Fallen for her?

Baili Weisheng showed no surprise at all at Baili Xiaosheng’s question, answering as though it were obvious, “Nonsense. If I didn’t like her, why would I bother saving her?”

In Baili Weisheng’s mind, liking and disliking seemed to be simple opposites — either you liked someone or you didn’t, that simple.

For instance — he liked Ziqing, disliked Jun Beiyue; liked Xuanyuan Lige, disliked Jun Beiyue; liked Xiong Bao, disliked Jun Beiyue. (Jun Beiyue: Why is it always me??)

Though Baili Xiaosheng had been raised and trained entirely by Baili Weisheng’s own hand, she was clearly far more perceptive about matters of the heart than this emotionally oblivious man. She climbed back onto him, very seriously about to explain herself, when — just at that moment — Shadow arrived escorting Nanny Gu, and Jun Beiyue and Ziqing arrived at the same time.

Nanny Gu stood at the doorway, already thoroughly displeased, and the instant she saw Baili Weisheng, fury erupted in her — she wished she could break free and charge at the wretch to fight him to the death.

If it weren’t for him ruining her plans, how could Han Ziqing possibly have escaped that early?

Of course, Nanny Gu had no idea that Meng Wanyue had sabotaged the poison-beast world’s mechanisms years ago — she blamed her present downfall entirely on Baili Weisheng.

Though her mobility was impaired and she sat carried in a palanquin, Nanny Gu was bound tightly with iron chains. Even without Shadow guarding her, in her current condition she couldn’t have broken free anyway.

Ziqing glanced at Nanny Gu, then carried Xiong Bao inside along with Jun Beiyue. Only then did Shadow bring her in as well.

But the moment she entered and saw that Baili Weisheng still hadn’t moved, Nanny Gu finally sensed something was wrong, and burst into laughter. “Little brat, so your day has finally come! Serves you right!”

Yet rather than growing angry, Baili Weisheng raised his voice and laughed heartily. “Heh heh, little Qingqing, looks like we’ve found the right person after all!”

The instant Nanny Gu entered and noticed his condition without any shock at all — that alone proved she already knew of his injuries.

Nanny Gu was a clever woman. She understood full well the price of forcibly breaking the seal on the poison-beast world, and she understood exactly what Baili Weisheng meant. She immediately turned her head away. “Jun Beiyue, release me, or else… don’t even think this old woman will save him!”

A threat?

Was there anything left that Nanny Gu could possibly threaten Jun Beiyue with?

Even her most precious three scrolls of scripture were already committed to memory inside Baili Weisheng’s mind — all she had left was her own life.

Threatening with her life?

Sorry — her life held no value to Jun Beiyue at all. Even as Nanny Gu staked her life on the threat, Jun Beiyue only sneered. “Baili Weisheng, this woman is the hostage the Xiongnu left with our Da Zhou. Even in death, she may only die within our capital. This prince is merely lending her to you — please return her promptly!”

With that, he turned and sat down on a nearby couch, crossing his legs, prepared to simply watch.

These words left Nanny Gu utterly speechless, so furious she nearly choked on blood. A person who would truly stake their life on a threat wouldn’t fear death in the first place, would they?

Baili Weisheng, very courteously, kept saying, “Thank you, thank you! I’ll be sure to return her!”

As he spoke, he shot Baili Xiaosheng a look. Xiong Bao watched, puzzled, but Baili Xiaosheng immediately understood, leapt down off Baili Weisheng’s body, pulled out an embroidery needle, and began threading it with evident relish.

An embroidery needle? Wait — wasn’t this fake little boy supposed to be hopeless at needlework?

What was she planning to do?

For a moment, everyone’s attention converged on her. Nanny Gu’s heart began to race uncontrollably, yet she couldn’t imagine what that embroidery needle could possibly be for.

Xiong Bao craned his neck out from Ziqing’s arms, thinking to himself in wonder — could his little sidekick actually know embroidery? Was she really a girl disguised as a boy?

But in the very next moment, Baili Xiaosheng’s actions completely dispelled that thought from Xiong Bao’s mind.

