The door closed behind him, and Ruan Bei asked impatiently, "What exactly happened? Your father... and the White Bone Ghost King. By the way, how did you know I was in trouble?"

"Don't rush, let me explain it to you slowly."

Qin Gu sat down beside him, took out the Yu'an Umbrella from his backpack, unfolded it, and activated the lightning rune array on it, but the array was not released.

"Can you tell the difference?" Qin Gu asked.

Ruan Bei examined it carefully for a while: "The rune array seems to have dimmed."

He only used the Thunder Talisman Array three times in total. The other talismans on the umbrella, depending on their power and difficulty, required dozens or even hundreds of uses to achieve their current state, while the Thunder Talisman Array could be used more than ten times. However, the Thunder Talisman Array only lasted three uses before it became ineffective.

Qin Gu nodded, withdrew his spiritual energy, and the Yu'an Umbrella returned to silence.

"Of all the talismans on the umbrella, the strongest is the Thunder Talisman Array. When I drew it, I added a little Twin Grass powder to the talisman ink."

Ruan Bei had previously crammed on various general knowledge topics, and still keeps a book on herbal medicine materials in his dorm room.

He had learned about twin grass; this kind of grass produces two plants from one stem, growing together, and if one dies, the other will also die.

Qin Gu took out a talisman he had kept separately and showed it to him. It was just an ordinary calming talisman, with only a few strokes on it, the simplest kind of talisman.

Strangely, even though the talisman hadn't been used yet, the lines left by the talisman ink on it had already faded and turned gray, as if it had lost its effectiveness.

"After the Twin Grasses are processed, they are added to the talisman ink. One of them is used to draw a thunder talisman array for you, and the other is used to draw this calming talisman. If the thunder talisman array is overused, this calming talisman will also lose its effectiveness."

The Thunder Talisman Array is the strongest attack method on Yu'an Umbrella, and also the strongest attack method in Ruanbei.

Qin Gu had predicted beforehand that using the Thunder Talisman Array once would drain half of Ruan Bei's spiritual energy. Given his personality, he wouldn't recklessly deplete all of his spiritual energy unless he encountered an insurmountable predicament.

Ruan Bei thought of the effort he had put into her safety, and her heart softened with a sweet warmth. She lowered her head to hide her reddened eyes and muttered softly, "Then why didn't you tell me..."

"Because you're a little fool." Qin Gu chuckled and tapped Ruan Bei's forehead, only to be caught by Ruan Bei's wide-eyed stare.

If he really told Ruan Bei that overuse of the Thunder Talisman Array would summon him, and when Ruan Bei encountered real danger that he felt Qin Gu couldn't handle, he would definitely prefer not to use the Yu'an Umbrella rather than drag Qin Gu into the mess.

This was something Qin Gu didn't want to see, which is why he secretly kept his actions a secret.

"I'm not stupid." Ruan Bei held Qin Gu's hand and poked his palm. Qin Gu's palm itched, so he closed his fingers and held Ruan Bei's hand tightly.

"Alright, I'm not stupid. Are you still going to listen?" Qin Gu asked with a smile.

Although she was unhappy with his tone of coaxing a child, Ruan Bei also wanted to know the rest, so she didn't hold it against him and urged Qin Gu, shaking his hand, "Tell me quickly."

Qin Gu then gave a brief account of what had happened.

Three days ago, after Ruan Bei called him and accepted Jiao Yan's invitation to come to Ghost King Forest, Qin Gu was also busy.

Knowing that his child is trying hard to catch up with him, he can't just lie there and take a nap.

However, in these last few days, it was really hard to get a mission. Although Qin Gu was arrogant, he wasn't stupid. He didn't think that he could easily get those high-level missions that no one else wanted.

The suitable low-to-medium level tasks have almost all been snapped up by the enthusiastic participants. Every time the app is refreshed, you can see that there are fewer and fewer tasks left, and the ones that are marked as completed indicate that teams are frantically completing the tasks.

