Chapter 20

Chapter 20: The Female Emperor's Test, "The King Of Heaven Covers The Earth Tiger"! The Mystery Of Transmigrators!

【The following day. During morning court in Great Qian, Wang Er-he brought a memorial he had written through the night, tearfully denouncing you before the entire assembly. He even had Wang Rong—swathed head to toe in cotton wrappings—carried into the great hall.】

【The scene was one that would move even stone to grief.】

【After morning court, you once again became the talk of Capital City, and many people cursed you as worse than livestock.】

【The common folk, however, were delighted to watch you noble scions bite each other like dogs fighting over a mouthful of fur.】

【On the 3rd day, the Qian Emperor, seeing public sentiment inflamed, had no choice but to issue an imperial edict confining you to Guardian King's Manor for half a year.】

【You cursed Wang Er-he inwardly for being so petty.】

【It wasn't as if Wang Rong was his only son—what was wrong with giving the boy a beating?】

【Besides, you were helping his son turn over a new leaf. What was bad about that?】

【Who could have expected the old codger not only to feel no gratitude, but to go and file an imperial complaint against you?】

【Having you confined for half a year was quite an obstacle to your search for Tags.】

【Sooner or later, you would give that old codger Wang Er-he a beating as well!】

【You made a circuit of the Manor to see if there were any suitable Tags.】

【In your previous Simulation, you had already searched the Manor once and ultimately found only a single Born With Brute Strength.】

【Unsurprisingly, this time you found nothing satisfying either.】

【However, on Guard Commander Dian Cheng-feng's person, you discovered a blue Tag: Blood Fiend Physique.】

【Blood Fiend Physique (3-Star Blue): Born attuned to the Way of the Blood Fiend—cultivating Blood Fiend–type arts grants 10 times the efficiency of ordinary practitioners!】

【It had to be admitted that this was indeed a powerful Tag; Dian Cheng-feng had most likely relied on it to condense his Blood Tiger Dharma Form.】

【But you still had no interest in it whatsoever.】

【First, its potential was too low—only 3 stars—meaning its ceiling had already been reached.】

【Second, it conflicted with your Extreme Yang Physique. Your Extreme Yang Physique carried 5-star potential, its prospects far brighter than Blood Fiend Physique, and it was the most compatible of all with the Golden Crow World-Illuminating Scripture.】

【Third—and most crucially—】

【You were looking for a Tag that could save your life, because only by living longer could you accumulate more power across Simulations.】

【If each Simulation could only keep you alive for 3 years, that would be far too costly for you.】

【Blood Fiend Physique was completely useless for staying alive.】

【You would never spare it even a moment's thought.】

【It seemed that finding a satisfying Tag would have to wait until after the half-year confinement.】

【For now, you planned to quietly cultivate inside the Manor for the next 6 months.】

【Unexpectedly, however, before you had cultivated for more than a few days, Xiao Yue-huang came calling.】

【Unlike in your previous Simulation, this time you could actually see 3 Tags marked with golden question marks and 1 Tag marked with an orange question mark on her!】

【What the hell was this?!】

【Surely those weren't 3 golden Tags and 1 orange Tag?】

【The Simulator had once said that Xiao Yue-huang would become a terrifying Female Emperor who dominates all creation.】

【You thought that was entirely possible!】

【3 golden Tags, 1 orange Tag—the envy practically made your mouth water.】

【Unfortunately, your Tag Plunderer was still too low-level to make out even the specific details; you could only feast your eyes on them.】

【Xiao Yue-huang arrived looking as haughty as ever, like a proud phoenix.】

【Noticing you staring at her fixedly, her expression gained 3 parts contempt.】

【She looked down at you from on high and ordered you to dismiss everyone else present.】

【That made you furious at once—this was your home. Who was she to give you orders?】

【Xiao Yue-huang said nothing more. She simply extended one slender leg from beneath her skirt—and on it she was wearing… black stockings!】

【You hastily waved away the servants and guards. Such a fine thing deserved to be enjoyed by you alone!】

【At the same time, a question nagged at you: how did Xiao Yue-huang come to possess something from the 21st century?】

【Could she also be a Transmigrator?】

【It was not impossible.】

【The Primordial Realm Group had female Transmigrators too—for instance, the one called "You Luo."】

【But if she were a Transmigrator, why would she deliberately expose herself to you?】

【Xiao Yue-huang drew close, a fragrant breeze washing over you. Her expression turned seductive as she asked, "Do you know what this is?"】

【"Black……"】

Could she be testing you?

