Chapter 52

Tan Ye buried himself in her hair, feeling so many things he had never experienced before when he was with her.

He learned to keep someone in his heart and tasted the sweetness of being treated well by someone.

It felt really good to be cared for by someone, just like a person who was used to bitterness, who had long despaired of this world, but somehow tasted a bit of sweetness.

That sweetness lingered in his heart from then on, never to be forgotten.

He could no longer leave her.

She was already engraved in his bones, never to be forgotten.

Su Heng was held tightly by him, her chin also pressed against his shoulder. His breath surged from all directions.

She didn’t know if all dragons were like Tan Ye, with a warm woody fragrance on their bodies. After embracing him, that warm woody fragrance also lingered on her body, like the ambergris that mortals were fond of. Once scented, it was hard to remove, and from time to time, one could smell that leisurely faint fragrance.

“I’ll teach you one thing.”

Su Heng allowed Tan Ye to cling to her body, holding her tightly. At this moment, he was like a child who had finally found support, relying on her with all his heart, not wanting to be separated from her even for a moment.

Su Heng patted his back, “As long as you don’t die, don’t let your opponent take even a bit of advantage over you.”

“Burn it, smash it, but don’t let them step on your head, lick your blood, and use you to build their reputation.” She whispered in his ear, “Never, understand?”

“This is an innate pride, and also the capital to live in this world. Using your flesh and blood and pain to entertain them, to feed the fish and shrimps, then fiercely trample all their self-righteousness into pieces.”

Su Heng had always been an unruly character. Unless she was completely dead, she would never allow herself to fall into the same situation as Tan Ye. If she encountered such a thing, she would probably have killed everyone involved, leaving no one alive.

She was like this to herself, and also to Tan Ye, who she had temporarily classified as her own.

If she didn’t know, that would be fine, but since she knew, those culprits had no intention of repenting or atoning for their sins. If that was the case, then just blow it up.

Tan Ye now temporarily belonged to her. What she did to Tan Ye was justified, but what others did to him required her approval first.

Tan Ye pressed his head completely on her shoulder, exposing his entire neck, even the inverted scale position below his neck was fully exposed in front of her. He moved his head and gently rubbed against her slender neck.

That place was fragile and soft, and one could hear the sound of blood flowing under the skin when pressed against it.

He rubbed gently, completely exposing all his vital points to her, like a child seeking affection.

This intimacy and dependence made Su Heng a little uncomfortable. She had been alone for too many years. In these thousands of years, countless men had loved her, and even more men had expressed their love for her, so many that she couldn’t remember herself. Some loved her to the point of life and death. But she always watched as if it was a play, thinking these men were very amusing.

Now, she was a little flustered.

“I’m not doing this for you.” Su Heng felt that she still needed to make it clear, “I just can’t stand that pair of peacocks. One is a hypocrite and the other is a resentful wife who abandoned her husband and son. They annoy me and I don’t want them to be so smug.”

Tan Ye let out an “en” sound, his voice filled with an unprecedented sense of ease, “I never said you were doing this for me.”

Su Heng almost gritted her teeth to pieces. She turned her head slightly and lowered her eyes, only to see Tan Ye looking at her softly with those bright eyes.

His innately sharp features had completely softened at this moment, different from the gentleness he usually displayed. At this moment, his eyes were filled with endless affection, exuding a silent dependence, fully bringing out his fiery beauty.

She frowned, but in the end, she said nothing and didn’t push him away.

The warm woody fragrance on Tan Ye’s body was previously only faint, but after the seal on his true form was broken, the fragrance on his body became stronger day by day. Leaning against her also felt good, and it was not bad to use it to scent her clothes.

His hands wrapped around her, completely intertwining their heads and necks.

Outside it was bustling, as if the whole world was in an uproar, but here with her, it was tranquil. His hands gently exerted force, pulling her completely towards him.

This is really good, he thought.

He didn’t want to leave her anymore.

“Can your tail still grow back?”

Su Heng quite liked the fragrant scent on his body and rubbed it on her sleeves and other places, so that more of this fragrance would linger on her.

