“Lucky you!” Lan Ge retorted. After he spoke, his eyes dimmed. Thinking of that blind date, he couldn’t help remembering his “dead” parents. His heart ached as if pricked by needles.
Fa Hua realized he had touched a sore spot and raised his hand to pat his shoulder.
The moment their bodies touched, the Peerless Pearl resonated naturally, and their breathing subtly shifted.
The Tiger-Demon Captain ahead immediately felt something and instinctively glanced back at them. By then Fa Hua’s hand had already fallen, and their breathing had returned to normal.
The inner city was enormous. After the Tiger-Demon Captain led them inside and turned a corner, they found several carriages waiting for them. One of them was drawn by eight Centaurs. Only the Tiger-Demon Captain boarded with them, while the other Tiger-Demon soldiers ran behind the carriage, heading deeper into the inner city.
This was Fa Hua and Lan Ge’s first time visiting a major city of the Demon race. The surroundings stirred their curiosity, but also gave them a sense of reassurance. This was the Wild Monster City Lord’s Residence. Even if the Ruby Queen chased them now, she shouldn’t pose too much of a threat. If she had the ability, then let her come! The Tiger Demon King surely wouldn’t be weaker than her, right?
While they continued deeper toward the Lord’s Residence, events were unfolding back at the city gates. There, the Ruby Queen appeared.
Radiant Ruby Armor, six huge back-stingers, an understated aura—only an exquisitely beautiful face and figure remained. When the Ruby Queen appeared at the city gate, she immediately drew everyone’s attention. She was simply too eye-catching.
Her gaze remained icy, but her brows were tightly furrowed, as if pondering something.
“Stop!” The Elephant-Demon Captain stretched out his large nose to block the Ruby Queen’s path, appraising her up and down with greedy eyes.
“Which clan are you from? Are you Human?” The Elephant-Demon Captain was practically salivating. If the Ruby Queen admitted to being a Human, he would attack immediately. No one would stand up for commoners. If not for the Ruby Queen’s armor being so vivid and dazzling, he probably would have acted already.
Several streaks of red light flashed across him. The Elephant-Demon Captain froze. In the next moment, his long nose was sliced into thin flakes, scattering through the air like falling leaves.
At the same time, the Ruby Queen had already appeared behind him, one hand forming a claw shape and hovering above his head.
The nearby Centaur soldiers were terrified and hurriedly grabbed their long spears to rush forward.
“Get lost!” the Ruby Queen said coldly.
All the surrounding Centaurs were instantly swept up and hurled into the city moat. The Elephant-Demon in front of her suffered the same fate.
Sunlight shone, and waves of crimson light flowed around her armor, radiant yet cold. In an instant, the greedy gazes fixed on her turned to astonishment, shock, and fear.
The Demon Race’s mentality was completely different from that of Humans. Seeing this scene, their first thought was how powerful this person must be to dare act against soldiers at the city gate of Wild Monster City, one of the Empyrean Empire’s* Eight Major Cities!.
(T/N: Empyrean Empire — 天宇帝国 was previously translated by Shunshunrika as Tianyu Empire. However, the official Douluo Dalu 5 English translation renders it as Empyrean Empire. This translation adopts Empyrean Empire moving forward to remain consistent with the official translation.)
Therefore, no one dared stop the Ruby Queen, and she strode straight into Wild Monster City.
Lucky for the guards, the Ruby Queen did not kill them on the spot. When she had been on that small island in the Endless Blue Sea waiting for Fa Hua and Lan Ge, she had, out of anger and boredom, casually slaughtered many marine creatures and devoured their Life Energy. That had drawn the Sea Giant Emperor and led to a great battle.
Even among Eleventh-Rank powerhouses, there are differences in strength. In raw power, the Ruby Queen—who had once attempted to break through to the Twelfth Rank—was no weaker than the Sea Giant Emperor. However, the Endless Blue Sea was the Sea Giant Emperor’s home turf. With timing, terrain, and support all working against her, the Ruby Queen was ultimately driven away.
Having chased them all the way to the Demon Domain, she had learned her lesson and no longer killed lightly. She held back. Otherwise, given her iron-fisted rule over the Swallowing Ant Race, none of the surrounding Demons who looked at her with greedy eyes would have survived—let alone the guards who stood in her way.
The Swallowing Ant Race had existed since the Ice Age. For countless years, they had lived in a symbiotic yet hostile relationship with the Sea Tree Tribe on the surface—two opposing halves of the Green Sea of Life—and had long survived under the Sea Tree Tribe’s suppression. As a result, they rarely ventured into the surface world.
For a thousand years, the Ruby Queen endured everything for a single purpose: to break through to the Twelfth Rank, become a Great Heavenly God, and crush the Sea Tree Tribe, thereby claiming sole dominion over the Green Sea of Life.
