With the pride of a Dragon Emperor, she thought about letting the young man serve her while he was unconscious, telling herself he wouldn’t know. If he woke up midway, she could lower her standards and say, “It’s all the same now anyway…”

But to actually make her say “master” – that was something she truly couldn’t do. Even telling herself it was just to humor him, the word got stuck in her throat and wouldn’t come out.

Lu Xingzhou looked at the little dragon girl gritting her teeth in his shoulder, and he really wanted to laugh. But a laugh pulled at his wound, making him “hiss” and wince in pain.

Long Qinghuang glared at him. “You think you’re so capable, wanting to be a master with such meager skills. Since I didn’t ask you to call me that, you should just be secretly happy.”

Lu Xingzhou forced a smile. “I never said that’s what I was asking for. Where did your mind go? Were you actually considering it?”

Long Qinghuang froze, her face flushed pink, then her eyebrows shot up. “Lu, Xing, Zhou!”

Lu Xingzhou held her gently and whispered, “Without a soft, fragrant bed, I don’t want to keep lying on this grass; it’s pricking my back uncomfortably.”

Since they had agreed to come back and explore later, there was no need to stay in such a place and seek “wildness” while injured and exhausted. They should indeed go back first and return another time.

Long Qinghuang also realized this and pouted, a little embarrassed.

After falling into a frenzy this time, she hadn’t been fully clear-headed until now. Lu Xingzhou coaxing her into the mountain’s depths was mainly to isolate her from the Dragon warriors, and secondly, to find a cure for the frenzy. Was he supposed to stay inside indefinitely, waiting to recover before leaving? In fact, he could have been moved during his unconsciousness.

Long Qinghuang, looking quite chagrined, propped herself up and helped Lu Xingzhou to his feet. “Then let’s go out first.”

“How long have we been inside?”

“You were unconscious for about three or four hours.”

“That’s good, not just a moment, or who knows how your people would grumble about me.”

Long Qinghuang: “?”

Leaving the mountain, they saw several dragons pacing outside with worried expressions. Upon seeing Long Qinghuang emerge, they all rejoiced. “Your Majesty!”

Long Qinghuang asked, “What is the situation?”

“All the monks of Shengshan have been captured. General Longlie discovered many treasures and valuables on Shengshan and is currently inventorying them. We await Your Majesty’s instructions on how to proceed with this matter.”

When Long Qinghuang was angry, she wanted to destroy the entire mountain. Her first reaction now was to consult Lu Xingzhou. “What do you think?”

“Want to destroy the mountain? You little foolish dragon.”

Long Qinghuang: “…”

Dragon warriors: “!!!”

Despite being angry, the “little foolish dragon” didn’t lash out. Grinding her teeth, she asked, “Well, tell me.”

Her attitude made it hard to tell if she was angry or merely flirting.

Lu Xingzhou said, “There’s no need. Even if it doesn’t steal the dragon clan’s spiritual veins, this place indeed possesses basic Yaoyan power and is considered a cultivation sacred ground. Why destroy it? More importantly, Buddhism has spread widely in the Yaoyu and has a good basis for rule. You should continue the previous strategy: replace the management with your own people, making them the high priest of Shengshan, and let Buddhism serve you, becoming your tool.”

A smile appeared on Long Qinghuang’s lips, and the dragon warriors widened their eyes, looking at each other without speaking.

This was what a prime minister should say.

Long Qinghuang seemed to realize this and then asked, “How is Yaodu?”

This time, Longlie and Anu rushed over, with Longlie answering first from afar, “Longxi utterly defeated the sub-dragon legion and captured all its members. The Prime Minister has already been imprisoned.”

Anu whispered, “No need to rush to show off; it’s useless.”

Longlie: “…The news of the Prime Minister conspiring with the High Priest in rebellion has spread everywhere, mainly because many letters of colluding with the enemy were found in the Prime Minister’s home and publicly read aloud by the Daqian envoys…”

Long Qinghuang secretly glanced at Lu Xingzhou. “What happened to the Daqian envoys?”

Longlie loudly praised, “Your Majesty’s foresight is divine. The secret guards have already captured them.”

