The 'Pitiful' Francis

Du Chen's performance was truly a masterclass of 'song and drama combined,' flawlessly portraying the heartbreak and desolation of an outcast son, abandoned and facing familial persecution. The expression of sorrowful tears was so genuine, so harmonious, so natural… Had any great director from his previous life witnessed it, they would have wept and clamored to sign him, declaring him a 'superstar' actor in the making.

"Lord Francis, please return from whence you came!" The warrior's cold decree was a clear dismissal.

"Alas! Alas!" Du Chen sighed mournfully, then abruptly bowed deeply towards the statue of Sigurd in the center of the Ancestral Mausoleum. With a melancholic air, he proclaimed, "Ancestors, Mother, your Francis can no longer perform filial piety here. I can no longer enter the Ancestral Mausoleum to personally offer my respects; I can only salute you from this place! Please forgive your unfilial descendant, your son!"

He lingered, refusing to rise for a long time. Little Beibei, too, stood obediently by Du Chen's feet, head bowed, her large, expressive eyes welling up with tears. "Papa, didn't you bring me here to see Grandma? Papa, what's wrong? Why are you crying…?" Her childlike words instantly amplified the mournful atmosphere to its peak.

The tomb guards' frigid demeanor stood in stark contrast to Du Chen's sorrowful act. This time, not only did Lucy not subtly stop her sister from criticizing the Saint Sigurd Cain family's internal affairs, but she also cast a rather displeased glance at the guards herself.

Lily, even more outspoken, declared, "You lot are utterly outrageous! If Sigurd the Divine were still alive, you'd surely provoke him to his death again!"

"Miss, please mind your tone!" The tomb guard glared at Lily.

"Ah, young ladies, it is as it is. Let us go," Du Chen said, concluding his bow. He picked up his daughter and departed the Sigurd Ancestral Mausoleum with a crestfallen air. Under the night sky, the solitary figures of father and daughter appeared remarkably desolate.

"Sister, let's go too!" Lucy followed Du Chen, and out of feminine sympathy, she quickly caught up and began to softly console him.

But Lily remained indignant, shooting a cold glance at the leading guard before suddenly pouting. "During the Era of Fallen Gods, what was your ancestor's name?"

The warrior was taken aback. However, being asked about his ancestor from the age of heroes was an immensely honorable matter. He immediately straightened his posture, proudly declaring, "My ancestor, Kamo, followed Sigurd the Divine on campaigns across the lands during the Era of Fallen Gods, achieving illustrious battle merits! To this day, his deeds are recorded in the Holy Church's Chronicle of Gods and Demons!"

"Oh! So, a descendant of Kamo!"

Lily nodded, then suddenly spoke with a mysterious air, "Do you know? When your illustrious ancestor joined the army at fifteen, he was so terrified during the Heaven's Ocean Pass battle that he wet his pants!"

She spoke the truth, a genuine, firsthand truth she had witnessed herself!

Without waiting for the warrior to react, Lily turned and rushed to catch up with Du Chen.

Du Chen's performance continued. They settled in a small town ten miles from the Ancestral Mausoleum. All along the way, Du Chen hadn't smiled, only sighing mournfully.

"Francis, you needn't be so despondent!" Lucy comforted him.

Lily also chimed in, "Those knights were utterly excessive, truly riding on their master's coattails!"

"No, those guards were merely fulfilling their duties; they were not in the wrong—after all, it was my father who issued the orders! I just don't understand, what did I do wrong!? Why does father treat me this way!?" Du Chen buried his head against his daughter's, the poignant sorrow of their cold relations and their mutual reliance was self-evident.

Little Beibei outright started crying. "Papa, good man, Grandpa is wrong! Bad man!"

Du Chen patted little Beibei's cheek: "My treasure, Grandpa must have his reasons for acting this way. Even if he truly is wrong, you can't call him a 'bad man'!"

What a filial child! Lucy felt moved in her heart, yet also surprised. "Has your father always treated you like this?"

"Yes, among us three brothers, the eldest, as the firstborn, naturally received the family's favor. My second brother, Charles, is said to bear an uncanny resemblance to our ancestor Sigurd and is a prodigious talent, considered the family's future… And I…"

Du Chen turned his head to look at his golden hair on his shoulder. "I, the disgrace of the Saint Sigurd Cain family, have golden hair and blue eyes, vastly different in appearance from the red-haired members of the Saint Sigurd Cain family. Naturally… sigh!"

"That's Arges's reason for discriminating against you!? Damn it, that brat deserves a beating!" Lily slammed the table, enraged. "Your appearance truly isn't like Grand Brother Sigurd, but you are practically identical to General Wolf!"

Lucy nodded. "I understand. General Wolf has been forgotten by history; Arges might not know such an ancestor existed, so when he saw the vast difference between your appearance and that of the family members, he suspected…"

*He suspected I wasn't his natural child. My dear Grand Matriarch Lucy, you are absolutely correct, perfectly on the mark with that thought!*

Following this, Du Chen recounted Francis's entire experience—the disgrace of the Saint Sigurd Cain family, the idiotic third young master of Saint John City, who, after luckily obtaining the Heaven-Bestowed Hydro-Body, was then cast out of the family… In short, whatever pitiful tale or fact could evoke the Grand Matriarchs' sympathy, Du Chen narrated it!

Evidently, how could a woman's innate maternal instinct not pity such a pathetic child!

"Alas, it's a pity we are inconvenient to appear before the world!" Lucy sighed. "Otherwise, I would certainly tell Arges that you possess the purest Saint Sigurd Cain bloodline, perhaps purer than anyone else!"

