That single, clear tear — how much longing did it carry within it?

Meng Wanyue looked at Beiyue, wanting to speak yet unable to find the words, her brows knitted tight, her lips pressed thin. She had a thousand things to say, yet had no idea how to begin!

She only shook her head, over and over, as the tear kept sliding, kept flowing down her cheek.

Jun Beiyue remained still, looking at this unfamiliar mother before him — a stranger, and yet someone bound to him by blood — his gaze growing gradually heavier, more solemn.

Finally, Meng Wanyue spoke again. “Son…”

Son — those two words carried within them so much weight that no language could ever fully express.

She reached out, her hand trembling uncontrollably, gently cupping Jun Beiyue’s cold cheek, as though there were a thousand things she wanted to say, yet all of it distilled down into those two words alone: “My son… my own son.”

Seeing this, Ziqing instinctively released Jun Beiyue’s hand. She had been standing shoulder to shoulder with him, but watching her mother-in-law gaze at him with such deep, unbroken tenderness, she knew it was time to step back. She scooped Xiong Bao up and quietly retreated a step to the side.

She knew — this reunion would take a long, long time.

She couldn’t help but think of her own mother. In her past life she’d been an orphan; in this life, she’d only had Madam Ci, and even those memories were few and faint — the one thing she remembered most clearly was the warning Madam Ci had given her right before she passed: never remove the thin film covering her face. Thinking back on it now, it hadn’t been unrelated at all — it had everything to do with her true identity!

Madam Ci had meant to conceal her origins forever!

Just as Ziqing had anticipated, the reunion between Meng Wanyue and Jun Beiyue stretched on and on.

Though somewhat unaccustomed to it, Jun Beiyue didn’t pull away as that warm hand gently caressed his cheek. Looking at the tear-streaked face before him, his heart ached faintly with an unspoken pain.

“Son… son, your mother owes you an apology!”

Suddenly, Meng Wanyue let out a mournful wail and burst into loud, uncontrollable sobbing.

“Your mother is so sorry, so sorry! You were still so small, so very small, only just born — but… but your mother had no choice, I had to leave you behind!”

Meng Wanyue wept with heartbreaking sorrow, one hand still cupping Jun Beiyue’s cheek, the other pressed against her own chest, utterly devastated, wracked with self-reproach!

Had no choice but to abandon him?

Could there be some other hidden circumstance behind it all — was none of it exactly as they’d assumed?

A flicker of hope shone unmistakably through the sorrow in Jun Beiyue’s eyes.

As a son, this was agonizingly difficult for him!

What should have been a final, permanent farewell had instead become a reunion — he shouldn’t still be standing here in silence, shouldn’t still be unable to utter even a single word, “Mother.”

Even though he hadn’t pulled away from her touch, he had remained silent throughout.

Filial duty came first — he could forgive his birth mother for the fact of having abandoned him, but he could not accept the fact that she’d intended to cultivate a human-gu. Being asked to lessen his love and protectiveness toward Ziqing and Xiong Bao for the sake of a mother who’d abandoned him for over twenty years — that, he simply could not do.

It had to be admitted — his silence stemmed from careful observation. He was watching, trying to understand exactly what kind of person this mother truly was, wondering just how much conflict she might bring into their lives.

Meng Wanyue’s words had not only shattered much of the guarded hope Jun Beiyue had been holding onto, planting instead a seed of wariness — they had also given everyone around them, Ziqing, Xiong Bao, Baili Weisheng and the others, a glimmer of hope.

After all, Ziqing had hoped for a good mother-in-law — someone she could respect, someone she could turn to for guidance when trouble arose.

Little Xiong Bao had hoped for a good grandmother — someone who’d dote on him even more than his own parents.

And Baili Weisheng and the others had simply hoped for a capable ally.

Finally, Jun Beiyue asked the question he’d been holding deep in his heart all along. “Back then… why did you simply leave, just like that?”

No title, no address — just that single, brief question.

Yet those words alone sent Meng Wanyue’s tears surging even harder.

“Because of the Dream Clan — but even more so, because of… the isolated island!” Meng Wanyue said, her voice choked with sobs.

At these words, everyone present felt a chill run through them — a secret. There truly was a secret, one none of them had ever guessed!

