Chapter 72: This Is as Far as Your Royal Father Can Help

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: This Is as Far as Your Royal Father Can Help

Seeing the faint smile on Prince Jing’s face, Su Han quickly spoke up, "Father, everything I’ve said this time is the truth."

Prince Jing stopped and looked at Su Han. "Really?"

Su Han nodded hastily. "Really."

"As long as it’s the truth."

Prince Jing nodded. Su Han subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. However...

"Then I’ll just have to beat you for telling the truth."

Prince Jing’s body was like a bolt of lightning, rushing to Su Han’s side in an instant.

In reality, with a life-saving Divine Technique like Moon Shadow Step, let alone Prince Jing, even an expert at the Celestial Human Realm would find it impossible to get close enough to catch Su Han.

But, compared to the unpredictable Moon Shadow Step, Su Han had a skill specifically designed to counter Prince Jing.

With a quick dodge, he hid behind the Princess Consort, a pitiful expression instantly appearing on his face.

"Mother, save me! Father’s trying to kill me!"

Su Han had used this trick dozens of times, and it was a hundred percent effective against Prince Jing.

However...

Just as Su Han was putting on his pitiful act, secretly laughing and waiting for his father to get an earful, a delicate hand landed on his ear in a flash.

"He won’t go so far as to kill you, but your mother thinks... you deserve a beating."

A mixed-doubles beatdown. Besides the time when he was eight and knocked out eight of Gao Qiuqiu’s front teeth with one punch at Yunshui Pavilion, this was only the second time in his life Su Han had experienced such a worldly tragedy.

Of course, last time was a real beating; this time was more of a joke.

The Young Master Heir, who could suppress a Celestial Being with one hand, was completely powerless before Prince Jing and the Princess Consort. After enduring a round of torment, Su Han looked at his father and mother with a mournful gaze.

"Father, Mother, I told the whole truth. Why are you still hitting me?"

Rubbing an ear that the Princess Consort hadn’t actually pulled hard enough to hurt, Su Han’s eyes were filled with silent accusation.

Faced with his son’s questioning, Prince Jing blinked innocently. "What gave you the mistaken impression that you were being beaten for lying?"

Su Han: "...Then?"

"I’m just hitting you to remind you that even if you can casually slaughter dozens of Creation Realm experts in the future, your father will always be your father."

Su Han: "..."

’M... never mind. I could say that to anyone, just not my own parents.’

’What could he do? When his parents were determined to be unreasonable, all he could do was take it.’

"So... do I still need to go to the Imperial City? How about I leave right now and come back after this all blows over?

Maybe I can even take the opportunity to bring a daughter-in-law back for you both."

Prince Jing glared at him. "Imperial City? What Imperial City? Just stay here and watch the house. Who knows what kind of trouble those guys will stir up after they come out of the ruins."

"Huh?"

Su Han looked at Prince Jing, confused. "After getting their opportunities, shouldn’t they just go their separate ways and return to their respective... ancestors?

Why are you worried they’ll cause trouble?"

Prince Jing rolled his eyes. "That’s assuming they can even get any opportunities."

Su Han gave his father a strange look, feeling there was a story behind his words.

Prince Jing waved his hand, ignoring Su Han’s gaze, and turned to walk out of the courtyard. "Time to eat."

...

Time slipped by quietly as the various factions waited, each harboring their own schemes. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

During this time, Yu Su of the Celestial Demon Sect visited the Beggar Gang’s Lingzhou Sub-Branch again. She explained the details of the ruins’ opening and expressed her desire to form an alliance with the Beggar Gang.

But the old beggar knew his own sect’s situation. Besides their two Supreme Elders, who in the Beggar Gang was qualified to compete for opportunities?

Therefore, after consulting with Su Han, the old beggar rejected the proposal.

However, after some consideration, Su Han discreetly indicated that he could look out for the people of the Celestial Demon Sect from the shadows.

Receiving this promise made Yu Su very happy and further convinced her that her suspicions were correct, though she still didn’t know what kind of difficulties this ’Elder Guo’ was facing.

On the morning of the third day, everyone from the major powers to the Independent Cultivators who had come to join the excitement and hopefully snag an opportunity were packed and ready, waiting only for the Major Sects to jointly open the ruins.

Su Han had also changed into black clothes early, preparing to slip away at the crack of dawn.

’Ruins, opportunities... even though my own father told me to just stay home, how could I possibly sit still?’

’Although I consider my Skill Tree to be the greatest opportunity in the world, what if there are several Skill Trees inside those ruins?’

’What if there are some ridiculously awesome skills inside that I miss out on just because I’m cooped up at home?’

’What if...’

There were too many "what ifs"—all reasons Su Han used to convince himself to sneak off to the ruins behind his father and mother’s backs.

However...

Having changed his clothes and concealed his aura, he had just pushed open the door when a large face abruptly loomed before his eyes.

"I thought you would’ve made a run for it last night."

Prince Jing let out a heavy yawn, looking at his son with disappointment. "Back in the day, when your imperial grandfather forced me to inherit the throne, I eloped with your mother to Lingzhou in the middle of the night."

It clearly wasn’t something to be proud of, but Su Han had no idea why, when Prince Jing said it, his face held a look of smug self-satisfaction.

"F-Father?"

Only after clearly hearing his father’s voice did Su Han realize the person blocking his door was indeed his own dad, Prince Jing.

’But... I clearly scanned the area with my Divine Thought. The courtyard was empty, and I didn’t detect anyone blocking the door.’

"What? You think you’re the only one with methods to evade Divine Thought detection?"

Prince Jing shot his son a smug glance and casually slapped a yellowed, unfamiliar animal-hide scroll into Su Han’s hand.

"Take it. I knew I couldn’t stop you, so this is the most I can do to help."

Su Han: "..."

Taking the scroll, Su Han opened it with a suspicious look. Drawn on the animal hide was a map, large portions of which were missing.

The map was fragmented and discontinuous, making it rather baffling to look at.

"This is...?"

After staring for a long time without understanding what it was, Su Han only grew more confused.

"It’s a map. Aren’t you going to the ruins?"

"I’m going to the ruins, and you give me this tattered, incomplete map..."

Before he could get the words "for what" out, Su Han suddenly realized something, his eyes instantly widening.

"This... this map, it’s a map of the ruins?"

Prince Jing looked at Su Han with a matter-of-fact expression. "What’s with the fuss? If it wasn’t a map of the ruins, why would I give it to you?"

Su Han: "..."

"But... but..."

’Those are the legendary ruins! The ruins that have driven countless major powers across Jiuzhou into a frenzy to snatch opportunities!’

’And you just slapped a map of the ruins into my hand like it’s nothing? Is that really okay?’

’Even if the map is mostly incomplete, it’s still a map of the *inside* of the ruins, right?’

Prince Jing’s expression was serene. He gave Su Han a look that said ’figure it out yourself’ and turned to walk out of the courtyard.

"Our Jing Country was founded over 1,300 years ago. The place where our ancestors first raised their banners—was right here in Lingzhou."

(Prince Jing waves the map in his hand: Trading a map of the ruins for recommendation votes! One vote per map! Any takers?)