Demon Lord (22): At such a dangerous moment, Gu Juntian cares about his tongue?

Zhou Qinghao thought about all the things he had done with Gu Juntian in the past few days and wished there was a crack in the ground for him to crawl into.

At the same time, he also realized something.

Gu Juntian must have known he was a dragon for a long time.

Previously, when Gu Juntian rejected him, it was probably because he knew he hadn’t reached adulthood and knew he couldn’t do anything.

So, what was Gu Juntian thinking when he kept clinging to him?

Would Gu Juntian hate him for treating him that way?

A familiar sensation came over him, and Zhou Qinghao knew he was about to start receiving inherited memories again.

He looked at Gu Juntian with longing and fell into a deep sleep.

Before losing consciousness, the only thought in his mind was that he needed to reach adulthood quickly.

The four Transcendent Stage experts from the Dragon Clan were attacking the formations of the demon palace outside, and Gu Juntian was in danger!

He wanted to reach adulthood; he wanted to protect Gu Juntian!

On the other side, seeing Zhou Qinghao fall unconscious, Gu Juntian moved Zhou Qinghao’s head from his lap.

After doing this, he walked out of the room and then spat out a mouthful of blood.

His spiritual sense was very powerful, but unfortunately, his body couldn’t bear it, causing him to get injured every time he used his spiritual sense.

During the process of controlling the formations, his spiritual power was also being consumed rapidly.

Gu Juntian cleaned up the bloodstains, took a few elixirs, and then gathered some of the demon stones and spirit stones collected by Zhou Qinghao to repair the formations above ground.

By now, three days had passed since the four dragons from Dragon Island arrived at the demon palace.

For dragons, three days were really short; they could casually sleep for several years.

But these three days were very long for the four dragons trapped in the formations.

Dragons are ancient beasts, with a lineage that spans an unknown number of years, and upon reaching adulthood, they can receive inherited memories from their ancestors.

They also possessed long lifespans.

Take the four dragons who broke into the demon palace; the youngest among them had already lived for tens of thousands of years.

This meant that the knowledge dragons possessed far exceeded that of human cultivators.

Whether it was artifact refining, alchemy, or formations, these four dragons had some knowledge, and coupled with their Transcendent Stage cultivation, they were fearless when they first came to the Demon Abyss.

At that time, they thought that even if they encountered the Demon Lord Haotian, they could kill him.

The entire Demon Abyss was like a plate of loose sand, and the Demon Lord Haotian was all alone; how could he possibly fight against the four of them?

With such thoughts in mind, they were not afraid when they discovered that the aura of the young dragon was emanating from the demon palace.

When they were pulled into the formations of the demon palace by Gu Juntian, they even found it somewhat amusing.

Having lived for so many years, they were quite knowledgeable about formations, and coupled with the dragons’ thick skin and tough flesh, many formations naturally had no effect on them.

The idea that the Demon Lord Haotian wanted to trap them with formations was simply a fool’s dream!

However, they were indeed trapped by these formations.

These formations were all ones they had never seen before, and many were specifically targeted at dragons!

At first, the Dragon King and others still wanted to have a good talk with the Demon Lord Haotian, but after three days, they became increasingly anxious.

One of the Dragon Clan elders was the first to lose his temper and started attacking everything around him. After being “taken care of” by Gu Juntian, he calmed down, but soon after, another Dragon Clan elder did the same.

The Dragon King and the Grand Elder of the Dragon Clan remained relatively calm, but they had stopped calling out, and it wouldn’t be long before they might also start causing trouble.

Gu Juntian sighed inwardly and began to repair the damaged formations.

While controlling the formations to fend off the enemy, he discovered that some of the formations had flaws, and he took the opportunity to fix them.

Various deadly killing formations were quickly set up by Gu Juntian.

He knew that the Dragon King was Zhou Qinghao’s biological father, but the Dragon King had come here to dig out Zhou Qinghao’s dragon core.

For this reason alone, he couldn’t afford to go easy on the Dragon King.

Nor could he afford to hold back.

He was only at the Nascent Soul Stage; without using lethal moves, he simply couldn’t hold off four Transcendent Stage experts.

