The Empress’s Gigolo

“For you, you will encounter misfortunes that come with blessings during this period of time. However, for the people around you, they will only encounter misfortunes and not blessings.” Tao Jiyuan said with an awkward look on his face, and everyone looked at Ren Baqian as if he was a huge piece of dung.

Ren Baqian turned his head, looked at everyone and thought to himself, “This can’t be real?”

Soon after, he pointed to a distant place with an innocent look on his face. “It’s on fire, let’s put out the fire first.”

“…”

Everyone turned around and looked at the kitchen which was burning. Then, they turned their heads again to look at Ren Baqian and uniformly took another step backwards.

The guards that were a distance away, had already rushed over to put out the fire.

At present, even Ren Baqian felt that it was indeed extremely unusual.

However, there was a possibility of it being a coincidence, and he hoped that was the case.

Otherwise, how could he return to the city while carrying the attribute of a jinx?

It was only a minor earthquake that lasted barely for a minute just now. After waiting for a while and seeing that there was nothing much going on, everyone returned back to their resting areas in group of twos and threes to get some rest.

Ren Baqian’s residence was changed. This was the wooden house which Tao Jiyuan had originally been staying at, but he vacated his original residence to squeeze in with Teng Ji and the other winged cavalry members.

Presently, no matter what, he wasn’t willing to sleep under the same roof as Ren Baqian.

Ren Baqian slept in the wooden house which Tao Jiyuan previously slept at. He was anxious and edgy for a long time as he was extremely afraid that something would happen again.

He fell into a deep slumber only after a long time had passed.

The next morning, everyone began to pack up and was prepared to leave the mountain.

As a matter of fact, there wasn’t much to pack. However, Teng Ji intentionally found a guard and asked for a rope which was as thick as tree bark. Then, he tied it around Ren Baqian’s waist.

If it was before coming up the mountain, Teng Ji had been only a little anxious. But, after the bichi incident, his anxiousness had escalated from a slightly to extremely anxious.

If anything were to happen to Ren Baqian, they would only experience disaster and not good fortune.

When they were departing the mountain, apart from a skilled winged cavalry member walking in front of Ren Baqian and Teng Ji who was behind him, the rest of the people all distanced themselves from him. In particular, Tao Jiyuan already hid all the way at the end of the convoy.

“I think there shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not as if it’s the “Final Destination”.” Ren Baqian gradually relaxed after completing more than half the distance down the mountain and after the initial nervousness he felt.

[Final Destination – American horror/thriller film]

Even if the bichi really brought bad luck to people, the effect shouldn’t be instantaneous and causing them to be so frightened.

But, Teng Ji didn’t know what Ren Baqian referred to when he mentioned “Final Destination”. And as such, Ren Baqian’s words didn’t help to ease his anxiousness a single bit.

“Sir Ren, as long as you leave the mountain, there shouldn’t be any problems,” Teng Ji comforted him.

After walking this section of the mountain road with trepidation, not only Ren Baqian, but the rest of the people heaved a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, it shouldn’t be that serious.” Ren Baqian turned around and smiled.

Although everyone said similar things about the bichi and after experiencing two separate incidents the previous night, Ren Baqian was still somewhat skeptical about all this.

Even though he had experienced teleportation and had seen a kirin before, nevertheless, Ren Baqian was instinctually unable to firmly believe in such mysterious things.

This was due to the education he received as well as the habits he cultivated all along.

Just when Ren Baqian spoke, all of a sudden, a shadow covered him entirely. Teng Ji’s expression changed drastically, and he drew out a saber with ease, immediately advanced towards Ren Baqian’s head and leaped over. His was so speedy that Ren Baqian didn’t even have the time to react.

As for the people at the back, they were able to see a huge bird with wings spread out about seven to eight meters wide. It rapidly descended from a high altitude, and at this precise moment, it extended its sharp claw and pounced towards Ren Baqian.

Teng Ji swung his saber, and immediately, there was a burst of blood rain. Soon after, that bird let out a blood-curdling screech and fell head first to the ground.

The whole bird was completely ripped apart from its chest to its abdomen. Furthermore, that swing from Teng Ji’s saber caused its innards to fall out and splatter all over Ren Baqian’s face.

It just so happened that Ren Baqian raised his head, looked up, and he got drenched in the blood rain. He nearly vomited.

