Fa Hua and Lan Ge were tense—inescapably so. The woman standing in the doorway was the one they least wanted to see.
The Ruby Queen’s appearance had changed. The ruby armor that once encased her body was gone, as were the vicious back-spines that had marked her true form. Whether they had been shattered beyond recovery in her battle with the Tiger Demon King, no one knew.
She wore a long black dress. Black and white were unforgiving colors, demanding perfection from the wearer. On the Ruby Queen, however, everything seemed effortless. The martial ferocity she once radiated had softened, replaced by an air of cold nobility.
When her gaze fell on Fa Hua and Lan Ge, she paused briefly. In the next instant, she walked toward them.
The two shot to their feet at once. Their teleportation was already primed.
“This is the Ancestral Court,” Lan Ge blurted out.
They hadn’t fled immediately because they were gambling. In a place where bloodline pressure was this overwhelming, if the Ruby Queen dared to attack, she would inevitably draw the attention of Great Heavenly God–level experts of the Demon Domain. They had to test it. Otherwise, there truly would be no place left in the Demon Domain where they could stand.
The Ruby Queen stopped in front of the silver barrier Sheng Lian had formed. She lifted her right hand and lightly poked it with a finger.
Pop.
The silver light shield burst like a punctured bubble.
She looked at Lan Ge. “What did you just say?”
Lan Ge’s mouth twitched. Only then did he realize that his earlier words had been completely blocked by the barrier—and that he had forgotten this fact entirely.
He cleared his throat. “I said, this is the Ancestral Court. The Ancestral Court of the Demon Domain.” He deliberately stressed the last words.
“I know,” the Ruby Queen replied coldly. “I’ve been here for ten days.”
She showed no sign of attacking and clearly understood where she was. Lan Ge’s heart stirred. His expression relaxed slightly. He turned and flashed a small smile at Sheng Lian.
“See? My girlfriend’s here. As for Fa Hua, he has a congenital condition and can’t marry, so—”
Sheng Lian froze. She looked from the Ruby Queen to Lan Ge, her expression blank. With her cultivation, she couldn’t sense the Ruby Queen’s level at all—not even a trace. That emptiness alone was terrifying. When her eyes met the Ruby Queen’s gaze, a soul-deep chill ran through her. Fear surged unbidden, and she stumbled back two steps.
“You should leave,” the Ruby Queen said calmly.
Her voice carried a strange authority, a quiet dominance that made refusal feel impossible.
Sheng Lian bit her lower lip. She took one last deep look at Fa Hua and Lan Ge, then turned and left without another word.
The Ruby Queen reached up and swept her long hair from behind her head, drawing the dark red cascade over one shoulder as she sat down. She gathered the hair in her hand and laid it neatly across her lap.
With her hair shifted aside, her other cheek and long neck were fully revealed. Her skin was pale and flawless, almost translucent, as if it would shatter at a touch.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge sat down as well, almost unconsciously. Silence settled over the table.
Since the first time they had encountered the Ruby Queen, she had done nothing but hunt them. Sitting together like this—calm, restrained—was unprecedented. Though both of them remained on high alert, at least she hadn’t struck.
The Ruby Queen watched them with icy eyes, her expression utterly unreadable.
The three of them sat there in silence, the stillness growing increasingly unnatural.
“…Waiter,” Lan Ge said at last. “Another set of utensils, please.”
The waiter was a small-framed demon, almost human in appearance except for his pale blue skin. Fa Hua and Lan Ge couldn’t identify his race. When he approached and saw that their dining companion had changed, surprise flickered across his face—but he asked nothing. He simply set down another place setting.
“And bring two more dishes,” Lan Ge added with a grin, passing over several gold coins from the Empyrean Empire.
The waiter acknowledged and withdrew.
“That day,” Lan Ge said after a moment, “we saved you. You know that, right?”
He was testing her—carefully.
The Ruby Queen didn’t respond at once. She simply looked at him, her gaze cold and penetrating.
Under that stare, Lan Ge felt his scalp prickle. His body tensed instinctively, teleportation almost triggering on its own.
