117: Chapter 117 Racial Crisis: As long as the bloodline can continue, I can…

“An in-depth exchange?”

Hearing those four words, which carried an obvious teasing intent, the expected embarrassment and anger did not appear on Feng Jiuyou's stunningly cold and elegant face.

On the contrary, she became unusually calm.

However, in those phoenix eyes that were originally as cold as ice and snow, a flame named 'desire' was now ignited. It was the look of a traveler who had walked in a desperate desert for too long and finally saw a clear spring.

It was extremely scorching and completely unconcealed.

“All of you, withdraw.”

Feng Jiuyou suddenly waved her hand. Her voice remained indifferent, yet it carried an unquestionable imperial majesty.

“Without this seat's command, no one is allowed to approach the Nirvana Palace by even half a step.”

“Even if the sky falls, you are not allowed to enter.”

“Yes!”

Although the Divine Phoenix Clan guards stationed outside the hall were shocked and didn't understand why the Clan Leader wanted to dismiss everyone, her long-standing prestige meant they didn't dare to hesitate for a moment.

“Clang.”

As the heavy crimson-gold gates slowly closed, an isolation formation rose up.

The entire Nirvana Palace instantly fell into a dead silence, with only clusters of deep-blue ice flames flickering silently, making the atmosphere in the hall somewhat eerie and ambiguous.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

Feng Jiuyou stepped barefoot onto the soft red carpet, producing a faint and rhythmic sound.

She walked down from the high platform step by step. Her long, white, and flawless legs were faintly visible through the slits of her phoenix robe. With every step, the red string bells on her ankles let out a crisp ring, as if stepping on Xu Chen's heartstrings.

She didn't stop until she was less than a foot away from Xu Chen.

At this distance, Xu Chen could even clearly smell the unique cold fragrance on her body, which was like the purest flame from the depths of the Undying Fire Mountain, yet also like the cold ice from the Nine Heavens.

“Xu Chen, Young Master of the Ancient Xu Family.”

Feng Jiuyou tilted her head up slightly. Although she possessed a proud height of 1.78 meters, she still had to look up slightly in front of Xu Chen.

Those Delusion-Breaking Golden Pupils stared fixedly into Xu Chen's eyes, as if wanting to look directly through his soul and probe the secrets of every drop of blood in his body.

“Do you know? From the first moment I saw you, this seat has been thinking about one question.”

“What question?”

Xu Chen raised an eyebrow, suppressing the urge to take half a step back.

This queen's aura was truly too strong. At this moment, she was no longer that high-and-mighty deity, but an aggressive hunter.

“I was thinking...”

Feng Jiuyou extended a slender, jade-like finger and gently brushed it across Xu Chen's chest. Wherever her fingertip passed, the Hongmeng blood and qi within Xu Chen's body actually boiled uncontrollably, letting out bursts of dragon roars and tiger howls, as if responding to her touch.

“If I ‘eat’ you, can it allow my Divine Phoenix Clan... to continue for another hundred thousand years?”

“Eat... eat me?”

Xu Chen's mouth twitched, and he subconsciously glanced at Long Aoxue, who was equally shocked beside him.

“Clan Leader Feng, let's talk this through properly. Although I am a humanoid divine medicine, there are specific ways to ‘eat’ me. Do you want to steam me, braise me, or...”

Xu Chen gave a wicked smile, his gaze becoming meaningful as he boldly met her eyes, turning the tables:

“Do you want me to ‘feed’ you?”

“Heh.”

Feng Jiuyou let out a cold laugh. She didn't take his suggestive bait, but instead turned around, her back to everyone. Her voice suddenly became somewhat desolate, carrying an endless sense of exhaustion.

“Although you Dragon Clan have a messy private life, at least you, Long Aoxue, are holding things up. Moreover, dragons are lecherous by nature and never picky eaters; you never have to worry about reproduction.”

“But my Divine Phoenix Clan is different.”

She raised her hand, and a ball of golden flame ignited in her palm. The flame seemed vigorous, but in reality, a trace of gray, defeated death qi had appeared at the core of the flame.

“Our bloodline is too overbearing and too proud. We do not perch on anything but the Wutong tree, and we do not mate with anything but the finest.”

“This has led to the fact that over these tens of thousands of years, there have been fewer and fewer males who can match the females of my clan. By my generation...”

Feng Jiuyou suddenly clenched her fist, snuffing out the flame, and turned around with a hint of unwillingness and despair in her eyes.

