Across the entire Longyuan continent, aside from Nanzhao, all was at peace.
Jun Buli never personally led the campaign, yet he commanded every aspect of the Nanzhao operation. After his parents left, he often stayed alone at Prince Yao’s manor, only visiting Consort Li’s quarters when necessary, and never staying the night.
Over the following months, Consort Li behaved herself reasonably well, causing Jun Buli no real trouble. She seemed to be plotting something, but Jun Buli never gave her much thought regardless.
The vampire clan, a race that kept entirely to itself, uninvolved in worldly affairs, one that still needed another thousand years before fully awakening—naturally, he hadn’t looked into them much further, since it all felt too distant to matter.
Da Zhou’s forces marching into Nanzhao only plunged the already internally chaotic nation into further disorder—this was when Nanzhao’s true era of turmoil truly began.
And it was precisely this chaos that gave Baili Xiaosheng, far away in Nanzhao, an excellent opportunity. Da Zhou didn’t interfere with the Poison Den, and none of Nanzhao’s various factions dared provoke it either. Gradually, the Poison Den became a destination that talented, extraordinary individuals gravitated toward.
Baili Xiaosheng had originally worried she wouldn’t be able to recruit the talent she needed, but gradually discovered there was no shortage of candidates to choose from.
Of course, rebuilding the Poison Den involved far more than simply recruiting talent. The manpower and financial resources required couldn’t be casually estimated.
Recruiting talent, reestablishing organizational structure, rebuilding the caves and dens—all these matters were far beyond what someone with no management experience like Baili Xiaosheng could handle on her own.
Fortunately, she had Guxi by her side. After several months together, whether Guxi had come to see Baili Xiaosheng any differently was unclear, but one thing was certain—Baili Xiaosheng’s impression of Guxi had grown remarkably positive!
This fellow was simply capable of anything. Whatever problem she found herself vexed and exhausted over, she only had to hand it to him, and within two or three days, he’d have it resolved beautifully, entirely to her satisfaction.
Gradually, Baili Xiaosheng grew accustomed to consulting Guxi with every problem, handing everything over to him.
Habit is a terrifying thing—no matter how strong a person is, none can overpower the sheer force of habit. Unfortunately, Baili Xiaosheng hadn’t noticed her own growing dependence at all.
Nanzhao’s chaos ran deep and wide. Even with Da Zhou’s formidable military strength, fully conquering Nanzhao would still take time.
A full year had passed, and the territory Da Zhou’s forces had captured amounted to less than a fifth of Nanzhao. The Poison Den, meanwhile, had essentially been rebuilt, with only a few finishing details left to complete.
Baili Xiaosheng had promised Guxi that once the Poison Den’s reconstruction was complete, she would kill Shiliang.
But once she killed Shiliang, would that mean Guxi would leave? Would their agreement come to an end?
These past few days, Baili Xiaosheng had been nowhere to be found in the Poison Den, completely absent, essentially having become an absentee mistress, dumping every matter, large and small, entirely onto Guxi.
If Guxi hadn’t lacked any knowledge of poison arts himself, the people of the Poison Den would probably have already crowned him their new master.
It was now early afternoon, the sky heavy and overcast, a violent storm clearly about to break.
“Where’s your mistress?” Guxi asked a servant girl, brow furrowed. Even though everyone in the Poison Den had come to regard him as one of their own, practically their future master’s husband, he’d always continued to regard himself as an outsider—or rather, had always maintained a clear boundary between himself and the Poison Den.
“We haven’t seen her in several days. I hope nothing’s happened to her,” the servant girl answered timidly.
Guxi said nothing, rising to his feet and heading out, and the moment he left, the servant girls nearby began whispering among themselves.
“What’s with that attitude of his? Does he even care about the mistress at all?”
“He’s obviously worried! He’ll definitely find her!”
“Master Guxi is so good to her, wouldn’t it be wonderful if he took care of the mistress!”
“I don’t think that’s very likely—he’s probably just been sent by Da Zhou to help the mistress.”
“I think there’s something there. Otherwise, why would he care so much about her affairs? If only he could stay in the Poison Den—with him around, we’d have nothing to fear from anyone!”
…
Guxi’s martial skill and awareness had reached a considerable level. Though standing at some distance, he could still hear the servant girls’ conversation clearly.
His usually calm eyes flickered with something odd for a moment, but it vanished just as quickly. He strode off toward the forbidden grounds at the back mountain.
After a year together, he understood Baili Xiaosheng well enough by now—when that girl vanished for days on end, this was the only place she’d ever go. But to Guxi’s surprise, he couldn’t find Baili Xiaosheng at the forbidden grounds at all.
“Where did she go?” he murmured to himself, a flicker of worry crossing his eyes that even he himself hadn’t fully noticed. He was about to leave, but hesitated for a moment, then turned instead toward the depths of the forbidden cave.
Shiliang was in there, in the innermost chamber of the cave.
Just a few more steps, and he’d be able to see Shiliang.
Baili Xiaosheng had left Shiliang confined within the forbidden cave, but had never forbidden him from visiting. Yet it was only now that he realized he hadn’t set foot in this cave chamber even once in the past six months.
“Could she be in there?”
He murmured to himself, softening his footsteps as he walked in.
Deep within the cave, a door slowly creaked open, revealing a dim, gloomy space inside. Shiliang’s pale, blood-streaked face looked even more horrifying in the dimness. The moment Guxi’s eyes met hers, his brow furrowed immediately—without a doubt, seeing Shiliang like this filled him with deep revulsion, made him profoundly uncomfortable.
A creature like this shouldn’t exist in this world any longer.
Seeing that Baili Xiaosheng wasn’t here either, he was about to head elsewhere, but after a few steps, he turned back again, gazing at Shiliang for a long while before finally walking slowly, step by step, toward her.
More than a year had passed, and the Poison Den had essentially been rebuilt. Baili Xiaosheng was due to fulfill her promise and destroy Shiliang—if she wanted one last look at Shiliang, this would be the only opportunity left.
Yet to call it looking at Shiliang would be more accurately described as looking at his own past.
Many mercenaries had stayed behind over the years, but he and Shiliang had once been the closest of all. He admitted it—he’d once liked this girl, in fact, quite early on, as early as when he was only twelve years old. Back then, he’d secretly made up his mind that he would train hard, become the most formidable mercenary, the most profitable mercenary, and one day buy Shiliang’s freedom back from their master, so she wouldn’t have to suffer so much as a mere girl.
In truth, he was quite a traditional, even somewhat rigid person by nature. To him, a woman was someone meant to be cherished and cared for at home—the hard, laborious work was meant for men to bear.
Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone according to plan. He admitted that his decision back then to volunteer for the dangerous mission to Yaoshun Island had also been connected to Shiliang—her betrayal had left him suddenly feeling as though his entire purpose for existing had vanished.
Fortunately, those years of trials on Yaoshun Island had carried him through. His heart had gradually brightened again, and he’d discovered that his life could still be full and meaningful, that he could keep growing stronger and stronger.
Lost in these memories, Guxi didn’t even notice that someone had silently come to stand behind him. At that moment, she stood with narrowed eyes, a throwing dart pinched between her fingers, ready to fly at any moment!
This person was none other than Baili Xiaosheng—though no one knew why she was drawing a weapon on Guxi from behind. What exactly… was she planning to do?