I am NOT a Demon Queen!

Osakabehime’s voice, devoid of any real feeling, drifted through the line. “How can I be useful? I’m useless. People can’t use you if you’re useless.”

Su Yao’s mouth opened, a familiar, biting retort already forming on her tongue. Then, she paused.

Just because someone is a nine-tailed fox doesn't mean they are strong, the thought flashed through her mind. It only means they are old. Osakabehime’s centuries of isolation must have rendered her a nonthreatening relic.

“Alright, I'm ending the call,” Kayo declared abruptly, cutting into their silence. “My chat is spamming frog emojis, and I need to figure out why. You two can talk about being useless old ladies later.”

The line went dead with a sharp click.

A beat of silence hung in the air, thick with the distant sounds of ongoing destruction. Osakabehime’s voice, still present, broke it.

“She has a very energetic way of ending conversations.”

Su Yao pinched the bridge of her nose. “She has a very energetic way of doing everything. That is the problem.”

She considered severing the connection herself, but a sharp question formed instead. “Is your ‘uselessness’ truly a philosophy, or just an excuse for cowardice?”

“Does the distinction matter?” Osakabehime replied, her tone a soft, steady monotone. “The outcome is the same. I am here, alive and unbothered. You are there, dealing with dragons and crying mortals. Which of us is currently more useful, and which of us is more at peace?”

The reclusive fox had a point, infuriating though it was.

“How are you still on this line?” Su Yao asked, her voice tight with impatience. “Kayo ended the call.”

“I never actually disconnected,” Osakabehime replied, her tone languid. “I just muted my end while she was having her moment. My streaming setup is very sophisticated. Patching into a call and staying there is not difficult, especially when one of the participants is as... loud as your cousin.”

A soft, clicking sound, like keys being pressed, echoed faintly.

“Besides, it’s more interesting than rerunning the same dungeon for the tenth time. That dragon of yours is quite the spectacle. Are you going to deal with it, or just let it level the city while you philosophize with me?”

Su Yao let out an exasperated sigh. The distant roar of the Jiao Long underscored her irritation. “And how, precisely, does one deal with a primordial flood dragon? It’s insusceptible to negotiation or brute force.”

Osakabehime’s reply was immediate and matter-of-fact, stating the obvious. “By seducing it, of course.”

“You are insane,” Su Yao stated, her voice flat with utter disbelief. “One doesn’t simply seduce a primordial force of nature.”

“It’s a fundamental principle,” Osakabehime countered, her tone still infuriatingly calm. “Everything with a consciousness can be swayed by an appeal to its base nature. A dragon is the same. I have several extensive treatises on the subject in my digital library. Would you like me to send you a link?”

She paused, then added mildly, “Even fast-talking donkeys with enough confidence have managed it in documented cases. I’m surprised you can’t. This suggests the issue is your personal skill set.”

Before Su Yao could formulate a scathing response, her phone buzzed. An incoming call from Zhang Wei. His tone was brief and urgent. “The dragon just changed course. It’s heading for the financial district. The false Seimei’s forces are in full retreat. Orders?”

“Is the evacuation of the financial district complete?”

“Yes. The area is clear. No one is there anymore.”

“Good,” Su Yao said aloud, her voice calm. “Then we wait. Let the dragon finish its rampage. It will grow weary and return to its slumber eventually.”

“What? Why?” Zhang Wei’s voice crackled with disbelief over the line. “We can't just let it destroy everything!”

“Do you ask an earthquake to stop?” Su Yao retorted, her tone sharp and dismissive. “The dragon is a force of nature. It will pass. Intervening now would only waste resources and lives.”

Osakabehime’s voice chimed in from the phone, still connected. “See? Even she understands the value of patience. Sometimes, the best action is inaction.’

Su Yao ignored her. She focused on the distant sounds of collapsing buildings. “Monitor the situation, Zhang Wei. Don’t engage, that’s an order.”

She watched the plume of dust and debris rising from the financial district, her mind racing. What is that overgrown lizard even doing there? Is it truly attracted by the mere concept of wealth? Does it plan to plunder gold and stocks to line its underwater lair? The absurdity!

Osakabehime’s voice broke through her thoughts. “You've gone quiet. Contemplating the seduction approach after all?”

“Hardly,” Su Yao snapped back. “I'm considering the dragon’s inexplicable interest in a center of mortal finance. It makes no sense.”

Zhang Wei’s voice cut in, strained. “The dragon is tearing apart the vaults of the major banks. Security footage shows it swallowing safety deposit boxes whole.”

Su Yao’s eyes narrowed. “It’s hoarding like a common magpie. How undignified for a primordial being.” She paused, a new thought striking her. “Unless... Those vaults contain artifacts and spiritual items stored by cultivators who thought a bank was secure.”

Osakabehime chuckled softly. “Or maybe it just has a taste for plastic. Credit cards are a modern delicacy, I hear.”

“Shut up,” Su Yao said, but her mind was already working. “Zhang Wei, scan for any unusual energy signatures in that area before the attack. The dragon might be targeting specific items.”

