Demon Lord (28): Are they going to witness the battle between the dragon and the phoenix?

After Zhou Qinghao bought the pancake, he happily brought it back to the carriage for Gu Juntian to eat.

Gu Juntian had mentioned that the preserved mustard greens and minced meat pancake from this particular shop in Jiang City was exceptionally delicious. Because it was rolled thin, the crust was crispy, and the preserved mustard greens mixed with pork made it especially fragrant.

He wanted to buy it for Gu Juntian to enjoy!

Seeing Zhou Qinghao’s joyful expression, Gu Juntian couldn’t help but smile: “I can’t eat too much, you have a bite and eat the rest yourself.”

In truth, he wasn’t particularly craving the pancake. Bringing Zhou Qinghao here and having him buy the pancake was mainly to let Zhou Qinghao taste its flavor.

The original owner liked Ao Jin, and Ao Jin enjoyed gourmet food, so the original owner spent money to buy a jade slip introducing the delicacies of various cities in the cultivation world.

When the original owner accompanied Ao Jin before, the contents of this jade slip were hardly used. Although Ao Jin loved gourmet food, he looked down on food made by mortals or low-level cultivators. For example, if he wanted to eat a pancake, he wouldn’t buy it directly but would have someone around him learn to make pancakes, then use spirit beast meat to prepare them.

Thus, every time Ao Jin wanted to eat something, it would cause quite a stir among the people around him.

Zhou Qinghao, however, was different. Every time he tried something new, he looked utterly satisfied and amazed, and he loved everything he ate!

Gu Juntian only regretted that his health was not good enough to accompany Zhou Qinghao to buy and enjoy gourmet food.

“Alright,” Zhou Qinghao responded, first folding the pancake in half, then breaking off a piece from the best part in the middle for Gu Juntian to eat.

Seeing Gu Juntian eat it, he said, “I’ll go buy some wontons for you to eat!”

Jiang City boasted a variety of delicious foods; besides pancakes, there were also wontons, stinky tofu, fried rice cakes, and other snacks. Additionally, the dishes from the most famous restaurant here were also quite delectable.

The head chef of that restaurant was a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator who has a natural love for cooking. If you spent spirit stones, you could have the head chef personally prepare dishes, and it was said that the chef’s roast duck was exceptional.

“Alright,” Gu Juntian smiled.

Zhou Qinghao then ate the pancake while going to buy wontons, and by this time, there was already a long line of cultivators in front of the pancake stall.

They weren’t there because they saw the Demon Lord eating pancakes and got a craving; they wanted to learn more about the Demon Lord!

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without peril!

So… “One pancake, just like the one the previous customer had!”

Seeing the low-grade spirit stones casually tossed by the cultivators, the old woman selling pancakes worked faster and faster.

These were spirit stones! Much more valuable than silver!

She usually only earned about two pieces of silver for a whole day of selling pancakes!

“This pancake is indeed very delicious.”

“Although it doesn’t contain spiritual energy, the taste is good, and the meat used is of high quality.”

“The Demon Lord really knows how to pick a good stall.”

……

The cultivators communicated silently through their spiritual senses, then noticed that the Demon Lord had gone to buy wontons, and after buying the wontons, he also purchased some clay figurines from a nearby vendor.

Forget about the clay figurines, they should also try the wontons.

Zhou Qinghao brought the wontons back, and Gu Juntian tasted one.

There were many delicacies in this city, and even if he only ate a little of each, he could still get quite full.

As for Zhou Qinghao… he was a dragon, and no matter how much of these mundane foods he ate, he could handle it.

Thus, the cultivators saw the Demon Lord holding a bowl of wontons, eating while going to buy fried rice cakes.

They bought the wontons and decided to follow to buy fried rice cakes.

There were many cultivators in Jiang City, and these cultivators had been keeping an eye on him all along. Zhou Qinghao was well aware of all this.

