Peace Order-Chapter 1554 - 18: Red Emperor’s Hidden Treasury, Overlord Secret Realm
Foster father?
In ordinary families, having a foster father is often about finding support for a child, but as a monarch, to recognize the last heir and bloodline of the Red Emperor’s lineage as a foster father has greater significance.
The meaning here often outweighs the act itself.
Li Guanyi gazed at Ji Zichang in front of him. The latter smiled calmly. Li Guanyi nodded slightly and casually lifted the little one, placing her back in her original position, saying: "Since that’s the case, let her become my foster daughter."
Ji Zichang laughed: "At your age, you normally would have had children by now."
Li Guanyi sighed deeply and said: "Since the world is yet unfixed, how can I have a family?"
Ji Zichang said: "Such a description of the unsettled world and the difficulties of forming a family. If I didn’t know you, or if you said this several years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it."
"I would have thought you were merely indulging in idle talk like those high-ranking officials in court. But now, knowing your actions and seeing your struggles across the lands, I understand that your words genuinely stem from your heart."
Ji Zichang, with a smile, raised a cup: "Come, a toast to Prince Qin."
Li Guanyi clinked his glass with Ji Zichang’s.
Just as three or four years ago, under the great tree of the Academy, the two were together.
Under Ji Zichang’s urging, Li Guanyi reluctantly ’took away’ the gift given at the birth of the little princess. However, Li Guanyi also wrote a note, stating that foster father Li Guanyi would ’safely keep’ this gift of Princess Changle for the time being.
Princess Changle expressed her willingness, and so on.
The little one didn’t understand any of this.
She was just happy to have another big person accompany her in play, so she babbled, stretched out her right hand, patted the red ink, and pressed it onto a dossier.
This indicated her agreement to hand the item over to the ’foster father.’
Prince Qin was delighted: "Good daughter!"
The little girl sat there, arms outreached: "Ya ya ya!!!"
Li Guanyi had the child grasp his fingers with both her hands and played with her for a long while. Such young children, although energetic when awake and seemingly capable of playing endlessly, soon tire, and eventually, she fell asleep there.
Li Guanyi smiled as he watched the little one doze off.
Noble Consort Wen personally cared for the child.
Li Guanyi said: "Thank you, Sister-in-law."
Such an address seemed to fluster Noble Consort Wen a bit, but upon seeing that the young Prince Qin genuinely meant what he said, his sincerity left even a woman born into a great family and long residing in the harem unsure of how to respond.
Ji Zichang gently held her shoulder.
Noble Consort Wen lowered her gaze and softly said: "Prince Qin, you are too kind."
"Leave the child to me, you two go outside and drink, here you’ll have to worry about disturbing the child, drinking won’t be enjoyable."
The Red Emperor and Prince Qin carefully departed, chatting idly outside. Ji Zichang went back to fetch the Red Emperor’s seal and led Li Guanyi to the outermost of the ancient Red Emperor palace.
This palace occupied an immense area.
Yet it subtly revealed an extraordinary desolation, even though the Red Emperor’s lineage in Central State had gradually declined and was far from its former glory. Different palaces were still well maintained, able to uphold their normal use and grandeur.
But this palace carried an indescribable coldness and desolation.
Ji Zichang looked at this palace for a long time and softly said: "This is the palace originally built by our ancestor, the Red Emperor, eight hundred years ago, and it’s the largest palace within the Red Emperor’s palace."
"Five hundred years ago, due to the witchcraft disaster, the Red Emperor ancestor of that generation despised this place and thus evacuated this palace. Since then, it has sometimes served as a Forbidden Palace, sometimes a Cold Palace."
"Later, strange events often occurred. It was said that the imprisoned royals and concubines in the Cold Palace would, at night, hear strange howling sounds, faintly accompanied by a bloody aura rising to the sky."
"And as if the sound of millions of weapons and swords clashing. After some incidents, this palace gradually fell into disuse."
"I just thought for a long time."
"If the ancestor sealed the Overlord’s secret Divine Weapon somewhere, it would only be here."
Ji Zichang expressed his heartfelt feelings and led Li Guanyi inside.
This palace was ultimately abandoned; the once high-hanging silk now, under the signs of wind, rain, and the erosion of time, had completely weathered away. Some could barely maintain their original shape, but with no need for intentional contact, just a slight brush of a sleeve would reduce them to ashes.
An atmosphere of decay, a merciless divine charm spread out.
Though far from a state where all palaces had turned to dust, its splendor was no more. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
In the past here, Red Emperors’ ministers, generals, and beauties walked back and forth like fluttering butterflies. Now, all had dissipated like dust, vanished without trace, evoking reflections on the vastness of the universe and the desolation of human existence.
The two wandered through the seemingly frozen-in-time palace, reaching the great hall.
Ji Zichang pushed open the palace’s grand door, layers of dust fell, and as the once tightly sealed door opened, golden sunlight poured through the cracks into the long-closed palace.
