The Empress’s Gigolo

Ren Baqian sported a faint smile because he was pleasantly surprised by the unsolicited gift.

However, this smile was interpreted differently by Qing Lian, who thought that given his status, he must be thinking that such a gift was of no interest to him.

At first, Qing Lian was only thinking of giving him some precious herbs since every sword master kept some precious herbs that they happened to find but didn’t need in order to trade with others.

However, considering his status and the fact that the Sixty Thousand Mountains were in Dayao, these herbs weren’t presentable.

If her offer was rejected, it would be troublesome to ask again.

Although she only heard a few sentences from outside, she felt that hearing that section of the lecture, “Energy can’t be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed from one state to another or transferred from one object to another. The total amount of energy remains unchanged in the process of transformation and transfer” was already enough to make her trip worthwhile.

There were various types of cultivation methods in this world, but few of them were useful to a sword master. Plus, his remarks pointed directly to the fundamentals, which made her understand many things as a result and got her interested in the other things that Ren Baqian mentioned.

After considering the pros and cons, she gritted her teeth and said, “I have ‘The Ancient Scroll of Methods!’ Its origins are unclear, and I only know that it’s from a past era. There are three scrolls in total. The first one is about cultivation techniques, the second one is about nourishing the spirit, and the last one is about martial arts techniques. The basics of cultivation are in the first scroll, the method of nourishing the spirit so as to strengthen the mind is explained in the second scroll, and unlocking the Heaven and Earth Region can only be achieved with a mind that is strong enough.”

“Unlocking the Heaven and Earth Region?” Ren Baqian tried to search his memory, but he had never heard of this before.

“You don’t know? How do you not know?” Unexpectedly, she was more surprised by Ren Baqian’s reaction than her own reaction to his lesson from earlier.

How was it possible for a person who knew the fundamental principles not to know about unlocking the Heaven and Earth Region?

Ren Baqian was of the opinion that it wasn’t imperative to know about this.

Qing Lian looked at Ren Baqian as if he was a strange animal for quite a while, rolled her eyes many times, and almost opened her mouth a few times to say that she wanted to change her gift to one stalk of xueke for the school fee. However, she had already offered “The Ancient Scroll of Methods.” If she changed her offer now, it would look insincere.

She sighed silently and didn’t know whether this was a worthwhile exchange.

Luckily for her, although this scroll had great value, it wasn’t of much use to her. Furthermore, she had read it many times, so giving it away was no big deal. Experts would find it useful, but what she wanted was something that no ordinary experts could give her.

Hence, she could just keep it as a potential bargaining chip or maybe hold on to it for life.

In the current situation, she might as well make an exchange with it.

As long as the stuff offered by the other side was of value to her, it would be considered worthwhile.

Seeing it this way, she felt more comfortable.

“The cultivation of an expert is actually the process of perfecting oneself. Man Wheel is the foundation, whereas Earth Wheel is to develop the whole body thoroughly. By overcoming all hindrances, the body can be used to eventually interact with the entire world. As for Spirit Wheel, it’s used to cultivate the mind, to quench it, and to interact with the entire world. However, right now, the mind is the mind and the body is the body. The ‘Heaven’ in the Heaven and Earth Region points to the mind, whereas the ‘Earth’ points to the body. Unlocking the Heaven and Earth Region is to break through the barrier between the body and the mind, fusing the body and mind together and eventually letting one reach the state of unlocking the region,” Qing Lian explained.

She continued, “‘The Ancient Scroll of Methods’ teaches the cultivation of the mind in order to condense the mind and strengthen it. It’s a pity that the first scroll is missing, otherwise, an Earth Wheel expert could use it for cultivation. When they reach the Earth Embryo Realm, they could directly cross over to the Celestial Path and achieve the Spirit Wheel level without putting in extra effort. Even so, ‘The Ancient Scroll of Methods’ has a more enhanced method of nourishing the mind compared to most other methods.”

Qing Lian felt a little regretful. If she had the first scroll, ‘The Ancient Scroll of Methods’ would be 10 or 100 times more valuable.

