Chapter 3 Imprisonment
Empress Dowager Xiao Ruohan comes from the Lin'an Xiao Clan, one of the four great families. She is now the most powerful woman in the harem. Previously, only the late Empress Qin Feng, who came from the Qin family of the Grand Commandant and was Qin Xiao's elder sister, could rival her.
Now that the late empress has passed away, most of the power in the harem has fallen into the hands of the Xiao family.
Previously, the emperor and empress had passed away simultaneously. The incident was sudden, but only the Qin family was prepared and was able to control the situation in the capital and stabilize the various forces in the first instance.
Using the imperial edict for the crown prince prepared by the late emperor, Qin Xiao swiftly and decisively placed the fifth prince, Baili Hong, on the throne.
However, there are still four princes left behind by the late emperor in this palace.
Three of them came from humble backgrounds and their maternal clans had little influence, so they were not a threat.
Only the eldest prince, Baili Hai, was born to Consort Duan, who was the head of the four consorts during the reign of the late emperor.
Consort Duan was born into a collateral branch of the Xiao clan, and belonged to the same clan as the Empress Dowager.
After the late emperor ascended the throne, the eldest prince was raised by the Empress Dowager. Now at the age of sixteen, he has been granted the title of Prince Jiannan.
The various factions in the capital are mutually restraining each other, and the young emperor has not yet firmly settled on the throne.
The Empress Dowager is now using the excuse of not being able to part with her grandson to keep the Prince of Jiannan in the palace. Anyone with eyes to see what she is plotting is obvious.
The young emperor, Baili Hong, is only three years old. Although he is intelligent and well-mannered, he is also naive and ignorant. Under such circumstances, leaving him alone in the palace is tantamount to sending a lamb to the slaughter.
Therefore, Qin Xiao defied public opinion and was even condemned by scholars and writers as a treacherous official and relative of the emperor, but still personally moved into the palace. This was partly to be constantly vigilant against assassination attempts, and partly to facilitate the education of the young emperor.
With the current political situation unstable, the Imperial Guards are able to capture assassins, killers, and spies from time to time.
To facilitate his actions and interrogations, Qin Xiao ordered the construction of a "heavenly prison" within the palace.
The Imperial Prison was located far from the inner palace, in a relatively remote area of the outer court, next to the Ningsu Courtyard where the Imperial Guards usually rested and were on duty. It covered an area about three times the size of the Fengtian Hall, and its surrounding walls were higher than those of other palace walls. There was only one main gate for entry and exit.
Upon entering the courtyard, all that comes into view is cold, hard rock.
Not only was the floor paved, but the entire row of cells directly opposite the gate was also made of thick stone, making it look incredibly sturdy at first glance.
At this moment, the rain was pouring down, making the already dark cell even more damp and cold.
Chu Jiubian was soaked to the bone by the heavy rain, and he couldn't help but shiver as he entered the cell.
The two Imperial Guards flanking him had changed their previous cold demeanor, now looking at him with undisguised apprehension and fear, clearly frightened by the sudden downpour.
An Wuji was better than the other two, showing little outward emotion, but his attitude towards Chu Jiubian was completely different from before.
He personally opened the door to a cell and said politely, "Please come in. These cells are all newly built and very clean."
Chu Jiubian is in a pretty good mood right now.
He had won the bet with Qin Xiao. Even if Qin Xiao broke his promise and didn't treat him well, it didn't matter. With this heavy rain, the other party would definitely be wary of him and might even want to use him, so he wouldn't easily have the intention to kill him again.
Having temporarily saved his life, Chu Jiubian was naturally relieved.
He entered the cell, turned around and saw An Wuji had locked the cell door with a heavy bronze lock, and asked, "Are there any other people in here?"
"No." An Wuji locked the door and looked at him, saying, "You are the first guest here."
Chu Jiubian: "...That would be an honor."
An Wuji realized that his words were not very pleasant, and said with a dry laugh, "If there's nothing else, you can rest now. We'll be leaving now."
"Wait a minute," Chu Jiubian called out to him. "Get me some clean clothes and some hot water. I need to wipe myself down."
An Wuji then noticed that the young man's clothes were soaked through and clung tightly to his body, revealing his beautiful curves.
The white silk and soft gauze, once soaked, clung to the skin, subtly revealing the delicate underlying color.
An Wuji withdrew his gaze and said, "I'm sorry, without your orders, we dare not act on our own."
