Chapter 416

After more than ten minutes, as he followed this group of palace guard knights through the palace gate, Ji Ming, a sightseeing buff, finally saw what he wanted.

It must be said that this sun castle with at least five hundred years of history is still quite valuable; its interior is filled with exquisite designs of artisans' ingenuity, worthy of being called a scene at every step, truly making him click his tongue in amazement.

The knight beside him was also a fine fellow; seeing Ji Ming seemed interested in these, he immediately began to introduce to him the pearl hanging at the highest point of Qixia City.

His choice of words was quite particular; he embellished various historical events to the point of being wildly exaggerated, obviously having received professional training, coming prepared.

This aroused Ji Ming's alertness, finally letting him figure out exactly where the feeling of not fitting in with this castle came from.

First, this knight's armor, which one would want to carve into openwork, retaining no practical combat significance at all, is flimsy.

Then, studded with various jewels, the gauntlets and helmet feel as if they would fall apart with the slightest force.

Finally, although the design is quite beautiful, the furnishings inside are excessively numerous and dazzling, to the point of being wholly detrimental to the interior decor.

One must understand that even in the later period of the Holy Tree Kingdom, the elves' tastes had already developed toward extravagance, yet compared to this pile of things before him, it is still extremely conservative.

Such an aesthetic, completely like a nouveau riche possession, disregarding practicality, wholly focused on flaunting wealth, is utterly at odds with the castle's original design style.

No wonder Lao Nv Shi fled far away to Sunshine City; seeing too much would surely make the old folk die of anger.

But the accompanying knights didn't know what the God's Chosen was thinking as he stared at this pile of artworks, and thought his 'uncivilized lands' talent had been activated, sending him into a rustic yokel state.

He couldn't help but let out a light hum.

Heh, an outsider...

After winding through the corridor with many turns for a while, then passing through a small garden with a fountain, Ji Ming finally ended this ordeal-like labyrinth journey and arrived at the king's bedchamber.

"Please wait a moment, Your Excellency the God's Chosen; I will now report to the kingdom's Majesty."

Unexpectedly, the maids in the bedchamber wore rather plain clothing, possibly having saved up the larger pieces of fabric to purchase those jingling earrings and anklets.

Thus, the knights who had previously looked down on the God's Chosen with some contempt now found themselves on the same side as him.

He couldn't help but let out a light hum.

Heh, old sourpuss...

However, they didn't gossip for long before the maid returned to the doorway amidst the crisp tinkling of her ornaments.

"His Majesty the King has ordered that you, Excellency God's Chosen, may enter; please follow me."

As Ji Ming took a step, he furtively glanced back and saw that the knights behind him had no intention of following.

Could it be...?

Having this discovery as a precaution, the situation in the bedchamber was not much different from what he had imagined.

The dominant colors were bright red and purple, a faint perfume lingered in the air, and once past the threshold, the surrounding staff consisted solely of women, even the guards.

Ji Ming quietly observed his surroundings and secretly shook his head.

This is completely a harem, Little Sun, you're becoming more and more like Little Lion.

Little Lion: Don't try to blackmail me with awkwardness; my taste is better than this, and that old coot sitting on the bed isn't even worthy of a second glance from me back then.

Indeed, amidst the curtains that were clearly warm-toned yet made Ji Ming's brows furrow tighter, five maids attended the king's bedside.

And at this moment he was lying with his head on one of their thighs, looking like 'Holy shit, this is too great; if not, I might as well die right here today,' truly not knowing what the maid's earlier report was for.

So the old coot only managed to sit up, propping his sickly body, when he saw the God's Chosen walk into the room, and meanwhile gestured for the maid beside him to restrain herself, to stop glaring at others with her eyes.

Ji Ming: Fine, not bad; this has even made my fist a bit hard.

Although it is indeed excessive, we can't wholly blame this old brat who harbors a deadly illness yet still dares to be stingy.

Because if we must say, as a shared preference of all past Sun Kings, this thing could be blamed half a pot on the archbishop.

Exactly, that is essentially a royal examination system that raises children to cultivate gu.

As everyone knows, the most important aspect of raising gu, aside from trying to make the competition more intense, is that the amount of gu you invest must be sufficient.