“On it,” Zhang Wei replied, the frantic typing audible in the background. “But what do we do if it is? We can't just let it eat whatever it wants.”

“We can if it leads us to something useful,” Su Yao said. “Sometimes, the best way to find a hidden treasure is to watch what the dragon steals.”

Zhang Wei’s voice crackled back over the line. Urgency mixed with disbelief. “The energy scan is off the charts! It looks like every local cultivator with something to hide used those bank vaults as their personal storage.”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end, followed by the faint clatter of hurried movement, as if he were pacing through equipment racks.

“They all thought no one else would be dumb enough to use a mortal bank for spiritual artifacts, but apparently, everyone had the same brilliant idea. The place is practically a beacon of condensed spiritual power.”

Su Yao let out a short, derisive laugh. “Fools. They might as well have painted a target on the vaults. No wonder the dragon was drawn there. It’s a buffet of unsecured power.”

From the phone, Osakabehime chimed in, her voice lazy. “See? Even dragons understand the appeal of a good hoard. Maybe it’s just trying to diversify its portfolio.”

Ignoring her, Su Yao focused on Zhang Wei. “Do we have an inventory of what was stored there? Anything that might be particularly volatile or useful?”

“Working on it,” Zhang Wei replied, keys clacking. “But from the signatures, I'm seeing everything from sealed demon weapons to refined essence pellets. If the dragon consumes all of that, it could become even more powerful. Or it might trigger a chain reaction that levels the entire district.”

“Then we observe,” Su Yao said, her tone decisive. “Let the dragon gorge itself. If it becomes a greater threat, we deal with it then. But if the artifacts cause an internal conflict, it might save us the trouble. Either way, we learn what items are in play.”

Zhang Wei sounded uneasy. “You want to use the dragon as a can opener for cultivator secrets?”

“Precisely,” Su Yao said. “Now, keep monitoring.”

“Sir, we're getting a strange reading from the monitoring spells,” one of Zhang Wei’s techs cut in over the comms. “The Jiao Long is demolishing the vaults, but it’s completely ignoring several artifacts with strong spiritual signatures as if they're not even there.”

Su Yao’s eyes narrowed. “Ignoring them? Why would a creature attuned to power overlook potent relics?”

Zhang Wei’s voice came through, puzzled. “It doesn't make sense. Some of these items should be radiating enough energy to attract any spiritual predator.”

“Unless they're counterfeits,” Su Yao stated, her tone dripping with disdain. “Crude fakes designed to fool mortal collectors or low-level cultivators. The dragon would sense the lack of genuine essence and discard them like trash.”

“Sir, the dragon stopped its assault,” the tech’s voice crackled with confusion over the comms. “It just tore open a massive sinkhole in the middle of the financial district and dove straight in. It hasn't resurfaced.”

Su Yao’s gaze sharpened, focusing on the distant dust cloud. “A sinkhole? In an area built on reclaimed land? How convenient.”

Zhang Wei’s voice cut in, tense. “Readings show the hole is deep, and it’s emitting a low-level spiritual resonance. Should we send a probe?”

“Hold,” Su Yao ordered. “If the dragon chose to retreat there, it’s either a pre-existing lair or a trap. Either way, charging in blindly is idiocy.”

From the phone, Osakabehime’s lazy voice chimed in. “Or it found a better hoard underground. Maybe it got bored with your cultivators’ trinkets.”

“Unlikely,” Su Yao retorted. “Dragons are territorial. It wouldn't abandon a rich feeding ground without reason. Zhang Wei, scan for any historical records of subterranean structures or leylines in that area. I want to know what’s down there before we make a move.”

“Sir,” the tech’s voice came back, laced with awe. “The geological and spiritual scans are syncing up. That sinkhole doesn't lead to a natural cavern. We're reading structured stone, architectural patterns... it’s the ruins of Old Duwang. The current city was built directly on top of its remains.”

Zhang Wei let out a low whistle. “So the dragon was returning home. Its nest was the original city.”

Su Yao’s lips curled into a cold, understanding smile. “Of course. The Jiao Long awoke because its territory was desecrated by modern construction. It was reclaiming a kingdom.”

Osakabehime’s voice, still on the line, was thoughtful. “A flooded ruin makes for a perfect lair for a flood dragon. No wonder it was so angry. You built a shopping mall on its palace.”

“Zhang Wei,” Su Yao commanded, her mind racing. “Cross-reference the layout of Old Duwang with any records of significant spiritual repositories or sealed artifacts from that era. If the dragon is ignoring modern counterfeits, it might be seeking something specific from its own time.”

“You think the cultivators’ vaults were just an appetizer?” Zhang Wei asked, already pulling up the data.

“I think,” Su Yao said, her eyes glinting, “that we just found the real reason for this ‘natural’ disaster. And if the Yamato knew about Old Duwang, they might have been counting on this.”

Su Yao stared at the plume of dust marking the sinkhole. She sifted through millennia in her mind. The history lessons in Xiao Ling’s school textbooks were useless. Only a single line about ‘Old Duwang’ drowning existed, a vague footnote before segueing into the city-state’s modern era as a British colony.