He didn’t mind being watched.

In fact, he was quite pleased: “Give me some of your fried rice cakes, and add more chili, my Taoist partner loves spicy food.”

“I want all three flavors of the dipping sauce for the roast duck! My Taoist partner says all three flavors are delicious.”

“Bring me a bowl of this soup, it’s to nourish my My Taoist partner’s body.”

…

Zhou Qinghao tirelessly delivered each item to his carriage.

The people of the cultivation world: “…” Never thought you’d be such a Demon Lord.

In front of several Tribulation Transcendence stage experts lay various items bought by the Demon Lord, and one of them had already started eating: “These things are quite delicious. I didn’t expect the Demon Lord to be so knowledgeable about the delicacies of the cultivation world.”

“People below have said that the Demon Lord buys things according to a jade slip compiled by a cultivator who loves to eat and play. Of course, there are also some small items he buys on a whim.”

“Haha, I didn’t expect him to have read such a jade slip. Is it to please his partner?”

“Probably so.”

“I wonder who his partner is” said one Tribulation Transcendence stage expert, glancing at the leader of the Qingyun Sect.

The leader of the Qingyun Sect wanted to say that his disciple could not possibly be the Demon Lord’s Taoist partner.

But he hadn’t seen Gu Juntian in the Demon Lord’s procession and had been unable to contact Gu Juntian. Under these circumstances, he would rather his disciple be the Demon Lord’s Taoist partner.

At least he would be alive, well-fed, and well taken care of by the Demon Lord.

Zhou Qinghao stayed in Jiang City for most of the day, and then his team set off again.

During this time, none of the other members of the team entered Jiang City.

Those demonic cultivators had already reached the stage of fasting, so he didn’t let them land, lest the strange-looking creatures from the Demon Abyss scare the citizens of Jiang City.

Even if they could disguise themselves as humans and not frighten people, these were still demonic cultivators. If they lost control and hurt someone, it would be bad.

Zhou Qinghao had no desire to clash with the cultivation world.

After all, among the cultivators following them was Gu Juntian’s master!

Once Gu Juntian had eaten his fill, he accompanied Zhou Qinghao in playing with the small trinkets Zhou Qinghao had bought back.

The delicacies were mainly for Zhou Qinghao to enjoy, and these toys were also Zhou Qinghao’s favorites.

Since there were cultivators living in Jiang City, some of these toys were made by them and were particularly interesting. For example, one box, when opened, had a small figurine dancing gracefully inside, accompanied by music.

Zhou Qinghao cherished this box for a while, then pestered Gu Juntian to play cards with him.

“There aren’t many games for two people, let’s call in two dragons,” suggested Gu Juntian.

Zhou Qinghao wasn’t very willing, but he still called in two dragons to play with them.

Ao Hong, who was called in, felt a pang of sadness seeing how happy Zhou Qinghao was just playing cards.

In the past thousand years, the Demon Lord, still a youngling, must have had a very hard time in the Demon Abyss, which was why everything seemed so new to him, and he enjoyed human food so much.

And as for playing cards, everyone on Dragon Island was tired of it, but the Demon Lord loved it so much.

However, as they played, Ao Hong became less willing.

Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian were supposed to be opponents, yet they kept letting each other win!

They were even showing off their affection during the card game, it was unbearable!

Gu Juntian soon grew tired.

Seeing this, Zhou Qinghao didn’t hesitate to dismiss the two dragons who had been playing with them, and then accompanied Gu Juntian to sleep.

However, he couldn’t sleep now, so after Gu Juntian fell asleep, he took out a shiny spirit stone from his pocket and carved a small figure of Gu Juntian out of it.

After kissing the carved figure of Gu Juntian, he then kissed the real Gu Juntian in his arms.

Truly delightful!

Recently, the biggest news in the cultivation world was that the Demon Lord had arrived!

This was originally a terrifying event; adults in the cultivation world would scare children by saying, “The Demon Lord is coming.”

