Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 489 Ah Nuo is Fourteen

Lu Xingzhou touched Long Qinghuang's belly and leaned in to listen.

Of course, you can't hear anything.

Long Qinghuang didn't stop him. Instead, she felt a tenderness in her heart: "Hey, should the child be surnamed Lu or Huo? Logically speaking, Lu Xingzhou is just a pseudonym, but you're used to using it, and the whole world calls you that. And then you inherit the ancestral hall's incense offerings in the Huo family."

Lu Xingzhou asked, "Isn't his surname Long?"

Long Qinghuang was taken aback: "Didn't you all want to take your father's surname?"

"Our little dragon is special. It is destined to become the Dragon Emperor. Its dragon attribute is higher than others."

Long Qinghuang was even more delighted, but she retorted, "Who said this one has to be the Dragon Emperor? Are there no second or third ones in the future?"

“That makes a lot of sense.” Lu Xingzhou laughed. “Then how about we call it Dragon Boat?”

"Screw you, be serious."

Lu Xingzhou scratched his head: "I can think of poems, but I can't think of a name for the moment."

"why?"

"Because I just wanted to give my child the best name in the world, I wasn't satisfied with any of the words I came up with."

Long Qinghuang laughed. She was the same way; she was never satisfied with any name.

"No rush, let's think about it slowly." Long Qinghuang pushed his shoulder: "How much longer do we need to keep it on my stomach?"

Lu Xingzhou sat up, and Long Qinghuang leaned against his shoulder, and the two remained quiet for a moment.

After a while, Long Qinghuang finally spoke softly, "Your marriage has angered me."

Lu Xingzhou said in a low voice, "I'm sorry. I..."

Long Qinghuang interrupted, "You said in your letter that it was a coalition of forces, and there are probably many other schemes behind it. I reckon Gu Zhanting's downfall is related to this situation, right?"

"Hmm. There is some connection... Of course, it's mainly because he brought it on himself. He was too eager to break through to the Qian Yuan realm, but his actual potential was not enough to break through to the Qian Yuan realm so early, so he made a huge mess of things. If we hadn't sabotaged things, he might have succeeded."

Long Qinghuang sighed, "He was a brilliant leader who was my enemy for a time, and his downfall was quite sudden."

For Gu Zhanting, it was most of his life; for Long Qinghuang, it was only "a period of time as enemies." In Long Qinghuang's long life, Gu Zhanting might not even rank among the top five of her former adversaries; only Gu Zhanting himself considered him a lifelong enemy.

Lu Xingzhou then said, "His downfall is directly related to you."

Long Qinghuang hummed in response.

"The fuse is still from the injury you gave me back then. The dragon blood in his body couldn't be expelled, so he chose to use this fuse to forge the destiny of a true dragon and create the holy body of a demonic dragon. In fact, he has already succeeded. The master said that he is considered your son."

Long Qinghuang: "...I have my own son, so I don't acknowledge him."

Lu Xingzhou laughed.

Long Qinghuang laughed and said, "So you could also say that he died in the battle with me ten years ago."

Lu Xingzhou said, "It's been twelve or thirteen years, and you're still talking about ten years."

"I'm used to it, it just comes out of my head." Long Qinghuang suddenly remembered something: "Hey, does that mean Anuo is thirteen this year?"

Lu Xingzhou was stunned. It seemed so, and he was thirteen years old in terms of actual age. The New Year was over, so he should be fourteen years old in terms of traditional age.

Long Qinghuang said, "I think it would be better if Anuo stayed with me at Longya for a while. I'll figure out how to help her grow up. It's not good for her to stay so small forever."

Given their previous relationship, A'Nuo had to choose between going with her master or staying in Longya as Long Qinghuang's apprentice. Naturally, A'Nuo chose to go with her master. Now that Long Qinghuang is pregnant, they're truly a family, so they can stay wherever they want. Going to Longya or returning to Danxia Mountain makes no difference.

Lu Xingzhou nodded: "I'll talk to A'nuo about it later. But let's wait until this matter is finished... Or, Dongyue Hanchuan, you don't need to go, I'll take charge, how about that?"

Long Qinghuang said, "Why won't you let me go? Are you afraid I'll ruin things between you and that white-haired guy?"

"What are you talking about? I'm just worried about your health."

"If you want to fight a battle that could cause me to miscarry, you and that white-haired guy go instead. Do you want to die?"

“We’re not weak either. If you’re worried, just give me a few dragons to use, and that should be enough.”

Long Qinghuang thought about it and it did seem plausible. For her, Lu Xingzhou, a mid-level Rank 1 cultivator, wasn't enough, but a mid-level Rank 1 cultivator was already a top-tier figure in this world. What cultivator wouldn't dare go here or there? That would be ridiculous…

Lu Xingzhou pulled out two pills with his backhand: "Here you go."

Long Qinghuang took it, somewhat surprised as she sensed the powerful energy within the pill: "What kind of pill is this?"

"One is for protecting the fetus, and it's at a very high level. In case of battle, it's less likely to cause miscarriage, so you can perform more freely."

Long Qinghuang swallowed the one that Lu Xingzhou was pointing at.

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

"What about this one?" Long Qinghuang pointed to another one: "This one feels ridiculously powerful; it makes my heart race just looking at it."

"This is a top-grade elixir that simply enhances cultivation, specially tailor-made for your cultivation." "What cultivation?"

"It strengthens the body's qi and blood, the power of the five elements, and the imperial qi." Lu Xingzhou said seriously, "This pill has an extra bonus in the direction of the mountain and river qi veins. Gu Zhanting's ability to break through the Qian Yuan realm is strongly related to this kind of thing. You are the Demon Emperor, so the concept is the same. The best expectation is that this pill can directly help you break through the realm."

