159: treat

In the Imperial Palace of the Great Qian Divine Dynasty, the afternoon sun slanted across the glazed tiles, reflecting a dazzling solemnity and majesty.

The Black Imperial Edict, symbolizing the highest authority of the Divine Dynasty, was currently held in Lin Chen's hand.

"Proclaiming: Lin Chen of the Heavenly Physician Hall, enter the Palace immediately to meet Your Majesty—!"

The voice of the female official delivering the decree was sharp and cold, carrying an air of undeniable arrogance. However, when she saw the two women standing beside Lin Chen, that arrogance instantly froze on her face.

To the left, Great General Red Makeup Ye wore dark red military attire, her hand resting on the long saber at her waist. Her eyes, brimming with Killing Intent, merely swept across the official, instantly making the Female Decree Official's knees weak. To the right, Clear Profound Ji, the Prime Minister's daughter, sat in a wheelchair, yet her sinister and profound aura enveloped the entire courtyard like an invisible spiderweb.

"Let's go, Lin-lang." Clear Profound Ji spoke softly, her long, fair hands naturally adjusting Lin Chen's collar, the gesture intimate and casual, completely disregarding the astonished gazes of the onlookers.

Along the way, the Imperial Palace guards couldn't help but look sideways. In the Great Qian Divine Dynasty, where women held power, men who entered the Palace were usually male consorts or servants. When had they ever seen a man walking brazenly down the center of the Imperial Path, accompanied by the Divine Dynasty's two most powerful women?

The Hall of Golden Chimes.

This was the heart of the Great Qian Divine Dynasty. The air was filled with the rich scent of Dragon Saliva Incense, along with a heavy pressure that seemed to solidify the atmosphere.

The moment Lin Chen stepped into the great hall, the gazes of the hundred officials pierced him like sharp blades. These female officials, who controlled the lifeblood of the Empire, were originally preparing to watch a show, but upon seeing Red Makeup Ye and Clear Profound Ji acting almost like bodyguards, they all fell into a deathly silence.

Above the Dragon Throne, ten thousand beams of golden light cascaded down.

The Empress sat high upon it. A Beaded Curtain obscured her true appearance, only allowing a vague glimpse of an extremely graceful yet majestic silhouette. She rested one hand on her forehead, and the wide cuff of her Dragon Robe drooped, revealing a section of her wrist that was as white as frost and snow but contained explosive power.

"Are you Lin Chen?"

The voice descended from above, like thunder from the Nine Heavens, carrying the terrifying pressure of the Great Perfection of the Dao Integration Realm, causing the floor tiles in the hall to hum.

"Seeing Us, why do you not kneel?"

That heavenly might locked onto Lin Chen, intending to crush his knees. Lin Chen merely smiled faintly. The Yang Qi belonging to the 'Human Emperor's Vitality' quietly circulated within him, instantly dissolving the pressure into nothingness.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze unabashedly penetrating the Beaded Curtain, looking directly into the Phoenix eyes hidden in the shadows.

"This commoner, Lin Chen, is a physician." Lin Chen's voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly throughout the spacious hall. "If I kneel, my knees will bend, and my ability to diagnose will be blinded. Does Your Majesty wish to see a subservient slave, or does Your Majesty wish to save her own life?"

"Impudence!"

"How dare this arrogant fool!"

The entire court of female officials erupted in anger, and several hot-tempered military generals had already gripped their sword hilts.

However, before the Empress could speak, two voices rang out almost simultaneously.

"Your Majesty, please quell your anger!" Red Makeup Ye stepped forward and knelt on one knee, her voice clashing like metal and stone. "Divine Doctor Lin's medical skills are divine. The old illness on this servant's body was personally cured by him. Such a miraculous person should not be treated with common etiquette!"

"Your Majesty," Clear Profound Ji also pushed her wheelchair forward, a strange smile hanging on her pale face. "Qing Xuan was disabled for over ten years. That I can stand here today is entirely due to the grace of Doctor Lin's reconstruction. If he is harmed, the National Destiny of the Great Qian Divine Dynasty will surely suffer."

Behind the Beaded Curtain, the Empress's figure stiffened slightly.

She had never imagined that her most trusted left and right hands—one military, one civil—would openly pressure her in the Hall of Golden Chimes for the sake of the same man. This feeling was not just surprise; a sense of crisis as a ruler spontaneously arose in her heart.

"Good, very good." The Empress laughed softly, but the laughter carried a bone-chilling coldness. "Since my two Beloved Ministers strongly vouch for you, We shall give you this opportunity."

She flicked her sleeve abruptly, and Dragon Qi swept out.

"All officials retreat! Lin Chen, follow Us into the Hall of Mental Cultivation. We want to see if the quality of your 'Divine Doctor' title is enough to touch Our Empire!"

...The Hall of Mental Cultivation.

This was the most private Forbidden Ground of the Great Qian Female Emperor. Normally, apart from her Personal Maidservants, absolutely no one else could step inside, let alone a man.

The moment the large doors closed, all light seemed to be cut off.

The Empress's figure appeared instantly before Lin Chen like a phantom. Her cold, slender hand, filled with destructive power, clamped tightly onto Lin Chen's neck, slamming him hard against the Zitan Wood Dragon Pillar.

"What kind of Bewitching Potion did you give them?"