Qin Xiao's order to him was to lock Chu Jiubian in jail, but he didn't give him any other instructions.
In fact, if it were anyone else, An Wuji wouldn't have personally delivered the person; he would have even instructed his subordinates to teach the other party a lesson.
But Chu Jiubian was completely different from the people he had arrested before. Not to mention giving him a lesson in advance, An Wuji even had to carefully consider his tone when refusing him.
Knowing that he was just following orders, Chu Jiubian didn't make things difficult for him and conceded, saying, "Then there should at least be some water to drink, right?"
“I have this.” An Wuji quickly untied the water bag from his waist and handed it in through the cell door.
He had been living in the military since he was old enough to handle a weapon, and was used to the rough and tumble nature of soldiers eating and sleeping together. But when he looked up and saw Chu Jiubian's gentle and frail appearance, his outstretched hand froze.
He said somewhat awkwardly, "This water bag is one I've used. If you don't like it, I'll go and get you a new one."
Chu Jiubian's throat was dry and sore, and he wasn't particularly fastidious about cleanliness, so he went over, took the water bag, opened it, tilted his head back, and took small sips of water. Only then did he feel much better.
He closed the water bag to return it, but An Wuji said, "Please use this first, and I'll have someone bring you some food and drink later."
Hmm, it seems that this "divine" identity is somewhat useful.
Chu Jiubian smiled at him and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you."
An Wuji exchanged a few more polite words before leading the other two away.
The three of them immediately left the place quickly, and only dared to talk in hushed tones after they had gone some distance away. They talked about nothing more than the rain.
Chu Jiubian gently touched his burning throat, his gaze sweeping across the inside of the cell, but he couldn't find anything extra.
There wasn't a single straw, let alone a bed or a table or chair; all you could see were clean, smooth walls and floors.
He walked to the corner of the wall and casually leaned down on the ground.
The hard ground and walls were digging into his bones, and coupled with the injuries he had sustained from being suspended by wires and being thrown to the ground by Qin Xiao, almost every part of his body was now in pain.
However, he had no time to care about any of that; he was more concerned about the system in his mind.
On his way here, he had tried calling out to the other person in his mind.
The system did indeed answer, but it was different from what he had read in novels. This system had no humanity at all; it only answered simple questions with specific answers.
If you ask more complex questions, the other party simply shuts down and doesn't answer, as if it can't understand them at all, making it completely a semi-intelligent system.
But one thing he was certain of was that the system had no ill intentions towards him; on the contrary, it needed his help to correct some cause and effect.
But the system remained mysterious about the specific cause and effect, only saying, "The host only needs to follow his heart to correct the cause and effect."
There are no tasks or requirements; such an easy-going system is rare.
However, since he had said he would follow his heart, Chu Jiubian decided not to delve too deeply into it. Instead of thinking about those things, he would first familiarize himself with the system's functions and see if there was a way to help him break out of this predicament.
He closed his eyes, and with a thought, he "saw" a virtual screen that resembled a game panel.
The panel is as simple as a single-player game, with only four boxes on the initial page.
Each box contains only the simplest column name and explanation.
[Faith Values/Points]: Points are calculated based on the faith received by the host. Faith values can be used for transactions in the system shop.
Current Faith Points/Points: 10.
[System Shop]: The Multiverse Shop. The host can use Faith Points to purchase any item in the shop. For purchase rules, product uses, etc., please click on the specific product to view its details page.
Current status: Enabled
[System Warehouse]: Can store various items (excluding living creatures).
Current status: 10 square meters, 0 occupied spaces (automatically expands as faith points accumulate; the space will not decrease as points decrease).
These three are not difficult to understand; Chu Jiubian glanced at them and immediately grasped their meaning.
Only one slot remains, and you can't guess its function just by its name. However, there are the most explanations about the function of this slot.
"God Realm?" Chu Jiubian thought to himself, "That's pretty cringeworthy."
[Divine Realm]: The host can select and connect with believers through this function. After a successful connection, the host and believers can appear together in the Divine Realm. The Divine Realm is a space independent of the three-dimensional world. In the Divine Realm, the host is the only true god and can connect or disconnect with any believer at any time.
Believer Connection Rules:
1. Those with malicious intentions will not be connected, those who have committed heinous crimes will not be connected, and those who hinder the host's "correction of cause and effect" will not be connected.
