"Who could it be?"
Qin Chuan narrowed his eyes, his mind racing.
"The current situation started with Shui Qingrou's distress signal, so there are two possibilities."
"If someone else took her communication jade and lured us here, then it's clearly a trap set by someone specifically targeting us. And from the current circumstances, it's likely the work of one, or even several, extreme realm experts."
"I've offended quite a few extreme realm experts recently. It wouldn't be surprising if they wanted to kill Qin Zi."
"Of course, there's another possibility!"
"If Shui Qingrou's distress signal wasn't intercepted and she sent the message herself, then she may have sent it to more than one person."
"In that case, it's possible someone else arrived to save her and decided to trap us along the way..."
If this were the case...
A particular person came to mind.
Given that person's ruthless nature, this wouldn't be surprising. And from a twisted perspective, he certainly had the motivation to kill Qin Zi. If given the chance, he wouldn't hesitate.
But the issue was...
That person's strength couldn't possibly have grown this much!
With Qin Zi's current talent, even now he had just reached the peak of the Realm King stage, still a bit short of the Quasi-Emperor level. Could the other person have directly reached the extreme realm?
Could there really be such a monstrous genius?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
"Cough... cough..."
Just then, a weak coughing sound echoed—it was Ye Lingshuang's voice.
Qin Chuan quickly turned his head.
At the edge of the lava sea, a nine-colored transparent fragment slowly floated to the surface of the crimson lava.
"Buzz!"
The fragment shimmered with light, growing visibly until it quickly reformed into Ye Lingshuang.
The Nine-Colored Taishui.
Limitless regeneration!
As long as there was even a single fragment, it could fully recover. Of course, the pieces couldn't form multiple independent entities; only one fragment could restore itself due to the constraints of the world's rules.
"Brother Qin..."
Ye Lingshuang tried to speak, but Qin Chuan turned his back, saying in a low voice, "Put your clothes on first."
Ye Lingshuang didn't react much. She quietly dressed herself, knowing that her body had already been fully exposed.
After dressing, she gritted her teeth and said:
"Brother Qin, a mysterious figure in a black robe has taken Little Zi. He's an incredibly terrifying being. With just one strike, I was almost reduced to ashes. If not for the regenerative powers of the Nine-Colored Taishui, I'd be dead by now."
"Do you have any way to track them?"
Qin Chuan asked calmly.
"No,"
Ye Lingshuang replied, her face filled with shame.
Qin Chuan was silent for a moment. He patted her on the shoulder and sighed, "If there's nothing we can do, then we'll have to leave it to his own fate..."
At this point, there was nothing he could do.
In fact, he was already wondering if it might be time to have another child—or perhaps several, mass-producing them!
After all, with his current cultivation level, a few decades of seclusion would pass in the blink of an eye, and by the time he emerged, the next batch of piglets would already have grown.
But soon, he sighed.
"Ah, why do I have to be so smart…"
It turns out, the smarter someone is, the fewer children they tend to have.
"I'm going down to retrieve something. You stay here and don't... Never mind, come with me!"
Qin Chuan had originally planned to leave Ye Lingshuang behind, but remembering what had just happened, he decided to bring her along.
He couldn't fall into the same trap twice in the same place.
Quickly, the two retrieved the clothing from the bottom of the lava sea and flew off in one direction.
The Wushen Temple!
The Wushen Temple specialized in all kinds of curses, and before, Mopo had used a strand of Qin Zi's hair to track him down. Their ability to locate people was unmatched.
Whether it was Shui Qingrou's clothing or the red energy orb surrounding it, they could help him find the culprit.
Wait a minute!!
If Mopo could track Qin Zi using his hair, why not just have Mopo track him directly?
It wasn't long before...
Qin Chuan and Ye Lingshuang arrived at the Wushen Temple.
"Boom!"
The oppressive aura of an extreme realm expert erupted, descending like the wrath of the heavens, striking fear into countless people.
"What a terrifying aura!"
"Who... who could this being possibly be?!"
"I've seen several Martial Emperors before, and their auras were nowhere near as frightening as this. This isn't the same!"
"Ah, my knees!"
Even the Martial Emperors of the Wushen Temple were trembling in fear, their instinctive dread of someone in a higher realm bringing them to the verge of kneeling.
The stronger one is, the more they understand reverence.
The more worldly one is, the more humble they become because they know the true vastness of the world.
"Are you here to provoke the Wushen Temple?"
At that moment, a cold female voice rang out. Though she tried to restrain her emotions, a trace of anger was evident.
Then, a stunning woman in a white dress appeared in the sky—it was Mopo.
"I need your help,"
Qin Chuan said with a smile.
"Is this how you ask for help?" Mopo snorted coldly, her tone frosty.
"No, I'm asking for your help, not begging for it."
Qin Chuan smiled nonchalantly and shrugged.
"Because today, you will help, whether you want to or not. That's why I have this attitude."
"You!!"
Mopo gritted her teeth but couldn't find a way to retort, glaring at Qin Chuan in frustration.
Her usual icy demeanor made it difficult for her to express emotions, but when someone stronger appeared before her in such a brazen way, the emotions she'd buried deep inside erupted.
To put it plainly, everyone has emotions. Most of the time, she simply believed others weren't worthy of her anger or attention.
"I had no choice. The situation is urgent. I know our relationship is strained, and if I approached softly, we'd get nowhere even after a year of negotiations. So, I had to be forceful, going straight to the point."
Qin Chuan smiled.
His expression was shameless yet carried an undeniable air of dominance that left Mopo with no way to counter him.
"What if... I refuse to help today?" Mopo took a deep breath, gritting her teeth.
"Then rivers of blood will flow."
Qin Chuan stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm but commanding as he said, "You can talk back and challenge me, and it won't stir any waves. But if you dare refuse, the heavens and earth will be turned upside down."
Mopo's breathing quickened.
The pressure Qin Chuan exuded was too immense. Even though she had reincarnated and reached the level of a Nine-Origin Martial Emperor, her heart still trembled.
"What do you want me to do?"
Finally, she relented, speaking in a low voice.
"My son was taken by a mysterious figure. Help me find him,"
Qin Chuan said gravely.
"Alright."
Mopo acted quickly. She took out a few strands of Qin Zi's hair and began chanting, drawing numerous strange runes in the air, which then merged with the hair.
"Sizzle!"
Suddenly, the strands of hair burst into flames, turning into ashes, and Mopo seemed startled.
She sighed and said, "The hair is too fragile and can't withstand the spell multiple times. Since we've used it before, it won't work this time..."
In short, it wasn't her fault!
It wasn't that she didn't want to help; the problem was with the materials. Without proper resources, even the most skilled chef can't cook without ingredients.
"I have more."
Qin Chuan, unfazed, calmly took out a large handful of pitch-black hair—easily over a hundred strands!
"This!!"
Mopo's lips twitched as she looked at the pile of hair, then at Qin Chuan, her expression growing more and more bewildered...