Lu Xingzhou: “?”

It seemed he had overestimated this empress dragon before, thinking a dignified ruler wouldn’t detain an envoy delegation. But she really did, and it was arranged before this battle.

Long Qinghuang gritted her teeth. “Who told you to add the first part? Do you really want to stay here and become a monk?”

Longlie was silent for a moment, then sighed, “Actually, I can.”

Long Qinghuang froze for a moment. “We’ll discuss it later. This place needs someone who understands Buddhism, and you may not be suitable.”

“Yes.”

“You all will guard the mountain for now, inventorying the treasures and scriptures. Lu Xingzhou and I will return to Yaodu to preside over the overall situation, and we will come back in a few days.”

“Yes.”

Long Qinghuang didn’t know what else to say, so embarrassed that she didn’t dare look at Lu Xingzhou’s face, and turned her head. “Let’s go.”

A golden dragon soared in the sky, and Lu Xingzhou sat cross-legged on its back, a sour look on his face.

Long Qinghuang flew silently for a long time before muttering, “Why the sour face? I guessed you wanted to run away, so I prepared in advance. Is there a problem?”

“So, did I run?” Lu Xingzhou asked, expressionless.

Not only did he not run, he bravely stood in front, a fact so significant that all strategic thoughts had to bow before it. Long Qinghuang obediently shut her mouth, and after a while, actually mumbled, “If I had known this, I shouldn’t have kept them. How much better it would have been if they had left earlier…”

Lu Xingzhou was practically laughing with anger. “I think you’re asking for a whipping.”

Long Qinghuang swayed awkwardly in the air. “You’re the one asking for a whipping.”

Even during the fierce battle, she had deliberately protected him, keeping him steadily on her scales, but now she maliciously shook Lu Xingzhou, making him lurch back and forth.

Aside from childishness when she lost face, there was still a bit of residual wildness that hadn’t faded. The influence of the witchcraft, combined with her prolonged stay in the mountain’s depths, left a lingering wildness.

But this wildness was hard to distinguish in her usual tsundere behavior, and she herself didn’t even realize it.

Lu Xingzhou also didn’t realize it. At this moment, the still-injured Lu Xingzhou couldn’t withstand her erratic swaying and almost tumbled off. In anger, he took out his whip and lashed out with a “pa.”

Similarly, Lu Xingzhou’s own wildness hadn’t completely faded; there was a primal savagery in his heart.

If his earlier whipping of Long Qinghuang, when he prevented her from charging towards the Dragon warriors, was out of necessity, this time it was fueled by a touch of his own malice.

Long Qinghuang grunted when she was whipped, her primordial spirit trembling, and the shaking briefly stopped, but she didn’t make a sound.

It must be said that the whip was effective. It directly reawakened her residual wildness, making her realize that maliciously swaying was very dangerous. How could she dare to move again?

“Are you still going to shake?”

“…No more shaking.” Long Qinghuang admitted her mistake and answered, enduring the shame.

Lu Xingzhou suddenly asked, “Can you become a bit smaller?”

Long Qinghuang didn’t respond.

“Pa,” another whip.

This time, Long Qinghuang could tell that his wildness was acting up; he was getting addicted to whipping. Everyone knew that sense of psychological conquest, taming a dragon, right? For an emperor who had whipped the world, he understood this mentality even more.

And he also understood the sense of humiliation of the one being whipped.

Because of this humiliation, she had almost exploded in rage and killed Lu Xingzhou when they first entered the secret realm… Thinking back now, she felt extremely bad. With a self-punishing attitude, she took his whip without a sound, her body shrinking slightly.

Lu Xingzhou couldn’t turn to face her head and see her eyes, so how could he know what Long Qinghuang was thinking at this moment? He now deeply suspected she might have a certain tendency, like Ye Tinglan, and was awakened by being hit?

“Pa,” another strike: “Still too big.”

Long Qinghuang continued to shrink, looking wronged, until she was small enough for Lu Xingzhou to straddle her and grasp her dragon horns with both hands.

Lu Xingzhou himself was surprised. Was this really possible?

