Chapter 77 Seventy-Seven Cuts: "Former System Host Discovered"...
"Should we stop bothering them now?" Luo Mingshu took a half step back at the door.
Xie Changming also tried to run away, but Wen Yu spotted him in time.
"Hey, hey, little guard, don't go!" Wen Yu was very dedicated; he remembered that he was the only imperial physician in the Imperial Hospital, while Xie Changming was an unknown little guard.
"This ruthless concubine has a mental problem. Please send her back to the palace." Wen Yu didn't know what Shui Qingnian looked like, so he was particularly ruthless at this moment.
"Okay." Xie Changming planned to drag Shui Qingnian away, thus helping to break up the couple.
Shui Qing, growing impatient, asked Wen Yu directly, "Do you know Feng Xin Suo Ai (183 cm tall)?"
Wen Yu's pupils dilated in shock: "You know me? Which of my Spirit Network friends are you?"
Shui Qingnian: "???" Is this really me? ???
Her pupils dilated in shock: "You look like this?"
"Isn't he handsome?" Wen Yu didn't know who Shui Qingnian was, so he said narcissistically.
Wen Yu was not bad-looking, but he was completely different from the elegant and gentle Suo Ai in Shui Qingnian's mind. She stood there, stunned, as if struck by lightning.
"You...you dare to lie to me?" Shui Qingnian shouted.
Xie Changming wisely left; he couldn't stay in the Imperial Hospital for even the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Luo Mingshu watched the drama with great interest: "Do you think Wen Yu anticipated this outcome from the beginning?"
"I don't know." Xie Changming also started to watch the drama unfold.
Shui Qingnian and Wen Yu continued to pull and tug at each other.
“What did I lie to you about? I never lie on the Spirit Network—” Wen Yu paused, because he had awakened a special memory.
It was a rainy night when a human girl he met on the Spirit Network sent him a message.
[The ultra-cool princess: It's raining.]
[The ultra-cool princess: The sorrow of falling rain has given birth to new buds, and all hope sprouts in the haze.]
She has this kind of artistic young woman vibe on the spiritual website.
[The ultra-cool princess: Ah Suo, have your roses bloomed yet?]
Wen Yu didn't plant any flowers at all; he just cracked open the head of one of his challengers today.
So he replied confidently.
[Sealed Heart and Locked Love (Height 183cm): It's open.]
[The ultra-cool princess: The person I like should be as elegant as you, even a little frail, like a flower stem that can be easily broken.]
Wen Yu: "..." She's so artistic and gentle, I love her so much.
Driven by vanity, he took a picture of himself leaning against the railing in the rain, using the dim light of the rainy night. Of course, he also made some reasonable artistic adjustments to the image.
He successfully won Shui Qingnian's heart, and that remained his image in her mind afterward.
That's roughly how it happened. Wen Yu's cultivation was not bad; at least he had the strength after ascending to immortality. From the moment he saw Shui Qingnian, he knew she was a demon.
So, after a long silence, he thought of the "human" girl he had fallen in love with.
Who can tell him that this gentle and lovely human girl has turned into a demon? And her original form seems to be a silver dragon! The silver dragon of the demon kingdom! Someone save him, Your Majesty!
Wen Yu searched helplessly for Xie Changming, but Xie Changming had already quickly hidden away with Luo Mingshu.
"You're lying to me?!" the two said in unison.
Having mentally prepared herself for the Misty Star Sea, Shui Qingnian remained somewhat calm.
After careful consideration, Wen Yu realized that the demon race wasn't a big deal, so he calmed down.
The two stared at each other, still unable to accept Wen Yu's appearance, until Shui Qingnian shouted, "I'm going to tell my father, and he'll expose you, you demon... Humph..."
She was so angry that she ran out of the Imperial Hospital.
"Why are you doing this to a demon like me?" Wen Yu pointed to his nose, completely baffled.
Luo Mingshu swore that this was the best performance she had seen all day.
She quickly followed Shui Qingnian and watched her return to the palace.
