Chapter 187: Hold On, Imperial Advisor! I, the Emperor, Have Recovered 24

Chapter 187: Hold On, Imperial Preceptor! I'm Cured 24

"False Joyweed?"

Qin Hanyue pondered for a moment, then recalled that he had indeed confiscated this kind of shady stuff from disciples of the Tianyan Sect.

However, even he, who had spent centuries in the cultivation world, wasn't entirely familiar with this substance. How did Lin Huaiqing know it so well and could use it so effectively?

"You're not going to tell me the previous Imperial Preceptor told you about this too, are you?"

Qin Hanyue beat him to the punch, blocking all his excuses.

But Lin Huaiqing still stuck to his guns: "So what if he did? What, not allowed? If the Imperial Preceptor has nothing else to do, then get out."

He was obviously full of it!

Qin Hanyue felt a surge of anger: "Who says I've got nothing to do?"

"???"

"It's been months since our last soul-cultivation session. Since we're treating your condition, we can't just stop halfway. Tonight just happens to be free."

Qin Hanyue's body, with that cool, fragrant scent of his, suddenly leaned in. After murmuring something in his ear, he pressed him down onto the couch.

He said, each word deliberate: "So I've come specifically to perform soul cultivation with Your Majesty, to cure you."

Lin Huaiqing was caught off guard by Qin Hanyue's sudden boldness.

"R-right now?!"

"Mm."

"But there's someone right here!" Lin Huaiqing referred to Concubine Yan, who was passed out on the dragon bed, out cold.

"Don't you know that once she took that False Joyweed, not even thunder could wake her? She can't hear or see anything, so why do you care?"

While Lin Huaiqing was mulling it over, Qin Hanyue had already whipped off his belt.

He said, with a straight face: "Just in case you get too hot later."

Then he yanked Lin Huaiqing's soul straight into his own sea of consciousness.

The two of them, acting like no one else was there, went at it right there on the side couch—doing the kind of dual cultivation only dao companions do.

Inside the sea of consciousness, time didn't exist. Lin Huaiqing was swept along, his soul carried wherever the waves took him.

First time's awkward, second time's a charm. This time, Lin Huaiqing held out a full two hours before his soul hit its limit and got kicked out of Qin Hanyue's sea of consciousness.

Returning to his physical body, Lin Huaiqing was soaked in sweat, totally out of it.

Every soul-cultivation session with Qin Hanyue nearly killed him, but Qin Hanyue didn't look tired at all—just lazier than usual.

The couch was way too small for two grown men, barely any room to move. Lin Huaiqing, completely spent, flopped face-down on the pillow, with Qin Hanyue's arms wrapped around him.

He glanced over at Concubine Yan—she still wasn't done.

I mean, Concubine Yan was technically his woman. Doing soul cultivation with Qin Hanyue right in front of her, out of nowhere, made shame flood through Lin Huaiqing.

To blow off steam, Lin Huaiqing kicked Qin Hanyue in the calf: "Next time, if I don't say yes, you don't get to force this on me."

"You really are the type to deny everything once your pants are back on. I'm just treating you, helping you get your mojo back faster."

Lin Huaiqing couldn't be bothered to bicker with him. After kicking him out, he was shocked to find he'd already broken through to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

That meant he was just a hair's breadth away from the Golden Core stage.

So dual cultivation really was this fast—no wonder the Harmony Sect was a thing in the cultivation world. This speed was just ridiculous.

After everything that happened that night, dawn was already breaking outside. Good thing he didn't need to sleep every night to stay sharp.

Otherwise, he'd drop dead from exhaustion sooner or later.

Figuring it was about time for Concubine Yan to wake up, Lin Huaiqing quickly crawled back into his dragon bed and played possum.

Feeling the person next to him start to stir, Lin Huaiqing stretched and faked a just-woke-up look.

"You're awake, my dear?"

Concubine Yan stretched like a kitten, then shyly snuggled into Lin Huaiqing's arms, her voice all soft and flirty:

"You wore me out last night, Your Majesty. So mean!"

She really hadn't expected the Little Emperor to be so secretly impressive!

No wonder her dad had suspected the Little Emperor was shooting blanks and sent her in as a spy. He wasn't impotent at all—he was way too capable.

If he wasn't capable, then nobody on earth was.

Guess you really can't trust rumors—only fools believe hearsay. You had to check things out yourself before making any calls.

"I'm pretty satisfied with you too, my dear."

To show how pleased he was, Lin Huaiqing promoted her straight to Consort Yan.

He even had his own eunuch escort Consort Yan back to Weiyang Palace.

On the way, Yan Weiquan was a real smooth talker, making Consort Yan's heart swell with joy.

"Consort Yan, this old servant has never seen His Majesty dote on any consort like this before. Besides Virtuous Consort, who's carrying the dragon heir, you're definitely the top favorite in the harem..."

"Chief Yan, you flatter me. This is my first time serving His Majesty. If I mess up on anything in the future, please give me a heads-up, Chief Yan."

"You're too kind, Consort Yan. I'll have His Majesty's gifts sent over shortly. But tonight, you should get ready—His Majesty might call for you again."

"For real?!"

After Yan Weiquan left, Consort Yan sent all the servants away, keeping only the maid she'd brought from the Zhao household.

Consort Yan scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her head maid, Cui'er, to smuggle out of the palace.

The secret letter from the palace reached Zhao Ge, far outside the capital, by that afternoon.

After reading the note, Zhao Ge's face soured. He slammed the paper on the table and vented to his disciples and cronies.

With a nod from Zhao Ge, the Minister of War next to him grabbed the note, skimmed it, and passed it around.

"Hmph! This emperor's got some nerve—he played us all. Did he spread those rumors on purpose to bait us?"

"Yeah! This kid's sharp and scheming, keeping up the act for all these years. We've gotta be careful!"

"It seems his initial feigned illness was to preserve his strength during the succession struggle, and now he keeps up the act just to set a trap for the Prime Minister, deliberately lulling us into complacency. What a cunning plan."

None of what the others said hit home with Zhao Ge. He swept his gaze across the room and locked onto Lin Cheng.

"Lin Cheng, what do you make of this?"

Lin Cheng, who had been skulking in the corner, was singled out by Zhao Ge, and all eyes turned toward him.

"Well... if you ask me, maybe His Majesty isn't intentionally hiding anything. Maybe there's something fishy going on."

But right after he said that, someone disagreed.

"What's fishy about it? Isn't it obvious that Consort De's pregnancy couldn't be kept secret anymore, and His Majesty just couldn't keep up the pretense, so he went ahead and slept with Consort Yan."

Lin Cheng merely smiled, unwilling to argue further.

In his view, Zhao Ge's ambition to seize the throne was an open secret.

When he first entered officialdom, Zhao Ge had been kind to him, supporting him along the way, and at the time, Lin Cheng hadn't seen through Zhao Ge's wolfish ambitions.

So he had unknowingly aligned himself with Zhao Ge's faction, and it was only after the Late Emperor's passing that Zhao Ge's true ambitions gradually came to light.