Chapter 379: Will You Give Me The Empress Dowager Or The Princess?

　　Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

　　Xu Que was furious.

　　He knew that Duan Jiu De must have come for him.

　　Initially, he had used Duan Jiu De’s name to act tough. But he had never thought that the old geezer would find out about that.

　　Duan Jiu De was claiming to be from the Exploding Heavens Faction and pretending to be Xu Que’s teacher. He had even taken away the Genesis Herbs from the Wood Nation as well as the Earth Nation.

　　Duan Jiu De’s reason for doing all these things was obvious. By stealing the herbs, Duan Jiu De could force Xu Que to search for him so he could settle scores with Xu Que for using his name.

　　Xu Que was not afraid of how strong Duan Jiu De would be. He was worried about the two Genesis Herbs. If he could not get them back, he would lose the chance to revive Xiao Rou.

　　No, since the old man hasn’t gotten hold of the Genesis Water Herb, I need to get to Water Nation immediately! he thought to himself.

　　Xu Que looked solemn and turned to the Metal Emperor.

　　“Your Majesty, just now you asked me if there is anything I want. I can answer you now!” said Xu Que earnestly. “I need a teleportation device that can let me teleport to the Water Nation in the shortest time possible!”

　　The Metal Emperor was dazed for a second. “You… want to go to the Water Nation?”

　　“Yes, as soon as possible!” Xu Que nodded his head.

　　“Although the Water Nation is not far away from us, there isn’t any direct teleportation device that can take you there. If I were to build one now, I would need two days to do that!”

　　“Two days?” Xu Que couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows.

　　Two days was like nothing for a cultivator.

　　But time was of the essence to Xu Que now. If Duan Jiu De got there earlier than him, he would lose another spiritual herb!

　　“Young Hero Xu, why not return to the Palace with me first?” suggested the Emperor. “The spiritual Qi is rather rich there. It’s the perfect place to build a teleportation device. I promise you that I’ll definitely get my men to work at their fastest speed possible to build the teleportation device!”

　　“Thank you, Your Majesty!” nodded Xu Que as he made a gesture of respect to the Emperor. “Oh, about what Buttface said earlier, you don’t have to worry about it. I, Xu Que, have always adventured around the world upholding chivalry and righteousness. How could a person like me ever even dream of setting my sights on the Empress Dowager? Rest assured!”

　　When the Metal Emperor heard that, he stumbled and nearly fell down.

　　Originally he had not actually felt worried about that. But now that Xu Que had made a guarantee by patting his chest in a righteous manner, he began to feel concerned.

　　By bringing this guy into the Palace, is that tantamount to inviting a wolf into my house? pondered the Emperor.

　　Mother consumed the Youth Retaining Pill and since then, her appearance has not deteriorated. Even in the Metal Nation, she is an unmatched beauty. If this guy were to see her beauty, there is no guarantee that there won’t be accidents!

　　The more the Metal Emperor thought about it, the more worried he became.

　　Soon, the crowd left the mountain. Only the guards stayed behind to guard the Imperial Tombs.

　　Xu Que went back with the Metal Emperor. Whilst on the way back to the Imperial City, the Metal Emperor would turn to look at Xu Que time and time again in a thoughtful manner.

　　Well, the Metal Emperor didn’t want to have such a young stepfather after all!

　　As for the Empress Dowager, she had already been sent back to the Palace at the fastest possible speed by the Metal Emperor’s men.

　　Xu Que knew all of that and he was smiling without a word.

　　Hide?

　　Will hiding be effective?

　　Running away will not solve the problem!

　　You may run away now but you can’t keep running away from the problem all your life!

　　I, Xu Que, the Act Tough King, can get any woman I want! None of them… bleh, bleh, bleh, f*ck, why am I thinking about this?

　　I’m going to the Water Nation to raid the tombs. So what if the Empress Dowager is a beauty? What business is it of mine?

　　Xu Que shook his head as he came back to his senses.

　　He felt that he had drawn the suspicions of the Metal Emperor becausen of all those protective actions that were being taken.

　　It almost made him think that he could be one of the types who would chase any female who knew how to walk, even if they were several hundred years old…

　　“Bleh, this Act Tough King is so noble and righteous. Why would I do something like that? F*ck! It’s too hardcore!” Xu Que muttered to himself and shook his head.

