The Empress’s Gigolo

In a land without any plants, the parched ground was filled with cracks and various long swords of different shapes that were inserted in the ground. A half inserted and primitive-looking sword could be found every few steps.

In the background was a fiery red sunset.

The blazing red sky, together with the bleak scenery and those ownerless swords, brought a sense of desolation.

The name of this place was the Jinrui Land.

Ren Baqian slowly walked forward. Although he didn’t touch anything, bloody wounds would appear on his body occasionally. It was as if there were invisible swords around him that wanted to cut him into pieces.

This was the world of the [Visualization of Metal], and it was filled with a sharp golden force field that was invisible.

Ren Baqian felt that it would be more appropriate to call it the Infinite Sword Field or the Sword Graveyard.

“Amitabha!” In prayer mode, Ren Baqian placed a single hand on his chest and chanted a Buddhist prayer to empty his mind. This seemed to alleviate the pain in his body.

This pain was caused by the open wounds inflicted by the sharp edges that were everywhere.

Ren Baqian suddenly sensed a chill in his crotch, and his peace of mind was broken… causing his face to distort.

“F*ck…”

Frightened, he pulled open his pants to check and was relieved that his string of treasure was still intact.

However, two more small wounds had appeared…

After experiencing this chill, he started to feel burning pain.

Although he had needed to go through death when training the other visualizations—drowning during the [Visualization of Water], being blown away and falling to his death during the [Visualization of Wood], scorched to death during the [Visualization of Earth], and roasted or burned to death by lava during the [Visualization of Fire]—the pain suffered while training the [Visualization of Metal] was the most terrifying.

That sharp golden force field was everywhere, but it was imperceptible. Sometimes, it waited for him to collide with it. Other times, it was activated after he had passed a sword. He didn’t know when the next cut would come. Occasionally, he would feel a chill in his crotch that made him tremble from head to toe.

He could tolerate everything else, but this was simply unbearable!

Every time he entered the [Visualization of Metal], those swords were in different locations and the sharp golden force field was also distributed differently. Ren Baqian couldn’t see any pattern in their placement and could only move along by relying on chance.

Furthermore, death only arrived after an incomparably long time. Before returning to reality, he had to walk with bloody wounds for an unknown duration, bleeding until he was exhausted.

Ren Baqian tied up his pants and continued to walk forward for a long time. Almost no part of his body was undamaged, and half of his left palm was gone.

As Ren Baqian hobbled along, the loss of blood was draining his energy and his vision was growing blurry.

Holding the hilt of the sword by his side, he felt the suppleness of the leather. However, a sword force field shot out from the hilt and pierced his right hand.

Nevertheless, he didn’t seem to notice it as he stared at an empty space 100 meters away. The empty space was densely surrounded by ancient swords, but there was only one sword in the center of the empty space. It was positioned there independently like the king of swords as it accepted the worship of its subjects.

Ren Baqian knew that all he had to do was pull this sword out in order to complete the [Visualization of Metal]

Struggling desperately to move his feet, he advanced by more than 10 meters. A pain shot through the sole of his foot as half of his foot flew off. Ren Baqian couldn’t stand up anymore and fell head first to the ground. He crawled for another 10 plus meters before blacking out. When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in his room at Pingle Park.

Ren Baqian quickly pulled opened his pants to look. Then, he inspected it and was relieved that it still functioned properly.

He was worried that he would come out of the [Visualization of Metal] and become impotent one of these days.

He had often heard of experiments where people were blindfolded, their wrists were cut, and their blood dripped out to the water tubes until they died.

Fortunately, this worry of his didn’t turn into reality.

However, Ren Baqian was very clear that he had developed a high tolerance for pain after practicing [Ruyi Visualization].

For example, the pain of a bone fracture would have previously made him feel like he was on the verge of dying, but after cultivation, he treated it like it was nothing serious. Even if the empress accidentally broke one of his bones by pushing him, he would just look sad while feeling unperturbed.

In addition, his fear of death was diminishing

His perception of death began to change after practicing [Ruyi Visualization]. Although he clearly understood that death in the real world was different from dying in [Ruyi Visualization], in the realm of [Ruyi Visualization], death was an ending as well as another beginning.

However, the incidents experienced while cultivating [Ruyi Visualization] were quite realistic. After undergoing death numerous times—whether by drowning, falling, burning, or bleeding out—it was very hard not to grow accustomed to it.

Due to the countless fatal experiences in [Ruyi Visualization], he had encountered all kinds of death, no matter how miserable. The result was a loss of awe regarding death, both for himself and for others.

He didn’t know whether these changes were good or bad.

The cultivation of [Ruyi Visualization] wasn’t as painstaking as other methods. With the help of a huge amount of herbs, his cultivation speed was faster than those who were talented. Starting as an ordinary person, he had almost reached the Earth Wheel level after one and a half years, but it wasn’t known if there were hidden risks.

It might be a long time before one could understand the impacts this had on oneself.

Upon waking up, Ren Baqian went out and kicked Tiantian and Gungun as they rushed at him to get a hug. He also kicked the little Ting Ling monkey before starting to do his daily tasks as usual.

In the [Visualization of Metal], the effects inflicted by death and other perceptions were reset after a nap and didn’t affect the practitioner in any way.

After such a long period of cultivation, he already knew how to adjust to the situation.

It must be mentioned that many things taught by those baldies were rather useful, although Ren Baqian only remembered the phrase “Amitabha” when he was killing someone or being killed while practicing [Ruyi Visualization].

Ren Baqian seemed to remember that he was known as “Buddha’s disciple” and wondered how the little monk was faring.

That very afternoon, he received a letter from the little monk asking for help. Ren Baqian wondered whether he was being prophetic or had a crow’s mouth.

The note read: “Buddha’s disciple, I have nothing to eat… Xing Ruo is going to die of hunger soon… but the dharma hasn’t been passed down—the female benefactor hasn’t understood the benefit of being converted. In order for Xing Ruo to carry on, please send some food! (Note: Food for 1,000 people!)”

Ren Baqian scratched his head after reading this letter from Tianjing Basin that was rather short on details. Didn’t Xing Ruo’s master let him convert the male customers of the female benefactor? Why did it become a situation where he had to convert the benefactress.

What had happened to the little monk?

After some inquiries, Ren Baqian didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry…

During this period, that little monk did quite well in spreading the dharma in Tianjing Basin. The number of believers rose from dozens of people to thousands, and for a monk who was less than 10 years old, this was remarkable.

Of course, this was related to the massacre in Tianjing Basin caused by Xi Wanya and the turmoil in Jiangbei City.

Afterward, that little monk advocated for the believers to help each other and managed to survive through the hardest period. Although the present situation wasn’t that good, it was much better than the previous situation in Jiangbei City.

Subsequently, he tried to convert the prostitutes…

It should be noted that these were ladies who had lost their families in the uprising and couldn’t make a living, so they roamed the streets and sold their bodies in exchange for food.

They were a group of pitiful people.

“Contact Zuo Leng and have him send a cargo of grain to the little monk.”