Chapter 465: Empress Yuehua, a 100-Something-Year-Old Hag?

As expected of the nation’s reserves. The number of treasures here might not have looked large, but almost all of them were top-tier!

But,

everything here also followed an ironclad rule.

It recognized only military merit, not status.

If you wanted to exchange for a treasure, you could only use military merit points.

Buy them with money? Impossible.

Take them with status? Even more impossible!

Unless there was an emergency of the highest level, even Long Zhanguo himself had to use military merit to take anything from here.

Chu Sheng looked at the "100,000" military merit point balance displayed on his tablet, and his heart burned with excitement.

With these one hundred thousand merit points, he would basically want for nothing while he was in seclusion here.

Too bad Gu Yuexi had already started her own seclusion; otherwise, he could have just had her come here.

Chu Sheng just browsed around and wasn’t in a hurry to exchange for anything.

He still had plenty of resources on hand, so there was no rush.

It wouldn’t be too late to come back and exchange for something when he needed it later.

...

In the following days, Chu Sheng completely entered a state of secluded Cultivation.

As for his Cultivation method, it was simple and crude... absorb!

He would take out the high-purity Energy Crystals he’d swiped from the Alien Race Base from his Lifebound Space, and then, absorb—digest, absorb again—digest again...

The cycle repeated over and over.

His Qi Blood Value climbed upward at a steady and rapid pace.

Besides increasing his strength, he also spent a great deal of time each day on something else.

Namely, studying the construction blueprints for the ultra-long-distance spatial channel that he had seen in the Alien Race Base.

The Array on the blueprints was complex to the extreme; every single rune on it contained profound Space Law.

Chu Sheng’s Spatial Ability and his Comprehension of Space Law mainly came from the Skills and stats granted by the system.

Although he could use them, to understand this Array, he had to delve deeper. He had to calm his mind and start from the very basics, studying and comprehending bit by bit to deepen his own understanding of Space, this Supreme Law.

The process was tedious and difficult.

At first, he looked at those runes, which were like an indecipherable script, and couldn’t make heads or tails of them.

But slowly, as he continued to deduce and experiment, he seemed to start getting a feel for it.

’Although, at my current level, I’m still far from being able to open an ultra-long-distance spatial channel on my own.’

’But...’

’if I just find a way to secretly and unilaterally open the channel that the Alien Race has already built...’

’it doesn’t seem entirely impossible, does it?’

...

On this day, Chu Sheng finished his day’s Cultivation and flew out of the private cultivation room.

As he passed through the hallway, he noticed that the room next to his suite, which had always been empty, actually had its lights on today.

’Someone moved in?’

He was a little curious, so he used his mind to write on the tablet to ask the personal assistant beside him.

*Who’s staying next door?*

When the female assistant saw the words on the tablet, an expression of utmost reverence immediately appeared on her face.

She lowered her voice and replied, "Reporting to Admiral Divine Mosquito, the one who moved in next door is... is *that* esteemed person."

’*That* esteemed person?’

Chu Sheng grew even more curious.

’Anyone this assistant refers to in such a way must be no ordinary person.’

*Who?*

The female assistant took a deep breath and said slowly, in a tone bordering on worship:

"It’s... Empress Yuehua, the one who accompanied the Minister on his official visit last time."

’Empress Yuehua?’

Chu Sheng suddenly remembered. She must have been that very young-looking woman sitting next to Long Zhanguo during the meeting.

’So her name is Yuehua.’

’An Empress... No wonder she was qualified to sit in that position.’

’But...’

Chu Sheng suddenly froze. ’Isn’t Gu Yuexi the only Empress?’

’No, that’s not right.’

’Gu Yuexi is the one and only *Beast Taming Empress* and the only Empress in the history of the path of Beast Taming.’

’Wait, that’s not right either.’

’This woman looks even younger than Feng Wuji.’

’And isn’t Feng Wuji currently Great Xia’s youngest Emperor Realm expert?’

He wrote on the tablet again:

*How old is this Empress Yuehua?*

Hearing this question, the female assistant’s expression turned a little strange. She hesitated for a moment before speaking in an even lower voice:

"That... is classified information. However... Admiral Divine Mosquito, you’re no outsider, so there’s no harm in telling you."

"Lady Empress Yuehua, she... she ascended to the Emperor Realm over a hundred years ago."

"In fact, Empress Yuehua’s seniority is much higher than the Minister’s. It’s rumored... it’s rumored that Minister Long grew up under her care when he was a child..."

’What the—?!’

When Chu Sheng heard this answer, his mind went blank.

’Over a hundred years old?’

’A woman who looks thirty at most is actually an old hag?’

The thought had just popped into his head.

Suddenly.

His vision blurred.

Everything around him vanished. The high-tech alloy hallway, the reverently standing female assistant—it was all gone.

When he could see clearly again, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place.

A babbling brook flowed beneath his feet, surrounded by verdant green mountains and forests. The air was filled with the fresh fragrance of grass and trees.

It was as if he had instantly teleported from the futuristic base to a paradise.

’This is... an Emperor Realm’s Power?’

Chu Sheng’s heart skipped a beat, but he quickly calmed down.

’I’m in the Military Department’s main command base right now. Who else but that old... that Empress Yuehua next door could pull me into the world of her Power without anyone noticing?’

’She pulled me in here... what does she want?’

Chu Sheng looked around, heard the sound of water nearby, and flew toward it.

After bypassing a bamboo grove, he was surprised to see a natural hot spring.

’There are hot springs in an Emperor Realm’s Secret Realm?’

He focused his gaze.

Steam wafted from the hot spring, and within it, a woman with her back to him was enjoying a soak.

’Damn, she’s really going for it?’

Just then, the woman in the water slowly turned her head.

Her exquisitely beautiful face wore a playful expression.

"Heh heh, little mosquito. Talking about a lady’s age behind her back... you’ve got quite some nerve."

’It really is her.’

Chu Sheng complained inwardly, but his eyes remained glued to her.

’*Tsk tsk*, for being over a hundred years old, she’s maintained herself really well. So youthful.’

’I just asked about your age. Was it really necessary to drag me in here just to watch you bathe?’

Chu Sheng couldn’t be bothered to respond to Empress Yuehua’s teasing.

Even if he answered, she wouldn’t understand mosquito-speak anyway.

Empress Yuehua didn’t seem to mind. She slowly rose from the hot spring’s surface...

’Holy crap! This is intense!’

This time, not only did Chu Sheng not look away, he widened his compound eyes and stared, unblinking.

Unfortunately.

The instant her body left the water, a form-fitting white dress automatically materialized on her.

’Tch.’

Barefoot, Empress Yuehua walked across the water’s surface step by step, like a celestial fairy gliding over the waves.

She walked up to Chu Sheng and looked down at him.

"You truly are bold. No wonder you dared to barge into the Alien Race’s base all by yourself."

"Relax, little mosquito."

"I didn’t call you in here to punish you for your little quip."

"I want to ask you about the Alien Race Base on the other side of the spatial channel."

"Can you tell me about it in detail?"