Chapter 43

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Chapter 43

In shock, Yun Chuyou stared fixedly at Xie Fuzhi’s panel and continued to look at the data behind it.

No matter how many times she looked, the name there was always Xie Fuzhi, just at a different level of power.

The place that should have been filled with the perfect level of Nascent Soul Stage had turned into a mortal, but there was a small note in parentheses that read: Sealed State.

It was not only Xie Fuzhi who was sealed in power, but also Yun Chuyou herself.

After reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, a cultivator can separate their soul to explore the surroundings, but this soul is like an invisible breeze and can be sensed by cultivators who are stronger.

After reaching the Astral Projection Stage, a cultivator can create an external avatar, which is usually of a lower level than their true self.

If the external avatar dies, it will cause some harm to the main body, but it won’t threaten the main body’s life. If necessary, a cultivator can exchange the positions of the main body and the external avatar.

Yun Chuyou knows that some top sects arrange for powerful Astral Projection experts to attach their souls to the external avatars to protect their disciples from accidents in the secret realm.

Usually, this external avatar has high skills and experience, making it much stronger than other cultivators of the same level.

However, once the two sides exchange their cultivation levels, the secret realm will immediately reject them, acting like a one-time secret tool. So, they will not act lightly unless absolutely necessary.

For instance, Buddha Child Shi Rujing has Astral Projection experts’s soul avatars following him, and there are four of them, known as the Four Great Guardians.

Shi Rujing is aware of this situation, but her apprentice is completely in the dark.

She can believe that Xie Fuzhi found a suitable excuse; her master feared that she would act recklessly because she felt supported, so he disguised his appearance and cultivation level, even changing his tone of voice and creating a suitable identity. That special jade token confused Ye Xuanye completely.

Such good intentions deserve understanding from the apprentice…

She can understand that nonsense! Yun Chuyou is sure that Xie Fuzhi did this purely for his own amusement.

If he really wanted to disguise himself, he could easily create a face that didn’t look like his own, but Xie Qi’s face looked very much like his, clearly meant to make her suspicious.

This person could have hinted at his identity many times, but instead, he made various attempts to hide who he was, all while pretending to be confused along the way. What an old person pretending to be a young boy!

It would be one thing if only she didn’t recognize him, but even all the disciples in the sect did not recognize Xie Fuzhi. Yun Chuyou couldn’t even deceive herself into thinking Xie Fuzhi wasn’t doing it on purpose.

Yun Chuyou usually had a good temper, but now she inevitably felt very angry. No one likes to be deceived by others, even if that person is someone they respect, like her master.

"Your Majesty, is there something on their head?"

Xie Fuzhi’s face turned slightly red, "But what is wrong with how I am dressed? You are staring at me, and I feel a bit embarrassed."

Alright, alright, now he was even putting on an act. He was shy? She thought his thick skin was unbelievable, and that overly affected voice was just mocking her.

Yun Chuyou wiped the smile off her face and said coldly, "Your attire is indeed inappropriate. Knowing I was coming, you only wore an inner garment, showing that you don’t care about me at all."

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty!" The previous Palace Steward Emerald immediately knelt down, hurrying to speak up for the queen.

But Yun Chuyou waved her sleeve, "Someone, bring this to the Noble Consort’s Palace. The Queen has lost her manners in front of the palace. How can she set an example for all men by weeping and writing the rules for men one hundred times? Only after that can she leave the Kunning Palace."

As soon as she finished speaking, a maidservant serving the Emperor immediately guided Yun Chuyou.

Queen Xie looked puzzled and quickly followed, calling out, "Chuyou!"

However, he was stopped by a strong palace guard, "Your Majesty, you cannot go outside."

Kneeling Emerald stood up from the ground and also urged the Queen, "Your Majesty, the Emperor is just a bit angry. Once you write the ‘Rules for Men’ one hundred times, you can go to the Emperor and ask for forgiveness. He will surely soften and care for you."

All the spiritual power in his body was taken away, and his body returned to his youth. As a man, the strength he originally had was also greatly suppressed in this world where gender roles were reversed.

Now Xie Fuzhi was just like the weak Queen Emerald spoke of, truly a fragile young man who was easily pushed down, unable to break free from the powerful palace servants, and could only be briefly confined in the Kunning Palace.

