Chapter 164: Chapter 161: The Emperor is Gone
 

Jiang Cheng always had a misconception.

He believed that Liu Qing, disliking certain odors, wouldn’t expose herself to them, as picky eaters are selective with flavors.

But in truth, it wasn’t so. Snake’s sensitivity to scents was as inherent and continuous as breathing.

She would always smell odors, unable to choose but only to distinguish whatever filled the space.

That’s why she genuinely enjoyed being with Jiang Cheng.

After all, no snake likes the stench of rotting trash—they too prefer things that are refreshing, clean, and sweet.

In the middle of the night, Liu Qing appeared in the heart of the Capital City, unusually taking a deep breath.

Causal connections are a double-edged sword, while she could use causality to find others, they too could use it to find her. To be entangled with too much causality was dangerously risky.

But scents were different.

Scents were her exclusive skill, undetectable by Human Race cultivators.

With the air’s flow, all sorts of odors within the entire Capital City were read by her, one after another.

All pleasant scents were disregarded, cast aside from analysis.

She wasn’t in a good mood tonight and sought the source of these foul smells, to take care of the stinking trash in the Capital City.

Normally, Liu Qing would not bother with the affairs of the Human Race, but tonight, some trash had audaciously slipped into her home.

She was somewhat angry now.

There were too many in the Capital City emitting foul odors. Being rational, Liu Qing knew she couldn’t cause too much commotion to avoid drawing attention from the Immortal Sects.

Liu Qing wasn’t actually afraid of the Immortal Sects, considering her level; even they had to show her respect.

What she feared was the Immortal Sects becoming aware of her existence and disturbing the tranquil life she had with Jiang Cheng.

So, Liu Qing only sought out those scents that disgusted her the most.

The Blood Fiend Sect’s base, behind Delight Restaurant.

Chen Shen’s senior brother was practicing a cultivation technique.

In front of him were many animal viscera, the smell of blood suffocating.

“Who?”

Sensing something, he turned sharply only to see a stunningly frigid woman gently pointing at him.

Chen Shen’s senior brother had no time to react, and in an instant, he vanished.

At the Demon Pattern Sect’s base, a demonic cultivator whose body was covered with strange patterns was meditating.

The demon patterns on his body writhed like living creatures, incessantly moving about.

Suddenly, he seemed to notice something, eyes snapping open to see a devastatingly beautiful girl.

Her cultivation was only at the sixth layer of Qi practice, yet it terrified every demon pattern on his body to the extreme!

He saw the girl extend her hand gently, and then his consciousness disappeared in an instant.

Every demon pattern on the male cultivator was screaming, trying to flee his body, but they were utterly powerless against Liu Qing’s forceful point.

At the Hehuan Sect’s base, a seductive beauty was soaking in a bath filled with floating petals.

Her leisure didn’t last long before she saw the icy Liu Qing.

The beauty was first startled by Liu Qing’s looks, as even within their Hehuan Sect, there were scarcely any women who could compare to the one before her.

But soon, the beauty could no longer smile.

Seeing Liu Qing slowly raise her hand, she instinctively felt something was amiss.

The beauty, without even putting on her clothes, hurriedly knelt before Liu Qing.

“I beg the senior to spare my life! I am willing to work like an ox or a horse for the senior!”

Liu Qing paused with her finger.

Pleased, the beauty said, “Thank you for sparing me, senior! Senior, I come from the Hehuan Sect, and I am highly skilled at serving male cultivators. If you keep me…”

Before the beauty could finish, Liu Qing pressed down her finger fiercely, and she disappeared from the world in an instant.

The night in the Capital was destined to be unforgettable for those in the Demonic Tao.

Having casually dealt with the nearby trash, Liu Qing headed straight for the most foul-smelling place in the entire Capital—the Great Liang Imperial Palace.

Songs and dances still filled the palace throughout the night.

Watching the aged Emperor of Liang, who was soon reaching his end but currently on the dragon bed, using young female cultivators to sustain himself night after night.

Young female cultivators used by the Emperor of Liang would at best have their talents damaged and cultivation regressed, or at worst, have their lifespans shortened and left with lingering illnesses.

The talent of Emperor Liang was mediocre, and forced Core Formation would certainly lead to his demise. To prolong his life, he turned to every possible method during Foundation Establishment.

Cultivators do not fall ill and their lifespan is usually predictable. Decades ago, Emperor Liang foresaw his approaching end and began trying various life-extending methods, now reduced to employing the Hehuan Sect’s demonic technique of replenishing yang with yin.

Liu Qing appeared within the sleeping quarters, where the immense stench and licentious scenes made her frown.

Even among the same human male cultivators, some differed from Jiang Cheng as much as dogs do from humans.

Seeing the emaciated Emperor Liang with white hair approach Liu Qing, he immediately abandoned the females he had used, staggering towards her.

Despite having a harem of three thousand beauties, Liu Qing’s appearance, temperament, and figure were truly one in a million, easily rivalling the splendor of an entire palace.

“Beauty, which of my consorts are you? Grant me a chance, and I will immediately proclaim your child the next emperor! Then, my empire will all be yours!”

Liu Qing remained expressionless, raising her delicate hand and resting a jade finger lightly on Emperor Liang.

With Jiang Cheng away, she already found the two-bedroom, two-living-room residence by Jade Lake spacious—what would she do with an even bigger empire?

With a press of her finger, Liang Kingdom was emperorless.

