In the blink of an eye, the face covering should have come off, revealing the true face of this black-clad figure!

But!

Ziqing’s hand suddenly went limp and dropped uselessly. In that very instant, the black-clad figure lunged backward, fleeing far into the distance in an instant!

How could this be happening?

Jun Beiyue immediately moved to give chase, but before he could take more than a few steps, Ziqing collapsed weakly behind him. Had he not turned back in time to catch her, she might have rolled right off the roof!

“Poison…” The weak word escaped from her lips, now tinged a bluish-purple, and then Ziqing lost consciousness entirely!

Poison!

She had been poisoned!

This was completely beyond Jun Beiyue’s expectations—she possessed a constitution immune to all toxins, how could she possibly be poisoned!

Jun Beiyue had no time to think further, immediately carrying Ziqing to find Physician Gu.

But Physician Gu, too, found himself at a loss. He drew Ziqing’s blood and tested it repeatedly with various medicines, yet still couldn’t determine what this poison actually was!

The only thing he could confirm was that this poison posed no threat to her life—it would merely leave her temporarily weak and unconscious for a few days.

“This substance is far more potent than Soft Bone Powder, but it is absolutely not Soft Bone Powder,” Physician Gu stated firmly.

Soft Bone Powder couldn’t even be considered a poison—at most it was a kind of drug. If it stuck to the skin, it would cause weakness in the limbs, but it would never cause the lips to turn bluish-purple!

There was no need to even draw a blood sample—one look at the color of the Princess Consort’s lips was enough to confirm she had definitely been poisoned!

Jun Beiyue stood with his arms crossed, staring silently at the figure lying quietly on the bed, his handsome brow furrowed tightly, saying nothing.

“My lord, this old servant is foolish and truly doesn’t know the reason. This old servant suspects that either the problem lies with the poison itself, or… or it lies with Her Highness’s constitution!” Physician Gu said in a low voice.

There were ordinary, pure poisons, and there were also drug-poisons, which originated from the Solitary Isle. Not many varieties had ever leaked out—at least, among those that had appeared on the continent of Longyuan and its surrounding islands, Physician Gu could identify all of them. The poison Her Highness had now been struck with, though it fell outside the range of what he could identify, could not be ruled out as a newly emerged drug-poison.

Of course, the possibility that this was simply an ordinary poison couldn’t be ruled out either—and in fact, that possibility seemed even more likely, because a master poisoner could concoct new poisons at any time, ones no one had ever seen before. How could Physician Gu possibly know of them?

If it truly was a newly concocted poison, then the problem could only lie with Her Highness’s own constitution!

As for being immune to all toxins, they only knew that such a constitution existed, only knew that it existed within the bloodline of the Solitary Isle—but they had no deeper understanding of this constitution at all!

This was precisely why Jun Beiyue had so strongly opposed Ziqing taking the risk of cultivating poison herself!

Seeing that his master had nothing to say, Physician Gu didn’t dare say anything more either. If his master hadn’t asked further, it meant his master already had a clear idea of everything he’d just said.

After a long while, Jun Beiyue finally said flatly, “How long until she wakes?”

“Probably three or four days,” Physician Gu replied promptly.

“Give the order—prepare the ship, we’re heading back to Great Zhou,” Jun Beiyue said flatly. The first thing he’d do upon returning to Great Zhou was find a cure. He had no wish to see this woman’s body suffer any further harm!

No matter how great any other matter might be, he could set it all aside. She was the one thing that truly mattered.

Everything Physician Gu had said, he had already considered on the way back. What he couldn’t understand was this—that black-clad figure had clearly had the opportunity to take Ziqing hostage. Once he had her as a hostage, there truly would have been nothing Jun Beiyue could do about it!

Yet the black-clad figure had done nothing of the sort, fleeing solely to escape, and even the poison he’d used had only rendered Ziqing unconscious, causing no real harm!

And that first encounter, back at the sea valley in Qinse Valley—the black-clad figure had behaved exactly the same way then too, only retreating, only fleeing.