At this distance, if she attacked with full force, they wouldn’t even have a chance to escape. Without the Ancestral Court restraining her, they would never have dared to sit this close.
“‘Girlfriend,’” the Ruby Queen said stiffly. “What does that mean?”
Lan Ge’s expression froze. He shot a pleading look at Fa Hua.
“I have a congenital condition,” Fa Hua said calmly. “‘Girlfriend’ means—”
Lan Ge slapped a hand over his mouth. “Shared life, shared fate! One life, one destiny—we’re literally bound together!”
Fa Hua brushed his hand aside. “But I do have a congenital condition. What meaning does life even have?”
“Enough already!” Lan Ge snapped. “Fine, I have a congenital condition, okay? Can you not be like this in front of Her Majesty?”
Fa Hua raised an eyebrow. “Is this something one can be calm about?”
The Ruby Queen watched them with faint confusion. For her, these tangled human dynamics were clearly difficult to grasp.
The waiter returned quickly, setting down the new dishes.
The Ruby Queen said nothing more. She simply began to eat.
Her pace was unhurried, almost rhythmic, as if she were savoring every bite—yet the food vanished at an astonishing speed. In moments, the plates were empty.
She dabbed her lips and spoke evenly. “I’ve been here for ten days. I didn’t come looking for you. Something here was calling to me, drawing me in. But whatever it was… it became useless because of you. Once again, you cost me a chance at advancement.”
“Hold on—what?” Lan Ge blurted out. “What did we do this time?”
The Ruby Queen lifted her hand and tapped lightly over her left chest. Ripples spread outward.
“What you did to me,” she said. “Do you really not know?”
Fa Hua and Lan Ge both remembered the scene—when the Peerless Pearl had hovered above her heart, doing who knew what. Whatever it had done, it certainly hadn’t been harmless.
Lan Ge forced a wry smile. “If we said it had nothing to do with us, would you believe it? From beginning to end, it was that cursed Pearl dragging us along! Otherwise, why would we have gone and stroked your tiger whiskers* and stolen your heart?”
“I am a Devouring Ant,” the Ruby Queen said coolly. “I do not have tiger whiskers.”
(T/N: “Stroking a tiger’s whiskers” — is a Chinese idiom meaning to deliberately provoke an extremely dangerous being.)
She continued, “After that day, I could no longer sense your auras. I lost you completely. And then, here, I smelled you again. You delivered yourselves to me.”
Fa Hua and Lan Ge stared at each other, stunned.
So it really had been coincidence.
“Come with me,” the Ruby Queen said, standing.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge exchanged a glance.
“We’re not going,” Lan Ge said firmly.
“Mm,” Fa Hua agreed.
Without turning back, the Ruby Queen said, “Here, I cannot use god-level power. That is the rule of this place. My bloodline’s origin lies here as well, so I must obey it. If you can defeat me while I’m suppressed to Ninth-Rank, then we’ll be done.”
She strode out of the restaurant.
Ninth-Rank.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge both felt a jolt of surprise.
Their judgment had been right—she truly couldn’t unleash her full strength here. Whether it was fear of the Ancestral Court itself or a lesson learned from her battle with the Tiger Demon King, one thing was certain. With her pride, she would not lie. If she could fight freely, she would have already done so.
An opportunity.
They followed her outside. The Ruby Queen was already heading in a fixed direction.
A brief exchange of thought passed between Fa Hua and Lan Ge, and they reached the same conclusion instantly. No matter what, they would not leave the Ancestral Court to fight her. Everything had to happen within its bounds, where its suppression could restrain her.
Their hands remained clasped together, teleportation ready at any moment.
Without her back-spines and clad in a long dress, the Ruby Queen seemed less savage. Her dark red hair trailed all the way to her feet, swaying softly as she walked, lending her an unexpected grace.
The same image surfaced in both their minds—the moment long ago when Fa Hua had lifted her hair with the Wisdom Sword and glimpsed a trace of pale skin beneath.
“What are you thinking?” Fa Hua asked silently.
“You didn’t think about it?” Lan Ge shot back.