The Emperor of Liang, because of a certain snake’s negative emotions towards trashy people, vanished from this world along with those individuals.

With the largest piece of trash in Capital City gone, Liu Qing turned around and reappeared in the luxurious residence of Jade Lake.

She changed into her pajamas, crawled into bed, and quickly fell asleep while cuddling the little puppet.

After Liu Qing left, the entire imperial palace was alarmed.

Even the strongest in the Great Liang, the Divinity Transformation Realm ancestor who suppressed the royal family’s national fortune, was no exception.

There had been cases of emperors of Liang passing away before, but today’s Emperor Liang was different; he vanished without a trace, the culprit nowhere to be found, not even leaving bones behind.

Only an extinguished soul lamp silently informed everyone that the Emperor Liang was no more.

But these were not the most crucial issues; the most vital point was that Emperor Liang had not designated an heir.

Any of his five sons and four daughters could possibly become the new Emperor of Liang.

The selection of the new emperor, in theory, should have been decided by the Divinity Transformation Realm ancestor.

But times were different now. The contemporary Liang Kingdom was following the path of constitutional monarchy, and the Cabinet, which essentially controlled most of the power in Great Liang, equally had the duty to “advise” on the new emperor.

With the Emperor’s disappearance, the royal power became headless; the new emperor would most likely be appointed by the Cabinet.

In doing so, the new emperor would become a puppet of the Cabinet and was bound to comply with it, further squeezing the already limited interests of the royal family.

The Divinity Transformation ancestor and the remaining clan elders discussed and decided to first seal the news of the Emperor’s disappearance, then quickly select a suitable successor to smoothly transition the throne into his hands.

Jiang Cheng slept very well last night.

He even dreamed that he and Liu Qing, fighting side by side, were invincible under the heavens!

But dreams are just dreams, and in reality, he was merely a fourth-layer Qi Practitioner, still not out of the beginner’s tutorial.

Jiang Cheng checked his cultivation level and found that cultivating with wealth indeed makes things easier.

With the aid of a Spirit Gathering Array worth one hundred and ten thousand, plus countless Spiritual Liquids and Elixirs, his fourth-layer Qi Practitioner status had become exceedingly solid. He estimated that it wouldn’t take long to touch the threshold of the fifth layer.

This cultivation speed was not bad at all compared to some young geniuses.

Jiang Cheng changed his clothes and went out, only to find that Liu Qing was already enjoying her breakfast on the balcony.

Snake had butter cake and pure milk for breakfast this morning.

Due to the “cherry lips” unique to a beautiful woman, some cream inevitably smeared on her face.

But she seemed completely unaware and just continued eating in small bites.

Jiang Cheng took a paper napkin and walked over, squatting down to hand it to her.

Snake looked puzzled.

Jiang Cheng sighed and had no choice but to take the extra step. He took the paper napkin himself and meticulously wiped the cream from the corners of her mouth.

“There, it’s clean now.”

“Oh.”

“Eat slowly, no one is racing you.”

“Oh.”

Jiang Cheng: …

Why do I have the feeling that I’m taking care of a daughter?

The real daughter: Liu Qing.

The fake daughter: Yue Linger.

The air became weird again, and Liu Qing blinked at Jiang Cheng.

He seemed to be thinking something that could affect her image again.

Shen Mi was always cautious, and even though he knew the Blood Fiend Sect took swift actions, he made a special trip to Miaodan Workshop’s garden outside of Capital City to create some alibis.

But this time, Shen Mi miscalculated.

He accounted for Chen Shen possibly failing, but he did not anticipate Chen Shen and his fellow sect brother would simply take the deposit and flee without a trace!

The Demonic Tao truly lacked any creditworthiness at all!

“It seems that the Immortal Sect’s deterrent against the Demonic Tao is still too great. It appears killing Jiang Cheng outright might not be feasible. I’ll need to think of another method.”

Shen Mi found a notoriously second-rank Talisman Master in Capital City.

This person’s talisman-making skills were mediocre, but he was extremely good at exploiting loopholes in the Talisman industry, taking on cases such as preemptively registering talisman names, obtaining early certification for talismans, and engaging in talisman patent disputes.

He was known as a Talisman hooligan in Capital City.

His greatest feat was drawing a nuisance talisman when a competitor’s business was thriving, initiating lawsuits that led to the temporary ban of the competitor’s talismans, severely impacting their business and forcing them to pay a settlement fee for peace.

“First-grade Talisman? That’s easy, you don’t even need to find me a blueprint. Just bring me the talisman directly, and I’ll handle the rest.”

“Can you snatch the ownership rights?” asked Shen Mi.

“It’s not certain; it mainly depends on when he submits for certification and how fast the certification is. If he had some issues with the Talisman Master Association before and they don’t want to help him with certification, then we are in luck. At worst, we’ll end up in court. You just need to find someone to draw the talisman quickly. Even if you have to stop producing because of the lawsuit, you’ll still have a considerable stockpile to use.”

Shen Mi nodded his head.

Acting first and reporting later was indeed a good strategy.

No matter what, this move could at least let him reap the initial dividends of the Blood Orange Fruits.

As for snatching talisman certification, Shen Mi didn’t hold out much hope. Jiang Cheng was merely a college freshman; how could he have any issues with the Talisman Master Association? It wouldn’t make sense for the lofty Immortal Sect Association to lose face by targeting him, would it?