Deep Palace Pet Peach Blossom Flawless

Chapter 247 Heart of 9 Stone

Emperor Shenwu returned to the Qianzheng Hall, and Lan Qingwu arrived there in less than a moment.

Emperor Shenwu embraced Lan Qingwu and let her sit in his arms. Lan Qingwu reached out and hugged Emperor Shenwu's thin waist, and said coquettishly: "Brother Heng, I didn't eat well, and the little princess didn't eat well either. I need Brother Heng to accompany me and eat some more."

The Emperor's mood immediately brightened. He stretched out his slender fingers and scratched the tip of Lan Qingwu's nose: "You're acting like a spoiled child again! I'll have someone prepare it right away!"

Li Xiang had already noticed the situation and had ordered lunch to be prepared. He had just wanted to persuade the Emperor to have more food but hadn't known how to say it. Fortunately, the Empress was there.

The two of them had some lunch, and Emperor Shenwu accompanied Lan Qingwu for a walk in the backyard to digest the food, and then returned to the bedroom in the main hall of Qianzheng Palace for a nap.

Lan Qingwu was awakened by the movement of the Shenwu Emperor just as she was about to wake up from her nap. Her watery eyes were hazy. "Brother Heng, are you still going to review the memorials?"

Emperor Shenwu half sat up and held Lan Qingwu in his arms: "I will stay with you for a while."

Lan Qingwu closed her eyes again. The Shenwu Emperor sighed softly in her ears: "Wei Ruo, you don't have to be like this. I've long been accustomed to it."

Accustomed to what? Accustomed to the neglect of loved ones and watching your own mother favor other children?

Lan Qingwu whispered, "I won't get used to it. How could I get used to it? The hurt I've suffered will only leave scars in my heart, one after another, and it will only make my heart grow colder and colder!"

Those injuries, neglects and preferences towards others will only be buried in the deepest part of one's heart, but will not be easily seen by outsiders!

Emperor Shenwu's heart was moved. Lan Qingwu was the eldest daughter of the family. As far as he knew, she had never been looked down upon or neglected in the Lan family since she was a child. So how could she have such empathy? Unless...

"Wei Ruo, why do you think so?"

Emperor Shenwu lowered his head and looked at Lan Qingwu seriously: "Is your mother not treating you well?"

Lan Qingwu's heart skipped a beat. "How could that be? It's just... it's just that Ruo Ruo is a girl, and Mother placed all her hopes on her brother. Naturally, she paid less attention to Ruo Ruo. However, when Ruo Ruo was six or seven years old, Mother personally began to teach Ruo Ruo. This is only natural, after all, my brother will support the entire Lan family in the future."

Emperor Shenwu remained silent, a gleam of light flashed in his phoenix eyes. He was afraid it might not be that simple.

Emperor Shenwu placed his large palm on Lan Qingwu's belly: "When my little princess is born, I will love her dearly and will not let her suffer even the slightest injustice. She will be the happiest and most noble princess in the world!"

Lan Qingwu got pregnant with this child at the perfect time. She was born as the legitimate daughter of the emperor and empress, with an extremely noble status that no one could match.

A smile appeared on Lan Qingwu's lips: "Brother Heng, the little princess wants to listen to her father tell stories."

Emperor Shenwu reached out and took a scroll: "I think it is her mother who wants to hear it!"

The two of them were flipping through the Imperial Secrets Records together. Lan Qingwu pointed at a painting and asked curiously, "This is..."

In the painting, there was a woman high above the sea. The sea was surging and the waves were rolling violently. Only a huge black stone was faintly visible on the sea. The woman high in the sky was covered in blood. In her right hand, she was holding a sparkling jade. Her eyes were calm, and her expression was neither sad nor happy.

The Shenwu Emperor secretly regretted how he had turned to this page, and could only explain, "This is the fourth or fifth generation after the Human Emperor! Back then, there was a whirlpool undercurrent disaster in the South China Sea. The order of the Three Realms was about to collapse, and various disasters followed. The whirlpool on the sea suddenly grew longer and wider, forming a bottomless vortex. So, Empress Zhaoyan, who was still a disciple of the Immortal Sect, gathered the shattered Nine Stones and arranged them again. When the Human Emperor used the Nine Stones to suppress the sea, he discovered that the Nine Stones were missing the most important Nine Stone Heart. The Human Emperor predicted that someone would find the Nine Stone Heart hundreds of years later and completely solve the sea disaster. So he left the Soul Gathering Formation on what is now Jiulong Island."

"The Soul Gathering Formation? Why is a Soul Gathering Formation needed to return the Heart of Nine Stones back to the Nine Stones?" Lan Qingwu asked in confusion.

The Divine Martial Emperor's eyes were slightly stern. "Because—the Nine Stone Heart is the heart of a person! Hundreds of years from now, a descendant of the Xue family, who has guarded Nine Dragon Island for generations, will be born with the Nine Stone Heart! After she uses the Nine Stone Heart to return to the Nine Stones and suppress the sea threat again, she will fall into the sea, her soul and spirit destroyed! The Human Emperor witnessed that tragic scene hundreds of years later and was moved with compassion. He left a soul-gathering formation on the Nine Stones, hoping that this formation would at least preserve that person's soul and spirit after hundreds of years, so that they could re-enter the cycle of reincarnation!"

Lan Qingwu was shocked. She looked back at the painting and realized that the woman's blood was flowing from her chest. On her right hand was her own heart! She had dug her heart out! The woman looked as if she had lost all hope in life. She had endured horrible pain while doing all this, but her expression remained calm, without sadness or joy, without emotion or love. However, Lan Qingwu clearly saw a vague black male figure at the edge of the painting. The figure was only outlined with a brush, but Lan Qingwu could see in those few strokes a strong sense of sadness, helplessness, pain, and reluctance.

Lan Qingwu's slender white fingers gently rubbed the blurry figure a few times. Emperor Shenwu noticed her movements and said, "This is a descendant of the Human Emperor, and one of my ancestors—yes, a lovestruck emperor. Because of him, the direct line of the Da Sheng dynasty was almost extinguished! He is also the second Da Sheng emperor to grant his queen residence in Fengqi Palace."

Lan Qingwu looked at the painting and asked, "Is it because of this woman?"

Emperor Shenwu nodded. "My ancestor ascended the throne for over a decade without appointing any concubines. Rumors circulated at the time that he was passing the throne to a branch of the royal family. Then, over a decade later, he suddenly appointed a queen and gave her the Fengqi Palace. The imperial harem, and even the people of the land, were all astonished. Later, those who saw the new queen said she looked exactly like the daughter of the Xue family, her reincarnation. Whether this was true or not is, of course, impossible to say!"

Lan Qingwu's eyes widened as she listened. She looked back at the painting, and her feelings shifted once again. She hadn't expected this to be the most infatuated emperor of the Dasheng Dynasty. Surely, they would be together forever!

The Emperor of God Wu tilted his head to look at Lan Qing Wu, but he could clearly see a hint of envy in Lan Qing Wu's eyes. The Emperor of God Wu couldn't help but frown. What was he envious of? He looked at the painting, envious of them?