The young dragon tries to conquer the world

　Naturally, someone tallied the losses, and needless to say, the damage was extremely severe. More than a hundred sheep were eaten, and judging from the pile of corpses and remains, the last white wolf king even ate only the tenderest parts of a few sheep because there were so many, leaving the rest there.

　Ashina Yelü whistled angrily, telling his warriors that they needed not show any mercy when they met the White Wolf King.

　The group followed the trail of blood to track their prey. Ashina Yelü's anger was understandable, as sheep were a very important asset for the Turks.

　Soon, the Turkic warriors with sabers found a place where bloodstains had gathered, and the surrounding grass showed obvious signs of being crushed by heavy objects. It was undoubtedly the place where the White Wolf King was.

　Killing the White Wolf King would be a great achievement, so one of Ashina Yelü's men immediately stood up bravely and volunteered to go ahead to scout. Ashina Yelü readily agreed, but when he sneaked over, the scene he saw clearly stunned him. This unusual reaction also puzzled Ashina Yelü, but in order not to frighten the White Wolf King, Ashina Yelü had no choice but to lead his men to sneak over as well.

　Once they got closer, they realized that it wasn't the White Wolf King at all, and there was a green shadow next to the white figure.

　They were sisters, no, rather than sisters, Ashina Yelü, with her exceptional eyesight, immediately recognized that the patch of white she saw was not the White Wolf King, but a little girl dressed in white. The little girl's clothes were very...

　Even Ashina Yelü had never seen such fine fabric.

　The little girl was holding a blood-dripping lamb leg in her hand. The fresh lamb blood dripped onto the little girl's body and slid down without stopping. By the moonlight, Ashina Yelu could clearly see the faces of the two sisters, as well as the dragon horns on the little girl's body and the restless dragon tail behind her.

　Putting everything else aside, Ashina Yelü considered himself to have seen many people and things, but even he could not describe the beauty of the two sisters in words.

　The Turks were not a race that showed mercy to sheep thieves, but Ashina Yelü also wanted to know what he was dealing with. He immediately summoned one of his more knowledgeable men to identify what the little girl was. The man hesitated for a while, and although he rambled on and on, Ashina Yelü managed to extract the three key words: "I don't know."

　Ashina Yelü angrily lashed out with his whip and lashed the treacherous strategist hard. However, Ashina Yelü felt that the strategist was right about one thing: the two sisters were very beautiful. Even if they were spirits, it would be better to capture them and enjoy them.

　But what Ashina Yelü saw next was the most unforgettable scene of his life.

　Ashina Yelü did not hesitate and immediately ordered the arrows to be fired, but he was careful not to kill the little girl. After a while of clanging and banging, Ashina Yelü felt it was enough, mounted his horse, drew his sword, and walked towards the little girl.

　Yes, that wasn't the White Wolf King at all. It wasn't the young girl and Lan Mei. The reason they looked so disheveled was because they hadn't brought Melalus and the others with them this time.

　O_o

　The young girl stared blankly at the upright creature charging towards her with a saber, seemingly unaware of what it was about to do. Her crimson-gold eyes were fixed on the creature. Ashina Yelu raised his saber at the young girl and let out a shout.

　"Kakaka!"

　Ashina Yelü thought his strike would be enough to deprive the young girl of her ability to escape without harming her life. After all, he was sitting on his horse and striking downwards from a diagonal angle, which would not only save effort but also cause less damage.

　But the truth is that a tremendous force was transmitted directly from Ashina Yelü's sword to his hand. Under the force of the force, Ashina Yelü could no longer hold the sword. Just when Ashina Yelü could no longer hold on, the poorly forged sword broke. Ashina Yelü felt as if his arm was about to be twisted off. Ashina Yelü suddenly realized that things were not so simple.

　The young girl used her tail to curl up the remaining half of the blade and flung it out. The high-speed flying blade randomly sent a Turkic man to his death. This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard. The young girl then flicked her tail, and this sudden change left everyone speechless. They could only stare blankly as the young girl retracted her tail behind her back.

　"Ghosts! Ghosts!" Several of the more resilient and quick-witted individuals had already begun to flee.

