Standing on the cliff edge, Luocha watched his master tumble all the way down and out of sight, utterly dumbfounded for a moment.

What on earth was going on with his master?

Had he said something he shouldn’t have? His master’s reaction seemed a bit extreme, didn’t it?

Though his master had gotten on in years, he certainly wasn’t so careless as to lose his footing and simply roll straight down like that!

What exactly had happened?

After a moment, Luocha hurried down after him, and by the time he caught up, the Duku Elder had already tumbled all the way to the foot of the mountain, covered head to toe in dust, his entire black robe caked with dirt.

“Master, are you… all right?” Luocha asked timidly, a very bad feeling settling over him.

The Duku Elder lay sprawled on the ground, saying nothing. His expression was hidden, his eyes unseen, but just from the way he lay there, it was clear something was troubling him deeply.

For a moment, Luocha didn’t dare ask anything further.

His master was always a bit erratic, prone to sudden mood swings, quite a match for that old man Sha Qiuzi in eccentricity—but he had never once been this quiet before.

The Duku Elder—or rather, Baili Weisheng—was, at that very moment, genuinely, deeply distressed.

He finally understood why Sha Qiuzi had refused to see him!

So that was it—he’d been bought off by Jun Beiyue!

What were the odds? How had he come to know Jun Beiyue too? How had they become so close?

In this entire world, only Sha Qiuzi knew that the Duku Elder was Baili Weisheng. Sha Qiuzi had never once recommended anyone to come here—which left only one possible explanation!

Jun Beiyue had learned his true identity, and was deliberately using Sha Qiuzi as a pretext to warn him!

No, no, no!

At the thought, the Duku Elder suddenly bolted upright, eyes wide, staring hard at Luocha!

Those five words—”recommended by Sha Qiuzi”—weren’t meant as a reminder from Jun Beiyue. They were a warning!

Because throughout all of Duku, no one knew that the Duku Elder was Baili Weisheng—or, to put it more bluntly, he had actually killed the real Duku Elder many years ago, and had been impersonating him ever since!

It didn’t take much thought to realize that whoever held this position, commanding such respect and willing submission from so many eccentric poison masters and physicians, had to be someone of great standing and seniority.

Someone of such standing, such age—how could it be someone as young as him? He himself was barely in his early twenties this year!

“Oh dear… this is serious!” the Duku Elder murmured under his breath.

Jun Beiyue’s message was indeed a warning—because if his true identity were ever exposed, it would be equivalent to making an enemy of the entire Duku, even the entire Medicine Clan, even all of Nanzhao itself.

This black-hearted Prince Yao—no matter how many precautions Baili Weisheng had taken, how carefully he had guarded against every possibility, he had never once anticipated that Jun Beiyue would have this card up his sleeve, one that struck directly at the root, cutting straight to the heart of his stronghold!

Heaven only knew how close a friendship Jun Beiyue actually had with Sha Qiuzi, or exactly when he’d learned of his identity from him!

Thinking back now to drinking with him at Qinse Sea Valley, to how Jun Beiyue had trailed after them all the way to Nanzhao, to the past couple of times Jun Beiyue had come to Duku with such warm, courteous manner, seeking his counsel on matters of the lone island—the Duku Elder couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.

He had no idea from which point Jun Beiyue had already been watching him with cold amusement in his heart.

Seeing his master sitting there in a daze, Luocha couldn’t help himself, timidly stepping forward to offer comfort. “Master… are you all right? Should… should this disciple go turn them away?”

At those words, the Duku Elder immediately sprang up. “Absolutely not!”

That was a warning! Someone like Jun Beiyue would never use Sha Qiuzi to curry favor at a time like this unless it truly was a warning—a blatant, unmistakable warning, leaving him no room to refuse them!

“Master, then…?” Before Luocha could even finish, a dark shadow flickered, and the Duku Elder had already vanished.

Down in the secret chamber at the mountain’s foot, Jun Beiyue and Ziqing had already been waiting for quite some time.

Ziqing sat with her head lowered, her mind wholly consumed with wondering what this gift could possibly be, her small hand held firmly in Jun Beiyue’s the whole time. As long as this man was by her side, she never had to worry about anything, even in the most dangerous of circumstances—she could focus entirely on her own thoughts without distraction.

Jun Beiyue, meanwhile, sat back lazily, one hand holding Ziqing’s, resting it on his own thigh, the other propped against the armrest of the heated couch. His posture, casually commanding, radiated such easy authority that anyone who didn’t know better might have mistaken him for the true master of this grotto.

Suddenly, in the silence, a swift shadow darted in with a whoosh, followed immediately by a heavy “bang” as the stone door slammed shut behind it.

Ziqing’s brow furrowed sharply. Wasn’t the Duku Elder supposed to be in seclusion? What was he doing here?

The Duku Elder glanced briefly, almost carelessly, at Ziqing, his gaze fixed firmly on Jun Beiyue instead, breathing hard, saying nothing for a long moment.

Jun Beiyue smiled with elegant composure. “Esteemed Elder of Duku, this junior comes at Elder Sha Qiuzi’s suggestion, seeking the antidote.”

The antidote?

Was the gift Jun Beiyue meant to give her the antidote itself?

Ziqing’s heart lurched. Could it really be the antidote for the enchanting fragrance? It wasn’t that the thought hadn’t crossed her mind—it had, in fact, been her very first guess—but she’d immediately dismissed it.

How could that be possible?

If the Duku Elder was capable of curing it, willing to cure it, why had he deliberately dodged and evaded when she’d come pleading for help before?

Regardless of what was actually going on, Ziqing’s heart couldn’t help but clench, an unbearable, sudden nervousness gripping her without warning.

The enchanting fragrance—finally, there might be a cure! The poison that had lingered inside her all this time, that had threatened her constantly—could finally be resolved!

“An antidote…” the Duku Elder let out a sigh, about to say something, but Jun Beiyue cut in first. “Yes, and Elder Sha Qiuzi also mentioned that the exact formula for the antidote to the enchanting fragrance has long since been lost—the cure could only be found through trial and error.”

At those words, the Duku Elder immediately gave up any thought of arguing, his heart sinking clean through.

Jun Beiyue certainly had plenty to say today, and every single word carried a barb beneath it—how could there not be a deeper meaning hidden in his words?

This “trial and error”—it clearly pointed to something specific!

Trial and error required someone to test the antidote on—and that someone could only be Shiliang!

It also required understanding the primary ingredients used to counter the enchanting fragrance, in order to test it out properly—otherwise, blind experimentation, if luck wasn’t on your side, might never yield results in a lifetime!

The Duku Elder’s eyes narrowed sharply, gritting his teeth in fury—so this fellow had known all along that Shiliang had been abducted by him! No wonder he’d let the girl go so easily!

By this point, even the sharp-witted Ziqing had caught on to what was really going on, eyeing the Duku Elder with suspicion. The Duku Elder immediately avoided her gaze, putting on an act, letting out an exaggerated sigh. “Well, since Sha Qiuzi sent you, fine—here’s the antidote, take it. This old man won’t ask for anything in exchange either—consider it a favor granted to Sha Qiuzi!”

With that, the Duku Elder generously tossed the antidote straight to Jun Beiyue!

He figured that now that the antidote was in hand, Jun Beiyue would at least show him some courtesy, at least expose him openly to his face—after all, judging by Ziqing’s demeanor, she still seemed entirely unaware of his true identity.

But soon enough, events would prove that not everyone could afford to place their hopes in Jun Beiyue.