As if history began with colonial administration, she thought with disdain.

But she remembered. She had seen Old Duwang in its Tang Dynasty heyday as a bustling port island, a jewel in the trade routes, its docks crowded with merchants and cultivators at the height of their power.

She even knew its absurd origin story from a petty feud between two powerful cultivators over who had the right to marry some famed ‘Jade Beauty of Bao'an.’ During their duel, they had splintered a piece of the coastline, creating the island itself.

A dry, humorless smile touched her lips. It would be the most fitting, cyclical joke in history, she mused, if several dynasties later, probably during the Ming, the same thing happened again.

It could be another cultivator conflict. Another bout of catastrophic, petty vanity, but this time with enough force to crack the island’s foundations and send the whole glorious, messy experiment to the bottom of the sea.

Then, the modern city was built on a grave. The dragon was the guardian of that sunken kingdom, awakened from its slumber in the ruins.

Su Yao’s train of thought snapped into sharper focus. The Jiao Long had roared about being here since the dawn of the Han Dynasty. That conflicted with the island’s history. During the Han, this land was still part of Bao'an County. The separation into the distinct island of Old Duwang happened later.

Unless, she realized, the dragon hadn't been sleeping on the island itself, but on the very piece of Bao'an later shattered and cast adrift by those fool cultivators in their duel.

It must have been slumbering deep beneath the earth, only to find itself the unintended cornerstone of a new island. Centuries later, it became the sole resident of its drowned ruins.

The dragon was a relic from before the split then, a living piece of the original landscape that had been dragged into the sea along with the city. Its claim was older than Duwang itself.

Zhang Wei’s voice broke through her reverie. “Xiao Ling, the historical archives show that the sinkhole aligns with the old port district of Tang-era Duwang. If the dragon is down there, it’s sitting on the heart of the original city.”

“Enough observation. I'm going down there myself,” Su Yao declared, her tone leaving little room for argument. “If the dragon has been there for so long, it might be sitting on something far more valuable than a few cultivator trinkets.”

“What?” Zhang Wei’s voice was a mix of alarm and protest. “The energy readings are still fluctuating, and we have no idea what other defenses that thing has!”

“Precisely why my presence is required,” she countered, already turning toward the financial district. “Do you think we are the only ones who have realized what that sinkhole represents? Every minor faction and ambitious rogue cultivator in the city will be drawn to it now like flies to honey. I will not allow relics from the sunken city, let alone anything older, to fall into the wrong hands.”

As she moved, a specific thought crystallized in her mind. The dragon claimed the Han Dynasty, but the first people here were the Baiyue.

The Baiyue were indigenous tribes of the South China coast. They predated even the Qin unification. They were animists, weavers of potent and strange magics tied to the land and sea. If the dragon’s hoard contained artifacts from that era, items untouched by orthodox cultivation methods... that would be a prize worth securing, and a catastrophic weapon in the hands of a fool.

From the phone, Osakabehime let out a soft, appreciative hum. “Ooh, going for a treasure dive. Much more exciting than streaming. Try not to get eaten. I'd miss our conversations.”

“Your concern is touching,” Su Yao deadpanned, severing the connection with a tap of her finger.

She focused on the growing rift in the city’s skyline. The dragon was one problem. And the scavengers were another. But the potential of what lay buried beneath it all was the real reason she had to move now.

Su Yao descended toward the gaping maw of the sinkhole. The air was thick with dust and the reek of ruptured sewers, confirming its connection to the city’s plumbing systems. Before she could even reach the jagged rim, a flash of spiritual light blinded her. A shouted command followed.

“Halt! This is a restricted zone by order of the—” The voice, belonging to a cultivator in sleek, modern tactical gear, cut off abruptly as he got a clear look at her. His eyes widened. He dropped to one knee, bowing his head. “The Jade Purity Maiden! Forgive our blindness! We are honored you have come to aid us in purifying this blight!”

Three other cultivators, their uniforms marking them as part of the Wild Hunt, followed his lead, bowing deeply.

Su Yao stared at them. Her expression was utterly deadpan. These idiots. The irony is so thick I could taste it, and it’s more bitter than the cheapest beer.

“I am not the Jade Purity Maiden,” she stated, her voice flat.

“Your modesty is as legendary as your virtue, Maiden!” the lead cultivator gushed, still not looking up. “We will clear a path for you! The vile dragon’s taint must be—“

He never finished his sentence. A wave of invisible force slammed into the four of them, hurling them back into a pile of rubble. They groaned, stunned and confused.

“The next one of you to call me that will lose the tongue that uttered it,” Su Yao said, stepping over them as if they were stray rocks. “I am here for the relics. Stay out of my way.”

As she moved past, one of the cultivators, clutching his ribs, muttered in dazed confusion, “But... the legends... the Jade Purity Maiden is kind and merciful...”

“The legends,” Su Yao said without looking back, “are mistaken”

She dropped into the sinkhole, leaving the bewildered cultivators in her wake. Their misconception was an annoyance, but for now, a useful one. Let them think their fabled saint was merely having a bad day. It was better than them realizing the ancient fox they feared was walking right into their midst.