　Those who didn't escape were blessed, for in a flash of light, a huge dragon head appeared, followed by enormous winged claws and a thick body; the claws were larger than their largest tent.

　"boom!"

　As the claws descended, Ashina Yelü felt the ground tremble. The grass on the ground was instantly flattened, and the group of people Ashina Yelü brought were crushed into tomato sauce. Fortunately, Ashina Yelü did not turn into dark red minced meat. His body covered with white-gold scales was right in front of him.

　Ashina Yelü felt his legs were about to give way. He glanced tremblingly at the few people who had run away. Sure enough, there were advantages to running away. Those people had left with intact corpses, but their heads had been cut off by Lan Mei with water.

　Ashina Yelü looked at Lan Mei with a slight smile, and then vomited. He vomited up everything he had eaten that night. His face was pale as he watched the white-gold dragon soar into the sky, like a sun. Although it was still midnight, the sky suddenly became bright. Ashina Yelü watched as the white-gold dragon rushed towards the vicinity of the tent. With one claw, it slammed down, sending stones flying and corpses scattered everywhere.

　Since it was nighttime, Ashina Yelü did not notice the dark purple smoke. Ever since the platinum dragon picked the cattle and sheep out of the deep red meat paste and then used tools to eat them like peeling grapes, Ashina Yelü felt like he was going crazy, and his memory ended there.

　Ashina Yelü was shaken awake. After what happened last night, only a few thousand people remained out of the tens of thousands in the rear of the Turkic Khaganate. Even among these few thousand, people were falling one after another, and some were attacking those around them. Ashina Yelü painfully killed all those who were killing each other, but this still could not stop the loss of his own people.

　Ashina Yelü finally couldn't hold on any longer. He just wanted to escape this place. As for where to go, the most dangerous place was the safest place. Surely he wouldn't see those two again if he went to Lingzhou.

　Surely not? That can't be right!

　My mind is in turmoil. Why? Because I'm staying with my mother at the hospital, and also, a melodramatic soap opera is playing out in my house at 3 AM – my mom's love-struck, hahaha, I'm almost going crazy!

　Volume 1: Side Story IV - The Most Dangerous

　The most dangerous place is the place where you are.

　Are you saying that it's really not possible?

　Yes, that's possible.

　On the Western Turkic steppe, the area where Ashina Yelü had once been stationed was now shrouded in black mist. Even the bravest warriors who entered the mist could not escape, and the only result was an increase in the number of corpses within it. Faced with this situation, Ashina Yelü immediately ordered the entire tribe to evacuate the steppe and named the events of that night the Second Sun Incident. The reason for this name was that Ashina Yelü felt that the way the giant dragon flew into the sky resembled the rising sun, only that the sun did not rise as quickly.

　According to the statistics of the various tribal chiefs, the number of dead in the entire tribe that night had reached several thousand. The remaining tens of thousands, who had not witnessed the giant dragon, accused Ashina Yelü of making a fuss, and even ignored the clearly visible claw marks on the ground and the mountains of cattle and sheep carcasses. Faced with the questions of the crowd, Ashina Yelü could only clench his fists tightly. He was the only one who survived that night, and it was understandable that his words were being questioned.

　But Ashina Yelü felt that the dragon had not left the place at all. He also knew that even if these tens of thousands of people encountered the dragon, not one of them would survive. Despite the many problems they faced, such as disunity and the loss of cattle and sheep, Ashina Yelü did not intend to give them any time to breathe and insisted that they must move out today.

　Soon, after Ashina Yelü's fourth forceful urging for the relocation order, the people of the tribe could no longer bear it. Led by the tribal chief, the people of various tribes quickly gathered. They unanimously believed that Ashina Yelü was covering something up. However, upon closer examination, this was only natural. After all, their companions had died inexplicably, and their cattle and sheep had disappeared. At this time, their leader did not think of seeking revenge but instead hurriedly left the place. For the Turks, this was the worst possible outcome. They would rather believe that Ashina Yelü was deceiving them than believe that there really was such a huge monster.

　Only Ashina Yelü knew what they were facing, but he didn't know that the giant dragon didn't eat people at all.

