Chapter 221: Playing Hard to Get! Female Demon Lord, Your Heartbeat Seems a Bit Fast!

On the ice-cold desolate plains of the Far North, wild winds continued to rage, swirling gray ice and snow across the sky.

Yet Ye Hongzhuang could not feel the slightest chill at this moment.

That broad, rough hand, still stained with wet blood, gripped her ankle tightly. The scalding heat radiating from his palm felt like a red-hot branding iron, penetrating straight through her black-and-gold boots and surging up the Meridians of her calf, causing her heart to shrink violently from the heat.

"Impudent!"

After a brief moment of stiffness, a trace of panic and annoyance flashed in Ye Hongzhuang's eyes.

She yanked her foot back violently while flicking her wide snow-fox cloak backward; a surge of powerful Devilish Qi directly blasted Gu Lan on the ground half a zhang back.

"Who gave you the audacity to touch me with such filthy hands?!"

Ye Hongzhuang looked down on Gu Lan from on high, her voice so cold it seemed capable of dropping icicles. But if one listened closely, they would discover that this usually decisive and lethal Female Demon Lord was speaking just a tiny bit faster than usual, and even her breathing rhythm was slightly erratic.

She subconsciously touched her neck. The bite mark left by Gu Lan still throbbed with faint pain, but what flustered her even more was the aggressively masculine aura, thick with the taste of blood, from when their lips had touched earlier.

She, the grand Palace Master of Heavenly Demon Palace, had actually been forcibly kissed by a subordinate? And she was the one who had proactively brought her lips close to his!

Although it was to feed him medicine, even she felt that this excuse was rather pale.

"Cough, cough…"

Gu Lan was knocked sliding across the ice by the Devilish Qi, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he curled his lips in an utterly rascal manner, revealing a faint, beat-worthy smile despite his weakness.

"Your Sovereign sure changes face quickly."

Gu Lan propped himself up on the ice with one hand and slowly sat up. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes staring straight at Ye Hongzhuang's stunning face.

"When feeding me the medicine earlier, Your Sovereign didn't say that. Subordinate thought Your Sovereign truly couldn't bear to let subordinate die."

"You seek death!"

Ye Hongzhuang's eyes narrowed, killing intent brimming.

She raised her hand sharply, a ball of black demon flame coalescing at her fingertips, seemingly ready to burn this scoundrel who dared challenge her authority into ashes in the next second.

Yet Gu Lan didn't even bother to dodge.

He just sat there with his chest casually bared, meeting Ye Hongzhuang's gaze, his eyes bearing a shameless attitude that said, "Go ahead, strike me; if you have the heart to kill me, you win."

"You…"

Seeing Gu Lan's completely brazen, unbothered stance, Ye Hongzhuang ground her teeth in fury, yet the ball of demon flame condensed on her fingertips simply refused to be launched.

She truly could not bear to kill him.

It wasn't just because Gu Lan was currently the sharpest blade in her hands, but even more so because this man possessed a fatal, irresistible attraction that even she couldn't resist. He was like a wild, untamable wolf—even if beaten till black and blue all over, even if a chain was put around his neck, he would still dare to bite his master back at the most dangerous moment.

This thrill of conquest and counter-conquest intoxicated Ye Hongzhuang, leaving her unable to extricate herself.

"Hmph!"

Ye Hongzhuang swung her sleeve sharply, dispersing the demon flame on her fingertips, and turned around coldly, refusing to look any longer at that face she both loved and hated.

"Put your clothes on! Get up!"

A black-and-gold robe shot out like a hidden weapon from Ye Hongzhuang's storage ring, landing directly over Gu Lan's head.

"Thank you for the reward, Your Sovereign."

Gu Lan pulled the robe off his head and unhurriedly put it on.

Although he had just walked along the edge of life and death, his mood at this moment was strangely good.

He knew that his strategy of playing hard to get combined with acting like a mad dog had paid off. For a woman as high and mighty as Ye Hongzhuang, the more submissive you were, the more dull she found you; only by being wilder, harsher, and more reckless than her could you leave an indelible imprint in her heart.

As he tied his belt, he silently calculated in his heart.

'Old Hag, you think you've won? Inside that blood moon demon sickle, I planted a seed of Red Lotus Karmic Fire. As long as you dare to use it, I can make you taste sheer agony and bliss anytime I want.'

'And…'

Gu Lan checked the state of his inner body.

Although the toxicity of the fatal blood pill had been neutralized by the nine-turn soul-returning pill, the immense medicinal energy generated by the collision of those two extreme Medicinal Pills in his body had not completely dissipated.

At this moment, that lingering medicinal energy was flowing like a gentle stream, greedily absorbed by the ten-pattern purple extreme golden core inside his Dantian.

Nourished by this energy, the vitality he had lost earlier from forcibly pulling out the demon sickle was recovering at a terrifying speed. His Physical Body strength had even undergone a complete destruction-and-rebirth tempering through the destruction and repair wrought by the toxin.

Right now, although he looked exceedingly weak on the surface, in reality, as long as he was given half a day to fully refine the medicinal power, his combat strength would definitely rise to a brand-new level!

"Let's go."

Ye Hongzhuang didn't notice the changes inside Gu Lan. She had already walked over to the grand throne pulled by eight Frost Bone Dragons and sat down gracefully.

"Return to camp."

She uttered two words calmly.

Gu Lan tactfully walked over to the side of the throne. Instead of sitting side-by-side with her like usual, he sat down extremely "obediently" on the footstool below the throne, acting as a qualified bodyguard and attendant.

"Roar—!!!"

The eight Frost Bone Dragons let out a deafening roar, pulling the massive throne into the sky as they flew toward the Demon Cult camp on the outskirts of the Far North Ice Field.

