Chapter 3: The Dragon King

  I coldly and fearlessly looked back at him, curling my lips. "The Emperor is not in the Taiji Hall enjoying his extreme pleasure at night, how can he have time to care about me, this ungrateful concubine?"

  His face turned pale, and with a sudden slap on my face! "This is not the question you should ask! I'm asking you, what are you doing here!"

  Slap! I stretched out my hand and slapped him back! Hit the side of his face! Wiping away the fresh blood from the corner of my mouth, I laughed, "What do you say? Your Majesty! Of course, it's to see if he has been killed by Your Majesty!" My hand unconsciously touched the dragon-shaped dagger at my waist. Ready to fight him to the death!

  He gritted his teeth, and a stormy look gradually rose in his sinister eyes. With a sudden movement, he grasped the front of my clothes and lifted them up, saying hatefully and loudly, "You dare to hit me? Do you know what kind of crime it is for a concubine to slap the emperor? It's punishable by beheading!"

  I laughed, puffed out my chest, "I love beheading! And," I said as I drew the sword from my waist and stabbed it straight at his neck! He flung me off with one hand. Leapt back three feet, just avoiding my attack! "Even more like to behead you!" I sat on the ground, resentfully saying.

  He was furious and his whole body shook, "Fine! Since you like beheading so much, I'll just behead you then!"

  I laughed haha, stood up straight, stepped step by step towards him, stretched out my snow-white slender neck, put the dragon-shaped sword rack he gave me on it, and handed the hilt to him. "Come! Chop here!" I pointed at my own neck.

  He was so angry that he grasped the hilt of his sword, and the blade quivered against my neck. In the empty White Dragon Hall, a low hum filled the air. Gnashing his teeth, his hand clutched my chin, and he sneered, "A sword can't kill you! But I can make you suffer! I once told you that after giving birth to our child, you could leave the palace, but now I regret it! With your constant nonsense, how can I let you go?"

  I smiled calmly, wagging my index finger in front of him. "Your Majesty, you're wrong! Giving birth to a dragon son is a great achievement! If I didn't make such a fuss, how would you have an excuse to expel me from the palace in the future? I'm creating a way for you to save face, Your Majesty!"

  His face turned pale, he sheathed his sword and said after a long while, "It's too early to say whether it's meritorious or not!"

  I snorted, not thinking much about it, but said in a cold voice, "Wait for the child to be born, and the true dragon energy of the emperor will be complete. At that time, I will no longer have a foothold!" To this day, I still can't believe that the pearl on his ear would end up in my belly! What exactly happened back then, I don't know. Clearly, it was said to be an engagement between Long Yunya and me, but afterwards, such a disaster emerged!

  "So be it! You can just give birth to your dragon son safely! The White Dragon King has his own imperial physicians to take care of things here, no need for you to worry!" he bellowed.

  "Is the imperial physician taking care of him? If I hadn't come on this trip today, White Dragon King's life would have ended tonight! The Jiang country has just suffered a great loss, and if White Dragon King were to pass away as well, who would be in charge of the entire White Dragon clan? You? Don't forget, you are now the Dragon Emperor, but you don't have that much leisure time to care about the fate of the White Dragon clan! If one tribe rebels, and the Demon Dragon clan launches a large-scale counterattack, isn't this going to be fun?" I smiled and brushed my hair back, as if discussing the weather.

  His face changed, and he angrily whispered, "You come, he won't live past tonight. But have you thought that if it's because of you, I must kill him, he still won't live past tonight! Do you want to force me to do this?"

  I curled my lip, and my face turned slightly pale. "You behead someone with such injuries? What kind of reason do you have? Did he get up in the middle of the night to kill you? Has he committed a great sin against you? Or was he unlucky enough to be slashed by someone's sword and fell here, offending your eyes?"

  His eyes showed gloom, and after a long time, he coldly laughed and said, "If you want to add crime, what's the worry about not having words? Today may not be killed, but tomorrow will be. Tomorrow may not be killed, but one day will be! What can an emperor do to escape the murderous intentions born in his heart?"