　In the end, Ashina Yelü was tied up by the group leaders. Of course, they did not mistreat Ashina Yelü, but planned to hand him over to the Khan for punishment after the Khan returned.

　Of course, the chieftains did not completely ignore what happened that night, but they did not believe in dragons. According to the first group of witnesses who emerged from the tents, they saw a white light. From this, the chieftains also thought of the White Wolf King of the Demon Kingdom, after all, this was a legend known to everyone on the grassland. However, after learning this news, the chieftains did not back down, but instead looked at the other party with excitement.

　They were just beasts, and they couldn't avoid fighting with wolves in their lives. If they could fight the White Wolf King, or even just kill it before they died, they would be more than willing. So they immediately sent people to investigate. Ashina Yelü, of course, knew nothing about all this.

　At this moment, the little girl was staring blankly at a pile of bloody beef and mutton in front of her. Although she could eat raw meat, she didn't want to eat it again after eating it once last night. At this moment, the little girl was thinking about how to deal with the beef and mutton. In addition, there were four whales next to the little girl. Of course, the little girl had caught them at the nearest beach. The little girl was also very good at fishing.

　However, what's really troubling the young girl isn't how to cook these foods. In fact, the young girl's cooking skills are quite good, and she even cooks better than Lan Mei. Moreover, if Lan Mei were to cook, she would prefer to make dishes like sashimi. What's really troubling the young girl is how to start a fire.

　The little girl slightly opened her mouth, and strands of white-gold dragon scales appeared on both cheeks. Then, she opened her mouth and spat out a beam of azure light, successfully burning the beef and mutton to ashes. The ashes disappeared after being blown away by the wind. The little girl was instantly stunned, staring blankly at the five identical marks on the ground. This was her lowest power level in human form. Lan Mei covered her mouth and almost burst out laughing. The little girl silently wrapped her tail around Lan Mei's calf and then slowly tightened it.

　Lanmei knew that the little girl was just being stubborn. After all, her little mouth was so pouty that it could hold a water bottle, and her leg was still a little sore. Lanmei suppressed her laughter, apologized to the little girl, patted her tail, and went to prepare the food for her. As her fingertips brushed against the tip of the little girl's tail, Lanmei felt a little reluctant.

　As for starting a fire, well, she's not a fire dragon, and not all ancient dragons breathe fire, but the young girl has her own methods! One is to flick her tail and start a fire by rubbing it against the ground. To this, Zhanlong can only say, no, you are the real Zhanlong, my brother!

　No, it's just about slaying dragons!

　However, there was no place on the grass where the little girl could rub herself and start a fire, so the little girl shook the bracelet on her wrist, and then a silver, staff, huh?

　No, it's a fork!

　A fork appeared in the little girl's hand, but it wasn't an ordinary fork; it was a fork that could be used as a staff, made by Frilian from the silver fire dragon's scales that the little girl had left over.

　Raising her fork and aiming it at the spot in front of her, she unleashed "Ancient Dragon Magic: Dragon Flame," a surging flame that instantly devoured all the beef and mutton. Watching the beef and mutton gradually change color in the dancing flames, the little girl seemed to have already eaten the meat, licking her lips. Lanmei also took out a copper pot and mixed the prepared whale meat with the beef and mutton to simmer. Finally, before serving, she sprinkled on some seasonings, and it was ready to eat!

　After searching for several days, the people sent out by the tribe finally found a suspicious trace. They immediately expanded the search area around it. Soon, the leader smelled the aroma of stewed meat. But why would someone stew meat in the wilderness? Could it be a spy from the Great Qian?

　They immediately ran back to gather the people who had been searching. Soon everyone was gathered there, and a few moments later, they shouted and rushed toward the source of the aroma. They were stunned when they reached the grassy area covered with footprints and saw the little girl tearing into mutton with an OVO expression and Lan Mei drinking witch's apple cider. The little girl stared at them with wide eyes when she noticed these uninvited guests, but she did not put down the piece of meat in her hand.