It seemed his poison techniques were truly on par with Ziqing’s own, if not superior!

One thing was certain—this fellow definitely had some connection to the Solitary Isle!

Thinking of this, Jun Beiyue glanced at the blood sample Physician Gu had collected on the table, and casually put it away. Aside from the Solitary Isle, when it came to poison techniques throughout the realm, none could rival the Poison Den of the Nanzhao Medicine Clan!

It seemed he would have to pay a personal visit to have a word with that old man of the Poison Den!

The next morning, Jun Beiyue set out to return to Great Zhou. The Patriarch and Madam Gu, along with even Jiang Chen and Gu Meiting, all saw them off at the ship!

Before all this unpleasantness, Jun Beiyue had already been the Gu clan’s only hope!

Now, they simply understood it all the more deeply. Jun Beiyue had said nothing outright, but the moment he enshrined his birth mother’s memorial tablet in the Gu clan’s ancestral hall, everyone understood—this meant the Gu clan would henceforth fall under the protection of Prince Yao!

Now, the entire Isle of Immortal Retreat, indeed the entire martial world of Longyuan, knew that Jun Beiyue was the adopted son of the Gu clan, and Han Ziqing the Gu clan’s daughter-in-law. Combined with the fact that the Patriarch’s loss of his internal energy had not been exposed, at least until the ranking battle for new nobility at year’s end, the Gu clan still firmly held the top seat on the Isle of Immortal Retreat!

Ziqing remained unconscious. Even once she woke, she likely wouldn’t have wanted to see the faces gathered here anyway.

Jun Beiyue and the Patriarch stood alone at the far end of the deck, while Madam Gu, her daughter, and son-in-law waited obediently, not daring to approach!

Madam Gu remained distracted throughout—she had already sent people to search for Gu Suying, but there had been no trace of her at all. She was terrified that the girl might do something rash out of despair!

“Patriarch Gu, I cannot return your internal energy to you. This king’s protection of the Gu clan shall serve as repayment for saving my life,” Jun Beiyue said flatly.

“You! Beiyue, even now, you still speak to me this way. Before… admittedly, many things were mishandled by me as head of this family, but…” The Patriarch’s brow furrowed, at a loss for how to explain.

“Debts and grudges must be settled clearly. Whatever I owed you, I’ve repaid in full. As for my mother’s grievance, seven-tenths of your internal energy could never repay that. This king is merely the Gu clan’s adopted son, nothing more,” Jun Beiyue said flatly, turning to leave.

But the Patriarch grabbed hold of him. “Beiyue, why must you go back and wade into the murky waters of Longyuan? The martial world is a place of endless disputes, but at least there you can act freely, settling scores as you please. With chaos among the various nations, how can you possibly find such freedom there?”

Jun Beiyue merely gave a cold snort and didn’t answer. He didn’t fully understand the Patriarch’s thinking—the old man wanted him to stay on the Isle of Immortal Retreat, not just to protect the Gu clan, but to strengthen it as well!

Unfortunately, claiming a mountain as one’s own kingdom had never been Jun Beiyue’s interest. Compared to the small Isle of Immortal Retreat, he was far more interested in the entire continent of Longyuan!

Though his mother held a grievance, gaining the Gu clan’s acknowledgment had likely been her greatest wish.

As for himself—he had never regarded Gu Jun as a father, not before, and certainly not now. He had always stood alone; the only person by his side now was Han Ziqing.

The ship set sail, drifting slowly out toward the vast ocean. Jun Beiyue gazed silently at the boundless sea, lost in thought, no one knew about what.

Yet he never could have imagined that after months away, what awaited him back in Great Zhou would not be a welcome, but suspicion!

At the docks of Great Zhou, all was silent—not a single fisherman’s figure in sight, only rows upon rows of imperial archers!

Atop the Sea-Watching Tower, Prince Baxian stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression grave, gazing out at the surging sea, waiting…