Tan Ye’s face, which had softened to the point of spring ripples, finally showed some surprise at her words. He was a little at a loss, rising from her shoulder, his lips trembling slightly, “I don’t know.”

After his dragon tail was severed, he managed to save his life. In order to let him completely integrate into the cultivators from then on, Mei Luo had placed a seal on his true form. As long as the seal was not broken, he would always be in human form. The days that followed were not easy for him either. He only regarded his previous experiences as a dream. He was not a dragon, just an ordinary person in this world. Naturally, he never thought about whether his dragon tail could grow back.

Recalling the exceptionally tragic state of that dragon tail, his face turned pale, “Did it scare you?”

“Scare me?” Su Heng snorted.

“I thought your dragon form looked very good. If it could grow back, that would be even better.”

She recalled that half dragon body with shimmering silver light, the scales emitting a soft glow underwater, but the dragon tail was tragically missing half of it. Perfection marred by a flaw.

“I… I don’t know.” Seeing that there was indeed no disgust in her eyes or face, he let out the breath he had been holding.

“Maybe… it won’t.”

He had heard of missing parts growing back, but had never seen it with his own eyes. Moreover, his wound from back then had already healed. No matter what, it probably would not grow back.

Su Heng said it was a pity, “If I had known earlier, I would have simply taken care of that person too.”

She was unhappy, so she had to make others unhappy too.

Tan Ye closed his eyes, “No need. I… will just pretend I never had a mother like her.”

“It’s not because of you.” Su Heng emphasized again and again.

Tan Ye smiled and let out an “en” sound.

Su Heng felt that this matter must be made clear, “What I did from beginning to end has nothing to do with you. The fish and shrimp in the pool that were nourished by your flesh and blood were about to turn into sprites. I can’t take this advantage, and neither can anyone else.”

Tan Ye’s closed eyelashes moved at her words. He sat up and looked at her fixedly, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile.

“You will.”

This seemingly nonsensical statement made her feel strange, but Tan Ye did not explain further. His eyes were moist as he hugged her into his arms again.

Outside, the world had already turned upside down.

The dragon tail lake in the back mountains was inexplicably filled up by a landslide. When the investigators went in, they found that the huge lake had been turned into flat ground.

The reason behind this was a mess for quite a while, and no clues were found.

Zhu Lang sat in the inner hall, listening to the reports from his subordinates, his face so gloomy it could drip water. Madam Man sat beside him, not saying a word.

“Could it be that the wretched beast has returned?” Zhu Lang suddenly spoke.

Madam Man turned her head, “Who knows.”

That young dragon from back then was very young, but extremely difficult to deal with. If it weren’t for using all the power of the Qiangfeng Sect, and him taking advantage of the young dragon’s inexperience, it would have been hard to say who would have emerged victorious.

Moreover, although the dragon’s tail was severed back then, the dragon’s corpse was never found.

Without a corpse, one cannot say for certain that it is dead.

It had been so many years, always calm and peaceful, so much so that Zhu Lang had completely put this past event out of his mind, complacently treating it as his own accomplishment. But now, that lake had suddenly become completely flat.

Not somewhere else, but the Dragon Tail Lake. It was hard not to overthink this.

He glanced at Madam Man, “You haven’t been hiding him?”

He could guess the origins of that young dragon. He knew about Madam Man’s past relationship with Lord Bohai.

“How could I?” Madam Man turned and glared at him, “If I wanted to hide him, where could I hide him that you wouldn’t sense it?”

“After all these years, do you still not know how I truly feel about you?” She became agitated, “I pretend that I never met him, and that none of what followed ever happened. I returned with you, and in all these years, have I ever wronged you in the slightest? Even when you brought back the children you had with women outside, I didn’t say a word. In contrast, you…”

Hearing her dredge up the past, Zhu Lang stood up, “Have you said enough? I was just asking if you had hidden that dragon. If you say you haven’t, then that’s that. There’s no need to bring up all those useless things to me.”

Chapter 53

Zhu Lang had long lost any feelings for Madam Man. No matter how beautiful a face was, it would only be fresh for two or three years. After that time passed, there would be no novelty left. However, even so, he did not dare to relax. A man who had been cuckolded once became especially vigilant, guarding Madam Man particularly tightly. He could abandon this woman, but absolutely could not let another man possess her.

