Three Cultivate Immortality [Please Subscribe, Please Vote Monthly!]

Midnight.

A bright moon hung high overhead, with no stars in sight.

Peaceful Palace, inner hall, within the curtains.

A tailless silhouette as voluptuous as the moon and a Nine-Tailed Fox shadow silver-white as snow intertwined with Jiang Chen, like two sides of the same entity.

In his daze, Jiang Chen nearly thought three people were cultivating together.

When three walk together, one must be my wife.

Sure enough, this time, his Myriad Phenomena Resonance had achieved minor success. His divine sense was enough to see through illusions, confirming that he had not fallen for Thousand-Faced Fox's illusion. Thousand-Faced Fox had not even intended to deceive him.

This was somewhat beyond Jiang Chen's expectations.

He guessed that Thousand-Faced Fox might have sensed that his new ability was no empty boast and wanted to test it personally.

Jiang Chen had never expected that the certain death ending of his first simulation would, by sheer luck, lead him to the pinnacle of life.

At the same time, there was another even more astonishing fact—

What the novel said was true. The Empress Dowager really was still a virgin!

Amid their lingering sweet words, Jiang Chen learned that Empress Dowager Mu Rong was not the biological mother of the current emperor, but his stepmother.

Because both her cultivation talent and beauty were exceptional, the dying former emperor had made her his last imperial consort.

Yet before he could even get down to business, the former emperor kicked the bucket.

Thus, Mu Rong had remained a virgin. Of course, she had not yet been the Empress Dowager then, merely an insignificant figure.

The crown prince—now the current emperor, Yu Wenshu—was only eight when he ascended the throne.

Yu Wenshu, who possessed some talent, immersed himself in cultivation all day and ignored state affairs.

At the time, the former emperor's harem was filled with women who had no cultivation, so only maternal relatives and eunuchs could take turns controlling the young emperor.

During that period, Mu Rong cultivated diligently while secretly making arrangements.

Finally, upon reaching Foundation Establishment Peak, Mu Rong used a series of methods to provoke conflict between the maternal relatives and eunuchs. In one stroke, she seized real power and began ruling from behind the curtain as Empress Dowager.

At the time, Emperor Yu Wenshu had likewise reached Foundation Establishment Peak, yet he was no match for Mu Rong at all and could only become a puppet emperor.

Yu Wenshu, meanwhile, continuously rounded up Merfolk Women and used Merfolk Pearls to cultivate. Until twenty years ago, he actually succeeded in forming a Nascent Soul and reclaimed imperial power in one stroke.

Yet he maintained the appearance of a mother-son relationship with Mu Rong, and neither tried to kill the other.

As for when Thousand-Faced Fox had possessed the Empress Dowager, she did not mention a single word of it. She did not even mention the name Thousand-Faced Fox.

It was as though Empress Dowager Mu Rong was she herself!

Yet during their dual cultivation, Jiang Chen had clearly seen the fox shadow and absorbed the fox demon's demonic qi, so much so that he had nearly thought they were cultivating as three people.

Jiang Chen also discovered a fact: the Empress Dowager's cultivation was actually only at Foundation Establishment Peak. Her Golden Core was merely disguised through illusion arts.

After a night of cultivation, Jiang Chen's cultivation had not advanced in the slightest.

Besides the Empress Dowager lacking Golden Core cultivation, this was also related to the Five-Element Endowment of his dantian.

Fortunately, he had drawn in a great deal of demonic qi from the Empress Dowager and stored it within the Qi Sea Abyss.

If he saved it to fuse with human spirit and demonic qi, then used it to power the Demi-Immortal's Book, he could easily advance his realm...

In that case, the virgin Empress Dowager was far too useful.

Jiang Chen had not advanced his own realm. Instead, during cultivation, he fed the Merfolk Pearl to the Empress Dowager.

While using the power of resonance, he also cleared out the accumulated herbal impurities deep within the Empress Dowager's dantian.

This greatly improved the Empress Dowager's complexion. The exhaustion throughout her body vanished, and even the fine lines at the corners of her eyes faded considerably.

After finishing the deed without even straightening his clothes, Jiang Chen held the Empress Dowager in his arms, savoring every moment of their cultivation as he quietly waited for the plot to end so he could clock out.

The Empress Dowager reached out and pinched his chest, scolding him coyly:

"Where in the world is there a lecher as bold as you!"

Jiang Chen's gaze was gentle and calm, the very image of a sage.

"After missing Senior Sister Liu, I don't want to miss the Empress Dowager too. Even if this is a dream now, I want to make that dream come true."

The Empress Dowager seemed to hear another woman's name. Angrily, she turned her back to him and snorted coldly.

"Leave, then. Go find your Senior Sister Liu!"

Jiang Chen lifted the lotus pot and whispered into her ear.

"Senior Sister Liu is already dead. I won't let that happen to you again."

The Empress Dowager fell silent.

After a moment, she softly asked again:

"Who is the you you're talking about?"

Jiang Chen froze. Faced with such a question probing the soul, one wrong answer could turn it into a fatal question.

After thinking for a while, he said:

"You are you."

Unexpectedly, the beauty in his arms asked again:

"Then what about you?"

"I am also me."

Thousand-Faced Fox was possessing the Empress Dowager's body.

Was Jiang Chen not also possessing the original owner's body?

Through a round of completely unreserved philosophical questions and answers, Jiang Chen successfully avoided the soul-probing interrogation and escaped death.

He hurriedly changed the subject and asked the Empress Dowager:

"By the way, why would a cultivator like you meddle in the imperial palace and participate in Fireburn Kingdom's political struggles?"

