The Meng Clan Leader was sharp-eyed and vastly experienced. Even though he wasn’t intimately familiar with the workings of the Qiankun Poison Pouch, judging by the sheer force of this surge, he was absolutely certain this was Meng Wanyue’s doing—otherwise, the Flowing Light Dagger’s own inherent power wouldn’t have been nearly this formidable.

But why would Meng Wanyue do this? This was practically courting death!

The Meng Clan Leader had no time to dwell on the reasons. He could only draw on every last reserve of his strength, and with a muffled grunt, his purple dragon suddenly grew larger, surging forward a considerable distance!

Seeing this, Old Meng Five was overjoyed and pushed himself harder as well. In truth, it wasn’t only the Meng Clan Leader who had realized what was happening—Old Meng Five understood too, equally anxious and confused. Even as he strained to hold on, he couldn’t help but shout, “Fourth Sister, what are you doing?”

Unfortunately, Meng Wanyue paid him no attention—whether she’d even heard him at all was unclear.

No matter how desperately the Meng Clan Leader and Old Meng Five held on, doing everything in their power to stabilize the purple dragon and phoenix, the Flowing Light Dagger, under Meng Wanyue’s control, kept relentlessly surging upward.

“This won’t do!” the Meng Clan Leader cried out in alarm, and no sooner had the words left his mouth than he had to grit his teeth and push even harder just to keep the purple dragon steady.

This wouldn’t do. If this continued, the Qiankun Poison Pouch would be destroyed.

At that moment, both the Meng Clan Leader and Old Meng Five turned their gazes toward Meng Duo’er simultaneously. There was no other option left—the only remaining option was Meng Duo’er herself.

Even the smallest bit of strength from Meng Duo’er might help hold down the Flowing Light Dagger, might reduce the resistance!

But Meng Duo’er truly had no talent whatsoever in this area—worse, she was remarkably slow to catch on.

Seeing her grandfather and father both looking at her at once, their jaws clenched, their eyes intensely focused, utterly grave.

She flinched backward in fright, not grasping their meaning at all.

“Duo’er, help hold down the dagger, quickly!” Old Meng Five shouted, then immediately clenched his teeth again, determined not to let his own strength falter.

“Me!” Meng Duo’er pointed at herself in disbelief, her expression more astonished than at any point before.

Old Meng Five was practically ready to explode with frustration—for the first time in his life, he had to admit that his own daughter really was hopelessly dense. He couldn’t help but unclench his teeth just enough to shout, “Yes, you! Quickly, just do your best!”

Do her best?

This time, it wasn’t that Meng Duo’er didn’t understand—it was that she had no strength to speak of at all!

Had her father forgotten?

She was the family’s failure, someone whose skill in barrier techniques was essentially zero. She didn’t even understand the basics of barriers, let alone how to simply wave a finger through the air and conjure a shimmering pattern of light the way they could.

How was she supposed to “do her best”?

Indeed, in the heat of the moment, Old Meng Five had genuinely forgotten just how hopeless his daughter was in this regard.

The Meng Clan Leader, too, couldn’t help but call out, “Quickly!”

At that moment, the purple dragon and phoenix, which had surged forward a fair distance, were forced to retreat again, and the Flowing Light Dagger struggled ever more violently, looking as though it might tear the Qiankun Poison Pouch apart at any moment!

“Meng Duo’er, what are you standing there for? Quickly!!” Finally, the Meng Clan Leader, ordinarily so gentle, lost his temper entirely!

It had to be understood—if the Qiankun Poison Pouch were destroyed, everything would be finished.

Meng Wanyue, the most talented and powerful of the Meng Clan, would die, and he would have no way to explain any of this to Jun Beiyue and Ziqing. No one would ever learn the secrets of the second floor of the Xuyu Pagoda, the secrets shared between the Meng Clan’s ancestors and the Nanzhao royal family, the secrets of the Solitary Island!

“Meng Duo’er, quickly!” the Meng Clan Leader shouted again.

These two consecutive shouts left Meng Duo’er utterly stunned. Whatever “doing her best” meant, she threw caution to the wind, no longer caring about anything else, and charged forward, using the surrounding stone benches for leverage before leaping straight up into the air.

“What are you doing?” Old Meng Five cried out in alarm—that purple ring was a barrier; if she forced her way through recklessly, she would be gravely injured!

