Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 229 Dragon's Phoenix
Lu Xingzhou certainly didn't dare to test it.

If we examine the logic more closely, if the Demon Emperor were truly injured, she wouldn't be dressed as a demon and still address people as "humans," as if afraid others wouldn't recognize her as a demon. What if she ran into some first or second-rank official who wanted to test her abilities? Wouldn't she be courting death if she were truly seriously injured?
Logically speaking, if you are really injured, it would be safer to pretend to be an ordinary human cultivator when you encounter humans, so why bother pretending?

Of course, it's also possible that he's too proud to pretend?
Anyway, I can't just guess, and I absolutely wouldn't dare to take the initiative to test it.

Lu Xingzhou's gaze fell on the spot where the Demon Emperor stood.

There was indeed a pit ahead, containing a broken skeleton.

This should be the owner of the magical artifact that we guessed before. Little White Hair must have touched this corpse. I don't know why the Demon Emperor is interested in this corpse and stays here to look at it.

Lu Xingzhou's mind raced, and he quickly replied, "What you call good fortune is true. I found an ice house not far away, which seemed to have been inhabited before. So I searched the area and found a small secret realm formed by a fallen magical artifact. Therefore, I judged that there was another corpse nearby, so I followed my senses to come and take a look. Since you have already found the corpse first, I will not compete with you for it."

This was absolutely true, and even Ah Nuo nodded vigorously beside her.

The Demon Emperor stared at him for a long time, then smiled slightly: "Your heart was pounding just now, but it has calmed down now. That's the truth."

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

The Demon Emperor's gaze returned to the corpse, and he said calmly, "This is a demon corpse. If you pick it up, what do you plan to do with it?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "I'm not here to collect corpses, nor even for the magical treasures on them, because I'm sure they've already been taken. What I want are the plants that grow nearby due to various special energies... I'm an alchemist."

The demon race lacks alchemists.

In terms of cultivation culture, the demon race is rather crude. Human techniques like talismans and other shortcuts are almost nonexistent among them. In terms of medicine, they prefer to consume herbs directly, at most making some combinations or decoctions. Unless they have specifically studied alchemy in human kingdoms, few demons possess the skills for alchemy.

Lu Xingzhou was testing her to see if she needed any pills.

It's a pity that even if the Demon Emperor couldn't refine pills himself, he wouldn't lack them. Hearing this, a slight smile played on his lips as he looked him up and down, and he said indifferently, "A fourth-grade cultivator, what good pills can he refine? As for the plants, I haven't found any. Why don't you look for them?"

Lu Xingzhou actually jumped into the pit and searched carefully. He found some fungi in a corner: "They were formed from bones. They are not good things. They are useful for making poison. Judging from the plants, the bones died recently. It is no more than a hundred years ago."

The Demon Emperor's heart stirred slightly: "Are you sure it's only a hundred years?"

"Yes, glaciers contain artifacts from different periods, some dating back hundreds of millions of years, others only a few years. Due to the freezing, it's difficult to determine the exact age of most of these artifacts. Even those thousands or tens of thousands of years old might look quite fresh. We can only make some references from the plants nearby."

The Demon Emperor nodded.

Things inside glaciers are different from those elsewhere. She can usually tell the age of skeletons at a glance, but it's really hard to determine the age of things frozen in the ice. Since alchemists have the ability to identify the age of plants, they can use that as a reference.

The Demon Queen was, of course, after the so-called dragon bone fragments. Vibrant dragon bones meant there was still a possibility of resurrection, at least an attempt to revive them as a bone dragon, which was extremely important for her dragon race, whose bloodline was scarce. Especially if it was an ancient dragon, it would be invaluable for the ancient explorations and the path to sainthood of the dragon race and even the entire demon race; it was something she was determined to obtain.

But she wasn't stupid. Worried that this was a smokescreen deliberately set by humans to trap her, she naturally wouldn't rashly enter the core area. Instead, she scouted the surrounding area first. Alone, without anyone else, she was more flexible and less likely to have any worries, especially for a top-tier expert like herself.

The remaining powerful demons are waiting at the border between the demon realm and the ice plains. If a major battle breaks out, there will be time to recruit more people.

I came to this location because I sensed a trace of dragon blood in the remains here, which seemed to be related to our target, so I came to check it out. Upon arrival, I learned that these completely dead remains, containing only a trace of blood, were probably unrelated to our target, but this raised new questions.

She couldn't even determine the age of the skeleton. Could the so-called vibrant ancient dragon bones be just a few recent pieces that had retained some vitality after being frozen?

Although it is still meaningful, it is far less important than the ancient dragons that have been dead for billions of years and still retain their vitality. At least the path to sainthood is gone.

One is worth fighting to the death for, the other is not. Since that battle ten years ago, the demon race has been in a state of dormancy and defense, and its existing forces are just as precious and cannot be wasted.

She thought for a moment and finally spoke up: "Since you have the ability to identify years, how about you do me a favor? I'll give you a reward."

Lu Xingzhou inwardly groaned. Who knew if you'd offer a reward or just kill him to silence him? He just wanted to stay far away from this tyrannical creature who could crush him at any moment: "Miss, I have important matters to attend to, so I'm afraid it's inconvenient... Besides, if we're alone with a child, and someone sees us, it might not be good for your reputation..."

"Reputation? Ha..." The Demon Emperor laughed, glancing at Lu Xingzhou again, seemingly only then noticing that he was quite handsome, a hint of amusement appearing in his eyes.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but somehow it also seems a bit seductive...

