this is such an interesting concept, but it's ruined by the stereotypical trope where everyone besides the main character is an idiot who can't use basic problem solving skills, so they always end up resorting to the main character to solve their problems, allowing the author to instantly praise him for being a once in a century genius for basically saying "yeah, just create a portrait of him and see if anyone has seen him."
like get real, that method has been around for centuries and centuries, yet these experienced elders of a major clan can't even think of it? does the Tang Clan just go bumbling around like idiots whenever they actually need to do something of importance with no strategic thought of HOW to actually do it? because that's what it seems like. That's the worst part of these stories, they can't create actual character depth within their main character so they artificially restrict basic knowledge and dumb down every other character around him to make him seem superior.