2. For every 100 points accumulated by the host, one believer seat can be added to the Divine Realm (the number of believer seats will not decrease after the faith value/points decrease).
3. Connecting believers is not limited by distance.
4. Connecting with believers requires them to be in a "dormant" or "empty" state.
5. The content of conversations and events occurring within the divine realm are known only to the host and the believers present, and believers cannot convey the divine realm or matters related to the host to the outside world without the host's consent.
6. Once a believer has recognized the host as their master, they will not betray them.
Current status: Not enabled (first-time activation requires accumulating 100 Faith Points)
Chu Jiubian carefully examined it twice, then touched the frame of [Divine Realm] with his mind, but as expected, there was no reaction at all.
It's incredible that you can bring complete strangers, even those from far away, into a space that you have complete control over.
Moreover, according to this theory, if he has enough points, he could even pull hundreds or thousands of people into the space at the same time, and everything that happens and is discussed in this space would be kept absolutely confidential, and no one could betray him.
Furthermore, as the only true god in the divine realm, it would be easy for him to conceal his appearance and identity.
The more Chu Jiubian thought outside the box, the more he could feel the power of this [Divine Realm] function.
He was so eager to find out what was going on that he needed to collect faith points quickly.
Chu Jiubian then looked at the Faith Points section. He could start with 10 Faith Points, probably because of the rain.
I just don't know who contributed these faith points.
Those three Imperial Guards should have been involved, and the young emperor probably was too, since the other party called him "Fairy Brother" as soon as they met.
As for Qin Xiao, and those officials who had become shrewd, probably few would associate him with "gods," at most they would think he was knowledgeable in some esoteric arts.
However, this clarity and skepticism are directed only at the knowledgeable and cultured ruling class.
In the context of the Great Ning Dynasty, ordinary people were ignorant and believed in the divine right of kings, and were even more convinced of the existence of ghosts and gods.
This couldn't be better for Chu Jiubian, who needed "believers" and "faith points".
He only needs to use the system's store or his own knowledge of the modern world to show off his extraordinary abilities that transcend this world, and he will have a large number of believers who will follow him.
Chu Jiubian made up his mind before finally opening the system shop.
Because of the excellent features of the Divine Realm, Chu Jiubian's expectations for the mall were greatly raised. Fortunately, the items inside the mall did not disappoint him; on the contrary, they far exceeded his expectations.
It features gorgeous and exquisite clothing and accessories, antique paintings and calligraphy from an unknown dynasty, practical tools and blueprints, various foods, medicines, and weapons that can be purchased directly...
The selection is dazzling; it seems like you can find anything you want here.
Chu Jiubian was completely overwhelmed by what he saw.
However, he quickly figured out the mall's categorization and pricing rules.
Daily necessities and food are the cheapest, followed by clothing, medicine, and various fruits, vegetables, and seeds. The most expensive items are weapons and tool blueprints.
Blueprints are even more valuable than weapons because they record the wisdom and civilization of different worlds and dynasties.
Chu Jiubian glanced at the list only twice and already saw "Fine Salt Extraction Method", "Glass Manufacturing Method", "Encyclopedia of Agricultural Crops", "Traditional Chinese Medicine Materia Medica" and "Firearms Manufacturing".
What appealed to him most was that these blueprints and books would be directly imprinted in his mind after purchase, allowing him to fully understand them without having to study them intentionally.
Moreover, he can turn these books and drawings into physical objects and give them to others to study.
But that's all in the future. His pitiful 10 points can only buy some food and drinks, and a couple of sets of clothes, but these are not necessary for him right now.
However, I still need to test whether these points can be used, and whether the warehouse size will change after the points are reduced.
So after searching around, Chu Jiubian reluctantly spent 0.5 points to buy half a box of cold medicine.
After the purchase was successful, the value of the Faith bar changed, and although the total size of the warehouse remained the same, the space occupied changed because the medicine had been automatically stored in the warehouse.
The score value in the [Divine Realm] section also remained unchanged, indicating that a decrease in score does not affect its cumulative value.
Chu Jiubian felt relieved and slowly opened his eyes. The cold and damp feeling surged up again, and he couldn't help but shiver.
He took two cold pills from the system's inventory and swallowed them with water.
Then he turned his head to look at the prison door.
A row of thick, upright wooden poles completely surrounded the side of the prison door.
Now, we need to figure out a way to get out of here.
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