　After the snow-white tiger teeth easily pierced the mutton in her hand, the little girl clenched her teeth and easily tore the mutton off. After chewing a couple of times, she quickly swallowed it. Seeing that the group of upright creatures did not move, the little girl completely ignored their existence and only focused on stuffing food into her mouth. Compared to the little girl and Lan Mei, the Turks could not understand why these two were here.

　"Hey, how come these two are in the depths of the grassland, and dressed in such gorgeous clothes? People fleeing from disaster wouldn't be like this. Could they be some kind of spirits or monsters?"

　"It's definitely a spirit or monster. Look at that little child's body, is that something a human could grow?"

　"Spirits? Even if they are spirits, they are still children. Hehe, these two kids are very beautiful. Look at their skin, it's unbelievably smooth. I haven't even gotten married yet, so none of you can take them from me."

　The moment those words were uttered, the situation clearly spiraled out of control. The leaders drew their weapons and approached the young girl and Lan Mei with smirks. O~O The young girl watched the upright creatures approaching her, nonchalantly stuffing a lamb rib into her mouth, biting off a piece of meat, and chewing slowly. Seeing the young girl's calm demeanor, the Turkic man at the front hardened his heart and reached out to grab the young girl's head.

　"puff!"

　In the blink of an eye, the man's figure shot out a jet of blood and flew backward. He crashed to the ground without struggling, already lifeless. This sudden change caught everyone off guard, leaving them staring blankly at their dead companion. When they turned to look at the little girl, what they saw was not a little girl, but a head larger than a carriage, with horns curved like a crown and a slightly open dragon mouth spewing out faint blackish-purple scales.

　More than half of the people were so frightened that they sat down on the ground. Some brave soldiers looked back but could not see the dragon's tail. The Wanderer also flapped its wings forcefully, and a wave of air swept over everyone present. Black and purple scales filled the area around everyone without them realizing it. The Wanderer moved its body slightly, raised its head, contracted its abdomen, compressed the air, and then suddenly exhaled it from its throat, creating a powerful wind pressure and a very powerful roar.

　The sound was so loud that the people closest to the Reincarnation Lord lost their senses and fell to the ground. Although those behind avoided falling, blood trickled from their ears. By the time the Reincarnation Lord spat out the Mad Dragon Virus, these people remembered to run away, but it was too late.

　"boom!"

　Those who were trying to escape were thrown into the air and fell to the ground. Some were lucky enough to lose consciousness, while others died instantly. The young girl didn't bother to check if they were really dead; such a boring thing was nothing compared to the fun of eating meat.

　Ashina Yelü, who was bound, thought he would only be released after seeing his father, the Turkic Khan. However, he did not expect to be released after only a few days. He also learned that during this time, they had organized people to search for dragons and other things, and then suffered a great defeat. However, since things had come to this, Ashina Yelü did not want to say anything. He did not change his previous relocation plan, and this time no one objected.

　But problems still arose during the relocation process.

　First, the three who had escaped suddenly went berserk and began tearing at the people around them. Their eyes turned red and black breath came out of their mouths. They were beaten unconscious by the crowd and never woke up again. Ashina Yelü thought that was the end of it, but he did not expect that this was just the beginning.

　From then on, similar symptoms kept appearing in the tribe. Ashina Yelu immediately associated the black mist with it and made a judgment that it might be some kind of plague. However, neither he nor the most learned doctor in the tribe could tell what kind of plague it was. The doctors could only treat the patients with simple methods such as applying hot compresses and scalding the wounds. Not only were these methods ineffective, but the blood that flowed out was also black. Even the doctors who treated the patients fell ill.

　The doctors hadn't expected the illness to develop so quickly. Under such circumstances, even if Ashina Yelü had intended to seek out renowned physicians...

　But time was running out, so Ashina Yelu had no choice but to follow the doctor's instructions to isolate the sick to ensure that the black mist would not spread so quickly. But doing so was like drinking poison to quench thirst, and there was only one consequence: everyone would die on the grasslands that had nurtured them.

　Even if Ashina Yelü wanted to lead everyone in the tribe to migrate, it was too late. Moreover, the symptoms were still spreading. While Ashina Yelü was hesitating, the entire tribe was in chaos. Thin black scales could be seen in the air. In the end, Ashina Yelü was only able to take a mere 131 people with him.