“In the entire Divine Phoenix Clan, besides me, there is no longer a second pure-blooded phoenix.”

“And I, despite being the leader of a clan, possessing a peak Half-Saint cultivation, and being the most beautiful in the Demon Realm, have been single for thirty thousand years simply because I cannot find a partner who can withstand my Rebirth Fire.”

“Thirty thousand years...”

Feng Jiuyou laughed self-deprecatingly, a flash of madness appearing in the depths of her eyes.

“Do you know how I've lived through these thirty thousand years? Watching my clansmen die of old age one by one, watching our bloodline wither bit by bit. The fire poison in my body flares up every hundred years, and that pain of burning flesh is worse than death.”

“If not for the sake of this damned racial continuation, this seat would have long ago dragged the entire Undying Fire Mountain into self-immolation!”

Hearing these words, Long Aoxue couldn't help but set aside her playful thoughts.

Although she usually had a sharp tongue and called her a 'ten-thousand-year-old virgin,' hearing her rival personally admit to thirty thousand years of loneliness and despair inevitably touched her heart.

As a fellow ruler of the Demon Race, she understood too well the pain of watching one's race head toward extinction while being powerless to stop it.

“So...”

Long Aoxue took a step forward, blocking Xu Chen and looking at Feng Jiuyou warily, like a mother dragon protecting her food.

“What do you want to do? Steal my man?”

“Steal?”

Feng Jiuyou looked at Long Aoxue's nervous expression, a mocking curve hooking her lips.

“Long Aoxue, since you brought him before me, didn't you just want to see me bow my head?”

“Fine, I will fulfill your wish.”

After saying that, she directly ignored Long Aoxue, bypassed her, and came before Xu Chen once again.

This time, although the pride in her eyes remained, there was more of a desperate resolve and the decisiveness of a queen.

“Xu Chen.”

“Didn't you say just now that you wanted to borrow the ‘Rebirth Divine Fire’?”

“I can give it to you. Not just the Divine Fire, but my Divine Phoenix Clan's treasury, and even all the treasures in this Nirvana Palace—as long as you want them, I can give them to you.”

Feng Jiuyou took a deep breath, as if making a major decision. Her voice trembled slightly, yet every word was powerful:

“As long as... you are willing to leave behind a ‘seed’.”

“As long as you can let me conceive an offspring with the Divine Phoenix bloodline, even if it's just for... one night.”

“This seat can satisfy all your requirements.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall fell silent.

Nangong Waner covered her mouth in surprise, looking at this legendary ice queen with a face full of disbelief.

Long Aoxue's eyes widened even further, as if she were meeting her rival for the first time.

Was this still the Feng Jiuyou who was known as the 'Ice Flame Queen' and looked down on all men in the world?

She was actually taking the initiative to ask for a seed?

And it was under such almost humble conditions—just give me a child, and everything else is yours?

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Looking at the queen before him, who was begging yet still kept her back straight and struggled to maintain her last shred of dignity, Xu Chen felt no contempt. Instead, a strong desire for conquest rose within him.

This was a true queen.

For her race, she could sacrifice everything, including her body and her pride.

“Clan Leader Feng, you've certainly got quite a scheme going.”

Xu Chen reached out. Instead of answering her, he gently tilted up her chin, which was as smooth as jade, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes.

“Just one night? Just a child?”

“What do you take me for? An emotionless breeding machine?”

“Or rather...”

Xu Chen leaned into her ear, his warm breath fanning across her sensitive earlobe, his voice low and full of magnetism:

“Do you think this Young Master's ability is something that can satisfy you in just one night?”

“You...”

The tips of Feng Jiuyou's ears instantly turned red, and her body trembled slightly.

No one had ever dared to speak to her like this, and no one had ever dared to be so frivolous with her. But strangely, facing this man with the Hongmeng Creation Body, she couldn't feel a trace of repulsion. Instead, there was a... nameless anticipation.

Even the Rebirth Fire that had been dormant in her body for thirty thousand years was cheering because of his proximity.

“Then what do you want?”

Feng Jiuyou bit her red lips and looked at him with blurred eyes, her voice having already softened.

“It's very simple.”

Xu Chen let go, took a step back, opened his arms, and gave a domineering smile.

“What I want is not just the Divine Fire, nor just a child.”

“I want you, Feng Jiuyou.”