Seeing that the Emperor didn’t look back, the Queen had no choice but to sit back at her dressing table, gazing mournfully into the mirror.

After entering this illusion, his disguise vanished completely, and the mirror reflected his youthful face. The self-loving phoenix, upon entering the illusion, had once boasted about his beauty in front of the mirror, but now he felt shaken and a bit self-pitying, "Emerald, do you think I am beautiful?"

Emerald looked at the beautiful face in the mirror and sincerely praised, "Beautiful, Your Majesty, you are the most beautiful person in Mirror Country."

"Why did the Emperor get so angry at me? She clearly stared at me for a long time." Although she wasn’t looking at his face, but rather at the empty space about three inches above his head.

After reminding Yun Chuyou, her joy at seeing an old friend turned into anger, and she became very upset with him.

Xie Fuzhi touched his face: Could it be that his dear apprentice recognized his true identity? That’s why she got angry, but his appearance now is not exactly the same as when he was in Qingxu Sect; he still remembered to speak in a softer voice.

In terms of facial features, his current form used his own dark thoughts, so his looks were not very dignified or pure, appearing a bit more enchanting. If looked at closely, he only resembled his true self about sixty percent.

Just when he first saw the Emperor, Xie Fuzhi’s expression had not been well disguised, and he looked about eighty percent similar at a glance.

Later, the system ruthlessly betrayed him, making things worse and causing Yun Chuyou to be angry with him.

Yun Chuyou didn’t really hate her as the Empress; she was just testing the authority of her Emperor self and also intended to visit the Consort to see who the military-born Consort Emerald mentioned was.

Of course, it was necessary for her to temporarily distance herself from the Empress; she felt she needed to calm down to avoid making any irrational decisions in her anger.

This secret realm seems to magnify people’s negative emotions; a little anger becomes a lot. She just felt her heart racing wildly, really afraid she might die from the queen’s anger.

Fortunately, the test results were quite satisfactory; so far, the emperor’s power is much greater than the queen’s, not the kind of puppet emperor whose words mean nothing. After leaving the queen’s palace, the chilly breeze in the corridor calmed her down a bit.

Inside Kunning Palace, the queen looked at herself in the mirror, her tone growing more sorrowful, like a deep palace’s wronged woman.

"You all go down first, and I’ll call you back in," Emerald smoothly sent everyone away, not leaving a single palace servant in the inner chamber.

As the highest-ranking Palace Steward in the queen’s palace, Emerald was highly valued by the queen, and the other palace servants dared not disobey.

After all, the emperor only asked the queen to copy the rules for men; the queen is still the queen, their master.

As a bridal gift who entered the palace with the queen, Emerald changed her approach, gently advising the queen, "Your Highness, I know you are unwilling, but you have now married into the palace and are Her Majesty’s queen. You should be at peace as the queen and not always think about other things!"

Xie Fuzhi dropped the comb from her hand, "Who do you think I’m giving a green hat to?"

Emerald’s words fit well, and soon Xie Fuzhi realized that she was the unwilling queen who had a past with the Grand Princess but was chosen by the emperor to become his queen.

Because she has someone she loves, the queen always shows a sour face to the emperor. The concubines greet the emperor dressed beautifully, while he, as the father of the nation and a role model for all men, looks unkempt, with messy hair and wearing a simple white robe, clearly showing his dissatisfaction with the emperor.

"Nonsense! This is pure slander. I only have the emperor in my heart; where does this Grand Princess come from?"

The forcibly taken Queen Xie said, "I can’t even remember the Grand Princess’s name; how could I have any secret feelings for her?!"

Who wrote this script? It is simply an insult to his feelings for Yun Chuyou.

He had intentionally avoided speaking and showed a sour face, but this was only because he was forced to stay here, which had nothing to do with the emperor.

Emerald brought out a small box filled with letters and a jade pendant, made of transparent white jade, shaped like Spirit Connecting Jade, "Is this the token the Grand Princess gave you? Do you want to keep it?"

The Spirit Connecting Jade in the market looks different from the ones custom-made by the large sects; this piece has the Tianyuan Sect’s sign on it.