And since fierce competition already has the lure of power and a heritable foundation as guarantee, what the Sun Kings of all generations need to focus their efforts on is merely the latter.

After generations of painstaking research, a former king arrived at an important conclusion, which boiled down to a single simple character—'give birth'!

Therefore, having only the queen is obviously insufficient; as king, one must far and wide seek beauties, quickly arrange the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and give birth abundantly!

For example, the Fei siblings are actually born of the fourth consort; their mother being the king's concubine is also a well-known fact, and no one dares to speak ill of it.

Then the question arises: if the one who finally succeeds in winning the chicken dinner is a princess, what should be done?

They are not an insect queen; they climbed up to enjoy power, and cannot devote their short lives to an endless troop-producing endeavor.

Sun Queen: 'Tch, isn't this simple? Just go find my old three, old four, old five, old six!'

The queen's astonishing wisdom shocked everyone, for she directly launched a massive adoption movement worthy of being recorded in history.

——Encouraging all her brothers and sisters to have many children, cheerfully bearing offspring, and then giving those born children over to her in adoption.

In the eyes of these losers, their own bloodline could serve as princes and princesses to participate in the next generation's examination, and they might even inherit the throne to become the next monarch, which is like giving their disappointing parents a chance at a comeback.

In the queen's view, these children are inherently of royal blood, so they are not cheap outsiders; moreover, since they were taken into the palace from childhood and raised by attendants she assigned, they will inevitably be closer to her than to their biological parents.

Thus everyone is happy, this is a win-win, but...

Archbishop: I have an opinion!

At that time, Tenisi was still young, still holding a position of real power in the church; seeing the current Holy One pull off such a harsh move, he was both angry and frightened, nearly fainting.

Upon regaining consciousness, he immediately acted, trying to use his influence to make up for this already hole-ridden royal examination system that was quickly becoming a kingdom debuff.

However, it's hard to reverse the accumulated situation; the vested interests are countless, and nobody has objections, so what are you, an old immortal, jumping out to cause trouble for?

Tenisi, helpless, could only leave it at that, continuing to allow the kings of all generations to indulge in debauchery outside of this matter, constantly creating new heights... or rather new lows?

And while Ji Ming was pondering, the maids who had a certain scent had already retied their sashes and stood waiting obediently on both sides.

The weak king dazedly lifted his head, squinting his eyes toward Ji Ming's face, but his eyes suddenly burst forth with a brilliant, fervent light.

Holy shit, what do you mean by that?

Ji Ming's shock level surged suddenly; this fear surpassing death was already comparable to when Tenisi first heard that the Her Majesty the Queen had taken in eight adopted sons in a single day.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not occur; after the king collected himself and realized that the person before him was indeed a man, he lost interest.

"Oh, you are the God's Chosen..."

Still somewhat anticipating.

"Sir?"

Ji Ming quickly nodded.

Yes, Your Majesty the King, it's an honor to meet you.

At least on paper, the Hui Guang Kingdom's religious and royal authorities are separate, with no hierarchy between them.

So, as the Divine Chosen, he merely bowed out of courtesy, and then… then he deliberately glanced at the surrounding maidservants.

——It's meaningless; the point is you shouldn't be interested, I am interested in this, do you get my meaning?

The old geezer, seeing this, pursed his lips; even though he could no longer hold his chopsticks, he was still displeased that Ji Ming was sneaking a look at his dish.

Although it wasn't enough to make him fly into a rage over such a matter, he still spoke somewhat irritably.

All right, Divine Chosen Sir is here to examine the king; how can we let him stand while speaking? Fenglu, hurry and bring a chair over!

Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty, but before that I have a few things I want to say.

Sitting beside the Sun King's bed, Ji Ming did not rush to act, but after a long time first issued a disclaimer about his medical skills.

Including but not limited to, my medical skills were learned from my master; you don't know who my master is, my abilities are decent, I can't say exactly how good, anyway today we'll just make do, so don't get your hopes up too high.

Logically speaking, even if Ji Ming still uses tactful language, the Sun King, having climbed up through three calamities and nine tribulations, couldn't possibly not understand.

