Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 363 The Demon Court (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Demon Court.

Long Qinghuang was indeed an extremely diligent demon emperor in the past.

There was no way around it; she was the one who unified the Demon Realm. Although it was the result of the efforts of two or three generations, the history of conquest by various races in the Demon Realm, which had lasted for thousands of years, finally came to an end in her generation.

On the Sea Dragon King's side, nominally he is also subject to orders, and theoretically he is Long Qinghuang's uncle, having been granted the title of Prince. Therefore, he is the Sea Dragon King, not the Emperor.

If you include all the humans under her rule, she could be said to have unified all races.

After unifying the various races, Long Qinghuang spent a long time transforming the Demon Realm into a place where she could command and control everything, with only her voice.

While she was undoubtedly the most powerful, the fact that she was able to unite such a complex array of factions and races, and such a vast territory, and make it increasingly civilized and prosperous, is inseparable from her diligence in governing.

That's right, the proud dragon girl in Lu Xingzhou's eyes, who only knew violence, actually had strong political acumen.

The fact that Chaopin has failed to reach its peak over the years is probably largely due to the fact that it has spent too much energy on these things.

After feeling that things had stabilized, the strength of the demon race expanded to an unprecedented level. Ten years ago, Long Qinghuang launched a brazen invasion of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Long Qinghuang wanted to attack the Great Qian Dynasty for two reasons. First, as an emperor, she had a domineering ambition to unify the world. Second, during the long war with the demon realm, many humans came to "train," "subdue demons," "obtain demon cores," "tame dragons," "capture mounts," and so on. There were too many messy and trivial matters. Long Qinghuang felt that she should give this race a shock from the demon realm.

In addition, the High Priest of the Holy Mountain at the time instigated... As for why he instigated it, Long Qinghuang later felt there was something wrong with it, but since the High Priest was already dead, Long Qinghuang didn't pursue it any further, and in fact, there was no way to pursue it anymore.

In short, Long Qinghuang was a confident and proud dragon. She originally thought that this invasion of the south would be as easy as throwing a whip to stop the flow of water, and would be a piece of cake... but she never expected to run into a ghost.

When the Holy Land of Tianyao and the Great Qian can cooperate sincerely, humanity will be invincible.

At that time, the former sect leader of Tianyao Holy Land had failed in his forced ascension and passed away. The Tianyao Holy Maiden had only recently surpassed the highest rank and had only recently become the sect leader. It seemed like she was easy to manipulate.

However, her name is Ye Tinglan, the youngest Super Grade cultivator in the entire Holy Land's history, a shining star whose name can be listed in the history of human cultivation.

The Great Qian Dynasty wasn't as chaotic as this battle... Back then, the heroic Gu Zhanting mobilized all the immortal sects in the country, with top-tier and second-tier sect experts coming out in droves.

During that period, Yuan Muyu hadn't even left the Holy Land yet. Although she was arguing with her sister and had been inexplicably stuck at the first-grade threshold for many years, leading to the fall of the youngest third-grade genius and the loss of her chance to become the sect leader... In any case, Yuan Muyu was also involved in the Holy Mountain battle.

She was certainly not a player who could be regarded as a regular second-rank expert. Countless first-rank demons were skinned and dismembered by her... It was a battle in which all the stars of humanity gathered.

The High Priest was beheaded by Ye Tinglan atop the Holy Mountain, while Long Qinghuang returned wounded at the Demon-Refusing Pass.

The casualties on both sides were actually quite small in this battle, but it had a profound impact on the global landscape of both countries.

Gu Zhanting was seriously injured, and his mentality changed; Grand Tutor Huo Liancheng was reinstated and his entire clan went to the capital; Ye Tinglan took office as the Imperial Preceptor but was imprisoned in a political prison; Yuan Muyu left the Holy Land and established the Yama Palace; many races in the Demon Realm rebelled again, the Demon Court was in turmoil, and Long Qinghuang quelled the rebellion while injured, and has been struggling ever since.

