The Empress's No.1 Lackey

"Let me think, the records seem to indicate that the Taibo Bow does not have any matching 'arrows,' so the arrows used by Lu Tong were later forged iron arrows, nothing special—the key lies in this bow."

Zhao Douan tentatively bent the bow, without equipping it, only drawing it back, making the motion of drawing a bow.

In an instant, strands of Qi Mechanism were pulled out, speckled light spots exuded section by section, and upon bending the bow, they surprisingly formed an illusory arrow.

At the same time, a wind sound suddenly echoed in Zhao Douan's ear, mixed with the moaning and whisper-like sounds of old tree branches fluttering in the breeze.

He suddenly had a premonition that as long as he released the shot, he could hit the target with unerring accuracy!

"This Taibo Bow can transform Qi Mechanism into arrow-like Sword Qi and shoot them out or attach them to physical arrows. And most importantly, as long as I aim, I don't need to worry about archery skills... Pah! No wonder Lu Tong claims to be the number one Divine Archer. I'd be the same if it were me!"

Zhao Douan muttered in his heart, yet his pupils were full of excitement.

After ascending the World Stage, the Golden Crow Flying Dagger gradually couldn't keep up with his pace, and though the Chasing Saber was convenient, it remained a close-combat cold weapon.

The presence of this "Taibo Bow" can greatly enhance his long-range attack capabilities.

"Good stuff!" Zhao Douan grinned, as if caressing a beauty.

Both of these items are excellent; melting them for the Red Flame Saint Armor would be a waste. He decided to keep them for his own use.

"But the cost is great too. I can't quickly find enough resources to 'recharge' the Red Flame Saint Armor..."

Zhao Douan peeled off the white Half-body Armor from himself and included it in the silver scroll.

At this moment, waves of fatigue surged once again.

"Really, not a drop left." Zhao Douan sighed softly and walked towards the bed, sitting cross-legged to prepare for meditation and recovery.

However, when choosing the visualization of that picture, he hesitated.

These days, he had been visualizing the Big Dream Scroll, traveling the Martial World in dreams with Pei Niannu. Unfortunately, he had never encountered Xu nor heard of Xu's name, probably because the timeline in the dream was too early, before the rise of Yu Country's Grand Ancestor.

"Should I visualize 'Human World' again? This time I briefly touched the threshold of the Heavenly Human realm, feeling some insights, maybe visualizing this picture will be different."

Without hesitation, Zhao Douan held his breath and focused, entering the "Human World" scroll a second time, that familiar yet unfamiliar "city."

...

Capital.

The Empress, inside the Heavenly Master Mansion, did not obtain detailed answers.

According to Zhang Yan Yi's statement, separated by thousands of miles, he too couldn't know exactly what happened, but the feedback from the Heavenly Dao was a piece of good news for the Empress and the court.

"Could it be that a victory was won? But why such a big commotion?" Xu Zhenguan furrowed her brows, unable to understand.

She returned to the Imperial Study Room, trying to calm down and continue reviewing the memorials, but still found it difficult to settle her mind.

"Enough." After several attempts, Xu Zhenguan tossed her slender brush, sighing softly, abandoning the desk work, leaving the Palace Attendant, and went out to stroll in the palace.

The worry in her heart was not the battle situation—with the reinforcements of the Capital Camp, under Xue Shence's command, failure was nearly impossible.

Let alone defeat the Vassal King, reclaiming lost territory was almost certain.

What troubled her was still that Little Forbidden Army.

Unfortunately, the era she lived in differed from that magical world in the scroll, which was full of Magic Treasures for instant voice transmission. Even using the fastest path to send messages would take a long time to know the frontline situation...

Xu Zhenguan thought absentmindedly, and unconsciously arrived at the Ancestor Hall in the palace—this was the place constructed by the Grand Ancestor Emperor, with a hidden cellar for wine beneath, and deeper inside, a secret room holding the Dragon Essence.

Previously, Zhao Douan once stayed in this hall with the Empress for an entire night.

Whenever Xu Zhenguan felt heavy-hearted and wished to be alone to quiet down, she habitually came here.

The white-robed, black-haired female emperor pushed open the hall door, sat on the mat, gazing at the empty offering table, spacing out for a while, then chose to sit cross-legged and enter the meditation state to seek tranquility.

What she visualized was naturally also "Human World."

The Royal Family's scroll, each person's visualization was an independent painting, not interconnected.

Yet at this moment, the Empress in the Capital and Zhao Douan in Linfeng, one after the other, simultaneously visualized and entered the same painting.

...

A familiar sensation of weightlessness emerged, flashes flew by like the passing of thousands of household lights under the night.

In some modern office.

Zhao Douan, lying on the computer desk, opened his weighty eyelids, his vision initially blurred, then gradually becoming clear.

Firstly, a computer screen in "screensaver" mode due to long inactivity appeared in his view.

Immediately, he saw the edge of the computer littered with post-it notes of varying colors, each one neatly detailing a "reminder."

Behind him, documents in the filing cabinet stood in the room, packed like sardines visible through the semi-transparent cabinet door.

"Beep beep—" Outside the window, a distant car horn sounded, prompting him to instinctively turn his head. On a summer night, a gust of wind slipped in through the window bars, blowing through the half-opened curtains, ruffling his hair.

"I'm home—" Zhao Douan exhaled gently. This second entry into the scroll world lacked the astonishment of the first.

His fingers tapped the keyboard, entered the password, and the computer began to boot... his gaze scanned the time at the bottom right of the computer screen.

Just past midnight, as expected.