Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 237 The bone dragon comes out of Sichuan
In the past, Lu Xingzhou would have felt somewhat intimidated by Mr. Ye's glare.

No matter how much you claim you don't consider her your mentor, you still have to acknowledge her as a private tutor and have the most basic respect for a teacher.

Besides, they're so strong; they could easily crush you with a single slap. Even if I get a little tempted, I wouldn't dare to go too far with them.

But at this moment, he was truly terrified and held onto Ye Tinglan's hand tightly.

There are only so many people around, and I have important business to attend to. What are you going to do about it?
He forged my identity and fooled me for almost half a year. Does being the best in the world give you the right to deceive people?

No wonder Madam Ye always had a sense of patriotism and concern for the people that shouldn't belong to a teacher at the Dan Academy or a person from a reclusive sect. No wonder she attached so much importance to the Yama Palace. Besides being Sister Yu, she was also a true adversary!

Madam Ye approached him for the sake of the Underworld, which can be seen as a concerned citizen from a third party; the Imperial Advisor approached him for the sake of the Underworld, which can be seen as a female spy.

If I don't take advantage of you 108 times, I'll be letting down this damn swindler who came to my door. Any respect I have for you has long since vanished.

Ye Tinglan glared at him, thinking he would let go immediately, and didn't pay attention to him for a moment. But after a few breaths, she realized something was wrong. Why was he still holding on?
Ye Tinglan instinctively wanted to slap him, but then remembered that there were people around and he couldn't be too conspicuous, so he withdrew his hand and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

The next moment, Lu Xingzhou felt that his touch had changed.

It went from being soft and warm to being as hard as iron, and then it gripped like an iron clamp, crushing me with tremendous force, making me almost scream in pain.

Then shout it out loud! Do you dare let me shout?

Lu Xingzhou opened his mouth, but before he could utter a single short sound, Ye Tinglan swiftly covered his mouth with her hand.

People nearby were already looking over curiously. Only then did Ye Tinglan realize what the best strategy was. She directly invaded with spiritual energy, sealing the meridians and acupoints, including the mute acupoint.

Lu Xingzhou was unable to move or speak. Ye Tinglan squeezed and rubbed his hands, while Ye Tinglan asked with concern, "Xingzhou, you don't look too good. Is it too cold for you here, being so close to the center of the glacier?"

Lu Xingzhou's face twitched in pain, revealing the classic innocent and pitiful look of a puppy.

Ye Tinglan snorted coldly and finally let go of her hand.

What kind of ability do they have to try and take advantage of others?

She didn't realize that if it were an ordinary person eating tofu, they would have scattered the ashes, but here she just gave a nonchalant handshake, not even getting angry, but rather feeling more like laughing and crying at the same time.

"Don't go looking for a beating, be serious." Ye Tinglan whispered in his ear, "Their leader is indeed Si Han, the ruler of Tianshuang Kingdom. I don't think they can possibly be a match for the demon race. If they continue like this and the demon race wins without taking any damage, what's the point of us hiding here?"

Lu Xingzhou remained silent and did not answer.

Ye Tinglan glared at him fiercely and quietly released his pressure points.

Lu Xingzhou coughed and said in a low voice, "Although the other side is being suppressed, apart from the people who died at the beginning of the attack, there have been no additional casualties in the short term."

"So what? Continuing will only lead to death. Long Qinghuang is just holding back her strength to deal with our... Tianyao Holy Land."

"So you know she's conserving her strength to deal with your... Tianyao Holy Land?" Lu Xingzhou said. "That's why I want to ask you, what's the point of your attack at this time? Is it to make Long Qinghuang focus most of her energy on you?"

Ye Tinglan remained silent.

She wasn't unaware of this principle, but the other side ultimately belonged to humanity, and were allies fighting against the demon race. The thought of watching her human allies being slaughtered by the demons was unsettling, even knowing they had initially intended to betray her. The racial animosity was there; she had fought the demons far too many times, and naturally, she harbored a bias towards them.

Unlike Lu Xingzhou, who was indifferent and detached from the situation, even if the people of Tianshuang Kingdom were completely wiped out, he would not be affected in the slightest.

Rather than calling this a poisoner, it's more accurate to say it's an essential quality of a strategist—the ability to avoid acting on emotions.

But you're so lecherous, how can you not act on your emotions?

Lu Xingzhou looked at the battle, his eyes cold: "Just wait and see. If the demon race really slaughters these people without any casualties, then we won't make a move. Let Long Qinghuang have her fun. What loss would it cause us? Anyway, I'm only concerned about keeping you safe. Nothing else is within my consideration."

Ye Tinglan pursed her lips and said softly, "What if I want you to consider other things?"

Lu Xingzhou turned his head and glanced at her. The two were extremely close, and with that turn of his head, his lips almost brushed against her face, reminding them of their time as private tutors at the Dan Academy.

Both of them felt a sudden jolt in their hearts. Lu Xingzhou turned his head away and whispered, "That depends on Si Han. If these people are just waiting for us to make a move, and they see that we refuse to act, they won't be able to withstand Long Qinghuang. In a critical moment, they might be forced to reveal whether we have any trump cards up our sleeves..."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the situation in the distant Tian Shuang Kingdom, where he was being suppressed and beaten, suddenly changed.