A palace maid in Shui Qingnian's palace said to her, "Your Highness, you met a handsome imperial physician in the Imperial Hospital. He seems to admire you. If you had the chance, would you give up the riches and honors in Yingtian Palace and leave with him to wander the world?"
To officially enter the side quest of winning over the imperial physician and eloping with him, you must make a decision here.
Shui Qingnian rolled her eyes: "Can Yingtian Palace be called a place of wealth and honor? I don't want to stay in this lousy place for even a day longer."
"Alright, Your Highness, I shed tears for your sincere love." The palace maid wiped away non-existent tears of emotion from her face. "Next, I will help you leave here. First of all, your attire at the Empress's birthday banquet should not be too outstanding. Please consider your outfit carefully when you attend."
Upon seeing this, Luo Mingshu thought of Fan Qing, the person she was closely monitoring, and wondered if she had done anything wrong.
She turned back and ran towards Fan Qing; she was quite tired every day.
As a result, as soon as she and Xie Changming arrived at Fan Qing's place, she saw Fan Qing trying on a light blue petal dress.
Fan Qing has completely integrated into the system. Because the system was frightened by Xie Changming last time, it has been pretending to be dead, and he doesn't dare to come out and remind Fan Qing.
As for Fan Qing, she had finally managed to get the system to pay the 5 billion spirit stones penalty for breach of contract. Now, the spirit stones in her account were pitifully few, most of which were provided by the system. In order to bring down Luo Mingshu, this newly appointed system was quite generous.
“How could she…” Luo Mingshu turned to look at Xie Changming, “Could it be that I am the legendary operations genius?”
"You are." Xie Changming naturally seized every opportunity to praise Luo Mingshu.
The dormant system was unaware that Fan Qing was spending the spirit stones from his inventory, meant for dealing with Luo Mingshu, to send money to Luo Mingshu. Fan Qing didn't seem to care about spending other people's money.
She dressed up in expensive costumes and went to the Empress's birthday banquet looking beautiful. As expected, she caught the Emperor's eye at the banquet.
Since all those attending the Empress's birthday banquet were cultivators, Fan Qing had no opportunity to cause trouble.
Luo Mingshu mingled in the crowd, watching the cultivators who came to experience the event enter one after another. They had all spent money to some extent. Among them, Xu Qian and Meng Weifang were the best at managing their money. Looking at their current progress, who would have imagined that they only bought a monthly card?
When Shui Qingsi and Shui Qingnian met at the birthday banquet, Shui Qingsi was startled by Shui Qingnian's ordinary attire. She took Shui Qingnian's hand and led her to a corner, whispering, "Sister, are you out of spirit stones to recharge? I actually have some more here. If you want..."
"I have other tasks." Shui Qingnian refused. The plain coarse cloth shirt she was wearing was also bought with real money. In this luxurious Yingtian Palace, the rougher the decoration, the more expensive it was.
She doesn't need to cultivate favorability with anyone here; she only needs to win over the Imperial Physician Wen Yu in the Imperial Hospital.
"Sister, what kind of mission is this?" Shui Qingsi asked innocently. "Can I come?"
“Children shouldn’t come here,” Shui Qingnian said.
Shui Qingsi: "?" I'm two hundred years old too.
"You play by yourself. I'm going to eat something and then go to the Imperial Hospital to recover," Shui Qingnian said to Shui Qingsi.
Shui Qing thought for a moment and responded. In the days that had passed, she had also figured out the ways of Yingtian Palace and how to dress appropriately when going out.
Many cultivators had arrived, and in the end, only the Noble Consort, whose status was almost as high as that of the Empress, remained.
"It's Consort Ya!" a palace maid exclaimed. "It really is her. She's the only one who dares to be late for such an occasion, as she enjoys the Emperor's favor."
Lu Yaoyao arrived late with her system. Considering that there were still many demon cultivators in Yingtian Palace, she hid the jade bracelet early on.
If Fan Qing's system were present at this moment, it would definitely remind her that the previous system and its host had arrived, and that she should find a way to eliminate them.
