The Empress’s Gigolo

Li Yuanzhu’s pursuit of Su Xianxian caused a stir in Great Xia.

Amid this sensation, even the frenzy between Great Xia’s imperial court and the rebels had been affected.

After all, her status was honorable too. She was the third most powerful expert in the world and was the most powerful during the time when both Li Fu and Xu Wuming were in hiding.

In particular, Li Yuanzhu hadn’t killed anyone ever since she rose to fame. This was why everyone respected her.

Almost everyone who had seen her felt that she was a fairy-like figure who was spiritual, removed from worldly affairs, and had no worries at all.

Although she was standing in front of you, it would seem as if she was overlooking you in the distant sky.

However, this person broke her own rule of never killing people and pursued Su Xianxian, the twenty-third most powerful expert in the world.

Just the identities of these two people were enough to attract attention, not to mention the words that he shouted along the way.

He had actually succeeded in tarnishing Li Yuanzhu’s reputation to some extent.

Although what he said was unbelievable, it started many suspicions and opinions about her.

Even Genuine One Sect’s reputation plummeted. For many days, there had been a lot of noise in the front monastery.

If Li Yuanzhu had sided with the barbarians of the south, this matter would be a huge blow to the people of Great Xia.

How could they accept it when Great Xia’s youngest and most spiritual top expert sided with the barbarians?

Even if she was regarded as a fairy in the past, the scholars who supported her the most didn’t know whether they should continue to trust her at this time.

Naturally, Ren Baqian received the news as well.

He didn’t expect things to blow up.

Fame and fortune were the things that people cared about the most in their lives. How many people could truly ignore their reputation?

Under such circumstances, Li Yuanzhu didn’t even try to explain the situation.

“This woman—she’s pretty ruthless!” Ren Baqian smacked his lips. He didn’t expect this girl to be so determined and set her reputation completely aside.

However, he received another message that immediately made his face turn gloomy.

On the fifteenth day of the ninth month, Li Yuanzhu had pursued Su Xianxian for 20 days and killed him. Everyone in Luohua Sect, more than 300 disciples and workers, had been killed as well.

All of them were killed by heavy weapons like maces and metal rods or cut into pieces by long sabers.

Traces at the scene showed that this was the doing of at least dozens of people.

With these remaining traces, the identities of the killers were on the verge of being disclosed.

After all, weapons such as maces and thick metal rods were rarely used, except by the aboriginals.

Cutting people up into several pieces was also the style of the aboriginals.

Although Su Xianxian wasn’t in Luohua Sect anymore, the rest of the sect’s personnel also weren’t ordinary people. There was still a Spirit Wheel expert and several Earth Wheel experts.

There were many people who could have killed them. However, there weren’t many who would number in the dozens and strike with such weapons. Furthermore, not even one person managed to escape.

The entire society of Great Xia immediately dropped to its freezing point.

All the experts felt animosity. Firstly, Li Yuanzhu pursued Su Xianxian. At that time, she also told him that she would ensure that Luohua Sect would be safe. However, the aboriginals ended up exterminating everyone in the sect, not even sparing the lives of women and children.

For a moment, the Great Xia practitioners’ hatred for her and the aboriginals was at its peak.

No one considered whether someone else had framed the aboriginals by shifting the blame to them.

With the reputation of the aboriginals, why would others try to frame them?

However, Ren Baqian knew that he had been f*cking framed.

His face was gloomy, and he didn’t know how to express himself. He actually got framed while he was trying to improve the technology in Lan City!

That was right—he was framed.

This was due to the fact that he was in charge of the protectorates outside the land of Dayao.

“Mobilize the men and find out who did this,” Ren Baqian ordered in a deep voice.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

By the time he received the news, it had already been two weeks since the incident occurred. During this period, many experts had gone to Luohua Sect to check out the situation there. Even if there had been some evidence left behind, it would probably already be gone.

However, they still had to examine the area.

It couldn’t possibly be as simple as wiping out the entire sect.

It was clear that the culprit’s target was either Li Yuanzhu or Dayao.

Ren Baqian somehow felt that the possibility of the latter was higher. After all, Li Yuanzhu had a great reputation in Great Xia. Although there had been a lot of uproar recently, no one could possibly target her so quickly.