Long Qinghuang's expression turned serious.

"Of course, you can't try to break through directly. You need to prepare before and after the breakthrough." Lu Xingzhou handed over another jade slip: "This contains a magic weapon plan for the Buddhist Formless Realm, which can avoid heavenly tribulations. Go back to the Holy Mountain and look through the classics for reference, see if you can improve it a bit, otherwise this alone won't be enough. Also, take Little Pig Fish with you, it has the ability to conceal heavenly secrets. In addition, there is a level suppression plan here. After the breakthrough, immediately suppress it back to avoid being hunted down."

Long Qinghuang stared at him blankly, speechless for a moment.

Lu Xingzhou asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Long Qinghuang smiled. "Do you know how long I've been pursuing this?"

"I know. Breaking the Qian Yuan is the most important matter in this world."

"But why does it feel like a couple casually chatting at the dinner table about what to eat tonight?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed too: "A little."

Long Qinghuang rested her head on his shoulder again: "You said you wanted to conquer me, aren't these things your biggest bargaining chips to control me?"

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

“Hehe…” Long Qinghuang didn’t say anything, but smiled with her eyes narrowed.

Lu Xingzhou warned again: "No matter how much you want to, you are not allowed to make any breakthroughs before the preparations are complete."

"I know, I know, my husband. Do you think I'm such a reckless person?" Long Qinghuang put away the pills and jade slips. "I will only be more cautious in this kind of matter, especially now that we have Little Dragon Man."

Lu Xingzhou touched her stomach again.

Long Qinghuang said, "That's really strange. You're just a mere Tengyun, yet you're guiding others to break through the Qianyuan realm... You've got quite a bit of a story to tell."

Lu Xingzhou didn't know before, but now he understands that ever since he picked up A Nuo, he was destined to be involved in the greatest storms of this world.

Even their first encounter with Yuan Muyu was... Theoretically, Yuan Muyu went to Danxia Mountain because of A Nuo, and when they first met, she asked about the elixir. Her half-baked fortune-telling skills predicted that an elixir would be born there, but because she was only half-baked, she got the elixir and the location right, but she was wrong about the timing by two whole years. What she didn't expect was that the elixir she was looking for had turned into a little child, and she had kept him by her side for so many years without realizing it.

It all started with Ah Nuo; she was the true protagonist.

He said, "Of course, otherwise how could I hold the Dragon Emperor in my arms?"

Long Qinghuang turned around and hugged him tightly, then lowered her head and kissed him.

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Long Qinghuang mumbled, "Dragon people have a physique, and pregnancy doesn't affect sexual intercourse at all... The Empress has come to us, shouldn't we serve her in bed?"

In the next room, A'nuo and Dugu Qingli sat facing each other with their hands clasped together, each with an expressionless face.

How did the so-called "going out for experience" turn out like this?

It wasn't until breakfast the next morning that Ah Nuo saw her master again, along with the radiant Long Qinghuang, who looked glowing from being pampered.

Ah Nuo munched on a steamed bun, her eyes darting around as she scrutinized Long Qinghuang's noticeably different complexion, or rather, her voluptuousness, leaving her speechless.

Long Qinghuang reached out and pinched A Nuo's cheek: "What are you looking at? Your master sold you to me. Come with me to Dragon Cliff later."

Ah Nuo muttered, "I don't want to go."

"Do you still want to grow up?" Long Qinghuang said, "Now you have alchemy furnaces and elixirs, and your alchemy skills are far superior to what they used to be. Look at you, you're still as small as a bean. This shows that relying on alchemy skills is no longer useful, and you still have to rely on your Master Long."

Ah Nuo slumped her head and muttered, "I think you're the one who got sold out and is still helping him count the money."

Compared to going out to train with her master, growing up was indeed the most painful thing in her life, and it seemed to be more important.

But if it really becomes just Master and White-Haired Sister's world, I, Anuo, won't care. In the end, it'll be you, the Dragon Emperor, who'll be gritting your teeth.

Just as stupid as Ye Tinglan, and they even claim to be two of the strongest women in the world, how come they can't see that this white-haired guy is a formidable enemy?
That white-haired, blue-eyed girl was the one Master truly fell in love with at first sight, not Shen Tang. Do you understand the significance of that?
Long Qinghuang casually picked up some pastries and ate them, then casually asked Lu Xingzhou, "Regarding the demonization of your officials... those demons aren't my subjects, and they were from the Holy Mountain line back then. Now that you've started investigating, they're fleeing back to the demon realm in large numbers. Do you need me to repatriate them?"

Dugu Qingli glanced at her, but was too speechless to comment.

It seems like this Demon Emperor is the real traitor, even repatriating the demons who fled north to humans. Shouldn't they have kept these demons who served as officials in the Great Qian Dynasty, as they have great uses for them?

Besides, you two stayed up all night yesterday and didn't talk about this. What did you do all night?
Lu Xingzhou said, "Forget about repatriation. You can focus on this group of demons. They might have some hidden agents on them. Their escape to the north may have been orchestrated. Gu Yiheng may have agreed to the investigation on the surface, but in reality, he may have taken the opportunity to transfer them to the demon realm for another purpose."

Long Qinghuang nodded: "Understood."

Lu Xingzhou said, "If we're talking about patrols, I would suggest you also conduct patrols."

"which aspect?"

“Formation. Gu Yiheng once said that Gu Zhanting’s Sacrifice to Mountains and Rivers was a simplified version because the Great Qian could not represent the entire world. By extension, the Demon Realm may also have formations.”

(End of this chapter)