  I burst out laughing, and slowly stood in front of him, opening my arms wide, laughing as I said, "Yes! What status he has, you're not unaware, he can still roam the world freely! He can't stay in Jiang Country, there's also Yuan Country, and Feng Country!"

  He rubbed his forehead, laughing loudly, and sat down with a thud, staring at my eyes, "As long as I mobilize the army, which country is willing to offend the lord of a country for the sake of a wandering swordsman! How naive!"

  I also laughed along with him, and sat on his lap, hugging his neck. The two of us looked like a pair of loving lovers. I reached out to touch his lips and smiled, "Then, we can only force our way into the Demon Dragon Clan!"

  As soon as the words left his mouth, he tightly wrapped his arms around my waist and glared at me with gritted teeth! "Good! Good! With you by my side, even if I were to sit on the emperor's throne, I would never be lonely! My advice to you is to focus on giving birth to the child safely! If you continue to act like this, I will have Guī Yuè serve you personally!"

  I raised an eyebrow, and Yu stood up straight. These days, Guiyue had been arranged by him to be a small commander in the Divine Dragon Army. In the imperial palace, no other man was allowed to enter; if one did, they would have to purify themselves first! He said he wanted to let Guiyue enter the palace to serve me, which meant he wanted to have Guiyue purified! What a vicious man! "You dare to make decisions for Guiyue? Once the child is born, I'll kill him!" I gritted my teeth and said.

  He slightly raised the corners of his lips, "Want me to dispel this notion? Alright! Follow me back to Xiangyuan Villa! Don't think about coming to Baidong Temple again! If I find out you're still thinking about it, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

  "Didn't the Emperor say that he had already planted a Forgetful Insect in Bailong Wangye's body? A man who has forgotten who I am, why should the Emperor care? Didn't the Emperor say that I would be better off dead? It seems that the Emperor still has a soft spot for Hanmei! Emperor, could it be that you have fallen in love with Hanmei?! Hanmei is so scared! Being loved by such a man as the Emperor is truly worse than death!" I gritted my teeth and whispered into his ear.

  His face turned pale, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and he remained silent. The atmosphere suddenly dropped to freezing point. He tilted his head, as if considering what I said, furrowing his brow at times, nodding at times, and shaking his head at times. It wasn't until after a while that he reacted, yelling loudly in my ear, "You damned woman!"

  His expression was as if I had thrown a huge problem at him. Could it be that, up until now, he hadn't thought of this issue? I thought our positions were clearly opposing! Is this question really so difficult to consider?

  After a while, he said in a low voice, "Woman! Do you know what you just said?"

  I shook my head, trying to shake off a strange feeling. After a while, I said in a low voice, "Your Majesty doesn't want to say it, so be it! The words that Ye Hanmei says will never be regretted!" Except for one time! In the forest that one time!

  He stared at me blankly, as if he had never seen me before, without saying a word.

  She coldly pushed him away, laughing and saying, "Your Majesty doesn't need to be troubled by this matter. Mei knows her own identity and only stayed with Hanmei in order to obtain the precious pearl inside Hanmei's body. There's no need to think so much! It's better for you to return to your Taiji Palace, where there are many beauties waiting for you!"

  Having said that, he glanced at Long Yunjia and then bent down to pick up his sword, sheathing it before walking out of the White Dragon Hall step by step.

  He said in a cold voice, "Don't do this again! If I find out one more time, I'll have Xiaoyu serve as the matching wife of the eunuch in charge of the palace!"

  I raised an eyebrow, a faint smile on my lips. "There are many pitiful people in this world, what's wrong with her being his wife? She'll live a good life, better than ordinary commoners' daughters! Many people would want such a good fate but can't get it! I should thank the Emperor for his kindness on her behalf!" Marrying into the palace means she'll never experience romance in her lifetime. But who says marriage has to involve romance?

  As soon as I came out of the White Dragon Hall, I saw a group of palace eunuchs and imperial physicians kneeling in front of the hall, silent and still. When they saw me emerge, their heads bowed even lower to the ground. I smiled calmly, my lips curling up slightly, and said loudly, "Xiaoyu, let's go!"