The emperor’s surname is Yun, so the Grand Princess naturally shares the same surname. However, her name is not Yun Mingzhu but Yun Xuan Ye. That’s right, the Grand Princess who has an affair with the queen is actually Ye Xuanye, a boy disguised as a girl.

Upon hearing the name of the Grand Princess, Xie Fuzhi felt both like crying and laughing at the same time. He laughed because Ye Xuanye was quite unfortunate, having to dress as a girl. Just thinking about that cold little brat in women’s clothing made him want to laugh.

But thinking about this country where men and women have switched roles, being the Grand Princess doesn’t seem so bad.

He cried because he had an affair with this guy in his current identity. Outside the illusion, he was called Ye Xuanye’s Martial Uncle, but now he truly had become a senior relative, though not the proper kind, but rather a secret partner!

No way! I absolutely cannot let the emperor misunderstand me, "After entering the palace, I only thought of His Majesty. All that is in the past. Emerald, quickly get someone to help me copy ‘The Virtues of Men.’ I need to leave the palace and explain to His Majesty as soon as possible!"

Upon entering the Noble Consort’s Palace, there was no preparation since she came unexpectedly from the Queen’s side. Yun Chuyou saw the favored consort swinging a big sword in the yard. The old maid had said that the favored consort was sick, and indeed it was a lie to trick her into coming.

However, as soon as the favored consort saw Yun Chuyou, her eyes sparkled, and she tossed the big sword aside and jumped over like a little deer in the forest.

No, the favored consort wasn’t so light; she was like an overly lively little wolf.

"Senior martial sister, aren’t you going to the Queen’s palace? Why have you come to see me? I knew you liked me the most! That sickly Queen doesn’t even want to serve you; only I am truly sincere to my senior martial sister."

Since the favored consort had Meng He’s face, Yun Chuyou stood still and didn’t back away. After all, who could dislike a warm and lively little wolf?

Although the favored consort’s looks couldn’t compare to the captivating Queen, she had a good figure, a youthful body, and smooth muscles with a slightly darker skin tone. But it wasn’t the kind of dark that looked like coal; it was a lovely honey color.

When the favored consort smiled, she had little tiger teeth and a wild beauty different from the men of this time.

When Yun Chuyou saw Meng He, she felt relieved, but when she heard what he said next, her relief quickly vanished, "Meng He, what are you talking about?"

Meng He also had a system panel above his head, showing that it was truly him, and his abilities were suppressed to that of an ordinary person, meaning he had no power at all.

However, at the end of his name, there was a special status: memory confusion.

Suddenly, Yun Chuyou realized something: in this role-playing illusion, it wasn’t just difficult to get into character, but one had to remember their true identity while doing so.

Meng He was very strong and had a tough body, but in terms of mental defense, he could not compare to Yu Jiu.

It was clear that Meng He truly believed he was a consort from a military background and was competing for favor against the "lowly" queen he spoke of.

Yun Chuyou managed to get information from Meng He, who easily shared the basic story, "Queen Xie Qi is the legitimate child of a noble family. Since she was young, she has been weak in body, but due to her noble lineage and outstanding beauty, she was called the most beautiful woman in the Mirror Country."

Meng He, clinging to her arm, acted cutely, "Xie Qi is having an affair with the Grand Princess and doesn’t love Her Majesty at all. This filthy man who disrupts the harem doesn’t deserve to be the father of the palace. Your Majesty, you should depose the queen, and I will certainly behave and be your queen."

"Don’t talk nonsense, the position of the queen cannot be dismissed, you also copy this a hundred times, young man…"

If it weren’t for the fact that the child has grown up, it would be a bit inappropriate to act, Yun Chuyou already wanted to hit her junior brother on the bottom.

What kind of words are these? It is said that illusions often reflect a person’s true inner thoughts. It seems her junior brother has always harbored intentions to betray his teacher and ancestors. No wonder he decisively turned against his sect in the original story.

Yun Chuyou originally wanted Meng He to copy teachings on being a gentleman, but then she changed her words, "Copy the palace rules a hundred times for me!"

She aggressively left the Noble Consort’s Palace, wanting to find out the identities of the others who fell into the illusion and how they were doing now.

This investigation was surprising; Yun Chuyou quickly discovered that her position as emperor was not particularly secure.