But at that very moment, a miracle occurred—Meng Duo’er, to everyone’s astonishment, actually broke straight through the purple barrier as though it posed no obstacle at all!

Not just Old Meng Five, but even the Meng Clan Leader sucked in a sharp breath of shock!

And what happened next left them even more astonished—no, more precisely, so utterly shocked that they very nearly let go of the purple dragon and phoenix entirely!

Meng Duo’er lunged straight at the Qiankun Poison Pouch and, without hesitation, reached out and grabbed hold of the Flowing Light Dagger right through the golden threaded fabric of the pouch!

The Flowing Light Dagger shuddered violently, as if struggling against her grip—but Meng Duo’er held it so tightly that it quickly stopped moving altogether.

The Qiankun Poison Pouch fell still once more.

A miracle!

Was this truly a miracle?

That this girl’s body could break through such a high-level barrier—even Jun Beiyue had only ever been able to see through such barriers and walk out along their exits, yet this girl had broken straight through it entirely!

Wasn’t she supposed to be the family failure?

And yet she had pulled off something more ingenious than anyone could have imagined!

Moreover, she had somehow managed to grasp the Flowing Light Dagger right through the fabric of the Qiankun Poison Pouch—everyone knew that was merely an outward appearance; the interior space of the pouch was vast, with the dagger and the pouch’s outer wall separated by an enormous distance.

Both the Meng Clan Leader and Old Meng Five were utterly stunned. Meng Duo’er herself, however, had no idea just how earth-shattering an act she had just performed. She merely let out a huge sigh of relief, privately congratulating herself on having a bit of cleverness after all, for having correctly understood what her father meant by “doing her best.”

Meng Duo’er, still holding the Flowing Light Dagger, had been suspended in midair the whole time, and soon her body began to drift downward.

Seeing this, the Meng Clan Leader and Old Meng Five quickly set aside their shock, not daring to waste another moment, and pushed forward once more with all their strength, continuing their effort to open the Qiankun Poison Pouch.

The scene inside the barrier was so intense, so fraught with tension—yet outside the barrier, those who remained seated on the ground had grown rather bored.

To be precise, it was Xiong Bao who had grown bored.

Because everyone else present belonged to the category of people who simply didn’t get bored.

Ziqing leaned against Jun Beiyue’s shoulder, cradling the Lishang zither, puzzling over the secret of the yang totem, and where exactly those two missing notes might be found.

Jun Beiyue, meanwhile, sat with his eyes half-closed, holding his breath in quiet concentration—no one could tell what he was thinking.

As for Baili Weisheng, he kept rubbing his smooth chin, wearing a thoughtful expression, evidently scheming something against someone—though what exactly, no one could say.

Baili Xiaosheng sat cross-legged, having pulled out a whole row of poison vials, lining them up one by one and mixing medicines with great focus. Her stern expression made it perfectly clear to Xiong Bao: better not to bother her.

Having grown up in the World of Poisonous Beasts, Xiong Bao had always been the sort who could entertain himself. But back there, entertaining himself had meant running around, flying about everywhere.

Not to mention he was anxious for news about the Qiankun Poison Pouch too, but here in the Meng Clan, he really wasn’t in the mood to go wandering about—if he caused any more trouble, even with Old Meng Five locked away in the dungeon, the man’s glare would surely follow him regardless!

Xiong Bao let out a sigh and lowered his head, but then, suddenly, a thought struck him!

His white jade flute!

On the way to the Meng Clan, they’d encountered a carriage belonging to the Beast Clan’s Xiao family, and he’d snatched this trophy on a whim. The whole journey, he’d wanted to try playing it, but kept getting swept up following his mommy and the others around, and had completely forgotten about it!

At the thought, Xiong Bao immediately pulled the white jade flute out from his sleeve. Long unseen, it remained perfectly translucent, without a single flaw or blemish.

Flute music was always lovely to begin with—surely a flute this special would produce an especially wonderful sound!

Xiong Bao had never played one of these before and had no idea whether to hold it sideways or upright, or which end to put his mouth against.

So, throwing caution to the wind, he decided to play it sideways!

But just at that moment, Baili Weisheng happened to glance over. He froze for an instant, then his handsome face drained of color in sheer alarm, and he cried out, “Don’t you dare play that!”