Chapter 47 - The Unexpected Effect of the Nine

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

As he thought about it, Li Tianyi approached and narrowed his eyes at Lin Ran. He sneered and said, “Lord Lin, why didn’t you greet me when you saw me? Do you think your status is above me?”

Hearing displeasure in Li Tianyi’s tone, Zhou Hao’s heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly tugged at Lin Ran’s clothes, indicating for him to quickly bow.

However, Lin Ran didn’t seem to notice. He looked at Li Tianyi and said calmly, “Eunuch Li, you’re really humorous. You’re just a fourth-grade official, and I’m the commander of the imperial guards. You should be the one bowing to me, right?”

Zhou Hao cursed in his heart. Although Lin Ran was right, this was not how things worked in the palace.

Although Li Tianyi was only a fourth-grade eunuch, he was the one with the emperor most of the time.

Even the first-grade officials in the imperial court had to greet him when they saw Li Tianyi.

Lin Jiu was clearly trying to give Li Tianyi a hard time by bringing up official rank!

As expected, when Zhou Hao raised his head, he saw that Li Tianyi’s expression was as dark as an inkpot. His mind raced as he hurriedly explained, “Eunuch Li! Commander Lin is new to the palace and is not familiar with these rules. Please don’t take offense! Lord Lin, quickly greet Eunuch Li.”

As he spoke, he tried to pull Lin Ran to the ground, but no matter how hard he tried, Lin Ran stood there like a mountain.

Seeing that Li Tianyi’s expression was getting uglier and uglier, Zhou Hao was so anxious that he was about to sweat.

At this moment, Lin Ran said in a low voice, “You’re also third-grade guards. You’re not supposed to bend your knees to him.”

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Ran quietly released a wisp of sword intent, causing a strong vortex to rise on the ground. Zhou Hao and the guards were forcefully helped up!

Li Tianyi couldn’t take it anymore. He pointed at Lin Ran and shouted, “Lin Ran! How dare you!”

Lin Ran sneered and didn’t care. He looked at Li Tianyi and asked calmly, “I still have to patrol the palace. If there is nothing, I’ll take my leave!”

With that, Lin Ran turned around and left. Li Tianyi gritted his teeth and was silent for a moment before saying, “Lord Lin, please wait! His Majesty summons you to the imperial garden. Please follow me!”

Hearing that the empress was looking for him, Lin Ran stopped in his tracks. He turned around and gestured to Li Tianyi. “Please lead the way, Eunuch Li.”

“Sure.”

Li Tianyi nodded with a faint smile. Anyone could tell that he was up to no good.

Seeing this, Zhou Hao couldn’t help but worry. He brushed the dust off his clothes and was about to follow when Li Tianyi glared at him.

“His Majesty only summons Commander Lin. The rest of you can go back.”

With that, Li Tianyi went straight into the imperial garden. Lin Ran followed him without hesitation.

In order to “help” the empress, Lin Ran had stayed in the palace for a period of time, but this was the first time he had come to the imperial garden.

Lin Ran, who was used to seeing strange rocks on Mount Sword, felt that his mind was blown away when he saw the endless exotic flowers.

After walking for a while and passing by an empty path, Li Tianyi, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

Lin Ran felt that something was wrong, but he asked despite knowing the answer, “Why did you stop, Eunuch Li? It doesn’t look like the emperor is here.”

“Lord Lin, you must be joking. His Majesty is still far ahead.”

Li Tianyi pointed ahead and glanced at Lin Ran with a smile. “Back then, Lord Lin came out first in the examination but was sent to be a mountain guardian by me. I wonder if you resent me for doing that?”

“Eunuch Li, you must be joking. If you didn’t let me go to Mount Sword back then, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be where I am today. Speaking of which, I have to thank you!”

Lin Ran smiled sincerely. Although he didn’t have a good impression of Li Tianyi, he was sincerely grateful to this damn eunuch for sending him to Mount Sword.

Li Tianyi let out some strange laughter. It was obvious that he didn’t believe Lin Ran, but he still said, “Actually, I did it on purpose back then for your own good. Commander Lin, you won the examination at such a young age. If you got too high an official position, I’m afraid you’d be too cocky. It was beneficial for you to train yourself for a few years on Mount Sword.”

Lin Ran laughed in his heart, but he looked like he was grateful. He said bitterly, “So what Eunuch Li did back then was actually so meaningful! I thought it was because I didn’t give you a gift so you deliberately made things difficult for me. I misunderstood!”

Hearing Lin Ran’s words of gratitude, Li Tianyi didn’t know whether he should feel relieved or not.

After taking a few breaths, Li Tianyi continued with a smile, “Let’s not talk about the past. Since you’ve been transferred back to the palace, it’s best for you to learn the ways of the palace. Being an official here is not that easy. If you don’t have a backer, you might offend someone you shouldn’t and lose your head!”

Given how smart Lin Ran was, he could naturally tell that Li Tianyi was asking for benefits. He reached out and took off the commander’s token on his waist. He said seriously, “I understand. It’s just that I came out in a hurry today and didn’t bring anything valuable. This thing was given to me by His Majesty. Please take it.”

“What a blockhead.” Li Tianyi cursed in his mind. Looking at the pure gold waist token of the “Commander of the Imperial Guards”, he gritted his teeth so hard that they were about to shatter!

“Commander Lin, you must be joking. That was just a kind reminder from me. I didn’t mean anything. Let’s continue walking and not make His Majesty wait!”

Li Tianyi forced a smile and left in a hurry. He was greedy, but he did not dare to take the waist token given to Lin Ran by the emperor! If it was found out that the token was in his possession, even if he had a thousand heads, it wouldn’t be enough.

Looking at Li Tianyi walking in front hurriedly, Lin Ran couldn’t help but smile.

With such a clown around, it seemed that he would not be too bored in the palace these few days!

Lin Ran put back the token and followed Li Tianyi. They walked around a goldfish pond and finally saw the empress in an exquisite octagonal pavilion.

Accompanying her was a concubine. Lin Ran recognized her as Consort Rong of the Cloud Prayer Palace, the daughter of General Guo Fuzhen.

It had only been a few days since they last met, but Consort Rong seemed to have become bustier.

“Good lord… Hers is almost as good as Consort Jin of the Lotus Palace. I didn’t know that the Nine Yin-Yang Swords had this utility.”

Lin Ran was so lost in thought that his gaze continued to linger on Consort Rong.

When the empress saw this, she couldn’t help but look down on him in her heart. She thought to herself that all the men in the world were the same. Back then, Lin Ran was full of righteousness and morality, but now that he saw the consort, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.