182: Chapter 182 Ding! SSS-level Top-Tier Target! Empress Yuechan of the Great Yan Dynasty!

Cao Kun coughed dryly.

He forcibly pulled his somewhat heated gaze away from Pei Qinglan's slender, jade-like legs and changed the subject:

"Cough... Fairy Pei, how much further is the Great Yan Imperial Capital from here?"

Pei Qinglan put away her teasing thoughts and said solemnly:

"The void passage follows the Great Yan Dynasty's royal spatial formation path."

"The speed is extremely fast."

"We will arrive in two hours at most."

At this point, Pei Qinglan's expression became serious as she looked at Cao Kun and reminded him:

"Young Master Cao."

"There is one thing I must remind you of."

"After you meet the Empress, mind your manners and watch what you say."

"Although Her Majesty appreciates you, she is, after all, the ruler of a nation and a powerhouse at the Body Integration Stage."

Cao Kun curled his lip.

Watch his manners?

Those words had never appeared in his dictionary.

However, his mind was as clear as a mirror.

The fact that the Great Yan Empress was willing to lend a hand at this critical juncture, even at the cost of offending the Taichu Holy Land,

indicated that this woman truly needed him to be her blade.

Since they were using each other,

the more it was like this, the less he could show excessive gratitude.

But Pei Qinglan had a point.

The other party was, after all, at the Body Integration Stage.

He hadn't reached the point where he could directly challenge someone at the Body Integration Stage yet.

He still had to keep up appearances.

"Don't worry, I have always been very mindful of my manners."

Cao Kun gave a perfunctory reply.

Pei Qinglan sized him up for two seconds.

Clearly, she didn't believe a single punctuation mark of that sentence.

But she didn't say anything more.

She turned and walked out of the VIP room.

"I'm going to arrange the docking and the palace entry; you two rest for a moment."

The door to the VIP room had just closed.

A gust of fragrant wind blew against him, and Yu Linglong's soft, petite body immediately threw itself into Cao Kun's arms.

She leaned against Cao Kun's shoulder and whispered.

"Master!"

"What did that old woman mean when she said 'not for the time being' just now?"

"What does 'for the time being' mean?"

"Does she plan to specifically wear short skirts and run into the room to seduce you in the future?"

Cao Kun reached out and flicked her forehead.

"Why do you care what she does in the future?"

"What, no confidence in yourself? Is your master the kind of vulgar person who can be easily manipulated by others?"

Yu Linglong clutched her forehead, her red lips pouting slightly as she grumbled and exposed him:

"But..."

"When that Pei Qinglan was talking just now,"

"Master's eyes were looking at her legs again!"

Cao Kun's expression didn't change.

He denied it with a straight face.

"Nonsense."

"She's wearing a long skirt today; what would I be looking at?"

"I was observing what material the patterns on her hem were made of."

"I was thinking about buying you an identical one later."

Yu Linglong narrowed her long, fox-like eyes suspiciously.

"Really?"

Cao Kun's expression was calm, his gaze so sincere it could move the Top Ten Outstanding Youths of the Central Region:

"I'll be a puppy if I'm lying to you."

Inside the Purple Mansion.

Feng Jiuyou heard Cao Kun's nonsense.

"Bah! You shameless scoundrel full of lies."

The Empress's voice, filled with disdain, rang coldly in Cao Kun's mind.

Cao Kun's face darkened. Was this old stick getting bolder and bolder?

He directly arranged a gagging package for her through the slave mark.

He cut off all of Feng Jiuyou's perceptions of the outside world and locked her back into the small dark room of Chaos Qi.

The world became quiet.

...

Two hours later.

The dragon-patterned flying boat burst out of the spatial rift.

The view ahead suddenly opened up.

The entire Great Yan Imperial City unfolded before Cao Kun's eyes.

It was incredibly grand.

Extremely shocking.

This imperial city was actually suspended ten thousand feet above the clouds.

The dark gold palace complex stretched for tens of thousands of miles, with no end in sight.

Nine earth veins emitting dense Spiritual Qi pierced through from deep within the earth below, like nine giant dragons holding up this city in the sky.

The dense Spiritual Qi turned into colorful clouds, swirling around the city.

Just as Cao Kun was observing the imperial city,

the long-awaited System prompt suddenly rang in his mind.

[Ding! Detected a supreme target entering perception range.]

[Target Identity: Great Yan Dynasty Empress, Yue Chan.]

[Target Physique: Supreme Phoenix Bloodline.]

