The Empress's Gigolo

The evening banquet wasn’t exactly a lively event. After all, it wasn’t a victorious return and could even be considered depressing.

However, according to reason, this banquet had to be held.

The next day, many of the experts made their way home. Meanwhile Ren Baqian headed for the Yun Nation.

Apart from Lin Qiaole, her good friend Lin Yue tagged along as well. When these two stupid girls got together, it was like familiarity at first sight. Their only regret was not meeting each other earlier.

Li Yuanzhu and Gluttonous Duke followed them as well.

There was another person who Ren Baqian didn’t expect would tag along: Xin Zhe.

“Her Majesty’s command is for me to follow Zhao Prince Consort wherever he goes!” As she adjusted her glasses, they glistened in the sunlight.

“Her Majesty asked you to protect me personally? Will you have to follow me to the toilet?” Ren Baqian laughed. The greatest strength of this commander was her loyalty, but this was also her greatest weakness!

Alright, she fought well too!

However, Xin Zhe knew nothing at all about things outside of the palace.

“No, what Her Majesty meant was for me to follow you! Even when you are eating your meals or sleeping!” she answered straightforwardly. Xin Zhe believed that she fully comprehended the empress’s orders.

Ren Baqian gaped. Even if the empress wanted Xin Zhe to monitor him, wouldn’t it be better if she simply described it as close protection? Why did she have to be so direct?

“Qi Zixiao really cares a lot about this husband of hers!” Li Yuanzhu gently nodded at him and smiled.

He sighed. The empress simply wanted to guard against her!

Oh, women!

Regardless of whether one was an emperor or a commoner, there would definitely be some qualities that were innate and congenital!

However, wasn’t the empress thinking too much? In any case, Li Yuanzhu was the third most powerful expert in the world. How many of these top experts would be as blinded and judgemental as the empress? People these days were judgemental and superficial!

What was the use of being superficial? Would the empress still have to fight it out with her in the end?

Li Yuanzhu was the third most powerful expert in the world. She wasn’t Lin Qiaole, who could be handled with a lollipop, or Lin Yue, who could be handled with melon seeds!

“Let’s go!”

Li Yuanzhu and Gluttonous Duke noticed that the journey from Lan City to the Yun Nation was different from other regions. The surface of the road was very clean. It looked like gravel, but it wasn’t gravel.

They had seen this material in Lan City before, which was presumably called cement.

They didn’t expect Dayao to use this material to pave the road.

“Where is this road paved to?” Li Yuanzhu asked.

“The Yun Nation!”

“What great effort! This road didn’t exist a few years ago!” Gluttonous Duke was speechless.

“The construction process took more than three years. The road is more than 800 kilometers long!” Ren Baqian was also very proud of this road.

This was Dayao’s first official road, but not the last.

“With this road, the travel time can be approximately shortened by half! You guys have worked hard. It seems like the aristocrats in the Yun Nation who ran away don’t need to cause trouble anymore!” Gluttonous Duke added.

Without mentioning Ren Baqian’s nuclear bombs, this road made it so that it would only take about five days to get from Lan City to the Yun Nation at top speed. It would be hard for those aristocrats to cause any trouble.

“Evaluate again when the railroad from Lan City to the Yun Nation is completed. By then, we will be able to send 100,000 soldiers from Lan City to the Yun Nation in just two days!” He pointed in the distance.

The two were dubious. It wasn’t impossible to cover more than 500 kilometers in two days. If one were to ride on the bird that Ren Baqian was riding on, they would be able to cover this distance in just one day.

However, it would be different for 100,000 soldiers. Along with a large number of provisions and weapons, it would already be considered pretty good if they could achieve the speed of an ordinary horse carriage and complete the journey in around 10 days!

Li Yuanzhu and Gluttonous Duke could imagine this even though they hadn’t led soldiers before.

Ren Baqian said that it would only take two days. That would be truly impressive!

“Oh, this road is better than Great Xia’s official roads!” Lin Yue was suddenly surprised after the trio had discussed this and after everyone had traveled for more than half a day.

“It’s really better than the previous road! Our bodies were covered in mud when we traveled on the previous one!” Lin Qiaole nodded. She had followed Ren Baqian to many places and was clear about the situation of those dirt roads.

Lin Yue looked pensive.

She continued looking pensive the next day.

On the third day, she suddenly recalled something and exclaimed, “Your bowl seems to have an odor!”

Ren Baqian immediately facepalmed.

You two have been sharing that bowl for a few days, yet you only realize this now?

“This is called a body scent! That’s what he said!” Lin Qiaole pointed at him.

Lin Yue continued to look pensive.

Li Yuanzhu and Gluttonous Duke had strange looks on their faces. Both of them could see that Lin Qiaole wasn’t very smart, and stupid people couldn’t lie… How could Ren Baqian have said this to her?

It wasn’t uncommon to see a rabbit eating grass by its own burrow. She was indeed daring to be nibbling the grass near Qi Zixiao’s burrow!

Ren Baqian hurriedly replied, “No, I didn’t! Lin Qiaole, when did you learn to frame people?”

“Previously, you said that Her Majesty’s bowl had her body scent when you ate from it!” Lin Qiaole replied confidently as she tried to stop Ren Baqian from denying that it had happened.

He was speechless.

There were 50 guards in the convoy, and all of them were riding good mounts. They caught up with Qin Chuan at the border of the Yun Nation in just four days.

“Sir Qin, we have come to settle some things. Sorry to trouble you!” Ren Baqian cupped his hands.

“Zhao Prince Consort, you aren’t here just to settle things, right?” Qin Chuan cupped his hands in return and gestured at Li Yuanzhu and the others with his head. “Forget it. What you wish to do is not within my control. Her Majesty gave me orders not to let anyone off.”

“This is Her Majesty’s command!” Ren Baqian handed the empress’s letter to Qin Chuan. When he opened it, he felt as if there was a mountain range on the paper and every word was a mountain peak.

This was the empress’s handwriting. All of her essence, qi, and spirit were condensed into her words. Ordinary people would be awed by her words at first glance, but experts could tell the strength of the person who wrote it.

She had also used this method to fool many of Great Xia’s experts back then!

Qin Chuan glanced at the letter, conscientiously folded it, and put it in his pocket. “Sir Ren, I’ll head to Ping City first, rest there for a month, and spend that time collecting information about various sects. After one month, I’ll be sweeping across each and every sect to let them have a taste of my blade!”

“Thank you, Sir Qin!” Ren Baqian smiled.

A month’s time wasn’t long, but it was already considered good at a time like this.

As for the collection of the sects’ information, Qin Chuan merely said this casually. Zi Donglai had probably already checked through all the ancestry of the sects in the Yun Nation.

“I shall wait for the unity of Ping City (TLC. Not sure about this phrase.) in a month’s time!” Ren Baqian cupped his hands.

This was different from what had happened in Tianjing Basin last time. Back in Tianjing Basin, everything was clear. Regardless of which parties were involved, they were directly crushed by force.

This time, there was a culprit hidden behind the scenes. If the same method was used to handle this situation, they probably wouldn’t be able to find out anything even after a month. By then, all the practitioners in the entire Yun Nation would probably have died.

They might as well go separate ways.

Of course, Ren Baqian didn’t expect to keep the whereabouts of his people a secret, but this would allow them to operate more conveniently.

Besides, there was also Li Yuanzhu, Gluttonous Duke, Lin Yue, Lin Qiaole, and Xin Zhe with him. There wouldn’t be any problems regarding his own safety.

“Guys, follow Sir Qin for the time being,” Ren Baqian ordered the guards behind him.