This… where on earth had Han Ziqing come from? How could this possibly be happening?

That blood just now had been personally verified by Physician Gu himself — immune to all poisons, yet carrying the fragrance-poison. Who else in the world could that possibly belong to but her?

The trail of blood led all the way down to the cliff’s edge, plainly indicating she had fallen!

And yet here stood this very woman, perfectly fine, without a single wound on her!

Physician Gu suddenly slapped his thigh. “No good — we’ve been tricked! A decoy scheme, luring the tiger from the mountain!”

“What’s going on?” Ziqing was equally startled. The night before, drawn out by that note, she had chased after it all the way, catching sight of the man in black — but no matter what she did, she couldn’t catch up to him. That black-clad man had kept talking to her the whole way, all about the totem and Lishang!

By his fighting style and the color of his hair, she was certain it wasn’t Xuanyuan Lige at all — which was exactly why she’d pursued him so recklessly. After all, if anyone besides Xuanyuan Lige knew the secret of Lishang and the totem, that alone would prove this person knew a great deal about the Lonely Island as well!

She had chased the whole way, expecting Jun Beiyue to catch up behind her — but somehow, she’d lost the man entirely, and Jun Beiyue still hadn’t caught up either. With no other choice, she’d had to retrace her steps back — only to find, upon returning to the main residence, that Jun Beiyue was nowhere to be found.

Situ Haonan quickly explained everything that had happened to Ziqing. Only then did she notice the blood trail at everyone’s feet, glancing once down into the abyss without a word. Situ Haonan immediately grabbed her, blocking her way. “Don’t you dare go down there — I guarantee you, with Jun Beiyue’s ability, he’s absolutely certain to come back alive!”

In this moment of despair, Han Ziqing’s return felt like the dawn breaking through — at the very least, her strength alone was worth an entire army.

There might still be a chance to turn things around — they couldn’t afford to let this woman jump straight down after him too.

“It’s just a bit deep down there — there’s an exit at the bottom!” Patriarch Gu quickly explained as well. Right now, Han Ziqing had become everyone’s only hope — everyone was, without quite realizing it, waiting for her to take charge.

Ziqing understood, of course. Though she was worried about Jun Beiyue, she also couldn’t help feeling exasperated — how could a man as clever as him not see through such an obvious lure-the-tiger-from-the-mountain scheme?

Physician Gu seemed to see straight through Ziqing’s thoughts and gave a helpless laugh. “Your Highness, the prince’s judgment is clouded because he cares so deeply for you! The time for the drawing is nearly upon us — please, decide on a plan quickly!”

Ziqing lowered her head, deep in thought. Setting aside for now how that blood had managed to fool even Physician Gu’s trained eye — judging purely from the black-clad man’s behavior, he was clearly no match for either her or Jun Beiyue, which was exactly why he’d resorted to such underhanded tricks, luring Jun Beiyue into the abyss instead of ever actually confronting him directly, and never truly attempting to capture her either.

His purpose was singular — to make Jun Beiyue miss the ranking battle!

With the Gu clan’s fighting strength already so weak, and this group still going to such lengths to be certain — Ziqing gave a cold inward sneer. With only three rival clans remaining — Bai, Yu, and Hai — the culprit had to be among them.

Only now did Physician Gu carefully re-examine the blood trail, and he couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath of cold air. This blood — immune to poison, false; but the fragrance-poison within it, entirely genuine.

Otherwise, how could it possibly have fooled his trained eye so easily?

“Ziqing, judging by this blood, whoever did this understands your background remarkably well — they must have the fragrance-poison in their possession!”

Ziqing had once used a poison technique against Bai Feiyao at Qinse Valley — and that occasion had drawn together powerful figures from across the Longyuan Continent and Liuxian Island alike, so naturally there were more than a few skilled poison masters among them who could have recognized the technique.

It wasn’t just this forged blood trail, either — whoever had lured Ziqing away clearly knew a great deal about the totem and Lishang as well.