They couldn't even hold out for those few words. Seeing that the Tianyao Holy Land they had been waiting for hadn't appeared, they finally revealed their trump card.

Tian Shuang Kingdom's ruler, Si Han, received Long Qinghuang's attack in mid-air but ultimately couldn't withstand it. His blood and qi became disordered, and he spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing onto the ice below.

The ice suddenly shook violently, revealing a crack. Before Long Qinghuang could follow up with another attack, Si Han fell directly into the crack.

The next moment, the earth shook violently, the ice surface cracked like glass, and a dragon's head skeleton "cracked" out.

Then the spine arched out of the ice, and the dragon's feet pressed against the edge, supporting the entire dragon body.

In an instant, the ice below collapsed, leaving behind ruins. Within the ruins, a skeletal dragon roared, its eyes glowing with phosphorescent blue light.

Lu Xingzhou stroked his chin: "Looks like Sindragosa... It's a pity the Shadow Corpse Sect didn't come. Hey, where's Old Ji?"

If Ji Wenchuan were here, he would probably chop this heartless bastard into pieces with a sword. He's only concerned with being all lovey-dovey with the mature version of Yan Jun, and he doesn't even know his brother is missing?

Ye Tinglan knew nothing about Sindragosa, and her expression had become very serious.

This is indeed a dragon that is still alive; its soul has not been completely extinguished, likely due to being buried by the glacier. Whether it is ancient is unknown, but its strength must be at least at the super-grade level. Only a super-grade dragon could survive for so many years; those with insufficient strength would have died long ago, no matter how long they were frozen.

Because it was not dead, it might have instinctively arched upwards after waking up, half an inch each day, until eventually the ice layer was exposed and it was discovered.

It seems that it had already been subdued by Si Han, the ruler of Tianshuang Kingdom, and those fragments were definitely traps.

There is a bloodline suppression chain among demon races. Not to mention the suppression from natural enemy races, there is also the suppression of higher bloodlines such as dragons and phoenixes over lower bloodlines of the same kind such as snakes and chickens, the suppression of cultivation among the same race, and the suppression of bloodline purity, etc.

The moment the bone dragon emerged from the glacier, the pressure emanating from its bloodline caused many powerful demon warriors fighting nearby to tremble with discomfort, their strength noticeably weakening by three-tenths.

This halo-like effect is extremely effective against the demon race as a whole, and Long Qinghuang cannot fully mitigate its impact for her subordinates; at most, she can only reduce its effect. This is one of the reasons why Long Qinghuang is so determined to obtain the so-called dragon bone; if this thing falls into the enemy's hands, it will be extremely disadvantageous to them.

However, this bone dragon clearly lacks a complete mind, possessing only combat instincts. Even if both are of the highest grade, it would be impossible for it to defeat Long Qinghuang. It remains to be seen how much effort Long Qinghuang will need to expend to subdue it.

Once the situation becomes evenly matched, that will be the best time for the Tianyao Holy Land to launch an attack.

At this moment, Ye Tinglan was extremely grateful to Lu Xingzhou for seeing through everything. Otherwise, if the Tianyao Holy Land had been fighting the demon race in the center of the glacier and then been attacked by Si Han with the bone dragon, it would have been a disaster. Now, they had all the initiative in their hands and could sit back and relax.

Long Qinghuang received the same analysis from Lu Xingzhou, but unfortunately, she was determined to obtain the Dragon Bone and had to take action. Even knowing that the Tianyao Holy Land was eyeing it, she had no choice but to bear the risk.

Amidst the roar of the bone dragon, the shattering of glaciers, and the flying of ice, Long Qinghuang, still in human form, instantly flashed to the forehead of the bone dragon.

Compared to the massive skeletal dragon's body, the humanoid Long Qinghuang was like an ant; her delicate hand, when she slapped out, was probably not even as strong as an ant's leg.

But as soon as that ant leg touched the bone dragon's forehead, with a "bang," the roaring, incomparably powerful bone dragon was completely overturned and crashed into the ruins of the ice.

The bone dragon's formidable aura was completely shattered by this single blow. The air froze for a moment, and then the surrounding demons roared in cheers: "Your Majesty is invincible!"

Long Qinghuang shot forward like lightning, chasing downwards.

He knew in his heart that the previous attack was just a test. The result of the test was that the attack could not penetrate the opponent's forehead bone or interfere with the opponent's soul fire. It could only knock it over. This battle would not be easy.

"Bang!" Long Qinghuang crashed into the ice, and the shattered ice bricks around her exploded, turning into wisps of ice mist in the air. With Lu Xingzhou's eyesight, it was already difficult to see the core battle situation.

“No, something’s still not right…” Lu Xingzhou muttered to himself, “With the Bone Dragon leaving Sichuan and the situation already chaotic, if I were a member of the Frost Kingdom, I would definitely have taken the opportunity to retreat. The Frost Kingdom is just an alliance-type country, so it’s understandable that Si Han is holding on. But others don’t have that many loyal subjects to Si Han, so why are they all so stubbornly clinging to this place? Are they all out of their minds?”

(End of this chapter)