Lu Xingzhou shivered, then heard the Demon Emperor say, "The chances of encountering a stranger in the vast icy plains are already low, why bother with this?"

"I care."

The Demon Emperor narrowed his eyes slightly: "Do you care about your reputation, or your life?"

With that narrowed eye, a murderous intent erupted, and an overwhelming pressure surged forth. Cold sweat broke out on Lu Xingzhou's forehead, but his first reaction was to protect A Nuo behind him.

The Demon Emperor paused, his murderous intent diminishing considerably. He lowered his eyes and said, "If you help me, I won't silence you."

Even if you don't silence me, I'll still be a rapist...

Lu Xingzhou still wanted to refuse, but then the Demon Emperor continued, "I came to inquire about matters related to my demon race. If humans don't harass me, I won't provoke them without cause." So reasonable? Lu Xingzhou gave her a curious look.

Due to information asymmetry, Lu Xingzhou was still unaware of the dragon bone fragments, nor did he know why Madam Ye had come here. Naturally, he didn't know that the Demon Emperor's seemingly reasonable statement was actually nonsense, because it was impossible for her to be without conflict with humans...

However, he remembered that Madam Ye was nearby and might come back to see him at any time, at which point he would be saved. There was no need to fight the Demon Emperor to the death at this time.

He then said, "If you do not intend to have conflict with humans, then I would like to offer you some advice?"

"Ok?"

"Girl, change your clothes. Don't look like a demon. Tone down your demonic aura... and don't keep calling yourself 'human'."

The Demon Emperor initially had no intention of "avoiding conflict with humans," so he made no attempt to conceal himself. However, upon hearing Lu Xingzhou's words, he became somewhat unconvinced: "It's fine to conceal my demonic aura, but why do I look like a demon in this form? Don't you humans also have various decorations?"

"...Humans rarely adorn their faces with gold powder, and almost no one would wear a head-to-toe gold outfit."

"Nonsense. I think Gu Zhanting's only redeeming quality is his golden attire; his aesthetic sense is decent. As for facial tattoos, I've seen many tribes with them."

Lu Xingzhou was both amused and exasperated, not knowing how to discuss aesthetics with the dragons. He could only say, "But you will never see someone with facial markings and a golden robe coexisting at the same time."

The Demon Emperor thought for a moment, and seeing that Gu Zhanting's face really didn't have anything on it, he said somewhat sullenly, "It's so beautiful, what do you humans know?"

Lu Xingzhou found this person unexpectedly cute and couldn't help but laugh, "Yes, it's because humans don't understand... If you don't want to clash with humans, don't make them think you're stupid in areas they don't understand."

Ah Nuo glanced at her master.

The Demon King said, "I didn't bring any of your human clothing."

Lu Xingzhou said, "This is the southern end of the ice plain. Not far south is the border of the Tian Shuang Kingdom, where there are towns. We can go to the town to exchange our goods."

The Demon Emperor had no time for such leisure and was about to refuse when Lu Xingzhou continued, "Your Majesty must have come here to investigate some important matter. Instead of searching aimlessly in the icy plains, why not go to the towns and listen to what the humans have to say?"

The Demon Emperor narrowed his eyes again, staring intently at him.

Lu Xingzhou smiled without changing his expression: "What, does Your Majesty find your identity difficult to guess?"

The Demon Emperor was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Theoretically, it's not hard to guess, but I've encountered other humans on the road, and they didn't guess it. On the contrary, some of them tried to flirt with me, and I crushed them into mincemeat."

Lu Xingzhou twitched his lips. What idiot is this? Isn't he just asking for death?

Ah Nuo thought to herself, "When you said you had a feeling there was a stunning beauty, it wasn't much different from flirting."

However, good looks always have an advantage. The same words spoken by a handsome and elegant young man and by a grotesque and lewd man will give people a completely different impression... Ah Nuo believed that His Majesty the Demon Emperor would not be so polite and talkative to everyone, but his master could.

Not only that, it seems they also want to take the Demon Emperor to the town.

The Demon Emperor said, "Is it really that easy to guess?"

"It's easy to guess. Putting aside the golden dragon aesthetic, the aura alone is something that ordinary people can't have."

The Demon Emperor thought to himself that it was not necessarily easy to guess, but this person's thinking was indeed clear and sharp: "Since you guessed my identity so early on, why do you still dare to talk so confidently in front of me?"

Lu Xingzhou sighed, "Your Majesty, I'm covered in cold sweat, and it hasn't gone away yet."

The Demon Emperor smiled and strode south: "You're right. There's more news in the town; we can go and ask there first."

Lu Xingzhou followed with A Nuo by the hand, when he heard the Demon Emperor ask, "What's your name?"

"Chen Yu of Chunshan Pavilion".

Lu Xingzhou didn't believe she wouldn't clash with humans, nor did he believe her promise not to silence them, and he certainly didn't want to be a traitor. The chances of this trip backfiring on her were quite high, and it was highly likely they would become enemies.

Lu Xingzhou's name has appeared on the Rising Stars List, making it easy for the Demon Emperor to trace his background. If this trip ultimately backfires on the Demon Emperor, it will implicate the Heavenly Sword Sect, so...

As for her name, there's no need to ask.

Who among humanity doesn't know the name of the Demon Emperor Long Qinghuang? It's just that few people call her that directly. That's a sign of respect for a top-tier powerhouse and a regional overlord, even if she's an enemy.

Although Lu Xingzhou thought the name had a slightly yuri (lesbian) vibe...

(End of this chapter)