However, Fan Qing's system had been dormant for a long time. He once tried to contact the upper realm, but as soon as he showed his face, Xie Changming discovered him. He quickly retreated, afraid that Xie Changming would come looking for him. After that, he didn't even dare to make a sound.
Lu Yaoyao, rarely granted such a high status, sat down with a smile, addressing the Empress as a brother and sister, feigning a close sisterly bond. Yes, this Empress was a man, and the Emperor was still that chaotic one, to satisfy the strange background requirement of having both men and women in the harem.
The birthday banquet began, and the cultivators who had completed the birthday celebration tasks in advance began to showcase their talents, frantically increasing their favorability with all the people in Yingtian Palace present.
Fan Qing clutched her sleeve. From beginning to end, all she had gained was the emperor's favor, which was just ridiculous.
She had secretly tried to frame cultivators who displayed their talents several times, but each time she was stopped by the array that Xie Changming had set up in advance. In fact, out of boredom, Xie Changming even reinforced the defense mechanism.
At the Empress's birthday banquet, there were many delicacies. Luo Mingshu savored them carefully in a corner, while Xie Changming diligently inspected for bugs.
After the banquet ended and everyone had gained something, the Chaos Emperor said to Fan Qing, "I will come to your palace tonight."
Fan Qing choked on her tea and couldn't drink it, coughing several times.
Luo Mingshu, having administrator privileges, immediately recognized that Luo Mingshu had unlocked the Empress ending route through a series of in-game purchases.
"No way, they're not really going to make her empress, are they?" Luo Mingshu was furious.
"Let's wait and see," Xie Changming said.
That evening, before the Chaos Emperor arrived, Fan Qing's maid asked her, "Consort Gen, you have won the Emperor's favor. That's wonderful! This is how you serve him in bed, isn't it?"
"Here, since your recharge amount has reached the level of a premium member, we are giving you a member optional gift pack. You can choose to add some aphrodisiac fragrance to enhance your intimacy, as well as a poisoned dagger," the palace maid explained.
Xie Changming asked Luo Mingshu, "Can the acacia incense also be used?"
"That's what Yu Hanlu said." Luo Mingshu raised her hands to show her innocence.
Fan Qing said to the palace maid, "Give me a dagger, I'll stab him to death."
That night, on his bed, the Chaos Emperor narrowly escaped death, and the demon cultivator who played the role asked Xie Changming for more money.
While the Chaos Emperor's favorability towards Fan Qing plummeted, good news arrived from Meng Weifang's side: indeed, in order to ensure that every cultivator could experience the complete content, many Chaos Emperors had been flirting with each other on the night after the birthday banquet.
It's... pretty absurd. Anyway, everyone in Yingtian Palace says that Meng Weifang is pregnant. At the same time, Meng Weifang receives a golden egg as a gift from Yingtian Palace.
"Is this what you mean by me being pregnant?" Meng Weifang was devastated. Although his career was booming and the game seemed to be on the verge of a perfect ending, he was now in a state of utter collapse.
"Yes, you can first add attribute points to it by spending real money. The amount of attribute points will affect your status, after all, you are not the only one pregnant in the entire Yingtian Palace," the guard said to him.
Meng Weifang held an egg, sighing silently, wondering who would save him.
Out of a sense of professionalism, he still carefully planned his resources and added attributes to the egg.
Fan Qing didn't get the egg, so she didn't plan to take that route. Influenced by the strange cultivators in Yingtian Palace, she even started to play seriously.
Luo Mingshu was surprised to find that she hadn't done anything wrong.
Through her efforts, Fan Qing successfully gained the emperor's full favor. At the same time, a palace maid came to remind her of the progress of the next task.
"Your Highness Consort Gen, the golden eggs of Consort Neng over there are growing very well," she reported.
Fan Qing: "..." Can you fucking use a normal adjective?
Luo Mingshu lowered her head and wrote in her notebook: "The growth is promising, but the wording needs to be revised. The golden egg is not a player... ptooey, a leek."
"What word should we change it to?" Luo Mingshu turned to Xie Changming and asked.
Xie Changming said, "Things are thriving."
"Okay." Luo Mingshu added the modification record.
