"How could this be?"
Wei Hongshen rubbed his eyes in disbelief and found a sealed description added to the attributes displayed by the Sarira.
He then looked up at Qin Shilei, his eyes full of confusion.
Qin Shilei asked calmly, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this Sarira?"
Wei Hongshen suppressed the anger in his heart and showed Qin Shilei the attributes of the Sarira.
He chose his words carefully, "This seal on the Sarira was placed by you, Prince Qin An. Can you help to break it?"
Qin Shilei frowned, "How did a seal suddenly appear? Do you think I, Qin, have such great ability and necessity to place a seal on an orange-grade item?"
Wei Hongshen looked at Qin Shilei with some suspicion, "Prince Qin An, can you break this seal? I am willing to offer another orange-grade item."
Qin Shilei shook his head, "I, Qin, cannot break seals. If you feel you've been shortchanged, you can give the Sarira back to me and leave with the Bagua Formation."
Wei Hongshen looked at Qin Shilei, then at the Sarira in his hand, and finally put the Sarira into his spatial ring.
"Prince Qin An, this old monk bids farewell."
With that, he got up and walked out.
Watching the Sect Master of the Buddhist Sect leave, Zhang Xiaoli frowned and said, "He was willing to exchange the Bagua Formation for a sealed Sarira, this Sect Master of the Buddhist Sect must really value this Sarira."
Kong Qingshu also speculated, "There might be a master behind this Buddhist Sect, and they likely hope to use him to break the seal."
"I'll follow and investigate."
Qin Shilei stood up, about to chase after him.
Just then, Shi Liren suddenly ran in, "Reporting to Prince Qin An, Mary of the Sun Never Sets Empire has sent a distress message."
"Distress message?" An Qian's eyes flashed with vigilance, "Mary has a Diamond-tier Snow Spirit, doesn't she? And she needs us to send a distress message? Could it be that she wants to see someone?"
A hint of awkwardness flashed across Qin Shilei's face, but he didn't dare to respond. He turned to Shi Liren and asked, "Did they say why they are sending a distress message?"
Shi Liren glanced at the three wives and hesitated, "They didn't state the reason, only asked His Majesty to go quickly. They said that if His Majesty doesn't go, he might regret it for life."
The gazes of An Qian and the other two women focused on Qin Shilei.
"My three wives, what do you think? Should our Sun Never Sets Empire go or not?"
Qin Shilei asked An Qian and the others with an innocent expression.
The three women exchanged glances, and An Qian spoke, "Empress Mary is our ally. Now that our ally is in trouble, of course, we must go to her aid."
"My lady speaks wisely!"
Qin Shilei took the initiative to open the entrance to the blessed land, "Shall we go?"
"You know what's good for you!" An Qian gave Qin Shilei a look, then flew into the blessed land.
Less than a day after returning, Qin Shilei left Hope City again.
After emerging from the Sun Never Sets Empire's teleportation array, Qin Shilei consciously summoned An Qian and the others out of the blessed land again, and then the four of them flew towards Empress Mary's palace together.
When Qin Shilei and his party appeared before Mary, she was fully armored, her pretty face was cold and pale, and her eyes were swollen as if she had just finished crying.
"My daughter is lost, can you help me find her?"
Mary got straight to the point of her distress message upon meeting them.
"Uh!"
Qin Shilei was clearly stunned for a moment, and the three women, An Qian, looked suspiciously at Qin Shilei and Mary.
"My husband's daughter?" Zhang Xiaoli asked with mixed feelings.
"No."
Mary said with great certainty, "My daughter has absolutely nothing to do with Prince Qin An."
"Prince Qin An, could you, for the sake of our alliance, help me rescue my daughter?"
Zhang Xiaoli asked with disbelief, "If not, then why did you say that if my husband didn't come, he might regret it for life?"
Mary lowered her head and said softly, "I was afraid Prince Qin An wouldn't come, so I just said that casually."
"How old is the child, and when was she lost?" Qin Shilei asked nervously.
"She was just born today, and she was stolen less than an hour after birth," Mary said, her eyes filled with grief and resentment.
Qin Shilei didn't believe her words at all.
This child must be his.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have had a sudden premonition at the exact moment the child went missing.
Furthermore, it had been more than nine months since their one-night stand, which was also the right timing.
Perhaps seeing the disbelief in their eyes, Mary clapped her hands.
A handsome young man walked in.
"This is my husband," Mary said, pointing to the oriental youth.
"Greetings, Prince Qin An, and the three ladies."
The young man greeted them politely, but his eyes also showed anxiety and grief.
"Could it be that the Empress's daughter is really not Qin Shilei's daughter?"
An Qian and the other two women exchanged glances again, their hearts filled with doubt.
Zhang Xiaoli proactively said, "As allies, we should indeed help Empress Mary find her daughter."
"However, Empress Mary, you have Platinum Rank 3 cultivation and a Diamond-tier Snow Spirit horse, so how could your daughter be stolen?"
A hint of sadness flashed across Mary's face, "I fell into a coma due to difficult labor. Although I ordered the Snow Spirit horse to guard the delivery room, I didn't expect that clumsy horse to let a few doctors out of the delivery room. My child was likely stolen by them."
"Where is the delivery room? Do you have anything with the aura of those people?"
Whether the daughter was his or not, Qin Shilei decided to find her first.
"I have some personal belongings they used." Mary immediately sent for some clothes and personal items.
"You wait for me here, I'll go back to Hope City now and bring Jin Qiaoqiao over."
Qin Shilei said and prepared to leave the palace to go back through the teleportation array.
Just then, a subordinate of Mary's rushed in.
"Reporting to Her Majesty the Empress, someone has left a message on the national chat channel saying the princess is in their hands."
Mary immediately opened the chat channel, and her face turned completely pale.
She was only able to remain standing with the support of the young man beside her.
Suppressing the grief in her heart, she showed a message from the chat channel to Qin Shilei and his three companions.
"Empress, your daughter is in my hands. If you want her back, complete the transaction with me, or you'll have to wait for me to tear her apart."
Then came a photo of a crying infant.
"Prince Qin An, I know you are also at the Empress's palace. From now on, do not leave the palace, or you'll also have to wait for me to tear her apart."
Then, another video was sent.
In the video was a man wearing a clown mask.
He said in a mechanical voice, "Empress, Prince Qin An, I greet you both!"
"This is your daughter. Please stay put and do not make any unnecessary moves, otherwise the knife in my hand has no eyes."
The camera shifted, and a wailing infant appeared before everyone.
A gleaming saber was dangling above the infant's head.