At the Hundred Canal Valley in Qingzhou, outside that palace floating among the clouds, Jiang Han arrived in haste. However, he did not dare to cross the barrier surrounding the palace on his own. Instead, he stood respectfully atop the clouds and spoke in a reverent tone: "Junior Jiang Han has come to pay his respects to the Lord."
"You may enter." From within the palace came Jiang Hengyuan's voice — neither too loud nor too soft, neither too heavy nor too light.
Only then did Jiang Han dare to move forward. Along the way, every barrier stood open, and even the main gates of the palace were wide ajar.
Inside the palace, Jiang Hengyuan was playing chess with someone — and that person was none other than Qi Fengyang, whom Jiang Hengyuan had saved some time ago.
"Is it handled?" Jiang Hengyuan didn't so much as glance at Jiang Han, asking his question while making his next move on the board.
"It has been handled exactly as you instructed, my Lord. Lin Moli was executed on the spot," Jiang Han replied respectfully.
"Good. Set up a concealment barrier at the entrance to that burial ground. You will lead the imperial army and guard the site personally. Do not open it until I give the order," Jiang Hengyuan said.
"My Lord, before we seal it off, shouldn't we explore it first? At the very least, we need to determine the level of that burial ground," Jiang Han said.
"There's no need to determine it. It's an Emperor's Burial," Jiang Hengyuan said calmly.
"What?! It's an Emperor's Burial?" Hearing this, Jiang Han's expression changed dramatically. He was visibly shaken, and it suddenly dawned on him why Jiang Hengyuan had ordered the entrance sealed rather than leading an army to open it.
"Come, let me introduce you. This is Qi Fengyang, patriarch of the Qilin Mansion's Qi clan. Once you've moved the army to the Xuan Wu Mountain Range, the Qilin Mansion will be under his management." Jiang Hengyuan turned his gaze toward Qi Fengyang.
"Junior pays his respects to Senior Qi." Jiang Han bowed humbly to Qi Fengyang. For anyone Jiang Hengyuan introduced, even if their strength was far inferior to his own, he dared not show the slightest arrogance — quite the opposite, he treated them with the utmost courtesy.
"Since you're here, stay for a simple meal before you leave," Jiang Hengyuan said with a faint smile, then headed toward the kitchen. Jiang Han smiled and gave Qi Fengyang a nod before following after him.
"My Lord, while I was on my way here, the Ancestor asked me to pass along a message. The Divine Body has not appeared for many years. The anomaly from back then may well have truly been nothing more than an anomaly — there was never any Divine Body descended into this world."
"Therefore, the Ancestor hopes that once this burial ground matter is settled, you will return to the Imperial City as soon as possible to assist the Emperor in handling the imperial clan's affairs," Jiang Hengyuan said.
"How could an anomaly appear in the sky for no reason? Actually… I understand the Ancestor's intentions. He simply doesn't want me suffering here and is looking for any excuse to recall me to the Imperial City."
"But as you can see, I'm living quite well here — carefree and untroubled. Besides, if I hadn't insisted on staying, I never would have discovered that an Emperor's Burial exists here in Qingzhou," Jiang Hengyuan said with a laugh.
Seeing this, Jiang Han knew there was little point in pressing the matter further. Still, he couldn't help but ask out of curiosity: "My Lord, is the Heaven-sent Divine Body really that important? Important enough for you to spend years hiding your identity in this desolate place, just to search for traces of it?"
"Our Jiang imperial bloodline all carry the Emperor-level bloodline. In recent years, we've had no shortage of geniuses. With careful cultivation, we wouldn't necessarily be inferior to some so-called Heaven-sent Divine Body."
"Hmph." At Jiang Han's question, Jiang Hengyuan let out a faint chuckle, then replied: "How powerful the Divine Body truly is, I can't say for certain — after all, I've never laid eyes on one myself. Everything written about the Divine Body exists only in the historical records."
"However, back when the Divine Body had just descended and we were preparing to head to Qingzhou, the Ancestor told me one thing: the Divine Body must be found, no matter the cost."