Chapter 227: Dragon Tilts the Phoenix

Lu Xingzhou, of course, dared not test it.

If one were to analyze the logic further, if the Demon Emperor were truly injured, she would not still be dressed as a demon, nor would she refer to herself as "human" upon meeting people, as if afraid no one would recognize her as a demon? What if she bumped into someone of the first or second grade who insisted on testing her abilities? If she were truly in a critical state, would that not be asking for death?

Logically speaking, if she were truly injured, it would be safer to pretend to be an ordinary human cultivator when encountering humans; why bother putting on airs?

Of course, it might also be that she is too proud to deign to disguise herself?

In any case, there is no way to guess wildly, and launching an attack to test her is absolutely out of the question.

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

Ahead was indeed a pit, containing a shattered skeleton.

It should be the owner of the magical treasure guessed earlier; Little Bai Mao must have touched this corpse. He wondered why the Demon Emperor was interested in this corpse and had stayed to watch it.

Lu Xingzhou's mind raced, and he quickly replied: "Miss, if you say it is fate, you are right. I discovered an ice house not far away earlier; it seemed someone had lived there, so I searched the area and found a small secret realm formed by a fallen magical treasure. Thus, I deduced there was another corpse nearby and followed the sensation to check. Since the Miss has already found the corpse first, let us follow the rule of priority; I will not contend with you for it."

These words were the absolute truth, and even A Nuo nodded vigorously beside him.

The Demon Emperor stared at him for a long moment, then smiled faintly: "Your heartbeat was violent just now, but it has calmed down now. Your words are the truth."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

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

Lu Xingzhou said: "I did not come to pick up a corpse, nor even for the magical treasure on the corpse, because I judged it was likely already taken by someone. What I want are the plants growing nearby due to various special energies... I am a pill master."

The demon race lacks pill masters.

In terms of cultivation culture, the demon race is relatively crude; human tricks such as talismans are almost non-existent among them. Regarding medicine, they prefer to directly consume medicinal materials, at most making combinations or decoctions. The technique of refining pills is something few demons would know unless they specifically went to a human kingdom to study.

Lu Xingzhou was testing whether she needed any pills.

Unfortunately, even if the Demon Emperor could not refine pills herself, she would not lack them. Hearing this, the corners of her mouth curled slightly; she looked him up and down and said indifferently: "A fourth-grade cultivator, what good pills can you refine? As for the plants, I haven't found any; you come and look."

Lu Xingzhou actually jumped into the pit, searched carefully, and picked out some mushrooms from a corner: "Formed due to the bones, they are not good things; they are useful for refining poison—judging by the plants, this skeleton died very recently, no more than a hundred years ago."

The Demon Emperor felt a slight stir in her heart: "Are you sure it is only a hundred years?"

"Yes, things buried under the glacier belong to different time periods; the distant ones might be hundreds of millions of years or more, while the recent ones might be just a few years. Due to the freezing, it is difficult to determine the exact year for most things; things from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago might still look quite fresh. We can only use the nearby plants as a rough reference."

The Demon Emperor nodded.

Things inside the glacier are different from elsewhere; for corpses elsewhere, she could basically tell the year at a glance, but those frozen in ice are indeed very hard to determine. Since a pill master has the ability to identify the age of plants, it could be borrowed as a reference.

The Demon Emperor had, of course, come for the so-called dragon bone fragments. Dragon bones with vitality meant there was still a possibility of resurrection, or at least an attempt to resurrect them as bone dragons. For her dragon race, whose bloodline is scarce, this was a very important matter. Especially if it were an ancient dragon, it would be invaluable for the dragon race and even the entire demon race's exploration of the ancients and the path to the sages; it was something they must obtain.

But she was not stupid; she worried this might be a smokescreen deliberately set by humans, with a trap actually laid to bury her, so naturally she would not rashly enter the core area. Instead, she would probe the situation on the periphery first. She was alone, bringing no one; for a supreme-grade powerhouse, traveling alone allowed her to advance or retreat freely, without any worries about the rear.

The other demon race powerful figures were waiting at the border between the demon domain and the ice plain; if a great war truly broke out, it would still be time to summon reinforcements.

She came to this location because she sensed a trace of dragon race bloodline in the corpse here, suspected to be related to this target, and came specifically to check. Upon arriving, she realized this corpse, which was completely dead and possessed only a tiny wisp of bloodline, should have no connection to the target, but it raised new questions.

Even now, she could not determine the age of this corpse; could the so-called vital ancient dragon bones be merely recent ones, with a little vitality preserved due to being frozen?

Although that would still be quite meaningful, compared to an ancient dragon that retained vitality even after dying for hundreds of millions of years, its importance would be lowered by more than a tier; at the very least, the path to the sages would be gone.

One was worth fighting a bloody battle for; the other was not. Since the battle ten years ago, the demon race has been in a dormant defensive posture; the existing living forces are equally precious and cannot be squandered.

She thought for a moment and finally spoke: "Since you have the ability to identify the age, how about helping me? I will give you corresponding compensation."

Lu Xingzhou secretly groaned; who knew if you would give compensation or simply kill to silence him later? He only wanted to stay far away from this tyrannical dragon who could crush him with a single step: "Miss, I have urgent matters, so I am afraid it is inconvenient... Moreover, we are a lone man and a lone woman with a child; if people see us, it does not seem very good for the Miss's reputation..."

"Reputation? Heh..." The Demon Emperor laughed, looked Lu Xingzhou over again, and seemed to just now realize he was quite handsome; a hint of interest appeared in her eyes.

