Granny Poison immersed herself in the primordial chaos. Soon, the chaos began to part, scenes emerged, and visions of the future flashed by alternately.
These scenes were chaotic and complex—some showed the future of a certain valley, others the future of unknown mortals. These futures might be tomorrow’s, or perhaps just an hour away.
The massive flow of information impacted Granny Poison’s primordial spirit, causing veins to bulge on her forehead as her temples throbbed painfully.
Finally, after repeated filtering and enduring numerous future scene impacts, she saw the answer she sought.
The vision shattered.
“Puh…”
Granny Poison collapsed sideways onto the soft couch, violently coughing blood.
Her face turned paper-white, blood seeping from her eyes, lips trembling as she let out a despairing wail:
“Heaven abandons the Nine Provinces…”
…
In the imperial bedchamber.
Huai Qing, wrapped in a silk robe, soaked in cool water.
Dusk had passed, and with no palace maids to light candles, the room was dim. She closed her eyes, expression content.
Though without a bronze mirror, she knew her snow-white neck and chest were covered in kiss marks and scratch marks—traces left by a certain half-step Martial God who showed no mercy.
“Huff…”
She exhaled softly, and all marks on her skin vanished, including her reddened buttocks and hips, her body returning to its pristine white delicacy.
After one session of dual cultivation, all the dragon vein qi in her body had transferred to Xu Qi An, including the thick fortune that came with being a nation’s ruler.
Huai Qing wasn’t a Fate Master and couldn’t see national fortune, but she estimated that Great Feng’s fortune was at most one or two-tenths remaining.
The rest had condensed within Xu Qi An.
The three nations of Yan, Kang, and Jing had fallen and been absorbed into the Central Plains territory, becoming part of Great Feng, because their fortune had been completely taken by the Shaman God.
Now Great Feng’s national fortune was rapidly draining away, and shortly, it too would face the disaster of national extinction.
This was karma.
“Those at the end of their rope have nowhere to retreat!” Huai Qing leaned against the bathtub wall, muttering with a sigh.
She was gambling, Great Feng was gambling, and all the transcendent experts of the Central Plains were gambling—betting that Xu Qi An could become a Martial God, kill the Transcendent Rank experts, and resolve the great calamity.
If successful, the lost national fortune could be returned to Great Feng, and the living beings of the Nine Provinces and the imperial court would find life amid death.
If they failed, well, things couldn’t get any worse anyway.
At this moment, the sound of small footsteps came from outside—the returning palace maids.
When Huai Qing had dismissed the palace maids, she had ordered them not to approach the bedchamber for one hour.
Now that time was up, the palace maids naturally returned to attend to Her Majesty.
Huai Qing’s ears twitched, but she didn’t react, continuing to lie in the cool bathtub with half-closed eyes, contemplating the situation.
When the palace maids entered the bedchamber, they first saw Her Majesty’s intimate garments scattered messily on the ground, and the luxurious dragon bed made of purple sandalwood in complete disarray.
Worth mentioning, that martial artists who mastered force control knew how to dissipate force, so no matter how unrestrained they were in bed, the bed frame would remain intact.
If Zhong Li Ru had been present, that would be a different story.
The unknowing palace maids were bewildered—in all their time serving Her Majesty, from princess to emperor, they had never seen her so unkempt and casual.
The head palace maid looked around, ordering maids to clean up the clothes and bedding while softly calling out:
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty?”
At this moment, she heard a maid cleaning the bed let out a soft “Ah,” covering her mouth with an expression of panic and fear.
The head palace maid frowned, glaring in that direction.
That maid pointed at the bed, not daring to speak.
The head palace maid stepped over and looked closely, immediately turning pale.
The messy bedding was one thing, the wet stains everywhere another, but that small spot of red was piercingly eye-catching.
Combined with the surrounding situation, even a fool would understand what had happened.
“We are bathing!”
From the bathroom inside came Huai Qing’s cold yet sensual voice, carrying a hint of languor.
The head palace maid gestured for the maids to continue their tasks, while she herself folded her hands over her belly, head lowered, taking small steps toward the bathroom.
As she walked, her mind raced, guessing who might be the lucky man “favored” by Her Majesty.
To become the head palace maid serving at the Empress’s side required not only absolute loyalty but also wisdom.
She immediately thought of the recent succession issue troubling Her Majesty. With Her Majesty’s personality, how could she possibly hand over the throne to the previous emperor’s offspring?
In the head palace maid’s view, the Empress would eventually take this step.
What struck her as unusual was that Her Majesty was unmarried, with all the young talents in the world waiting for her choice. If she truly favored someone, she could openly bring him into the imperial harem.
This secretive affair without status was not Her Majesty’s style.