For the sake of the Dream Clan, obtaining the Qiankun Poison Pouch to cultivate poison and strengthen the clan — that was understandable enough.

But for the sake of the isolated island…

How did that make sense?

For the sake of what, exactly, concerning the isolated island?

For a moment, no one dared to speak. Even Old Meng Five, who’d been so overjoyed and moved just moments ago, fell abruptly silent.

In truth, even Old Meng Five didn’t fully understand — though he’d had his own suspicions, he’d never once dared to guess that Meng Wanyue might have been planning to cultivate a human-gu.

That was far too terrifying a thought — even the slightest misstep could bring total annihilation down upon the entire Dream Clan!

“For the sake of what, concerning the isolated island?” In the end, it was Jun Beiyue himself who finally voiced the question everyone was desperate to have answered.

“The isolated island…” Meng Wanyue said, visibly agitated, choking back sobs for a moment before speaking in a low voice, “The grave injustice done to the isolated island! The founding ancestor’s dying instructions to our Dream Clan!”

The grave injustice done to the isolated island? What injustice?!

The Dream Clan founder’s dying instructions — what instructions?!

The situation seemed to be developing in a direction diametrically opposed to everything they’d all expected.

Meng Wanyue — abandoning Jun Beiyue, planting the “lure” mechanism within his very body, then sealing herself within the Liuguang Dagger, making every preparation necessary to obtain the Qiankun Poison Pouch — and all of it, for the sake of the isolated island!?

Ziqing stared, utterly dumbstruck, one hand pressed over her mouth to keep herself from crying out in shock.

Could this really be true?

If it truly were, how incredibly fortunate would she be, how blessed, to have such a mother-in-law!

Ziqing genuinely found it hard to believe what she was hearing with her own ears, yet she kept every nerve taut, straining to listen, hanging on every single word without missing a single syllable.

The truth — the truth behind the second level of the Xuyu Tower’s barrier, the truth behind Meng Wanyue’s desperate scramble for the Qiankun Poison Pouch — it was all right here before them!

Though everyone’s reactions around her were quite pronounced, Meng Wanyue’s gaze, from beginning to end, remained fixed solely on Jun Beiyue — as though, in this entire world, he was the only one who mattered to her, as though any explanation she gave only had meaning if given to this son, explained to this son alone!

“Son, your mother has always been extraordinarily gifted, with an uncontrollable passion for sealing techniques from a very young age. By thirteen, I’d already mastered the ‘Breakthrough’ technique, able to freely enter and exit Xuyu Peak. Within just a few years, I’d broken into the Dream Clan’s forbidden ground — the Xuyu Tower!”

As Meng Wanyue spoke, she kept wiping away tears, overcome with a mixture of excitement, guilt, and bitterness.

Jun Beiyue listened in silence, his deep black eyes growing ever more solemn and distant, as though not even light could penetrate them.

“On the second level of the Xuyu Tower, your mother didn’t just find the long-sought-after forbidden techniques of the Dream Clan — I also discovered a secret left behind by our founding ancestor himself!”

Meng Wanyue paused at this point, and everyone present felt their hearts pause right along with her.

Just as everyone expected her to continue, she suddenly shifted course entirely, choking back sobs. “Son, how I wish I’d never seen that secret! If I hadn’t, your mother would never have had the heart to abandon you!”

“Son, your mother doesn’t ask for your forgiveness… your mother only wants to see you grow up safe and well, and that alone would satisfy me completely. Whatever becomes of me from here on doesn’t matter at all!” These words of Meng Wanyue’s were, perhaps, the greatest wish any parent in the world could ever have — wanting nothing for themselves, only wishing their child well.

Words like these were common enough to hear — but for Jun Beiyue, this was the very first time he’d ever heard anything like it in his entire life!

Even with Emperor Tianhui as his nominal father, even with the Solitary Clan leader as another father figure, this was the first time in his life he’d ever heard such selfless, unconditional words spoken to him.

His heart gave a faint, startled lurch. Looking at his gentle mother before him, for a moment he genuinely didn’t know what to say.

But just then, Ziqing, unable to hold back any longer, spoke up timidly. “What exactly happened — what injustice was done to the isolated island?”