Whether it was an illusion or not, why did it feel like there was also a bit of seductiveness...

Lu Xingzhou shivered, and heard the Demon Emperor say: "In this vast ice plain, the chance of meeting a stranger is already low; why care about this?"

"I care."

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

As her eyes narrowed, killing intent erupted, and pressure like a mountain surged down from all directions. Lu Xingzhou's forehead broke out in cold sweat, but his first reaction was to shield A Nuo behind him.

The Demon Emperor was stunned for a moment; the killing intent actually receded considerably. She lowered her eyelids and said: "If you help me, I will not kill to silence you."

Even if you won't kill to silence me, I'll still be accused of human adultery...

Lu Xingzhou still wanted to refuse, but heard the Demon Emperor continue: "I came to seek matters related to my demon race. If humans do not disturb me, I will not start trouble without cause." So reasonable? Lu Xingzhou looked at her with rare surprise.

There was an information asymmetry; Lu Xingzhou still did not know about the dragon bone fragments, nor did he know that Lady Ye came here for that, so naturally he did not know that the Demon Emperor's seemingly reasonable statement was actually nonsense, because conflict with humans was inevitable for her...

He did recall that Lady Ye was nearby and might return to check on him at any moment; by then, he would be saved, so there was no need to stubbornly clash with the Demon Emperor at this moment.

So he said: "If the Miss does not intend to conflict with humans, may I offer the Miss a suggestion?"

"Hmm?"

"The Miss should change her attire; do not wear this appearance that immediately looks like a demon, and suppress your demon aura... And do not start every sentence with 'human'."

The Demon Emperor initially had no thought of "not conflicting with humans," so she made no concealment. But hearing Lu Xingzhou's words, she felt a bit indignant: "Suppressing the demon aura is fine, but how does this outfit immediately look like a demon? Don't humans also have various decorations?"

"... Humans rarely have decorations that paint gold powder on their faces, and almost no one wears a completely golden outfit."

"Nonsense. I saw Gu Zhanting in a golden yellow outfit; that is the only commendable thing about that person; his aesthetic sense is acceptable. As for facial tattoos, I see many of your tribes have them too."

Lu Xingzhou was at a loss, truly not knowing how to discuss aesthetics with a dragon, so he could only say: "But you will never see a person with facial tattoos and a golden robe existing simultaneously."

The Demon Emperor thought for a moment; Gu Zhanting indeed seemed to have nothing on his face, and she felt somewhat aggrieved: "How good-looking is this? What do you humans understand?"

Lu Xingzhou found this person unexpectedly cute and couldn't help but laugh: "Yes, precisely because humans don't understand... Since you don't want to conflict with humans, do not make them feel stupid in areas they don't understand."

A Nuo looked at her master.

The Demon Emperor said: "I did not bring any human clothing."

Lu Xingzhou said: "This is the southern end of the ice plain; not far further south is the border of the Tian Shuang Kingdom, where there are naturally towns. We can go to a town to change."

The Demon Emperor had no leisure for such things and was about to refuse, but heard Lu Xingzhou continue: "Your Majesty likely came here to investigate some important matter; instead of searching aimlessly on the ice plain, why not go to a town and listen to what humans say?"

The Demon Emperor narrowed her eyes again, staring at him tightly.

Lu Xingzhou smiled without changing his expression: "What? Does Your Majesty think your identity is hard to guess?"

The Demon Emperor was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "In theory, it is not hard to guess, but I met other humans on the road; they did not guess. Instead, some tried to flirt with me, and I crushed them into meat paste."

Lu Xingzhou twitched his mouth; what idiot was that? Wasn't that asking for death?

A'nuo thought to herself that just now, when you said your intuition sensed a peerless beauty, it didn't seem much different from flirting.

But being good-looking always has its advantages; the same words spoken by a graceful, handsome Young Master versus a crooked, ugly, lecherous man give a completely different impression... A'nuo believed Your Majesty the Demon Emperor wouldn't speak so kindly and chat idly with just anyone, yet Master could.

Not only could he, but he seemed intent on luring the Demon Emperor to a town.

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

"Indeed, it is very easy to guess. Setting aside this entire golden dragon aesthetic, just the aura alone is something ordinary people cannot possess."

The Demon Emperor thought to himself that easy to guess was debatable, but this person's thinking was indeed clear and sharp: "Since you guessed my identity long ago, how dare you speak so confidently before me?"

Lu Xingzhou sighed: "Your Majesty, I am covered in cold sweat, which has not yet subsided."

The Demon Emperor smiled and stepped south: "You make sense; towns have more news, so we can go ask first."

Lu Xingzhou led A'nuo to follow, then heard the Demon Emperor ask, "What is your name?"

"Chen Yu from Chunshan Pavilion."

Lu Xingzhou did not believe she would not conflict with humans, nor did he believe her promise not to silence witnesses, and he had no desire to be a human traitor. The probability of him tricking her on this journey was still quite high, and it was very possible they would become enemies.

Lu Xingzhou's name was on the New Stars List, so the Demon Emperor could easily trace his background. If this journey ultimately resulted in tricking the Demon Emperor, it would implicate the Tianxing Sword Sect, so...

As for her name, there was no need to ask.

Who among humans does not know the name of the Demon Emperor, Long Qinghuang? It is just that few speak it directly; that is respect for a Super-Grade powerhouse and a regional hegemon, even if she is an enemy.

Although in Lu Xingzhou's view, this name sounded a bit like a yuri top...

(End of this chapter)