Chapter 22

"Is there something on my face Delun?"

"No, no nothing. Nothing at all, eldest brother. Though… eldest brother, did you come here because you were aware of Zhen Zhihao's coronation?"

"This is new news for me."

"... I see, then the reason why you came was because?"

"To save my ears."

Pretty teacher uncle was on high alert. "Was your ears wounded?" The only one who could possibly harm Ming Yongnian was the Devil Venerable, and right before the Immortal's ascension the two men had fought.

Her father cryptically hummed. What kind of answer was this? It's not even an answer. Then her father reminded, "Pay close attention to what the people are discussing."

Her uncle nodded in agreement.

The servant came on time and served her father and pretty teacher uncle their tea, and of course her sweet lotus seeds congee!

"Please enjoy the drinks and the congee immortals, you may summon me any time." And the servant dismissed himself.

"Ah!" Quick, quickly father, I want to eat the congee!

Her father pulled her out of his robes and set her to sit down on the table. Arms flailed excitedly, begging her father to quickly feed her.

Taking a full spoon of congee, her father gently blew the hot congee in the spoon, then brought it to her mouth. She stuck out her short tongue, making sure that the congee was not hot, she felt that it was a tad bit hotter than she would like and blew it again on her own. Her cheeks puffed up, her soft face scrunched up in concentration. After a few seconds she slowly slurped up the congee.

Her cheeks were flushed, her lips firmly pressed together, not wanting any of the congee to spill, eyes squinted in joy. It was really good!

She finally swallowed the congee and smiled. "Ahh~" It tastes so good~

There was an indescribable emotion welling in Ming Yongnian's eyes as he watched his daughter. He spooned some more congee and gently blowed it again, this time he blew the congee longer, then fed it to his daughter who didn't hesitate to slurp it all up. He repeated the action again and again.

The father and daughter may not see it, but Feng Delun did. The two formed a very heartwarming picture of a father and daughter. The atmosphere around them was filled with warmth, even with the moving bustling crow around them, they were seemingly encased in a bubble.

"She's very bright." Feng Delun sipped his tea.

Ming Yongnian hummed.

While the pair of father and daughter was occupied Feng Delun kept his ears open for any peculiar news from the mouth of the patrons of this inn, and the people outside. It was a mere child's play if Feng Delun so much as wished to listen to the conversation of everyone within the city, but he refrained from doing so. After all this was the capital of the Zhen empire, they were not short of capable cultivators.

One conversation between patrons in this establishment drew Feng Delun's attention.

"There must be some heaven moving — earth shattering events upon us. First the Golden Crowned Lord, Ming Weilong, ascended to the heavens. Then five renowned last layers of nascent soul stage cultivators cut ties to their respective sects. Followed by the opening of three Da dynasty secret realms. Now all of a sudden the emperor of the Zhen Empire abdicated! I say that there would be a great storm, or revelation upon us!"

"These days the world seemed to be rather exciting doesn't it?"

"Hey, speaking of revelations, did you all feel it? It was around the time after the Golden Crowned Lord ascended, a great premonition!"

"Of course we all felt it! Who doesn't! That premonition was very profound and moving! Many cultivators who had been trapped in a bottleneck broke through, I felt my cultivation base rose by a mountain leap!"

"No one could miss that premonition, the sky was bright white in the four corners of the realms. I even heard that the sky in the demons realms and devils realms that were constantly pitched black was bathed in a bright red colour!"

"The premonition must have been sent by the Golden Crowned Lord to celebrate his ascension!"

"Wait, if the Golden Crowned Lord was the one to send that premonition wouldn't the Devil Venerable be in an uproar right now? Last rumours I heard when the sky turned red in the Devil realm, the Devil Venerable was wildly praising whoever had triggered the premonition."

"Good brother, rumours originating from the Devil realm should not be taken at face value, who knows if it was fake or not!"

Feng Delun's eyes fell onto his eldest brother. With a lift of his fingers he casted a silencing array around their table, no one from outside could hear their conversation.

Ming Yongnian spooned the very last of the congee for the baby to eat. Was it fine for a baby to eat so much, well if his child had any problems he knew to call Wu Jinjing for help.

"Ah!"

The immortal poked his daughter's belly teasingly. "Your stomach is so large now." He enjoyed seeing his daughter's silly expression when she was stunned, it was rather foolish and entertainingly so. He wiped the excess congee left on his daughter's cheeks.

"You are looking at the wrong culprit Delun, the premonition was not my doing, that rumours of the Devil Venerable should be correct."

Feng Delun's eyes widened with surprise. "Then who sent out that premonition? At first I thought it was really the effect of eldest brother ascending to the heavens, even my meridians were soothed by the bright light in the sky."

Ming Yongnian's eyes motioned towards his child. Causing Feng Delun to frown, the younger man felt like swallowing impossibilities down his throat. "I, it was the child that caused the premonition?"

"Curious isn't it?" Ming Yongnian cryptically smiled.

"Ah?" The baby tilted her head almost in question, perhaps she was questioning them.

Ming Yongnian rubbed her head. "A baby shouldn't be nosy."

"Ah!" The baby crawled on the table and reached out to her father.

"You'll fall asleep if I carry you."

The baby whined and inched closer to Ming Yongnian. The immortal poke the baby's nose. "Be patient."

The father and daughter interactions may warm the heart but Feng Delun's mind was in a state of disarray. "I can understand that she is your child, and will be capable of performing incredible acts in the future. But she is just your child, she's not a daughter of two—" He was drenched with realisation.

This child, she wasn't just Ming Yongnian's child was she?

"Eldest brother, was your purpose to come here today to meet with your child's other parent — to summon him?" They came to Dongfu with no means of hiding their identity.

Ming Yongnian had a blank face. "Delun, have you spent too much time around Xiaotong?"

Feng Delun was shocked. "I, what made eldest brother say that?"

"Hmm, you are growing more, and more creative." Ming Yongnian smiled.

But his words felt very much like a threat to Feng Delun.

"..." Eldest brother, if you do not wish me to discover your yellowed sins you could just refuse to answer.

Speaking in a roundabout way was Ming Yongnian's specialty. Alright, it was probably best if Feng Delun did not push his eldest brother to answer his questions.

"The coronation is starting! The coronation is starting!"

A large sheer white cloth flew to the center of the room, suspended midair, the surface of the cloth rippled and once it settled a clear picture of the throne room appeared.

This cloth was an image transmission device, in Jiang Xiaotong's language, a projector. One could see moving images through this cloth. This image transmission device was connected to another image transmission in the center of the city, which was connected to the palace.

The people on the streets, in the restaurant, grew quiet. Piles of people peeked the transmission from outside of the establishment, crowding the building. There was no rowdiness among the crowds, only batted breath.

Rows and rows of officials and generals gathered in the throne room. Banners hung from the finely carved ceiling, The floor polished to perfection. Standing before the throne itself was a man in full ceremonial robes, wearing a headpiece with waterfalls of beads cascading the front and the back of the man's head short enough to not cover the man's eyes.

The thin wrinkles on his face made him look wiser than he was, not old, not younger. You could tell that he was a dashing lady killer in his younger days, and he still was. And no amount of eloquent sentences in a paragraph could fully describe the man known to the people of this empire, as their emperor.

"Today is a joyous occasion, a day marked in the annals of history as the day my son finally took my seat after my long three thousand years reign. I hope and believe that in the future our empire may further thrive under my son's, Zhen Zhihao's rule"