[Target Cultivation: Early Stage Body Integration.]

[System Evaluation: SSS-Rank Supreme Jade Beast.]

[Jade Beast Description: Great Yan Empress Yue Chan, born with an imperial destiny and blessed with Luck. She is the highest-grade potential Jade Beast the host has encountered so far.]

[Task Objective: Successfully take Yue Chan as a Jade Beast before the Daoist Inheritance Struggle ends.]

[Task Reward: 50,000 task points, Legendary Cultivation Technique: Thunder Emperors Myriad Laws, Beast Tamer Rank immediately promoted to Grandmaster!]

Holy shit!

Looking at the string of prompts flashing on the System panel,

Cao Kun couldn't help but sigh. If this damn System hadn't come out, I would have almost forgotten about you!

But these rewards were indeed so generous they made one's scalp tingle.

Fifty thousand task points!

A legendary Cultivation Technique!

Directly promoted to Grandmaster!

The System had really gone all out this time.

Especially that SSS-Rank evaluation; it was the first time he had seen it since binding with the System.

"This Empress... is quite interesting."

I must have her!

Cao Kun's eyes became heated.

At this moment, Pei Qinglan happened to walk back into the VIP room to inform him to prepare to disembark.

Cao Kun turned his head, looked at Pei Qinglan, and suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question:

"Fairy Pei."

"Does Her Majesty the Empress usually... have many people around her?"

Pei Qinglan was stunned for a moment.

Clearly, she didn't understand why he suddenly asked this.

But she still answered truthfully.

"Her Majesty is occupied with a myriad of affairs, governing the entire Great Yan Dynasty."

"There are naturally many close attendants around her."

"But those who can truly speak with her, those she can trust..."

Pei Qinglan shook her head.

"Very few."

"One could even say, none."

Emperors call themselves 'lonely' and 'solitary'; it is indeed cold at the top.

In this center of imperial power filled with intrigue, who would dare to trust others easily?

Cao Kun nodded and said nothing more.

But in his heart, he had already begun to calculate his next conquest plan.

So what if she was an Empress at the Body Integration Stage?

The more such a supreme Fairy was lonely and high above, the easier it was to tear open a gap.

As long as there was a weakness, he, Grand Elder Cao, would have plenty of means to take advantage of it!

The women he set his sights on, even if they were fairies from heaven, would have to obediently wear a beast ring.

His favorite thing to do was to drag high-and-mighty fairies down from their pedestals.

"Buzz—"

The dragon-patterned flying boat slowly descended.

It docked at the imperial pier on the outskirts of the imperial city.

Pei Qinglan led the way in front.

Both sides of the road were lined with fully armed Great Yan Imperial Guards.

They all had cultivation levels at the Soul Transformation Stage, were clad in heavy armor and held sharp weapons, their killing intent soaring to the sky.

This kind of foundation was enough to make any second-rate Sect feel despair.

The three of them reached the inner city gate of the imperial palace.

Two vermilion gates, a hundred feet high, automatically opened to both sides under the power of a Formation.

Behind the gates was a white jade staircase leading straight to the sky.

Pei Qinglan stopped.

She stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation to Cao Kun.

"Young Master Cao."

"From here on, it is not convenient for me to accompany you inside."

"Her Majesty is waiting for you inside Zichen Hall."

Then, Pei Qinglan's gaze turned to Yu Linglong, who was following closely behind Cao Kun.

"Fairy Yu, please also bear with it and stay outside the hall."

Yu Linglong's brow furrowed, and she instinctively wanted to lash out, but she heard Cao Kun speak indifferently:

"Wait for me obediently outside."

Upon hearing her master's words, she immediately became as docile as a cat and nodded obediently.

After everything was arranged,

Cao Kun straightened his yin-yang dharma robe.

He stepped forward.

Alone, he entered the hall.

...

Zichen Hall.

The entire hall was carved from ten-thousand-year-old warm jade, with mist swirling around.

Separated by layers of bead curtains,

a graceful and majestic figure was lazily leaning against a dark gold dragon throne.

She held a glazed cup in her hand, swirling it gently.

"Your Majesty, Cao Kun has been brought here."

From outside the hall came the sharp voice of a eunuch announcing the arrival.

Behind the bead curtains,

Empress Yue Chan slowly raised her Phoenix eyes, her red lips parting slightly.

A cold imperial voice drifted out from behind the curtains:

"Let him in."

Empress Yue Chan