Unexpectedly, when he was a finger's distance away, a terrifying force suddenly burst out from Consort Cheng's body, violently sending Mo Zhanli flying. He crashed into the wall behind him, barely managing to regain his footing before spitting out a mouthful of blood.
He suddenly looked up at the unconscious Consort Cheng, seemingly surprised that her spiritual power was so strong that it almost shattered his spiritual veins!
A sharp pain shot through his chest where he had been struck. Mo Zhanli glanced at Cheng Fei with a complicated expression, then vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a shocking pool of blood.
...
The vast palace roads meandered and twisted, and two figures appeared within them.
Qing and Mo Junqian walked from the south gate to the north gate, from the west hall to the east hall, until they stopped in front of a palace.
Qing and He stood together, their expressions solemn. Mo Junqian asked, "Senior Sister, what are we doing?"
Qinghe gestured for him to be quiet.
Mo Junqian couldn't bear to expose her, so he didn't say anything more.
A quarter of an hour later, Mo Junqian looked at her with her eyes closed and not moving at all, and couldn't help but ask, "Senior Sister, what are you thinking about?"
Qinghe opened one eye: "I'm trying to find my way."
Mo Junqian jokingly exposed her: "Are you lost?"
Qinghe coughed and said seriously, "How could that be? How could I possibly get lost in such a small place?"
Mo Junqian smiled softly and remained silent.
“Don’t you,” she glanced around, “haven’t you noticed anything wrong with the architecture here?”
Along the way, the artificial hills, bonsai, and trees are all in very subtle locations; you can find them if you look closely.
Mo Junqian: "It is arranged according to the Five Elements."
Qinghe: "The Five Elements layout is mainly used to suppress evil spirits. This is the first time I've seen such a large-scale layout, especially in the imperial palace."
Mo Junqian: "The palace is naturally filled with yin energy, so it's not surprising that it's arranged according to the five elements."
Qinghe looked at the palace in front of him: "It's not surprising, but the direction of the spirit attraction is interesting. Almost all the spiritual power in this Five Elements Formation is gathered under this palace, and the yin energy here is the heaviest."
This posture looks like it's suppressing something.
Mo Junqian then looked at the palace.
The palace was much larger than the others, with red bricks and golden tiles, and was more luxurious, like the main hall.
Mo Junqian: "Could it be Mo Zhanli's palace?"
Qinghe said casually, "Whether it is or not, we'll find out once we go in."
What if we run into Mo Zhanli?
Qinghe thought for a moment: "Last time we alerted him, and Mo Zhanli may have moved that portrait to a different location. It might be in his palace. We have to go in no matter what. We'll just have to play it by ear."
There were guards in front of the hall, but Qinghe casually used an invisibility spell to slip past them. It wasn't until he went inside that he discovered Mo Zhanli was not there.
The palace was spacious and empty, dark and gloomy, with a suffocating sense of oppression, which was very different from its exterior and did not resemble an emperor's palace at all.
The place was completely enclosed, without a single gap. As soon as Qinghe stepped inside, he felt a chilling coldness, and a gloomy atmosphere rushed towards him.
He stomped his foot on the ground. "There must be something here."
Mo Zhanli stood in front of a wall and said, "There is indeed something there."
He slowly raised his hand and touched the wall. As if sensing something, the wall gradually became ethereal, and after a moment it transformed into a huge curtain.
Mo Junqian raised his hand and pulled, the curtain slid down, and the portrait hidden behind the curtain appeared before his eyes.
“You’re right, he did indeed hide the portrait here.”
Qinghe walked in and asked, "How did you find out?"
Mo Junqian also found it strange: "I just feel that there is a kind of feeling that is attracting me, which is both strange and familiar."
Qinghe looked at the portrait, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his words.
The portrait of the beautiful woman appeared before them once more. Mo Junqian said, "I wonder what's so special about this portrait that it even absorbed the Divine Pearl. Senior Sister, how do we retrieve the Divine Pearl?"
Qinghe didn't speak. She stopped looking at the portrait and stared intently at Mo Junqian.
Such a focused gaze made Mo Junqian suddenly feel a little awkward. Just as she was about to ask a question, she heard her say, "Don't you think the person in the portrait looks familiar?"
Mo Junqian's expression turned strange: "It seems there is some..."
Qinghe continued, "Don't you think you look alike? Especially your eyebrows and eyes, they're practically identical."
Mo Junqian examined the portrait, and upon hearing these words, he seemed to understand something, a hint of confusion appearing in his eyes.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen her. She was gone when I was born. I don’t remember anything… I…”
The sound stopped abruptly. His childhood memories of his parents were a complete blank. The most he remembered were other children bullying him and saying "you have no father or mother." He knew this very well, so he never wanted to talk about his parents.
Without his parents' protection, only he knows the hardships he has endured surviving alone all these years.
If the woman in the portrait really is his mother, then his feelings at this moment must be a mixture of emotions.
Qinghe comforted him from the side: "Maybe she's not your mother. There are many people in the world who look alike."
Mo Junqian nodded.
Qinghe: "Anyway, the portrait has been found. Let's take it back first and then make further plans."
As he put the portrait away and walked out, Qinghe suddenly shoved Mo Junqian aside, shouting, "Watch out!"
