone Island bloodline produce this?” Jun Beiyue asked, equally serious, his stern face growing even sharper and colder.

Baili Weisheng glanced at Ziqing, then said plainly, “Among the Lone Island clan, whether from a collateral branch or a side lineage, it’s possible to produce a male with poison immunity. But to produce a female with poison immunity, the bloodline must be direct descent — and specifically, the father’s side must carry the direct lineage. Even then, not every generation of direct descendants produces someone with this immunity, but the possibility always exists, and it’s never been fully understood.”

Seeing both Ziqing and Jun Beiyue’s expressions turn grave, Baili Weisheng paused, then continued, “Ziqing is a direct descendant of the Lone Island line, but Prince Yao, you are not. If the two of you had a daughter, she absolutely couldn’t have female poison immunity. Xiong Bao is a boy, so at most, he should be like I was as a child. But right now, he… he’s genuinely bizarre!”

Baili Weisheng stopped there, but someone as sharp as Jun Beiyue and Ziqing understood his meaning perfectly well!

If Xiong Bao’s blood was already human-gu blood, then he would never face the risk of being cultivated into a human-gu for the rest of his life. And his consciousness, his body — everything about him was perfectly normal. If human-gu blood were considered a valuable asset, a kind of weapon, then Xiong Bao was undoubtedly a prodigy.

However, he was still so young. What might change as he grew older, years down the line — no one could say for certain. That uncertainty was the risk, and it was precisely what worried Ziqing and Jun Beiyue the most!

After Baili Weisheng finished speaking, the three of them fell into silence. Ziqing stood beside Jun Beiyue, her entire body visibly tensing more and more. Right now, Xiong Bao was undeniably her deepest vulnerability.

Jun Beiyue gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace, urging her to relax. His large hand gently stroked her back, and though a flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes, he finally spoke. “Could it be… could this be the very way to break the curse of poison immunity?”

The moment he said it, Ziqing froze, looking at him with dawning, disbelieving understanding. “You mean…”

“You mean your bloodline — the Meng Clan bloodline — has influenced the Lone Island bloodline?” Baili Weisheng blurted out, equally stunned as Ziqing. Why hadn’t they considered this possibility before?

Perhaps, for that little rascal, human-gu blood wasn’t a curse at all, but a genuine gift!

Ziqing’s heart leapt higher than she thought possible. She couldn’t help but grip Jun Beiyue’s hand. “How likely is it!”

This woman was so excited she’d lost all sense of restraint — this was, after all, only Jun Beiyue’s speculation. How could he possibly know the odds?

Jun Beiyue truly didn’t know either. He took Ziqing’s hand and started walking. “Let’s go ask Fifth Elder Meng!”

Baili Weisheng blinked in surprise, then hurried to catch up. “Hey, I’m coming too, wait!”

But just as he tried to move, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, feeling completely off-balance, waves of dizziness washing over his head.

Baili Weisheng, for the first time in his life, forced himself to stay perfectly still, every part of his body frozen in place, even his facial features locked rigid, terrified that the slightest movement would send him crashing to the ground — that would be far too humiliating. After a long, long moment, his eyes finally began to roll cautiously, taking stock of things. “Whew… that was close!”

Once he’d steadied himself, Baili Weisheng carefully took a step forward, confirming he’d recovered, before hurrying to catch up with the others.

Fifth Elder Meng had been given quarters to rest in near the Eastern Palace, but rest was the last thing on his mind. At that very moment, he was anxiously poring over the letters and scriptures Meng Wanyue had left behind, hoping to find some clue about the deadly barrier surrounding the Poison Beast World.

Meng Wanyue had sealed herself inside the Flowing Light Dagger and set the Imprint upon Jun Beiyue’s chest, undoubtedly having calculated precisely that the seal on the Poison Beast World would undergo transformation during the year, month, and day of the sixty-year cycle.

If the Flowing Light Dagger hadn’t been carried into the Poison Beast World by Han Ziqing, Meng Wanyue would likely have already emerged from the dagger long ago, claiming the Qiankun Poison Pouch for herself!

Unfortunately, things rarely unfolded as one expected. Now, the master of the Qiankun Poison Pouch had turned out to be a toddler not even three years old, while Meng Wanyue remained trapped inside, unable to get out!

What troubled him most of all was that Jun Beiyue seemed in no hurry at all to rescue his own birth mother — Fifth Elder Meng had no idea what he was thinking, or what he intended to do.

The more he thought about it, the more Fifth Elder Meng felt he couldn’t rely on his nephew, and that he would have to find a way himself.

After all, if the Fourth Sister could be freed, it would be a tremendous blessing — both for his own standing within the Meng Clan, and for the entire clan as a whole!

Just as Fifth Elder Meng sat wrestling with this dilemma, a knock came at the door. “Prince Yao has arrived!”

Coming at this hour — could it be that he’d finally come to his senses, ready to discuss his birth mother’s situation?

He hurried to open the door, only to find that Jun Beiyue hadn’t come alone — Han Ziqing and Baili Weisheng were with him as well.

Naturally, Fifth Elder Meng paid them little mind, seizing Jun Beiyue instead, urging him anxiously, “Beiyue, the Qiankun Poison Pouch is in your possession — that’s where your mother’s very life resides! Something so important absolutely cannot be casually handed over to a small child to play with!”

Ziqing held no particular impression of Fifth Elder Meng, let alone any prejudice against him. But the moment he saw her, he immediately turned his accusations toward her precious son, and Ziqing genuinely couldn’t muster any goodwill toward him. She said coldly, “Old man, the Qiankun Poison Pouch belongs to my son. However he wants to play with it is his own business!”

At these words, Fifth Elder Meng immediately flared with anger. “You! What kind of nonsense is that! That’s your mother-in-law’s very life at stake — is this how a daughter-in-law is supposed to behave? This is practically manslaughter against your own mother-in-law! Beiyue’s own birth mother!”