When Jun Beiyue’s temper flared, even little Xiong Bao didn’t dare act recklessly!

Seeing his parents were safe, Xiong Bao finally dared rush forward, throwing his arms around Ziqing. “Mommy, what happened to your hand! Mommy, you scared me to death!”

Ziqing gently ruffled Xiong Bao’s little head, smiling. “It’s fine now, your daddy’s here! What is there to be scared of?”

The corner of Jun Beiyue’s mouth curved into an expression of satisfaction as well, and he reached out to ruffle Xiong Bao’s hair too, saying nothing.

Xiong Bao immediately dodged away—just because you two are in a good mood doesn’t mean you get to mess up my hairstyle like that!

Jun Beiyue turned to look at Meng Wanyue, asking quietly, “Mother, that dividing point between the passage and the pool just now—was that a barrier?”

Meng Wanyue’s heart gave a small start, but she quickly furrowed her brow and shook her head. “If it were a barrier, we couldn’t have entered so casually. From what I could tell, it doesn’t seem like one.”

“You can’t be certain?” Jun Beiyue pressed further.

Meng Wanyue could only nod, unable to help but admit—there was truly no room to be vague at all when talking with this son of hers!

“Mm, I can’t be certain,” Meng Wanyue answered definitively.

Jun Beiyue nodded thoughtfully but didn’t press the matter further.

At that very moment, the silver-clad guard captain finally lost his patience and bellowed, “Who exactly are you people, and what are you doing trespassing into the Boundless Deep!”

Hearing this, a cold smile curved at the corner of Meng Wanyue’s mouth, though she remained quietly composed behind everyone else.

“The Boundless Deep?” Jun Beiyue raised an eyebrow in response. “Bring out your master. This prince has a question for him about proper hospitality.”

“You… hmph! Just wait!”

However dissatisfied the guard captain remained, given that sword and wind blade Jun Beiyue had just demonstrated, he had no choice but to press a hand to his bleeding face and slink off to make his report, leaving the ring of guards behind!

But Jun Beiyue and Ziqing had never been the type to wait around for others. They’d come with no ill intent, yet had walked straight into such an enormous trap—and even setting that debt aside, what about Ziqing’s hand?

This wasn’t merely a debt to be settled—it was a blood feud!

An explanation was owed, without question!

Even surrounded by a ring of silver-clad guards, Jun Beiyue paid them no mind whatsoever. With one hand he pressed Ziqing’s hand to his chest, striding forward, and with the other he yanked free the long sword still planted in the ground!

The moment he moved, the silver-clad guards immediately scattered backward. Jun Beiyue simply ignored them, leading Ziqing forward in the direction the guard captain had fled.

Xiong Bao was thoroughly delighted—now this was more like his daddy and mommy! With the two of them clearing the way, even ghosts and gods would have to step aside. So impressive!

He clasped his hands behind his back, strutting along behind the two adults with an air of grand swagger, prompting Baili Xiaosheng behind him to roll her eyes repeatedly. Meng Wanyue, smiling, stepped forward and took Xiong Bao’s hand. “Sweetheart, let Grandma hold your hand.”

It had to be said—only now did Xiong Bao seem to remember his grandmother was even present, blurting out, “Grandma, I didn’t see you back there just now. You ran off really fast.”

At these words, a flash of awkwardness crossed Meng Wanyue’s face, but she quickly recovered. “Grandma was watching you the whole time, just worried you’d get lost.”

“Heh heh, I was following Daddy the whole time, just worried he’d get lost!” Xiong Bao replied with a grin, finally emerging from the shadow of his earlier fear.

Under ordinary circumstances, Baili Weisheng would certainly have been watching this grandmother-grandson pair intently by now—but at this moment, he no longer had the leisure for such things.

Ever since entering this passage, that scent he’d noticed while falling toward the bottom of the ravine had grown increasingly distinct—and it seemed to be coming precisely from those silver-clad men!

It felt so familiar, and yet the more carefully he examined it, the more foreign it seemed—he simply couldn’t place what it was at all!

