The moment the Yu patriarch made this plea, jeers erupted from the entire arena at once — someone even hurled an egg at him!

Had Bai Feiyao not been caught in the exact same predicament, with the Yu patriarch having implicated the Bai clan right along with them, her sharp tongue surely wouldn’t have let the Yu patriarch off so easily this time.

The Yu patriarch kept his head bowed, not daring to meet anyone’s eyes, bowing again and again. “Elders, please understand — this happened without warning, there must be something suspicious behind it!”

Bai Feiyao, afraid of being pelted with eggs herself, didn’t dare join the Yu patriarch in pleading, though inwardly she was just as anxious. She glared venomously at Han Ziqing — she didn’t need to think twice to know this whole thing had been engineered by the Gu clan.

What infuriated her most was that such a vile, underhanded scheme had actually worked, letting Han Ziqing get away with it!

Watching Han Ziqing sit there with her head bowed, looking for all the world as though she were simply lost in a daydream, Bai Feiyao’s teeth ground with fury. With Jun Beiyue still nowhere in sight, it should have been the Gu clan begging for a suspension, begging for a postponement — it should have been the Gu clan pressured and forced into forfeiting. And yet now, the Gu clan didn’t even need to say a word, while everyone else was the one begging for a suspension, begging for a delay!

How could Bai Feiyao not feel utterly wronged by this!

To dare set fires and cause such a massive uproar — Han Ziqing had better start burning incense and praying to the heavens, because once proof of this was found, the Gu clan would never be allowed to compete in Liuxian Island’s ranking battle ever again — they might even be driven off the island entirely!

The Yu patriarch kept pleading, and quite a few of the lesser clans began chiming in as well, voicing their own opinions. The two Qinse elders found themselves in an incredibly difficult position.

There was already so much worth watching in the ranking battle, but the greatest spectacle of all was supposed to be today’s finals — and yet now the three great clans weren’t even all present. If they simply pressed forward regardless, the whole affair would lose all meaning, and word of such an enormous blunder would surely become a laughingstock across the entire Longyuan martial world.

The two Qinse elders glanced first at the honored guests in the stands, then at the two afflicted clans, utterly at a loss — yet they had no choice but to make an exception. Elder Qin said gravely, “This is a matter of great consequence, and so… we must obtain the consent of both the Gu and Hai clans, or this wouldn’t be fair to them either.”

What happened in the arena tested the strength of a clan’s younger generation, but everything that happened beyond the arena tested a clan’s overall strength as a whole. Under the ranking battle’s rules, there was no withdrawing, no substituting competitors, no suspending or delaying — and in a sense, that too was a test of a clan’s overall strength.

Anyone with eyes could see the fires were suspicious, and Elder Qin wanted to get to the bottom of it too — but by the rules, they still had to defer to the wishes of the Gu and Hai clans.

The moment Elder Qin said this, it immediately won everyone’s agreement, and once again, all eyes turned back to the Gu clan.

In truth, of all four clans, no one stood to benefit more from this situation than the Hai clan. But with four clans total, only three votes were needed to decide the matter — and with Jun Beiyue from the Gu clan still nowhere to be found, had it not been for these two fires, he would surely have already been declared forfeit by now. Naturally, the Gu clan would agree to a suspension and postponement.

So the decision ultimately still rested in the Gu clan’s hands.

Only now did Patriarch Gu finally recover from his shock, his heart echoing the very same sentiment as Madam Gu and Gu Meiting — from now on, better to provoke Han Ziqing as little as possible. No, better yet, to never provoke her at all. This woman was simply not someone to be trifled with!

To think she’d actually dare do something like this, and pull it off so cleanly — he couldn’t even begin to imagine how she’d managed it, bringing down someone’s main hall and setting it ablaze with a single deafening boom!

Patriarch Gu was utterly convinced. Though overjoyed and eager to agree to the suspension and postponement at once, he still turned to Ziqing, publicly asking for her opinion. “Ziqing, what do you think?”

But Ziqing turned instead toward the Hai clan patriarch and asked evenly, “What does the Hai clan think?”

