Heilong-kou (Black Dragon-Mouth/Pass)
Heilong-cheng (Black Dragon-City)
Heilong-yuan(Black Dragon Wall)
Heilong Bay (Black Dragon Bay)
Heilong Ridge (Black Dragon Ridge)
Censorate (Supervisory Court)
Yuling City (Jade City)
Jingui Town (Golden Turtle Town)
Xuanwu City (Black tortoise City)
Qinglong (Azure Dragron)
...
After Long Er and the others brought the children back, Yin Jixue closed her book.
"Do you know why I had you go pick them up from school?"
The shadow guards all shook their heads.
"In two days, it'll be Labor Day in the city. I've decided to give all demons within the Black Dragon Tribe a seven-day holiday. You lot will take these two kids to Black Dragon Mouth Amusement Park to play for a few days."
Originally, Yin Jixue had planned to have Feng Xiu take Lian Ze and Yan Ye out, but now that she had the shadow guards, they were better suited for the task.
Though it might sound a bit harsh, the guards had grown up alongside the Crown Prince and knew how to care for children without irritating them.
Long Da hesitated. "But… when should we return to the capital?"
Yin Jixue chuckled lightly. "No need to worry. I've already written to His Majesty. For now, rest up in the Black Dragon Tribe. When it's time, I'll send someone to escort you back."
The guards finally relaxed. There was no need to rush their report, and they could even avoid those aggressive female demons in Black Dragon City.
They knelt on one knee and saluted:
"Your subordinates obey."
To Lian Ze and Yan Ye, these guards seemed weak and powerless—no match even for a flick of their finger.
Still, since they were appointed by Her Majesty, the two children could only obediently listen to them.
In reality, the guards were utterly outmatched in the presence of these kids. Demon children were impossible to handle.
They were so clever they might as well be adults, while the guards felt more like the actual children.
...
All the demons in Black Dragon City received a notification: starting May 1st, there would be a seven-day holiday.
Her Majesty declared it to be Labor Day—a holiday meant to honor all working demons and their rights.
Though no one understood what that meant, the decree was clear: seven days of paid leave. Shops and clinics that remained open would pay employees triple wages.
Even the mines were shut down. No one was allowed into the mining areas, and the workers would still receive wages calculated at twelve hours per day.
The citizens of Black Dragon City assumed this "Labor Day" came from the Queen's homeland. Even the shadow guards who'd left the city had no idea where the idea originated.
Labor Day came without warning—one day, kids were still in school, and the next, they were told not to come back for another week.
Out-of-town students went straight to the city gates to meet their parents and return to Black Dragon Mouth together.
This decree reached not just the city, but the entire Black Dragon Tribe.
And that wasn't all—Her Majesty designated several other holidays as well.
For instance, Dragon Boat Festival would now be a three-day holiday. Demons were to eat a dish made of glutinous rice wrapped in leaves, called zongzi—everyone interpreted it as a gourmet festival.
Considering the Black Dragon Tribe included dragons, black flood dragons, and serpent clans, Yin Jixue thoughtfully skipped the traditional realgar wine and introduced a substitute: a sweet rice wine called Duanwu Wine, brewed from glutinous rice.
There was also the Qingming Festival, a three-day holiday for mourning deceased loved ones. This deeply moved the demon population.
Even the foreign merchants were full of envy. Although demons were said to have weaker blood ties, that didn't mean they didn't love their family—they just weren't known for intergenerational bonding.
There was also the Mid-Autumn Festival and Lantern Festival. The former, on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, was about family reunions and came with a three-day break.
The Lantern Festival marked the end of the New Year and involved eating sweet, round tangyuan. The holiday was combined with New Year's, totaling half a month off.
With all these holidays rolled out at once, even foreign merchants started eyeing permanent residency in the Black Dragon Tribe.
But settling in another tribe wasn't simple—it required approval from both tribal kings and city lords. Otherwise, one might be seen as a traitor to their kind.
Under the Black Dragon Tribe's holiday system, merchants could work, earn money, and rest often. When they got old, they could buy a house and retire in Black Dragon City.
Some merchants had already secured real estate in Black Dragon Mouth. Those who hadn't would only find it harder in the future.
The tribe had a policy favoring native demons: any demon native to the Black Dragon Tribe had one opportunity to purchase a home within the city.
This applied to all demons, even wild clans and low-born ones—as long as they had a hundred years of residence history, they were eligible to purchase a home with permanent ownership.
Foreign merchants, however, could only get 200-year leases on the property. Who wouldn't be jealous?
Back to the main topic—despite rolling out so many new holidays, Yin Jixue faced no resistance.
During the council meeting, she explained the cultural significance of each holiday—without ever mentioning Earth. Provincial Governor Meng Qiu, Lin Zhong, and several scholars all voted in favor.
"Our Black Dragon Tribe truly needs festivals like these. Her Majesty's proposals are quite appropriate."
Although some of them didn't understand why Labor Day required so many days off, they saw it as Her Majesty showing compassion for the people.
Holidays like Qingming and Mid-Autumn had deeper meaning—honoring ancestors and reuniting families. These were exactly the kind of values the Black Dragon Tribe needed.
Shortly after the holiday decree was announced, Lou Zhao came to find Yin Jixue.
"What do you think of this?"
In his hand were two glowing purple jade tokens.
Yin Jixue took them, intrigued. "What are these? They're pretty."
Who could resist something shiny—especially something that glowed with violet light?
Lou Zhao explained, "These are Voice Stones. What if we modified them into something like that 'phone' you showed me?"
Wait, what?
The demon realm had tech this advanced?
Yin Jixue was instantly curious. "Where did you get these Voice Stones?"
Lou Zhao seemed a little confused himself. "I'm not sure. Voice Stones are made from magic crystals. I suddenly received an inheritance, so I just gave it a try."
And somehow, he'd made them.
"How many magic crystals does it take?"
She'd only ever lived in Black Dragon City. What if the tribe only had one magic crystal mine? They couldn't afford to rely on magic crystals forever.
"Not many. The child stone and mother stone just need to come from the same crystal."
So one crystal per pair? Still pretty resource-heavy.
Noticing her reluctance, Lou Zhao tried to reassure her.
"We'll never run out. Do you know how long a magic crystal lasts?"
"A few generations?!"
"Exactly. The Xuanwu Tribe discovered one mine thousands of years ago. They dug it for millennia before finally exhausting it."
What the hell? Digging for thousands of years? That's practically a family business at that point.
No wonder magic crystals used to be used as currency. Back then, they were probably as popular as black dragon coins are now.
But since magic crystals are consumable, they became rarer over time, and no one wanted to use them for trades anymore.
Yin Jixue relaxed a little. "Besides you, can anyone else make them?"
Lou Zhao replied smugly, "I can handle it. Don't forget—I'm an adult now."
Yin Jixue instantly gave him a deadpan look. "Oh. Then go quickly." Please don't bring up that topic again—do you have to remind me I was the one who made you an adult in broad daylight?!
With the Demon King in charge of producing the Voice Stones, soon the Black Dragon Tribe would have phones.
The best part? No signal towers are needed. As long as the user wasn't dead or lost in some Bermuda Triangle-like demon zone, the Voice Stone would transmit messages just fine.
Suddenly, Yin Jixue had another idea: If the stones were palm-sized, couldn't they support video calls too?
She immediately sent a subordinate to tell Lou Zhao to check whether the inherited knowledge included instructions for building video-calling Voice Stones.