“Sir Ren, are you okay?” Teng Ji turned and looked at Ren Baqian once he reached the ground.

Ren Baqian wiped his face, tugged a piece of some internal organ off his face and flung it onto the ground.

The fishy odor went straight into his nostrils; his stomach churned out of disgust.

“Water, water,” Ren Baqian hurriedly shouted. Immediately, someone passed the water bag over for him to rinse his face.

Even though his body was still filled with blood, Ren Baqian at long last felt that he was revived.

Back then, he nearly thought that he would die due to sheer disgust.

He hurriedly went to find a stream in the vicinity, took off his clothes, and washed himself from head to toe. Then, he wore his underpants and stood there, letting out a long sigh.

“My apologies, Sir Ren. I was anxious at that moment,” Teng Ji cupped his fist and apologized.

“It’s nothing, thank goodness for you. Otherwise, I’m afraid that I would run out of luck.” Ren Baqian gestured with his hands. In any case, he was still able to tell what was going on.

“What kind of bird is that? It actually dares to catch humans.” He asked while walking back.

“It’s a flower hawk. Generally, this thing catches wild beasts in the forest to eat. It occasionally also attacks humans as well. But, such occurrences are very rare. I’m afraid it’s because sir’s vital energy isn’t strong, and that’s why it had the guts to attack you,” Teng Ji replied.

“…”

Is he trying to imply that I’m too weak and can be bullied easily?

The whole journey back, Ren Baqian was prepared to see how the flower hawk actually looked like. When he arrived, he saw that everyone had already began to pluck its feathers.

“Sir, you are in for a good a treat. This flower hawk is extremely difficult to capture and its flavor is outstanding.” Tao Jiyuan stood a distance from Ren Baqian and was full of smiles.

Ren Baqian was dumbfounded and speechless.

This thing nearly caught me and had me as its meal.

Also, my whole face was splattered with its blood and innards.

I have gone through all this just for the benefit of all of you?

Half of the feathers on the flower hawk’s body had been plucked by two winged cavalry guards. But, anyone could still roughly tell how it looked like. Its pair of wings were spread open and about seven or eight meters long. Its body wasn’t small either and was about two to three meters long. It also had a pair of extremely bold and powerful claws. If scratched on one’s body, it might create a few holes on it.

As for its overall appearance, it should have looked rather bold and powerful prior to its feathers being plucked. At present, it was just like a featherless phoenix that was inferior to a simple chicken.

“Sir, there’s something in its stomach.” A winged cavalry ran over and informed Teng Ji. He was holding something in his hands. After rinsing it with water, they were able to make out something that was similar to multi-colored sand.

“Sir Ren, keep this,” Teng Ji said with envy.

“What’s this?” Ren Baqian inquisitively received the item. After carefully observing it, he realized that these things were very tiny granules slightly thicker than sand. Under illumination, these granules reflected weak multi-colored rays of light.

“Those are cloud crystals. As long as we add a little of this when forging weapons, it will immediately turn an ordinary weapon into a Heaven-grade weapon. It can not only cut through metal like butter, but also has different types of efficacy. This handful of cloud crystals will be sufficient to forge a top-notch weapon.” Tao Jiyuan came over to look at the things in Ren Baqian’s hands and revealed a look of admiration. If the cloud crystal was in someone else’s hands, countless of people would definitely try to get their hands on it.

Unfortunately, it’s in the hands of this person. In that case, he should completely not even think of obtaining the cloud crystals from him.

Upon hearing what Tao Jiyuan said, Ren Baqian immediately found a bag and cautiously placed these cloud crystals inside as he was afraid he might leave out even a single bit. At the same time, he ran to see the flower hawk’s stomach which the winged cavalry dug out. Its stomach was as big as the size of a few fists, but was completely bereft at this moment.

Even though he had no use for it, it would be good if he could gift it to the empress. Perhaps, he could sell the cloud crystals off for a huge sum of money or even bring them back to Earth for examination? Who knew if there might be other uses for it.

“These cloud crystals are extremely rare, and I wonder where the flower hawk actually found them. Perhaps, it swallowed these crystals to assist its digestion of food. If we knew where the flower hawk had found these cloud crystals, who knows we may find more.” Teng Ji felt that it was somewhat a pity.

“If there’s going to be such a good thing again, even if I were to get splattered all over my face, I would be just fine with it.”