I, Jiang Chen, the Empress Dowager's Man

Though the merchant was extremely wary of Jiang Chen and had long prepared for battle,

he still had not expected Jiang Chen to be able to draw a sword with his left hand.

Nor had he expected the sword of a Qi Refining cultivator to be so fast.

Either way, his head was gone.

No blood was seen, but his brains had been shaken out.

Before forming a Nascent Soul, a cultivator's dantian could not merge with the soul and primordial spirit.

With his head gone, he could only survive on the instincts remaining in his spine and the fragments of fused memories, until a new head grew back.

Fortunately, the merchant was wealthy. He had attached a Soul-Shifting Artifact to his spine, transferring his soul in advance.

Or rather, copying his soul.

Though Jiang Chen's sword had pierced his brain, he remained unfazed. He raised a hand to seize Jiang Chen's blade, intending to take it from him.

But Jiang Chen's blade suddenly began to tremble without stop.

The moment the merchant's right hand touched the blade, his entire body shuddered. He instinctively released it.

Amid his shock, he instantly unleashed the spiritual pressure of the Foundation Establishment Realm, attempting to forcibly pin Jiang Chen down.

Just as he was about to form a hand seal and cast a spell, Jiang Chen, a mere Qi Refining cultivator, jolted and forcibly broke free.

The merchant had no time to form a seal. He could only draw his own sword, infuse it with surging fire spiritual energy, and slash horizontally at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen had just pulled his sword from the merchant's forehead when he knocked aside the flaming blade with a single strike.

A sharp clang rang out.

The flames were snuffed out, and the merchant's hand went numb.

Only then did he grit his teeth and ask,

"Who exactly are you?!"

At the same time, the insect tamer, who had been waiting for an opening, seized his chance and struck at Jiang Chen's back with his sword.

Without turning around, Jiang Chen raised a hand behind him.

Bang!

With a flick of his finger, he pierced through the insect tamer's dantian wall.

The insect tamer's eyes went blank. His sea of qi exploded with a roar, blasting him into bloody chunks that filled the Sandworm's interior.

Without a trace of grief, the merchant took the opportunity to form a hand seal and unleash a surging Scarlet Lihuo Flame, instantly swallowing Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen did not move an inch.

He had actually resonated with the Lihuo Flame using his own fire spiritual energy, adding an extremely concealed layer of flame insulation between his body and the Lihuo Flame.

The merchant did not notice. He formed another hand seal and unleashed the complete Lihuo Art, increasing both the flame's heat and its binding force.

Jiang Chen's sword fell to the ground, glowing red from the heat.

The merchant breathed a sigh of relief and drew his sword, stabbing toward Jiang Chen.

Just as Jiang Chen seemed about to be burned into charcoal, he suddenly evaded the sword's edge and stepped forward to meet the merchant—

His palm slammed into the merchant's chest!

Bang!

That palm struck precisely where the merchant had attached the Soul-Shifting Artifact to his spine.

Although the merchant wore two layers of Spirit-Guarding Armor and Jiang Chen's palm had not broken through his defenses,

The Soul-Shifting Artifact on his right chest was struck squarely by Jiang Chen's palm and began trembling violently.

It was practically a concussion...

Jiang Chen's palm strike left him stiff for an instant, and Jiang Chen immediately seized the merchant's sword.

He leaped into the air.

His sword came down.

It pierced the merchant's crown, the tip reaching all the way to his spine and completely destroying his soul.

"You..."

Jiang Chen flipped and landed, leaving the sword embedded in the merchant's spine.

Then he controlled the sword from afar. Its tip continued downward, slicing open the merchant's dantian from the side.

His dantian leaked, his sea of qi dissipated, and it failed to explode...

"Your greed turned your savior into the living King of Hell sending you on your way... Was the Merfolk Woman really worth that much?"

The merchant's eyes froze. He fell to the ground and breathed his last.

The battle had taken a little longer than Jiang Chen had expected.

It showed that humans of the same level, though their spiritual pressure was weaker than that of spirit insects like Sandworms, could make up for it through equipment, spells, and tactics.

What cultivator did not have a few life-saving trump cards?