To this day, the demonic atmosphere of the Great Qian Dynasty and the traitors within the Demon Court are directly related to the outcome of this battle.

In the past, even if Prime Minister Long Yan had the guts of a leopard, he wouldn't have dared to block the palace gates and urge the emperor to attend court. However, after that battle, Long Qinghuang's prestige declined somewhat, and he also reflected on his overly stubborn behavior, thus granting his senior officials the power to supervise and offer advice.

Although Long Qinghuang has recovered from her injuries over the past ten years and regained her authority by suppressing the rebellion, the high-ranking officials' loud suggestions for supervision have become ingrained and cannot be easily reversed.

This southern expedition reclaimed the territory lost over the past few years, and Long Qinghuang should have regained her prestige. However, because of a man, her prestige was almost shaken even more severely than it was during the defeat ten years ago.

It's not a big deal to dote on just one man. To be honest, Long Yan thinks it would be a great thing if you really agreed to establish an empress and have a little dragon child. But you've stopped attending court as soon as you returned. You've been a diligent dragon for hundreds of years, never slacking off! What will happen if this precedent is set?
After Long Qinghuang dealt with a large backlog of government affairs caused by the expedition, and seeing that it was already past noon, the mother dragon couldn't help but wonder if Lu Xingzhou had eaten, and if Anuo was hungry... so she decided to adjourn the court session.

"Well... if none of you ministers have anything else to say, then let's adjourn the court."

Seeing her wandering gaze and absent-minded look, Long Yan, who had been holding back all morning, could no longer contain himself and said loudly, "Your Majesty, there are still matters to discuss. Where are you rushing to leave court?"

Long Qinghuang's face darkened: "It's already noon, what's so urgent that it has to be said immediately? Don't you want people to eat?"

"..." Long Yan hesitated for a long time before finally managing to say, "Your Majesty, you are of the highest rank."

Great Demon of Myriad Manifestations, you're talking to me about eating.

You could live your whole life without eating, okay?
Even that human man was only a third-grade cultivator. A Cloud-Soaring cultivator, riding the wind and living on dew, was someone who could feed on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

How can you two act like a normal human couple? It's one thing to go out shopping and eat last night, but now you're still talking about eating when it's time to eat!
Long Qinghuang was taken aback by his words. Oh right, Lu Xingzhou could actually not eat, so why did she want to eat with him?

It's all Ah Nuo's fault. He's always eating and complaining about being hungry, making people feel like they're just like ordinary people.

He maintained a stern expression and said, "What? Just because I am a super-rank official, does that mean all the civil and military officials are? Has the Prime Minister forgotten that there are also some civil officials of the fifth or sixth rank here?"

“Even a fifth or sixth-rank official wouldn’t be short of food.” Long Yan was truly heartbroken: “I think Your Majesty just wants to go back and be with Lu Xingzhou, doesn’t he?” The entire court fell silent.

Long Qinghuang chuckled instead, resting one hand on the armrest of the dragon throne, and lazily propped her chin on her hand as she sat sideways: "So what? In the past, wasn't the old prime minister the most enthusiastic one urging me to get married and fill the harem? And he said that as long as it was a male, even a pig demon would be fine, wasn't that what the prime minister said? Now that I've listened to his advice, why is the old prime minister suddenly so anxious?"

"No, I..." Old Dragon Longyan almost choked on his breath, and after catching his breath for a while, he finally said, "I'd rather Your Majesty find a pig, at least he wouldn't be partying every night and neglecting court in the morning!"

"Which eye of yours saw me indulging in 'nightly revelry'?" Long Qinghuang said calmly. "Prime Minister... I have lived for a thousand years, five hundred of which were spent fighting for the Dragon Clan and unifying the Demon Realm; three hundred were spent building the Demon Court and governing the world. I was either fighting or governing the country, even cultivation was a luxury. Now, my own time has been reduced to a mere night, and you're already anxious, Prime Minister... Prime Minister, I know you are selfless and devoted to the country, but when will you do anything for me, even the slightest thing?"

