Chapter 71: The Prince of the Iron Fan

This time, the female Bull Demon King didn’t make things difficult for them and genuinely pointed them in a direction. “Just keep walking that way.”

Bai Tao hurriedly gave his thanks. “Thank you very much!”

Jiang Yan and his companions continued on the path the female Bull Demon King had indicated.

However, just then, scorching magma suddenly erupted from the mountain peak, flowing through the cracks in the rocks in all directions, with fierce flames shooting out from the fissures in the ground.

The group immediately halted, not daring to take another step forward.

After a few minutes, the flames gradually ceased. Only then did they proceed, cautiously moving ahead.

Another hour passed, and they became parched and breathless from exhaustion.

At that moment, a disciple wiped the sweat from his brow, panting, and asked, “Senior Brother, how much longer do we have to walk? I—I can’t hold on much longer!”

But Little White noticed something strange ahead. “Meow, meow, meow…”

It bounded forward in three quick leaps, with the little dwarf dragon following right behind.

“Hurry, keep up,” Jiang Yan called, rushing after Little White and the little dwarf dragon. To his surprise, he found his sense of balance was remarkably steady as he ran!

Bai Tao and the others quickly followed as well.

Catching up with Little White and its companion, they discovered the female Bull Demon King had once again appeared before them.

“Where have you come from, and where are you going?” she asked, repeating her earlier line and casting Jiang Yan’s group another flirtatious wink.

Jiang Yan truly felt the urge to give her a good beating…

The little dwarf dragon snapped, “Ugly cow, are you following us?”

The female Bull Demon King stamped her foot angrily, making the ground tremble with her wrath. She glared at the little dwarf dragon and retorted, “Who are you calling ugly? I am the most beautiful one in Bullhead Village!”

After regaining his footing, Bai Tao quickly stepped in to mediate. “Um… Sister Chunhua, did you perhaps point us in the wrong direction earlier? Have we ended up back where we started?”

She rolled her eyes with disdain. “How could the direction I gave be wrong? You’re just too stupid to follow it properly.”

“No point wasting words with her—let’s just give her a beating!” the little dwarf dragon declared, finding this roundabout hassle unbearable.

Black Flower cheered, “Go, Dragon Lord! You’re the best!”

With this chant, the little dwarf dragon puffed out its tiny chest proudly.

Little White joined in, “Meow, meow, meow…” urging them to hit her.

The female Bull Demon King sneered, “If you think you’ve got what it takes, come at me! As if I, Chunhua, would be afraid…”

She hadn’t even finished her sentence before the little dwarf dragon charged forward. With a spinning kick aimed squarely at her bovine face, the female Bull Demon King landed hard on her backside. Before she could recover, Little White leapt in, raking her face with sharp claws, leaving several fresh scratches.

Not to be outdone, Black Flower swung its green leaves, landing a series of resounding slaps on the Bull Demon King’s face—each smack echoing through the air like the beat of a drum in the midst of the brawl.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The little dwarf dragon rushed in again, knocking the seated female Bull Demon King flat on her back.

“…Well,” Jiang Yan watched the scene, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.

Qi Yu shook his head in amazement. “I thought that bull demon was supposed to be formidable! Turns out she’s not much after all!”

Bai Tao praised, “Jiang Yan, Dragon Lord and the others are incredible!”

Suddenly, the female Bull Demon King burst into loud, wailing sobs, “Waaah! I’m going to tell my father you’re bullying me!” Her tears gushed forth like floodwaters, so overwhelming that they even extinguished the nearby flames.

Jiang Yan stared, tongue-tied, thinking that even the most melodramatic TV shows he’d seen lacked such outrageous scenes. Her tears were more effective than a fire brigade’s extinguisher!

With a sly smile, Jiang Yan decided to probe further. “Your father—is he in that Bullhead Village you mentioned?”

Between hiccups, she replied, “Of course. My father is the village chief.”

Jiang Yan’s eyes gleamed as he pressed on, “But Bullhead Village doesn’t seem like it would be located in such a desolate, burning mountain range, does it?”

“Why would our Bullhead Village be here?” she replied, wiping away her tears and speaking with a hint of pride. “How could such a barren place accommodate us?”

Suddenly, realization dawned on her. She fixed her gaze on Jiang Yan and asked suspiciously, “Are you trying to trick me into talking? Don’t tell me… you want to come back with me and be my husband?”

Jiang Yan nearly choked. “Ahem, what? Husband?”

“The Fox Spirit Lady told me that if I kept watch here, I’d eventually meet my destined husband.”

Jiang Yan realized that beneath her fierce exterior, the female Bull Demon King was in fact quite naïve. She’d been tricked into serving as free labor without even knowing it.

He quickly concocted a plan and began to tell her a fantastical story of the Bull Demon King and the Princess of the Iron Fan—except he deliberately swapped the genders of the characters.

Bai Tao and the others listened, dumbfounded. Jiang Yan’s silver tongue could spin nonsense into a tapestry.

The female Bull Demon King became so engrossed in his tale that she forgot all about settling scores with the little dwarf dragon and the others.

Jiang Yan continued solemnly, “Waiting here, you’ll never meet the Prince of the Iron Fan. Only cultivators like us come through this place. Someone as noble as the Prince of the Iron Fan would never be a mere cultivator!”

A blush spread across the Bull Demon King’s bovine face. “Then where can I find my Prince of the Iron Fan?”

Jiang Yan shook his head mysteriously, holding up one finger. “One word: wait! Return to your Bullhead Village. Your Prince will come to find you himself.”

“And if he never comes?” she asked anxiously.

Jiang Yan pretended to divine her fate, then said cryptically, “Good matches require patience and endurance.”

“Alright, Master, I’ll do as you say.” With that, she prepared to leave.

But Bai Tao stopped her quickly. “Sister Chunhua, wait! Could you tell us which way we should go?”

“You’re heading to the Blue Sea Secret Realm, right? Just follow me,” she replied.

So, the group followed behind the female Bull Demon King and continued on their way.

…

At Qilin Sect.

Ji Chuxue, dressed in a sky-blue gown like a goddess descended to earth, stood beneath a peach tree in her courtyard.

A gentle breeze swept by, carrying a few pink petals to the ground. She caught them softly in her palms, momentarily lost in thought.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom shattered the air, the ground shook violently, and a large crater appeared out of nowhere not far from Ji Chuxue.

Lin Qi and Xie Lingzhou were startled by the noise and hurried to Ji Chuxue’s side.

“Chuxue, what happened?”

“Senior Sister, are you alright?”

“Senior Sister, are you hurt anywhere?”

Seeing her master and junior disciples rushing over with such concern, Ji Chuxue felt a warm surge in her heart. She smiled and said, “Master, Third Brother, Fourth Sister, I’m fine. It’s just that our courtyard has received an uninvited guest.”