Chapter 173

First we need to arrange people to go fetch the ancestors. Shen Qingli was already speaking in the Vermilion Bird Palace: "Mother, will it be easy to fetch them? Brother, uncle, and the ancestors should have scattered and ascended in various directions."

Simple, I'll have Jin Wu handle it; you give him the portrait. Zhong Minglan didn't think there was any problem.

"Okay, Father will draw?" Shen Qingli looked at her father, after all she couldn't.

"Okay." Shen Kuo naturally agreed, "The ancestors, Elder Jiang, Fourth Brother, and Qing Mo."

"Ninth Brother should be about the same; to be safe, let's draw them all." Shen Qingli worried that Lou Guanxue and Shaoguan Wu might strike secretly; even though Qin Su Nu and Qin Bi Lian, the two who could recognize her family, were dead, but what if?

Di Jin also slapped his own forehead hard! As if he remembered something, "Mother, I have a question."

Zhong Minglan glanced at him: "Don't call me Mother, it's fine to speak."

"Isn't there still an old man on Kunlun, older in seniority than Lou Guanxue?" Di Jin directly stated the problem.

Zhong Minglan instantly understood: "Jin Wu."

Jin Wu entered in response: "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

"Investigate how Lou Guanxue rose to her position, and what about the Old Man of Kun Shan? Since the Divine Lord is absent, he must be the one in charge."

"As for Lou Guanxue's matter, I happen to know." Jin Wu immediately reported.

At that moment, Di Jin was looking at his stepfather...

Zhong Minglan snorted repeatedly: "She sure knows how to gild her own face! Could the Kunlun Divine Lord take a liking to her?"

Di Jin smiled faintly: "Mother actually knows the Divine Lord's intentions." It seems she has a good impression of her stepfather.

Zhong Minglan said, "I don't know that, but I've always disliked Lou Guanxue, pretending to be lofty. If the Kunlun Divine Lord weren't blind, he wouldn't take a liking to her."

This inference is flawless.

Di Jin pondered for a moment, then decided to explain truthfully.

Otherwise, if he concealed it, Lou Guanxue might seize the opportunity, and A Li would not, like with Pei Jianshu, reject him.

Thus, while Jin Wu went out first to ascertain the current situation of the Old Man of Kun Shan—

Di Jin still confessed: "There's something: I suspect our father is the Kunlun Divine Lord."

Shen Qingli had already reached out to touch his forehead: "No fever, looks like he's gone mad."

Jiu Li couldn't hold back laughter, letting out an "ao" to muffle the sound of laughing.

Di Jin glanced at it, and it immediately lay down, continuing to feign sleep.

"What do you think?" Shen Kuo was speechless.

Zhong Minglan, however, was already sizing up Shen Kuo from head to toe, truly unbelievable.

Him? So frail, the Kunlun Divine Lord?

But Di Jin had reason and evidence: "If Father weren't the Kunlun Divine Lord, how could he support me?"

Zhong Minglan: "... That actually makes some sense; if we're talking about who the Dao Lord trusts most, it must be the Kunlun Divine Lord."

Moreover, Father said he would constantly conjure up some memories out of thin air.

"Indeed," Shen Kuo was even doubting himself.

But Father must have suffered a severe soul injury, which is why even after ascension he cannot fully recall the past.

"Then Lou Guanxue must know Father, right?" Shen Qingli seized the point: "But she didn't acknowledge him; she doesn't seem particularly devoted, yet she calls herself a widow, surely scheming something big! No, we must hurry to fetch the ancestors."

"Let's draw first." Shen Kuo had someone fetch brush and ink, then immediately began to draw.

But actually, he had never drawn before...

But as soon as he picked up the brush, his daughter, her mother, his son-in-law, and Jiu Li all gathered around to look.

"Father, you can't draw, can you?" Di Jin wondered.

Shen Kuo gave him a bland glance, then put brush to paper, not to mention...

Some people are naturally gifted in both color and technique; even if they've never drawn before, once they put brush to paper, they draw quite well.

"Looks like it!" Shen Qingli looked at Shen Duo's portrait, gave a thumbs-up, "Father is really talented."

Shen Kuo smiled, glad he hadn't disappointed his daughter, and continued drawing.

Several people in succession were drawn remarkably lifelike.

Jiu Li kept crying "wawa": "A Li's father could set up a stall under the bridge to perform."

"Really that similar?" Zhong Minglan, having never seen the person in the painting, remained noncommittal.

Di Jin immediately said: "Father, draw one for Mother as well."

"Good, good, good!" Jiu Li clapped!

Shen Qingli handed the portrait to the returning Jin Wu, then joined in the clamor: "Draw one!"

Shen Kuo: "..."

"Come." Zhong Minglan sat down openly.

Shen Kuo looked at her, didn't say much, and began to draw seriously.

Jiu Li immediately took out melon seeds, gave a handful to Shen Qingli, and snacked while watching.

But a slender large hand reached out toward it...

Jiu Li immediately handed over all the melon seeds, then went to get more! What else could he do?

Thus they enjoyed themselves in harmony...

Holding the portrait, Jin Wu walked out of the hall, inexplicably feeling a sour ache in his heart.

He turned his head back to look inside the hall—

The deities of their Vermilion Bird Palace, the solemn and bright Her Majesty the Empress, were casually leaning against the edge of the platform.

Opposite her, the pale-faced Imperial Consort was holding a brush and painting.

Although Jin Wu still thought him frail, he had to admit that the Empress's eye was indeed good; Shen the Imperial Consort was indeed extremely handsome. Though not a deity, he possessed an ethereal, mysterious aura that well matched his transcendent, otherworldly face.

"What are you looking at?" Xu Shen Yun happened to come over, wanting to report to Jin Wu the matter he had just ordered him to investigate—the Old Man of Kun Shan.

Jin Wu indicated with his eyes inside, then quietly closed the door, lowered his voice before saying, "His Majesty rarely relaxes; let her be at ease, how is the old man of Kun Shan?"

"He went to the Xuanwu Divine Palace earlier, but after coming out he vanished without a trace." Xu Shen Yun frowned, "Something must have happened; we need to report to His Majesty."

"First send a scout to check." Jin Wu concluded, he himself must go to the North Palace.

He looked at the portrait of the young little emperor; Jiang Yuan and Shen Qingmo should be teleported to the North Palace.

For the matters entrusted by the Young Emperor, he naturally ought to treat them as seriously as he would those entrusted by His Majesty.

He handed over the images of Shen Jing and Shen Qing Tong to Xu Shen Yun, "You then make a trip to the East Palace; if those two appear, you must bring them back completely."

"Understood." Xu Shen Yun received the order and immediately set off.

Jin Wu also instructed his confidant Shen Duo, as well as some subsequent trivial matters, including having everyone formally pay respects to Shen Qingli, this Young Emperor's ceremony; no matter how big or small, arrangements were made meticulously.

Finally, he manifested his true form, employed spatial technique, tore through space and headed straight for the North Palace.

In Shen Ting, even apart from the gods, even an upper immortal cannot rend space and teleport.

Like Xu Shen Yun, he would have to take the teleportation array to reach the East Palace as quickly as possible, his speed naturally far inferior to Jin Wu's.

However, Jin Wu clearly knows that the most likely to cause trouble for the Young Emperor's close relatives is certainly this side of the North Palace.

After all, His Majesty had just slain their empress, and the Young Emperor had just slain their divine consort; this feud is deeply entrenched! The North Palace surely bears no goodwill toward the Vermilion Bird Palace from top to bottom—must he not go there himself?

However, Jin Wu never expected that, upon arriving near the Ascension Passage, he would see—