The Empress Dowager held Jiang Chen's hand and asked in return:

"Aren't you involved now as well?

How did you even come up with it? A Qi Refining cultivator like you actually ran into the desert to steal a merchant's Merfolk Pearls.

What... did you deduce?"

Hah, and you still say you're not Thousand-Faced Fox!

Jiang Chen flatly denied it.

"No, I was merely passing by and drew my sword to help. The spoils were only incidental. Unfortunately, those two Twin Mermaids were taken by Chen and handed over to His Majesty."

The Empress Dowager forcefully pinched the flesh of Jiang Chen's thigh.

"What His Majesty? You're his stepfather now."

"..."

Jiang Chen was speechless. He was practically becoming the retired emperor.

"Stop changing the subject. Why are you involved in the palace struggle?"

The Empress Dowager suddenly turned around and stared at Jiang Chen.

"I am waiting for an opportunity to appear. I cannot know the details, but I am certain it is connected to something."

"What?"

"Dragon Bone."

The plot came to an abrupt end.

Jiang Chen's vision went dark, and his consciousness instantly returned to the summit of Flame Mountain. He slapped his thigh.

"I cultivated for too long and actually delayed the important business!"

But upon carefully savoring it... cultivation was still more enjoyable.

Jiang Chen particularly liked the process of this simulation.

Although Chen had nearly killed him, he had ultimately stumbled into doing the right thing.

However, there were two problems with the ending:

First, he had missed out on the two Merfolk Women.

Second, he had exposed his identity before Chen, which would very likely indirectly expose the Empress Dowager's ambitions.

For the second simulation, Jiang Chen changed his route and decided to continue from the first simulation, making corrections.

[Beginning the second simulation!]

Jiang Chen appeared inside the Sandworm once again.

Step by step, he talked the merchant into avoiding the black-clothed men.

After the black-clothed men had completely departed, Jiang Chen also gained part of the merchant's trust.

He then said there was an Imperial Guards outpost nearby, and the Sandworm should travel in the opposite direction, away from the outpost.

After weighing the pros and cons, the merchant temporarily believed Jiang Chen's words, though he remained vigilant at all times.

Jiang Chen, meanwhile, led the underground Sandworm to his home ground—

Flame Mountain.

A hundred zhang underground, inside the Artificial Sandworm.

"Here. It is safe for the time being."

Jiang Chen took out a cracked Foundation Establishment Sandworm core and the remaining six Qi Refining insect cores, saying:

"I have one Foundation Establishment insect core and six Qi Refining insect cores here. Including the two lives I saved for you, how about exchanging them for your two Merfolk Women and twenty Merfolk Pearls?"

"Fine, but you must tell me why a Qi Refining cultivator like you could suddenly appear here."

"..."

History was always astonishingly similar.

Even though Jiang Chen had changed locations, and the timing was not entirely the same, when he made the same trade offer, the merchant's reply was word for word identical.

It was as though it had been copied and pasted from another spacetime.

But the battle that followed went slightly awry.

This place was far from Chen's underground outpost, and Jiang Chen had thought it would not attract Chen's attention.

Unexpectedly, because he had traveled several hundred more miles this time, the merchant was even more wary of him.

As a result, Jiang Chen failed in his sneak attack and did not pierce the merchant's brain with a single sword thrust.

Instead, one sword strike flipped open the top of his skull.

The battle dragged on.

The two exchanged move for move, fighting from underground to the surface, then from the surface back underground.

Jiang Chen ultimately still succeeded in killing the greedy merchant and took his Storage Ring and spoils.

However, because the fight with the merchant lasted too long, it still drew Chen, as well as another black-clothed man at Early Foundation Establishment.

More precisely, it first drew another black-clothed man patrolling nearby. That man then sent word to inform the old general, who came personally.

Once again.

The old general dragged the entire Artificial Sandworm from hundreds of zhang beneath the desert up to the surface.

The Sandworm's shell split apart, and the five walls of the wooden house flew in all directions.

On the wooden floor lay the merchant's corpse, scattered flesh and blood, the two Merfolk Women in the water tank, and Jiang Chen leisurely drinking tea...

A look of surprise appeared on the old general's face. With one hand resting on his heavy sword, he asked:

"Who are you?"

"Who I am is unimportant. What matters is that I killed a merchant who trafficked merfolk slaves. That was a righteous act... Chen, you have no reason to destroy my Sandworm wooden boat, do you?"

"A minor Qi Refining cultivator like you can kill a Foundation Establishment merchant?"

Hearing the same doubt once more, Jiang Chen gave a different answer.

He set down his teacup, slowly rose to his feet, and suddenly drew his sword.

"Not only can I kill a Foundation Establishment merchant, I can kill a Golden Core Realm general too!"

The moment he finished speaking, his figure flashed as he slashed his sword at Chen.

Chen thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Looking carefully, the opponent's sword strike was indeed somewhat extraordinary, but for it to approach him was simply a fantasy...

Much less injure him.

Unhurriedly, he raised his hand. Golden Core Realm spiritual pressure gathered in his palm as he struck toward Jiang Chen.

This palm strike was enough to kill Jiang Chen in an instant.

And so...

Sword-Qi Domain activated!

Winds and clouds surged as sword qi drifting throughout the sky suddenly gathered upon Jiang Chen's blade.

This truly had been Jiang Chen's tactic.

But he had never expected it to be realized in this way.

Still in midair and before he could react, he cleaved apart Chen's palm force with one sword strike.

He also cleaved Chen himself in two!

His two deeply sunken eyes suddenly froze. The views reflected in his left and right pupils split farther and farther apart until they lost focus.

"You..."