Noble Consort Meng He has deep feelings for this emperor. He practiced martial arts from a young age and is Yun Chuyou’s junior brother, so when he meets her, he calls her senior martial sister.

The powerful general behind Meng He also stands by this emperor.

Buddha Child Shi Rujing did not become part of the harem, but he became the grand master of Mirror Country, a grand master ambitious enough to communicate with heaven and earth.

Looking at faces, he appears to be the kind and compassionate Buddha who helps those in need, but in reality, he wishes to overthrow the emperor and is an ambitious schemer.

The secret techniques of the Buddhist sect are somewhat useful. Shi Rujing is the only one in the secret realm who still has a little cultivation left, but this ability is not very strong, probably just at the level of Qi Refining Stage Three.

A Qi Refining cultivator isn’t very powerful and could easily be defeated by some skilled ordinary people. Besides, Shi Rujing doesn’t remember anything about being a cultivator; he only has a bit of Spirit Qi and a Buddhist treasure nearby, along with some minor tricks.

That’s right. After finding a way to meet the grand master, Yun Chuyou, without the help of the system, could tell that his memory was also confused and he didn’t remember his identity as the Buddha Child.

Truly useless beings; none of the men can be relied on.

During the following time, Yun Chuyou also saw several other cultivators who had come in together.

The first illusion round eliminated those few at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and one disciple from the Tianyuan Sect also vanished.

There were only twenty people remaining, and the five from the Buddhist sect became the grand master and the young attendants who served him. Ye Xuanye and his younger martial brothers and sisters were the Grand Princess and her palace maids.

This is a matriarchal kingdom, so there are no eunuchs. Instead, the palace maids need special treatment; those following Ye Xuanye originally were two younger martial brothers and one younger martial sister.

That younger martial sister is Ye Xuanye’s admirer and the only daughter of an elder in their sect. She is not very talented or skilled; she only relies on pills and magical tools to reach her current level.

The other person is a minor character in the story who makes things difficult for the female lead. However, unlike Zhong Wei, who always causes trouble and survives to the later stages as a cruel rival, this somewhat spoiled girl is just a small part with little significance and got eliminated in a solo illusion.

The two remaining junior brothers are Ye Xuanye’s close Palace Servants, nervously guarding the secret of the Grand Princess disguised as a woman.

The female lead, Song Mingzhu, certainly did not become a miserable palace maid; she became the Empress Dowager. Because of her kind and pure nature and great fortune, she became the puppet chosen by the grand master.

Some of the cultivators in Tianheng serve Song Mingzhu, and some have become her admirers. They are young masters from ministerial families who want to betroth themselves to the Empress Dowager.

This arrangement of roles is quite reasonable, as Yun Chuyou immediately thinks of the plot of the original story after hearing those names.

The male lead has admirers, and naturally, there are many around the charming female lead. She is not only beautiful and kind but also has a master of high status. The male disciples of the team practically all have feelings for her.

Song Mingzhu’s two senior martial sisters are her personal ladies-in-waiting. Her Elder Martial Brother is the eldest son of the Ministry of War in this illusion; he is the female lead’s fiancé and the future Empress Dowager’s husband.

That’s right, even though the male lead is older than Song Mingzhu, he is only a son of Concubine Hui, the Grand Princess. Song Mingzhu’s father has a noble background; she is the legitimate third princess and the Empress Dowager. She has also changed her surname to follow the most noble ruler, adopting the surname Yun and becoming Yun Mingzhu.

As for the two cultivators of the Hehuan Sect, Yun Chuyou did not see them in the palace and does not know whether they have not entered or are simply not there.

Also, Yun Chuyou could not find Hu Xiao Bai. As the emperor, she does not have a harem of three thousand beauties, just a few consorts, and besides NPC Concubine Hui, there are only people from her sect, and Hu Xiao Bai is not among them.

The current queen is not Yun Chuyou’s original queen but a step queen.

Yun Chuyou’s Queen Yuan passed away early, so the grand master set his sights on the Empress Dowager, who is easier to control since she has no family ties, and he can also blame Yun Chuyou for Queen Yuan’s death.