　　Buttface was just beside him and of course he heard everything. He gave Xu Que a sly leer. “Just continue to pretend, this deity has already seen right through you. You’re a bad egg who brings disasters which can last for thousands of years. You… Owww!”

　　Before Buttface could finish his words, Xu Que chanted the tightening spell and Buttface rolled on the ground, shrieking in pain.

　　Those who saw that exclaimed repeatedly.

　　Young Hero Xu trains his pet so often, no wonder his pet is so strong!

　　…

　　Finally, everyone arrived at the Imperial City.

　　Xu Que followed the Metal Emperor to the Palace. The Third Prince, Seventh Princess and the rest followed closely behind.

　　As for the Second Prince, when he saw that Xu Que had gained favor with the Metal Emperor and actually had such formidable powers, he became scared out of his wits and dared not enter the Palace.

　　When the crowd entered the Imperial City, he quietly left by taking advantage of the huge crowd and went to hide somewhere, as he was worried Xu Que might search for him.

　　Xu Que had better things to do now so he was not bothered with such small fry. He was sitting inside the Metal Emperor’s divine chariot and talking with him.

　　Frankly speaking, he had a good impression of the Metal Emperor.

　　At least this Emperor was a good one. He had very advanced thinking and knew that in order to improve, reforms were a must!

　　Hence, Xu Que shared quite an amount of esoteric policies with regards to governing a country.

　　“Ah, Lao Jin, although you are right to excavate the Dragon Veins, they are not something that can last forever, you know? To get rich, build roads first. Look at your Imperial Tombs, the racing course is all sand and soil… that’s no good. Roads across the country must be watered with concrete, then use asphalt to make them into highways. Oh yes, and you may want to look into high-speed railways.”

　　To get rich, build roads first?

　　Make the roads across the country into highways?

　　The Metal Emperor looked dazed. Although he did not quite understand, he felt that those words made a lot of sense.

　　At the very least, he concurred with the saying, ‘to get rich, build roads first’.

　　Therefore, The Metal Emperor and Xu Que shared and talked a lot on the journey back.

　　Xu Que mentioned three reform policies to the Metal Emperor; ‘to get rich, build roads first’, ‘plant more trees and bear fewer babies’ and ‘time used to bear babies is better used on rearing pigs and planting trees’. He also stressed the importance of the implementation of these three ‘representative’ policies as a nationwide campaign!

　　The Metal Emperor felt that he had benefitted a lot from this discussion. Even though there were a lot of terms that he could not understand, he could remember the simple and easily comprehensible slogans!

　　“I’m surprised that Young Hero Xu is so talented and has such a high level of knowledge in terms of governing a country. This is really an eye-opener!” exclaimed the Metal Emperor, who was now totally in awe of his abilities.

　　Xu Que waved his hands. “Nah, we should keep a low profile. This is just general knowledge. But in order to reform, we need to work on being civilised first. The Imperial City may look bustling and prosperous but in actual fact, it has a foul atmosphere. Just not too long ago, I saw someone selling stinky tofu in the streets. The city must undergo a reform so as to set a good example for the other cities of the Metal Nation!”

　　“Young Hero Xu is right. Do you have any specific ideas on how to go about doing that?” The Metal Emperor nodded and smiled.

　　Xu Que narrowed his eyes as if in thought and replied, “it will depend on you to find the correct way. After all, there’s a saying, a teacher can show the way to a student but how far the student goes depends on him alone. Lao Jin, my friend, you have to work hard!”

　　The Metal Emperor smiled pleasantly and nodded. “Why don’t we do this? Young hero Xu, I’ll personally oversee the construction of the teleportation device. As for you, you’ll help me reform the Imperial City. When you’re leaving, I’ll give you another big present as my thanks to you, how about it?”

　　“You’re letting me reform the Imperial City? And you’ll give me another big present too?” Xu Que raised an eyebrow and felt interested. He smiled shyly. “Lao Jin, you’re too polite. Everyone has a responsibility to serve the people. But the big present… will you be giving me the Empress Dowager or the princess? Eh, eh, eh, don’t look at me like that. I’m warning you, in the name of justice, you absolutely cannot do this. Whether you give me the Empress Dowager or the Princess, I will not accept. If you don’t believe me, you can try!”