　In fact, when the number of people infected with the plague began to increase exponentially, Ashina Yelü knew he should give up. But he stubbornly persisted, and it was this persistence that made things completely irreversible. After sending a letter to his father, Ashina Yelü left the place with the remaining 131 people, preparing to join the army led by his father, the Western Turkic Khan.

　Unfortunately, not long after they set off, several more of the 131 people began to vomit black gas. Ashina Yelü knew very well what this meant; it meant that these people were beyond saving. Moreover, if they were not treated in time, given the rate at which the plague was spreading, all 131 people would die here immediately. Despite the pain, Ashina Yelü had no choice but to follow the doctor's instructions to kill the sick patients and bury them in the ground. He then instructed everyone to take care of their health and to report any problems immediately.

　Unfortunately, even though Ashina Yelü tried his best to avoid any deaths in the group, by the time he met up with the Western Turkic Khan, only five of the original 131 people who had come with him remained. Even though he had received a secret letter from his sixth son, the Western Turkic Khan did not initially believe in the idea of ​​a second sun. However, seeing Ashina Yelü's miserable state, he began to believe it more readily.

　But the thought of having his tribe reduced to only five people in just one month was even more unacceptable to the Western Turkic Khan. Of course, what angered him most was that his sixth son had failed to protect his homeland. In fact, at this point, the Western Turkic Khan had basically believed Ashina Yelü's words. But unexpectedly, Tolui stood up and criticized Ashina Yelü's actions.

　Tolui didn't believe in dragons or spirits. In his view, Ashina Yelü must have been ambushed by the Eastern Turks or had done something wrong and was driven out by the tribal chiefs. That's why he did this to clear his name and restore his image in front of the Khan. Otherwise, what kind of plague could have reduced hundreds of thousands of tribes to only five people in less than a year?

　As the Khan of the Western Turks, and given his connection to his son, the Western Turk Khan naturally had confidence in his son. Therefore, he severely reprimanded Tolui. After all, if things were really as Ashina Yelü said, then the plague must be terrible. However, after Tolui's words, the Western Turk Khan also felt that there were many doubts about this matter. First of all, the Western Turk Khan suspected that it was not a dragon, but a special force led by the Great Qian Emperor, that is, Li Jingming.

　But upon further reflection, the Western Turkic Khan immediately ruled out this possibility. If that were truly the case, and Li Jingming had managed to bypass the border and find the Western Turkic stronghold, directly engaging in war with his tribe, why would Li Jingming need to send a large army to harass their forces in Lingzhou? Moreover, according to the intelligence gathered by the Western Turkic Khan, Li Jingming, who had only recently ascended the throne, was clearly incapable of such an action. However, given his current predicament, the Western Turkic Khan understood that he could not take Lingzhou. If he could capture Lingzhou, all would be well; but if he could not, and the original Western Turkic territory was occupied by the Eastern Turks, he would truly have nowhere to return. Therefore, the Western Turkic Khan decided to personally investigate his own tribe thoroughly.

　At this moment, Ashina Yelü absolutely did not want to return to that place, and he kowtowed and swore a solemn oath to his Khan father not to go to such a dangerous place. But who was the Western Turk Khan? He was the Khan, the greatest man on the grassland. He raised his whip and lashed his horse hard, then ran back to where Ashina Yelü had come from.

　Ashina Yelü did not return with his father, but instead found an opportunity to stay where he was. He was certain that the Western Turks would be his nightmare, but Lingzhou would not. Moreover, with his abilities and the things he carried, he could at least have enough to eat in Lingzhou, if not become rich and powerful. As for the Western Turks, he dared not go back at all.

　But things just happened to be so coincidental. Ashina Yelü had just arrived in Lingzhou, bought himself some new clothes, and was planning to find a restaurant for a good meal and a nice night's sleep when he saw that nightmarish figure. Although the young girl and Lanmei didn't notice him, Ashina Yelü couldn't assume they hadn't seen him. What if this was a warning? Ashina Yelü had no choice but to respectfully approach the young girl, clasp his hands in greeting, and then sit down to wait.

　Waiting for the young girl to speak.

