"Give Storyteller Ren a seat of honor, notify the imperial kitchen to prepare one more set of dinner," the empress instructed Qing Yuan.

"Yes," Qing Yuan smiled and replied. There were extremely few officials that had been bestowed a seat of honor by the empress. Now, there was one more person.

"How do you feel now?" the empress asked Ren Baqian after he sat down.

Ren Baqian clenched his fists and replied, "There seems to be some changes, but they aren't huge changes. After all, I have just pa.s.sed the initiation stage."

"As long as you have pa.s.sed the initiation stage, the rest of the path will be a breeze. I have already prepared the medicinal ingredients for you, I will send them over to you later," the empress nodded and said. It was a good thing that Ren Baqian had pa.s.sed the initiation stage of [Ruyi Visualization]. However, she still needed to acquire the Spirit Yuan Pill in Lu Qi's hands.

With the Spirit Yuan Pill, Ren Baqian could save a lot of time and effort in his cultivation process.

His cultivation speed would be much faster.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty." Naturally, Ren Baqian did not know the empress was thinking of obtaining the Spirit Yuan Pill from the world's eighth most powerful individual, Lu Pinghai. If he knew that, it would set him off in fear and trepidation.

"There aren't many pointers that I can give you for [Ruyi Visualization]. Cultivate slowly and steadily, don't try to hasten your progress. If anything goes wrong, it will be difficult to undo it," the empress spoke again.

Ren Baqian nodded his head. Actually, he felt that there weren't many issues with this martial art. He knew the empress said these words because she was concerned about him. Given her status, he felt a warm feeling flowing into his heart when he heard these words from her.

After the banquet that night, the empress's att.i.tude towards him had indeed changed significantly.

"Your Majesty, since I have already pa.s.sed the initiation stage, I think I can look into the matter of the mine now. It's very difficult for me to repay your kindness towards me, I have to do something for you that's within my capability," Ren Baqian said after thinking it through.

"That's a good idea but you have just pa.s.sed the initiation stage, it's better that you wait for it to consolidate first. These next few days, if you don't understand anything, you can come and ask me…"

"... and you should continue your story as well. Every time, you stopped it halfway through. If you're gone, I don't know when is the next time I can hear it again. I'm afraid I might forget the progress of the story if I don't listen to it for too long. You should try to finish the story these few days."

The empress's clear and crisp voice resounded through the air. Ren Baqian could not help but nod his head in agreement.

After a while, dinner was served. In the palace hall, both of them sat in front of a table and had their dinner. Their surroundings were illuminated by lamps that weren't too bright. Only the lamps that were near to them were slightly brighter. Qing Yuan and Hong Luan were standing at a distance. For a moment, it felt as though the palace hall only had two persons.

Ren Baqian did not say anything. Every now and then, he would raise his head and cast a glance at the empress. He would push whichever dish that the empress laid her gaze on to her.

A mysterious atmosphere descended upon both of them. The atmosphere felt slightly warm, increasing Ren Baqian's heartbeat.

After all, the empress was an exceptional beauty. Furthermore, given her status and strength, she was a huge enticement to anyone.

And right now, she was just beside him.

However, when Ren Baqian thought of how she was able to crush him with one finger, he felt that he should behave himself.

"Continue eating, there's no need for you to keep looking at me," the empress raised her head and told Ren Baqian. Their eyes met.

The expression within the empress's almond-shaped eyes quickened Ren Baqian's heartbeat again. Within her eyes, calmness and gentleness intertwined, resembling an utterly alluring painting.

"I like to watch Your Majesty eat," Ren Baqian said as he forcibly suppressed his feelings.

"On Earth, we have a saying called 'a feast for the eyes'. Just by looking at Your Majesty, I already feel full without eating."

"Why do I feel that you have no appet.i.te when you see me?" the empress replied coldly.

"How can it be? It's my blessing that I'm able to dine with Your Majesty. There are countless people in the world that are envying me right now," Ren Baqian said as he put on you-are-mistaken look on his face.

The empress cast a glance at him and continued eating her dinner without looking at him anymore. Her movements slightly slowed down but no one could notice it.

After finis.h.i.+ng her food, the empress said, "Teach Gou Yue some more dishes, I'm tired of these dishes."

Ren Baqian nodded his head. He reminded himself to teach Caretaker Gou the Eight Great Cuisines when he goes back later.