This is the downside of being on your own team and having a good or bad relationship with other contestants. You don't know which tasks others are doing. If you travel a long way and the plane hasn't even landed yet, and the other person has already finished their task, you'll feel like you're going to die of nausea.

Unable to find a suitable mission, Qin Gu randomly chose the nearest one. When he arrived at the mission destination, the three teams were locked in a fierce battle, leaving the mission target, Ghost, to the side, its eyes darting around as it contemplated escaping.

Qin Gu was alone and a small target. Taking advantage of the fact that the three teams were fighting fiercely, he rushed over and captured the ghost.

The three teams almost ganged up on Qin Gu, but his face was still quite recognizable. Seeing that their mission target was gone, and realizing that there would be no benefit even if they won, the three teams left dejectedly.

After that, things didn't go so well. He went to two more places, but the mission was submitted before he even got there, and when he arrived at the other place, a team had just caught the ghost.

If they hadn't been captured yet, Qin Gu wouldn't mind getting involved. However, since they had already finished fighting and everyone in the team was injured, going over now would be taking advantage of their vulnerability.

Qin Gu left under the wary gazes of that group of people, and then, he gained nothing.

He felt that the Special Affairs Bureau probably hadn't expected that this group of young Xuanmen disciples would be so busy completing missions that they eventually ran out of missions to do.

Of course, the task list is still quite long, but this time the Special Affairs Bureau is being particularly cunning by only opening up backlog tasks that no one has accepted, excluding normal tasks.

The remaining tasks are either unusual, such as material gathering, or have long time limits, making them unsuitable for the competition period.

Qin Gu had been on the road all day without getting anything. He was worried about Ruan Bei, who had taken on a rather difficult task, and kept an eye on the situation of the calming talisman.

This morning, while he was still on the plane, he suddenly noticed that the calming talisman had dimmed a little, and his heart immediately jumped into his throat.

He hoped that Ruan Bei was alright. If it was just this little bit, it shouldn't be a big problem. But then, the calming talisman grew dimmer and dimmer.

Qin Gu immediately called his senior brother to inquire about their people's tracking of the Underworld Ghost King.

Ruan Bei has been in Ghost King Forest for two days. If Jiao Yan's great-uncle had a problem, something would have happened long ago, not now.

Jiao Xun, the Ghost General, is fine; they have a Ghost General protecting them. Yet they still encountered difficulties, which makes Qin Gu suspect that it is related to the Ghost King.

Xuan Ningcheng replied that the Yinming Ghost King had not been caught yet, but it was certain that there was no way to return to the Ghost King Forest now, as their people had blocked the way back, while the White Bone Ghost King watched the commotion from the sidelines.

With the Ghost King absent and problems arising, Qin Gu had no idea what was going on. He was unaware of the situation in Ghost King Forest, so he could only tell his senior brother about the potential danger Ruan Bei might be in.

Although Xuan Ningcheng was also worried about Ruan Bei, according to the agreement, he could not enter the Ghost King Forest at will. It was a place for ghosts to survive in the human world, which was won by the White Bone Ghost King and the Underworld Ghost King. If he rashly sent people in, they would die inside and there would be no way to seek justice.

But we can't just ignore Ruan Bei. Judging from Qin Gu's appearance, he's about to head to Ghost King Forest at any moment.

Xuan Ningcheng dared not watch his two junior brothers perish in Ghost King Forest. If something really happened, his master could chase him all the way to the capital to beat him up.

He pondered for a while. It was not appropriate for him to get involved in this matter, but Qin Gu was not solely under his jurisdiction.

He told Qin Gu to wait a moment, then made a phone call to Fu Zhao, saying, "You can't just give birth to a child and then abandon him."

After listening, Fu Zhao promptly transferred the call to Qin Zhengze.