But Demon Lord Haotian was different.

He came to the cultivation world to explore its delicacies and beautiful scenery!

“Get your Demon Lord’s recommended delicacies jade slip of the cultivation world here, come and buy now!”

“The Demon Lord toured the cultivation world following this jade slip!”

“This is a must-have jade slip for traveling the cultivation world!”

…

For a time, the jade slip that Gu Juntian had bought years ago to please Ao Jin became a bestseller in the cultivation world.

The shops mentioned in those jade slips saw their business boom excessively.

If the jade slip mentioned a place and the Demon Lord had eaten there… the shop could now earn in a day what it used to make in a year!

Initially, people in the cultivation world thought that the Demon Lord’s indulgence in food and entertainment was to lower their guard. But as time went on, they began to think that the Demon Lord simply loved to eat.

Mainly because the Demon Lord was truly powerful; even if he wanted to lower their guard, there was no need to go to such lengths!

However, no matter what, they had to follow the Demon Lord.

In the blink of an eye, Zhou Qinghao and his entourage had been in the cultivation world for three months.

They had finally approached the far south.

Seeing this, the people of the cultivation world realized that the divination results of the Wanxiang Sect were correct—the Demon Lord had indeed left the Demon Abyss to seek the phoenix.

The people of the cultivation world breathed a sigh of relief, but the demonic cultivators and dragons following Zhou Qinghao felt uneasy.

Firstly, they were not accustomed to the environment of the far south.

Secondly, everyone in their team now knew one thing—the far south was home to the phoenix.

Previously, they didn’t understand why the Demon Lord wanted to come to the far south, but now… could it be that the Demon Lord was here to find the phoenix?

As for why he was seeking the phoenix… the dragons knew that phoenix blood had the effect of allowing one to be reborn from the ashes, while the demon kings from the Demon Abyss thought that the Demon Lord might want to fight the phoenix to determine who was stronger, or simply to eat the phoenix.

It was said that dragons despised phoenixes.

No matter what Zhou Qinghao intended to do, by following him here, in the eyes of the phoenix, they were siding with Zhou Qinghao. Would the phoenix attack them?

Although the Demon Lord was strong, the phoenix was recognized as the strongest in the cultivation world. If the Demon Lord confronted the phoenix, he might not necessarily win.

Perhaps the Demon Lord brought them along to use them as cannon fodder.

But even with such thoughts, they dared not leave, fearing that the Demon Lord might kill them in a fit of anger.

If the Demon Lord fought the phoenix, they might not necessarily die at the hands of the phoenix, but if they run away now, they would surely die at the hands of the Demon Lord.

Zhou Qinghao knew that his subordinates were restless.

However, he didn’t care.

Now, he was only happy about one thing—soon, Gu Juntian would recover!

Their team still moved very slowly. After entering the desert, Zhou Qinghao also followed Gu Juntian’s guidance to find some unique delicacies of the desert to eat.

Finally, one day, they reached the place where the phoenix slumbered.

Zhou Qinghao had the team stop at the foot of a mountain.

According to Gu Juntian, the phoenix was sleeping inside that mountain.

“Find a place to camp,” Zhou Qinghao said to his subordinates. “We will stay here for a few months. During these months, behave yourselves. If you don’t, I will kill you.”

The demonic cultivators all agreed, and the fat demonic cultivator, who was less afraid of Zhou Qinghao, asked, “My Lord, is this the residence of the phoenix?”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “Yes, the phoenix is inside the mountain.”

They hadn’t expected that the mysterious phoenix of the cultivation world was inside this mountain.

They also didn’t know how the Demon Lord Haotian knew this.

Next, were they about to witness a battle between a dragon and a phoenix?

It was said that the phoenix had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. Could the newly adult Demon Lord Haotian defeat him?

If Demon Lord Haotian couldn’t win, would they have to accompany him to their doom?