High in the sky, wild winds howled.

However, a layer of invisible Devilish Qi barrier protected the perimeter of the throne, preventing even a single flake of wind and snow from blowing in.

The atmosphere was strangely quiet.

Gu Lan leaned against the base of the throne with his eyes closed, seemingly resting to regain his strength.

Ye Hongzhuang sat above his head, playing with the blood moon demon sickle that had now shrunk to the size of a short sickle in her hand.

Under her caress, the demon sickle emitted a faint glow of submission. The slaughtering aura of that ancient malicious weapon was forming a marvelous resonance with the Soul Transformation Stage Devilish Qi inside Ye Hongzhuang.

'With this blade, my Nine Heavenly Demon Transformations will be able to break through the final barrier.'

Ye Hongzhuang thought silently in her heart.

However, her gaze involuntarily drifted away from the demon sickle, landing on the man resting below.

From this angle, she could just see the high bridge of Gu Lan's nose, and… his slightly swollen lips.

At the thought of the scene earlier where she had fed him medicine mouth-to-mouth, Ye Hongzhuang's heart uncontrollably skipped a beat.

That was her first kiss!

Having lived for so many years, she had killed countless people and crushed the bones of countless Prodigies, yet no man had ever been like Gu Lan—forcing his way into her personal Domain and even leaving an indelible mark on her body.

The bite mark on her neck still throbbed with faint pain, yet beneath that pain, there seemed to be a strangely bizarre tingling sensation.

'This damned mad dog…'

Ye Hongzhuang bit her red lips and cursed inwardly.

She extended her foot and used the tip of her black-and-gold boot to lightly kick Gu Lan's shoulder.

"Have you played dead long enough?"

Ye Hongzhuang's voice recovered its high-and-mighty laziness. "Tell me everything that happened down there when you pulled out the blade, step by step. If you dare conceal even half a sentence, I will throw you down right now to feed the Bone Dragons."

Gu Lan slowly opened his eyes and raised his head, looking at Ye Hongzhuang's stunning face reflected in his eyes.

Of course, he couldn't reveal the matter of the True Demon God Blood and the Ten-Pattern Golden Core.

"Replying to Your Sovereign."

Gu Lan had long prepared his script, his tone neither rushed nor slow.

"It truly is wicked down at the bottom of the Abyss of Buried Demons. As soon as subordinate approached, that demon sickle came alive and shot out several iron chains to lash me. Subordinate dodged with all his might and forcibly grabbed the hilt."

"In the end, this wretched blade played dirty—it actually had thorns! It drove straight into subordinate's palm to drain my blood!"

As Gu Lan spoke, he raised his tightly bandaged right hand and gave it a shake in full cooperation, faint stains of blood still visible on it.

"Subordinate's blood was almost drained completely by it. Later, having no other choice, subordinate could only wildly picture Your Sovereign's matchless, majestic posture in his mind, attempting to use Your Sovereign's glorious renown to awe it!"

Gu Lan spouted utter nonsense with a deadpan serious expression.

"Guess what? That demon sickle actually seemed to sense subordinate's unswerving loyalty toward Your Sovereign and realized subordinate came to retrieve the blade on your behalf, so it actually caved in! It obediently shrank down and let me carry it off!"

"…"

Ye Hongzhuang looked at Gu Lan's face written all over with "sincerity," and the corner of her mouth twitched fiercely twice.

The way this lie was made up, not even a ghost would believe it!

An ancient demon weapon intimidated by her renown? And sensing his loyalty? Does this kid really take her for a naive fool who hasn't seen the world?!

"Gu Lan."

Ye Hongzhuang's voice turned cold, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Do you think my temper is too good, so you make a fool out of me time and time again?"

"Subordinate's words are entirely true! If there's half a word of falsehood, may heaven strike me down with five thunderbolts!"

Gu Lan raised three fingers to swear an oath, neither blushing nor breathless.

Anyway, being struck by thunderbolts was God's business; what did it have to do with the Demon Cult?

Ye Hongzhuang humph-ed softly and did not press further.

She knew everyone had their own secrets. That Gu Lan could return alive with the blood moon demon sickle meant that the trump cards hidden on him were far deeper than she had imagined.

As long as there was no problem with the blade, and as long as this dog Gu Lan remained leashed in her hands, she had plenty of time to dig out those little secrets slowly.

"Fine, stop acting in front of me."

Ye Hongzhuang leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes to rest.

"Once we return, go soak in the Blood Pool for three days first. Your vital energy and blood are severely depleted. If you can't even last through the Righteous-Demonic Grand Competition half a month from now, I can't afford to lose face like that."

"Yes, thank you for your consideration, Your Sovereign!"

Gu Lan breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the base.

The crisis was temporarily resolved.

However, a fiery red figure suddenly flashed through his mind.

'Wait…'

Gu Lan's heart sank abruptly.

'Earlier I was afflicted by the fatal blood pill and my heart almost stopped beating…'

'Then Shuanger…'

Gu Lan recalled the sub-gu of the heart-linking gu that Saintess Ji Wushuang had forced down his throat!

heart-linking gu—shared damage!

If he had walked along the edge of life and death, wouldn't Saintess Ji Wushuang, far away in the Demon Cult camp, have also suffered half of the lethal toxicity and extreme agony along with him?!

'Oh no!'

Gu Lan sat up straight violently, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead instantly.

He turned his head to look toward the distant horizon.

Amidst the wind and snow, that massive black Demon Cult camp was already vaguely visible.

Right now he could only pray that the Demon Cult Saintess—usually overbearing and arrogant, yet inwardly fragile to a fault—must not have anything bad happen to her!