My Staff Was Never Not Sharp

Soul-searching could only reveal important memories and emotional imprints. On top of that, the merfolk's spiritual souls were underdeveloped, so Mu Rong had seen very little.

"Yun Lanzi, the prodigy of the Beast Taming Sect, is engaged to Princess Ping'an."

The Empress Dowager withdrew her hand and slowly began to speak.

Jiang Chen was curious.

"The princess and the emperor aren't on the same side?"

The Empress Dowager nodded.

"Princess Ping'an's talent far surpasses the Crown Prince's, so naturally, she covets the throne as well. She simply isn't as easy to control as the Crown Prince, and may not necessarily heed His Majesty's orders."

"I see."

Jiang Chen had no interest whatsoever in the palace intrigues of the Fireburn Kingdom. As for the Dragon Bone, although it was a priceless treasure, it was not indispensable to him.

With the Empress Dowager—or rather, with Thousand-Faced Fox's countless possessed women—and with the backing of Tian Mingye in the future, he would have both demonic and fiendish energy. As long as he had enough spirit stones, he could soar into the sky.

As for a woman like Li Lingzhou... she was utterly untrustworthy.

The Empress Dowager turned her head and stared at Jiang Chen, who was bent over.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Chen had brought over the two rabbits from Liu Ruyan's cave dwelling. It counted as returning them halfway to their rightful owner.

"I brought two rabbits from the Azure Mist Sect."

The Empress Dowager had no habit of keeping pets.

"I don't like rabbits."

Jiang Chen smiled.

"They aren't for you. They're to make the two merfolk women cry."

"Make them cry?"

"Yes. We'll give them to the merfolk women as pets first. Once they've grown attached to the rabbits, we'll braise the rabbits whole. Won't they cry their eyes out?"

"You dare!"

"I'm joking. I love rabbits too."

As he spoke, Jiang Chen stroked the snow-white rabbit.

The Empress Dowager slapped his hand away and asked,

"What do you plan to do next?"

What do I plan to do...

Do I even get to decide?

Jiang Chen thought to himself that Thousand-Faced Fox really did regard him as some big shot—or perhaps a reincarnated dragonkin.

First of all, he needed demonic energy at any moment, so he could not stay too far from the Empress Dowager.

In theory, he should not reveal that the Empress Dowager's man was here, lest he attract too much attention. But on closer thought, even the old emperor did not dare touch the Empress Dowager. The Golden Core Realm Chen General had shown fear upon merely hearing her name.

That meant that, at least within the Fireburn Kingdom or Xiyang City, the Empress Dowager's reputation still carried some weight.

Besides, living in the palace would put him closer to the main storyline. Once he entered plot mode, it would be equivalent to having three lives, making him even safer.

However, the identity of the Empress Dowager's man was still far too conspicuous.

Thinking this, Jiang Chen said,

"Starting today, I'll live in the Peaceful Palace. My identity will be the Empress Dowager's bodyguard, commonly known as an armed palace guard."

Mu Rong cast Jiang Chen a faint glance.

"Oh? You can protect me?"

In her gentle, limpid eyes, which also held a trace of resentment, Jiang Chen seemed to glimpse her confusion over why he had not protected Senior Sister Liu...

At the same time, there seemed to be a feeling that she wanted him to reveal his true identity and strength.

Of course, Jiang Chen did not fall into her trap. He did not insist on being the Empress Dowager's bodyguard, and instead suggested,

"Then how about being the Empress Dowager's personal imperial physician?"

The Empress Dowager smiled with her hands behind her back, puffing out her ample chest and appearing both dignified and healthy.

"You could pass as a physician, but to be an imperial physician, you'd have to read many medical texts to avoid making a fool of yourself. I see you spend your time cultivating. Do you have the time?"

Jiang Chen spread his hands and laughed.

"Wouldn't it be enough to specialize in gynecology?"

The Empress Dowager's beautiful face grew solemn and dignified.

"If you had no ability at all, I would have beaten you to death with a staff by now."

My staff was never not sharp!

He glanced at the hourglass. It was already midnight, and Jiang Chen had no time left for banter.

He suddenly remembered something and asked the Empress Dowager,

"Do you know Li Lingzhou, the Prison Suppression Envoy of Xihe Prefecture?"

The Empress Dowager shot Jiang Chen a sidelong glance. She always felt that Jiang Chen encountered beautiful women wherever he went. But... Li Lingzhou was somewhat different.