Combined with Her Majesty dismissing them… The head palace maid immediately concluded that this man must be someone who couldn’t be revealed.
Which man in the capital would Her Majesty favor yet need to keep hidden?
As a confidante who had served at the Empress’s side for years, she first thought of the current Imperial Son-in-law, Princess Lin An’s husband.
Silver Gong Xu.
This, this, how could Her Majesty do this? How was this different from a father taking his son’s wife, or an elder brother forcing his younger brother’s wife? If word got out, it would shock both the court and the commons. In future histories, she couldn’t escape the infamy of being licentious and dissolute… The head palace maid’s heart raced as she reached the bathtub’s edge. Taking a deep breath, she maintained her composure and said:
“Let this servant massage Your Majesty’s shoulders?”
Huai Qing lazily hummed in agreement, absorbed in her world, analyzing how to proceed with this game of chess that concerned the Nine Provinces.
At this time, a message-bearing eunuch arrived outside the bedchamber, whispering a few words to the palace maid outside.
The palace maid hurried back into the bedchamber, stopping before the yellow silk curtain hanging outside the bathroom, and said softly:
“Your Majesty, the Observer, and Lord Song seek an audience.”
…
Western Regions.
Sitting cross-legged at the border, Shen Shu’s ears twitched as he heard the sound of “waves”—surging waves approaching.
He immediately stood up and with a light leap, shot into the sky like a cannonball.
The spot where he had just been was instantly engulfed by dark red waves of flesh, the wave-like flesh substance missed its target and scattered, covering the ground before collectively surging upward, condensing into a Buddha statue with blurred features.
This Buddha statue’s feet merged with the flesh substance, forming one body with the overwhelming “tide.”
In the western sky, three streaks of light whooshed over, keeping their distance as they watched and waited for an opportunity.
These were the three Bodhisattvas of Buddhism.
While the Buddhist clergy lived well in Arantha, apart from the three Bodhisattvas, the Arhats and Vajras were either dead or had betrayed them, leaving them quite isolated.
After creating distance, Shen Shu calmly reached out, and amidst flowing clear light, a dark iron bow appeared in his hand.
This bow had a cool name—the God-Shooting Bow!
One of the Observer’s works, this bow could transform a martial artist’s qi into arrows, increasing penetration and destructive power. When wielded by a third-rank martial artist, the arrows’ power could increase by half a rank.
Although this bow couldn’t increase a half-step Martial God’s power by half a rank, it was still more powerful than Shen Shu casually throwing a punch.
The Observer had a small treasury in the Bureau of Astronomy, storing magical tools he created on whims. The Chaos-Command Hammer was also one of the treasury’s collections.
Now that the Observer was gone—no, sealed—and Chu Cai Wei advocated non-interference, the Observer’s collections had become things for Xu Qi An to use freely.
This bow was borrowed from him by Shen Shu.
Shen Shu slowly drew the bowstring, qi bursting from his fingertips to form an arrow nocked on the string. The arrowhead generated a vortex, distorting the air.
A paper page slowly burned, transforming into clear light that condensed within the arrow.
That Buddha statue stood motionless, eight great dharma bodies appearing in succession behind it. The Great Compassion dharma body chanted sutras as Buddhist light descended from the sky with world-saving Sanskrit sounds.
Bang!
The arrow turned into a streaking light, and in the next moment, struck Bodhisattva Guangxian. The young monk’s upper body immediately exploded into a blood mist.
…
Lying in the bathtub, Huai Qing opened her eyes, unconsciously frowning as she said indifferently:
“Have them wait in the imperial study.”
After dismissing the palace maid, she patted the head palace maid’s hand on her shoulder, “Ya’er, help Us dress.”
Huai Qing quickly donned her regular clothes, secured her hair with a golden crown, and led the head palace maid Ya’er from the bedchamber toward the imperial study.
The imperial study blazed with candlelight. Huai Qing entered from the inner side and swept her gaze around. Besides the yellow-dressed young woman Chu Cai Wei and the time management master Song Qing, there was also the haggard-looking Granny Poison.
“Why has Granny come to the capital?”
Huai Qing examined Granny Poison’s complexion and turned to instruct Ya’er:
“Go fetch some nourishing pills.”
She sensed something might be wrong.
Granny Poison waved her hand, speaking rather anxiously:
“No need to trouble yourself, Your Majesty. Where is Silver Gong Xu?”
“He went to Lei Province.” Huai Qing said: “Granny can speak directly to Us about any matter.”
“What use is telling you!”
Hearing that Xu Qi An had gone to Lei Province, Granny Poison’s tone grew more urgent. Disregarding that she was addressing the Great Feng Emperor, she pressed:
“Quickly send a messenger bird to call him back to the capital. This old woman has an extremely urgent matter to tell Silver Gong Xu.”