Chapter 22: Twenty-Two Cuts "Consort Ya and the Cruel Imperial Physician"...
Soon after, a number of comments gathered below the new message posted by Guard Bao.
[Little Guard Number One: Is that even possible?]
[Second Guard: This is truly an insult to royal dignity.]
[Passing palace maid #1: Oh my god, I knew their friendship was fake! They were even pretending to be good friends and eating fish head tofu stew together tonight, but it was all an act!]
[Second palace maid passing by: This matter must be reported, otherwise they will throw the entire harem into chaos.]
Luo Mingshu only saw this new message after arguing with Xie Changming. She glanced at the comments and suddenly had a bad feeling... All the characters generated in this exploration scene were more or less imbued with some of the will of the Misty Star Sea. Now they were making such comments. If it escalated and she and Consort Gao were really expelled from the palace, this journey to the Misty Star Sea would come to an end.
So that's how this exploration scenario works! They really are using the propaganda war tactic!
Luo Mingshu sighed inwardly at the decline of morality, noting that everyone was now harboring malicious intentions.
Of course, she was not afraid to engage in online arguments. So, Luo Mingshu quickly seized on a conversation between Guard Bao and Consort Neng not long ago and fabricated a story about a concubine having an affair.
But just as she was about to send the message, the jade token in her hand suddenly went dark. A maid came in, bowed to Luo Mingshu, and said, "Your Highness, your time in the palace is over for today."
Luo Mingshu: "?" How could it be like this?
"To prevent people in Yingtian Palace from becoming addicted to the Palace Network, the time everyone spends using the Palace Network is limited. We hope Your Highness understands," the maid explained.
Of course, the moment the jade tablet went dark, Shui Qingnian in the Imperial Hospital also realized something. The time she spent on the Palace Network, two hours, was exactly the same as the time limit she had for accessing the Youth Green Version of the Spirit Network when she was in the Demon Realm.
It seems that every detail in this exploration scene is closely related to them.
Helpless, Luo Mingshu could only lie back down on the bed. Tomorrow she still had to go to the Empress's palace to carry out her seduction plan.
She hoped that tomorrow would come as soon as possible so that she could access the palace website sooner.
The next morning at dawn, after Luo Mingshu finished dressing, she asked her maid in front of the mirror, "Where does our Empress reside?"
"Her Majesty the Empress resides in the Forbidden City," the maidservant pointed out. "However, Her Majesty the Empress lives deep within the palace and rarely goes out. If you, Consort Mei, were to request an audience, she might not be able to see you."
Luo Mingshu said confidently, "It's alright, as long as I go, she will definitely see me."
She felt that the empress would certainly not refuse a beauty like her.
Luo Mingshu set off on her tortoise, while Xie Changming began searching for a way to kill the Chaos Emperor. Their division of labor was quite scientific, putting them ahead of schedule from the very beginning.
The other teams are only just now encountering each other.
"Consort, the cruel imperial physician is requesting an audience outside the palace," a cold, mechanical voice reported to Lu Yaoyao. (Small. Piano. Organizing.)
Lu Yaoyao adjusted the hairpin at her temple and said with a smile, "Let him in."
She was fantasizing that her teammate would be a powerful Nascent Soul cultivator, and the cool imperial physician... just by hearing the name, you could tell that the owner of the name was steady and reliable.
Not long after, a female imperial physician, even more arrogant than the concubines in the harem, walked in.
Shui Qingnian tossed the medicine box off her shoulder, not even glancing at Lu Yaoyao, and walked straight to the center of the main room, where she sat in the main seat.
Lu Yaoyao was shocked: "You cruel imperial physician, why don't you bow to me?"
Shui Qingnian glanced at Lu Yaoyao and sneered, "You think you're worthy?"
When Lu Yaoyao saw her face, she was shocked. This person looked seven parts like Shui Qingsi. Was she also a member of the Demon Realm royal family?
"Cool Doctor, we're teammates." Lu Yaoyao was still thinking about her jade bracelet. "Could you help me find my lost jade bracelet?"
