Chapter Eighty-Three: The Emperor

Yu Shifei was fairly satisfied with that answer and put the spear back into her storage pouch. Chen Bo let out a silent sigh of relief, feeling as though he had just walked through the gates of hell and come back again; even his back was drenched with sweat.

It would be best to provoke women like this as little as possible in the future. So the old hands had not been wrong after all: the prettier a woman was, the more ruthless her heart tended to be. Was it said to be heartless like a cat and a mouse? Or like a rat and a snake? A viper’s heart? Yes—that was it. A heart as cruel as a snake and a scorpion’s!

Chen Bo did not quite understand the idiom, but he knew it was definitely a word of contempt. In short, she was not a good person. Yes, that had to be it.

There was nothing more worth watching after that, and this place would probably have to be rebuilt again. But because Yu Shifei had gained sudden insight, the academy director, who had always been miserably stingy, surprisingly became generous for once and directly hired the best construction team in Tianyang City.

As for why such a modern-sounding name as “construction team” was used, Chen Bo had no idea. In any case, it had nothing to do with him.

And yet, a storm concerning polearms had quietly begun to gather.

Capital City, the Imperial Throne Hall

This was the place where the Great Ning Empire held court. Its grounds were vast beyond reckoning, and on the nine colossal pillars each was carved a five-clawed golden dragon, so lifelike it seemed ready to spring to life.

The entire hall was a blaze of gold. Even the floor was covered with a red carpet. That carpet was no ordinary cloth; it had been stitched from the fur of a rank-six origin beast, the Fire Fox.

Within the palace, there were also countless formations of every size. If an ordinary person entered, before long the dense origin energy inside would swell them to death.

The exact words to describe it were beyond the reach of some poor, unimaginative fellow, but in any case it was all magnificence and grandeur, all luxury beyond the grasp of ordinary cultivators.

Court had already adjourned, and the Imperial Throne Hall was quiet and desolate. The emperor of the Great Ning Empire, Chen Detian, was leisurely reviewing the memorials sent in from all regions. Suddenly, a fire pigeon flew in from outside the hall, yet the guards outside did not stop it, letting it enter unimpeded.

The fire pigeon landed on Chen Detian’s desk and actually spoke in a human voice. “Your Majesty, something important has happened at Tianyang Academy.”

“Oh?” Chen Detian paused and asked with interest, “Tianyang Academy? Has that old fellow surnamed Yu run out of funds again? Is he trying to trick origin stones out of me? Tell him this: there are no origin stones for him!”

One could hear from his tone that this emperor was clearly very familiar with Yu Chenling, and that the old man’s greed for money had probably already become common knowledge throughout the court.

“No, that’s not it. That fellow swindled the students at his academy a few days ago, so he’s quite rich now,” the fire pigeon said, seeming rather formidable, showing no respect whatsoever for Yu Chenling.

“Then what is it?”

The fire pigeon explained how Yu Shifei had attained sudden enlightenment. After hearing this, Chen Detian clapped his hands and said, “That old Yu fellow may not look much and his character may not be much either, but his daughter is truly a rare gem. I still remember that when she was little, she once peed on my dragon throne. Hahaha!”

If Chen Bo had heard this, he would have been so shocked he would have shouted that his reaction was beyond words. Yu Shifei’s dark history was indeed impressive; she had actually peed on the dragon throne. She had already been lawless since childhood—no wonder she turned out this way now.

“But there is something even more important,” the fire pigeon suddenly said, lowering its voice.

Chen Detian’s expression turned solemn. With a wave of his hand, he set up a soundproof formation; no matter how loudly they spoke, no one outside would hear a thing.

The fire pigeon flapped its wings, and a ball of flame formed into a ring in midair. Inside the fiery ring was precisely the scene of Chen Bo forging weapons that day.

In the image, Chen Bo forged a spear and boasted shamelessly before Yu Shifei. When she still would not believe him, Chen Bo recited the mantra of the Five Tigers Breaking Gate Spear Technique, which led directly to Yu Shifei’s later enlightenment.

“Who is this youth? Why do I feel as though I have seen him somewhere before?” Chen Detian did not mention the spear Chen Bo had forged, but instead said this.

“Your Majesty, his elder sister is Chen Jingjing,” the fire pigeon replied.

“Chen Jingjing? I see.” Chen Detian fell into thought. “This sort of weapon is very important to our Great Ning Empire. If used on the battlefield, it could strike unexpectedly.”

“Everyone who has seen Chen Bo forge weapons must keep their mouths sealed tight. If anyone dares reveal even the slightest rumor, treat it as treason against the Great Ning Empire! As for this Chen Bo, reward him well. Once his strength is sufficient, send him straight to the Capital Academy.”

“Oh, right. Send that girl Shifei something good as well, lest she say later that I am as petty as that old Yu fellow. Take the phoenix jade disc from this hall and give it to her.”

Chen Detian reached out into the void, and a splendid phoenix jade disc from a distance was drawn into his hand. He handed it to the fire pigeon, which stored it away in its pocket space.

Anyone with a discerning eye would be able to tell that this jade disc actually contained a sliver of a phoenix’s remnant soul. At a critical moment, it could block three fatal injuries.

“Your Majesty, why does Chen Bo not yet have him summoned into the palace? Out there, he may not be able to withstand enticement from enemy nations.” As he said this, a cold light flashed in the fire pigeon’s eyes.

“If I were this suspicious, I would never have brought down the vast Great Ning Empire.”

Although Chen Detian knew that polearms were extremely important to the army, he still did not place enough importance on them. Nor could he have imagined that one day these polearms would become one of the main weapons of the battlefield. Of course, that was a matter for later.

The fire pigeon nodded and turned to fly out.

“Aaah-chh!”

Chen Bo sneezed heavily, thinking to himself that some beauty must be missing him again.

This remark was heard by everyone in the livestream.

“Damn! After living so long, I’ve only now realized there are always greater heights above us and more gifted people beyond us. So the streamer is actually even shamelesser than me.”

“Streamer, to be honest, it’s not some beauty who’s thinking about you. It must be a handsome man! Hahahahahaha!”

“The person above is too filthy. How could it be a handsome man? I think it’s a demon muscleman with a huge beard and arms several times thicker than his thighs!”

“Pfft! I just imagined the scene described above, and it’s simply unbearable to look at! Utterly insane! Restricted-content level!”

“Why do I feel inexplicably excited when I imagine the streamer being pinned down by a demon muscleman?”

“That means you’ve gone crooked already.”

“Holy crap, this is big news! Those monkeys from the Philippines were causing trouble in our waters again yesterday. Then our navy fired a shell at them without another word and sank one of their ships!”

“Hahaha, serves them right! Ever since we got this streamer, what country doesn’t want to cozy up to us? Those idiotic monkeys still dare to jump around. Looks like even their own backers don’t want to deal with that foolish son anymore.”

“Serves them right.”