The instant Jun Beiyue pulled him into his embrace, Jun Buli broke down in tears. Perhaps having finally said it all, the tension that had held him together for so long finally gave way. In that moment, he seemed to slip back into childhood—that carefree, untroubled childhood.
Because of their absence, he had been alone. When something this enormous happened, all he could do was hide it, endure it, and over time, it had simply become habit.
Because every one of these ten sets of bones belonged to someone loyal and good, he would rather have kept this secret buried forever than dig this past back up.
His sin was immense, unforgivable—even he himself was disgusted by what he’d done!
He had originally planned to keep it hidden for the rest of his life. Even if his parents misunderstood him forever because of it, he’d been willing to bear that.
A terrible misunderstanding was still better than watching them suffer like this, wracked with guilt, wasn’t it?
He hadn’t changed—truly, not even a little. He was still that same little Xiong Xiaobao from before. He’d simply hidden that boy away, buried all his kindness, all his innocence, and turned himself into a tyrant, into Jun Buli.
But his mother hadn’t been wrong to scold him, either.
It was his own incompetence—he hadn’t had enough strength to keep this secret contained, hadn’t been able to handle Consort Li. And it had dragged Yaotiao down with him!
Perhaps this whole affair had started because Yaotiao provoked Consort Li—but the way Consort Li had responded, openly kidnapping her and deliberately leaving behind a handkerchief, made it unmistakably clear she’d already been planning to break their agreement.
Yaotiao had merely been the spark. Even without her provocation, that ambitious woman would eventually have grown discontent and turned on him regardless!
It was him—it was his own carelessness that had caused all this!
After a long moment, seeing her son had calmed somewhat, Ziqing finally spoke. “What… what does all this have to do with Consort Li?”
“Consort Li… she killed the real Li Qinqin and used a human-skin mask to impersonate her. She was never truly a peerless beauty—she really is from another race, from the bloodline clan. I don’t know why, but when I bite her, she doesn’t feel pain, isn’t poisoned, doesn’t die… and biting her feels different from biting anyone else—it’s just biting, no tearing, and it calms me very quickly.”
Jun Buli had asked Consort Li about this more than once, but she always claimed to know nothing.
At this, Meng Duo’er let out a startled cry. “Are you certain Consort Li is truly from the bloodline clan?”
At once, everyone turned to look at Meng Duo’er. This woman—she knew about the bloodline clan?
The bloodline clan was an extremely mysterious existence. Even Ziqing and Jun Beiyue had never heard of them, let alone anyone else present.
“Yes!” Jun Buli said with certainty. “She feeds on blood.”
“You’re saying that on the night of the full moon, you have to bite her to calm down?” Meng Duo’er asked again.
Jun Buli nodded hurriedly. Could it be that Meng Duo’er knew why?
“Duo’er, what’s going on—is this connected to the bloodlines of the Meng Clan and the Orphan Island?” Ziqing asked urgently.
Meng Duo’er’s eyes went wide, staring at Jun Buli in disbelief, unable to find words for a long moment.
“Say something, sister!” Situ Jing’er urged anxiously, giving her a push, which finally snapped her back to attention.
“Ziqing, so that’s it! So that’s it!” Meng Duo’er said seriously. All these years, she’d been quietly searching for any information related to the bloodline clan, and had stumbled upon a piece of history in the Xijing desert.
Ever since Baili Weisheng had told her the reason behind that state of neither living nor dying, neither withering—unable to be destroyed—she and Situ Jing’er had gone to Xijing and begun secretly investigating the bloodline clan!
Only the bloodline clan could achieve that state of neither living nor dying, indestructible and eternal!
“Just say it already!” Baili Xiaosheng shouted impatiently, starting to grow irritated with this woman all over again—why was she dragging her feet like this?
Startled, Meng Duo’er hurried on. “That history concerned the disappearance of the bloodline clan. In ancient times, the Xijing desert wasn’t ruled by the Yelu royal house as it is now—back then, the entire stretch of land, including what’s now Xiliang, was all desert, and the bloodline clan ran rampant there—what people in legend call vampires. The common folk regarded them as evil spirits, but in truth they weren’t evil at all—they were no different from humans in most ways, except that they fed on blood, and moved with incredible speed, coming and going without a trace, which was why the common people mistook them for vengeful ghosts. Later, a tribe migrated from west of Xiliang—the Sky Wolf Clan. They too were a race apart, and they never intermarried with outsiders, because only by marrying within their own clan could they produce children born with fangs. The Sky Wolf Clan possessed teeth of incredible sharpness, capable of tearing apart even the indestructible bodies of the bloodline clan. Many of them also carried an extraordinary poison in their blood, making their bodies immune to all toxins. The Sky Wolf Clan had a custom of grinding their teeth on the night of the full moon—this clan was even more ruthless than the bloodline clan itself; once they opened their mouths to bite, they would tear a person completely to shreds. When they arrived in the desert, they made the bloodline clan their targets. Eventually, they discovered that blood from bloodline clan members over five thousand years old could completely cure their biting addiction. And among the bloodline clan, only the Blood Lord and the Guardians possessed blood that old. So the Sky Wolf Clan started a war. The two clans fought bitterly for a full thirty years. In the end, both sides were devastated—countless bloodline clan members died, and the clan vanished from that point on, while the Sky Wolf Clan was nearly wiped out entirely, leaving no descendants.”
Everything Meng Duo’er knew, she’d actually wanted to ask Ziqing about long ago—wondering whether the Orphan Island bloodline’s immunity to all poisons might be connected to the Sky Wolf Clan—but she’d decided against it in the end. Everything had been peaceful; why stir up trouble?
She’d only wanted to quietly track down the bloodline clan, to quietly figure out how to become indestructible and eternal herself.
As Meng Duo’er finished, Ziqing gasped in shock. “Could it be that the direct bloodline of Orphan Island and the Meng Clan…”
“Both the direct bloodline of Orphan Island and the Meng Clan carry Sky Wolf Clan blood in their veins. At the very least, you and I both do!” Jun Beiyue said, equally stunned.
Bloodlines were something that spanned long stretches of time, endlessly complex and ever-shifting. Perhaps both clans descended from Sky Wolf Clan ancestors; perhaps members of the Sky Wolf Clan had married into both clans at some point, altering their original bloodlines—especially the poison immunity of Orphan Island’s direct line.
But whatever the exact circumstances, one thing was now certain: both Ziqing and Jun Beiyue carried Sky Wolf Clan blood, which was why Xiong Bao possessed both eternal immunity to poison and the fangs as well!
“Then what about Yaotiao! Yaotiao is perfectly fine!” Ziqing asked urgently.
“Sky Wolf Clan males mature early, while females are the opposite. Perhaps Yaotiao simply hasn’t reached the age yet…” Meng Duo’er said, though it was only a guess—she couldn’t say for certain.
Everything, it seemed, was finally starting to make sense!
Jun Buli suddenly lifted his head to look at Meng Duo’er. “You’re saying that blood from a bloodline clan member over five thousand years old can permanently cure the biting addiction?”
“That’s what the history I found said,” Meng Duo’er said firmly, though still cautiously.
“Then we’re going to the bloodline clan!” Jun Buli said coldly. Everyone looked toward him—somewhere along the way, all those piles of bones beside him had already vanished.
Jun Beiyue glanced at the bloodstained handkerchief nearby and helped Jun Buli to his feet. “Consort Li deliberately revealed her identity—she must want to lure us to the bloodline clan.”
No sooner had he said this than a strange, screeching cry sounded, and a vulture swooped down from the sky, dropping a letter as it landed.