【Your heart lurched. You had been about to say "black stockings," but hastily corrected yourself: "Black… black silk trousers?"】

【A flicker of disappointment crossed Xiao Yue-huang's eyes, but she was not yet ready to give up. She lifted her hem a little higher and said softly, "Think more carefully."】

【You hurriedly pinched your nose to hold back the nosebleed, and said in a stifled voice: "Aren't they just black silk trousers?"】

【"Look at me!"】

【Xiao Yue-huang's beautiful eyes suddenly erupted with a powerful, irresistible pull, as though they meant to draw your very soul inside. Her voice was laden with enticement: "Tell me—what is the second line after 'The King Of Heaven Covers The Earth Tiger'?"】

【It was obvious she had used some spiritual art like Soul Capture on you!】

【You stared blankly and said, "Little chicken… is dancing?"】

【"The second line after 'Even changes, odd stays the same'!"】

【You blanked out: "5 fingers… Sword Palm Fist?"】

【Xiao Yue-huang was thoroughly disappointed. She questioned you 3 times, and you failed to answer correctly even once.】

Creak!

【Just as she was about to press on with more questions, Dian Cheng-feng suddenly pushed the door open and stepped in, snorting coldly: "For the Ninth Imperial Princess to use Soul Capture on her own betrothed—if word got out, would that not invite ridicule?"】

【Xiao Yue-huang's expression did not change. She gave an easy smile and said she had merely wanted to see whether you had only her in your heart.】

【Then Xiao Yue-huang dispelled the Soul Capture Art and departed from Guardian King's Manor.】

【You watched her retreating figure, still shaken.】

【Fortunately, your Golden Crow World-Illuminating Scripture was a Sacred Grade art and possessed powerful resistance to spiritual illusions. And Xiao Yue-huang, fearing she might reduce you to an idiot and have no way to account for it to Zhao Shi-zhong, had not deployed the full force of her Soul Capture Art.】

【Otherwise, your identity as a Transmigrator might truly have been exposed today.】

【You were now certain: Xiao Yue-huang was absolutely not a Transmigrator.】

【If she were, there would be no need for such methods.】

【The mysterious figure who had placed a curse on you one night a few days earlier was almost certainly Xiao Yue-huang.】

【She had been humiliated by your letter and sought revenge, only to accidentally discover that you were an Innate Realm martial artist—so she came today to probe your identity.】

【But how did she come to know things that only a Transmigrator would know?】

【You suspected that Great Qian's imperial family must have gathered this information from other Transmigrators who had come before.】

【There were precious few Transmigrators with iron resolve; put them on the rack, and they would tell you everything.】

【Which only made things harder for later arrivals like you.】

【Fortunately, your will was unshakeable—otherwise today could have ended in disaster.】

【Still, you were deeply puzzled: why did the Primordial Realm target Transmigrators so specifically?】

【You carried the memories of your previous Simulation, and you had long since learned from the Chat Group that "Transmigrator" did not refer to visitors from other realms—it referred specifically to people like yourselves who had come from the Earth Star Chat Group.】

【The Primordial Realm, as a Great Thousand World, was the "Upper Realm" of countless small and medium worlds.】

【It was naturally connected to many worlds and received vast numbers of ascenders and visitors from other realms.】

【Yet it singled out and hunted only those of you from the Earth Star Chat Group.】

【Was there something wrong with the Earth Star itself, or was there something wrong with the people in your Chat Group?】

【Or had some Transmigrator predecessor done something in the Primordial Realm so outrageous as to bring down heaven's wrath upon them all?】