"Who cares about your jade bracelet? Hurry up and find a way to kill the emperor and marry the empress," Shui Qingnian ordered Lu Yaoyao after taking a sip of tea.
“But…but…” Lu Yaoyao began to talk nonsense with Shui Qing, her eyes filled with her greatest weapon—tears. “That jade bracelet is very important to me. Without it, I might not be able to help you pass this exploration scene.”
"Then you'd better get lost." Shui Qingnian waved her hand.
However, Lu Yaoyao was no ordinary person. She quickly got into character, immediately wiped away her tears, slammed her hand on the table, stood up and scolded, "Shut up! How dare you say such things to my Consort Ya? You are nothing but a lowly imperial physician."
Shui Qingnian was shocked. She hadn't expected this to happen. But soon, the people from Consort Ya's palace surrounded her, looking ready to teach her a lesson at any moment. If she didn't stick to her character now, she would be expelled from the palace, ending her exploration journey, and her cause of death would be betrayal by her teammates.
"I'll look for them then," Shui Qingnian said through gritted teeth.
"I knew Doctor Ku was the best to me," Lu Yaoyao said affectionately as she snuggled up to him.
Shui Qingnian: "..." Someone please come quick and save me.
At this moment, Luo Mingshu had arrived outside the Ziluan Palace where the Empress was located. She jumped off the tortoise, and the palace servants waiting outside the Ziluan Palace were very helpful. They took the tortoise aside and served it well.
However, Luo Mingshu was stopped outside the courtyard where the Empress resided.
"Your Highness, the Empress does not easily meet with people," a palace maid said to her, bowing her head.
"Can't I even come?" Luo Mingshu said confidently, tucking the curls of hair behind her ear, her voice clear and crisp.
"Even the emperor can't come," the palace attendant explained.
Luo Mingshu: "?" Then why would the emperor marry her?
"How can I get in?" Luo Mingshu asked.
"Your Highness, may you tell us what kind of Empress you envision?" The palace attendant gave her a chance.
Luo Mingshu recalled the setting of this exploration realm, frowned, and tried to say something against her will: "Heavens... the most beautiful woman in the world."
"Your Highness is right, please come in." The palace servant was clearly satisfied with Luo Mingshu's answer.
Luo Mingshu was lying, because in her heart, the most beautiful woman in the world was only herself.
Of course, after an incense stick had burned and she saw the Empress's true face, she regretted having such a thought.
Luo Mingshu entered the hall, which was surrounded by soft gauze and beaded curtains, creating a quiet and mysterious atmosphere. The Empress sat behind her, her slender figure silhouetted against the light gauze, giving her a somewhat veiled appearance.
"Your Majesty, the beautiful concubine misses you so much." Luo Mingshu quickly put on her role, expressing her admiration and longing for the Empress.
She stepped forward and lifted the soft veil. Behind the clattering beaded curtain was a face of breathtaking beauty, with phoenix eyes, a pert nose, and thin lips. Her features were exquisitely beautiful, but this face was all too familiar…
Isn't that just like her?
Luo Mingshu stared wide-eyed at the Empress who was smiling at her. She was stunned for the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn before she lifted her skirt and jumped out of the courtyard.
She gave the middle finger to the sky and protested loudly, "Misty Starry Sea, don't you have any creativity? Don't you have your own aesthetic sense, your own creativity, your own ideas? Haven't you ever seen a woman in your life who couldn't imagine what the most beautiful woman in the world looks like? You plagiarized my face, did you pay the copyright fee?"
Apart from a few claps of thunder, there was no further response from the sky to Luo Mingshu.
Luo Mingshu resigned herself to her fate. She returned to the palace where the Empress resided. The Empress was still smiling, quietly watching her, with a rather elegant and dignified air.
At this moment, her sharp eyes noticed a jade bracelet on the Empress's arm. The pattern on it was extremely familiar, just like the jade bracelet that Lu Yaoyao had once coveted.
Whether it was the same jade bracelet or another one with the same pattern, Luo Mingshu didn't know, but she knew that the existence of this jade bracelet might be because of her own inner desires.