A palm strike suddenly aimed at Mo Junqian's position, barely dodging it, but it struck the back wall, leaving a deep palm print.
The footsteps grew louder as they approached, and Mo Zhanli appeared before the two with a cold smile.
"You two visited me late at night and stole things from my palace. Do you not respect my Tianqi Kingdom?"
A terrifying pressure emanated from the words. Qinghe glanced at the portrait in Mo Junqian's hand and said, "Your Majesty misunderstands. We are merely curious about the woman in this portrait, who is she that Your Majesty values so highly and keeps it in your bedchamber? Could it be that Your Majesty is longing for a beauty and pours out your love to her portrait every night?"
Mo Zhanli ignored Qinghe and stared intently at Mo Junqian. Qinghe wondered if it was just her imagination, but she actually caught a hint of infatuation in Mo Zhanli's eyes.
"You look just like her, especially your eyes. Well, you two are from the same family."
Qinghe's heart stirred slightly; she hadn't expected that she had actually guessed correctly.
Looking at Mo Junqian, she saw his eyes widen slightly, his hand holding the portrait suddenly clenched, and he said, "Is she really my mother? You know my mother?" There was even a slight tremor in his voice.
Mo Zhanli narrowed his eyes slightly: "It's more than just knowing each other. In terms of seniority, you should call me uncle."
Qinghe raised an eyebrow, surprised that there was this connection.
Uncle? Then isn't Mo Junqian's father Mo Zhanli's biological brother?
Mo Junqian never imagined that his father was actually a member of the royal family of the Tianqi Kingdom!
He suddenly recalled the surprised expression on Princess Changping's face when she first heard his name, and how she explained to him that 'Mo' was the royal surname of the Tianqi Kingdom.
It turns out he really was a descendant of the royal family of the Tianqi Kingdom.
"How exactly did my father die? Did you kill him?!"
"He's courting death." Mo Zhanli said through gritted teeth, his face dark. "Who told him to always compete with me and oppose me at every turn? In terms of talent and methods, in what way am I not better than him? Why does Father always favor him? Why did the woman I love abandon me to be with him? I refuse to accept this!"
"So you killed him? Killed your own brother?"
Mo Zhanli snorted coldly: "In the royal family, there is no such thing as kinship. I planned to get rid of him as early as when my father made him the crown prince. He was just too stupid to believe everything I said. Even after I lured him into the secret prison and trapped him in the killing formation, he still kept trying to persuade me to turn back. Unfortunately, he didn't know that it was too late for me to turn back!"
He presented a grand drama in just a few words. Qinghe, being an outsider, didn't feel much, while Mo Junqian clenched his fists, his body trembling slightly, as if he was trying his best to hold back his emotions, which were about to reach a breaking point.
Where is my mother?
Mo Zhanli was slightly taken aback before speaking, "I didn't kill your mother. I don't know who the murderer is."
How could Mo Junqian possibly believe him?
Mo Zhanli didn't care whether he believed it or not. He stepped forward, held out his hand, and said, "Give me the portrait."
Mo Junqian would never give it to him.
Mo Zhanli said coldly, "Don't be stubborn. I don't want to kill you, so don't force me."
Mo Junqian: "You don't want to kill me, but I want to kill you. Today I will avenge my parents!"
Having said that, his spiritual energy surged, and with a flick of his toes, he suddenly attacked Mo Zhanli.
The sight of his face so close to Mo Zhanli's caused him to momentarily lose his senses. He shook his head abruptly, channeled his power into his palm, and moved to surround Mo Junqian's back. Just as he was about to strike, a long whip suddenly grabbed his wrist.
At the other end of the whip, Qing and Su clasped hands slightly and said, "Your Majesty, since this portrait depicts someone's mother and you are his uncle, you should know to avoid suspicion. Why do you need to go back?"
Mo Zhanli: "You know I'm his uncle, so this is our family matter, and it's none of the business of outsiders!"
Qinghe laughed and said, "I'm afraid the king doesn't know yet, but Mo Junqian has already joined my sect. As long as he calls me 'Senior Sister,' he's one of my people. How can I be considered an outsider?"
Mo Zhanli had no intention of arguing with her. With a flick of his wrist, the long whip flew away, and he immediately attacked Qinghe. His spiritual power surged, and his momentum was like a rainbow. This palm strike actually contained the power of a mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator.
It seems they intend to put Qinghe to death!
The disparity in strength was too great. Even if Qinghe used all her strength, she could not overcome the cultivation of the mid-stage Void Refinement Realm. In desperation, she made a feint to block the attack, raised her hand, and her long whip wrapped around the crossbeam above her head. She then stepped on the ground and dodged away from her original position, barely avoiding the attack. However, she was still affected by the spiritual energy and injured her right shoulder.
Pain struck, and Qinghe frowned sharply. She lost her balance and fell backward, accidentally hitting a mechanism. With a loud 'boom,' the floor beneath her feet suddenly split open, and she fell in the next instant. Mo Junqian cried out, "Senior Sister!" and jumped down after her.
Mo Zhanli walked to the entrance of the secret prison, intending to go down and retrieve the portrait, when suddenly a sharp pain shot through his chest. He raised his hand to cover it and abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood.
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