Stairway to the Immortal Kingdom [Tested Positive, But Not Completely Positive!]

Early the next morning, Jiang Chen slowly opened his eyes.

The Empress Dowager had long since finished bathing and left the underground lounge. The two Merfolk Women were staring wide-eyed at him, curiosity written all over their faces.

To them, Jiang Chen looked like a good man no matter how they looked at him, yet there was also a faintly wicked glint in his eyes.

Seeing Jiang Chen awaken, the two Merfolk Women hurriedly cried out:

"Benefactor, please let us go."

"We ran out of tears long ago... Other than when we hear the Beast Tamer's chanting, we truly cannot cry."

Jiang Chen took a look. Even when they cried, they shed no tears at all. It looked somewhat cruel.

"Why did you leave the Beast Tamer?"

The two Merfolk Women froze, wiping at their tears. Though they had no tears, wiping them away was instinctive.

"How did you know we left on our own?"

The Beast Tamer was called Yun Lanzi. He used to be especially fierce, constantly making us cry through terrifying chants to obtain Merfolk Pearls.

But starting from some day this year, he actually began coaxing us to be happy. He even told us to smile more.

We thought he was fattening the pigs before the slaughter. We were so frightened that we could neither eat nor sleep, and quickly found a way to escape the Beast Taming Sect.

Jiang Chen thought, you two Qi Refining half-demons together are not even as smart as one person. How did you escape?

He guessed it might have something to do with slave-trading merchants.

It could also be the Beast Tamer's scheme.

However... none of that mattered.

Since he had saved the Twin Mermaids, they naturally had to help his cultivation. Otherwise, would he not have saved them for nothing?

"Since you call me Benefactor, have you considered repaying my kindness?"

The two Merfolk Women were taken aback, not understanding what he meant.

"Do you want us to warm your bed, Benefactor?"

Jiang Chen glanced at them. Though the two Merfolk Women were lovely and bright-eyed, innocent and adorable, their beauty still fell somewhat short of the Empress Dowager's. Besides, they only had Qi Refining cultivation. Cultivating with them would be no different from cultivating in vain.

"I'll tell you a story called Stairway to the Immortal Kingdom. Once upon a time, someone rode a sword out of a sword calamity and lost his memory..."

Cry!

Cry, damn it!

Although the Twin Mermaids listened with rapt attention and found this altered story fascinating, not a single tear fell from their eyes.

Jiang Chen suddenly grabbed the Twin Mermaids' hands.

He sent his resonant divine sense into their bodies.

Only then did he discover that the Beast Tamer had left a hidden tear-inducing restriction upon both their spines.

Judging by the restriction's strength, the Beast Tamer's cultivation was likely at Foundation Establishment Late Stage or Foundation Establishment Peak.

If he used Li Lingzhou's Pure Yang Sword Aura, he could easily remove the restriction.

But Jiang Chen worried that doing so would injure the Merfolk Women's dantians. He could only employ the power of resonance, spending nearly half an hour before thoroughly removing the restriction from their spines.

Its difficulty was no less than cultivating with the Empress Dowager.

Afterward, Jiang Chen continued telling Stairway to the Immortal Kingdom.

Very soon.

Sob, sob...

The Twin Mermaids finally cried tears!

Even they themselves stopped crying in surprise.

The tears were not plentiful, and the pearl-forming rate was not high, but Jiang Chen still collected six Merfolk Pearls of passable quality.

The Twin Mermaids stared blankly at Jiang Chen and asked curiously:

"Did Benefactor and the Empress Dowager lock us up only for the sake of Merfolk Pearls?"

Of course, Jiang Chen was merely conducting a test. Merfolk Pearls from the Qi Refining realm could no longer greatly aid his cultivation. He could only sell them for spirit stones, or give them to the Empress Dowager in exchange for some high-grade Demon Cores.

Jiang Chen shook his head, silently tucked away the Merfolk Pearls, and said with a solemn face:

"No, it was to investigate the truth."

Besides, you were not actually locked up. You may move freely within Peaceful Palace.

In any case, no one can see you. Just do not leave Spirit-Calming Garden."

As he spoke, Jiang Chen rose from the hot spring, stretched lazily, got dressed, washed up, and headed to Peaceful Palace.

The Empress Dowager was nowhere to be seen.

Too lazy to ask the palace maids, he went to Spirit-Calming Garden to meditate.

At the beginning of summer, hazy morning mist shrouded the flowers and grass, while brilliant dawn light spilled threads of gold.

Beyond the palace walls, maids from other palaces poked their heads out to steal glances at Jiang Chen, wanting to see how handsome the legendary imperial physician of the Empress Dowager truly was...

He was very handsome, but not like the immortal descended to earth they had imagined.

It seemed this man possessed real skill.

The maids of Peaceful Palace thought so as well.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged beside the pond, unconcerned with the maids' gazes.

As fish swam around him, he secretly opened the system panel to inspect his recent gains and the Butterfly Effect footage.

[Name]: Jiang Chen.

[Cultivation]: Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

[Money]: Low-grade Spirit Stones ×234.

