The Empress's Gigolo

Chapter 231: Changes in the Body

Translator: TYZ Editor: Book_Hoarder

Ren Baqian’s surroundings were engulfed in deep blue. The tinge of sunlight coming from above him was the reason why his surroundings weren’t in complete darkness. The water all around him pressed heavily against his muscles and bones. Even so, Ren Baqian was trying his best to swim downwards. He had already thrown the notion of giving up unimaginably far away. Now, all he could think about was continuing to swimming downwards.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly woke up after his body lost all its energy.

“Phew!” Ren Baqian was panting heavily, looking as if he had extruded all the air that was stuck in his lungs just now.

After a while, Ren Baqian clenched his fists, but they remained soft and strengthless. However, his eyes exuded a bright glint.

Today, he actually dove into the lake one meter deeper than usual.

He had cultivated [Ruyi Visualization] for a very long period of time. Usually, after he took a medicinal bath, he could only dive deeper into the lake by 14 centimeters than before every one day. It would take him seven days to dive a rough total of one meter. Seven days were the duration that was needed for him to fully absorb the nutrients of the medicinal bath.

However, today he actually dove one meter deeper than the day before yesterday.

“Why would this happen?” Ren Baqian pondered deeply.

For the past few days, not many changes had happened. Yesterday, he did not train at all, and yet he was able to dive one meter deeper than usual. This was equivalent to absorbing all the nutrients of one medicinal bath in one go.

The only noteworthy event that happened recently was that he killed a man and severely injured another yesterday.

However, killing a man and severely injuring a man had no link to his cultivation progress.

Could the fear-stimulated retaliation on the two burglars cause these changes?

Ren Baqian felt it was highly likely that his physical potential was unleashed when he was fighting for his life.

No expert became the best in the world by training under a cliff for thirty years. People who did this were usually killed by a shoe that appeared out of nowhere after yelling “I’m the best in the world”.

Not only could a life-or-death battle allow one to master various techniques and improve his reaction time, judgement, and experience, there would also be some changes to his body as well. Ren Baqian felt this was an easy concept to understand.

After all, the human body held many amazing secrets.

It has happened before that someone could exert strength that was a few times larger than usual upon encountering danger. This was the hidden potential of the human body.

Perhaps the same thing happened to his body as well? Not only did he experience a life-or-death battle, he was cultivating [Ruyi Visualization] as well. This might be the cause of the changes in his body.

Perhaps he should return to Dayao and try it out? Should he spar with the imperial guards? Upon thinking about it, Ren Baqian felt that this idea might not work.

Firstly, a sparring session and a life-or-death battle were two completely different things. Secondly, he reckoned that he wouldn’t even be able to defeat one hand of an imperial guard.

He might have a chance if he found a ten-year-old kid to spar with.

No matter what, he decided to go back and give it a try first. After all, there was no harm in trying.

If he really had to fight a life-or-death battle during a sparring session, he would rather take the medicinal baths and let his cultivation progress slowly. Initiating a life-or-death battle for no reason might really cost his life.

The more he thought about it, the more tired he got. Unknowingly, he fell into a deep slumber.

After an unknown amount of time, Ren Baqian was woken up by hunger. His stomach sounded as though there was a drum being beaten inside. The feeling of hunger was unbearable.

When he looked through the window and saw that the sky was still dark, he checked his phone and realized that he had slept for only three hours.

However, his belly was already crying for food. Right now, all Ren Baqian could think of was getting some food to eat.

Upon arriving downstairs, he realized that the bloodstains had already been cleaned. The stench of blood was no longer there either. Usually, ordinary people would find it uncomfortable and unlucky to walk past a place where a person had just died. Ren Baqian simply did not care about this at all.

After eating a bowl of instant noodles, Ren Baqian caressed his belly with satisfaction, feeling as though he had returned to life. Suddenly, a bout of hunger struck him again.

Even after eating three bowls of instant noodles in a row, Ren Baqian still felt hungry. It was only after he cooked five packets of frozen dumplings and finished them all that he felt slightly better.

“Goddamnit, I’m finally alive,” Ren Baqian touched his belly and groaned.

“Could these changes be due to the increase in my strength? Does it mean that my body needs more energy now?” Ren Baqian thought to himself. If the empress solely depended on rice to replenish her energy, the amount of rice she would have to eat would scare an ordinary person out of his wits.

In the past, he would acquire the necessary nutrients from taking the medicinal bath. This time around, he solely depended on eating food to get the nutrients. No wonder he kept feeling hungry.

