This Is What a Villain Is Like

"You are dismissed."

Emperor Xia waved her hand dismissively, then turned and returned to the palace.

She had already sent away all the palace maids and eunuchs, leaving only a few trusted female attendants.

Her gaze swept over the vast, empty palace, finally landing on the glittering golden Throne at the head of the hall.

"Replace the Throne. Swap it for a comfortable couch..." she mused for a moment before giving the order.

After her cultivation broke through to the Eighth Realm, her mindset had grown more unrestrained and natural.

Before, she had been constrained by various factors. She had even modeled her bearing and conduct on the Ancient Emperors from the history books. But now... she understood a certain truth.

So-called ’propriety’ was built upon strength and fists.

After today, even if she were to casually recline on a couch, what would the court officials dare to say?

"Yes." The few female attendants quickly got to work.

With a sweep of her gaze, the memorials on her desk flew into the air and floated before her, their pages flipping open with a RUSTLE.

At the same time, countless thoughts surfaced in her mind, as if many Spirit Soul Minions were reading and approving the memorials. She could multitask with ease, her efficiency far exceeding what it once was.

She had only just transcended the limits of her mortal flesh and touched the "Dao," yet she already possessed such mystical abilities.

If her cultivation deepened, she could multitask a thousand, even ten thousand things at once. Her wisdom and abilities would rise accordingly. According to legend, the Ancient Emperors could foresee the future, always making the correct choice when faced with a problem and developing the Court and the nation to their absolute peak.

"What is Jiang Lan’s condition now?"

Emperor Xia reined in her thoughts. Her cultivation had just broken through and still needed to be stabilized. However, she had to admit that she owed this opportunity to Jiang Lan.

Now, everyone in the Court was speculating whether she had secretly made a deal with the Prime Minister’s Mansion long ago.

"Your Majesty," Spring Orchid reported, "after the Qianyuan Cave Realm self-destructed, Young Master Jiang was caught in the fallout. Although he had a protective item, his injuries were still severe and he fell unconscious. Men from the Prime Minister’s Mansion found him afterward and brought him back to the estate. He should still be recuperating now."

"Still recuperating?"

Emperor Xia nodded slightly. After a moment’s thought, she ordered, "Go and visit him in my name. And retrieve ten three-thousand-year-old stalks of Heart Nourishing Celestial Light Grass, three bottles of Imperial Extreme Dragon Clear Pills, and one drop of Nether Spring Earth Core Jade Marrow from the national treasury to be sent over. Within the Qianyuan Cave Realm, he rendered a great service in protecting me. This is his reward."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Spring Orchid bowed and withdrew.

Emperor Xia knew that with Jiang Lan’s status, he had no need for these things. But it was, after all, a gesture.

’If I do nothing,’ she thought, ’the court ministers will probably grow even more suspicious of Jiang Lan. But if I do this, they’ll wonder if there’s some sort of agreement between the Prime Minister’s Mansion and me.’

They would assume Jiang Lan helping me in the Qianyuan Cave Realm was the Prime Minister’s idea, not his own.

After all, everyone knew she and the Prime Minister’s Mansion were like fire and water. For her to send someone to visit immediately after her breakthrough to the Eighth Realm would very likely be seen as a gesture of goodwill toward the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Her intention was to muddy the waters.

「Meanwhile, in the Prime Minister’s Mansion.」

Jiang Lan, his face pale, was basking in the sun in the courtyard. Behind him was a soft couch that a group of Attendants had carried out, draped in the soft down of some unknown Demon Beast. Incense with a calming and focus-enhancing effect was burning nearby.

He kept his eyes slightly squinted, occasionally opening his mouth to eat a piece of peeled Spirit Fruit that You’Er brought to his lips. He looked every bit the part of a weak, injured man who had only just awoken.

"This is the medicinal soup prescribed by the Imperial Physician..."

The scent of medicine wafted through the air. Li Mengning approached carrying a white porcelain bowl that contained a jet-black decoction, which gave off an overpowering medicinal smell.

Jiang Lan’s consciousness had been immersed in his Mud Ball Palace. He only returned to his senses when he heard her voice.

"This soup is too bitter. I’m not drinking it." He shook his head and held out a hand, and You’Er helped him sit up.

"It’s not bitter..."

Li Mengning’s clear, serene eyes stared at him, her expression suggesting she would force it down his throat if he didn’t obey.

Jiang Lan maintained his lazy demeanor. "Even if it’s not bitter, I’m not drinking it."

Li Mengning stared at him, her cheeks seemingly puffing out.

"How about you feed me?" Jiang Lan asked, looking at her with a chuckle.

Hearing this, Li Mengning picked up the soup spoon, intending to feed him herself.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan immediately stopped her. "Not that way. It’ll still be bitter if you feed me like that..."

"Hm?" Li Mengning was confused.

Beside them, You’Er quickly gestured to explain.

Li Mengning froze for a moment. She looked at the medicinal soup, then back at the grinning Jiang Lan, suddenly uncertain what to do.

"..."

She pressed her soft, red lips together, the tips of her ears growing hot and red as she hesitated.

"You’re tricking me..."

"It would still be bitter that way."

She suddenly realized he was just trying to tease her again.

Jiang Lan put on a serious expression. "It really isn’t bitter. If you don’t believe me, you should try it..."

"Childish..." Li Mengning had already seen through his ploy.

Jiang Lan suddenly looked bored. He listlessly flopped back onto the couch. "Sigh. Mengning, you’ve gotten smarter."

"..."

Li Mengning really wanted to put down the bowl of soup and give him a few good punches.

Still, she had personally brewed the decoction, so Jiang Lan naturally didn’t refuse her kind intentions.

Besides, he was genuinely injured. He had paid an enormous price to seize the Dragon-Suppressing Seal from afar.

It was, after all, the national treasure of Great Xia, imbued with thousands of years of the nation’s dense Dragon Fortune and fate. The difficulty of seizing it remotely far surpassed that of any other Dao Artifact.

He had nearly failed and suffered a backlash. In the end, it was thanks to a tremor from the Ancient Vine, which sent out waves of a strange suction force, that he, in combination with the Infinite Blood River, managed to narrowly snatch the Dragon-Suppressing Seal away.