Chapter 252: Dragon Leans Phoenix

Lu Xingzhou naturally didn't dare to test her.

If he were to analyze the logic further, if the Demon Empress were truly injured, she wouldn't continue to appear in her demon form, calling humans "human" and so on, as if afraid others wouldn't recognize her as a demon. What if she encountered a first or second-rank cultivator who insisted on testing her abilities? In a seriously injured state, wouldn't that be courting death?

Normally, if she were injured, it would be safer to pretend to be an ordinary human cultivator when encountering humans. Why put on airs?

Or perhaps she was too proud to disguise herself?

In any case, it was impossible to guess wildly, and he certainly wouldn't dare to initiate a test.

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

Indeed, there was a pit in front, containing a shattered skeleton.

It was likely the owner of the magical artifact he had previously speculated about. Little White Hair must have touched this corpse. He wondered why the Demon Empress was interested in this remains and was lingering here.

Lu Xingzhou's mind raced, and he quickly replied, "If you say it's a stroke of luck, then yes. I previously discovered an ice house not far from here, which seemed to have been inhabited. So I searched the vicinity and found a small secret realm formed by a fallen magical artifact. Based on that, I inferred there might be another corpse nearby and followed the sensation to investigate. Since you have already found the remains, then by right of first discovery, I won't contend with you for it."

This was the absolute truth, and even Anuo nodded vigorously beside him.

The Demon Empress gazed at him for a long moment, then smiled faintly. "Your heart was beating rapidly just now, but it has calmed down. Your words are true."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

The Demon Empress's gaze returned to the corpse. She said indifferently, "This is a demon corpse. If you pick it up, what do you plan to do with it?"

Lu Xingzhou replied, "I didn't come to collect the corpse, nor even for the magical artifacts on it, as I judged they had likely already been taken. What I want are the accompanying plants that grew nearby due to various special energies... I am an alchemist."

The demon race lacked alchemists.

In terms of cultivation culture, the demon race was more crude. They rarely possessed ingenious human techniques like talismans. For medicinal purposes, they tended to directly consume herbs, at most combining them or brewing decoctions. Alchemy, as a skill, was rarely practiced by demons unless they had specifically studied in human kingdoms.

Lu Xingzhou was testing whether she needed elixirs.

Unfortunately, even if the Demon Empress couldn't refine elixirs herself, she wouldn't lack them. Hearing this, her lips curved slightly. She surveyed him from head to toe and said blandly, "A fourth-rank cultivator, what good elixirs could you refine? As for the plants, I haven't found any. Why don't you look?"

Lu Xingzhou actually stepped forward and jumped into the pit. He searched carefully and found some fungi in a corner. "These are formed from the skeleton; they aren't good but are useful for refining poison. Based on the plants, this skeleton died very recently, not more than a hundred years ago."

The Demon Empress's heart stirred slightly. "Are you sure it's only a hundred years?"

"Yes, things buried under glaciers are from different periods. Some could be hundreds of millions of years old, others just a few years. Due to freezing, it's hard to determine the exact age of most items; things thousands or tens of thousands of years old might still look quite fresh. We can only use the surrounding plants as a slight reference."

The Demon Empress nodded.

Items within glaciers differed from those elsewhere. She could usually tell the age of bones in other places with a glance, but those preserved in ice were genuinely difficult to ascertain. Since the alchemist had the ability to identify the age of plants, she could certainly use that as a reference.

The Demon Empress had, of course, come for the so-called dragon bone fragments. Vital dragon bones meant there was still a possibility of revival, at least an attempt to revive them as bone dragons, which was very important for her dragon race, given their scarce bloodline. Especially if it was an ancient dragon, it would be invaluable for the dragon race and even the entire demon race's exploration of ancient times and the path to sainthood, something she was determined to acquire.

However, she wasn't foolish. Concerned that this might be a smokescreen deliberately set by humans to lure her into a trap, she naturally wouldn't rashly enter the core area. Instead, she would first scout the outer regions. She was alone, bringing no one with her; for a super-rank expert, traveling solo offered greater flexibility and fewer worries.

The other demon race experts were waiting at the border between the demon domain and the ice plain. If a major battle were to break out, there would still be time to summon reinforcements.

She came to this location because she sensed a trace of dragon bloodline in the remains here, suspected to be related to her current objective, and came to investigate. Only upon arrival did she realize that these utterly dead remains, possessing only a faint trace of bloodline, were likely unrelated to her goal. However, this also raised new questions.

Currently, she couldn't even determine the age of this skeleton. Could the so-called vital ancient dragon bones also be recent, retaining only a bit of vitality due to being frozen?

While still meaningful, their importance would be significantly lower compared to ancient dragons that retained vitality after hundreds of millions of years of death. At the very least, the path to sainthood would be gone.

One was worth fighting a bloody battle for; the other was not. Since the battle ten years ago, the demon race had been in a state of defensive dormancy, and their existing living forces were equally precious and not to be squandered.

She thought for a moment, then finally spoke: "Since you have the ability to discern age, how about helping me with something? I will give you appropriate compensation."

Lu Xingzhou secretly groaned. Who knew if she would give him compensation or simply kill him to silence him? He just wanted to stay far away from this tyrannical dragon who could step on him at any moment. "My lady, I have important matters to attend to, and it might not be convenient... Besides, if people saw us, a man and a woman with a child, it might not be good for your reputation..."

"Reputation? Heh..." The Demon Empress chuckled, sizing Lu Xingzhou up again. It seemed she had only just noticed his handsomeness, and a hint of amusement appeared in her eyes.

