Chapter 3: The Missing Children
The main hall and corridors of the Jiang family estate were eerily empty, with only the occasional servant sweeping the floors. The training grounds, once a place of fierce sparring and competition, were now deserted. The only sign of activity was the worn-down surface, indicating that it had still been used frequently.
Like a ghost, Jiang Li wandered through the Jiang estate, his mind drifting through old memories.
He followed familiar paths, but after five hundred years, the Jiang family had changed beyond recognition.
The only place that still bore a strong resemblance to his memories was the small room he had lived in when he first transmigrated—about eighty percent identical to how he remembered it.
He guessed that after he left, someone else had lived there. Then, after he became the Human Sovereign, the Jiang family must have hurried to restore it to its original state, hoping to preserve its history.
Jiang Li shook his head, feeling a slight sense of regret, and made his way toward the ancestral hall.
During ancestral worship, the eldest member of the Jiang family would kneel in prayer, seeking the ancestors’ blessings, while the rest of the family fasted for nine days, remaining silent as a show of devotion.
Inside the ancestral hall, an elderly man knelt before the ancestral tablets. His deep wrinkles sagged so heavily that they nearly covered his eyes.
Jiang Li walked up to him and used a spell to reveal his younger self. His facial features bore a slight resemblance to Jiang Yixing, about thirty to forty percent similar.
That meant he was either Jiang Yixing’s son, his grandson, or an even younger descendant.
And there it was—Jiang Yixing’s memorial plaque, placed at the very bottom among the others.
Jiang Li let out a soft sigh, then turned and left the Jiang estate.
Jiang Yixing was truly dead.
Though he had expected it, Jiang Li still felt slightly disappointed.
As he walked out of the Jiang estate, lost in thought, a piercing voice suddenly shattered his melancholy.
“My lord, it’s been ten whole days! Why won’t you send people to search for our children?!”
“We demand to see the City Lord!”
Right across from the Jiang estate was the City Lord’s Mansion, where several parents were pleading desperately with the guards, begging to meet the City Lord. But the guards remained motionless, as if they couldn’t hear their cries.
“No one may see the City Lord without his permission. Please leave at once.”
One guard, seeming a bit sympathetic, sighed and explained,
“Listen, we’re always short on manpower. All you’ve told us is that your child was kidnapped and that you followed the trail to Qing City before losing it. But thousands of people pass through Qing City every day—what if the traffickers were just passing through? Even if we wanted to search, where would we even start?”
A furious father stepped forward, his voice shaking with rage.
“Children have been disappearing in several nearby cities, and every single trail ends in Qing City. Our children are definitely here!”
He had tied a tracking talisman to his child’s wrist, and after the abduction, he had tracked the signal all the way to Qing City, where it suddenly vanished.
Along the way, he had met other parents who had experienced the exact same thing. Some had even lost their children within Qing City itself.
There was no way this was just a coincidence.
“My child was kidnapped in Qing City! How could the traffickers be ‘just passing through’?”
Another guard, this one with a cold expression, said,
“Look, we understand your frustration, but we can’t investigate without evidence. If you can prove the traffickers are in Qing City, we will certainly send people to search. How about that?”
“What kind of nonsense is this?!”
“We demand to see the City Lord!”
“Our children are missing, and the officials are doing nothing! Is this how the so-called ‘Homeland of the Human Sovereign’ treats its people?!”
“My child disappeared in Qing City! And now you’re telling me I need to ‘prove’ it?! How ridiculous!”
The argument grew heated, drawing the attention of several Jiang family elders.
One of them, a Jiang family protector, stepped forward and shouted angrily,
“How dare you make such a commotion during the Jiang family’s ancestral ceremony! Such disgraceful behavior!”
He then turned to the City Lord’s guards, reprimanding them as well,
“You fools! Allowing a group of troublemakers to cause a scene in front of the City Lord’s Mansion—aren’t you afraid of being punished?!”
Hearing this, the guards panicked and immediately moved to chase away the distressed parents.
Jiang Li, unable to watch any longer, dismissed his concealment spell and let out a cold laugh.
“The Jiang family sure loves throwing their weight around. Since you care so much about the City Lord’s Mansion, why don’t you take responsibility for keeping it clean too?”
The Jiang family protector’s face twisted in rage.
“How dare you insult the Jiang family! You’ve got some nerve!”
The parents and City Lord’s guards were shocked.
After all, the current Human Sovereign came from the Jiang family. Not just in Qing City, but throughout the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, no one dared to openly mock the Jiang family like this.
Could this young man be a reckless fool?
Just then, a middle-aged man suddenly appeared, grabbing Jiang Li’s arm while forcing a smile at the Jiang family protector.
At the same time, he whispered a hushed warning to Jiang Li through a sound transmission.
“Kid, are you crazy? Going against the Jiang family right after entering the world? You trying to get yourself killed? Get out of here while you still can. This matter involves the Human Sovereign—don’t get caught up in this mess!”
Without giving Jiang Li a chance to protest, he dragged him away.
Before anyone could react, both of them had vanished.
“Where did they go?!”
The middle-aged man pulled Jiang Li into a secluded alley, scolding him,
“Whose brat are you? Didn’t your family tell you to stay away from noble clans before you left home?!”
From the way Jiang Li dressed, the man could tell he was from a wealthy background—probably a young master from a prestigious sect or noble family, out traveling for experience.
“In any other dynasty, I wouldn’t dare challenge the aristocrats. But this is Great Zhou—a land ruled by law. Even noble clans must obey the law.”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man’s suspicion deepened.
“The Jiang family has the Human Sovereign as their backing. In Great Zhou, who would dare punish them? People say the Human Sovereign is impartial, but who’s to say he doesn’t secretly favor his own family?”
Jiang Li raised an eyebrow.
“From what I know, the Human Sovereign left the Jiang family five hundred years ago and never once returned. Isn’t that enough proof that he has no ties to them?”
The middle-aged man sneered,
“That’s just a front to make him seem impartial. Blood is thicker than water. Who’s to say he hasn’t secretly visited them?”
Jiang Li silently thought, “Wait… when did I ever come back here? Why don’t I know about this myself?”
“Do you have any proof?” Jiang Li asked, his tone carrying a hint of accusation.
The man smirked confidently,
“Of course. I once overheard the Jiang family patriarch telling the City Lord that the Human Sovereign secretly visits his family all the time.”