When Yun Chuyou heard that she actually had a Queen Yuan, her face fell uncontrollably. After all, she is young and beautiful, just in her twenties; how could she have so many children who are so much older?

Well, Song Mingzhu is one thing; she remembers that Ye Xuanye is older than her!

By the way, Zhong Wei is also a princess. She is a bit older than Song Mingzhu, being the second princess, but her father’s status was lowly, and he passed away right after she was born.

Because she grew up without her biological father to care for her, her life was very hard, and she was like a mushroom growing moldy in a corner on a rainy day.

After working so hard to raise healthy and sunny children, seeing the self-doubting and gloomy little girl made Yun Chuyou feel very tired.

Luckily, when the little girl saw herself, her eyes struggled, revealing an uncontrollable feeling of longing, instead of hating her stepmother like she did her real father.

It was precisely because the relationships between characters matched reality in some way that those confused cultivators took this magical illusion, which magnified emotions, completely seriously, each of them appearing lost in the dream and unable to wake up.

Yun Chuyou originally placed her hopes for a solution in the male and female leads, but Song Mingzhu was just a simple girl, and she had already been cleverly influenced by the grand master, making her quite wary.

Seeing this scene, she really wanted to tell Song Mingzhu, "Song Mingzhu, your last name is Song, not Yun. You have your own parents. Wake up quickly and find a way to break this illusion!"

However, she couldn’t let others hear what she knew, so she could only find a way to hint through letters.

The grand master Shi Rujing’s people intercepted Yun Chuyou’s hinting letter and publicly ripped it apart.

As the emperor, Yun Chuyou had to work hard in the illusion to review memorials and handle state affairs. There was no way to avoid this; if she didn’t do these things, she would have to attend to the harem.

Although she was unhappy about Xie Fuzhi’s deception, Yun Chuyou couldn’t betray her teacher or toy with her junior.

Oh, right, Yun Chuyou had another junior apprentice, Junior Martial Brother Yu Jiu. She didn’t know if the illusion had taken from his past of using a wheelchair, but after finally standing up, Yu Jiu found himself back in a wheelchair in the illusion.

Queen Xie always pretended to be sick to avoid sleeping with the king because she was having an affair. Yu Jiu, on the other hand, was truly a sickly beauty.

However, even though he was sick, he was not actually a cripple; he just had some trouble walking.

The other person did not enter the emperor’s harem. His role was the legitimate eldest son of the queen mother, whose father died early and had a wicked stepfather.

Yu Jiu kept his name. In the dream world, his mother was the Duke of Rong, and his father was the former Princess of Anle, giving him a very noble status.

The Princess of Anle here was the father of Yun Chuyou, who was also the emperor’s nephew and was favored by the late emperor.

But after his father died, the Duke of Rong remarried the daughter of a minor official.

With a stepfather came a stepmother, and this well-known son in Mirror Country had a hard life in the palace. He was pushed into a pond when he was young, and because of his fragile health, he had few chances to have children.

This news was spread by his unkind stepfather, making it very difficult for him in matters of marriage. Despite his outstanding looks and talent, he was about to be forced to marry a woman who was completely unworthy, all because his wicked stepfather wanted to lift his own son by stepping on Yu Jiu.

To take revenge and to control his own marriage, Yu Jiu set his sights on the most powerful person in the world, which was the current emperor, Yun Chuyou. After all, there was no one more noble than the emperor, and no one dared to compete with the emperor for a man.

Yu Jiu had no romantic feelings for the emperor; his goal was to rise to a high position and honor his family’s remains.

Although his grandfather was no longer in the world, his grandfather’s brother, who was the current empress, was still in the palace. As long as Yu Jiu wanted, it would be easy for him to get close to the emperor.

In Yu Jiu’s memory, the emperor was a bit older, but he was very handsome, and there weren’t many people in the harem.

Yu Jiu was now a cousin of Yun Chuyou, and a junior brother was also considered a brother.

However, in a feudal society, it was very common for cousins to be closely related.

Especially in royal families, those who became empress often found ways to marry their own family members into the palace.

When Yun Chuyou saw Yu Jiu, it was as if he was using charm to try to enter the palace.

Seeing the younger martial brothers and sisters in a state of confusion, Yun Chuyou really wanted to go crazy right there: Help! Everyone, wake up a little!