He wondered if it was his imagination, but why did she seem to carry a hint of allure...?

Lu Xingzhou shivered, then heard the Demon Empress say, "In the vast ice plain, the chance of encountering an idle person is already low. Do you still care about that?"

"I do care."

The Demon Empress's eyes narrowed slightly. "Do you care about your reputation, or your life?"

As her eyes narrowed, killing intent erupted, and mountain-like pressure surged over him. Cold sweat beaded on Lu Xingzhou's forehead, but his first reaction was to shield Anuo behind him.

The Demon Empress paused, and her killing intent receded significantly. She lowered her gaze and said, "If you help me, I will not silence you."

Even if you don't silence me, I'll become a human traitor...

Lu Xingzhou still wanted to refuse, but then he heard the Demon Empress continue, "I am here to find something related to my demon race. If humans do not bother me, I will not provoke them without cause."

Being so reasonable? Lu Xingzhou gave her a rare look.

Due to the asymmetry of information, Lu Xingzhou still didn't know about the dragon bone fragments, nor did he know that Lady Ye had come here for them. Naturally, he didn't realize that the Demon Empress's seemingly reasonable statement was actually nonsense, as it was impossible for her to avoid conflict with humans...

However, he recalled that Lady Ye was nearby and might return to check on him at any time. If that happened, he would be saved, so there was no need to stubbornly argue with the Demon Empress right now.

So he said, "If you do not intend to conflict with humans, may I offer a suggestion?"

"Oh?"

"Please change your attire. Don't appear so obviously like a demon, and conceal your demonic aura... And avoid saying 'human' every time you speak."

The Demon Empress initially had no intention of avoiding conflict with humans, so she was completely undisguised. But hearing Lu Xingzhou's words, she became a little indignant. "Concealing my demonic aura is one thing, but how does my outfit immediately scream 'demon'? Don't you humans have various decorations too?"

"...Humans rarely use gold powder as facial decoration, and hardly anyone wears a head-to-toe shimmering gold outfit."

"Nonsense! I've seen Gu Zhanting in all gold, and that's the only commendable thing about him; his aesthetic sense is decent. As for facial tattoos, I've seen many of your tribes have them."

Lu Xingzhou was caught between laughter and tears, genuinely unsure how to discuss aesthetics with a dragon. He could only say, "But you won't see someone with both facial tattoos and a golden robe simultaneously."

The Demon Empress thought about it. Gu Zhanting really didn't seem to have anything on his face, and she became a bit resentful. "How beautiful this is! What do you humans understand?"

Lu Xingzhou found her unexpectedly amusing and couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, precisely because humans don't understand... If you don't want to conflict with humans, don't make them feel foolish in areas they don't comprehend."

Anuo glanced at his master.

The Demon Empress said, "I didn't bring any human clothing."

Lu Xingzhou replied, "This is the southern end of the ice plain. Not far to the south is the border of the Heavenly Frost Kingdom, which has its own towns. We can go to a town to change."

The Demon Empress had no such leisure. Just as she was about to refuse, Lu Xingzhou continued, "Your Majesty must have come to investigate some important matter. Instead of searching aimlessly by yourself in the ice plain, why not go to a town and hear what the humans have to say?"

The Demon Empress narrowed her eyes again, staring intently at him.

Lu Xingzhou smiled without batting an eye. "What, does Your Majesty think your identity is difficult to guess?"

The Demon Empress was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "Theoretically, it's not hard to guess, but I encountered other humans on the way, and they didn't figure it out. Some even tried to flirt, and I crushed them into minced meat."

Lu Xingzhou's mouth twitched. Which idiot would do that? Weren't they just asking for death?

Anuo secretly thought, 'Just now, when you said you had a hunch about an exceptionally beautiful woman, it didn't seem much different from flirting.'

However, good looks always give one an advantage. The same words spoken by a handsome, refined young man would have a different effect than if spoken by a crooked, repulsive man. Anuo believed that Her Majesty the Demon Empress wouldn't engage in such pleasantries with just anyone, yet his master could.

Not only could he, but it seemed he was also about to persuade the Demon Empress to go to a town.

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

"It truly is easy to guess. Setting aside this golden dragon aesthetic, just your aura alone is not something an ordinary person could possess."

The Demon Empress secretly thought that it might not be that easy to guess, but this person's clear and sharp mind was true. "Since you guessed my identity so early, how dare you speak so freely in front of me?"

Lu Xingzhou sighed. "Your Majesty, I'm still covered in cold sweat; it hasn't subsided yet."

The Demon Empress smiled, then started walking south. "You make a good point. Towns will have more information; we can go and ask there first."

Lu Xingzhou took Anuo's hand and followed. He then heard the Demon Empress ask, "What is your name?"

"Chen Yu of Spring Mountain Pavilion."

Lu Xingzhou didn't believe her promise not to conflict with humans, nor her promise not to silence him, and he certainly didn't want to become a human traitor. The chances of him tricking her on this trip were quite high, and it was very possible they would become enemies.

Lu Xingzhou's name was on the New Talent List, so the Demon Empress could easily trace his origins. If this trip ultimately resulted in tricking the Demon Empress, it would implicate the Heavenwalker Sword Sect, so...

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

Every human knew the name of the Demon Empress, Long Qinghuang, but few called her by it directly. It was a sign of respect for a super-rank expert and a dominant ruler, even if she was an enemy.

Although, in Lu Xingzhou's opinion, the name sounded a bit like a dominant female.