Who exactly was pulling the strings behind all this?

Was it the Bai, Yu, or Hai clan?

A memory flashed through Ziqing’s mind — Mu Fusang’s clear, tranquil eyes that somehow still betrayed killing intent. Her heart couldn’t help but start pounding. If it truly was Mu Fusang, she might not make it back safely at all.

Could it be someone behind the Yu clan, the very person who’d given the Yu patriarch such sudden, overwhelming confidence?

And what about the Hai clan? A small, obscure clan that hadn’t lost a single match from the very first round all the way to the final — a dark horse that had eliminated every other clan along the way — that couldn’t be dismissed either.

Whoever was pulling the strings behind the scenes, they’d been watching them like a predator eyeing its prey all along!

Situ Haonan said quietly, “Ziqing, let’s have Patriarch Gu hold the fort at the arena, and I’ll go with you to the Bai clan estate. There’s no time to waste!”

Ziqing frowned, deep in thought, her expression deadly serious — yet what came out of her mouth left Situ Haonan utterly speechless. “Let’s wait. Without Jun Beiyue, it wouldn’t be fun. Not fun at all.”

Fun!

At a time like this, and she could say something like that with such a straight face?

What exactly was that man up to anyway — trying to stir up a storm across all of Liuxian Island through this ranking battle?

And she’d summed it all up so casually with the word “fun.” Did she not realize that if even one thing went wrong here, they’d lose everything — and might even provoke every great clan on the island into uniting against them?

“Three days and three nights — we can’t wait that long. The drawing happens the moment we get down the mountain — there’s no time to wait!” Patriarch Gu said, growing angry as well.

But Ziqing remained just as serious. “If we can’t wait, then stall. Let’s head down the mountain now — we mustn’t be late.”

With that, Ziqing simply walked off ahead of everyone else, her fine brows furrowed slightly, clearly turning something over in her mind.

Stalling — that was certainly a good idea, but the real question was how to stall, and for how long!

The true culprit was likely right there at the foot of the mountain, waiting, urging them on!

Even Madam Gu and Gu Meiting grew anxious. If the Gu clan suffered a loss, they would suffer along with it — this was probably the one moment when Madam Gu and Gu Meiting had no energy left to spare for squabbling with Ziqing at all.

Gu Meiting, no longer caring about appearances, rushed forward first. “Han Ziqing, explain yourself clearly — this concerns the fate of every single member of the Gu clan!”

Ziqing paid her no mind, walking briskly with her head bowed in thought.

Gu Meiting caught up again, wanting to grab her arm but not quite daring to, pulling her hand back and pleading anxiously instead. “Han Ziqing, please, tell us clearly — surely we can help in some way, can’t we?”

“Whoever bothers me, I’ll take it out on them,” Ziqing said coldly. Whether or not there was any hidden meaning behind those words, Gu Meiting immediately took it as directed at her and didn’t dare pester her any further.

“Haonan, you all go down the mountain first. I’ll follow shortly after.” With that, Ziqing’s figure flickered and vanished.

She hadn’t gone anywhere at all — she’d simply returned to the main residence atop the mountain, where six children had been quietly following her all along, training silently every single day, dreaming of the day they might serve at their master’s side just as Guxi and Shiliang once had.

Ziqing still couldn’t even remember all six of their names properly!

And yet, they’d been following her for nearly two years now!

These six were even a little younger than Guxi and Shiliang had been — thirteen or fourteen years old, each standing tall with hands clasped behind their backs, carrying themselves with an unmistakable pride and bearing.

Ever since Guxi had left, Ziqing had begun personally training them herself.

Ziqing silently swept her gaze over each of their clean young faces, then said coldly, “Prince Yao originally had a major task planned for us. For now, that’s on hold — let’s handle a smaller job first. With Guxi away, whoever does the best on this one becomes the leader. Understood?”

“Understood!” Six voices, young but ringing loud and clear!

…