From the moment she first saw Lu Yaoyao's jade bracelet, she became very interested in it. Up until now, there was almost nothing she wanted that she couldn't have, so the more she couldn't deceive anyone, the more she wanted it, to the point that this desire was also sensed by the Misty Star Sea.
Having obtained the Empress, Luo Mingshu also obtained the jade bracelet. She suddenly raised her head and looked into her own beautiful face.
"Your Majesty the Empress." Luo Mingshu leaned closer, intending to touch the jade bracelet herself first.
She reached out her hand: "May I touch your jade bracelet?"
As a result, these words seemed to have triggered some kind of switch, and before Luo Mingshu could finish speaking, her lips were pressed down by the Empress's slender fingers.
"No, you can't." The Empress finally spoke her first words, leaning forward to get very close to Luo Mingshu.
Luo Mingshu was naturally very satisfied with her face, so when her own face came closer, she couldn't help but hold her breath.
The Queen's soft laughter drifted over, her curls brushing against Luo Mingshu's cheek as she whispered seductively in her ear, "You must win me first before you can get what you want."
Luo Mingshu pursed her lips, then suddenly stood up straight and said righteously, "Your Majesty, please don't do this. You are wearing my face now, and I will not allow you to touch other people indiscriminately."
She raised her hand and lifted the Empress's chin with one hand, looking directly into her eyes. Although both she and the Empress had exquisitely beautiful eyes, her eyes were noticeably more radiant, brimming with a lovely, dark purple light.
"Listen, even if you are the Misty Star Sea, if you dare to hug and kiss someone else with my face on your back, I will find a way to tear down your Misty Star Sea," Luo Mingshu threatened.
The Empress chuckled softly, withdrew her hand, and the jade bracelet on her wrist rippled with pure emerald green. She then maintained a slight distance from Luo Mingshu.
However, an angry male voice rang out from outside the palace: "Consort Mei, what do you intend to do to my mother?"
Luo Mingshu: "?" When the hell did I get a son?
Outside the palace, Consort Neng rushed in, glaring at Luo Mingshu: "How dare you harm my mother? Although I know this is the Empress's illusion, I will not allow you to disrespect the elderly!"
Luo Mingshu was stunned for a moment. She finally realized that this "Empress" did not have a fixed image. Instead, it was generated based on her own impression of the Empress. She thought the Empress was the most beautiful woman in the world, so the Empress became her own image. As for Consort Neng, the Empress was probably the most important person in his heart.
This empress was actually just a chaotic mess, just like the emperor. It was only through the eyes of these explorers that she was given an image, and desires, longings, and perceptions shaped her into the image of an empress.
This is the essence of the Misty Star Sea, a perfect fantasy world created for cultivators—no wonder some cultivators get lost here. The deeper you go, the more realistic the small world created by the Misty Star Sea becomes; in a moment of distraction, you will be captured by this sweet net.
Luo Mingshu took a half step back, glanced at the Empress who resembled her, and said to Consort Neng, "Anyway, the Empress will be mine in the future, so it won't matter if I touch her now."
Upon hearing this, Consort Neng sneered and said, "Are you so confident that you can defeat us?"
"Do you even need to ask this question?" Luo Mingshu straightened her clothes. "From the moment I arrived in this exploration scene, you were all destined to be just there to make up the numbers."
"With such poor relationships within your team, cooperation is the most important thing in the Misty Star Sea," Neng Fei retorted, not to be outdone.
But Luo Mingshu was never one to mince words. She feigned surprise and raised her voice slightly, saying, "What?! You're so familiar with the rules of the Misty Star Sea, why are you still exploring the outermost layer? No way, no way, you haven't been able to win even once, that's why you've been stuck in the low-level game?"
It seemed that Consort Neng had been touched on a sore spot. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, wanting to say something in rebuttal, but he didn't have a good reason.
"You should go back, wash up, and go to bed," Luo Mingshu waved at him.
Just as the two were putting on a "palace intrigue" in front of the Empress, a palace maid's voice came from outside the hall: "Consort Ya has come to visit Her Majesty the Empress with the cruel imperial physician."
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