"Who in Xihe Prefecture doesn't know Prison Envoy Li? Do you want to meet her?"

Considering Li Lingzhou's sexual orientation, Jiang Chen did not hide anything.

"I've met her, but I don't know much about her. I'm afraid she'll take advantage of me."

The Empress Dowager suddenly froze.

"Did she ask to borrow money from you?"

"No."

"She will."

Jiang Chen still did not understand.

"Even if she likes women and goes around looking for beautiful women, she shouldn't need to spend that much money. Why is she always borrowing money from people?"

The Empress Dowager countered,

"You can divine things about me. Why can't you divine things about her?"

Jiang Chen put an arm around the Empress Dowager's waist. It was not particularly slender, but exceptionally soft and warm.

"What kind of relationship do we have? Besides, with Prison Envoy Li's erratic way of doing things, I doubt even she can divine anything about herself."

The Empress Dowager pinched Jiang Chen hard around the waist before saying,

"Prison Envoy Li is fond of gambling, but her luck is terrible.

If you have an appointment with her but can't find her, she must be in a gambling den.

Only when she runs out of money does she go looking for women. Sometimes, she even borrows money from them."

Jiang Chen was dumbfounded. What kind of woman was this? Wasn't she a typical grubby old man?

It sounded as though one of Thousand-Faced Fox's many possessed women might have been asked by Li Lingzhou to lend her money.

"So she's in a gambling den in the city right now?"

The Empress Dowager sighed.

"That depends on how much money she has.

With a thousand spirit stones, she'll be in a gambling den in Xiyang City.

With ten thousand spirit stones, she'll go to a gambling den in Xihe City.

With a hundred thousand spirit stones, she'll be in a gambling den in Chaos City.

With a million spirit stones, she'll definitely be in a gambling den in Dragon Martial City."

Xihe City was the capital of Xihe Prefecture.

Chaos City was where Gray Castle's main headquarters was located. It lay at the geographical center of the Ascending Dragon Continent, a place where demons, monsters, ghosts, and all sorts of people from the nine schools and three religions lived side by side.

Dragon Martial City was the capital of the Daqian Dynasty.

Jiang Chen calculated it out.

Li Lingzhou had at least four thousand five hundred spirit stones in hand, putting her somewhere between the Xiyang City and Xihe City thresholds.

People climbed toward high places, while water flowed toward low ones. By that calculation, she had most likely gone to a gambling den in Xihe City. Otherwise, she would not have failed to notice that the trial had already ended.

"What did she ask you to do?"

The Empress Dowager suddenly asked.

A test from the empress's palace... Jiang Chen was not intimidated. He answered without concealing anything,

"She invited me to Xihe Prefecture to become a Prison Suppression Envoy."

The Empress Dowager's eyes shifted slightly as she smiled gently.

"That is a decent position. The Prison Suppression Bureau has all sorts of strange techniques and resources that can help you recover your strength quickly."

Jiang Chen heard none of it. He only felt that a knife was hidden inside the Empress Dowager's smile.

"Being a Prison Suppression Envoy is too tiring. I still prefer being an imperial physician. All I have to do is move my fingers."

As he said this, the plot simulation ended.

Jiang Chen's divine sense returned to Flame Mountain.

This journey had been nearly perfect.

Slave traders, the Imperial Guards general who robbed the slaves... all had been caught in one net. He had even rescued two merfolk women.

His cultivation had risen to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

He had gained one Empress Dowager baby.

Before the third simulation had even begun, Jiang Chen had already decided to choose the second ending.

What else could he do in the third ending?

He had already thrown caution to the winds in the first and second simulations.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged atop the sand mountain, staring at the thin, misty Sword Qi before him. He decided to broaden his horizons.

[The third simulation begins. Please choose a drop-in location!]

Jiang Chen continued along the path of the second simulation, killing the old general and the black-clad man at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

This time, he did not hide underground to cultivate.

Instead, he cultivated right where he was.

This time, he had no intention of wasting his precious spirit stones. Instead, he fixed his gaze on Li Lingzhou's ethereal Sword Qi.

He first absorbed all the fiendish energy in the fiend shrine and the demonic energy in the Merfolk Pearl, forming a state in which the two energies twisted together like braided dough.

He then rose and came to the edge of the Sword Domain. Opening his mouth wide, he forcibly absorbed Li Lingzhou's Sword Qi.

Suddenly!

Jiang Chen's eyes filled with horror.