This question genuinely caught the Hai patriarch off guard. He hastily replied with a flattering smile, “Before the finals, the Gu clan takes precedence — please, let the Gu clan decide. The Hai clan will follow the Gu clan’s lead.”

Such humble words, spoken so modestly — the Hai patriarch himself seemed a genuinely humble man. But beside him stood one of the Hai team’s own — the one competing in the singles match — a tall, sturdy, dark-skinned man in red, and a flash of hatred crossed his eyes, unnoticed by anyone.

Ziqing nodded and said evenly, “Then let’s reluctantly agree to a suspension.”

With that, she gave a nod to the two Qinse elders, and without concerning herself with anything further, turned and walked away.

After all, she wasn’t a competitor, wasn’t the head of a clan — she was merely a spectator, and for a spectator to simply leave was perfectly ordinary, wasn’t it?

Even leaving in the middle of an intense fight would have been perfectly normal too!

And yet, at that moment, every eye in the arena couldn’t help but follow her as she walked away, all filled with the same unspoken question — that was it? She was just… leaving, just like that? Something felt off, something didn’t feel right at all.

Even the red-clad man standing beside the Hai patriarch looked up to watch her go. “Heh heh, Patriarch Hai, that woman is quite interesting. If you don’t agree, I’m afraid that fire might spread straight to your own household next.”

“What should we do? The longer this drags on, the more likely something else will go wrong!” the Hai patriarch murmured.

“What’s there to fear? Her name’s already on the roster — the fight is coming sooner or later,” the red-clad man said with a cold smile, wearing an air of utter, arrogant certainty.

The moment Ziqing left, the two Qinse elders announced the finals suspended and postponed, with a new start time to be announced later.

Amid a swirl of murmured discussion, the crowd gradually dispersed.

Ziqing, meanwhile, had already set off alone toward the back mountain of Liuxian Island, heading for the exit of that bottomless ravine.

The mountain path grew narrower and narrower, the cliff walls on either side rising ever higher. Looking ahead, the sky itself vanished from view entirely — no wonder falling into that ravine would take at least three full days and nights to reach the bottom.

Ziqing carried her zither, Wuzheng, on her back, moving far more slowly than her usual brisk, effortless stride. Her eyes, though calm and composed, remained alert to every change around her.

The two fires would keep both the Bai and Yu clans thoroughly occupied for three full days and nights. If they chose to investigate, that would only cost them more time still — which gave her precisely the time she needed to hunt down whoever had lured her out in the first place.

Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from nearby. Ziqing immediately leapt into the air, and at the very spot where her feet had just been standing, a black and a white thorny vine shot out fiercely, sharp as blades — the exact same kind of vines she’d seen before at the arena entrance.

A cold smile curved at Ziqing’s lips as she murmured to herself, “Mu Fusang…”

But when Ziqing’s eyes found Mu Fusang, she also spotted someone standing behind him at the same time — none other than the red-clad man who’d been standing beside the Yu clan patriarch.

What was he doing here too? Who exactly was he?

Just who was it that had lured her out here in the first place?

Ziqing tensed at once. She understood little enough about Mu Fusang, and knew even less about this red-clad man. If the two of them joined forces against her, she would truly be in danger.

Mu Fusang had spotted the red-clad man as well, yet his expression remained utterly flat as he raised a hand and pointed. “You — leave. She’s mine.”

The red-clad man gave a contemptuous snort, immediately planting his hands on his hips and letting out a fierce roar. A ringing, metallic sound followed, and countless iron-like scales sprouted across his entire body.

Ziqing sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. How could this be… this… this man was a Jiaoren — a merfolk!

There were two branches of the Jiaoren race. One was Nanzhao’s White Jiao, famed for their beauty and refinement, capable of weeping tears that turned to pearls and weaving priceless Jiao-silk. The other was the long-vanished Black Jiao, savage and battle-hungry, exactly like the man standing before her now — able to summon a full body of iron scales that few weapons could ever pierce.

Mu Fusang, however, didn’t seem all that surprised, giving a cold smile. “Jiao Cha — so it’s you.”

Jiao Cha lifted his chin, wearing an arrogant expression. “Good, you know who I am. Now get out of the way. Her life belongs to me!”