Guards, Drag This Lout Out of the Palace and Beat Him to Death!

Old General Chen was named Chen Huan. In his early years, he had been a staunch supporter of the emperor.

But after repeatedly getting the worst of the empress dowager, the emperor mistook him for one of her supporters and repeatedly passed him over.

A venerable general of the Golden Core Realm had actually been sent into the desert to scrounge for treasures.

In the end, he gradually became a fence-sitter. He offended neither side, sought no glory, and asked only to avoid mistakes.

If he had not found two immensely valuable twin Merfolk girls to present to the emperor, an offering certain to earn him a promotion, he would have been ready to retire in the desert.

How could he hand such an opportunity to someone else?

But the empress dowager's man?

He had never heard that the empress dowager kept male favorites.

Still, to be safe, he instinctively sized up the young man before him.

He was tall and striking, with an extraordinary bearing.

Though only at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, he had dared to venture deep into the desert alone, pursue a burrowing Artificial Sandworm, and kill a merchant of the Foundation Establishment Realm despite the gap in their cultivation.

If his daughters or granddaughters saw such a handsome, capable young man with such a commanding presence, they would surely fall for him.

His only flaw was that his talent seemed rather mediocre.

But for the empress dowager, who was at the Early Golden Core Stage and had suffered from illness for years, a man's talent was not what mattered.

In particular, though this young man's Five-Element Endowment Constitution offered little nourishment to a powerful female cultivator, it was the kind of vessel least easily worn out. He could make a fine object of affection.

By that reckoning, the young man might not be lying.

Chen Huan took his right hand off the hilt of his heavy sword and asked:

"What is your name?"

Jiang Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

His gamble had paid off.

At the very least, this old general was not the empress dowager's enemy.

That meant no one would die in this outcome, making it one of the three he could choose from.

"Jiang Chen."

The old general's face darkened. Still half in doubt, he asked:

"What proof do you have that you're the empress dowager's man?"

"If I told you, General, you would have to die."

Jiang Chen sipped his tea at an unhurried pace. His manner was as light as a passing breeze, but his words held the glint of blades.

The old general was not so easily fooled. He would either break the pot to get to the bottom of things or break open Jiang Chen's skull with a single thrust of his sword.

"The empress dowager and I are not enemies. I will keep it secret."

With the old man having said that much, Jiang Chen could no longer dodge the question. He had to play his trump card.

He set down his teacup and stared into the old general's deeply sunken eyes.

"The empress dowager is not human."

Chen Huan's expression changed.

The empress dowager herself had repeatedly used force to stop rumors that she was not human from spreading.

If she had been human, he would long ago have helped the emperor bring her down with his cultivation and abilities.

As things stood, only a handful of people in the palace had heard the rumor that she might be a fox demon. An ordinary person could not possibly know.

Let alone a young, unfamiliar face like this one.

"Come with me."

The old general then took Jiang Chen and the two Merfolk Women back to Xiyang City and hid them in his residence.

After daybreak,

he sent the Merfolk Women to the emperor's physicians at Taigan Palace.

He also sent someone to Peaceful Palace to ask whether the empress dowager knew a young man named Jiang Chen whom he had rescued in the desert.

It was not until evening that Peaceful Palace replied: Jiang Chen was indeed an old friend of the empress dowager.

The old general understood.

The lad was only in his twenties. What sort of old friend could he be?

Could he be an old friend's clone?

And why had a report sent to Peaceful Palace that morning received no answer until evening?

There was probably no mistake about Jiang Chen being one of the empress dowager's people. Whether he was her man in that sense remained to be seen.

Although he had been sidelined for years, now that the emperor was gaining power, he was still an imperial loyalist... with a degree of conviction that shifted according to the empress dowager's strength.

For now, at least, he did not dare offend an empress dowager who might not be human as casually as he once had.

With that in mind, he sent a trusted aide to escort Jiang Chen to Peaceful Palace in secret.

Not only did he leave Jiang Chen's spoils untouched, he even gave him some tonics.

Peaceful Palace stood in the central grove of Spirit-Calming Garden.

Spirit-Calming Garden lay at the northernmost end of the imperial palace.

Rare herbs and exotic flowers of every kind grew there. In this season between late spring and early summer, the wind stirred and blossoms fell by the thousands, carpeting the ground in layer upon layer. The rear courtyard looked as though snow had just fallen, a scene of exquisite beauty.

A winding stream flowed through the garden, circling a pond covered in duckweed, green and clear, where Rainbow Crucian Carp swam.

At its center stood a grove of pines and maples. Between the trees, a roof of glittering glazed tiles shone like a golden island.

"Looks like the empress dowager knows how to enjoy herself..."

With that thought, Jiang Chen strode into the grove and followed its secluded, winding paths until he reached the mysterious Peaceful Palace.