　Kashima.jpg

　Hours.jpg

　Volume 1: Side Story V - The Confused Relationship Between Two Dragons and Two People

　Only now did Ashina Yelu have the opportunity to examine the little boy in front of him closely. Unlike what he had imagined, Ashina Yelu thought that the spirits in the mountains would look strange and monstrous. This was not his fault, since the stories he had heard since childhood described the monsters as having either pointed snouts and rat-like faces, or bull-headed and human-bodied appearances, and some even having three heads and six arms. Moreover, the spirits lived in the mountains and fields, did not interact with humans, and had never seen any beauties, so naturally they looked rather casual.

　But the young girl's face was incredibly cute, and it was clear at a glance that she was destined to be a beauty. The young girl was already quite beautiful, not to mention Lan Mei next to her. Unlike the young girl, Lan Mei's face had more delicate features and a gentle demeanor. Ashina Yelü had only heard that the Jiangnan water towns of Daqian were good for nurturing people, but he had never actually seen them. Seeing Lan Mei's appearance now, Ashina Yelü thought that the Jiangnan water towns must be good for nurturing people, and that most of the girls raised there must look like this.

　Then Ashina Yelu noticed the table laden with food in front of the young girl. Ever since the young girl had feasted several times in Lingzhou, almost every restaurant in Lingzhou knew of this god of wealth. A big eater like the young girl, who could earn a restaurant's monthly income in a single day, was naturally someone no restaurant owner would dislike. In addition, the young girl was very generous, so no matter how suspicious the young girl and Lanmei's clothes were, and even though they had horn-like things on their heads, the heavy, shiny gold was enough to prevent the restaurant managers from seeing anything strange about them.

　Even though the kitchen staff's arms were already smoking from swinging the dishes, they never considered using inferior food and ordinary ingredients to serve the young girl and Lan Mei. Instead, they chose to join forces with other restaurants to share this wealth.

　What? You're asking what to do with the ingredients that are about to rot? Just make them into staff meals. They're only about to expire, not expired. The kind and simple people of Daqian have no objection to this. The staff didn't refuse the suggestion either, after all, thrift is an instinct in their bones. After the young girl started eating seriously, the waiter shouted in a high-pitched voice, "The trial has begun."

　Today's featured dishes are shrimp dishes rarely seen in Ling Chau, including fried prawn tails, fried prawns with cloud dragon filling, and fried crab casserole, while the restaurant that helps out is responsible for the more common roasted lamb and roasted meat.

　Today's top recommendation is fried shrimp tails. This dish involves peeling and decapitating fresh shrimp, then mashing locally grown fresh nuts and coating them with the shrimp meat before deep-frying them until golden brown. The difficulty in making this dish lies not only in considering the ratio of nuts to shrimp meat, but also in the fact that adjusting the oil temperature requires several experiments and skillful techniques. After this process, the fresh and crispy nuts become even more fragrant after being deep-fried.

　Of course, the most important ingredient is the sauce. To bring out the flavors of the nuts and shrimp, the chef boils the remaining shrimp heads to extract shrimp oil, then removes and discards the shrimp heads. Next, he adds crushed apples and chopped onions and other seasonings to the sauce and boils it together. The sauce made in this way not only enhances the aroma of the nuts and fruits, but also makes the flavors of the shrimp oil and shrimp meat complement each other perfectly. Everyone who has tried it praises it as the most delicious food in the world.

　Another dish is called Cloud Dragon Fried Shrimp, which is a rare ingredient in Lingzhou, but the young girl has eaten it a lot. However, the beauty of Cloud Dragon Fried Shrimp lies in the fact that the sauce is perfectly integrated into the shrimp meat. Unlike the way fried phoenix tail shrimp is served with sauce, the chef makes a unique sauce by mixing egg yolks, lard, sugar and milk together.

　The crispy batter, sweet and delicious shrimp meat, and smooth and mellow sauce combine to make every bite a perfect dish. Of course, there is another unique feature of this dish: the chef uses thin bean curd sheets to wrap the sauce around the shrimp meat to hide the sauce. Although it is called bean curd sheets, it is actually a thin film that solidifies on the surface of soy milk. Moreover, it is boiled in water before use to remove the beany and earthy taste. Therefore, it has no strange taste at all and you can hardly feel its presence.