If this was the case, the culprit’s target would be Dayao.

What was their objective? What did they want?

The public welfare organization was currently being set up. After their experts returned from the Sixty Thousand Mountains, there would be a mass recruitment of experts.

This provoked hatred between Dayao and Great Xia would probably cause quite a lot of twists and turns in the future. (Well, there had in fact already been a lot of hatred between the two nations. When Great Xia attacked Dayao in the beginning, quite a large number of Great Xia practitioners had died.)

However, it was different this time, particularly because the culprit was still in hiding and attacking Luohua Sect was only their first move. There was no telling whether they would do something else.

Whatever the case, this matter couldn’t be ignored due to these circumstances.

“Spread the word to not let go of any clues, no matter how small they are. Immediately report back any information collected.” Ren Baqian repeated his orders, afraid that his subordinates would overlook something.

“Rest assured, Your Highness.”

He nodded, took the two reports, and closed his eyes with a faint smile on his face after he left the protectorate.

Ren Baqian first went to the Ministry of Works to look for Tong Zhenye.

“Principal!” A young and familiar voice rang out.

Ren Baqian turned around, only to see that it was a student who had just graduated from the academy. The student was wearing the uniform of the ministry and had a young and inexperienced look on his face.

Ren Baqian smiled and chatted with him. Although this student had always called him Yagui in school back then, he respected Ren Baqian a lot after leaving school.

The students who entered the Ministry of Works became technical officers and were highly valued by Tong Zhenye. Although they were a little green, things went quite smoothly.

Ren Baqian felt relieved when he heard this. After exchanging a few words, he went in to look for Tong Zhenye.

It was mainly about the road between Lan City and the Yun Nation. Due to the rainy season, a landslide occurred and nearly 100 captives were buried.

Tong Zhenye didn’t take this matter seriously. Although there hadn’t been many cases of landslides, there was nothing abnormal to him about people dying.

However, Ren Baqian found it very important. People dying was one thing, but what should they do if a landslide occurred again in the future?

After a long argument with him, they decided to send two student officers to the scene. This was also a trial for them.

If they could resolve the situation there, it would prove their ability and the effectiveness of the education at Black Bamboo Academy.

Back in the palace, the empress was holding a large bucket of calcium milk and sipping from it nonstop. Qing Yuan and Hong Luan kept bringing out more of the milk and pouring it into the bucket. The alcohol pool wasn’t implemented yet, but the milk bucket had started.

Seeing Ren Baqian, she thought of the alcohol pool and the meat forest.

“Where’s my alcohol pool?” she asked lazily.

She had become lazier lately, and there was no telling whether this was a side effect of her pregnancy.

However, it had already been ten months since the empress got pregnant, but her belly only had a slight bulge, which couldn’t be seen when she had clothes on.

There were no signs of her going into labor at all.

Ren Baqian was very calm about this, thinking that she was afraid that she would really give birth to Nezha.

“Your Majesty, the new city has begun to break ground, and the alcohol pool will be placed in the new palace!” he replied.

“You are fooling me more and more.” The empress groaned lightly.

Ren Baqian gave a bitter smile. She had finally switched to drinking calcium milk. If he were to make her an alcohol pool, wouldn’t she revert to her old ways?

He handed the two reports to her and casually explained to her, “Your Majesty, we have been framed!”

The empress merely glanced through them and said, “How the others choose to think is their problem. We just have to do our things right. The aboriginals and Great Xia have always had a lot of hatred, but so what? If they really obstruct us, just kill them.”

Ren Baqian spread his arms and asked, “Are all experts like this? You are like this and so is Li Yuanzhu, that little girl!”

He said this intentionally.

It was only when he talked about Li Yuanzhu in this frivolous tone that the empress wouldn’t suddenly get jealous for no reason.

Sure enough, just as Ren Baqian thought, she didn’t care at all.

“In the general situation, whatever they do, they are simply overrating themselves and attempting something impossible. They can’t possibly stir up the overall situation. You should set your sights higher.”

He knew that she was right, but he was still pretty used to being as detailed as possible…