Previously, Xuan Ningcheng had spoken with Qin Gu, asking if Qin Gu was willing to acknowledge his relatives. Although it was Fu Zhao who asked him to do so, Fu Zhao had already spoken with Qin Zhengze before coming to Xuan Ningcheng.

As for the subsequent outcome, Xuan Ningcheng was too lazy to help Qin Gu cover it up; that brat was too infuriating.

Fu Zhao ridiculed Qin Zhengze, saying that the child could choose to acknowledge his maternal uncle or not, since he, as the father, had never fulfilled his responsibilities as a father.

What could Qin Zheng do when he was mocked by his own uncle? Of course, he had to endure it.

The key issue was that his brat didn't acknowledge him at all, and couldn't even refute him, so Qin Zheng finally held his breath.

Upon receiving Xuan Ningcheng's call, Qin Zhengze immediately laughed. "Your father is still your father. You've come to him for help."

He revealed his requirements to Xuan Ningcheng, and a short while later, Qin Gu obediently made the call.

"Dad, I'm your son, Dad."

"Dad, your future son-in-law is in danger! Dad, help me!"

Qin Zhengze: "..."

This son is no longer a good family.

Qin Gu, who was particularly pragmatic and ran home to get reinforcements, would certainly not say such a thing in front of Ruan Bei.

He casually remarked, "Didn't my senior brother say before that my dad wanted to acknowledge me back? It just so happens that I have some connections in the family. The White Bone Demon King once had a relationship with my great-aunt, and they were even engaged, so he should be considered my great-uncle."

The last time that evil spirit caused trouble, the King of the Underworld framed the King of the Bone Demon, and it was through connections with the Qin family that the matter was cleared up.

Ruan Bei's first reaction wasn't to be happy that he had more backers; he looked at Qin Gu with concern and asked, "Did he force you to do anything? Are you happy?"

If Kunkun voluntarily acknowledged his kinship, then he accepted it when his senior brother mentioned it last time, and he bowed his head this time, isn't it all for his sake?

"Don't overthink it." Qin Gu saw through his dilemma at a glance and ruffled his hair. "He's a little better than we thought. You have to trust my mother's judgment."

"Then... what kind of person is your father? Is he good to you?" Ruan Bei asked.

Qin Gu recalled his brief phone call with Qin Zhengze, and paused for a moment: "I haven't met him yet, but it seems pretty good."

When the senior apprentice asked him to make the call, he subtly hinted that he should say something nice.

Qin Gu thought that he had never coaxed any other man in his life except Xiao Bei, and he knew how to say nice things.

That person just wants him to call him "Dad," so he should just do it. They've already decided to acknowledge their relationship, so why be so coy?

So as soon as the call connected, he sincerely called out "Dad" a few times, hoping his father could hear his sincerity and respect and quickly use the family connections to help him get Xiao Bei out of trouble.

But Dad didn't seem to be used to his enthusiastic son. He helped him contact his great-uncle, who was also the White Bone Demon King, briefly explained the relationship between the two families, and then arranged to meet in the capital before hanging up the phone.

Although they didn't exchange more than a few words, he offered his help readily, so Qin Gu had a good impression of him.

Ruan Bei thought for a moment, then hugged Qin Gu and said earnestly, "I'll go with you. If he treats you well, we'll take care of him together in the future. If he doesn't treat you well, then... then I'll repay the favor he did for me this time. I'll find a way to repay it. Don't make things difficult for yourself because of this."

He was terrified that Qin Gu would follow the same path he had taken in his previous life, forced to do things he didn't want to do because of debts he owed.

Qin Gu felt both sorry for him and amused, and deliberately teased him: "Why are you going to be filial to my dad with me? Do you really want to be my little wife?"

Ruan Bei: "..."

His ears turned red, and he stiffened his neck to bolster his voice, which unconsciously became louder: "Don't you call my parents 'Dad' and 'Mom'? Then what's wrong with me being filial to your father along with you?"