Chapter 495: What Did You Do in the Imperial Pool?
"No, Your Majesty has arrived at just the right time."
Luo Wusheng calmly lowered the hand that was holding the girl's undergarment and looked at the newcomer. "I was just confirming my situation… It seems I'm currently inside the Imperial Palace? How did I end up here?"
"…I think you can let go of that idiotic Imperial Alter Ego's dudou before asking that."
The suddenly appearing "Empress" folded her arms and, without a trace of emotion, dragged the conversation back to the point the Demon Sect Holy Saint was trying to dodge.
"Huh? Ah—ahaha, so this is a dudou. I was just thinking…" Luo was about to laugh it off with the excuse he had just improvised, but his words abruptly halted. "Imperial… Alter Ego?"
This time he truly forgot to release what he was holding, staring blankly at the girl who had appeared before him.
It was still that familiar, breathtakingly beautiful face—though she seemed slightly haggard from fatigue, unable to conceal her peerless elegance.
However, the imperial robe she wore seemed oddly ill-fitting, as if something was missing… uh, the chest wrap?
Gasp! Miss Kirin?!
...
Imperial Pool.
"Mmm…"
The Empress sat in the pavilion by the pool, staring at a set of clothes laid out on the table before her, deep in thought.
Her long hair was coiled up, and she wore only a loose robe draped over her body. Faint mist condensed on her skin—it was obvious she had just finished bathing.
Across from her sat a girl who looked exactly the same as she did, dressed in a black-patterned Daoist robe. Seeing her expression, the girl tilted her head slightly.
"Is there a problem?"
Hearing her Daoist Alter Ego's question, the Empress shook her head.
"Nothing major… It's just that earlier, when I had the Mortal Alter Ego impersonate me to handle state affairs, I accidentally forgot something."
"What was it?"
Ji Yanyao, the Daoist Alter Ego, blinked.
Without full synchronization, it was indeed hard for her to guess what her Imperial Alter Ego had suddenly remembered.
"I only just realized that… The Mortal Alter Ego doesn't wear a dudou. The Six Gate Bureau uniform is styled more like men's clothing. She usually binds her chest and dresses entirely like a man… But just now, I sent all the clothes I changed out of over to her using spatial techniques."
The Imperial Alter Ego's words caused Ji Yanyao to reveal a somewhat strange expression.
"A dudou… Though the three bodies are originally one, in such oddly specific details, we still have these subtle differences…"
That said, although the Imperial Alter Ego's imperial robes had been tailored, they still leaned toward masculine styling.
Wearing them in a masculine way wasn't really an issue… It was just that the Imperial Alter Ego was most influenced by her life before ascending the throne as a princess. She had worn skirts since childhood, so her dressing habits weren't easy to change. Even when presenting as male in outer attire, she still wore a small dudou underneath.
By contrast, after being separated, the Mortal Alter Ego deliberately changed some small habits to differentiate herself from the Imperial Alter Ego, and due to the needs of official life, that feminine habit naturally disappeared.
Ji Yanyao pondered for a moment, then suddenly flushed slightly.
"Actually, even if the Mortal Alter Ego had the habit of wearing a dudou, I think she still wouldn't wear one this time. Given our personality… Even though that outfit was cleansed with spiritual energy, it still—"
"Stop! Don't say any more…"
The Empress's face reddened further, steam almost rising from her body. "Th-that couldn't be helped… Who would've thought that the yesterday Luo Wusheng who was still so tiny would have his physical body suddenly be fully restored today? He wasn't even wearing clothes, just standing there wearing nothing… The moment I touched him, I remembered those scenes I saw before. If it had been you two instead, you'd have reacted the same—maybe even worse than me…"
"Is that so? I don't believe I would fail to restrain myself and deliberately look at that fellow's lower half."
"Pah! Who deliberately looked! I had no desire to look at something so obscene… It was just that since it was my first time seeing the real thing, I glanced at it a couple more times. Then I noticed it seemed smaller than in the images I saw before, so I looked a couple more times. And as I kept looking, I realized it became bigger than what I'd seen in those earlier images, so I ended up looking a few more times…"
The Empress's voice grew softer and softer.
"So that's how it reached the point where you had no choice but to bathe and cleanse yourself, and hand state affairs over to the Mortal Alter Ego?" Ji Yanyao cast a sideways glance at her Imperial Alter Ego.
"…Didn't I personally take Luo Wusheng to the bedchamber to ease the rejection between his physical body and origin? The Mortal Alter Ego staying there to watch over him wouldn't have been much use anyway. She might as well handle some minor matters… You know how busy things have been lately. If the three of us hadn't taken turns, how could we have restored order in the royal city so quickly?"
The Empress's gaze drifted slightly before she continued, "Enough of that. Did your Dao Vision technique find anything unusual? Why did Luo Wusheng's physical body form in the Imperial Pool?"
The sudden shift in topic made Ji Yanyao, the Daoist Alter Ego, compose her expression.
The green glow in her eyes gradually dimmed. She then gently spread a special sheet of paper out on the table.
"I don't have any leads on that yet… But through the peculiar nature of this marriage contract, I discovered something else."
"The space at the bottom of the Imperial Pool is separated from the bottom of Ascending Immortality Lake by only a single spatial barrier."