  Xiao Yu hastily stood up from among the palace maids, still holding the already extinguished lamp, and followed me out!

  "Where is the Feilong Tower you mentioned now? I don't want to go back to Xiangyuan so early, Xiaoyu, take me there and have a look, okay?" I frowned and said in a low voice.

  The gentle rain nodded in response, and then took me towards the direction of Feilong Tower. Since entering the imperial palace, due to my pregnancy, I had not thoroughly explored the palace. At this moment, seeing the dragon tribe's imperial palace, I truly felt a sense of wonder. It turned out that this was the difference between the demon dragon tribe and the divine dragon tribe! The demon dragon tribe's Demon Dragon Palace could only be built underground, although it was also resplendent with gold, but no matter what, it couldn't compare to the grand scale of this palace. The divine dragon tribe was different, as they were the rulers of Jiang Country, their imperial palace could be built as large as they desired.

  The two of us traveled together, and the scenery was even more beautiful. As we walked for a while, we saw from afar the eighteen-story-high treasure pagoda. The pagoda was called Feilong (Flying Dragon), and I originally thought that I would see a huge flying dragon, but who would have thought that it was just a tall tower? The top of the pagoda had nine corners, each corner was delicate, and on each corner hung a small flying dragon. Although it was a pagoda, it was also a landmark. The northwest corner, where the white dragon pointed to, was the White Dragon Hall. Similarly, if you want to find the location of each hall in the imperial palace, just look for the treasure pagoda and observe the markings on top! Seeing this, I couldn't help but sigh at the ingenuity of the craftsmen who built this tower back then. This one tower alone contained all the characteristics of the Dragon Clan's royal family!

  The tower's top pierced the clouds, and if it weren't for the excellent morning sunlight, I thought that this half of the precious tower was also straight into the sky! Lifting my head, on the ninth corner of the top, there was a huge golden nest. I furrowed my brow, pointing at the golden nest in a low voice, "What is that?"

  "Your Majesty, that is the Golden Dragon's Nest, where the legendary Golden Dragon King resides! Legend has it that the founding emperor of our Jiang Kingdom was banished by a demon dragon but was saved by the Golden Dragon. He then established the Golden Dragon as the patron deity of our kingdom and the sacred place of the Dragon Clan. The golden nest on top of the tower is where the Golden Dragon resides, and it's the holy land of the Dragon Clan!"

  I curled my lips, and this was like a holy land of magic dragons! "Then go up and take a look!" I said in a low voice, I want to see what's on top!

  Just a few steps away, the soldier standing in front of the tower took a few steps forward, crossing his large knife and shouting loudly, "Sacred place of the divine tower, outsiders are not allowed to enter!"

  I snorted coldly, "Who's the idle person? Me?" Slender white fingers pointed at my own sign, "Or are you referring to... them?" The fingertips turned and pointed towards those two soldiers!

  "A mere woman, daring to point and gesture! Even if you are a princess from the palace, you must obtain the emperor's consent before entering this divine tower. And that requires the emperor's accompaniment!" The soldier shouted loudly, seemingly about to engage in a fight with me!

  Yu drew out the sword in his hand, and laughed loudly, "Fei Long Tower is a sacred place, but you can't stop me! Today I just wanted to go up and take a look at the scenery above, but you're being like this. Seeing this, what do you think I should do?" The sword pointed straight at the noses of the two men, shouting loudly, "Get out of my way! I just had a fight with the Emperor, my mood is extremely bad! I came out to clear my head, and you still dare to show me your faces! Do you want me to kill someone to get up the tower?"

  With swords in hand, they could be beheaded at any moment!

  The two of them turned pale, just about to speak up, but were loudly stopped by a man, "Still not retreating quickly! Do you know who she is!" Upon closer inspection, the newcomer was wearing a cyan jade dragon robe, and it was actually the innocent and lovely Long Yu Ya!

  "That soldier loudly said, 'I don't know! Your Majesty! We only know that the imperial concubines are not allowed to privately ascend the Flying Dragon Tower!'"

