After hearing this question from Jingliu, Dan Feng almost failed to keep his expression under control.
He began to think back on when he and Zero had shown any flaws.
The Dragon Lord reacted quickly, and in an instant, he found the reason.
There was no other reason, it was because of his tail.
If it had been Jingyuan, whom Dan Feng had watched growing up, or Baiheng and Yingxing, if any of those three touched his tail, Jingliu would never have been suspicious.
But it just had to be Zero, someone she had barely met face-to-face a few times.
Please, he was the Vidyadhara High Elder, Lord Imbibitor Lunae! Was he someone who'd fall for such a basic provocation? Was his tail something just anyone could touch?
The former General almost exposed his identity because of Dan Feng's tail…
Should Dan Feng be gloating, thinking "serves him right"? Or something else?
For a moment, the Dragon Lord didn't know how to describe his own feelings.
But he also knew that the matter between Zero and Jingliu… was absolutely not something he, an outsider, should get involved in.
Dan Feng calmly smoothed his sleeve and walked slowly to the stone table to sit down. He acted as though he didn't understand, first shaking his head to deny it, then asking Jingliu in return, "Why do you say that?"
Jingliu didn't speak, only kept watching him.
When had this proud and arrogant Dragon Lord ever lied? His whole face was full of flaws.
Seeing through her friend at a glance, and just as Dan Feng was about to say something else, she shook her head and sighed, "Dan Feng, you're lying."
Dan Feng, "..."
He lowered his eyes and secretly sighed in his heart.
The Dragon Lord only felt torn, on one side was his longtime friend, on the other was the former General who had shown great kindness to the Vidyadhara.
For the two of them to come together had already been difficult enough. Was he supposed to create conflict between them?
Jingliu had left her homeland, joined the Cloud Knights, fought countless victorious battles for the Xianzhou. Now that she had someone she loved, as a friend, Dan Feng naturally wished to give her his blessing.
It was just that… the person she loved was too unusual.
The former General's real identity was absolutely not something he, Dan Feng, could tell.
He could only conceal the truth.
Setting aside whether this was fair to his friend Jingliu, speaking only of the former General…
Back then, that man's subordinates had repeatedly suggested choosing a consort for him. Young ladies from noble families pursued him one after another. Five thousand years, he remained single for five thousand years…
Such a man ended up with no body left behind, dying alone in some place no one knew.
Everyone had felt sorrow upon hearing of his death.
For some unknown reason, he had not truly died, and was reborn once more.
So then, was there any problem with the former General and Jingliu being together? There was absolutely no problem.
But if Dan Feng said something unnecessary and caused a conflict between the two…
Normally, when one person hides their identity and the other discovers it, the two talk it out and quickly reconcile.
But that was the former General whose mental state was deeply concerning. Were his thoughts and actions something that followed normal logic? Of course not.
Dan Feng knew painfully well that if one wanted to predict that man's thoughts, they needed to think the opposite of a normal person.
The former General had never had a lover. Dan Feng could only fall back on using his friends as reference.
That man had once agreed to drink with Yubie. After Yubie died, he mentioned this agreement to another Lord Imbibitor Lunae. When he didn't get the answer he wanted, he never spoke of it again.
If it were a normal person, who would drag something like that until now? It would've been cleared up immediately, how could it have become like this?
Lord Imbibitor Lunae had inherited memories of his past life through dreams. With those memories, the Dragon Lord could understand implied meanings in others' words and knew how to interact with superiors.
Human relationships and social norms were, to him, merely the simplest survival rules.
And even Lord Imbibitor Lunae couldn't give that man a satisfactory answer… so what about Jingliu, who devoted her whole heart to the sword and wasn't good at reading people?
She most likely wouldn't be able to give him the answer he wanted either.
If normal people would reconcile, then the former General would definitely do the opposite, at the moment his identity was exposed, he would break up with Jingliu, and leave the Xianzhou Luofu.
And as for why a long-lived species could leave the Luofu… Please, did people think the Vidyadhara dragon-tamers died for nothing?
Dan Feng could see at a glance that this was the work of that group of subordinates.
After that funeral, that group had become "mad dogs" in the eyes of other factions.
Especially Daiyang.
Lord Imbibitor Lunae had not seen this Luofu general in a very long time. To meet again only at a funeral, the other had served as a general in the Luofu for over a thousand years. Even today, she must still have her own people there.
Those subordinates had arrived at the Luofu long ago, waiting at all times for that man's orders. Don't even mention leaving the Luofu… Even if Zero suddenly felt like reclaiming the position of General, they likely wouldn't stop him.
Wait, forget the General's position, those people probably already prepared the dragon-robes for him.
Dan Feng could no longer keep his expression steady and let out a deep sigh.
He said to his friend, "I've never met him before."
The truth was not his to tell, otherwise the two would definitely break up.
Forget whether Yubie would scold him in a dream, Dan Feng himself would probably lose sleep, waking up at midnight just to curse himself with, 'You truly deserve to die.'
Dan Feng didn't want to deceive his friend, so he could only hide part of the truth.
Hundreds of years ago, the former General had died. Dan Feng truly had never met him; he could only learn about him from past memories and the clan's archives.
Dan Feng continued, "I haven't met him, but I've heard of him."
Jingliu seemed to be thinking.
Dan Feng looked at his friend while also trying to guess her thoughts.
On the surface, Zero appeared to be quite wealthy.
And given how the Xianzhou avoided topics of life and death, Jingliu would never imagine someone could die and then return to life.
Finally, the fact that this Seer's name had reached the ears of a Dragon Lord…
Jingliu could most likely only deduce that Zero had extremely close ties to the upper ranks of the Xianzhou.
Jingliu looked away first and asked, "Is it inconvenient to tell me?"
She didn't wait for Dan Feng to answer, she had already seen the answer on his face.
Her tone was certain, "It seems his identity is quite unusual, enough that even you, a Dragon Lord, have to think twice."
Dan Feng fell silent for a moment, then nodded with a difficult expression.
Jingliu didn't want to make things hard for her friend.
Whether as comrade or friend, the Dragon Lord was someone worthy of trust.
She didn't continue pressing him.
"In that case, I won't ask."
She had never expected to get anything out of Dan Feng's mouth anyway.
She just hadn't expected that the Dragon Lord actually did know the inside story.
What Jingliu had the most of was patience.
She had already made up her mind long ago, to wait for her lover to speak on his own.
If those past events were too painful for Zero, and she forced him to talk…
Then how would she be any different from the people who had excluded and hurt him, as he once described?
Only when he brought it up on his own would it mean he had truly walked out of the pain.
Jingliu stood up cleanly and decisively. Facing Dan Feng, she asked the question she actually wanted to ask.
"One last question."
"Before all this, how had he been? Was he very tired?"