Could it be that he knew these people? Had met them before?

Baili Weisheng thought hard, racking his brain. From the moment he’d first started forming memories under Nanny Gu’s care, all the way up to now—this was his first time ever descending into Wuxie Ravine, and the first time he’d ever laid eyes on these people!

So why did this feeling persist? Truly strange.

And the further they walked, the stronger this sensation grew—yet even as it intensified, it remained utterly foreign, as though it were something that had once existed in his life but no longer did…

Baili Weisheng puzzled over it and puzzled over it until his head began to ache. He shook his head, deciding simply to stop thinking about it altogether!

Regardless, they’d surely meet these people’s master eventually, and then everything would become clear!

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing pressed forward, the silver-clad guards trailing behind them the whole way, none daring to obstruct them, let alone attack. A number of guards kept peeling off along the way, presumably to relay word ahead.

At the end of the passage, within a grand hall, sat a young man, around fifteen or sixteen years old, with sharp sword-like brows and bright, striking eyes, his face carrying a look of brazen arrogance as he lounged carelessly across the seat of honor. He too wore silver garments, though this particular set was noticeably more resplendent than even the guard captain’s—the fabric appeared simple at first glance, yet its true material remained impossible to discern.

He cast a cold, contemptuous glance down at the guard captain kneeling before him, along with several other guards who had arrived one after another to report, the corner of his mouth curling into an arrogant, disdainful sneer as he said coldly, “I’ll ask you one last time—are you certain the Flowing Light Dagger is on that woman?”

“Yes, Young Master, it’s tucked right at her calf. This subordinate can say with absolute certainty—that is undoubtedly the Flowing Light Dagger. All the guards outside heard the sound earlier! There’s no mistake!” the guard captain confirmed with total conviction.

“And the poison—was that their doing too?” the young man asked further.

“From how things look now, apparently not. They fell into the trap themselves and were quite frightened by the poison,” the guard captain answered honestly.

“Heh heh, not even that massive wave could trap them, and yet they still managed to find their way down here. Bold enough, and clever enough! This young master will have to meet them personally!”

As the young man spoke, he moved to rise, but at that moment, the guard captain stopped him. “Young Master, that man isn’t someone to trifle with. Perhaps we should employ a delaying tactic and wait for Lady Mother to return?”

Clearly, this piqued the young man’s interest. He rose lazily and leaned forward, and the guard captain immediately moved closer, whispering something into his ear. The young man’s expression brightened with genuine amusement!

“That works too. After all, enemies who come knocking at our door won’t escape us either way! I’ll just wait for my mother to return from the Golden Jiao Palace!” the young man said with a cold smirk.

At this point, a guard who had been kneeling off to the side finally dared to speak up in warning. “Young Master, they’re already on their way here! They’ll arrive any moment!”

The young man made a face, then rose to his feet properly, stretching lazily and twisting his neck—and in that same instant, his expression transformed completely into one of cowardly timidity, the shift happening faster than the flip of a page!

“Someone, shut the doors tight! Don’t let them in! Go, go summon every… every single guard we have! How dare they… how dare they trespass into the Boundless Deep! They… they must be looking to die!”

What a consummate actor. But no sooner had he finished speaking than a loud “BANG” rang out—the doors were kicked wide open!

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing stood shoulder to shoulder, right there in the doorway, the couple both surveying the young man before them with cold, appraising eyes.

The young man fell silent, then in a flash scrambled beneath the table in fright, shouting, “Someone, help! Help!”

In an instant, every guard present truly did swarm forward, shielding him from the front.

Jun Beiyue’s brow furrowed slightly, a hint of impatience crossing his face, while Ziqing, equally short on patience, said coldly, “A dog cowering under a table—and here I thought some kind of immortal lived in this Boundless Deep. Turns out it’s just… a wet-behind-the-ears little pup!”

At these words, the air in the hall instantly went taut. In that same instant, the young man, unable to bear the provocation, leapt up in a fury. “You wretched woman, say that again if you dare!”