In previous experiences, when the size difference was too great, you wouldn’t feel any psychological experience of taming or riding a dragon. At that time, Long Qinghuang, with a group of women sitting on her back, didn’t even care much, treating them as a bunch of fleas.

But this straddling posture now, psychologically, was very clear: a true Dragon Knight, no different from being tamed.

If one were to imagine her as her true form at this moment, what kind of psychology would that entail…

Especially while being whipped and changing…

Lu Xingzhou tried to grasp her dragon horns and leaned down to her ear. “You said before, ‘Since I didn’t ask you to call me master, you should just be secretly happy’… Did you actually intend for me to call you that?”

Long Qinghuang finally gritted her teeth and replied, “Lu Xingzhou, your wildness hasn’t faded. I’m just afraid of hurting you, so I’m not resisting. Don’t push your luck.”

Is that all?

Lu Xingzhou felt it wasn’t entirely so.

Science shows that people with a strong desire for conquest and dominance also secretly harbor a desire to be conquered deep down, only no one has been able to achieve it.

She had also said, “You can tame a dragon as a mount, as long as you can do it.”

The previous Lu Xingzhou seemed a bit too gentlemanly. Although she liked him, her mentality couldn’t submit to such a person.

When he displayed dominance, did she instead feel it was more natural?

Lu Xingzhou, fueled by his wildness, grabbed the dragon horns and raised the whip again. “Who should call whom?”

Long Qinghuang didn’t make a sound.

“Pa,” another whip.

Long Qinghuang gnashed her teeth and mumbled for a long time, her voice finally softening a bit. “I… I’ll call you. Is that good enough? Please, no more hitting…”

Though she said that, she didn’t actually say it. Lu Xingzhou lashed a few times, and the aggression in his heart also dissipated. He began to feel a little embarrassed and didn’t press further. Both remained silent, only the posture of holding the horns and riding the dragon, heading straight to Yaodu.

Actually, all of Lu Xingzhou’s guesses this time were wrong.

Long Qinghuang truly had no masochistic tendencies, even less than Ye Tinglan.

She was completely humoring the young man, just going along with his wishes. Anyway, he was so injured he had no strength, so the whipping didn’t hurt at all.

However, he was right about a small part: Long Qinghuang liked his gentlemanly and refined demeanor from before, but she also hoped he would have some masculine assertiveness. This time, even though she was whipped, she was actually more relieved, feeling that the young man had awakened.

A man should have that kind of spirit.

Including his desire to tame a dragon… whether he could succeed or not, having that ambition was always good… better than wanting to run away.

Xiao Kui, squatting in the imperial garden, tending to the flowers Lu Xingzhou had planted, suddenly felt something. Her eyes widened, and she looked up sharply.

She watched, wide-eyed, as Lu Xingzhou, grasping His Majesty’s dragon horns, rode on His Majesty’s back, all the way into Niluan Gong.

Xiao Kui watched the silhouette of Niluan Gong from afar, thinking the name of the palace was truly perfect.

In fact, the injured Lu Xingzhou, lashing the whip with chaotic force along the way, had already collapsed from exhaustion by the time they reached Longya. As soon as he entered Niluan Gong, he fell into a deep sleep again.

Long Qinghuang shook her head, dotingly placed him on the bed, and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Then, after a moment of silence, she quietly pulled out the farewell letter from under his pillow, intending to tear it up, but suddenly stopped.

Her fingertips brushed over his handwriting, her eyes filled with gentle light.

Long Qinghuang had spied on him with her divine sense when he wrote the letter, so she knew from beginning to end that he intended to run.

But at this moment, this farewell letter became proof of his selfless bravery, the most touching love letter.

Long Qinghuang caressed it for a long time, then carefully put the letter into a ring, whispering, “Xiao Kui.”

Xiao Kui scampered in, and Long Qinghuang sighed, “Look after him well. Inform me as soon as he wakes up.”

Xiao Kui stammered, “W-where should I inform Your Majesty?”

“At Longting.” Long Qinghuang stood up, her recently gentle face now filled with murderous intent. “I’m going to kill someone.”