Two sword-bearing palace maids stood guard outside its gates.

It was Jiang Chen's first time seeing palace maids carry swords.

Clearly, the empress dowager thought little of the emperor. He probably was not her biological son, either.

Neither maid so much as glanced at Jiang Chen. It was as though he did not exist.

Jiang Chen deliberately stepped forward and touched one maid's hand.

No reaction...

He touched the other maid's hand.

Still no reaction.

They had plainly fallen under the empress dowager's illusion.

If the empress dowager weren't inside, I'd have to show you two a few of my best tricks.

He strode into Peaceful Palace.

Inside, cloud-scented sandalwood formed the beams, water jade served as lamps, strings of beads hung as curtains, and cast gold supported the pillars. Everything gleamed.

White jade paved the floor, with golden beads set into it and lotus flowers carved into the stone. Beneath his feet it felt warm, and each step flowed with remarkable ease.

Beyond a beaded curtain, the shadowy figure of a voluptuous woman sat behind another hanging screen. Her graceful silhouette was like distant mountains darkened by rain.

Jiang Chen bowed toward the figure behind the curtain.

"This commoner Jiang Chen greets the empress dowager!"

The woman's voice rang from behind the curtain, lofty as the moon overhead. Beneath its solemn dignity lurked the faintest trace of killing intent:

"I know no Jiang Chen. I summoned you to the palace only to see what scoundrel dared impersonate an old friend of mine. I shall kill you with my own hands!"

Jiang Chen strode forward and laughed aloud.

"An old friend from the Azure Mist Sect a month ago. There's nothing wrong with calling me that, is there?"

"How dare you!"

The woman struck through the curtain with her palm.

Bang!

She killed Jiang Chen with a single blow...

The end.

Jiang Chen felt his soul had already flown beyond the heavens and that he was about to return home to resume being a mildly ill COVID patient. Pain spread through his whole body.

Fortunately, he caught on quickly.

An illusion!

Jiang Chen knew that, after sensing his clear and seamless aura, the woman was testing his abilities again.

She might not even be sure who he was.

After that instant of his spirit wandering away, Jiang Chen stood perfectly still, calm as ever.

A moment later,

he raised a hand, parted the beaded curtain, and strode into the inner chamber.

Before him stood a broad agarwood bed six feet wide, hung with precious gauze curtains. Begonias embroidered in silver thread and scattered pearls covered the fabric. When the breeze stirred it, the curtains billowed like an illusory sea of clouds among the mountains.

Jiang Chen was stunned. There was another curtain in front of him!

The outer garden, the grove, the outer hall, the inner chamber—and even inside the inner chamber, yet another curtain...

Are you playing Russian nesting dolls with me?

Never mind. With Plot Simulation and his ability to see through illusions both on his side, Jiang Chen did not care.

He lifted the curtain and strode in.

On the agarwood couch lay a fragrant green-jade pillow, a soft silk-and-ice-silkworm mat, and a folded brocade quilt with a jade-patterned border.

The empress dowager sat cross-legged on the couch.

She wore thin gauze woven in purple and red, with a white stole draped over her shoulders like rolling clouds. Her hair was swept into a high coiffure, a floral design adorned her forehead, and her dark brows swept toward her temples...

Her collar opened slightly beneath a layer of sheer white gauze. Pale skin showed faintly through, rising and falling like storm-tossed waves, while an ethereal air belied her voluptuous figure.

Her skin was white as the moon, and her fragrance seeped into the heart.

Her bearing was regal; her figure, luxuriant.

Her features were dignified and exquisitely beautiful, yet her eyes held a soft, alluring charm. She was seductive without being vulgar—a true rarity.

On closer inspection, apart from faint crow's-feet at the corners of her eyes and the weariness in her gaze, he could find no fault with her.

Her ample bosom in particular, though not as towering and peerless as Tian Mingye's, could still embrace heaven and earth and encompass all phenomena...

Yet at that moment, Empress Dowager Mu Rong glared furiously at the lecher before her.

Her vast bosom rose and fell with her anger.

"Guards! Drag this lecher out of the palace and beat him to death!"

You couldn't bear to...

Jiang Chen strode forward with a mysterious smile.

"This commoner knows Your Majesty wants to test my ability to break illusions, but that ability is nothing special... I have a new one Your Majesty will absolutely love."

"What are you doing?!"

Mu Rong was so furious that her spiritual pressure surged. White-faced and red-eared, she slapped Jiang Chen's forehead with her left hand, clawed at his back with her right, and bit into his left shoulder... until blood streamed from the wound.

Any one of those attacks would have been enough to kill Jiang Chen if she had used a little more force. Just a tiny bit more.

And so...

Jiang Chen lived until midnight.