[Eight Great Cuisines - China's eight main cuisines: Shandong Cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Guangdong Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine, Jiangsu Cuisine, Zhejiang Cuisine, Hunan Cuisine, Anhui Cuisine.]

After Ren Baqian finished his dinner, he accompanied the empress for a while before heading back to his residence under the moonlight.

The palace was always very quiet. Occasionally, he would encounter patrolling guards. Even palace maids, he seldom encountered them.

During the day, there was still presence of vitality and liveliness. During the night, there was nothing but silence.

Staying in such a place for so long, no wonder the empress was so cold.

As Ren Baqian lay on the bed, all he could think about was to quickly give his family a call after he returned to Earth. He knew his family was worried sick about him.

After Ren Baqian woke up the next morning, he was slightly stunned by his familiar-looking surroundings. He was in a rustic but appealing room. It appeared that he was still in Pingle Park.

"Why didn't I return to Earth? Is it that I counted the dates wrongly?" Ren Baqian thought to himself with doubt.

He counted the dates again. If he never counted wrongly, today should be the twenty-fourth day and it should be the day he returned to Earth.

That was because, every time he was teleported from this world back to Earth, it would be the fourth day here.

Furthermore, the last time he was teleported here, he went to greet the empress on the first day and immediately began his cultivation.

If he never counted the dates wrongly, then could the guard be the one that counted wrongly?

These aboriginals raised five fingers when they meant to show two, they were indeed unreliable.

If an aboriginal knows how to count, then a sow can climb a tree, Ren Baqian thought to himself. In the future, if he had the opportunity, he would definitely start a basic course for mathematics here. He had to at least teach them how to add and subtract.

Ren Baqian got out from bed and washed his face. Then, he sat on his bed and visualized [Ruyi Visualization]'s [Visualization of Water]. After a while, he appeared on the sh.o.r.e again.

After experiencing it before, he was getting familiar with it now. He swam to the center of the lake and dived to the bottom of the lake. The deeper he dived, the more resistance and pressure he faced. Eventually, Ren Baqian barely made it to the point that he reached last time. He could not take it any longer and withdrew from his mind. He felt so tired as though he was going to die. His physical body was feeling alright, but his brain was extremely fatigued.

After taking a nap on his bed, Ren Baqian felt better.

"Why hasn't the breakfast been sent to me yet?" Ren Baqian was puzzled. Usually, if he was in Pingle Park, a palace maid would send his meals to him. Right now, he was feeling very hungry. Looking at the time, it should be approximately ten in the morning but the breakfast was not sent to him yet.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't happen.

Someone was in charge of his meals. It was impossible that they would forget about his meals.

Could it be that something really happened?

After thinking for some time, Ren Baqian still could not figure out what went wrong. He reckoned that he should head to the imperial kitchen and looked for some food.

There was also a department in the palace that specially cooked for the guards and palace maids. However, Ren Baqian wasn't familiar with it. He reckoned that it should be alright for him to look for food in the imperial kitchen.

Upon thinking of this, he got out of his bed and rushed to the imperial kitchen.

At this point of time, all the cooks in the imperial kitchen were trying out new dishes. When they saw Ren Baqian, they were slightly stunned. Following which, the stunned look on their faces turned into an overjoyed one.

After all, Ren Baqian always gave the imperial kitchen some good stuff, be it spices or recipes.

Previously, they had to call Ren Baqian "Brother Ren" because they had lost the bet. Whether they were willing to do so or not, at least they had accepted the fact that they had lost the bet.

However, when they saw Ren Baqian now, they were more than willing to call him "Brother Ren". Ren Baqian indeed knew many interesting and delicious dishes. Even though the dishes that were served during the empress' birthday banquet were ugly-looking, they still tasted pretty good.

After learning Ren Baqian's dishes, they found it easier to come up with new dishes.

After all, all of the cooks in the imperial kitchen had exceptional cooking skills. It was just that they were limited in their creativity. After seeing Ren Baqian's dishes, they felt as though they had opened the door to a whole new world.

These days, the imperial kitchen had been coming up with new dishes. Every few days, they could come up with two new dishes. Even though their dishes were still lacking in taste, they had become much faster in coming up with new dishes when compared to the past.

Furthermore, now Ren Baqian's status was no longer the same as before.

Even though Ren Baqian was still the Storyteller of Qingxin Palace Hall, no one dared to treat him like one anymore.