Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Qin Kan's expression turned extremely ugly as he looked at Lan Jian in disbelief: "Who exactly are you?"

He was wary of Lan Jian from the beginning. Although Lan Jian's aura was not strong, Qin Kan judged from his behavior that he was not as mediocre as he appeared.

He guessed that Lan Jian was likely at the same level as himself, in the Divine Harmony Realm.

Judging from the fact that he was powerless to fight back when the other party attacked, Lan Jian's cultivation level was far above his own.

The Void Realm, or something even higher?

Qin Kan's expression kept changing.

Lan Jian did not answer, sealed his spiritual power, and unexpectedly asked, "Do you know Liu Zhu?"

Although he was asking a question, his tone was very certain, clearly indicating that he was convinced that Qin Kan knew Liu Zhu.

Qin Kan originally didn't want to answer, but Lan Jian clearly had no patience. He condensed a powerful spiritual energy blade in his palm and said coldly, "You'd better think carefully before you answer."

Qin Kan realized that he was no good person and dared not take any chances, so he reluctantly said, "The Qin family has served Emperor Dan for generations."

After a moment's thought, Lan Jian understood: "After Liu Zhu stole the Qilin's remains, he handed them over to the Qin family for safekeeping."

"Where's Liuzhu? Did something happen to her?"

If Liuzhu were still alive, with her abilities, Qin Kan would never have dared to steal from her. The only possibility is that something happened to Liuzhu, and Qin Kan couldn't resist the temptation and developed other ideas, but he didn't have the ability to restrain Qilin, which led to the current predicament of Fengling City.

Qin Kan was secretly alarmed that he had revealed the truth so clearly.

He could tell that the other party probably had a close relationship with Liu Zhu, so he dared not hide anything and could only honestly explain the whole story.

The Qin family was originally just a declining, unknown clan; back then, Fengling City wasn't called Fengling City. The Qin family ancestor accidentally met the Pill Emperor Liuzhu, who gifted him a pill, allowing his cultivation to advance rapidly, thus giving rise to the Qin family we know today.

In return, they would need to help Liuzhu guard the remains of the Kirin.

It was described as a remains, but it was not actually a corpse.

The Qilin's body was filled with turbid energy and it had lost its mind, so it was necessary to use countless formations to suppress it.

Liu Zhu was skilled in formations. She used the underground of the Qin family's old house as the center and gradually extended outwards to set up countless formations, trapping the Qilin in a huge formation with one ring inside another.

To cover their tracks, the Qin family started a business of breeding spirit pets.

As the Qin family grew stronger with each generation, they established their own sect and recruited many disciples, turning the cultivation of spirit pets into a business renowned throughout the Shangyang Continent.

The small town where the Qin family lived also benefited from this, and its population grew, eventually developing into the present-day Fengling City.

But as businesses grow, people are no longer willing to be controlled by others at all times.

Especially by the time the Qin family passed down to Qin Kan's generation, Liu Zhu rarely appeared anymore. Even Qin Kan only paid a distant audience once when he took over as the head of the family.

It wasn't to introduce him to Liu Zhu, but rather to let Liu Zhu know that the head of the Qin family had changed and that he needed her approval.

After that, Qin Kan never saw this secret "master" of the Qin family again.

Three years ago, Liu Zhu sent a message saying that he would be going into seclusion for a period of time and ordered him to take good care of Qilin's remains.

Qin Kan sensed her weakness from her telepathic transmission, and considering that she was appearing less and less frequently, he guessed that this Pill Emperor, who had lived for so many years, was probably nearing the end of her life.

The Qin family's chance to get rid of this secret "master" has arrived.

He tried to contact Liuzhu several times under various pretexts, but after receiving no response, he became certain of his guess.

So he began his plan.

He originally planned to move the Qilin out of the formation set up by Liuzhu, use the Qilin's blood to cultivate a batch of more powerful spirit pets, and also use the Qilin's essence blood to exchange for resources for the Qin family.

Even if his guess is wrong and Liuzhu did not perish, he can simply return the Qilin's remains to her when he comes looking for her. The Qin family has worked hard all these years, and Liuzhu shouldn't be implicated because of him alone.

But if he guessed correctly, Liu Zhu's time had truly come, and the hidden Qilin remains would elevate him and the entire Qin family to a higher level.

His plan was very thorough, and in order not to implicate the Qin family, he didn't even tell Qin Long, only bringing a few trusted confidants.

Everything was going very smoothly until he underestimated the Qilin's abilities. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; the Qilin actually escaped from the formation he had set up and was causing trouble in Fengling City.

After the incident, he knew things were going badly. If something went wrong with Qilin's remains, and Liuzhu came looking for him but couldn't hand over the remains, the matter would probably not end well.

Moreover, news of the incident in Fengling City will spread quickly. When that happens, various forces will vie for the Qilin, which will be extremely detrimental to the Qin family.

Unfortunately, he was seriously injured and on the verge of death. With the greater good at the moment, he had no choice but to use the soul-swapping technique to exchange souls with Qin Long.

At this point, Qin Kan suddenly looked at the Soul-Guiding Lamp and said to Qin Long, "For the sake of the entire Qin family, you must find the Qilin's remains and seal it back into the underground magic array."

After saying that, Qin Long's body suddenly collapsed weakly.

Lan Jian's expression changed slightly. He touched "Qin Long's" neck and said after a moment, "His soul has left his body."

Qin Kan's body is still in the secret chamber of the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor. If he rashly ends the soul-swapping technique, his soul will not be able to return to his body, and he will surely die.

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, and Qin Long's soul flickered rapidly within the soul-guiding lamp.

Seeing this, Nie Yuqin picked up the Soul-Guiding Lamp and guided Qin Long's soul into her body.

A beam of light entered Qin Long's brow. A moment later, Qin Long suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping around: "Father!"

Qin Kan naturally couldn't respond to him.

Qin Long's wide-open eyes gradually turned red.

Xu Lingguang and the others didn't know how to comfort him, so they could only silently pat his shoulder.

Chai Feng asked, "We know where the secret room is. Do you... want to go see your father?"

Qin Long wiped his eyes, forcing back his sorrow, and said, "Thank you for your trouble."

He then said to the others, "It is the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor that has wronged you all. I will personally apologize to you all after everything is over."

Just as he was preparing to head to the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor with Dongyang Li and Chai Feng, Lan Jian suddenly looked in the direction of the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor and said urgently, "No! Gather together, don't scatter."

After saying that, he quickly moved closer to Xu Lingguang and grabbed his wrist tightly.

Only then did the others look over in astonishment.

Xu Lingguang turned to look at him and asked, "What's wrong—"

Before he could finish speaking, the scene before him distorted, and the figures of the other people disappeared like ripples on water.

Xu Lingguang looked around in astonishment: "What's going on?"

Lan Jian gripped his wrist tightly, her face grave: "It's a teleportation array."

The moment the teleportation array was activated, he sensed the spiritual energy vibrations from the large-scale formation being activated at the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor.

"Qin Kan deliberately separated his soul from his body not only to return his body to Qin Long, but also probably to go back and activate the teleportation array."

According to Qin Kan, the entire underground of Fengling City is probably a magic array set up by Liu Zhu.

Lan Jian's expression turned somewhat grim: "Follow me, and be careful."