Baili Xiaosheng leapt nimbly onto the palanquin, pinched a piece of flesh on Nanny Gu’s face, making her scream in pain. “You little wretch, what do you think you’re doing?”

Ignoring her, Baili Xiaosheng asked with utmost seriousness, “Master, let this disciple embroider a flower for you.”

At those words, Nanny Gu’s scream cut off instantly in shock. Jun Beiyue and Ziqing were both stunned as well — neither could ever have imagined that this small child of a medicine boy could be so ruthless and vicious.

Embroidering flowers directly onto human skin! Needle-pricking alone was already a form of severe torture — let alone threading needle and thread through, stitch by stitch!

Xiong Bao’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Good heavens — what had ever made him suspect that Baili Xiaosheng was a girl? This was clearly more of a boy than any actual boy!

Everyone else was shocked, but Baili Weisheng had long grown used to it — this was, after all, the disciple he himself had trained.

“What kind of man embroiders flowers, so girlish! Embroider your master a spider web instead!”

A spider web — how many stitches would that even take!

“Baili Weisheng, you absolute scoundrel!” Nanny Gu finally couldn’t hold back and burst into curses!

“A scoundrel I may be, but you’re the one who raised me that way. If you don’t tell me how to save myself right now, I’ll turn you into a spider’s nest!” Baili Weisheng snorted coldly. Who in this world was more shamelessly outrageous than him, if not himself?

If the master was this vicious, the disciple was even more so. The instant Baili Weisheng finished speaking, Baili Xiaosheng struck without hesitation — the full inch-long embroidery needle plunged straight down without warning!

“Ahh—!” Nanny Gu screamed immediately, in agony beyond words.

Baili Xiaosheng didn’t interrogate, didn’t press for answers — the corner of her mouth curved into a demonic smile as she slowly, slowly drew the inch-long needle through Nanny Gu’s flesh.

Every pore on Nanny Gu’s body trembled from the pain; she couldn’t endure it for even a moment longer and screamed, “Stop! I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything! Stop, please!”

Only then did Baili Xiaosheng halt. But though she’d stopped, the pain remained — and worse, the thread was already pulled through the flesh with the needle. She didn’t even need to keep embroidering; the slightest tug on the needle would send Nanny Gu into agonized madness.

Nanny Gu surrendered completely. Not daring to delay, she blurted urgently, “You’ve lost too much blood, and the injury has damaged your heart and lungs. The blood of a human-gu cannot regenerate — once a human-gu body suffers severe damage, it cannot heal on its own. There is no cure. Only the Dream Clan’s sealing technique can lock down your human-gu body and halt its aging and decay!”

At those words, Ziqing’s heart inexplicably stopped for a moment — it meant Baili Weisheng’s body would truly become nothing more than an empty shell from now on.

Not only Ziqing — in that instant, even Baili Weisheng himself seemed momentarily distracted. But he quickly recovered, muttering irritably, “Damn it! The Dream Clan again! What a hassle!”

The room fell silent. Nanny Gu didn’t dare make another sound either — the thread was still through her cheek, and speaking hurt. She stared at Baili Xiaosheng in terror, afraid the girl might carelessly do something to her.

Then, without warning, Baili Xiaosheng suddenly gave the thread one sharp, violent tug — the thread-end embedded in the skin instantly ripped straight through the flesh, and the entire length of thread flew free along with the needle!

Nanny Gu couldn’t even manage to scream — everything went black before her eyes and she fainted on the spot!

This old woman had brought his master to such misery, cost him more than half his golden scales — if they didn’t teach her a lesson, it simply wouldn’t feel right.

Seeing this, none of the adults reacted; they were all lost in thought over the matter of the Dream Clan. Meanwhile, little Xiong Bao, curled up in Ziqing’s arms, slowly turned to look at the Zizhu Beast nearby. The Zizhu Beast was already looking back at him — master and pet exchanging a glance, as if both regretting something.

In the silence, Ziqing smiled. “The Dream Clan — looks like there’s no avoiding going there now!”