But perhaps it's because he is indeed old and growing senile, or perhaps simply because he feels he has little time left and is desperately seeking any treatment.

In any case, after hearing this, he pondered a moment and still allowed Ji Ming to examine him.

Don't worry, I will use conservative treatment.

This is of great importance; the Hui Guang artifacts are not yet determined, and if mishandled it could very well set the whole continent ablaze.

So Ji Ming didn't dare to use the SpiritGathering Liquid to the full this time, instead resorting to the old method of observation, listening, questioning, and palpation.

The first step is observation; he carefully observed the Sun King's face.

Frankly, the Hui Guang royal family's genes are still decent; at least this face, even though wrinkled, still shows that he must have been a good‑looking young man in his youth.

But now, besides the natural fading complexion of old age, his brow bears a heavy gloom, and deep in his eyes lies a thick film.

... Although this is partly due to organ overuse causing weakness, he is nevertheless a mighty ruler of a magical world.

With daily fine food, clothing, and use, his happiness is maxed out; resource allocation for leveling is ample, and his upper limit is determined solely by personal talent.

Therefore, even though he is old, his current condition is absolutely not normal.

Seeing Ji Ming's furrowed brow and earnest gaze, the Sun King wearily lifted his eyelids.

"Divine Chosen, how is it?"

Ji Ming shook his head.

"I heard from Miss Fiya that Your Majesty should have been cursed, and indeed it seems true."

"Fatigue can actually be divided into three types: one is mental fatigue, like when you stay up late handling state affairs and end up feeling a splitting headache, not wanting to think about anything; another is physical fatigue, like…… ah, please let me finish first!"

The Sun King, whose face had already flushed with excitement and who was likely about to say something vulgar, was interrupted; Ji Ming then continued his explanation.

"In this regard, for example, after practicing swordsmanship you feel sore arms, and when lying in bed at night your whole body feels weak and limp."

"As for this last kind of fatigue, it is fatigue of the life source; this feeling is the most genuine, and vicious curses often revolve around it."

After hearing his analysis, the Sun King's expression did not change; he merely asked indifferently.

"Not bad, I already know these things; have you noticed anything more?"

"More……"

Relying on his high level, Ji Ming had already pulled the king's status panel to the bottom, where a string of weak conditions piled up—truly the medal of this old geezer's poisoning of the world.

But besides that, there are two especially scarlet labels here.

The first is 【Siphon Trap】,

This is a rather special curse, because its precondition is that a hidden stake must exist inside the target for a full three years, and the difficulty lies in the fact that this hidden stake is not something you can set and forget.

To maintain its existence, the caster must daily cast spells nearby, chanting to keep it active, with the longest interval being one month, and must also make direct contact once to transmit energy to the target for the hidden stake, lest it starve to death while dormant.

Such complex conditions yield, after three years, the hidden stake having fully diffused its influence throughout the target's body and thoroughly familiarized itself with the environment, equivalent to launching a long‑planned war with an insider and full map vision.

Once triggered, even a profession far higher in level than the caster will have half its life force sucked out alive, and in a critical moment it might even die outright—it can be said to be extremely malicious.

Even the giant uncle who is the Holy Light Pope would be helpless against such a already lost, dire battle, since both sides are thoroughly mixed, making it truly a case of 'cannot shoot for fear of hitting the vase'.

So the question arises.

Ji Ming gave a light cough and suddenly changed the subject.

"Your Majesty, may I ask if you find me trustworthy?"

"Of course not, you reckless fool!"

The Sun King immediately sank his face, but after speaking his eyes quietly flashed with a hint of amusement.

"But… I have to trust the female archbishop."

"Very good, I like Your Majesty's frankness."

Ji Ming nodded slightly and then gestured to the surrounding maidservants.

"Then, Your Majesty, do you trust them?"

"Of course I trust them!"

The Sun King clearly spoke decisively, yet then gave a hehe smile and waved his hand at them.

"But… they're all good girls; there's no need to drag them into dangers that have nothing to do with them."

Damn, what an old fox!

Ji Ming couldn't help cursing inwardly, this old geezer is clearly so weak he's about to die in a woman's arms, yet how can he still be so cunning?

(End of chapter)