Lily suddenly slammed the table again. "Francis, your act of paying respects to your mother is only right and proper; no one can stop you! That bastard Arges, if he won't let you enter the Ancestral Mausoleum, then just use your Precious Lotus Scripture sacred artifact to sneak in!"

*It's working!* A surge of joy filled Du Chen's heart. The first step in winning over the Grand Matriarchs was successful; at the very least, they were now seeing things from his perspective and considering his plight!

"But… secretly sneaking into the Ancestral Mausoleum, that's a serious breach of rules, isn't it appropriate?" Du Chen asked, feigning hesitation.

"What's inappropriate about it? If anything's inappropriate, it's Arges who's in the wrong!" Lily declared.

Lucy frowned slightly, contemplating saying something, but ultimately held back. Even if it defied rules, principles rarely outweighed human sentiment. Why not help this 'pitiful' child before them?

Lily added, "We've seen your Precious Lotus Scripture sacred artifact. It can entirely allow you to infiltrate the Ancestral Mausoleum silently. Francis, what are you waiting for?"

Du Chen 'hesitated' for another moment, then said, "I truly yearn to enter the mausoleum, to see my mother's tomb. I… I must go in, but, young ladies, you…?"

Lily wanted to accompany Du Chen, but Lucy waved her hand, smiling, "We'll have other opportunities later. This time, we won't go with you to visit Grand Brother Sigurd." Although she had come to accept Du Chen's plan to sneak into the ancestral tomb, as a soldier herself, she couldn't properly engage in such an act.

"You can leave my sisters here in this inn!" Lucy looked at the furnishings inside the inn. "I'll tell the sisters to stay hidden and guard your belongings!"

Leaving over a hundred Grand Matriarchs in the inn, Du Chen cleared the Precious Lotus Scripture of its contents, then, with Deboning, Harry, and little Beibei, he flew the Precious Lotus Scripture into the Sigurd Ancestral Mausoleum.

Under the cover of night, Du Chen circled the burial chamber once. On the miniaturized Precious Lotus Scripture, he took out the painting Flaying had given him.

"Empty grassland, a tower, and a white fence!" Du Chen pointed at the painting. "Remember every detail of this scene in the painting. If you find anything different from this painting, tell me immediately!"

They soon found Phil's tomb, but from the outside, Du Chen noticed no abnormalities, at least on the surface! The argent tomb resembled a small palace, with Phil's name inscribed on a plaque above the main entrance, and the crystal gate was tightly sealed, seemingly unopened for a long time!

Du Chen activated the Precious Lotus Scripture, slipping through the gap in the gate, then enlarged the artifact, landing with the others inside. The interior of the tomb chamber was identical to Phil's bedroom in the Saint Sigurd Cain Estate. The only difference was that the bed's position had been replaced by a massive sandalwood coffin.

"According to Flaying, during the last tomb tremor, this coffin was shaken open. He discovered it was empty and restored it to its original state before the maintenance workers arrived! So, currently, besides us and Flaying, no one knows Phil is missing. You all be careful too, and leave no traces! All right, let's start searching for The Clues!"

Time passed slowly. The not-so-large tomb chamber was meticulously searched several times by the group. Yet, neither Deboning's keen eyesight nor little Beibei's Spiritual Power found anything.

Finally, Du Chen opened the coffin, frowning at its empty interior. "Strange. Since Flaying said The Clues were in the tomb, it shouldn't be wrong. How can there be no discovery at all?"

Suddenly, Harry, who had been sniffing around on the ground, excitedly rushed to the coffin. "Master, Harry has earned his merit for you! I've found The Clues! Look!"

He lifted the soft cushion inside the coffin, pointing at the wooden board beneath with a chuckle.

A small amount of moss-like plants grew on the wooden board inside the coffin, a common sight in dark, damp environments. "Harry, stop rambling. What did you find?"

"Master, look at this moss, the problem lies right here!" Harry excitedly explained. "Noble Master, Young Lady, powerful Deboning, it's normal for moss to grow on wood in a dark chamber, but Harry's nose detects a peculiar scent from this moss!"

As he spoke, he grabbed a small clump of moss, displaying it proudly. "To ordinary humans, all moss is the same, but our Shieb noses can accurately categorize moss! Master, this moss absolutely cannot appear in Southern Lanning; it should belong to the Great Plains! Specifically, your third stop on your journey, the McAllen Great Plains!"

"Harry, my butler, your master will certainly not be stingy with rewards! As long as your information is accurate and flawless." Du Chen rubbed his nose, smiling, and also picked up a clump of moss, grinding it delicately.

His past life's knowledge told Du Chen that every plant has a specific growing environment. Would an orange tree grow on an ice mountain? Of course not. So, would specialty plants from the Great Plains appear in Southern Lanning!? Even if a plant mutation and migration occurred, how would it just happen to appear in a completely sealed tomb chamber!?

Deboning stroked the moss on the inner wall of the coffin, then suddenly said, "Young Master, just now I detected a trace of Water-element battle qi on this tombstone. Initially, I thought it was to preserve the body using the characteristics of water-variant ice and snow, but now it seems someone used Water-element battle qi to nourish the plant-elemental properties, ensuring this moss's long-term preservation!"

"Papa, The Clues, left by Grandma!" Little Beibei cheered happily.

The little girl understood the implication of the moss, let alone Du Chen!

*Phil!*

His mother in this life was truly eccentric. She must have encountered something she couldn't explicitly state, so she left a clue pointing towards the Great Plains!

"Go back and pack our things. We'll meet Jamis and the others in the Misty Forest, then head to the Great Plains!"