He would rather kill her and bury her than let another man take advantage.

He snatched her back, dealt with the mess she left behind, and then discarded her there, determined to make her live as a widow for the rest of her life. If she made a fuss, he would confine her somewhere else and let her make a scene to her heart’s content. To outsiders, he would simply say she was throwing a tantrum again and wanted to live apart from him. After all, she used to make a fuss like this often.

“If you bring up the past to me again, then you better choose a good place to stay.”

Madam Man fell silent, her head lowered.

Zhu Lang tapped his fingers on the table, getting more irritated with each tap.

This move made it hard for him not to think about whether that young dragon from back then had returned. If that was really the case, settling scores together would be difficult to handle.

Zhu Lang glanced at Madam Man. If it was really as he suspected, that young dragon might spare his birth mother, but definitely would not spare him. At that time, it would likely be another bloodbath.

“City Lord!” A disciple ran in, flustered.

“What happened?” Zhu Lang had a bad premonition in his heart.

“The demons outside the city have broken in!”

The turbulence at Dragon Tail Lake was beyond what anyone in Qiangfeng could have imagined. The earth tremors on the surface had calmed down, but greater ones were still to come. The landslide also shook the protective mountain array’s barrier. The demons originally surrounding it took the opportunity to slip in through the broken barrier.

“It must be that wretched beast.”

Zhu Lang glared fiercely at Madam Man and left with a swish of his sleeve.

Seeing Zhu Lang leave, Madam Man collapsed on the table and wept. Although she was advanced in years, her state of mind was no different from a young maiden.

She cried, thinking of that extremely handsome man, and the child who walked unsteadily with a not yet fully retracted dragon tail, calling her mother.

If she had chosen the other man back then, would everything be different? He definitely would not treat her this way.

When a gap opened up in the barrier, the demons crawled in through it. The disciples faced them as if confronting a great enemy. When Zhu Chi came out and saw the demons, he immediately engaged in battle. Mei Shuang Shuang had been working as an unpaid maid for Zhu Chi recently, running errands and occasionally pouring tea and massaging his back, enduring his abuse without talking back or retaliating.

Now seeing Zhu Chi rush out, she was afraid this patron would die before giving her what she wanted.

She ran out recklessly, instantly becoming the focus of the demons. Seeing this, Zhu Chi turned back to save her and was injured by the demons in the chaotic battle.

None of this had anything to do with Su Heng. Tan Ye held her in his arms, gently nuzzling her cheek and black hair. It wasn’t that they were unaware of everything going on outside, but neither had any intention of going out.

They were guests to begin with. If the hosts did not speak up, it would be presumptuous of them to go out, possibly causing trouble for others if they were not careful.

So they let the chaos, bloodshed, and brutality continue outside while remaining peaceful here.

Tan Ye had not enjoyed such tranquility for many years. The texture of her skin and the coolness of her hair made him feel that perhaps his life was not completely dark and hopeless as he had originally anticipated.

He hoped it would last forever.

The fighting outside only quieted down completely by nightfall.

Early the next morning, someone came to invite Su Heng and Tan Ye to the main hall.

Seeing Zhu Lang this time, he no longer had that domineering air. Not only that, he looked a bit exasperated.

Su Heng loved watching a lively show. When she made her move, she naturally went for the kill. Filling in Dragon Tail Lake triggered the subsequent shattering of the barrier, which she did not care about. In any case, wasn’t Qiangfeng always boasting that their City Lord’s cultivation was top-notch? Since he was so exceptional, he should have a solution.

But now it seemed they weren’t as powerful as they bragged.

Zhu Lang looked around at the two young people in front of him. There was a faint smell of blood on him. “I’m sure you two must know what happened in my Qiangfeng yesterday.”

“Yesterday we discovered there was an unusual situation in the city, but did not dare to come out carelessly and cause trouble for the City Lord,” Tan Ye said frankly.

When his face took on an innocent look, he truly seemed harmless, as if he was the most innocent person in the world without a trace of ill intent.