He also wondered how these four had found this place… From their behavior, it seemed they didn’t know that the Demon Lord Haotian was the little black dragon they were looking for, meaning no one had told them about the Demon Lord Haotian’s identity.

Could it be that the Dragon Clan had some special method to locate young dragons?

Gu Juntian pondered many things, but his hands never stopped setting up the formations.

Gu Juntian’s thoughts were correct; the Dragon King and the Grand Elder had also run out of patience.

The maturation of a dragon was difficult to either hasten or delay.

They had expended considerable effort just to help Ao Jin delay his maturation by two months.

And before reaching adulthood, Ao Jin had to first fuse with the black dragon’s inner core to heal the wounds on his own core.

Fusing the core and healing the wounds would take at least a month, so they needed to bring back the black dragon’s inner core as soon as possible!

The formations of the demon palace were endless and extremely intricate; if they took their time to break them, it might take forever.

They couldn’t afford to waste time here!

After some contemplation, the Dragon King gritted his teeth and extracted a drop of his heart’s blood. Using this drop of blood as a medium, he began to contact his fellow clansmen around him.

There were many secret techniques within the dragon clan.

Although the Demon Lord Haotian had used a formation to separate them, preventing them from communicating with each other, by using these secret techniques, they could still discuss matters together.

Soon, three dragon elders sensed the message sent by the Dragon King: “Jin’er cannot wait much longer. Let’s revert to our true forms and attack with all our might!”

As the four dragon experts at the Tribulation Transcendence stage grew increasingly impatient, outside the Dragon Palace, several Demon Abyss kings who had rushed over upon hearing the news were also growing restless.

Their relationship with each other was not good; in the past, whenever they met, they would inevitably end up fighting.

But now, they were gathered together, talking.

“Those four dragons went in and then there was no movement. What’s going on? Could they have already been devoured by Haotian?”

“Haotian shouldn’t have that capability.”

“That’s not necessarily true. We all thought Haotian was a clueless upstart who got lucky, killing Chi Lian and taking over the Demon Palace, but look at the formation in the Demon Palace—we couldn’t set that up.”

“That Haotian might have some background.”

…

These demon kings had not previously submitted to Demon Lord Haotian.

They knew Haotian was strong, but only slightly stronger than themselves. Most importantly, the image Haotian had previously presented to them was that of a clueless novice who didn’t know anything.

After taking control of the Demon Palace, he didn’t even bother to recruit followers or demand rare treasures from the Demon Abyss!

He didn’t even care to manage his own territory!

They believed that if they were the Demon Lord, they could definitely do a better job than Haotian.

But now, they felt that they might have misjudged him before.

That Demon Lord Haotian might have been hiding his strength all along, pretending to be weak while secretly biding his time.

“Those dragon experts are here to find their young child. A dragon child ended up in the Demon Abyss, and we knew nothing about it, but Haotian had already hidden the child away…”

“The only new addition to the Demon Palace is a righteous cultivator who’s rumored to be Haotian’s male concubine.”

“Could it be that Haotian’s so-called concubine is actually the young dragon from the dragon clan?”

“No wonder Haotian has been hiding him so carefully. After all, it’s a dragon…”

“Once Haotian devours that dragon, his power will surely increase significantly.”

“A more powerful Haotian might even be able to devour those Tribulation Transcendence experts from the dragon clan.”

“Haotian isn’t that strong! The dragon clan isn’t to be trifled with. They’ve sent four Tribulation Transcendence experts this time—they might just tear Haotian to pieces.”

…

These demon kings discussed a lot.

Dragon meat was highly nourishing, and they all wanted a taste.

But Dragon Island was not to be trifled with—they had five Tribulation Transcendence experts alone.

The dragons on Dragon Island were not numerous, totaling only about a hundred, but they were very united and protective. If any dragon was harmed, the entire clan would mobilize to seek revenge.

Moreover, those who killed dragons would be marked by the dragon clan, and those who consumed dragon flesh and blood would emit a unique scent. When the dragons sought vengeance, they could track them down with pinpoint accuracy!

These demon kings had long coveted the dragons but dared not act, fearing the wrath of Dragon Island.

Throughout history, the only one who had ever eaten a dragon and escaped the dragon clan’s pursuit was that long-vanished phoenix.

