Chapter 148: Empress for a Myriad Generations and a Thousand Autumns

There was simply too much information for the master to look up today, and verbal explanations were unclear. Writing it all down with paper would probably take a day and a night. Little Mean suddenly thought of the crystal core input method, which could not only display text but also project detailed images. It was truly an essential household gadget!

Bai Qiuyue channeled a wisp of spiritual energy into the crystal core, and a beam of light projected from within it directly onto her crown chakra.

A torrent of unfamiliar information was forcibly shoved into her mind. Bai Qiuyue clutched her head tightly, feeling as if a hundred needles were piercing her brain simultaneously: "So painful! Little Mean, are you trying to murder your master?!"

Little Mean was also dumbfounded by the sight, freezing stupidly in place. Eight-Tail, inside the spatial dimension, frowned at the spectacle: "Harmonize your spiritual energy, relax, and accept those memories. This is a rejection reaction, which is quite normal. A reaction this severe is likely because the amount of information accepted is too vast, causing the brain to fail to process it in time and reject this foreign data."

Little Mean snapped back to its senses: [Right, right! Master, relax!]

Bai Qiuyue slowly lowered her hands, letting them hang naturally at her sides, closed her eyes tightly, and circulated her spiritual energy throughout her body: "Heaven and earth are dark and yellow, the universe is primeval and desolate, the sun and moon wax and wane, the stars are arrayed in rows..."

"Hoo..." Within moments, the pain began to subside, presumably indicating the end of the rejection phase.

Bai Qiuyue opened her tightly shut eyes, her pupils still swimming with tears born from the extreme pain she had just endured.

The sudden chill in the air and Bai Qiuyue's complexion, which was as dark as ordinary dirt, spelled danger.

Danger. Little Mean. Danger.

Little Mean acutely felt a sinister gaze fixed upon itself. That small ball of white fur shivered, its chrysanthemum puckering. The fur-covered rat face forced a smile resembling a wild chrysanthemum blooming in despair in the wind: "Can we not hit the face?"

"I'll give you a couple of thumps, a-da~! Do you want a new master?!" Bai Qiuyue's upgraded walnut-sized knuckle-knock landed squarely on the top of Little Mean's skull. With two crisp, decisive thuds, a red bump sprang up on the spot.

The other spirit beasts in the dimension covered their eyes with their five-petaled bamboo-shoot paws in unbearable second-hand embarrassment, yet couldn't resist the temptation to peek through the gaps. One of Eight-Tail's paws was busy covering its own eyes while the other had to restrain Tao Yaoyao, who kept trying to peek. Ah, a fox's life is truly difficult.

Holding its throbbing head, Little Mean's fur-covered rat face was written all over with despair: Master, please listen to my explanation!

[Master, please let me sophistry!]

It was completely over.

There was truly no hope left now.

Eight-Tail, remember to collect my corpse. The weather has been hot lately, and it's easy for things to rot.

Another two sharp thuds later, both sides of the skull were now perfectly symmetrical, with a bump on each side.

Even Eight-Tail felt a twinge of pity for the furry ball: "Come on, do you guys want some more peanuts? Mean is simply courting death on a daily basis!"

"I want some, I want some!" Tao Yaoyao raised its bird wings, playing along enthusiastically.

"Here! These are all shelled for you. If it's not enough, I'll keep shelling!" Eight-Tail had thoroughly transformed into a devoted servant to the bird, showering Tao Yaoyao with meticulous and omnipresent affection.

"Mm-hmm! Chirp chirp chirp~"

Even though Tao Yaoyao could transform into a human form, it still couldn't shake the habit of chirping whenever it was happy, singing loudly in the dimension every day like the quirky bird it was.

First forgetting the crystal core's side effects, and then having a slip of the tongue that mistook an explanation for sophistry—Little Mean was merely a lotus flower away from drinking Meng Po's soup of forgetfulness.

After tossing the unrecognizable, suspicious creature back into the dimension, Bai Qiuyue finally began examining the information she had traded half her life for.