  Long Yu Ya coldly snorted, "Indeed, a concubine cannot ascend the tower, but she is a concubine carrying the dragon's bloodline! If she ascends the tower, it is equivalent to the dragon's bloodline ascending the tower. The future emperor of Jiang Guo ascending the tower, what is wrong with that?! Moreover, she was personally appointed as the Grand Marshal by the previous emperor, which means she is the highest commander of the three armies of Jiang Guo! As her subordinate, you can only obey!"

  The two men's faces changed, Yu knelt down on the ground, "Sorry, Commander! Please go up to the tower!"

  I raised an eyebrow and nodded at Long Yuye in response, then took the sword and headed towards Feilong Tower. "Wait!" Long Yuye said coldly.

  She turned back slightly, only to see Long Yu Ya blocking Xiao Yu, smiling calmly, "This young lady can't go up the tower! Imperial sister-in-law, I'll accompany you up the tower!"

  I cast a glance at Xiaoyu and smiled calmly, "Xiaoyu! Wait here for a moment, I'll be right down!"

  The light rain responded to my voice, and I stepped aside. I pulled the door open and pushed it wide, following Long Yu Ya up the stairs. The Fei Long Tower was obviously well-maintained, and as I looked around, I didn't say a word. In the lowest level of the tower hall, there was a small jade dragon on display. Long Yu Ya said softly, "Imperial sister, this is where my name comes from - Jade Dragon!"

  I don't speak, and go straight up!

  "Empress! How did you come up with the idea of visiting this place today? Tell me, where is the person who lives in this Flying Dragon Tower now?" he said casually.

  I smiled, "Yu Ya has already figured it out, why ask again!"

  He covered his mouth and smiled mischievously, "So the imperial sister-in-law knew it all along! Poor Yu Yan was made to play the villain! But that little girl is so delicate and pretty, who knows where she's from?"

  I reached the highest point and gazed out into the distance, coldly uttering three words: "Demon Dragon Clan!"

  He stared blankly for a moment, "Imperial Sister-in-law, what do you mean?"

  I smiled, "The Demon Dragon Clan will make a big move soon! In at most half a year, and at least one month, they will start taking action! The Divine Dragon Clan, great disaster is coming!"

  Lowering my head to gaze at the nine divine dragons surrounding the tower in all directions, I smiled and said firmly.

  War is about to break out! This time, it's not the Dragon Clan attacking the Demon Dragon Clan, but the Demon Dragon Clan attacking the Dragon Clan! Because the Demon Dragon Clan has found its greatest leader! A person like this would never allow the Demon Dragon Clan to remain in a position of being beaten for long! So, the only action would be to compete with the Dragon Clan for territory!

  Long Yu Ya couldn't help but burst into loud laughter, and after a while, he said, "Indeed! Indeed! The Empress is truly a clever and astute person! I'm not mistaken! I've already started taking action!" He stared at me intently.

  I smiled, "Then, please, Your Majesty the Demon King, show me what you like in the palace!"

  He burst out laughing, "You know! You really know! You're still coming with me! Indeed the best female warrior of the Demon Dragon Clan! Losing you would be a great loss for the Demon Dragon Clan, truly a pity!"

  "You're not bad either! But why, despite having a beautiful face, do you insist on disguising yourself like this? It's truly a waste! A woman should have the beauty of a woman, shouldn't she?" I smiled and gently stroked his cheek, then suddenly lifted off his mask, revealing his noble and beautiful face! His red lips curved slightly as he smiled calmly. "You used the words 'flower-like beauty'... do you know what those four words are used to describe?"

  I smiled, and his Adam's apple bobbed up, his slender index finger slowly slid down his throat, where it was smooth, but I could clearly feel the pulse in his throat! His bright red lips faintly spat out two words, "Woman!"

  She laughed, a big laugh. "So you've known all along! Indeed, I couldn't hide it from your eyes! Yes! I am the new Dragon King! Hanmei! The first time I saw you, I knew that I had found my lifelong opponent!" She said gently.

  I burst out laughing, "So it's really you! The day when I was kissed on the hand, that fragrance, couldn't deceive anyone after all! I had guessed long ago which family's daughter would dare to dress up as a man and come to snatch my embroidered ball!"