However, if Haotian managed to wipe out the four Tribulation Transcendence experts sent by the dragon clan this time, wouldn’t that mean they no longer had to fear the dragons? Could they finally taste dragon flesh and boost their own power?

As the demon kings were pondering this, a report came in: traces of dragons had been detected in Haotian City.

The ones causing trouble at the Demon Palace this time were from the dragon clan.

Therefore, the demon kings brought along their subordinates—demonic cultivators with partial dragon bloodline.

Nowadays, Dragon Island kept to itself and rarely intermarried with other races, but in ancient times, dragons spread their bloodline far and wide.

In this world, there were quite a few spirit beasts, demon beasts, and magical creatures with dragon bloodlines, but their bloodlines were impure and not recognized by the dragon clan, so they were not considered true dragons.

However, even though these magical creatures were not counted as members of the dragon clan, some of them could sense the presence of dragons.

The dragons who entered Haotian City were discovered precisely because they were detected by these dragon-blooded magical creatures.

The demon kings glanced at the Demon Palace shrouded in formations, exchanged looks, and then rushed toward Haotian City together.

In Haotian City, the fat demon cultivator had also been keeping a close eye on the situation at the Demon Palace.

Lately, he had been feeling uneasy, not even daring to step out of his own city lord’s mansion.

There were a bunch of Tribulation Transcendence demon kings outside! All of them were beings he couldn’t afford to provoke!

Right now, he was hoping that Demon Lord Haotian could defeat the four Tribulation Transcendence experts from the dragon clan. If that happened, as Haotian’s subordinate, he would enjoy immense prestige in the future.

If he could even get a few bites of dragon meat, he might even be able to break through to the Tribulation Transcendence stage!

Of course, if things didn’t go as he hoped—if Demon Lord Haotian was killed by the four Tribulation Transcendence elders of the dragon clan or by those opportunistic demon kings waiting outside—then he would immediately take Haotian City and pledge allegiance to the next Demon Lord.

No matter what, his own life was the top priority.

Although the fat demon cultivator hadn’t left the city lord’s mansion, he was fully aware of what was happening outside.

The moment thirty-one suspicious individuals entered Haotian City, he knew about it. Soon after, based on various clues, he deduced that these thirty-one so-called “people” were actually dragons from Dragon Island.

Not only had the dragon clan sent four Tribulation Transcendence experts, but they had also sent thirty-one ordinary dragons!

As the fat demon cultivator was pondering how to deal with these thirty-one dragons, he saw several demon kings descend from the sky and capture all of them.

Alright, these dragons no longer needed his attention.

These thirty-one dragons were all adults who had rushed to the Demon Abyss after receiving news that the young dragon was about to reach maturity, intending to protect the young one.

They were slower than the Tribulation Transcendence experts, and since the Demon Abyss was quite far away, they hadn’t been able to arrive in time.

When they finally made it here, they discovered that not only was the young dragon in distress, but it was also trapped in the Demon Palace!

A young dragon from their clan, captured by the Demon Lord?

What on earth was going on? And where had the Dragon King and the elders gone?

These thirty-one dragons lingered nearby for a day, but eventually, they couldn’t hold back and entered Haotian City to gather information.

As a result, their large group, adorned in gold and silver, was immediately noticed upon entering the city. It didn’t take long before several Tribulation Transcendence demon cultivators descended from the sky and captured them all.

Among them, the strongest was close to the Tribulation Transcendence stage, but life on Dragon Island had been too peaceful. In the past hundred thousand years, Dragon Island had never faced a crisis, so their combat abilities were severely mismatched with their actual strength.

In short, they were no match for the demon kings of the Demon Abyss, who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

These dragons were subdued by the demon kings and dumped near the Demon Palace.

The demon kings, looking at their potential feast, were in high spirits.

“If Haotian is killed by those dragon experts, the position of Demon Lord will be up for grabs!”

“If Haotian kills those dragon experts, then we’ll get to feast as well!”

“As long as they don’t reach a truce, everything will be fine.”

…

The demon kings felt that no matter which side won, they would benefit.

If Haotian won, they could offer a few of these thirty-one dragons as tribute and feast on the rest.

If the dragon experts won, they would turn their attention to Haotian, causing trouble and seizing his position!

