"Well, that's interesting," I murmured as I once again walked away from the Cursed Palace, noticing something unusual with the guards.

Another week passed since I convinced the Queen to add lectures on the cultivation techniques to the mix, but there was little benefit.

I had received a long lesson every day, which then had been improved by the System. Yet, the classes were still at the beginner level, showing that cultivation was far more sublime and complicated than I had assumed.

If I tried to study it alone, I would have died of old age before I could make even the slightest conclusion.

Luckily, I didn't waste my time. While I spent my days playing the genius servant, I spent the nights observing the palace forces, hoping to find a way to infiltrate them. Luckily, as a blue-robed servant, it wasn't suspicious for me to walk around and give orders, which gave me some small advantages.

Including a set of uniforms. Unfortunately, I had to steal it, meaning no convenient armor in my Inventory to be used in an emergency.

I was confident in disguising myself as a guard because I managed to copy the Imperial Sword, which turned out to be even easier than I expected. I didn't even need to ask someone. Just by passing near the training grounds, I managed to decipher it enough, at least enough to create a convincing fake.

After mastering many martial arts Minor Immersion, it had been a trivial achievement. At the same time, by observing them constantly, I learned something important.

The current guards were fake. I was alerted by their careful examination as I walked away, as normally, they didn't care about the movement of the servants that much. In the palace, their presence was more ceremonial.

And, once I examined them, it was easy to see they didn't know how to use the Imperial Sword just by their stance. Their center of gravity was misaligned, and they were clearly unused to the traditional armor.

Yet, their disguise was good enough to avoid the attention of any servant, so I couldn't alert the guards.

I decided to visit my room to put on some makeup to look order while wearing the helm, change into the armor — and leave the protective talisman, in case the Queen could detect its presence. I could always purge my essence later. I also took the essence pills I managed to refine during that period with me, once again leveraging my expanded access.

I had two reasons for my presence. First, I wanted to save the life of the Queen, who was, without a doubt, my best chance to step into the path of Cultivation properly. Even if learning cultivation art proved useless, she was still the best contact I had in that world.

Also, I wanted to see if I could use the opportunity to improve her cultivation. I still had some acupuncture needles in my Inventory that I could use, and I had enough practice to enhance her abilities in the Skin Refinement realm at a minimum.

Maybe even higher if possible.

After going in and out for weeks, finding a location to observe the suspicious soldiers was easy. They waited until midnight, and then two of them split. Four stayed back, observing. I followed the two, staying at a distance.

As I moved, I could feel my essence getting dirtier far faster. Yet, I silently followed the two without cleansing it. I could always do that later. Even with the intensity during the night, it wasn't as intense.

I expected them to attack the Queen, but instead, they split into two, pulled talismans, and started moving around. I let them get away sufficiently before I closed in, and once one glowed, they started digging.

I didn't feel like they had good intentions. Though, as I approached carefully, I noticed the corruption speed getting weaker. Which gave me an idea about exactly what they wanted to do. Still, I waited until he unearthed what he was seeking completely.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Another talisman, but this time carved in green jade.

He was clearly a martial artist, at least at Peak Skin Refinement, but that didn't matter when I pulled a set of needles from my Inventory and approached him from behind. He was too distracted and too confident of his security to notice my presence. I grabbed his neck and stabbed a few needles before he could react … and he fell unconscious.

A benefit of my increased capabilities.

The second one was equally easy to deal with. They were too confident in their success, which had been interesting. Yet, while dealing with the second, I drew my sword and hit against his armor deliberately.

Not enough to alert their allies, but just enough to alert the Queen, who looked down from the window, for once her veil was not on.

She was beautiful, but her exhaustion was equally clear. She said nothing as she examined me. "You're not a guard," she said. It was easy for her to guess as I had already shifted my stance to Dragon Saber. The difference in two stances was sufficient even for an amateur, which she certainly was.

"No, just a concerned party," I said, changing my speech pattern completely to sound ancient. Yet, I deliberately showed no respect to her.

"I hope that you don't expect a reward," she said proudly, showing no hint of fear.

"No. Your survival is reward enough. The distraction you provide is enough for my master," I said. "They are interested in keeping you alive."

"Until I outlive my usefulness, I'm guessing," she said, her bitterness clear. Not that it shocked me. The gossip implied that she was abandoned by her family, and she was definitely abandoned by her husband.

"Your only use is to provide a distraction," I said with a shrug. "The longer, the better. Feel free to take any better offer," I said.

She was prideful but also desperate. "What do you offer?" she asked.

"Enough strength to deal with the rabble," I said, kicking the unconscious man. Then, I flashed a needle. "As long as you're strong enough to handle the pain, of course."

"And what if I refuse," she said.

"We'll do our best to find another distraction," I said, not giving her anything more. Then, I said nothing else. I didn't either, waiting under her window.

"Wait outside," she said. While she came down, I quickly went to the perimeter to check the other four … and found them already gone. I wondered if they saw what was going on, or if they had no intention of waiting for their allies in the first place.

Either way, it didn't matter much.

I moved to the familiar palace door, where she lectured me repeatedly. She was already waiting for me. I couldn't feel amused at the irony. She taught me, disguised as a servant. And now, I was going to teach her, disguised as a mysterious guard.

I did. When she appeared, I passed her the sword. "Follow my moves," I said as I guided her through the Dragon Saber moves. She was quick to learn them. Too quick. Nowhere near my true capability, but still significant. "Take this," I said as I passed her the first pill. She paused, examining it for a moment, probably enough to recognize what was going on.

I could see that she hated the lack of control, but despite her distaste, she took the pill. At the same time, I stabbed the needless to her neck and hands, which was enough for me to channel my essence even without touching otherwise.

Massaging was a fun idea, but not under our current circumstances. Instead, I touched the needle and channeled the essence. I noticed several interesting things. One, I could feel some — now familiar — presence in three of her gates, remnants of Qi.

It showed that she reached the fourth level of Qi Refinement, but as I suspected, her cultivation regressed. Her teachings helped me to assess that much.

More importantly, I noticed several of her acupuncture points were blocked. It wasn't done by cultivators, but a martial artist, but the essence type was not one I recognized.

If someone other than a very skilled apothecary taught her Martial Arts, she would have died while breaking into Muscle Reinforcement. And, her quick acceptance of my teachings implied she didn't know that.

I thought about warning her against trusting anyone who might teach her Martial Arts, but then I realized it would reflect badly on my servant identity, so I kept my mouth shut.

Instead, I cleansed her acupuncture points and helped her to break through. With her incredible yet underutilized talent, combined with my absurd assistance, she broke through even faster than I expected. Ten minutes — and several pills — later, she was at Muscle Reinforcement, and half an hour later, she reached Skin Refinement.

Cheating with resources was easy yet fun.

"Continue practicing," I said after I fed all the pills I had, which pushed her to the peak of the Skin Refinement, and also showed her how to break through further. Unfortunately, that was my limit. "It will be inconvenient for us if you die early. Though, we might send you some gifts with your meal," I added. Hopefully, it would be believable enough.

With the mysterious delivery from an even more mysterious agent complete, I went back.

And spent the rest of the night pushing out the corrupting Qi by repeatedly forcing out my essence. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was worth it.