The Empress’s Gigolo

All the elders in the five coffins were old ladies. Their hair was completely white while their skin was covered in wrinkles and spots.

The woman in the furthest coffin opened her eyes, stiffly reached out her hands, and pushed open the crystal coffin lid. She sat up and took a deep breath of the air in this world.

All of the blue liquid trickled down her body and eventually converged into the coffin to form a calm water surface. There wasn’t a single drop of liquid on her body, and her skin was only slightly moist.

She took in deep breaths as her eyes roamed around the room before focusing her attention on the chief of the Temple of Heaven. The muscles on her face twitched a few times and then she stretched out her hands to rub her cheeks and throat.

She subsequently started to speak with an extremely hoarse voice that sounded like two pieces of wood rubbing together, “Qing Dian, how long has it been?”

“83 years and 107 days,” the chief of the Temple of Heaven replied.

“83 years…” the old woman in the coffin repeated it gently.

After that, she turned her stiff neck and glanced at the other coffins, asking, “Haven’t you found a suitable receptacle?”

“Not yet. It’s too hard to find a receptacle that can handle the sixth switch,” the chief of the Temple of Heaven replied.

“It’s becoming more and more rare. Back when Qing Ting was in charge, she was still able to occasionally find one or two. However, when it was my turn, I didn’t encounter a single one during several centuries,” the old lady in the coffin said. “This is the last time I’m waking up. If there’s still no receptacle when I wake up the next time, I’ll turn into ash and perish. There would no longer be any chance to switch to another receptacle.”

She then looked up at the chief of the Temple of Heaven and said, “You are the only offspring that I have made and also the last descendant of this place. This is only the second time you are switching receptacles, so you still have 1,000 more years to go. Go back if you have the chance to. After so many years, the Temple of Heaven is already on track. Even without you, it would still continue to serve its purpose as per normal. As for us, Qing Ju and Qing Zi have already lost their chance to switch to other receptacles. Qing Ting still has 100 more years. As for myself, no matter how I try to delay it, I’ll only have 300 years left after this awakening. If there’s still no hope, destroy everything here.”

From the tone of the old lady in the coffin, it could be seen that she wasn’t too enthusiastic about finding a receptacle and switching to it. Delaying her death was now just an instinct that she had already seen through.

Even if she would fall into eternal darkness after this awakening, she wouldn’t be too concerned about it.

Even if this awakening would cause her life to be shortened by 200 years, she wouldn’t be bothered either.

After saying this, the old lady in the coffin asked, “What happened that made you wake me up this time?”

The chief of the Temple of Heaven explained, “If nothing changed, it would be like what you said, and the Temple of Heaven would continue to operate as per normal even without me. However, things have changed now!”

Speaking of this, she started to frown.

The old lady in the coffin looked at her and said, “It looks serious. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have woken me up.”

“Apart from this, there’s another group of the human race,” the chief of the Temple of Heaven said before explaining in detail the series of events surrounding Ren Baqian.

After listening to her, the old lady’s expression didn’t change much, but the gold in her eyes grew darker.

After a while, the golden light in her eyes slowly faded.

“This might not be a bad thing. Let him do what he wants to do. You just have to keep doing what you are doing now. Don’t be impatient. The original importance of the Temple of Heaven has already started to decline, but at present, it still seems quite useful.”

Then, she said profoundly, “What’s theirs is ours.”

She continued, “As long as you bring all of them to the Golden Honor God, not only will all of them become flowing water, you may also be able to learn something from it. After all, we have almost reached the end of our road and haven’t been able to find a better path for many years. This is an opportunity.”

“I’m worried about the other group of the human race. According to that man, they are very powerful! Judging from the Zerg and the Protoss that he mentioned, although they weren’t as powerful as the Golden Armor God and the other honored gods, they weren’t easy to deal with. Additionally, their numbers are even more terrifying,” said the chief of the Temple of Heaven.

“That’s why we have to bring all these things back and turn them into ours. Once you understand them, you can find weaknesses. Besides, most importantly, if you have noticed, they are very weak on their own and don’t pose any resistance to our people. As long as we can find them a place where they fit, everything they have will be ours,” the old lady in the coffin said faintly.

“I understand now,” the chief of the Temple of Heaven replied.

“This may be the last time that we meet in this world. I will return to the Spirit Temple and wait for you.” After the old lady finished her words, she took a few more breaths and slowly lay back into the coffin.

The chief of the Temple of Heaven quietly closed the cover of the crystal coffin before turning and walking away.

…

A day later, the empress sat in a courtyard dressed in red. Her expression was as calm as still water. With red muslin covering her body, the bulge in her belly wasn’t very visible.

Although she looked calm, others felt as if a storm was brewing on a calm sea.

“Strip Xin Zhe of her position as Commander of the Bodyguards and send her to work in the mines for three years!” she ordered coldly.

“Strip Lin Qiaole of her position as Librarian of Qing Xin Hall and send her to work in the mines for one year!”

Xin Zhe’s duty was to protect. She was fortunate to have only been sentenced to three years after such a major incident because Ren Baqian was still fine at the moment.

If he hadn’t contacted them through the radio station, the empress would already have thought of taking Xin Zhe’s head.

Xin Zhe bowed quietly, placed her helmet on the ground, and began to remove the armor on her body.

Zi Donglai looked down while standing by the side.

After Xin Zhe removed her armor, she was only left with a pair of safety shorts and a sports singlet, both of which were given to her by Ren Baqian back then.

“Give her a set of clothes and immediately send her to the mines,” the empress said with a deep voice before turning to look at Lin Qiaole, who had her head lowered in silence.

However… her nose was bubbling from a snore…

Even though she knew that this was normal for Lin Qiaole, the empress got angry.

“Add on another sentence for Lin Qiaole—three years in the mines!”

“Hu… Hu…”

“Take her away!”

“Huh? Huh? It’s over? What did Her Majesty say?” Lin Qiaole looked up and asked softly as two men dragged her out by her arms.

…

“I wasn’t thoughtful enough!” Li Yuanzhu said faintly when she saw Qi Zixiao’s eyes.

Although she wasn’t from Dayao and Qi Zixiao wasn’t in a position to deal with her, she felt somewhat guilty and took the initiative to speak.

“Return to Great Xia! I don’t want to see either of you again!”

“My apologies!” Li Yuanzhu cupped her hands. She also knew that the empress was angry at the moment. It would be better to wait for Ren Baqian to come back first.

She took Lin Yue and the both of them left the courtyard.

Lin Yue was deep in thought.

After they were out of the city, she asked with a little confusion, “Will I only be able to look for Lin Qiaole in the mines in the future? Which mine is it?”

Li Yuanzhu turned to look at her and felt helpless.

She didn’t know how to deal with this girl.

During the incident, Lin Yue took a long time before saying that Ren Baqian was upstairs. When everyone went back up, the place was already empty, and he was no longer there. Everyone felt like hammering her.

If she had said it on the spot, how would any of this have happened?

“Let’s go back to Great Xia!”

“Okay!”

Half a day later, Lin Yue suddenly remembered something and exclaimed, “I have already finished all the melon seeds! Let’s go back to Lan City to buy some!”