Defeating an enemy in one move was simply too difficult.

There was no time for reflection. Jiang Chen immediately looted the Storage Rings of the merchant and insect tamer, picked up three spirit swords, then turned and lifted the water tank containing the Merfolk Women, preparing to abandon the ship and leave.

This Sandworm ship was nice, but Jiang Chen trusted his own ability to conceal his presence more.

Just as when they had encountered the men in black, the two Merfolk Women began crying for help the moment he lifted them.

Jiang Chen gently patted the wooden railing and said softly,

"Don't be afraid. I'm a good person. Later, I'll tell you about Korean dramas, and you'll believe me."

Seeing how handsome this young man was, and feeling the water tank sway slightly beneath his gentle pats, making them feel quite comfortable, the two Merfolk Women thought that his gentle voice did not sound like that of a bad person.

So they stopped struggling and calling for help.

Instead, they began wondering what Korean dramas were...

Suddenly!

Jiang Chen sensed a powerful force approaching.

The men in black?

No, it was a Golden Core cultivator.

General Chen!

It seemed the fight had lasted too long and caused too much of a commotion, drawing the attention of a Golden Core expert.

Run?

Jiang Chen believed that, by resonating with the desert, he could match the movement speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

But he was far slower than a Golden Core cultivator.

He could not escape...

Now that the other party had locked onto his location, it was too late to conceal his presence.

Suicide could end this simulation scenario.

But he did not want to waste such a precious simulation opportunity!

After thinking it over, Jiang Chen chose to do nothing. He sat atop a square table covered in blood and flesh.

He poured himself a cup of the merchant's Western Region black tea and waited calmly for Chen to arrive.

Yet the old general in black did not come down.

After landing, he formed a gesture with two fingers.

He pulled the Artificial Sandworm from hundreds of zhang beneath the desert and dragged it into the open air.

With a wave of his hand, the Sandworm's shell shattered.

Inside, the wooden cabin's five walls scattered in all directions.

On the ground lay the corpse of a Foundation Establishment merchant, while another Qi Refining merchant had been reduced to evenly scattered flesh filling the cabin.

The two Merfolk Women were locked inside the water tank.

A young man at the Qi Refining level sat before the blood-smeared table, leisurely drinking tea.

The old general, his face concealed beneath black robes, looked startled. One hand rested on his greatsword as he asked directly,

"Who are you?"

The Flame Mountain where Jiang Chen had previously been was under the jurisdiction of the Azure Mist Sect, far from the underground base of the Imperial Guards. It was only natural that the old general did not recognize Jiang Chen.

He took a sip of tea.

A perfectly clear, all-encompassing aura slowly spread with the tea's spiritual essence moistening the tip of his tongue.

"Who I am is unimportant. What matters is that I killed merchants trafficking merfolk slaves. That was a righteous act... General Chen has no reason to destroy my Sandworm boat, does he?"

Not only had Chen been recognized, he had even been turned against. The old man's face could not quite maintain its composure.

"You, a mere Qi Refining cultivator, killed a Foundation Establishment merchant?"

Jiang Chen smiled calmly.

"The world is vast, and anything can happen. There's no need to tell the Imperial Guards every secret, is there?"

Though the old general also felt that this youth was no ordinary person, he was not so easily intimidated.

"You may have been able to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator across realms, but it took considerable effort. If I wished to kill you, it would be as easy as turning my hand. Leave behind the Merfolk Women and the merchant's Storage Ring, then state your identity. I shall pretend never to have seen you. How does that sound?"

Jiang Chen looked straight at the old general and said evenly,

"I'm afraid that if I reveal my identity, General Chen will not dare accept the Merfolk Women and Merfolk Pearls. Wouldn't that make this unnecessary?"

The old general threw back his black cloak. The overwhelming aura of the Golden Core Realm surged forth as he said in a deep voice,

"I have seen many young people who like to play mysterious games. I'll give you three breaths. Who exactly are you?!"

"I belong to the Empress Dowager."

As he spoke, Jiang Chen slowly rose to his feet, revealing his tall, upright figure and imposing bearing. Then he added,

"To be precise, I am the Empress Dowager's man."