[Items]:

Azure Mist Sect Disciple Sword ×1 (Low Spirit, slightly damaged);

Imperial Guards Greatsword ×1 (Yellow Grade);

Imperial Guards Steel Saber ×1 (Low Spirit);

Darksteel Sword ×1 (Low Spirit);

Fire-Spirit Darksteel Sword ×1 (Low Spirit);

Spine-Bound Soul-Shifter ×1 (Low Spirit, damaged);

Heavenly Demon Sect Demon Shrine ×1 (Low Demon, no demonic qi);

Foundation-Stabilizing Spirit-Nurturing Pill ×72 (Low Spirit);

Rapid Spirit-Healing Pellet ×5 (Low Spirit);

Merfolk Pearl ×6 (Low Demon);

He also had a large quantity of spirit grain, spirit water, medicinal herbs... These things were of little use to Jiang Chen. It would be best to find time to sell them for spirit stones.

Jiang Chen glanced at the artifacts. The old general's greatsword was actually a Yellow Grade spirit sword!

Artifacts, pills, and cultivation methods could be divided by rank into Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. Above them was the Divine rank; below them were the unranked Low Spirit grade, and beneath that were ordinary mortal items.

[Skills]:

Basic Body Arts (Mortal Rank): Reached the Pinnacle.

Eight-Step Mad Blade (Mortal Rank): Reached the Pinnacle.

Basic Spirit Control (Low Spirit): Reached the Pinnacle.

Demi-Immortal's Book (Earth Rank): Initial Glimpse.

Myriad Phenomena Resonance (Earth Rank): Minor Accomplishment.

The skill panel had been updated with ranks.

Jiang Chen looked at it. He had not expected the Demi-Immortal's Book and Myriad Phenomena Resonance to actually be Earth-rank cultivation methods!

[Main Storyline]: Four rounds of main storyline simulation have been completed. No new main storyline has been discovered for now.

[Butterfly Effect]: You have two unviewed pieces of footage.

The first was titled: Princess Ping'an and the Beast Tamer.

It showed Princess Ping'an, who was hunting in the palace gardens, receiving a secret letter from the Beast Tamer.

The letter said that the Twin Mermaids had been abducted, and their last known location seemed to have been near Peaceful Palace.

This morning, even the tear-inducing restriction had been severed.

"Near Peaceful Palace... Then it is likely connected to the Empress Dowager's new imperial physician."

"The old general was also killed at Flame Mountain. There was even a sword scar stretching a hundred li across the sea of sand at the scene."

"It seems an expert has interfered with our plan. You and I can only marry ahead of schedule."

Jiang Chen thought, the Twin Mermaids really had been deliberately released by the Beast Tamer. The purpose was most likely to use the old general's hand to deliver them to the Emperor.

This showed that the Princess and the Emperor were not on the same side.

The second piece of footage was titled: The General's Death.

The Emperor intended to quietly handle Chen's death, attributing it to an accident. He guessed that the old general had encountered a swarm of desert fire-locust beasts. In short, he had no intention of investigating deeply.

However, the old general's family repeatedly submitted reports and gathered evidence at the scene, concluding that Chen's death had most likely been the work of Li Lingzhou, Prison Suppression Envoy of Xihe Prefecture. They requested that the Emperor report it to the Prison Suppression Bureau of Xihe Prefecture.

After all, there was a hundred-li scar across the sand left by Sword Qi at the scene, yet no trace of Sword Qi remained... This was extremely similar to the swordsmanship habitually used by Envoy Li.

The Emperor did not wish to offend Li Lingzhou, so he could only pull some strings and ask the Prison Suppression Bureau to take Li Lingzhou back to Xihe Prefecture, lest she remain in Xiyang City and give others something to use against her.

Very soon, the Prison Suppression Bureau of Xihe Prefecture sent people to find Li Lingzhou.

Inside Thousand-Gold Gambling House, Li Lingzhou was playing the final round at the gambling table. She was clearly about to lose, yet she stalled for time, seeking a change in circumstances.

Just then, people from the Prison Suppression Bureau arrived. She openly admitted that she had killed Chen because he had wanted to gamble her spirit stones away...

The others at the gambling table trembled like cicadas in the cold.

Before the game had even ended, Li Lingzhou was taken away, successfully preserving the final two hundred spirit stones she should have lost.

"Just as expected of you."

Jiang Chen thought.

After watching both pieces of footage, a palace maid outside the garden announced:

"Princess Ping'an is outside the garden, requesting an audience with the Empress Dowager and the imperial physician."

Jiang Chen thought, this woman colluding with the Beast Tamer has most likely come to probe for information...

The Empress Dowager was not in the garden, so the palace maid could only report it to Jiang Chen.

It seemed that before leaving, the Empress Dowager had established Jiang Chen's transcendent status within Peaceful Palace before the palace maids.

Jiang Chen slowly opened his eyes and said:

"Tell her the Empress Dowager is not in the palace."

The palace maid left the garden to relay the message, then quickly returned to report to Jiang Chen:

"Princess Ping'an requests an audience with the imperial physician."

See me?

Jiang Chen answered decisively.

"Refuse."

Unexpectedly, Princess Ping'an vaulted over the wall and came in. She clapped her hands, walked before Jiang Chen, crouched down, and said with a smile:

"I have lived in the palace for so long, yet I have never seen such an arrogant imperial physician. It seems you truly have real skill."

My wife tested positive and is freezing all over, while the child has an itchy throat and is coughing. Other than feeling sleepy, I have not reacted yet. I spent most of today caring for my wife and child, so there will only be two updates.