Dual cultivation makes you stronger, everyone else is a prodigy, and I'm the only one slacking

Song Chi has been arrested?

Yu Luoning was startled.

She quickly stepped forward and took the clerk's cold hand in hers.

He crouched down and asked urgently, "Clerk, don't panic. Tell me in detail what happened last night?"

The clerk, his eyes red and swollen, trembled as he said, "Sister, last night a lot of cultivators dressed in black armor, who looked like monsters, came and surrounded the inn. To prevent them from attacking, Brother Achi went with them. Before leaving, he put this in my hand..."

The document writer stretched out his hand with trembling hands, his small palm holding a crystal-clear ancient stone.

This is a rare jade pendant with dragon patterns. In the center of the openwork jade body, a Song character is engraved using supernatural seal script.

Yu Luoning's gaze darkened, and Feng Qiguang also sensed the lingering pressure emanating from the jade pendant.

Yu Luoning: "Little Phoenix, do you recognize this?"

Feng Qiguang shook his head, his expression inscrutable, clearly not familiar with this object.

"In the Eastern Treasure Continent, at least among the second-rate families in the entire Sichuan Region, the Northern Region, and the Central State, there is absolutely no dragon pattern of this standard. The array on it seems to have a layer of mysterious light. The owner of this jade pendant must be someone of great importance."

Upon hearing this, Yu Luoning felt even more puzzled.

She suppressed her doubts, placed the jade pendant back into Wenshu's hand, and said softly, "Since it was left to you by Song Chi, Wenshu, keep it safe and don't lose it."

The clerk nodded, her face still streaked with tears, and choked out, "Sister, please save brother. I feel like those people aren't good people; their eyes are cold and terrifying..."

Yu Luoning pressed his shoulder and remained silent for a while.

"Clerk, think carefully. Did Song Chi go with them voluntarily last night, or was he forcibly taken away?"

The clerk seemed unsure how to explain, and after a long pause, he timidly said, "He walked there by himself, but I know that Brother Song Chi clearly didn't want to go with that group of people."

"Did they say anything when they came to see Song Chi?"

The clerk shook his head.

Yu Luoning pondered for a moment. Logically, since the two of them were the most familiar with each other, she spoke again, "Has Song Chi been behaving or saying anything strange these days?"

The clerk suddenly hesitated, tears welling in her almond-shaped eyes, looking somewhat bewildered.

"Brother Achi, there's nothing special about it. I cultivate with him every day and attend classes diligently. Oh, by the way, Brother Achi once told me that he wanted me to be strong, cultivate hard, and take good care of my sister for him in the future."

After hearing these words, Yu Luoning's heart sank, but she also breathed a sigh of relief.

Song Chi must have had a premonition of something.

"Clerk, aren't you and Song Chi natives of that island?"

The clerk shook his head, sniffed, and said, "Brother Song Chi's family was captured and brought to the island by the cultivators of the Sea Dragon Palace. I heard from the village elders that Brother Song Chi's mother was well-educated, had a noble air, and must have come from a wealthy family."

Yu Luoning stood up and exchanged a glance with Feng Qiguang beside her.

Feng Qiguang reassured him, "Don't worry, I will have the family do everything in their power to search for his whereabouts."

Yu Luoning nodded.

After listening to the document's account, she was certain that Song Chi was not in any immediate danger.

If those people wanted to kill him, they could have just killed him with a single blow that very night in the inn. Why go through all that trouble?

And this dragon-patterned jade pendant—Song Chi's background is definitely not simple.

However, she was very agitated.

It's all very confusing.

After settling the documents, Yu Luoning and the others visited the city garrison officer that very night with Feng Qiguang.

They also scattered countless spirit stones and used their connections to search for any clues about Song Chi.

at the same time.

Outside the city, above the empty ancient road, a giant spirit ship, hundreds of feet long, floated in mid-air.

The ship was shrouded in a huge barrier, completely hidden under the bright sun, and could not be detected by the naked eye of mortals.

In the center of the deck was the missing Song Chi.

On both sides of the deck, soldiers dressed in black armor stood in formation, and in front of them a middle-aged man was bowing and smiling.

The man had fair, smooth skin, no beard, and wore an elaborate imperial court eunuch's robe. He also wore a tall black gauze hat and held a snow-white whisk in his hand.