The dragons from Dragon Island listened to these discussions, trembling in fear.

Some of the younger dragons were especially terrified.

These demon cultivators actually wanted to eat them!

Righteous cultivators might exchange items with them for dragon blood or scales to refine pills or artifacts, but no cultivator had ever talked about eating them.

The Demon Abyss was truly horrifying!

Amid their fear, they grew even more worried about the young dragon about to reach maturity.

Their poor little dragon—how did he end up in the Demon Abyss? He must have suffered so much over the years.

What was going on with the Dragon King and the elders? How could they fail to protect even a young dragon from their own clan?

By now, it had already been four days since the four Tribulation Transcendence experts from Dragon Island were trapped in the Demon Palace’s formation by Gu Juntian.

Suddenly, an earth-shaking dragon roar erupted from the Demon Palace.

For the past four days, the Demon Palace had been eerily quiet, with no signs of battle visible from the outside.

But now, something was finally happening.

The demon kings grew excited.

They were fighting! They were finally fighting! Let the battle begin!

Among them, the weaker demon kings secretly cheered for Demon Lord Haotian, hoping he would win.

Even if Haotian died, they didn’t have the strength to claim the title of Demon Lord for themselves. But if Haotian won, they were sure to get their share of dragon meat.

Meanwhile, the captured dragons prayed for their own side to win.

They didn’t want to die!

“Roar!”

“Howl!”

“Haotian, come out and face your death!”

…

From within the Demon Palace, the faint voices of the dragon clan’s Tribulation Transcendence experts could be heard.

But not a single word from Demon Lord Haotian was heard.

However, Demon Lord Haotian must be present; otherwise, who could be locked in such a fierce battle with those four dragons?

The one engaged in this intense battle with the four dragons was naturally Gu Juntian, who was controlling the Demon Palace’s formations.

At this moment, Gu Juntian was under immense pressure.

He hadn’t anticipated that the four dragons would transform into their true forms simultaneously and unleash a full-force attack on their surroundings.

This sudden assault destroyed many of his formations, and as the formations shattered, he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

After swallowing a few pills to heal his injuries and replenish his spiritual energy, Gu Juntian retreated to the palace chamber where he and Zhou Qinghao had lived for so long.

From here, he would face his enemies.

The Demon Palace’s ground level was filled with formations, and the core of those formations was located within this very chamber.

Gu Juntian wanted to stay by Zhou Qinghao’s side, but the situation was too urgent, and he couldn’t afford to focus on anything else. He had no choice but to let Zhou Qinghao remain alone in the underground chamber.

He wondered if his little black dragon would be afraid when it woke up.

Gu Juntian took out some items and began setting up defenses within the chamber.

To those unfamiliar with the Demon Palace, this place would appear to be its core.

After the four dragon Tribulation Transcendence experts used brute force to destroy the various formations, they would undoubtedly come here.

He planned to set up numerous offensive formations and other traps here. When the four dragon Tribulation Transcendence experts arrived, he would blow them sky-high.

As for himself, he would, of course, hide underground beforehand.

Gu Juntian began arranging Zhou Qinghao’s treasured items throughout the chamber, feeling slightly guilty as he did so.

The little black dragon was a hoarder, and if it woke up to find its treasures gone, it would surely be heartbroken.

But he had no other choice. He would just have to compensate the little dragon with his own treasures later.

After finishing the setup, Gu Juntian didn’t rush to the underground chamber. Instead, he stayed in the palace chamber to continue controlling the formations above ground.

Staying here allowed him to better manage the surrounding formations.

It was at this moment that Zhou Qinghao woke up again.

Dragons only reached adulthood at a thousand years old because their bodies were not fully developed before that age.

During the transition to adulthood, dragons underwent a dramatic transformation.

Coupled with the fact that they inherit ancestral memories… on Dragon Island, young dragons under a thousand years old were often noisy and childlike in nature. But once they reached adulthood, they matured almost instantly.

When Zhou Qinghao opened his eyes this time, his gaze was completely different from before.

Through his inherited memories, he had witnessed the rise and fall of the dragon clan.

Once, the dragon and phoenix clans were the most powerful races on this continent, and humans were barely worth their notice.

