The Empress’s Gigolo

A few Nine Blades Sect members put Dead Toad and Lin Yuan, who looked like dead dogs, on horseback and took advantage of the night to leave.

Along the way, everyone would take a look at the two unconscious people from time to time. If they were to kill them, the Death Toad Sect would be finished.

If they took action now, there would be no trace. That envoy from the Yun Nation probably wouldn’t pay attention to such a small matter either.

In the end, the Earth Wheel elder who had been scratched in the face by Lin Qiaole sighed and said, “If there is a war in future, these two will at least constitute a formidable fighting force.”

Only then did everyone dispel this notion.

On both sides of the road in the wilderness, one man and one woman were hiding in the dark and observing with suspicion.

“How did the cowardly Lin Yuan fall into the hands of the Nine Blades Sect?” a woman with an insipid voice asked slowly.

“Were they chasing after the two people you were talking about?” the man asked.

“This is pretty close, but the situation is quite strange.”

“Are we still going to proceed?”

“I am afraid there is a problem. Let’s go back and ask the Nine Blades Sect where those two people went.”

…

After dawn, Ren Baqian and company headed toward the Golden Ring Residence. From Long Shou City to Jici City, where the Golden Ring Residence was situated, it normally took four days of travel, but their group took five days.

During the journey, Ren Baqian managed to get a lot of useful information from the two Nine Blades Sect members.

What they knew was much more than what Ren Baqian had gathered so far. After all, many things were privy to their members that ordinary people wouldn’t know.

The distribution of power in Tianjing Basin was more complicated than what he had been told by Xi Wanya.

There were a dozen factions of various sizes, up to 100 sects, and their relationships were intricate as well as messy.

However, there was an alliance behind all these parties who was in contact with them and was preparing for an uprising.

This alliance was dominated by eight big sects and three big factions. The three big factions were the three biggest forces in Tianjing Basin and comprised of practically all the cities here.

These three factions consisted of the Northern Union, the Southern Metropolis, and the Green Bell Flower.

Among them, the most powerful was the Northern Union, followed by the Southern Metropolis and the Green Bell Flower. However, the internal organization of each faction was messy and complicated. The least powerful Green Bell Flower was actually the most united.

The Golden Ring Residence was one of the eight sects. Its influence extended over six cities and not just three, unlike what he had previously been told.

The Golden Ring Residence was the smallest of the eight sects.

The biggest sect was the Lingshan Sect, which was the biggest sect in the Northern Union. Its influence covered almost 20 cities, and in the Northern Union, many generals were from the Lingshan sect.

In addition, among the eight big sects, there was one that Ren Baqian found interesting. It was called the Manxing Pavilion and was within the territory of the Green Bell Flower. It was said that all the members were female and that one of the pavilion masters was called Green Bell. From her name, the relationship between the two parties could be inferred.

More than once during the journey, Ren Baqian felt that these two Nine Blades Sect members were rather stupid. They didn’t suspect him at all and didn’t even verify his identity before telling him everything without reservation.

On the other hand, the aboriginals had had no contact with outsiders before. The aboriginals and other races rejected each other. As such, these two people didn’t doubt that he was on the same side as them.

In addition, they were too eager for outside support, longed to escape this cage, and wanted to recapture their lands.

Thinking about it, Ren Baqian felt that they were quite pitiful. Despite this pity, he couldn’t commiserate with them.

Both sides were neither wrong nor right, but were standing in different positions and were enemies as a result.

After traveling this way for five days, the group reached Jici City, where the Golden Ring Residence was located.

On arrival, they checked into an inn and the Earth Wheel experts of Nine Blades Sect went to the Golden Ring Residence to present their name cards. Meanwhile, Ren Baqian took Lin Qiaole and wandered around the city.

Jici City was much bigger than Longshou City. The streets of Jici City were bustling with people and were more orderly compared to Longshou City. Also, the lives of the commoners in Jici City were slightly better than those of Longshou City or at least their expression were a bit more cheerful.

Although their clothes were old, they were clean and didn’t have too many patches.

However, they were only slightly better off since they were still thin and pallid.

Generally speaking, Ren Baqian had a rough idea of the living conditions of the remnant citizens of the Hao Nation after visiting these two cities. Poverty was endemic and to have a full stomach must be their greatest wish.

Apart from this, Ren Baqian was attracted by the shops on both sides of the road.

Whether it was daily necessities such as salt or cloth, the prices were higher by more than half when compared to Lan City.

In addition to shops that sold commodities, there were shops selling special products. For example, shops that specialized in polishing bone knives, arrowheads, and other weapons.

Ren Baqian intentionally went in for a look and finally bought a bone knife. This type of bone knife was very sharp, almost as sharp as an iron knife. Its biggest drawbacks were its hardness and tensile strength, which weren’t comparable to iron. If it was pitted against an iron knife, cracks would appear after a few exchanges.

Some bone knives were made out of bones that had better hardness and tensile qualities. These could be used for quite some time, but were expensive, so not many commoners could afford them.

“Is that guy a the Golden Ring Residence disciple?” Ren Baqian looked at a man in the middle of a group of people whose back was facing him.

From his position, Ren Baqian was well placed to observe the other party. The other party had a long bone saber on his back, and on the back of his bone saber, there was a row of nine gold rings. When walking, the golden rings would hit the bone knife, emitting a clear and melodious sound.

Ren Baqian had heard about their technology before. This type of gold ring was produced by using a special method. When the bone saber was slashing, the gold rings would emit ear-piercing sounds that interfered with the five senses and made the opponent impetuous.

If one was facing a disciple from the Golden Ring Residence under the sunlight, one must be wary of the disturbance caused by the gold rings and also of the reflections of light. There was a special way to use the saber that scattered the reflected light into innumerable fine fragments. This in turn interfered with the opponent’s vision.

Even if a person was one level above a the Golden Ring Residence disciple, he or she would still face disruptions to their hearing from the sound and to their vision from the light reflections, causing it to be a difficult battle.

“Yes, Sir,” the Nine Blades Sect member replied. His name was Liu Xing, while the Earth Wheel elder was called Liu Zhangmei.

…

While Ren Baqian was wandering around the city, the empress was in Gu City and sat in the garden in a daze.

As that man wasn’t around, she found these past few days boring. Even television shows didn’t interest her much.

Things were definitely more interesting when he was around.

In the past, she used to be alone and felt fine, but after getting used to having someone around, it was particularly easy to feel lonely without that person.

“Is there any news from him?” the empress asked without even raising her head.

“Your Majesty, Sir Ren didn’t bring along his radio station for this trip…” Qing Yuan said softly behind her. She then turned toward Hong Luan and stuck out her tongue. Her eyes were filled with laughter as she continued, “Ren Baqian has only been gone for a few days, yet Her Majesty is already missing him.”

The empress sat for almost half a day before she rose up to get candy from the candy tree. She discovered that one-third of the candies had already been picked.

Ren Baqian had promised that he would be back when the candies were finished.

The empress used the shears to cut down a bunch of candies and saw that there was only candy left on half the tree.

“If he isn’t back by the time all the candies are eaten, I will tie him up and hang him on the tree.” She raised her eyebrows when she recalled hearing that there were 23 ways to tie up a person. She would definitely try out all the methods.

She totally forgot about the agreement with Ren Baqian to only eat 20 candies per day at most. There were originally 1,200 candies on the tree, which was equivalent to two full months of supply.