  She faintly curled her lips, "So you already knew back then! What to do! So exciting! I didn't expect you to be this kind of woman! If it weren't for the fact that you're carrying a dragon child, I wouldn't have spared your life. I would've pushed you off from the top of this tower long ago! This way, the Demon Dragon Clan will lose an opponent, and I'll only need to deal with Long Nujiang and his brothers!"

  "Yehanmei is not talented! Yet, the Demon Dragon King holds him in such high regard! However, the Demon Dragon King overlooked one thing - killing me and escaping from the imperial palace will only make things even more difficult!" I smiled calmly, curling up the corners of my lips.

  She smiled, and her laughter in the wind was so wonderful. "No, no! Hanmei, if I can get in here, then I can naturally get out! The Dragon God tribe's imperial palace is not as strict as the legend says. At least it's not for me!"

  "Oh?" I stroked my racing heart, this feeling of encountering a formidable opponent was truly exhilarating! "I rarely fight with women!"

  She smiled, and from her bosom she pulled out a piece of embroidered silk. Although the handkerchief was old, I recognized it at once as the silk scarf that had fallen from the high embroidery building that day! Why didn't she return it to me? She put the scarf to her lips and sniffed it lightly, "You always have to set an example first! A woman like you, no matter what aspect, I want to destroy everything with my own hands! Love! Career! Beauty! Everything!"

  "Love? It's long gone! What are you going to destroy now?" I sneered, "Career? Because of pregnancy, it's also gone. Only my looks haven't been ruined, do you want to try?" My hand unconsciously pressed on the short sword at my waist.

  She burst into loud laughter, "Ah! I told you, I'm going to ruin you! Do you think your love was ruined by Long Nuyue's anger? It was me who destroyed it! Let me tell you! That day, all I had to do was nod my head and I could have lived with Long Nuyue together, let him reveal the truth of that night, and from then on, you would be with your Long Yunyue, and I would be with my Long Nuyue! But what happened? I really wanted to ruin you! So, I told him I didn't believe him! So, I told him that my sudden departure was because Long Yunyue had forced me! Then, naturally, he would go find the woman Long Yunyue loved the most and take revenge on her! And as a bonus, there's the little devil in my belly! So, I won, I successfully ruined your love with Long Yunyue!" She said with a laugh. "After you threw the embroidered ball and drank wine, do you think Long Nuyue went where? He went to meet me! At your matchmaking banquet, he recognized me at once! It's really too funny!"

  My face suddenly turned ugly, gritting my teeth in anger, "You are, Ylang!"

  She smiled calmly, "Yes! I am the woman in Long Nu's mouth, his most beloved woman! Binglan! But when I was close to him, his armor chest was hard as iron thorns couldn't penetrate! What kind of man is that? How can he say he loves me?! You don't need to look! My relationship with him isn't what you think it is! Until now, no one knows my true identity! Even if you tell him, he's known me since childhood, do you think he'll believe you or me?"

  That is to say, she is the Dragon King's matter, and only I know it! What she wants is my unspoken words!

  "Suit yourself!" I smiled, gazing into the distance, not taking her words to heart at all. That direction was the direction of Phoenix Valley. After giving birth to the child, I would return there anyway; what she wanted to do had nothing to do with me.

  "You seem to be ignoring me! Ye Hanmei! You underestimate me!" she shouted in a shrill voice.

  She gave her a faint glance, and at this moment, she was wearing a cyan jade men's attire, which made her look so handsome! I frowned, "If you were really a man, how many girls would be infatuated with you! What a pity!"

  She lunged at me with her hook, aiming straight for my back, but I countered by pushing her away! Her face turned pale, and her eyes welled up with tears. "You... do you want to kill me?! What did I do wrong?! My feelings for Brother Nuoye are genuine! Even if you don't want me to be a concubine, you can't treat me like this!" She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.

  I was taken aback, and as I turned around, I saw Long Nu Ya standing behind us, staring coldly at the two of us. "Bing Lan!"

  She sprang up and threw herself into his arms, bursting into tears. "Niu Ya Gege! She just tried to push me off the tower!"