"Your humble servant, Liu Bao, the Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Department of the Jing Song Imperial Court, respectfully welcomes His Highness the Seventh Prince back to his throne."

As he spoke, several powerful figures behind him knelt down on one knee.

Song Chi clenched his fists tightly, a hint of surprise flashing in his dark eyes.

Prince?

The old eunuch looked at him with a smile, like a kind old man.

It looks harmless, but it is actually dangerous.

Because the person's fingers, hidden beneath his long sleeves, caused the void to subtly distort.

Song Chi observed calmly.

At this moment, the eunuch named Liu Bao looked at the slightly thin boy's figure and took out a box made of purple-gold divine wood from his sleeve.

"I'm sure Your Highness has many questions for this servant. However, these imperial secrets are not urgent. Please allow the remains to be returned to their proper place first, so as not to disappoint Her Majesty's good intentions."

"What is this?" Song Chi asked coldly.

"Your bones."

"To be precise, it's the divine bone that His Majesty personally dug out when you were just born," the old eunuch said with a smile.

Song Chi's eyes widened. So, his frequent chest pains were because he was missing a bone?

He stared intently at the bone, his gaze filled with a hint of wariness.

The box was opened, revealing a bone that emitted a faint golden glow.

"Why should I believe you?" Song Chi asked.

The old eunuch didn't care. With a flick of his withered finger, a soundproof barrier instantly appeared between the two of them.

The eyesight and consciousness of the Imperial Guards serving behind him were completely blocked.

Song Chi's pupils widened slightly. This old eunuch's strength was greater than anyone he had ever seen.

He is probably even more powerful than the Golden Core elder from the Northern Sword Alliance who attacked Phoenix Perch Town.

Just as his expression slightly changed, a cold, shrill voice directly entered the depths of his consciousness.

"Seventh Prince, your adoptive father is named Song Yun. He is a seventh-rank official in an extremely remote dynasty on the Eastern Treasure Continent. Before you were three years old, you lived a comfortable life, with a loving father and mother, and two younger sisters who were still in swaddling clothes."

Thirteen years ago, Song Yun offended the cultivators of the Biluo Sect and was reprimanded by the imperial court. Song Yun's entire clan was exiled a thousand miles to the southern coast. During this time, you were captured by the cultivators of the Sea Dragon Palace and taken to an island, where you were subjected to a life of slavery worse than that of pigs and dogs.

Your two adopted sisters were fed alive to a giant snake by the cultivators of the Sea Dragon Palace when they were only six years old… Your Highness, do I need to continue recounting these earthly dramas?”

At that moment, a thunderbolt seemed to explode in Song Chi's mind.

His face was deathly pale, and he was trembling with extreme anger and shock.

"Why...do you know so much about my life and deeds?"

Liu Bao smiled and said, "You are a prince of the Song Dynasty's imperial court. Your every move is under the control of the dynasty."

boom!

Song Chi's eyes instantly turned red.

The pain of losing his family and loved ones that he has endured over the years has all been witnessed by the indifferent eyes of others.

And they were his so-called biological parents?

They watched his life over the past sixteen years as if it were a play.

"If that's the case, why didn't you take me back sooner?"

"If that's the case, why did you watch my adoptive father's family become slaves? Why did you stand by and watch my sisters being devoured alive by monsters, never offering any help?"

"What prince? That's utterly ridiculous!"

The boy's voice was hoarse as he roared at the old eunuch.

The old eunuch didn't speak, but simply sighed softly.

After a long pause, he spoke, his tone filled with numbness.

"Your Highness, killing a few mortals and destroying their entire family is a blessing they have earned in ten lifetimes, in exchange for Your Highness's ruthless heart to defy fate."

"This is all your fate."

Life?

Song Chi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly chuckled softly.

Liu Bao just stared at him blankly.

Looking at the deathly killing intent in the boy's eyes, which perfectly matched the Dao of Ten Thousand Tribulations Soul Tempering, he narrowed his eyes in admiration.

He opened the box of the Purple Gold Divine Wood, and the golden divine bone, like a stream of light, forcefully pierced into Song Chi's chest.

The piercing sound echoed through the heavens.

From then on, the divine bones were returned to their rightful place.

Under the watchful eyes of the powerful figures on the boat, the boy's bones grew rapidly with a crackling sound, and his original mortal body's outer skin quickly shed.