Having admitted to being “impatient,” Guxi finally managed to successfully whisk Baili Xiaosheng away.

There was no eight-bearer sedan chair, no ornate carriage—just his own sturdy back, more than capable of bearing the weight of Baili Xiaosheng’s whole life ahead.

From Baili Xiaosheng’s room to the main hall in the front courtyard, the mountain path was rugged and difficult. What had once been barren, lifeless ground had, overnight, burst into bloom—covered entirely in sunflowers, Baili Xiaosheng’s favorite flower.

Blossom after blossom, some as large as a palm, others as big as a washbasin, uneven in size, forming a path of flowers, a road facing the sun.

Seen from a distance, amid Duku’s barren landscape of jagged rocks, it looked like a shimmering golden ribbon, breathtakingly beautiful.

Baili Xiaosheng was astonished. She’d always known Guxi was preparing something, but she never imagined he would go to such lengths to create an entire path of flowers.

At this moment, Guxi carried her step by step along this flower-lined path, their two figures appearing and disappearing among the blossoms, a delicate fragrance filling the air all around.

Baili Xiaosheng lay against Guxi’s back, unable to see his expression, but she knew—right now, he was utterly serious.

To make sure she’d be comfortable, Guxi bent low, very low.

Baili Xiaosheng slowly pressed her small face against his broad back and immediately heard his heart pounding, strong and fast.

Such a racing heartbeat—so he was nervous too!

Walking all the way down the mountain to the end of the flower path, Guxi finally stopped, and Baili Xiaosheng slowly lifted her head from his back—only to find, spread out before her eyes, an entire field of flowers!

A sea of sunflowers. There was no main hall in sight at all—it had been completely swallowed up by the sea of flowers.

Baili Xiaosheng stared, stunned. But without a main hall, how were they supposed to perform the wedding rites?

“Ready to come down?” Guxi asked gently.

Though Baili Xiaosheng had recovered somewhat, she was still in a daze. She let Guxi set her down, and looking at the sea of flowers before her, felt an overwhelming urge to run straight into it.

She loved sunflowers more than anything—living vibrantly, always facing the sun, always brimming with vitality and hope!

“Not planning to perform the ceremonial rites with me anymore? The hall’s completely flooded,” Baili Xiaosheng teased.

Here, there wasn’t just no main hall—there were no servants either, no elder to guide them through the wedding rituals, no one at all. Just the two of them.

“Since neither of us has parents present, why don’t we skip bowing to elders and just bow to Heaven and Earth instead?” Guxi said with a smile.

He had originally hoped Baili Weisheng would come, but in the end, he never showed.

With Baili Weisheng absent, bowing to parents held no meaning for Baili Xiaosheng anyway. Keeping the main hall and the ritual of bowing to elders would only risk stirring up painful memories, making her sad.

On their wedding day, he didn’t want her to feel sad—not even a little.

A rare tenderness flickered in Baili Xiaosheng’s eyes as she looked at Guxi—how could she not understand the depth of thought behind his effort?

She took his hand herself, smiling. “Bow to elders? Even if there were any, I wouldn’t bow to them. Let’s just bow to Heaven and Earth—with Heaven and Earth as our witness!”

Overjoyed, Guxi wrapped his large hand around her small one and pulled her rushing into the sea of flowers!

Ziqing and the others all watched from the mountain path in the distance, none of them following.

This wedding, so full of life and joy, belonged only to the two of them—no one would dare interrupt it.

This was, without question, the warmest wedding any of them had ever witnessed.

“How wonderful…”

Ziqing murmured softly, when suddenly a familiar strength swept her into an embrace from behind—a familiar scent of dragon-saliva incense, a familiar touch. It was Jun Beiyue.

“You made it?” Ziqing said quietly.

“Everything’s settled at the camp,” Jun Beiyue answered, gazing at the sea of blossoms on the mountainside, smiling faintly, unable to help but recall his own wedding with Ziqing—the wedding from that dream.