He walked to the living room and tried using the chest expander. This time around, he spread it apart with more ease than last time. This showed that his strength had increased again.

Every time he completely absorbed the nutrients of one medicinal bath, he would be able to dive one meter deeper into the lake and his strength would increase by 75 newtons. This might be the reason why he felt so hungry this time around.

Before he started taking the medicinal baths, the maximum weight was 65 kilograms. Does it mean that the maximum weight he could lift now was approximately 95 kilograms?

Even though he might not be able to defeat an ordinary aboriginal still, he was very satisfied and happy with the amount of progress he had made.

Ren Baqian returned to his bed and continued his sleep. The second day, he went to buy the crystalline solar panel and electrical accumulator that he had his eyes on previously. This electrical accumulator could store kilowatts of electricity. Two of these electrical accumulators would be enough to sustain electric lights in Yangxin Palace Hall.

If he bought two more of these electrical accumulators, he might even be able get the empress a television or a video game console.

Afterwards, Ren Baqian bought two Chinese-style floor lamps. They looked somewhat like the lamps in the palace. There was a vent on top of it and a paper lantern hanging beneath it. There was even a painting of flowers and birds on the paper lantern.

Each floor lamp used a 20-watt light bulb. With an electrical accumulator, the floor lamps could last for 90 hours.

Next time, he would buy an additional electrical accumulator as a backup.

Two days later, Ren Baqian returned to Pingle Park with two floor lamps and an electrical accumulator. The electrical accumulator and crystalline solar panel weighed a total of 70 kilograms while the two floor lamps weighed 17 kilograms. With 8 kilograms of available space, Ren Baqian bought some candies, popcorn, and hotpot ingredients.

By the time Ren Baqian returned to Pingle Park, it was morning. He took a medicinal bath first. Then, he called the empress with the walkie-talkie. After a while, his call was put through. Before Ren Baqian could talk, he heard a commotion on the other end of the line. “Tong Zhenye, you old bast*rd! Today I will let you have a taste of my sword!”

“Humph! Sir Qin, I can defeat you with only one hand,” Tong Zhenye’s voice came out of the walkie-talkie as well.

“Arghhhhh! I’m going to kill you today!”

Following which, all Ren Baqian could hear was commotion and heckles… He couldn’t even hear anyone attempting to mediate the fight.

Ren Baqian rolled his eyes. So, this was how the court session in Dayao was like? It was indeed aboriginal-style.

Qin Chuan is the Minister of War, right? Ren Baqian couldn’t believe the Minister of War and the Minister of Works were going to fight. If this happened in modern days, they would headline the news for half a month straight.

Just as Ren Baqian began to develop interest in the commotion with his eyes sparkling, the empress suddenly switched off the walkie-talkie. It was a pity that he couldn’t know the outcome of the commotion.

It was already afternoon before someone finally came to Pingle Park to find Ren Baqian. “Deputy Prefect Ren, Her Majesty has summoned you to Yangxin Palace Hall to eat with her.”

Ren Baqian let the imperial guard hold the box of things he brought here and headed to Yangxin Palace Hall. Upon arriving there, he saw the empress lying on her couch rubbing her head. He wondered whether or not it was the commotion during the court session that caused her to have a headache.

When the empress saw the box, she raised her head and asked curiously, “What is that”

“Floor lamps. Your Majesty, you no longer need to endure the irritating smoke from the oil lamps,” Ren Baqian chuckled and said.

After finishing their lunch, Ren Baqian quickly opened up the box. Then, he placed the floor lamps on each side of the empress’s wooden couch. The style of the floor lamps matched this palace hall perfectly.

Following which, Ren Baqian placed the electrical accumulator behind the wooden couch and plugged the floor lamps’ power cables into it. Next, he turned on the switches of the floor lamps and they lit up immediately.

The floor lamps gave off a warm yellow light. It wasn’t dazzling, but rather, just bright enough to light up the surroundings of the couch.

Qing Yuan’s and Hong Luan’s mouths turned O-shaped. Previously, they only saw Ren Baqian taking out a bunch of cables. They did not see him taking out oil or lighting any wick. So how did the lamps light up?

The empress felt the warmth of the light from the floor lamps and nodded her head. The brightness of the light was very comfortable.

The floor lamps were much brighter than oil lamps and they wouldn’t flicker. Most importantly, she did not need to inhale the smoke from oil lamps anymore

Just as Ren Baqian was looking at the floor lamps with satisfaction while thinking that he had done a noble deed by bringing electrical light to this world, the empress suddenly asked, “Did you bring back the erhu that you have promised me?”

Ren Baqian, “…”