Qin Shi Lei left the imperial palace and returned to the Never-Setting Empire with Jin Qiao Qiao in one minute and fifty-two seconds.
As soon as he emerged from the teleportation array, he immediately took out several pieces of clothing from his Qiankun Ring and had the Treasure-Hunting Mouse identify the scent.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
The Treasure-Hunting Mouse sniffed for two seconds, memorized the scent, and then flew around searching. It soon returned to Jin Qiao Qiao's hand and squeaked.
"It says there are no traces of those people nearby," Jin Qiao Qiao relayed the Treasure-Hunting Mouse's meaning.
"My mistake."
Qin Shi Lei slapped his forehead and immediately scooped up Jin Qiao Qiao, speeding back towards the imperial palace.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
Near the imperial palace, the Treasure-Hunting Mouse immediately detected the scent of those people and pointed in a direction, guiding Qin Shi Lei to fly that way.
Soon, they arrived at a large mountain outside the city.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
"It says their scent is below."
Qin Shi Lei flew to the ground and quickly discovered two corpses.
They were the three doctors and nurses who had delivered Mary's baby and taken the infant away.
Both had a sword mark on their necks, each a fatal blow.
There were no signs of struggle or resistance at the scene.
It had been five minutes and forty-six seconds since Qin Shi Lei had left the great hall.
Inside the great hall.
"Hmph, dawdling like this, it seems we'll have to present your daughter's hands first before you'll agree to the trade."
Liu Yu Shu's face was filled with impatience.
At the same time, another video appeared on the chat channel.
The man wearing a clown mask was once again brandishing a large saber over the infant girl.
"Heh heh, this tender, pink baby girl is truly adorable. What do you think, would it be a pity if she lost a hand?"
The clown pulled the infant's small hand out from under the covers and held the saber above it, as if measuring.
"Waaah waaah waaah!"
The infant's cries had not stopped, it was unclear if it was from hunger or fear.
"Quick, tell him to let go of my daughter, or I'll kill you right now."
Mary's dimensional slash had already broken the skin on Liu Yu Shu's neck, and a string of bright red blood flowed down his neck, staining his chest clothes.
"Haha, kill me, since I chose to stay, I never expected to survive. To be buried with the daughter of King Qin An and Her Majesty the Empress is enough for me," Liu Yu Shu laughed maniacally.
However, a flicker of fear in his eyes was still captured by Mary and the others.
The other party was clearly not fearless of death, but it was not the best time to kill him at the moment.
In fact, Liu Yu Shu also regretted it.
In order to appreciate Qin Shi Lei's heartache and despair up close, and to help the person behind the scenes monitor them better, he had chosen to stay.
He never expected that in less than three minutes, his identity would be seen through by King Qin An.
Liu Yu Shu clearly understood that he absolutely could not back down now, or he would only have a dead end.
"I'll give you three more minutes to consider. If you don't trade your Contract Divine Tome for my item with a thousand strands of Enlightenment Tea, I'll immediately sever your daughter's arm."
The sinister, threatening voice emanated from the sound transmission talisman again.
Zhang Xiao Li, disguised as Qin Shi Lei, spoke, "I don't trust you. Bring our daughter over, and we'll agree to give you what you want."
"And I swear I won't harm you in the slightest, and will let you leave."
"Heh heh, you don't trust me, and I don't trust you. Let's trade through the trading channel. This will be good for both of us. After the trade is completed, I'll immediately have someone send your daughter back to you."
The voice came from the sound transmission talisman again.
"I swear by my identity as the number one person on Blue Star, in the name of King Qin An. I can even post what I'm saying on the chat channel for everyone to witness. You should trust this, right?" Zhang Xiao Li said earnestly.
There was no sound from the sound transmission talisman for a long time. The other party was clearly hesitating.
Zhang Xiao Li and the others did not rush the other party, and the scene fell silent.
"If you want me to believe you, first show me your sincerity. Buy my item with a thousand strands of Enlightenment Tea."
After two minutes, the voice rang out again.
Seeing Zhang Xiao Li's continued silence, the person spoke again, "Hmph, with no sincerity at all, it seems your reputation is also not worth much. You might as well wait to collect your daughter's corpse."
"Enlightenment Tea is not something that's readily available. I can't get a thousand strands immediately. I have five hundred strands on hand right now, do you want them or not?" Zhang Xiao Li haggled.
In reality, the Enlightenment Tea Tree had already produced nearly a hundred thousand strands of Enlightenment Tea.
Zhang Xiao Li and An Qian each had thousands or tens of thousands of strands in their spatial rings.
The haggling at this moment was partly to reduce losses in case they couldn't catch the other party, and partly to better stall for time.
There was another long pause on the other end of the sound transmission talisman. Finally, the person decided that the benefit obtained first was the real benefit. "Okay, I'll change the price. You buy it now."
Zhang Xiao Li opened the chat channel and searched for a long time. Finally, under the other party's impatient urging, she bought the item with five hundred strands of Enlightenment Tea.
"I've shown my sincerity. Now can you send my daughter back to trade with us?"
"No rush."
Having received the benefit, the voice became noticeably more cheerful. "To trade in person, I'm taking a huge risk. The daughter of the esteemed King Qin An and the Empress of the Never-Setting Empire is worth more than this.
That space item of yours, where you can fit a large number of people, needs to be added."
"That's impossible," Zhang Xiao Li immediately replied. "That space was a reward from the system when I advanced to the Platinum realm. It's already bound to me personally and cannot be traded."
Hearing Qin Shi Lei's plausible explanation, the person on the other side guessed that this was likely true.
After a moment's hesitation, they spoke again, "Since you have so much Enlightenment Tea, you must have an Enlightenment Tea Tree. I want that."
Zhang Xiao Li hesitated for a long time before reluctantly saying, "Fine, this is the last item. You can't ask for anything else."
"No rush, let me think about what other treasures you have," the other person's voice was filled with delight.
The person thought for a long time but couldn't come up with any particularly special treasures Qin Shi Lei might have.
They could only tentatively ask, "Why were you able to advance to Diamond Six-Star so quickly? And your three wives, along with your subordinates, are all cultivating at an unusually fast pace. Do you have some secret treasure?"
At this moment, Liu Yu Shu also looked at Zhang Xiao Li with burning eyes, hoping to uncover the secret that all survivors on Blue Star wanted to know.
Zhang Xiao Li hesitated for a moment and then slowly said, "On one hand, our strength is sufficient, allowing us to kill more exotic beasts and obtain an inexhaustible supply of crystal cores. On the other hand, the heaven-defying effect of Enlightenment Tea has also increased our cultivation speed exponentially."
"That's it?" The person clearly didn't believe it.
"That's it," Zhang Xiao Li replied with certainty.
After a while, the person spoke again, "I still don't trust you. Trade me your giant sword that can grow with you, all your equipment, the Empress's Contract Divine Tome, and the item used to open that world. I'll send your daughter back to you immediately."