“The scholar still hasn’t come?” Jun Beiyue asked, surprised. At the very least, by his own estimation, he hadn’t expected Baili Weisheng to actually miss it.

Ziqing shook her head, no longer wanting to dwell on the question.

But just then, a sharp, piercing sound suddenly rang out from the rear courtyard’s back garden. To anyone else, it might have sounded like some strange, unfamiliar creature—odd and puzzling.

But Madam Jinjiao recognized it instantly, so startled she nearly toppled off the mountain path.

“Weisheng! That’s Weisheng’s voice—he’s in danger!”

This was the distinctive cry unique to the merfolk—so sharp and piercing, it unmistakably signaled that whoever made it was in grave danger, calling for help!

The moment Madam Jinjiao’s words left her mouth, everyone froze in shock.

What was happening?

Yet in the blink of an eye, three figures vanished in a flash—Jun Beiyue, Jun Buli, and Situ Haonan.

“Jing’er, go tell Guxi and the others! Duo’er, all of you be careful!” Ziqing decided instantly.

Baili Weisheng was in the rear courtyard, and he was in danger—whatever had happened, it meant Duku was no longer safe.

But just as Ziqing turned to leave, she suddenly froze in place.

“Yaotiao!”

She was struck with alarm, an inexplicable unease surging through her, an ominous foreboding she couldn’t shake. Yaotiao was still asleep back there!

Ziqing’s face drained of color entirely as she rushed toward the rear courtyard.

But by the time she arrived, it was already too late.

Jun Beiyue and the others were all standing outside Yaotiao’s room, their expressions grim—especially Jun Beiyue, radiating a terrifying killing aura that made it impossible for anyone to approach.

The room was in complete disarray, clearly showing signs of a struggle. Yingzi lay unconscious on the floor, clutching a woman’s handkerchief in his hand.

As for Baili Weisheng, he was nowhere to be seen. And Jun Yaotiao—she was gone too!

“Where’s Yaotiao!” Ziqing grabbed Jun Beiyue, panic-stricken.

After a long moment, Jun Beiyue said coldly, “Aside from this handkerchief, there’s no trace left behind at all—only Baili Weisheng’s voice. Whoever took Yaotiao moved incredibly fast, faster than any of us.”

From the moment Baili Weisheng’s cry for help rang out to when Jun Beiyue arrived, only a brief moment could have passed—yet by the time he got there, everything was already gone, the very air around them eerily calm, as if nothing had happened at all.

Ziqing snatched the handkerchief from Yingzi’s hand, and Yingzi, jolted awake at that moment, froze for a second before scrambling up and dropping to his knees. “Master, I deserve to die—I failed to protect the little princess!”

“Who was it? What happened? Where’s Baili Weisheng?” Jun Beiyue demanded, furious.

“It was—” Yingzi glanced at Jun Buli, whose face had turned ashen, before resolutely reporting, “It was Consort Li! She moved incredibly fast—she knocked me out, and after that I don’t know anything.”

At those words, everyone turned to look at Jun Buli. The moment he’d seen the handkerchief in Yingzi’s hand, he’d already known.

Consort Li!

She had actually broken their agreement!

The whole room fell into dead silence. Jun Beiyue’s fists clenched so tight they cracked audibly, his furious gaze fixed on Jun Buli, while Jun Buli lowered his head, unable—for the first time in his life—to meet his father’s eyes.

“Jun Buli, what exactly is Consort Li? If you don’t tell me right now, don’t you dare call me your mother!” Ziqing exploded with fury—not because Yaotiao had been taken, but because her son had kept this hidden from them.

All these years, she’d believed Jun Buli could handle it himself. But now, it was clear he couldn’t handle it at all. And if he couldn’t, why hadn’t he said anything? Did he think he had no parents to turn to?

Such incredible speed, fast enough to make even Baili Weisheng cry out for help—Consort Li had to be of some other race entirely.