The Jiang family's hall and corridors were empty, with only the occasional servant sweeping the floor. The once lively and vigorous martial arts training grounds were also empty, showing signs of frequent use.
Jiang Li wandered through the Jiang family like a ghost.
He followed his memory to many places, but after five hundred years, the current Jiang family was very different from the one in Jiang Li's memory.
The place most similar to his memory was the small house he lived in at the beginning of his crossing, about eighty percent similar.
He speculated that perhaps someone had moved in after he left, and he, becoming the Emperor, had the house tidied up to restore its original appearance.
Jiang Li shook his head with some regret and walked towards the ancestral hall.
During the Jiang family's ancestral worship, the eldest person knelt in the ancestral hall and prayed for the ancestors' blessings, while the others stayed in the room, silent for nine days, to show reverence.
In the ancestral hall, an elderly man with an aged appearance knelt, with layers of wrinkles almost covering his eyes.
Jiang Li walked up to him, cast a spell, and saw the appearance of the old man’s youth, with features bearing a resemblance of about seventy percent to Jiang Yixing, whether he was Jiang Yixing's son or grandson, or a younger relative.
And Jiang Yixing's memorial tablet was prominently displayed at the bottom of a group of tablets.
Jiang Li sighed lightly and turned to leave the Jiang family.
Jiang Yixing was indeed dead.
Although it was expected, he was still somewhat disappointed.
As Jiang Li strolled out of the Jiang family, his thoughts were interrupted by a sharp and sorrowful voice.
"Sir, it's been a full ten days, why won't you send someone to find our child!"
"We demand an audience with the Lord of the city!"
Opposite the Jiang family was the Lord's mansion, where several couples were pleading with the Lord's mansion guards to see the Lord, but the guards were indifferent, as if they had not heard these people's pleas.
"Without the Lord's permission, no one is allowed to see the Lord, please leave immediately."
Another guard couldn't bear to watch and patiently explained, "The Lord's mansion has always been short-staffed, and you only said that your child was kidnapped. You followed the trail all the way to Qingcheng and lost it there. The daily flow of people in Qingcheng is so large that even if we wanted to look for them, we wouldn't know where to start."
"Children have disappeared in several nearby cities, and all traces disappear in Qingcheng. Our child must be here!"
One person, full of indignation, said, "My child wore a protective talisman with a location spell on his wrist. After he disappeared, I followed the spell's trail to Qingcheng, where it vanished. I met several other parents who had similar situations, and some of them even lost their children directly in Qingcheng. I refuse to believe that there's nothing wrong in Qingcheng!"
"My child disappeared in Qingcheng, how could the kidnappers just be passing by!"
Another guard with a straight face said, "Please also understand that we are short of manpower. If you can prove that the kidnappers are in Qingcheng, we will definitely send people to search, how about that?"
"What nonsense is this!"
"We want to see the Lord!"
"Our child disappeared here, yet the officials have done nothing! Is this what the People's Emperor's hometown does?"
"My child disappeared in Qingcheng, and we have to prove it. Would there be such absurdity?"
The voices of the guards and the parents grew louder and louder, eventually leading to a quarrel, attracting the attention of Jiang family guards.
"On the day of the Jiang family's ancestral worship, what is this noisy commotion!" a guard sternly reprimanded the group as he walked out from the Jiang family.
"You, as guards of the Lord's mansion, let a group of unruly people cause trouble in front of the Lord's mansion. Aren't you afraid of the Lord's reprimand!"
Upon hearing this, the guards hastened to disperse the crowd. Unable to bear what he was seeing, Jiang Li dispelled the invisibility spell and sneered on the side.
"The Jiang family is so imposing, you can even manage to the front of the Lord's mansion. If you like to meddle in other people's affairs so much, why don't you take on the task of cleaning in front of the Lord's mansion?"
The guard was furious. "How dare you speak disrespectfully to the Jiang family!"
The parents who had lost children and the Lord's mansion guards were also surprised. The current People’s Emperor had emerged from the Jiang family. Not to mention in Qingcheng, even in the entire Da Zhou Empire, no one dared to say such things about the Jiang family. This person must be naive.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man rushed over and quickly pulled Jiang Li away, while apologizing to the Jiang family guards and secretly transmitting a message to Jiang Li.
Kid, you've just entered the world, but you're picking a fight with the Jiang family. You're asking for trouble. Get out of here as this matter involves the Jiang People's Emperor. Don't get involved in this mess!
The middle-aged man quickly led Jiang Li away.
Before the others could react, the two had vanished.
"Where are they?"
"Which family's kid are you? Didn't anyone tell you before you left not to provoke the influential families?"
The middle-aged man led Jiang Li to a remote corner and reprimanded him.
Seeing that Jiang Li looked inexperienced and rash, and was wearing extremely high-quality clothes, it was clear that he was a child from a prominent family out on an adventure.
"If it were in any other empire, I wouldn't dare to provoke an unreasonable powerful family, but this is the Da Zhou Empire. It is governed by laws, and even the influential families cannot ignore them."
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man was even more convinced of his thoughts. This boy must be someone from a major sect or family, or else he wouldn't have such a broad outlook, comparing the Da Zhou Empire with other empires as soon as he spoke.
It should be noted that the Da Zhou Empire is vast, and a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator might not necessarily leave the Da Zhou Empire in their entire lifetime, let alone compare the Da Zhou Empire with other empires.
"The law governs the country, and this can be said in any part of the Da Zhou Empire, except for the Jiang family."
The middle-aged man paused for a moment and continued, "The Jiang family is backed by the Jiang People's Emperor, who dares to punish them? It is said that the Jiang People's Emperor is selfless, but who can guarantee that he has no selfishness towards his own family?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Li furrowed his brows slightly. "As far as I know, the Jiang People's Emperor has not returned to the Jiang family in five hundred years. Can't this prove that he has distanced himself from the Jiang family?"
The middle-aged man sneered, "These are just propaganda that the Jiang People's Emperor has made to create the image of his selflessness. 'Blood is thicker than water.' Has he really never returned to the Jiang family in private?"
"When you go out, don't believe everything you hear. This world is not as bright as you think."
The middle-aged man gave an expression of understanding the dark side of the world.
Jiang Li wondered when he had last returned here. How is it that he didn't know himself?
"Is there any evidence to support what you're saying?" Jiang Li implied a hint of questioning, but the middle-aged man was full of self-satisfaction and didn't detect any malice in Jiang Li's tone.
"Of course, there is," the middle-aged man said confidently. "I once overheard a conversation between the head of the Jiang family and the lord of Qingcheng. The head of the Jiang family hinted at the fact that the late Emperor Jiang often sneaks back home to visit his descendants."