But times changed, and both races faced catastrophic disasters. Nearly all dragons and phoenixes perished in those battles, paving the way for the rise of humanity.

In truth, the dragons on Dragon Island today were not the pure-blooded dragons of ancient times. True dragons were born with five claws and shimmered in radiant gold.

Yet, on Dragon Island today, there were no five-clawed dragons, nor were there golden dragons.

In reality, the dragons of today carried traces of other races’ bloodlines within them, though only their dragon bloodline manifested outwardly.

The pure-blooded dragons had long since vanished!

Among the dragon clan, there had always been a legend: if a five-clawed golden dragon were to appear, the dragon clan would regain its former glory and even ascend to the immortal realm.

In ancient times, five-clawed golden dragons would inevitably ascend to immortality once they reached a certain age!

The current dragon clan placed great importance on bloodline purity. He had been abandoned because his bloodline was impure.

And the reason they wanted to extract his core was to purify Ao Jin’s bloodline.

Ao Jin—even his name means “gold.” The Dragon King and the others must have dreamed of Ao Jin becoming a five-clawed golden dragon.

By now, Zhou Qinghao had mostly freed himself from the serpent’s molt.

He was still black, but he had five claws.

After reaching adulthood, he had unexpectedly become a five-clawed black dragon!

The ancestral memories he inherited were likely far more extensive than those of other dragons in the clan!

Once he fully matured, he would become incredibly powerful!

Would Gu Juntian like that?

With this thought in mind, Zhou Qinghao began searching for Gu Juntian, but he couldn’t find him.

Extending his divine sense, he finally located Gu Juntian in the palace chamber where they had spent so much time together.

At the same time, Zhou Qinghao also noticed the dragon experts who were frantically attacking the formations.

Gu Juntian was holding off those dragon experts for him!

Even with the formations, Gu Juntian was only at the Nascent Soul stage. Could he really withstand them?

Would he be torn apart by those dragon experts?

Zhou Qinghao wanted to help, but even using his divine sense to assess the situation was already extremely difficult, let alone launching a divine sense attack!

He couldn’t help Gu Juntian.

The only way he could protect Gu Juntian was to reach adulthood as quickly as possible.

Zhou Qinghao’s divine sense lingered around Gu Juntian for a moment before returning to his body.

Gu Juntian could feel this divine sense.

He could even sense the clingy, affectionate emotions emanating from Zhou Qinghao’s divine sense.

His little black dragon was truly too attached!

After swallowing a few more pills, Gu Juntian regained some strength and continued the fight.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, another day went by.

The four dragon experts had stopped holding back, and as a result, most of the formations above the Demon Palace had been destroyed.

During this process, Gu Juntian realized that he had underestimated these dragon experts.

Zhou Qinghao and he had their treasures, and of course, the dragon experts had theirs as well!

Now, the four dragon experts had gathered together. They pulled out large quantities of pills and magical artifacts, advancing toward the Demon Palace’s chamber with unstoppable momentum.

In half a day, they would likely break into the palace.

Fortunately, five days had already passed since Zhou Qinghao began his transition to adulthood. A dragon’s transition typically lasted seven days, so in two more days, Zhou Qinghao would officially reach adulthood.

Although a newly adult dragon might still be somewhat weak, it would be more than capable of escaping with him.

With this in mind, Gu Juntian headed underground and sealed the passage.

The core of the underground formations in the Demon Palace was located right where Zhou Qinghao was staying.

Once inside, Gu Juntian found that his little black dragon had mostly emerged from the serpent’s molt.

The dragon was truly stunning. Its scales were no longer matte but instead reflected the surrounding light in dazzling patterns.

The scales appeared black at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they shimmered with a myriad of colors.

The dragon’s horns were also majestic, now fully hardened but still pleasant to the touch.

Gu Juntian approached the black dragon, planting a few kisses on its snout, and then noticed the dragon’s eyes opening.

The dragon’s gaze was deep and intense, giving off an aura of danger.

But this was Zhou Qinghao.

Gu Juntian felt no fear at all. He kissed the dragon a few more times and couldn’t help but ask, “What does your tongue look like now? Is it still a snake’s tongue?”

Zhou Qinghao: “…” In such a critical moment, Gu Juntian was worried about his tongue?