Heilong-kou (Black Dragon-Mouth/Pass)
Heilong-cheng (Black Dragon-City)
Censorate (Supervisory Court)
Yuling City (Jade City)
Jingui Town (Golden Turtle Town)
Xuanwu City (Black tortoise City)
Yin Jixue couldn't help him much with this, so she could only spend money to photocopy every piece of relevant information she could find from the system.
It pained her immensely—she used to copy everything by hand. But this time, there was just too much material; she could probably break her wrist trying and still not finish.
Photocopying through the system was way more expensive than buying books. She even bought some physical science textbooks—if nothing else, even if he couldn't make a battery, it could at least distract Lou Zhao a bit so he wouldn't feel too dejected.
Having found something for the Demon King to occupy himself with, she also told Lou Zhao about the surveillance room.
"If you're worried about their safety, you can have someone monitor them constantly through the system. The surveillance room even allows communication. That's how I talked to you back then."
Lou Zhao claimed he wasn't curious, but still, as if driven by some unseen force, took a detour to check it out. There, he saw Da Fu's face in ultra-high definition—he could even make out every blemish on the guy's skin.
So this was how people saw him… He had no idea what kind of being could create such a thing—these were artifacts, unlike anything the Demon Clan had ever seen.
When the Demon King returned, most of the citizens of Black Dragon City didn't even know. Only a few who had seen him before recognized him, and it wasn't until the next day that the news spread completely.
Usually, the King would leave for ten months or even until the end of the year before returning. No one had expected him to come back after just two months this time.
They all knew it was because of the food supply. The Demon King no longer needed to scavenge everywhere for food. Now, they could just use other resources to trade with neighboring cities and deliver food to allied cities.
Since the Demon King's return, the citizens of Black Dragon City were as energized as if they'd been injected with chicken blood. Everyone was fired up, and productivity soared.
The young man from the Azure Luan Clan finally received the goods he had ordered.
There was peppermint toothpaste, and soap and shampoo in a scent he'd never even heard of—jasmine. After using them, a subtle floral fragrance lingered on his body, even his hair smelled sweet and fresh.
Not only that, the packaging was exquisite, all neatly packed in engraved wooden boxes.
The merchant even gifted him two sample-sized perfumes in delicate glass bottles, welcoming him to shop again. He couldn't stop admiring the tiny bottles. If he had more resources, he would've bought two full bottles of perfume.
By now, the trade caravan had finished exchanging all their goods, leaving behind all their supplies in Black Dragon City.
Every day in Black Dragon City brought new surprises.
Especially when they first arrived, the food at the inn was downright bad—just plain boiled green vegetables. Only the staple food had any taste.
But after a few days, it was as if the inn's chef had an epiphany. The dishes started tasting good—no, delicious.
One standout dish was shui zhu rou pian—"boiled sliced meat." The name made it sound bland, but when it was served, the dish was a bright, spicy red. Apparently, it was made using chili peppers. After eating it, their foreheads dripped with sweat and their mouths went numb. At first, they thought they had been poisoned.
And the meat? It was Fangtooth Tapir!
If they had known in advance, they wouldn't have touched it. Every demon knew that Fangtooth Tapir meat was notorious for being gamey and foul—some people said even the dirt it walked on tasted better.
But precisely because they didn't know, they ended up loving it.
They excitedly asked the innkeeper what kind of meat it was and if they could buy some dried meat.
The innkeeper said the beast was originally called Fangtooth Tapir, but here in Black Dragon City, they just called it wild boar.
The entire caravan fell silent. So did the young man. They couldn't believe this was the same Fangtooth Tapir from their memories.
The innkeeper explained that Black Dragon City had developed a unique way of raising boars, and the meat from those pigs didn't have the usual foul taste.
They looked at each other, tempted to bring back a few piglets to raise, but they had no resources left to trade with. Almost everything they had now came from Black Dragon City.
Using someone else's goods to barter back more goods from them? That was just ridiculous.
Still unwilling to give up, they decided to stay another day—who knew, maybe they'd get lucky.
And just like that, the next day they heard the news—the Demon King of Black Dragon City had returned.
Did the Demon King come back this soon?
Everyone in the Demon Realm knew the Black Dragon Clan's situation well.
So it was perfectly normal for the Demon King to be away from Black Dragon City all year. Staying in the city would be a strange thing.
But thinking about how much Black Dragon City had changed recently, maybe they had secured enough food and successfully delivered it to the other cities.
The young man muttered, "When I get back, I have to bring Aunt and the others here to visit Black Dragon City."
The changes here were just too drastic. They needed to see it while it was still fresh.
This youth was, in fact, the only son of the Azure Luan Empress's younger sister. Raised in a household full of daughters, he had grown into an exquisitely groomed little celestial gentleman.
On the surface, he had joined the trade caravan, but in truth, he had paid them to bring him along to Black Dragon City. Essentially, the whole caravan was acting as his temporary bodyguard.
The caravan didn't know his true identity—only that he was incredibly wealthy. He had snuck out of the imperial palace, but he left behind a letter before doing so.
What initially drew him to Black Dragon City was the rumor that the rare and priceless glass originated from there. But he'd also heard that the Black Dragon Clan was incredibly poor and that its citizens were constantly hungry.
On top of that, his aunt—the Azure Luan Empress—had fallen in love at first sight with both the previous and current Demon Kings of the Black Dragon Clan, and had been pining ever since. That made him even more curious about Black Dragon City.
In Azure Luan City, women ruled supreme. That's why his mother's older sisters were all referred to as "Aunt."
His mother had five older sisters—she was the youngest of six. Their family was the most distinguished among the Azure Luan royalty.
He hadn't lacked money initially, but he had too readily believed the negative rumors about Black Dragon City and thus didn't bring many supplies.
He thought what he had would be enough to throw his weight around here. Instead, all he could afford was some toiletries and a bicycle. He couldn't even afford a bottle of perfume! If only Black Dragon City had a currency system…
Just as he was lost in thought, he heard loud and joyous cheers from the streets outside.
The locals were going to exchange something called Black Dragon Coins. Curious to see what had everyone so excited, he followed the crowd to the exchange site.
He knew this place—it was the central plaza for demon folk activities in Black Dragon City. Every afternoon and on off-days, the square became especially lively.
Especially during movie screenings. He already knew the plot by heart, but every time he came, he still instinctively stayed and watched till the end.
Unfortunately, he couldn't buy the movie projector to take home. Otherwise, he could've watched with his aunts. They would like a character like Xiao Lian.
Outside the Office of Supervision, a massive booth had been set up. The weather was perfect today—around ten degrees Celsius—so they didn't even need a canopy.
Before Lou Zhao went back to his experiments, Yin Jixue asked him to go and breathe dragonfire over the freshly minted Black Dragon Coins.
Yin Jixue didn't follow him, and Lou Zhao quietly sighed in relief. Which meant she missed the adorable sight of Lou Zhao transforming into a small dragon just over a meter long and breathing powerful streams of Dragonfire onto the coins. The scene was so cute it was almost illegal.
The whole fire-breathing process only took a few dozen seconds. With the Demon King's approval, the mint announced that all Black Dragon Clan demon folk could now exchange their work hours and contribution points for Black Dragon Coins.