Chapter 62: Divine Edict, Issuing the Betrothal

"You really have seen her." Zhong Wuye's eyes sharp, "Raise your head and look at me."

Zhao Yue dared not disobey, slowly raised her head; her aged appearance made Zhong Wuye feel disgust, she waved her hand and produced a pill.

"Take it." Zhong Wuye said lightly, "Don't ruin Minglan's face."

Zhao Yue's expression was between crying and not crying, "If not for asking about her whereabouts, even if you knew my situation, you wouldn't have come to rescue me."

"What you have done, even a scattered soul could not repay. Sparing your life is already my mercy."

"You are not merciful! You cannot let your Dao heart be disturbed!" Zhao Yue shouted.

Zhong Wuye looked at her without joy or sorrow, "Whatever you think, take it, then answer my question."

Zhao Yue took several breaths before calming her emotions and swallowing the pill.

However, her appearance had recovered, but her cultivation had not!

"Can't you help me repair my dantian?" Zhao Yue immediately asked.

"Greedy beyond measure." Zhong Wuye's expression cold, "Speak, when did Minglan come to you?"

Zhao Yue clenched her palms tightly, still unable to hide her jealousy, "Twenty years ago, or maybe a dozen years ago—I don't remember."

"What did she say! Did she mention where she was going?" Zhong Wuye pressed, his eyes betraying worry he could not hide.

Zhao Yue sneered, "She didn't say, so I don't know. She came just to show off how well she's doing, how much you love her."

"Shut up!" Zhong Wuye rebuked, "Don't use your innate wicked mind to guess Minglan; she came to see you to seek the sect leader's pardon, to bring you back to the sect—no, you haven't seen her."

"I have seen her." Zhao Yue denied, "But I don't need her charity, and besides you said that if you see me again you will never spare me—would I then return to seek my own death?"

"She really never told you where she was going?" Zhong Wuye only cared about this! She had been searching for her daughter for over a decade with no news!

Only recently did the sect leader emerge from seclusion, and she learned that Zhong Minglan had gone to ask the sect leader for a pardon, to find Zhao Yue, that innate wicked wretch!

"Forget it, I'll just ask pointlessly; searching her soul will reveal the truth." Zhong Wuye didn't believe a word Zhao Yue said; only memory is truly real.

Zhao Yue's face turned ashen, "If you search my soul I might become an idiot! I'm already like this—how can you still strike? Is it that I'm innately wicked, or are you heartless?"

Zhong Wuye sneered, refusing to explain.

"Take her away."

"Yes."

The attending disciples took Zhao Yue away.

Zhong Wuye gazed into the distance, standing ramrod straight, wind breaking the void, like a divine statue.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingli, who was resting in her room, truly saw a divine statue—it was him!

But this time was different! He was no longer a sculpture; he seemed truly alive.

His chest rose and fall, indicating he was breathing.

"Master?"

Shen Qingli tried to speak.

But her voice evidently could not get through?

He remained seated cross-legged there, with no response.

Shen Qingli silently watched, beginning to wonder why she kept seeing him—was it because she had inherited his legacy?

Moreover, the longer she looked, the more he resembled Ah Jin.

Aside from being more angular, he also had more presence, as if carved from the same mold.

Could it be……

"Ah Jin's father?"

Shen Qingli murmured.

And this time, he seemed to have heard!

Because he turned his gaze toward her, his eyes also opened.

Wanton, unbridled.

Like a demon, like a god, even more like lawlessness!

Shen Qingli's heart trembled, she immediately opened her eyes!

By her ear, a wanton voice seemed to come, "Convey my divine edict."

As Shen Qingli listened carefully, she heard nothing else?

"Xi?"

The little fire phoenix beside her lifted its head, still holding a worm in its beak.

Shen Qingli steadied herself, seeing the worm it held was green, covered all over in hair.

"Where did it come from?"

Shen Qingli instinctively reached out, her fingertips stroking from the head to the tail of the green-haired worm, then she frowned.

Looking at the fluffy creature, touching it gave her a feeling she did not like.

The little fire phoenix hastily swallowed the worm, then replied, "Xi xi~"

"It's food your father gave you." Shen Qingli stretched her limbs, looked at the table beside her, already laden with food.

Some dishes were the same as those she had eaten at the Tianxing Sect; likely her father had specially sought Master Tao to learn them so she could eat well.

Shen Qingli got out of bed, took a bite—the taste was indeed similar—and soon devoured the food like a whirlwind sweeping away clouds, then left the room.

The sun slanted west, the light not too glaring, all around very quiet, not a single extra person.

"Father?"

Shen Qingli instinctively called out.

Since reuniting, Shen Kuo hardly ever left her sensory range.

But now she actually couldn't sense him—something that had never happened even in the Tianxing Sect.

"Little girl woke up?"

Shen Duo's voice came from afar.

In the next instant, he appeared before Shen Qingli.

"Where's my father?"

"Oh, it's been a while since you came back; your great-uncle had you go kneel at the ancestral hall, and incidentally entered your name into the clan register."

"Do I not need to go?"

"No need, don't worry too much about empty formalities; how's your rest?"

"Very quiet, good." Shen Qingli looked around; she remembered that when she came in, there were still many attendants.

"Your father said you like quiet, so didn't he clear out everything that could make noise within earshot?" Shen Duo said with a smile, "Come on, let me first take you to see your fourth aunt and your third brother."

"Your son?" Shen Qingli asked as she followed.

"Yes, Shen Qingmo; he doesn't speak much, you'll know once you see him."

Upon seeing someone, Shen Qingli discovered this was indeed a beautiful man who didn't like to speak. His features were clear and handsome; sitting there, he was like a tranquil painting, even lacking any vitality.

"Third brother." Shen Qingli called out.

Shen Qingmo immediately smiled, his features becoming even more picturesque.

Shen Qingli had never seen such a handsome man, "Third brother, you're really good-looking."

Shen Qingmo's ears and neck turned completely red, "A Li sister is also very pretty."

"Wow! You said eight words at once!" Liu Qinghong teased, "A Li, come often, talk more to your unsociable third brother, or else I'm afraid he'll forget how to speak."

Shen Qingmo looked toward his mother, and fell silent again.

"Look, I've said all this about him, yet he still doesn't speak."

Shen Qingli felt that probably all the talking was done by this fourth aunt, so the third brother didn't speak much, since she was doing most of the talking and they were basically just listening.

But Liu Qinghong's voice was pleasant, so although she chattered on, it gave Shen Qingli a sense of peaceful times, and she was willing to listen.

Liu Qinghong was watching the time, "Alright, no more talking, let's go, the banquet is about to start, I guess everyone's waiting there."

Shen Qingli glanced at the sky, then nodded and rose.

When their party arrived at the main hall, they found everyone really was waiting there.

Shen Yuan, Shen Kuo had already taken their seats, and there were some who seemed not to be elders of the Shen clan either?

Especially the one sitting beside Pei Jianshu, she actually couldn't see through his cultivation?

"Young Master Shen Qingli has arrived," that person said while looking at her, "Then I can also present my betrothal gift for the Qingyun Realm."

Pei Jianshu sat quietly to the side, he already had confidence that Shen Qingli would not refuse.