The Beaded Curtain had long since been removed. This was the first time Lin Chen had a clear, close-up look at the Female Emperor.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, a shocking combination of ultimate power and feminine charm. Her Phoenix eyes were long and narrow, a faint golden makeup extending diagonally toward her temples. Her red lips were like raging fire, revealing an air of cold, unapproachable arrogance.

But at this moment, Lin Chen clearly saw an extremely tiny streak of golden light throbbing on the side of her neck, which was as delicate as ivory.

"If We kill you, they will hate Us, but We absolutely will not allow such variables to exist in the Great Qian Divine Dynasty." The Empress's fingers gradually tightened, her nails digging into Lin Chen's skin. "Speak, what are your intentions in approaching them?"

Even though Lin Chen was struggling to breathe, the irritating smirk remained on his lips.

Not only did he not struggle, but he extended his hand and lightly stroked the back of the Empress's hand that was tightly clamped around his throat.

"Your Majesty, rather than worrying about my intentions, you should first worry about the 'Dragon' inside your body."

Lin Chen's voice was extremely soft, yet it struck the Empress's heart like a heavy hammer.

"You cultivate the Nine Revolutions Dragon God Technique, but because you forcibly attempted a Breakthrough into the Dao Integration Realm, your Yin and Yang became unbalanced, and the Dragon Qi transformed into a Gu. If it is not regulated in time, every Zi Shi, that 'Golden Dragon' will gnaw at your Heart Meridians."

Lin Chen's gaze fell upon the faintly visible golden scales on her neck, his tone mocking: "Your Majesty, the secret beneath your Dragon Robe is probably about to be exposed, isn't it? Kill me, and tonight you will suffer an Explosive Death under the torment of that 'worm'."

The Empress's pupils contracted sharply, and she froze completely on the spot.

This secret was known to absolutely no one else in the world except for her!

She released her grip. For the first time, her eyes showed struggle, anger, and a deep-seated fear. The internal heat, just as Lin Chen had said, was already stirring within her Meridians. That agony, like ten thousand ants gnawing at her marrow, was indeed on the verge of collapse.

"We are the Son of Heaven... Our destiny is decided by Us, not by Heaven!" She forcefully maintained her majesty, but her constantly trembling long eyelashes betrayed her weakness.

"But in the eyes of a physician, you are just a woman who is about to die from illness."

Lin Chen straightened his collar, then sat down brazenly on the Female Emperor's Phoenix Couch, pointing to the spot in front of him.

"If you want to live, put away your ridiculous imperial pretense. Take off your clothes... I mean, since we are treating an illness, we must be honest and open."

A deathly silence fell over the hall.

The Empress stared intently at Lin Chen, her hands—which could decide the lives of millions—clenched tightly into fists, but finally, they slowly loosened.

"If you cannot cure Me... even if I die, I will drag you down into the Yellow Springs with Me."

She turned her back. That heavy Dragon Robe, symbolizing supreme power, slid inch by inch down her perfectly sculpted shoulders onto the cold floor tiles.

At that moment, the supreme majesty of the Great Qian Divine Dynasty completely shed its defenses before Lin Chen.

What met Lin Chen's eyes was a back view capable of causing gods to fall.

The Empress's back was straight like an ancient pine, yet her curves were graceful like flowing clouds. The skin, long constrained beneath the heavy Dragon Robe, was so white it almost glowed, but it showed an extremely unhealthy dark red tint. On her lower back, a slender golden pattern, like a living young Dragon, was frantically moving up her spine, and every spot it passed caused her delicate body to tremble violently.

"Since we're treating it, let's treat it thoroughly."

Lin Chen's voice deepened. He took out a Dragon-Patterned Golden Needle emitting a faint glow, but instead of rushing to insert it, he reached out his palm and steadily placed it on the Empress's hot, taut lower back.

"Ah—!"

The Empress let out an extremely suppressed gasp. As the Female Emperor, she had never been touched by any member of the opposite sex, let alone such an unconcealed, even hot and invasive, direct contact.

That extremely overbearing Pure Yang Qi belonging to Lin Chen instantly collided with the rampaging cold Dragon Qi within her body.

"Don't move, Your Majesty."

Lin Chen leaned closer, his nostrils filled with the intoxicating scent of the Female Emperor, a mix of Dragon Saliva Incense and a virgin's subtle fragrance. His fingers slowly traced the golden pattern, and every touch brought waves of tingling numbness, like electric currents.

The Empress had completely lost the composure of a ruler at this moment. She gritted her teeth tightly, supporting herself with both hands on the armrests of the Phoenix Couch, her fingernails leaving deep scratches in the wood.

This feeling of being completely controlled by the opposite sex, which she had never experienced, brought her extreme shame, yet the subsequent warm pleasure that suppressed the pain made her long-parched body desperately crave it.

"Lin Chen... you... if you dare..."

"I dare to do much more than that."

Lin Chen suddenly plunged the Golden Needle in, then opened his mouth and actually kissed the source of the golden pattern—the area around her round and prominent Butterfly Bone.

"Mmm... Wuu..."

The Female Emperor's final angry reprimand turned into a long, mournful, whimpering cry.

At this moment, there was no ruler and subject in the Hall of Mental Cultivation; there was only a Female Emperor being gradually dismantled by desire and instinct, and a man coldly observing his prey, preparing to completely rewrite this era.

Amidst the giant waves of Spiritual Qi stirred up by the Golden Needle, the Empress vaguely saw the Empire's defenses she had painstakingly built for twenty years collapsing completely with every rhythmic movement of this man's fingertips.