"In that case, let's synchronize our memories first…"
...
Luo Wusheng was still stunned.
Miss Kirin just openly admitted about her three bodies?
What should he do? Should he pretend not to know?
"Judging by your reaction, you've already guessed who I am, haven't you?"
Miss Kirin, disguised as the Empress, spoke indifferently. "Don't deny it. If you didn't know about the Trinity of Pristine States, then after you rescued me from the Black Flood Dragon and saw my true face, you wouldn't have reacted like that… Of course, you could say you simply thought it normal for 'sisters' to look alike. But I don't believe the you in my heart would think of something that shallow."
"At the time, I had just recovered and was in a hurry to deal with the Netherkin chaos, so I didn't reflect on it. But looking back now, that day was full of flaws."
"Though I very much want to know when and how you figured this out, for now… could you stop kneading my Imperial Alter Ego's undergarment?"
Luo Wusheng's hand, which had been unconsciously rubbing the fabric due to his complicated emotions, suddenly froze.
In that instant, the soft silk in his hand was lifted away by a strand of spiritual energy and landed in the girl's grasp.
Only then did a trace of awkwardness appear on the previously expressionless girl's face.
It was said to be the Imperial Alter Ego's personal garment, but the Imperial Alter Ego was no different from herself…
If she didn't have years of experience maintaining a cold and aloof persona in public, she would have already lost her composure.
She was truly regretting it now… Although she herself didn't wear dudou and was extremely reluctant to hold this small garment in her hands—which in truth bore hardly any strange traces and had already been cleansed with spiritual energy, yet still caused her instinctive resistance—she wouldn't have simply taken the imperial robe that had been sent over by the Imperial Alter Ego and left, leaving this thing on the Demon Sect Holy Saint bed…
Then again, who could have expected that in the brief time she was gone, the Demon Sect Holy Saint would suddenly wake up?
On the other side, Luo Wusheng also came back to his senses.
In truth, he had been somewhat mentally prepared for her Majesty's frank confession.
After all, before beginning his resurrection, she had tentatively probed him about this matter… It was just that, for some reason, she had given up at the time.
If the Empress had insisted on an answer back then, Luo Wusheng felt that he would have simply admitted it then and there.
"Ahem… So, should I continue calling you Your Majesty, or Kirin? Or perhaps… Daoist Yanyao?"
"…When you discussed the Dao with the Daoist Alter Ego back then, you really did deliberately bring up the Trinity of Pristine States." Kirin spoke faintly.
She no longer bothered with the attempted change of topic and casually sat down at the edge of Luo Wusheng's bed. "As for how you address me in private, I don't really mind, but it's best to distinguish me from the Imperial Alter Ego and the Daoist Alter Ego."
"That's all?" Luo Wusheng's eyes lit up. "Then based on your original Ji Yanyao name… how about we split it into three, so… Ji-ji, Yan-yan, Yao-yao?"
Miss Kirin: ?
"Or we could go by your three bodies—Di-di, Dao-dao, Fan— ahem, I'm joking, Miss Kirin."
Luo Wusheng quietly shifted away the sword fingers pressed against his throat, smiling apologetically while feeling rather pleased with himself.
Mm, that should dispel the earlier awkward atmosphere.
He took a breath, wrapped the blanket around himself more securely, and his expression turned serious. "I'll explain those matters slowly later. For now, may I ask a few questions?"
Kirin was momentarily stunned. Somehow, without her noticing, Luo Wusheng had taken control of the rhythm of the conversation. The ambiguous tension from earlier had dissipated. She felt something strange in her heart, but knowing they had serious matters to discuss, she nodded.
Luo Wusheng didn't stand on ceremony and began asking at once.
"Since I've already been revived… does that mean forty-nine days have passed in the world? What's the current situation? Has the Ancient Heavenly Gate Ruins opened yet? My junior sister and the others—"
"—Hold on."
Kirin interrupted him with a strange expression. "It's only been seven days since the end of the Netherkin chaos."
"…Seven days?" Luo Wusheng's face froze.
"Yes. There hasn't been any sign at all of the Ancient Heavenly Gate opening. Your junior sister just departed this morning aboard a Sea-Crossing Boat."
Tilting her head, Kirin continued, "That's actually what I wanted to ask you. You clearly said you would revive after forty-nine days. Why did your physical body fully reconstruct today instead? And why was there a rejection reaction between your body and origin? I initially thought that was part of your revival process. After bringing you here to use external force to ease the rejection, I planned to send you back to the Imperial Pool, but I didn't expect you to wake up now."
And to return only to see a scene like that…
Luo Wusheng was still preoccupied with the issue of the revival timing. Hearing her explanation, he instinctively caught a key phrase.
"Send me back to the Imperial Pool?"
The moment those seven words left his mouth, he saw Miss Kirin's gaze suddenly sharpen as it fixed on his face.
"That's something I want to ask as well… Why did your physical body revive at the bottom of the Imperial Pool?"
"Could it be… that the last time the Imperial Alter Ego brought you to the Imperial Pool, you secretly did something?"
The Holy Saint of the Demon Sect felt a chill run through his body. Only the thin blanket provided him with the slightest bit of warmth.
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Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
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[2] https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/chapter-571-to-163855664