"It grows, so what? What does it have to do with me?" Fan Qing asked.
"Here's the thing, you can purchase a high-attribute golden egg by recharging," the palace maid explained regarding the paid service.
Fan Qing: "..." You can even buy this?
"A high-attribute golden egg, priced at two thousand spirit stones," the palace maid said matter-of-factly. "However, there is a risk of it dying prematurely. You need to confirm that you can bear this risk."
"The emperor hasn't come, so isn't it strange that I have a golden egg?" Fan Qing was a sensible person, and she pointed out the logical flaw here.
“Yes—” Luo Mingshu quickly wrote it down. Fan Qing was indeed a useful tool for eliminating loopholes. “How should I change it to make it legal for me to sell golden eggs?”
Xie Changming reminded her, "We can bundle this with a drug that will make the emperor feel disoriented. After that, the golden egg can be sold legitimately."
“You really know how to make money,” Luo Mingshu said.
"I learned it from you," Xie Changming said modestly.
Luo Mingshu didn't immediately realize whether Xie Changming was praising her or scolding her.
But she quickly contacted the palace maid and discussed the details with her.
"Sell her another dose of the aphrodisiac for 20,000, which will give the Chaos Emperor the illusion that he has spent the night with her. In that case, the appearance of the golden egg will be a matter of course," Luo Mingshu instructed.
The palace maid understood and said to Fan Qing, "Your Highness Consort Gen, you are quite ignorant about this. Since the golden egg is a rare resource, we will sell you a dose of aphrodisiac at a rock-bottom price, so that the Chaos Emperor will have the illusion that you have spent a night together."
"With this drug, why would I be carrying a ball? I'll stab him to death while he's unconscious." Without the system's restrictions, Fan Qing became even more unrestrained.
"Only a special method can kill the Chaos Emperor; brute force won't work," the palace maid said. "Your Highness, this golden egg—"
Luo Mingshu transmitted her voice to the palace maid: "Tell her that it's only available for a limited time, once an incense stick can burn. After that, it's no longer available. Take it or leave it."
"The golden egg is only available for a limited time, once it's gone, it's gone. After all, it's a rare resource, and we wouldn't sell it to you unless you're a VIP member," the palace maid said.
Fan Qing gritted her teeth: "Buy it."
How can she not have what others have?
So another day passed, and the Chaos Emperor was drugged in many places within the Yingtian Palace, causing golden eggs to sprout up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
Xie Changming asked Luo Mingshu, "What's inside when you crack the egg?"
“It’s an item.” Luo Mingshu revealed a confident smile. “It can yield special poisons that can kill the Chaos Emperor, as well as tokens to leave the palace, and so on. Of course, the hidden reward is a cultivation manual that was lost in the palace. Back then, Yu Hanlu found this imaginative cultivation manual in the palace’s library. She only understood the contents of the manual when she fell into the well.”
"The higher your attribute points, the greater the chance of unlocking hidden rewards. You can increase your attribute points through quests, or you can use spirit stones." Luo Mingshu explained the arrangements to the group of cultivators clearly.
So, in the Imperial Garden, the golden eggs lined up in the pond, basking in the sun and emitting a dazzling golden light. This was the daily task of nurturing the golden eggs. As for letting the golden eggs bask in the sun for a full hour each day, it was necessary to increase the attribute points of the golden core.
Of course, leaving it out to dry also carries the risk of the egg breaking. A cultivator who was looking for wealth and fortune pretended to "accidentally" push someone else's golden egg into the pond. The golden egg hit the blue stone on the edge of the pond and broke immediately. Since it was not yet mature, it could not be opened to get any rewards.
"You—" The two cultivators started arguing.
That evening, news of a concubine's miscarriage spread throughout the entire Yingtian Palace.
After learning that they could destroy other people's golden eggs, the cultivators went to great lengths to find various ways to destroy other people's eggs.
Fan Qing also conveniently sabotaged other people's things; she was quite good at this kind of thing.
Shui Qingsi's golden egg also broke, and she cried as she bought two new ones because the palace maid told her that she could have twins.
