Chu Qianli retrieved something from the Qiankun Chain.
A lock.
Chu Wang, not understanding, asked, "What are you locking up?"
He couldn't quite grasp it. Was this truly just an ordinary lock, worthy of her taking it out and presenting it to them with such reverence?
Feng Yexuan, after a moment of stunned silence, immediately furrowed his brow.
"The Heaven and Earth Lock?"
He had never imagined it! The Heaven and Earth Lock he had been searching for so long was actually in Chu Qianli's possession!
His heart sank abruptly. He said sternly, "Put it away!"
"Are you afraid that once Hua Rong finds out, she'll force you to snatch the Heaven and Earth Lock from me?"
His command to "put it away" made Chu Qianli's long-held tension melt away like ice touched by sunlight.
At least, as long as Hua Rong didn't know, this filial son was willing to outwardly obey while inwardly defying, considering her feelings.
It was quite rare, she thought.
It was evident that Feng Yexuan's feelings for Hua Rong, beyond familial affection, contained a sense of guilt.
Chu Qianli didn't know what Feng Yexuan felt guilty about.
What kind of guilt would make this arrogant and self-assured Prince Xuan willing to lower his noble head when facing his own mother?
However, at least for now, he was willing to stand by her side.
Who said she wasn't moved? She had merely been suppressing it.
"This is the Heaven and Earth Lock?" Chu Wang snatched the lock, examining it from left to right, still looking bewildered.
He simply couldn't believe it.
"This is a dead lock! It can't be opened at all."
There was only a very, very small hole, but it was definitely not a keyhole.
There was no key in this world small enough. A hole barely larger than a needle's eye, what key could possibly fit?
Chu Qianli had no explanation for this question either.
She herself couldn't fully comprehend it.
"Little Qianli, are you sure this is really the Heaven and Earth Lock? Who gave it to you?"
She was just a child, yet the legend of the Heaven and Earth Lock was ancient.
If she weren't Chu Qianli, and if Feng Yexuan had been the one to mention the Heaven and Earth Lock just now, Chu Wang might not have truly believed that this inexplicable dead lock was the legendary Heaven and Earth Lock.
Shouldn't the Heaven and Earth Lock be something incredibly magical, with a shape beyond imagination?
Was it truly just a lock?
And what about the treasure map?
"A very powerful senior gave it to me," Chu Qianli replied.
Chu Wang wanted to ask who it was, but then he thought, since she was unwilling to mention the senior's name, it meant she didn't want to.
If she didn't want to say, Chu Wang wouldn't ask.
"But, where is the treasure map?" This lock was completely unopenable!
Chu Wang studied it for a long time, even using the Emperor's tribute, the "Object Finder Mirror," to examine it, but still found no clues.
However, he hadn't realized that a mere "magnifying glass" that Chu Qianli casually took out could see more clearly than their imperial palace's finest tribute, the "Object Finder Mirror."
Yet, after examining it several times with the magnifying glass, there was still no clue.
"Perhaps, the so-called treasure map of the Heaven and Earth Lock simply doesn't exist."
Feng Yexuan's words suggested he hoped the treasure map didn't exist.
Chu Qianli felt like laughing. So, even Prince Xuan could act like a petulant child when faced with difficulties.
Gambling against fate.
"Impossible."
These words came from Chu Wang, and he said them with utter conviction: "The treasure map must exist!"