Yet at the final moment, by sheer chance, Fa Hua and Lan Ge destroyed that plan and caused her failure. Now, in her heart, there remained only one unshakable thought—to reclaim her heart and carve those two Humans to pieces.
But when she came near the Demon Domain and sensed this vast, nearly boundless continent, she truly trembled inwardly. At her level of cultivation, her premonition ability was extremely strong. She could clearly sense that in this vast world there existed beings capable of truly killing her.
The Ruby Queen was far from unintelligent like ordinary Swallowing Ants. Her intelligence was on par with that of humans. Once she felt fear, she no longer acted recklessly.
**
Wild Monster City, City Lord’s Mansion.
The City Lord’s Mansion was indeed enormous. Even riding in a Centaur-drawn carriage, it took a full half hour to reach their destination.
What lay before them was a vast open expanse, no smaller than the Thunder City Royal Palace Square. Only then did Fa Hua and Lan Ge realize that this was the Martial Arena.
At its center stood a raised platform, crudely assembled from stone and wooden blocks. Two figures were already standing on it.
A closer look revealed that both figures were large-boned and broad-shouldered, with square mouths and straight noses. Their eyes carried a distinct tiger-like sharpness, while their noses were broad like a lion. Their powerful auras radiated a sense of peerless intimidation.
The only incongruous detail was the large flower each wore tucked behind an ear—one apricot-yellow, the other pink—completely at odds with their imposing physiques.
From this distance, they couldn’t make out the faces. Seeing the two figures on the platform, Lan Ge’s heart twitched. “Brother Tiger General,” he asked, “are those two the princesses for the martial matchmaking?”
The Tiger-Demon Captain looked back at them and, with a righteous and solemn air, said, “Exactly!”
Lan Ge swallowed hard. “Are you sure you didn’t misspeak—those are the Princesses? Not the Princes?”
The Tiger-Demon Captain’s eyes flashed. “What do you mean?” His fierce look seemed to ask, Do you want to die?
Fa Hua pulled Lan Ge and transmitted in his mind, “Since we’re here, make the best of it.”
They had been through a lot. They had even managed to escape from the Ruby Queen. Besides, they had already prepared a teleport point. If something went wrong, they could just run.
“It’s nothing. I just think the two Princesses are exceptionally gifted, with peerless looks—both have the bearing to inherit the Demon King’s dominion!” Lan Ge immediately put on a smile and said admiringly.
Only then did the Tiger-Demon Captain’s anger turn to joy, and he laughed heartily. “Brother, you’ve guessed correctly! Our Demon King has only these two princesses. In the future, they will naturally inherit the throne. If you two were truly favored by them, it would be like rising in a single step and saving decades of effort!”
Lan Ge wailed inwardly and said to Fa Hua, “Let’s really work hard. All of a sudden, cultivation doesn’t seem tedious at all.”
Fa Hua said calmly, “Marry a Demon King’s daughter and become a high-ranking Demon. That’s not bad. Or you could just stay here.”
Lan Ge snarled, “Cut that out. Don’t forget—if I really marry that burly Tiger-Demon and she does anything to me, I’ll make sure you experience it right along with me. Then you’ll know what empathy feels like.”
“Forget I said that.”
While they were talking, they had already reached the center of the Martial Arena. By then, some young people of various races had gathered around, but the number was not large. Not exactly deserted, but in total fewer than twenty. This was indeed somewhat inconsistent with a Demon King’s daughter’s Martial Matchmaking.
The crowd was composed almost entirely of the Demon Race. When Fa Hua and Lan Ge joined them, they quickly noticed the worried expressions all around. No one looked as though they had come for a martial matchmaking at all.
The Tiger-Demon Captain said to Fa Hua and Lan Ge, “You two wait here. It will start soon.” After saying this, he had the two disembark from the carriage and hurried away.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge deliberately moved a few steps to the side to make themselves less conspicuous. In fact, there were many from the Demon Race here. Although many had humanoid appearances, they were somewhat different from humans, and many had massive builds, so the two did not stand out.
“You two were dragged here for the matchmaking as well?” a lowered voice asked.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge turned to look. The speaker was a young man whose build looked about the same as theirs, but his face was an ashen-blue. This was not because he was ill. His skin actually looked like that. Otherwise, he was no different from a human.
Lan Ge said, “Brother, please. Your use of the word ‘also’ seems to imply something!”
The ashen-blue-faced youth smiled bitterly. “Of course. If we weren’t grabbed by them, who would voluntarily come to participate in the Princesses’ Martial Matchmaking?”
“Oh? What’s wrong with the Princesses being large and dignified in figure and majestic in appearance?” Lan Ge asked, feigning surprise.