Seeing his orchid-like features, Su Heng felt Tan Ye had already changed from before. In the past, he definitely would not have said those things.

His words were flawless. Zhu Lang did not suspect the guests of anything untoward for not coming to help.

Zhu Lang listened to his subordinates’ report that the fairy had visited Dragon Tail Lake, but it was only mentioned in passing and no one paid it any mind.

Zhu Lang shifted in his chair, the movement pulling at his wound and making him gasp in pain.

“Is the City Lord alright?” Tan Ye asked.

Zhu Lang nodded. “I’m fine.”

But his complexion indicated his words did not match his current condition.

Madam Man glanced at the young man before her. When she saw Su Heng, her eyes held disdain. No woman would show a trace of friendliness when seeing another woman who might steal her husband. But when she saw Tan Ye, her gaze lingered for a moment.

This youth’s features vaguely resembled Lord Bohai’s from back then, but also didn’t look completely like him. He had once brought her a medicinal tea. Apart from that, they had no other contact.

She looked at that face, falling into a brief trance.

If that child was still alive, he would be around this age too. But she didn’t know if a dragon at this age would have grown into such a youth like a human, or would still be like a child.

In any case, it was better than her current situation of raising another woman’s child.

Zhu Chi was not her child. Back then, she had chosen Zhu Lang, gleefully thinking that after losing her once, Zhu Lang would cherish her more upon getting her back. But his reaction was not what she anticipated.

After he dealt with that father and son pair, he turned completely cold to her, cursing her as a faded flower and wanton woman, cruelly humiliating her in front of those other women.

All these years, she had been regretting it. But no matter how much regret she felt, time could not be turned back.

That youth sensed her gaze. His eyes shifted and turned towards her. In that instant when he looked at her, the emotions in his eyes were momentarily profound and complex.

That fleeting change made Madam Man freeze for a moment. When she reacted and wanted to take a closer look, the youth had already turned his face away, no longer looking at her.

An inexpressible sense of loss welled up in Madam Man’s heart. She tightly gripped the armrests of her chair, recalling her life from back then. Lord Bohai treated her very well, really extremely well. Even if she didn’t say anything, he would discern her likes and dislikes from the subtlest details.

But no matter how much she regretted, she could not go back. She could only be tied to Zhu Lang until death.

Zhu Lang looked at Madam Man. She knew he wanted her to speak up. “Miss Mei’s injuries have almost healed. The City Lord and I discussed and feel that since Miss Mei saved Chi’er’s life, please allow him to accompany the Immortal Lord and Lady to escort Miss Mei back to Danxun Valley.”

While that was what she said on the surface, in reality Zhu Lang was worried about revenge. If it really was an enemy seeking vengeance, Madam Man might be spared, but he and his son would likely have to pay with their lives.

Zhu Lang was innately paranoid. Once this idea took root, it snowballed, growing bigger and bigger.

He had Zhu Chi leave Qiangfeng for Danxun Valley. If not for that reason, it would just be considered a trip out. If it really was as he suspected, it was a good opportunity to escape disaster.

He still remembered the abilities of that young dragon. If it returned many years later, it would be hard to handle.

Su Heng understood the implication behind those words. She raised her eyes to look at Zhu Lang. Zhu Lang had been injured in the battle against the demons. Anyone, human or demon, who could stay on Mount Kunlun was not easy to deal with. The demons entered through the gap in the barrier and wounded him too.

“That would naturally be best.” Su Heng smiled. She looked at Zhu Lang. “But the poison in Miss Mei’s body has not been completely removed yet. And I also heard the Young City Lord was injured too. I’m afraid it will take some more time.”

Her smile was very beautiful, stunning Zhu Lang for a moment.

Some thoughts stirred in Zhu Lang, whose mood had originally hit rock bottom.

Tan Ye watched coldly from the side, rage surging and roaring up from his heart. Murderous intent filled his mind.

Back when his dragon tail was severed, he had only felt sorrow and confusion, bewildered as to why his mother wanted him dead. There was nothing more besides that. But now, he wanted Zhu Lang dead.