Long Yan opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

A sense of regret welled up in her heart, as if she had just realized that Long Qinghuang had never lived for herself in her entire life.

But everyone originally thought that waging war and governing the country were things she liked.

Who can have unlimited energy if it's not something they like? Unifying the demon race is exhausting enough, and you still want to unify the universe and conquer the Great Qian in the south? Aren't you just making trouble for yourself?

In fact, Long Qinghuang used to think that she liked those things: the desire to rule, the desire to control, and the desire to be an emperor and punish the world.

Looking back now, I realize I've lost something.

Perhaps outstanding lives are similar in some ways; at this moment, Long Qinghuang and her nemesis Ye Tinglan once again found common ground.

The only difference is that one is imprisoned, while the other has never been out.

Perhaps only last night, walking hand in hand through the old food street that has existed for hundreds of years, did Long Qinghuang not find the flavors she loved as a girl, but she found herself when she was a girl.

That's why Lu Xingzhou felt a strange girlish feeling emerge.

Seeing that Long Yan was speechless for a long time, Long Qinghuang said lazily, "Since the Prime Minister has no objection, let's adjourn the court."

Long Yan: "..."

"Honestly, we talked about this all morning, and it's the last topic we brought up. How important could it be? What's wrong with talking about it tomorrow?"

Long Yan: "…………"

Long Qinghuang had already turned out of the back of the hall and disappeared from sight under everyone's watchful eyes.

A group of high-ranking officials surrounded Long Yan: "Prime Minister, why don't you continue? If you take the lead, we can all offer our advice. If you shrink back, how can we speak..."

Long Yan remained silent for a long time before saying in a low voice, "She has been lonely for far too long."

Everyone was astonished.

"Should we observe for two days first?" Long Yan hesitated. "Judging from the proposal in this peace talks, Lu Xingzhou is supposed to be a very capable person. He shouldn't just be able to use his looks to please the emperor and bewitch him... Maybe it's just a passing fancy."

"Prime Minister, you are mistaken." Someone stamped their foot. "Lu Xingzhou is always surrounded by scandals. In the capital, there were rumors of an ambiguous relationship with the noblewoman of the Pei family, and that General Sheng, who shone so brightly in the battle this time, was said to have suffered from morning sickness because of him. When he arrived in Dongyue Hanchuan, there were rumors that His Majesty and the Holy Lord of Tianyao were fighting over him. He's definitely a succubus!"

Another person said, "Perhaps Gu Zhanting sent him here to seduce His Majesty and disrupt the court..."

Long Yan's lips twitched. There really were historical instances of women being sent to seduce enemy kings, but why did sending a man instead seem so strange…

He thought for a moment: "He was flown here alone with His Majesty, while another delegation is still on their way. How much longer until the delegation arrives?"

"I have already sent word to Long Lie and the others to split into small teams to escort them and speed up the journey. It should take about three or four days."

“Then give them three or four days. Once the delegation arrives and we begin our business exchanges, I will use this as an excuse to have Lu Xingzhou move out of the palace and stay at the Court of State Ceremonial.”

"Where, where did the Court of State Ceremonies come from?"

"This is the last issue I wanted to discuss with Your Majesty. Now that we've established diplomatic relations, we need an agency specifically for this purpose." Long Yan stroked his beard. "I heard the deputy envoy is Sheng Yuanyao, the one who suffered from morning sickness during his pregnancy... We'll have Lu Xingzhou and Sheng Yuanyao live together and see how Your Majesty handles it."

"Your insight is excellent, Prime Minister."

Long Yan turned his head to look in the direction behind the palace. Even though he couldn't see anything, the old dragon still sighed with some worry.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: Another day of 10,000-word updates. I'm asking for your guaranteed votes for the 15th of the month!
(End of this chapter)