　However, the restaurant's main dish is fried crab casserole, which is also the young girl's favorite among all the dishes. However, in Lanmei's opinion, the young girl's main reason for liking it is probably because the portion of this dish is really large. The young girl can eat to her heart's content almost non-stop. Of course, this is also because the restaurant originally planned to open up sales channels with a low-profit, high-volume approach, so it purchased a large number of crabs. Fortunately, the kitchen also found the most suitable way to cook it.

　That is to open the shells of all the small crabs, take out the crab roe, separate the crab legs, pick out all the crab meat inside and chop it up, then add chopped green onions, ginger and other seasonings for simple seasoning, and then stir-fry it in oil for a very short time, almost just put it in the pot and let it roll around a few times before taking it out and setting it aside.

　The next step is crucial: mix the crab meat (cooked to about 70-80% done) with the crab roe, then stuff the filling back into the crab shell. Smooth the mixture with a spoon, then dip the stuffed crab shell several times in egg wash and cornstarch before frying it in oil. The way it's placed in the oil is important: the shell side should be down, and the filling side up. Once the oil is hot enough, pour it in and remove it once it sinks to the bottom.

　By relying on the inherent characteristics of the dish itself to determine whether it is done well, the filling can be cooked to perfection without absorbing too much of the fried flavor, thus preserving the sweetness of the crab meat.

　Although Ashina Yelu was also sitting at the table, he dared not look the young girl in the eye. He could only watch as she nimbly ate with her chopsticks, and soon a large plate of food disappeared. The waiter seemed to be used to this kind of thing. As soon as he saw an empty plate, he immediately ran out with the empty plate and brought over freshly cooked food. While eating, the young girl did not forget to pick up the witch's apple wine next to her and gulp it down.

　Lanmei ate a dish called "Golden Fish Slices," which is actually raw fish slices. However, thanks to the chef's superb knife skills, even the difficult-to-remove parts of this rare bighead sea bream were all cut off. Judging from the slices of raw fish, the texture of the meat was not damaged, and each part of the meat had its own characteristics. For example, the tail moves around a lot, so the meat in this part is very firm and elastic, and the elasticity is so good that it can even bounce against your teeth.

　To an unsuspecting person, the way the little girl was eating looked exactly like a hungry ghost, which was completely out of place with her expensive clothes.

　Of course, bighead sea bream isn't just made into a dish of minced fish. There's also a braised fish head with mixed vegetables, where the fish head is stewed with various dried ingredients and tofu until it melts in your mouth. Whether it's the sea bream head with its light and smooth texture like clouds in the sky or the sea bream soup with its unforgettable aftertaste, not to mention the delicious combination of these two ingredients. After eating the fish head, you can unlock another way to enjoy it, which is to put the remaining fish fillets into a fish pancake and finally drizzle hot oil over it to fully bring out the flavor of the seasonings.

　Just as the young girl was happily eating and about to pour herself some witch's apple cider from the table, Ashina Yelü, who had been pondering for a long time, respectfully reached out to pick up the bottle and pour her a bowl. But just as his hand touched the bottle, he saw the girl's crimson-gold pupils staring intently at him. He instantly felt like he was being watched by something terrifying, and his biological instincts told him he had to run away immediately. However, the girl was still chewing on her fried crab stew, and the crunching sound made Ashina Yelü feel like he would be eaten by the girl the next second if he ran away.

　Ashina Yelü was at his wits' end, sweating profusely with anxiety. He disregarded everything else and knelt down. The young girl, seeing Ashina Yelü kneel, was puzzled as to what this upright creature was up to. Compared to Melalu, these upright creatures were quite weak. However, judging from the creature's appearance, it seemed to be doing the same thing as Melalu. The young girl tilted her head, indicating that she didn't really like this creature and stopped looking at it.

　Seeing that the young girl did not take any further action, Ashina Yelü mustered up his courage to stand up from the ground. Watching the emerald green wine, which was free of any impurities, flow from the bottle into the young girl's mouth, Ashina Yelü was convinced that it was the celestial wine. Smelling the aroma of the wine, Ashina Yelü felt that he would be reborn as soon as he drank it. However, he could only suppress the urge to taste it and swallowed hard.

