"Excuse me, is Zhang Li here?"
This was the third person to ask this kind of question today. Yuan Wuxing wanted to post a sign outside the door that read, "Zhang Li is not here."
"Yes, are you also here to persuade Senior Zhang to withdraw the application?"
The visitor wore a cloak, obscuring their appearance. Hearing Yuan Wuxing's question, a sharp glint flashed in their eyes.
"So, many people have looked for Zhang Li? I thought my Great Zhou was open and clear, and wouldn't have so much filth and corruption."
"That's right. Are you the twenty-first or the twenty-second? I can't quite remember. Take my advice and give up."
"You must be the owner of this house, Yuan Wuxing. You've misunderstood. I am a friend of Zhang Li. I heard he came to Great Zhou and came specially to catch up with him."
Just as Yuan Wuxing was about to say something, he heard Jiang Li shout from inside the room: "Wuxing, let him in. He is indeed my friend." Since Jiang Li had spoken, Yuan Wuxing naturally and politely invited the cloaked person inside.
"If I hadn't recognized your handwriting on the application, I wouldn't have even known you'd arrived in Great Zhou. Why didn't you tell me? I could have welcomed you."
"I originally just planned to come home, take care of some things, and leave. Who knew it would involve such a long string of people."
The visitor took off their cloak, revealing a handsome face and well-defined features. The most striking thing was the pair of double pupils.
"Your... Your Majesty!"
Yuan Wuxing cried out involuntarily, his mind blank with shock.
"You still haven't told him who you are, Jiang Li?"
Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi glanced at the shocked Yuan Wuxing.
"Couldn't be helped. Who was it that started badmouthing me the moment we met? How could I find things out from him without changing my identity?"
Jiang Li shrugged helplessly, his facial features adjusting slightly, returning to his original appearance.
"You... ah, no, you are Human Emperor Jiang?!"
The moment Jiang Li changed back to his original appearance, Yuan Wuxing's mind went completely blank, and he stopped thinking entirely. When he came back to his senses, his face was flushed red.
He had previously told Jiang Li with a mysterious expression that "Human Emperor Jiang is behind the infant kidnapping case," "Human Emperor Jiang condones his cousin practicing the Demonic Path," and "Human Emperor Jiang himself practices the Demonic Path." Yuan Wuxing wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi looked at Jiang Li with a faint smile: "If Old Bai knew you were the Dao Sect Walker, he'd be so happy he wouldn't sleep for a year."
"Temporary identity, temporary identity."
Jiang Li felt uncomfortable being stared at by Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi, so he quickly changed the subject and took out a Shadow-Retaining Sphere. Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi circulated a little magical power and saw the contents of the Shadow-Retaining Sphere.
Jiang Clan Leader and City Lord Zeng intending to destroy evidence, Jiang Clan Leader and City Lord Zeng secretly plotting with Prefect Gong, Prefect Gong contacting successive Green City Lords to use their connections and get in touch with the Third Prince, and so on.
The Jiang Clan Leader and the others thought they had acted with sufficient secrecy, but they didn't know that as they moved, a pair of indifferent eyes was always watching them, faithfully recording everything with a Shadow-Retaining Sphere.
"Huu—" Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi let out a long breath.
"I've troubled Brother Jiang. With this evidence, it's enough to catch all of them in one net. The Green City Faction's roots are tangled and deep; it is my fault for not being observant in my appointments."
"Jiang Yixing told a lie that I let him cultivate the Demonic Path, and people actually believed it. They even imagined that I never come home to maintain an image, that I'm secretly cultivating the Demonic Path, that the Human Emperor is the biggest Demonic Path leader, that the Power of Faith is crucial to me, and so on. Yet not a single person considered that Jiang Yixing was lying, and not a single person believed that I really never come home."
Jiang Li sighed: "Our generation works hard to make the world peaceful and beautiful, yet there are always people who believe the world is dark. However, I also bear some responsibility in this matter.
As a supreme expert, I only focused on my own cultivation, but ignored the possibility that someone might use my name to throw their weight around, even if that person is a relative you haven't met in five hundred years."
Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi also sighed: "Yes, the National Fate of Great Zhou is inextricably linked to the justice of its laws, yet there are always people who think that as long as they have the right connections, they can bend the law for personal gain and escape legal punishment.
There are even those who don't dare to punish people from other Imperial Dynasties, thinking it's a matter of foreign diplomacy and not within the scope of the law. They even feel pleased with themselves, thinking they are being considerate of my will and have the nation's interests at heart. Being an emperor is really tiring for me too."
Jiang Li and Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi looked at each other and sighed in unison: "People turn a blind eye to what's right in front of them and always prefer to let their imaginations run wild!" The corner of Yuan Wuxing's eye twitched. Watching the two great figures sighing at each other, he felt as if their images were collapsing.
Although, he could also be considered one of those who "let their imaginations run wild."
"But this matter is also understandable. As the Human Emperor, how many people would dare to question you? Yuan Wuxing, right? To have a cultivator like you who upholds justice is Great Zhou's good fortune!"
Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi clapped Yuan Wuxing firmly on the shoulder as a sign of encouragement. Yuan Wuxing hurriedly stood up straight and shouted, "Yes." ... On the outskirts of Green City, near the Spatial Node, a crowd of people had gathered.
The masses from the vicinity of Green City had all rushed over, wanting to see what Time Tracing looked like. This was a magical art that involved the Dao of Time, something extremely rare.
The reason the Jiang Clan Leader and the others hadn't reacted to the possibility of Jiang Li applying for Time Tracing was largely because cases of applying for it were too few. One might not even encounter a single case in ten years.
Many parents of missing children had also rushed over from other cities, wanting to see if their children were indeed stolen by Jiang Yixing. The Third Prince and the Fourth Prince stood side by side in the air, their eyes slightly closed, hands clasped behind their backs, chests puffed out, their yellow robes fluttering.
The Jiang Clan Leader and City Lord Zeng stood together, showing no signs of nervousness. They even felt a little like laughing. The two princes had reached an agreement to act together to cover up the truth.
They refused to believe that Jiang Li and Yuan Wuxing could still turn the tables. Unless Emperor Zhou came in person or the Human Emperor questioned the result, there was simply no possibility of turning things around. It would be useless even if the lords of other Imperial Dynasties and the Sect Masters of great sects came!
But would Emperor Zhou and the Human Emperor come here? What a joke, how could that be possible. They looked over at Jiang Li's side and saw a man in a black-robed hood standing next to Jiang Li and Yuan Wuxing.
A skulking rat, he didn't look like a good person at first glance.
"The time has come. Prepare to begin the Time Trace."
The Third Prince and Fourth Prince opened their eyes and scanned their surroundings. Countless people looked up, their gazes focused on the Third Prince and Fourth Prince. The two princes' hand seals changed with blinding speed, even leaving behind layers of afterimages, which was astonishing to see.
As the two silently chanted an incantation, their voices like the buzzing of mosquitoes, a feeling of being in another world welled up in everyone's hearts. They felt the distance between themselves and the two princes growing ever greater. This sense of distance was not spatial, but temporal.
The figures of the two princes gradually faded and eventually disappeared completely, detaching from this spacetime. Some cultivators wanted to take the opportunity to comprehend the Dao of Time, but they accidentally fell into a Time Heart-Demon.
If not for a companion noticing the problem and waking him up in time, he probably would have woken up over a hundred years later, though to that cultivator, it would have felt like only an instant. When the Great Zhou Imperial Family cultivates the Dao of Time, it is required that someone acts as a Protector.
"My two nephews' techniques are very skilled. Their hand seal speed is already quite good for their cultivation level."
Jiang Li commented on the two princes.
"Hmph, Brother Jiang, no need to save face for me. These two brats are clearly showing off more than anything. If they needed so many procedures during a battle, they would have been beaten to death long ago."
Emperor Zhou Ji Zhi snorted coldly, dissatisfied with his two sons.
"After this matter is over, I'll definitely make them prepare properly for actual combat."
Yuan Wuxing stood beside the two great figures, trembling, not daring to interrupt.
(End of this chapter)