The Empress’s Gigolo

“Governor, Liu City’s Yun Jiwei was murdered, and his head was taken away. Even though a search of the city was conducted to find the killer, nobody was caught. It is said that the killer was his junior apprentice.”

In the mansion of the warlord of Xueyang City, a middle-aged man was sitting above and listening to the report being announced below.

This person was Xie Kun, the governor of the Southern Metropolis and its leader.

Among the three major factions of Tianjing Basin, the highest ranking person in the North Alliance was the alliance chief. On the other hand, in the Southern Metropolis it was the governor, while in the Green Bell Flower, the person in charge was a lady called the Flower Queen.

“Again, this was caused by the news they spread! These people deserve to die!” Xie Kun banged on the table angrily. “Inform everybody to be vigilant when they meet anyone, whether it’s their old friends, good buddies, people from their own sect who came from far away to visit, or even close relatives.”

“Governor! This is causing everyone to be nervous. Although the previous rumor about exterminating the whole city caused people to panic, it only affected the commoners. It even provoked many of them and made it much easier for us to recruit them… However, this recent news is making the officials insecure! They are wary of each other all the time! How do you expect them to work together?” someone came up and asked.

“What suggestions do you have? After a few more days, there may be more deaths and injuries. Anyway, there is no way to hide this matter. I’m worried that many people may have learned about this before you and I… Instead of trying to hide, it’s better to tell everyone and prevent people from being killed by their own sect members, relatives, and friends before even the barbarians can kill them… I’m heartbroken! Just pass down the order,” Xie Kun said solemnly.

“Furthermore, offer a heavy reward for people who capture those that sneaked in. Notify all the sects that it’s clearly stated that they will be totally eradicated later on if they don’t surrender now. Either they surrender or they join the volunteer army—there is no other choice,” Xie Kun added.

“Finally, send more top experts to guard the Wang Estuary and kill those that are going north to surrender.”

The situations in the North Alliance, the Green Bell Flower and the Southern Metropolis were about the same. This strategy of Ren Baqian’s caused major internal upheavals in the three major factions. From time to time, there was news about top experts who had already joined the army being assassinated by their fellow sect members. There were even reports of cases in which a whole sect had disciples fighting among themselves.

This caused everybody to be anxious, and their morale dropped drastically in a short time.

…

Ren Baqian was seated in the main hall in Wu City. Below him, there were six people standing in two rows.

Jing Yu, Jiang Boting, Zuo Leng, and Zhong Hesheng were from the Lingshan Sect, and Zuo Leng was the nephew of Zuo Cheng.

The other two were Zhu Nong and Xie Yunbing, who were from the hidden village and had even fought against Ren Baqian in more than one encounter.

The six people looked at Ren Baqian whose head had a sharp spear tip coming out of the top and exuded charisma.

This sharp spear tip that appeared on his head from time to time was a feat that was rarely seen.

“How are those people now?” Ren Baqian crossed his legs, one hand fanning a fan while drinking ice-cold cola from the cup in his other hand.

The cola bottle was placed beside him. It was warm these past two days, and drinking ice-cold cola made the heat more bearable. As for the ice, it was easy to produce because saltpeter could be found everywhere.

“Sir, the majority of the people have wholeheartedly surrendered to you,” Zuo Cheng cupped his hands and said.

“The majority of them. That means a minority are unwilling and insincere.” As Ren Baqian raised his head slightly, the group of them were taken aback.

“However, this is quite normal. It’s hard to know what others are thinking, but as long as one is formidable, he or she will succeed at anything. With so many people, there are bound to be some who can’t understand the situation clearly and are undecided. Notify the two gentlemen to take action as required and not to be soft-hearted. If I need to arrange for people to take action, they would rather kill innocents than let a single guilty person escape.”

“Yes!” Zuo Cheng answered.

“In addition, do you know the little baldy? Get two people to follow him, but not too closely. Make sure he doesn’t meet with any mishaps. Other than that, let him be,” Ren Baqian added.

“Yes!”

“Is there anything else?”

“Sir, there’s news that the entire Xiaoshan Sect has surrendered and is rushing toward Wu City.”

“Not bad! Bring them to meet me when they arrive. After all, we are on a fervent quest to search for talent and must display the right attitude.” Ren Baqian nodded his head and then waved his hands to dismiss them.

When everybody had left, Ren Baqian pulled off his collar band and complained, “This weather is warm and irritating.”