　"I'm full!" The little girl, having quickly devoured the restaurant's entire stock, patted her tummy to show her satisfaction. Now that she was full, it was time for her to play. Just as she was about to leave, a commotion arose on the first floor of the restaurant, and a black-haired girl wielding a long sword rushed up. This was Li Qingyi. She had been in Lingzhou for quite some time, and as the daughter of Li Jing, a mere restaurant naturally wouldn't dare to stop her on its own initiative.

　Li Qingyi breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the young girl and Lanmei. After the young girl escaped from the prison, Li Qingyi went to find out what had happened. Although there were very few eyewitnesses, based on the traces and locations left at the scene, Li Qingyi roughly figured out the direction of the whole thing. Most likely, the group of people had evil intentions because they saw that the young girl was so rich and young. As the saying goes, "A child carrying gold through a bustling market will surely be noticed." But they did not expect that the young girl was stronger and directly killed them.

　The evidence and traces found at the scene made it easy to determine that the young girl was the murderer, but in essence, the young girl was not at fault. Perhaps the only one at fault was that person, whose crime did not warrant death. But now that she saw that there were other accomplices here, Li Qingyi suddenly became unsure. Then, after noticing another person and seeing his face clearly, Li Qingyi's expression immediately changed.

　First of all, it was a man, and the first thing Li Qingyi noticed was the man's face and hair. Judging from the appearance of his nose and eyes, he was not a Daqian person. He looked like a Turk. Li Qingyi immediately thought of the Turkic spy issue. In addition, there was the matter of the young girl and Lanmei running away. Although there was no evidence, Li Qingyi still naturally concluded that the three people should be a group.

　However, Li Qingyi is currently at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. Under these circumstances, taking a man hostage to blackmail the young girl and Lan Mei is the most suitable option. Of course, choosing to take Ashina Yelü hostage was also a result of Li Qingyi's quick thinking. The young girl and Lan Mei were sitting further apart, while Ashina Yelü was standing near the door, so Li Qingyi grabbed him in one swift motion.

　Furthermore, considering that a young girl could smash through a prison cell wall, it's questionable whether an ordinary person could control her. If she were to violently retaliate and kill him, it would truly be a case of losing more than one gains.

　"Don't come any closer. Stand there obediently, or I won't guarantee the safety of your companions." Li Qingyi said as she brought her three-foot-long sword close to Ashina Yelü's neck.

　The young girl stared blankly at the newly appeared upright creature. At their first meeting, the creature had led her to a strange place—a prison—under the pretext that it had delicious food. The girl initially believed that Li Qingyi was going to treat her to a meal, but after being locked up, she didn't get any food that night. Only then did she realize that she had been tricked, so it was only natural that she would consider Li Qingyi a liar.

　The reason the young girl didn't punish Li Qingyi was that she knew where to find better, more abundant food, and her bracelet contained plenty of meat she had hunted herself. Therefore, the young girl figured that simply avoiding contact with this upright creature would be enough; other than that, there wouldn't be any problems.

　At this moment, Ashina Yelü was the most aggrieved person. Not only had he escaped from the most dangerous place on the grassland with all his might, but he also encountered that monster as soon as he arrived in Lingzhou. Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Ashina Yelü originally planned to gain favor with the young girl in order to leave, but he didn't expect that just when the young girl had finished eating and the two were about to part ways, Li Qingyi appeared, completely disrupting his plans. If it weren't for his strong mental fortitude, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold it in and would have spat out a mouthful of blood.

　Seeing that the young girl and Lan Mei did not leave immediately, but instead looked in her direction, with a hint of wariness and a strange feeling in their eyes, Li Qingyi felt something was off. This was not the look of a ten-year-old child. Seeing that the young girl and Lan Mei were determined to leave the restaurant, Li Qingyi pushed her sword closer to Ashina Yelü's neck. Ashina Yelü could even feel the coldness emanating from the blade. The young girl looked back and forth between the two upright creatures.