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Hospital, Shui Qingnian and Wen Yu had a fight over this egg.
"These are someone else's eggs, and you want me to raise them?!" Wen Yu couldn't believe it.
Shui Qingnian kicked the egg with her foot: "I don't know how to raise it. The palace maids in our palace told me that it can yield a rare reward, which is a token to leave the palace. You should raise it for me quickly, I still need to unlock the hidden ending."
Wen Yu: "?" I am an official figure of Yingtian Palace. You want me to support you? Can you be a decent human being?
Yes, you are not human.
Time slowly passed, until finally, the egg everyone had been so eagerly anticipating hatched. Some people got what they wanted, while others...
Fan Qing is indeed incredibly lucky; she obtained the most mysterious hidden item—a cultivation manual. However, the one who needs this manual is Xu Qian, who is in the Empress's camp, in order to trigger the hidden ending.
The one responsible for pushing the cultivator into the well was Lu Yaoyao. Fan Qing had gone to find Lu Yaoyao, wanting to unlock the hidden ending, but Lu Yaoyao sobbed and repeated the same sentence to her: "Consort Gen, the Emperor values you the most. I... I am all alone in the palace. The Empress is powerful, and you are at odds with the Empress, so how... how could I do such a cruel thing to you?"
Lu Yaoyao's acting skills are also impressive; she is the only person in Yingtian Palace who didn't laugh when she heard Fan Qing's code name.
The meaning is clear: Fan Qing chose the wrong side and could not trigger this hidden ending.
Fan Qing was on the verge of collapse when her palace maid appeared just in time and reminded her, "Your Highness Consort Gen, you can recharge 99.99 million spirit stones to unlock the opportunity to switch factions."
"Buy it." Just one step away from the decision, Fan Qing gritted her teeth and paid the money.
As a result, she squandered all the money the system had given her and couldn't afford to recharge anymore. Only then did she realize that she had actually spent so much money on Luo Mingshu.
"That terrifying and insidious person!" Fan Qing thought through gritted teeth.
Luo Mingshu sat cross-legged on the roof counting money and said to Xie Changming, "I really didn't expect that she would be the one who has spent the most money here."
"Have you forgotten that system-like thing can provide spirit stones to the host?" Xie Changming had long seen through Fan Qing. "It's not your own money, so you don't feel bad spending it."
Fan Qing had a cultivation manual in her hands, but she couldn't use it. In a panic, she could only go to do quests and try to switch sides.
But at this time, Xu Qian, who really needed the secret manual, had already started raising the second golden egg. She had obtained the poison to kill the emperor, but she didn't intend to poison him because she was now on the empress's side. If the emperor died, the empress would be the first to take the throne. Her goal from the beginning was to hide the ending.
She diligently raised the golden eggs, constantly increasing the attribute points of the new eggs, until finally, the golden eggs hatched, and this experience cultivator who had only spent 9.98 million spirit stones to buy a monthly card ushered in the most mysterious hidden ending.
Lu Yaoyao stood by the well, rubbed her hands together, and said to Xu Qian, "Are you ready?"
“Ready,” Xu Qian said.
"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. Mom loves steamed buns. Now get off the plane." Lu Yaoyao vented her anger from the previous encounter in the Misty Star Sea and pushed Xu Qian off the plane.
At this moment, Fan Qingshan, who had just finished the tedious task and successfully switched factions, arrived late. She stared at Lu Yaoyao and Xu Qian, and before she could say anything, she watched helplessly as the hidden ending she had been longing for was taken away by someone else.
Luo Mingshu breathed a sigh of relief and casually took Xie Changming's hand: "This experience is almost over."
Xie Changming held him down, and the concealment spell was reinforced again: "I can sense the system."
The first two times he tried to alert the enemy, Fan Qing's system didn't dare to appear. But after so many days, he finally couldn't resist waking up.
Upon waking up, Fan Qing's system was faced with its empty balance, as well as the former system and host standing in front of it.
"After searching high and low without finding it, it came to me effortlessly." The system immediately ordered Fan Qing, "Host, the former system and the host have been discovered. Please eliminate them immediately!"
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