He headed for the door, turned into a courtyard, and entered the empress’s room

“I’m here to pay my respects to Your Majesty.”

“Oh!” The empress raised her head to look at Ren Baqian and then lowered it to look at her book again. She was quite free these past few days, had selected some manuals that were confiscated from the various sects, and was flipping through them.

Ren Baqian took out an antique wooden box which had a unique fragrance, put it on the table, and said, “Your Majesty, I discovered this thing in the warehouse this morning. It would be a waste if it was given to anybody else. Although it’s just barely worthy of Your Majesty because there aren’t many things that are up to your standard, this item should be considered passable.”

The empress raised her head to look at the box that Ren Baqian had opened and saw what was inside.

It was a golden hair clip. The tail portion was made out of a ruby the size of a bird egg and carved into the shape of a phoenix about to take flight. This carving not only looked extremely lifelike, it also seemed to have a flame enclosed inside the ruby. Any light that shone on it would be reflected as a very magnificent array of brilliance.

The empress was delighted to see it and put it in her hands to examine carefully.

“This thing also has a special property.” Ren Baqian laughed as he took it from her hand and gave it a shake. The air was immediately filled with a resonant chirping sound, somewhat similar to a bird warble and also similar to a bamboo musical instrument.

“It is said that the cry of a phoenix sounds like this,” Ren Baqian said as he put the hair clip back in her hand.

The empress was even happier and put down her book to play with the hair clip.

When the interest of the empress had waned a little, Ren Baqian asked, “How about letting me put the hair clip on for you?”

The empress spread out her hands. Ren Baqian took the hair clip, walked behind the empress, and gently touched the silky hair of the empress. As he took out the original hair clip, her hair fell down like a waterfall.

Ren Baqian took the two hair clips and was confounded… Her hair had spread out with one tug.

How do I make a bun with her hair?

The empress was getting impatient because Ren Baqian hadn’t done anything after a long time. She began tapping her finger lightly on the table.

“After thinking it over, I think Your Majesty is already devastatingly beautiful without any makeup or ornaments, so I see no need for this thing to embellish your beauty,” said Ren Baqian earnestly as he walked in front of her and put the hair clip back into its box. “Your subject feels that you are already perfectly graceful and don’t need it.”

The empress wasn’t impressed by his rhetoric and asked with a frown, “You dispersed my hair and then say there is no need to use the hair clip?”

“I feel that you are already the most exceptionally beautiful to look at and that adding or subtracting a little bit will destroy this perfection…”

“You were standing behind me just now and could only see my hair!”

Boom! “Ouch!”

A while later, Ren Baqian sat in a chair with a bloody nose and a swollen face. The area near the empress was cooler. Not only was there a fan blowing over some ice, there was also the empress’s icy and murderous anger that she expressed from time to time, causing people to feel cold from head to toe.

…

The next day, Zuo Cheng carried a bag and strode into the same room as yesterday. As he threw the bag on the floor, five or six heads rolled out.

“Sir Ren, these people weren’t law-abiding,” Zuo Cheng said calmly.

The fate and the future of the Lingshan Sect rested in the hands of the person in front of him. Zuo Cheng had to be ruthless even if the person involved was his fellow disciple.

He had already given them a chance, but the news that Zuo Leng brought back yesterday had made him realize that he could wait no longer.

“Mister Zuo is a smart person who knows what is important, what should be done, and what shouldn’t be done. I feel more at ease with him around.” Ren Baqian continued as he looked at the heads on the floor, “There will always be people who aren’t so smart. Not only are they courting death, but they are causing others to die too. Such a person is like a rat dropping that spoils a bowl of soup. Mister Zuo knows what to do, and in the future, we will need you to continue to pay attention to this matter.”

Ren Baqian was now more assured of Zuo Cheng since Zuo Cheng was completely aligned with him and had no way to back out.

With such a person handling these matters, it saved him a lot of trouble.

At least he wouldn’t show his emotions even when feeling discontent. This way, the winged cavalry wouldn’t be able to notice. On the contrary, the Lingshan Sect found it easier to perceive this aspect.

“I want to ask Sir Ren for a favor. One of them was my fellow disciple, so I hope you can let me give him a proper burial,” Zuo Cheng added.

“That’s fine. Since he’s already dead, I do not mind. Mister Zuo, do as you please.” Ren Baqian smiled kindly with eyes that looked like a panda’s.