The Empress’s Gigolo

For the next month, Ren Baqian practiced in the Earth Yin Spring every day.

After one month, he was able to face the icy chill of the Earth Yin Spring without any fear at all.

However, during this one month, the empress was getting more and more disgruntled.

Although the empress always regained her cold expression when Ren Baqian returned to shore, she continued flipping the pages of a comic book absent-mindedly.

Ren Baqian could feel that the empress was like a volcano waiting to erupt. Fury was accumulating in her body.

Even when Great Xia invaded Dayao, the empress had not shown such a big change.

Qing Yuan and Hong Luan were also affected and smiled less often.

Gong Zheng solemnly stepped forward and reported, “Your Majesty, we have discovered yet another village.”

The empress looked at Ren Baqian, who was still inside the spring, and asked flatly, “How many have there been so far?”

“This is the 11th!” Gong Zheng’s eyes were filled with anger.

What exactly was transforming these people to become like that?

There were 11 villages, the smallest with over 100 people and the biggest with over 300.

2,000 people in 11 villages had been discovered so far. The number of people affected in the uncontacted villages was unknown.

So many had become puppet-like for more than 10 years, yet why did nobody notice?

Furthermore, why did they build their villages here? The surrounding area wasn’t suitable for establishing villages because these mountains were inhospitable. It was impossible for these villages to have existed for a long time.

According to investigations made by the winged cavalry warriors, these villages were built 20 to 30 years ago.

Some kind of substance was planted in their bodies and manipulated them to leave their original homes for this inhospitable place.

If no evil hands were behind this exodus, it would be hard to believe!

Plus, nobody would dare to believe.

Snap. The black rock that the empress was sitting on split as a crack appeared from top to bottom.

The empress floated to the bottom of the rock and asked, “Did you deal with it cleanly?”

“It has been dealt with!” Gong Zheng said with a heavy heart. It was easy to say, but it involved the lives of aboriginals.

“Continue to search! Send everyone out and comb in all directions to see how many more of these villages there are! Find out what is causing this problem! If there’s any news, report to me at once!” the empress said with cold eyes.

“Yes!”

Gong Zheng then took his leave. The empress moved to another rock and sat there in a daze.

She was going to get married soon and had been in a good mood, but encountered this unexpected event that might cause extreme turbulence.

Seeing Lin Qiaole sleeping soundly on the floor, she felt a tinge of envy.

Mentally disabled children are happier than normal people.

They do not need to think about anything besides sleeping after eating and then eating again after waking up…

…

Ren Baqian stood in the middle of the spring with the water up to his chin.

An hour later, when Ren Baqian slowly opened his eyes, there was a trace of fatigue in his gaze.

His stomach was growling again.

The faces that had surrounded him since the first day were still there.

Ren Baqian even saw a bird among them. It was the foul-mouthed bird that had been strangled by him.

Upon thinking back, Ren Baqian was of the opinion that he had been quite irascible back then.

The chill was having a calming effect on him.

Ren Baqian smiled, nodded at the bird with the open mouth, and said, “Amitabha! Early death means early reincarnation. You may be reincarnated as a human in your next life!”

Following this, he waved wearily at the empress before she pulled him ashore.

After coming out, the tired Ren Baqian lay on the ground and looked up at the sky.

This position happened to be not far from the empress’s skirt.

The empress was thinking about something and didn’t notice. In the past, she would have kicked him away.

“I dislike safety shorts,” Ren Baqian said suddenly.

Her eyes flickered, a leg landed on his ribs, and Ren Baqian flew five to six meters away.

Ren Baqian fell to the ground and turned to lie sideways on the ground. He propped up his head with one hand and said, “Your Majesty has lost your temper again.”

“Nope!” the empress said flatly.

“The previous rock has cracked!” Ren Baqian laughed.

The empress simply stated, “It was too brittle!”

Ren Baqian laughed again after hearing this.

“Mind your own business and do not interfere!” the empress said as she sat on a rock and looked upward.

This valley was surrounded by mountainous cliffs, and only a dim patch of sky could be seen.

For over a month, this patch of sky had not changed much.

It made people suspect that it was like a painting pasted above them.

Ren Baqian looked at the empress and knew that she didn’t want to make him feel worried. He sighed, lay down flat, stretched out his limbs, and touched something soft with his fingers.

It was the face of Lin Qiaole.

Lin Qiaole sleepily turned her head to take a bite.

Ren Baqian sucked in a breath in response to her savage mouth.

Ren Baqian’s mentality was to give a tit-for-tat response.

His eyes roamed over Lin Qiaole’s body, looking for a place to plant his bite.

A few positions were found to be suitable, but if he were to do so, he would be fighting with both her and the empress.

Such an unfavorable situation was inconceivable.

He simply had to bear with it!

…

After another half a month passed, they had already stayed here for almost two months.

Gong Zheng presented himself in front of the empress once more and reported, “Your Majesty, we have discovered a 19th village.”

The empress touched her hair and said softly, “I see! It’s fine as long as you have dealt with it cleanly.”

Over time, that volcano seemed to have sunk into the sea, and no waves could be detected from the surface.

Everyone knew that this volcano was merely being covered and that when it erupted again, the eruption would be more violent than before!

“There’s one more issue…”

“Just say it. Don’t procrastinate!” The empress wrapped her hair around her fingers and then straightened it.

The past two months in this valley had been really boring.

“Two teams didn’t come back as scheduled!” Gong Zheng said softly.

They went out in teams of five, so two teams meant 10 people.

10 people missing wasn’t a small issue, especially when they were investigating this matter.

The empress stopped fiddling with her hair, turned to glare at Gong Zheng coldly, and asked, “How long has it been?”

“They have been missing for three days, but we know their general location. They were the two teams among the group that covered the most distant area. Traveling southwest, it takes approximately six days.”

“They didn’t come back three days ago as had been planned, so I thought they were delayed. However, they still have not returned yet, so I’m afraid they may have encountered some mishaps.”

The empress made a move, then stopped and turned to look at Ren Baqian in the middle of the spring.

“Your Majesty, I will personally go and take a look!” Gong Zheng knew that the empress didn’t want to leave right now even though Ren Baqian didn’t look like he was in any danger.

The empress walked toward Lin Qiaole and placed a leg on her buttocks.

Lin Qiaole flew up into the air, bared her teeth, and clawed with her fingers in response to this shock. She landed on all fours like an animal and surveyed the surroundings fiercely, but there were no threats at all.

“Bring her along!” the empress commanded.