Ren Baqian looked as if he was lost in thought. If this Heaven and Earth Region was the region above the mind, it was something he never knew about before. As for “The Ancient Scroll of Methods,” he could use it for reference later on.

As for whether the “The Ancient Scroll of Methods” could be used directly, it was a moot point. However, there were only two books in Qingxin Palace Hall that pertained to mental training methods. This showed the rarity of such training methods.

Furthermore, these two books were used to cultivate Heaven-grade weapons.

Apart from cultivating Heaven-grade weapons, “The Ancient Scroll of Methods” also described how to strengthen the mind effectively. As such, its value was definitely not low.

“This scroll is kept in Great Xia and will take about half a month to be delivered here,” Qing Lian added.

“The scroll doesn’t really matter. It’s gratifying to see your devotion to learning. You can come tomorrow to attend class.” Ren Baqian nodded.

Then, he said in a solemn manner, “Knowledge knows no boundary.”

This provincial counterpart assumed that he was letting her attend his lessons because of the ancient scroll. As a volunteer teacher in a rural area, how was it possible for him to be so business-minded?

However, he felt a little curious—a person who possessed such an ancient scroll was definitely not an ordinary person or simply a messenger. This lady should be someone exceptional, and he wondered why she had come to Lan City as well as what her motive was.

Qing Lian was taken aback by Ren Baqian’s words that “knowledge knows no boundary.” To be able to say such words, he was more farsighted and open-minded than those Confucian scholars she had met.

I have misunderstood him all this time, and he isn’t as bad as I thought. As Qing Lian reflected, her impression of this gigolo improved greatly.

Qing Lian cupped her hands and said, “Thank you, Principal Ren. I will take my leave now.”

After Qing Lian left, Ren Baqian sat down for a while before heading to the palace. Upon arrival, he saw the empress using a pair of shears to cut some candies from the tree.

Of the candy that he had put up the day before, one-fifth of it was gone. The floor was littered with candy, but the empress didn’t show any intention to stop cutting.

“Where is the wine pool that you promised me?” the empress turned and asked Ren Baqian after hearing his footsteps.

“I was criticized by those senior ministers for installing the lamp posts. If I install a wine pool, I will be impeached by them!” Ren Baqian raised his hand in protest.

“Impeach? What impeachment? Who dares to do that?” The empress raised her eyebrows and sneered.

“Tomorrow, I will find out what fruits are in season and brew some wine for Your Majesty,” Ren Baqian said.

“Oh!” The empress immediately changed her expression for the better, relaxed her eyebrows, and looked appreciative.

Ren Baqian updated the empress about the recent incident, but the empress was indifferent.

“I can’t be bothered with these problems. If you can’t find the required manuals, I will snatch them for you.” To the empress, any problem that could be solved with force wasn’t a problem.

“Your Majesty, as the head of an empire, you can’t always rob from others! It’s detrimental to your reputation!” Ren Baqian said.

“You don’t appreciate my good intentions,” the empress muttered softly. Since, her good intentions were not appreciated by this ungrateful guy, she became unhappy.

“I should use the word borrow instead of rob?” Ren Baqian tried to rephrase it.

Then, he imitated the voice of the empress and said coldly, “The empress is here to rob. Give me all your gold, jewelry, and secret manuals!”

After that, he changed his tune and said, “Give me all your gold, jewelry, and secret manuals for me to borrow. I will take back and appreciate everything.”

“Your Majesty, which one do you feel is more suitable?” Ren Baqan asked.

The guards in the vicinity instantly looked at Ren Baqian and held him in high regard. He was indeed worthy of his position.

“Don’t talk about which is more suitable! Your voice is very irritating!” The empress lifted Ren Baqian up with one hand and prepared to throw him.

“Your Majesty, these are all minor details! That’s not the main point!” Ren Baqian sensed danger and hastily tried to justify his words.

“What I care about are the minor details.” The empress didn’t listen to his explanation and threw him on top of the candy tree like a sandbag. A bunch of candy fell down, causing the empress to beam with delight.

This was much easier than using shears to cut the candy down.