Grey hills and rugged boulders scattered across the moon's surface, stretching to the horizon's end.
The Jiajing Emperor exerted a slight force with his feet and lightly floated up.
Could you imagine an ancient emperor taking big strides on the moon?
Li Changzhou thought, if he had a camera, this scene alone could grant him financial freedom—the Space Bureau would pay at least a billion Yuan for this photo.
"How is the construction of your base on the moon coming along?" Turquoise Pool asked softly.
"It's almost done," Li Changzhou replied.
"Can I have a place there?"
Li Changzhou nodded. Setting aside their personal relationship and speaking purely in terms of cooperation, it was proper to offer Turquoise Pool a spot on the moon base.
"But no players allowed."
"What about visiting relatives?"
"Not allowed either."
Turquoise Pool frowned, "You're being too inhumane. Won't you allow even your own men to enter?"
"My people are a different case. If they dare to cause trouble, I'd have them killed without hesitation. Others are different. Imagine, what if you had a sister, brother, uncle, aunt, or any relative who, using their skills, did something to others? Should I save face for you, or not?"
"You don't need to save my face. Before sending any of my sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts up there, I'll make it clear to them that while they can enjoy life, any wrongdoing will be handed over to you, and they will be dealt with according to your laws," she said.
She extended her hand, making a high-five gesture.
Li Changzhou glanced at her face and her hand, then back at the Jiajing Emperor who was lifting a hundred-kilogram boulder.
"Let's skip the high-five; I trust you. I'll allow players to go," he said.
Turquoise Pool grabbed his hand and pressed it against her other hand, disdainfully saying, "We should high-five, it's a treaty. Let's not change our minds later and say we didn't swear on this."
"...I get the high-five, but what do you mean by this?" Li Changzhou asked, looking at how Turquoise Pool clasped his hand.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." Turquoise Pool released his hand, wiped her chin beneath the veil as if she had drooled, and with seductive eyes and a smirk, stared hook-like at Li Changzhou.
Li Changzhou felt a surge of heat inside, the delicate warmth of her touch lingering in his palm.
With a light tap of his toes, he headed towards the back-flipping Jiajing Emperor in the moon's one-sixth gravity; not a very suave or spirited move—the Space Bureau would pay at least two billion Yuan for this photo.
"Your Majesty, this is the moon. Have you seen Chang'e or Guanghan Palace yet?" he asked.
The Jiajing Emperor gazed towards Earth, his body uncontrollably floating, and after a long silence, he asked, "Real man, are all the legends about immortals fictitious?"
"They might have been true in the past," Li Changzhou thought of Yang Qinglan's palace lanterns, "but now they've all vanished like smoke. The fasting rituals serve no purpose, Majesty, consuming only money and time."
"Is there really a way to become an immortal?" the Jiajing Emperor asked directly.
Li Changzhou laughed, a knowing smile on his face, "There is, as long as one has the law, maintains unyielding spirit, and progresses step by step, one can surely achieve immortality."
"Please teach me the way, real man!"
"Do you really want to learn, Your Majesty?"
"I do!"
"Does Your Majesty know what I have done to reach my current realm?"
"I don't know, but I am capable of anything!"
"After obtaining the law, I climbed towering snow mountains, traversed endless deserts, fought with wild beasts, wrestled demonic oxen, endured the worldly Eight Sufferings, drew thunder into my body in the nine heavens, got crushed into powder by giant rocks in Hell, and orchestrated a fiery massacre, killing millions to accumulate endless sins, all to gain my current mana. Even so, I am still one step away from becoming an immortal."
Li Changzhou once again grabbed the Jiajing Emperor, who was floating freely in mid-air.
He asked the Jiajing Emperor, "Do you really want to learn?"
"Real man!" the Jiajing Emperor exclaimed excitedly, "Let me think it over!"
"...Of course."
The Jiajing Emperor sank into a deep contemplation. Setting fire to a city and killing millions was a trivial matter for him, but personally fighting wild beasts and demonic oxen, and drawing thunder into his body...
The state and its people needed an emperor, and the harem's concubines couldn't be left husbandless; he absolutely couldn't risk his own life.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
The Jiajing Emperor snapped back to reality, looked up, and saw Huang Jin running towards him from outside the hall, his body already covered with a thick layer of snow.
Huang Jin reached the palace gate, brushed off the snow from his body with the help of other eunuchs and by himself, and ran inside.
He was still shouting, "Master, why have you suddenly returned? I was still watching the heavens!"
Turning around, the Jiajing Emperor saw himself seated cross-legged, with the God of Thunder and the God of Immortal Transformation sitting opposite him.
The large tripod-shaped brass incense burner, with the Eight Diagrams carved out in openwork, continuously emitted wisps of smoke.
"A dream within a dream," he murmured to himself.
Suddenly hearing Li Changzhou laugh loudly, "Your Majesty, this is not a dream within a dream!"
The Jiajing Emperor was still somewhat dazed, his eyes unfocused.
Huang Jin knelt by the side, saying in a low yet certain voice, "Replying to the master, it's real. Your servant saw the master riding the clouds directly up to the nine heavens!"
The Jiajing Emperor looked at him, "You saw it?"
"I saw it, I saw it with my own eyes, everyone here saw it!" Huang Jin gestured to the palace maids and the Imperial Guard present.
"Did you all see it?" the Jiajing Emperor looked up.
Inside and outside the hall, on the steps, in the snow, eunuchs, palace maids, and the Imperial Guard were kneeled down everywhere.
"Your Majesty, we saw it!"
Huang Jin shouted again, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, on becoming an immortal!"
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on becoming an immortal!" the crowd roared.
"Good! Good!" The Jiajing Emperor stood up, with his hands clasped behind him, he paced back and forth in the hall.
"Good, very good! Haha!" He even began to applaud, his excitement hard to contain.