The former dynasty of the Ancient Lin'an Kingdom was known as Lin'an. At that time, Lin'an had not yet experienced the reversal where women were revered and men were debased; on the contrary, it was an era where men were revered and women were subjugated. No woman was permitted to participate in political affairs, and if a woman suffered an injustice, even if she appealed, her case would not be investigated, forcing her to bear the wrongful grievance in vain.

The previous dynasty's emperor was fatuous and tyrannical, obsessed with female beauty, neglecting morning court sessions and state affairs. All the civil and military officials were a bunch of good-for-nothings. The common people harbored anger but dared not speak, and when neighboring countries invaded, they could only watch helplessly as their country was burned and plundered while not a single member of the royal family mounted a counterattack, allowing all the treasures left by their ancestors to be looted one by one.

The Empress of the Bai clan had been dragged into the palace by the former emperor to serve as a concubine for his amusement. Harboring deep resentment despite her youth, she used her own beauty as bait under the pressure of both the environment and the tyrant, slipping hemlock into his wine. Ultimately, the former emperor died of poison.

With no emperor, a nation without a master fell into universal chaos.

Internal strife and division plagued Lin'an. Officials rebelled, and the beauties of the inner palace were treated like captives kept by officials, living lives worse than death.

The Empress of the Bai clan set fire to the palace where she lived, and when she awoke again, she found herself in a temple. It was also here that the Empress of the Bai clan met Bai Qiuyue's father, the young monk Qingmi.

Without inquiring where she had been rescued from, the Empress of the Bai clan simply felt that the young monk Qingmi possessed a compassionate heart, and she joined him in eating vegetarian meals and chanting Buddhist scriptures. However, good times did not last; rebel armies revolted within the city. Lacking a sovereign and a commander, everyone wanted to be emperor, but what was their true pursuit? Wealth, power, or simply territory?

"Benefactor Bai, how do you view Lin'an City now?"

"Chaotic, exceptionally chaotic. There is not a single person with a pure heart dedicated to the country."

"Indeed. Although the previous emperor was somewhat foolish and incompetent, the country was at least stable."

Qingmi's remark seemed as though he possessed foreknowledge of heavenly secrets.

The Empress of the Bai clan gazed at the young monk Qingmi, unable to blink for a long time. The next day, she left the temple. She had assassinated the ruler of a nation, yet not a single official had bothered to investigate why the sovereign died. Such a pack of ministers should have been replaced long ago, and this realm was due for a new master!

Within half a year, the Empress of the Bai clan led an army composed of commoners who had volunteered to save the country, marching all the way toward the imperial palace!

After more than a year of internal warfare, all the factional armies were utterly exhausted and completely incapable of resisting the Empress of the Bai clan's army, which—though composed of ordinary people—was orderly and well-disciplined. Soon, the rebellions were suppressed.

Though the Empress of the Bai clan desired to ascend the throne, she faced skepticism regarding the supremacy of men over women: what capability did a woman possess to sit upon the Dragon Throne?

The Empress of the Bai clan smiled faintly. With bloodstains still on her face, caked in mud from head to toe, and travel-worn from months of campaigning, she suddenly realized she was no inferior to men. What men could do, she could do as well; and some things she could do that men could not. So why shouldn't she sit upon this realm?

A sword stained with fresh blood flashed fiercely across the neck of the man who had raised the doubt. With a slight movement, a bloody rain would fall: "Do you now believe whether this imperial concubine can sit in that seat or not?"

The man was so frightened on the spot that he wet his trousers, and before the eyes of all, he dropped to his knees in submission.

The Empress of the Bai clan officially ascended the throne as the monarch of Lin'an, changing the era name to Prosperous Age and the country's name to the Ancient Lin'an Kingdom.

On the very first day the common people witnessed this woman ascend the throne, she personally went to a temple to invite a young novice monk back into the palace to serve as the so-called "Empress." The entire nation wailed in grief, fearing this would be yet another tyrannical ruler.

Yet it turned out not to be. The people soon discovered that the city's economy was reviving day by day, territories plundered by neighboring countries were returned, and stolen treasures were exhibited in the imperial treasury. The laws grew stricter, and women were no longer stripped of legal standing—they finally gained a voice. The court underwent a massive overhaul, and the entire nation slowly began to flourish, transforming into a truly prosperous age!