Qing Ying had followed Bao Gu for over five hundred years. Even if she couldn’t claim to know Bao Gu down to every last hair, she at least had her figured out seven or eight parts.
She estimated Bao Gu should have finished dealing with those miscellaneous matters by now, so she sauntered back to the Envoy’s Manor, planning to drag Bao Gu off to help her retrieve her father’s great cauldron.
The moment she stepped through the main gate, she glanced up.
The main hall that was usually bustling was now so empty it didn’t even have a ghost’s shadow.
She released her divine sense to sweep the place, only to find every courtyard in the Envoy’s Manor was shrouded in formations that blocked divine sense. As long as a courtyard’s gate was shut, she couldn’t sense a thing inside.
When her divine sense brushed past the manor’s garden, she abruptly caught sight of a thin mist spreading through it. Several women were gathered around a magic tool that looked suspiciously like a cauldron. Inside it sat an earth-fire artifact, above which was set a rack forged from Da Luo Scarlet Gold. Lined up across the rack was a full row of thin Da Luo Scarlet Gold skewers, each one strung with meat, sizzling as the earth fire roasted it, fat hissing and dripping down.
Yu Mi was sitting right in front of that roasting-weapon, handling the skewers with utter familiarity. She was even dripping some treasure liquid onto them, the glow and aura alone marking it as a spiritual treasure-grade elixir.
What really made Qing Ying’s mind blank, though, was that she clearly saw Yu Mi holding a gourd of Monkey Wine that could only have come from that cheap master of hers—and she was pouring it over the meat.
Judging by the quality—
Supreme Monkey Wine!
Qing Ying stared at that Supreme Monkey Wine until her eyes went glassy. Before she even realized it herself, her body had already drifted to the roasting cauldron, drool almost leaking out as she stared fixedly at that gourd that looked very much like the one used to hold Supreme Monkey Wine.
“Is that Supreme Monkey Wine?”
Standing in front of the roasting stand, the rich fragrance drilled straight into her nose. That smell—tsk!
Her mouth flooded with saliva.
Embarrassed, she shoved a finger between her teeth and bit down hard, just to stop the drool from actually spilling out. That would be mortifying.
Yu Mi lifted her eyes to the ba who had appeared in front of her without a sound.
“Mhm.” She replied lightly.
“Looking for Bao Gu? She’s gone into seclusion.”
When Qing Ying heard Yu Mi say Bao Gu had “gone into seclusion,” only then did she notice Bao Gu really wasn’t among this group.
“Oh.”
She bent down, leaning in toward the skewers turning over the fire.
“Are they done yet?”
She raised her eyes to Yu Mi again.
“You’re really roasting meat? What kind of meat is this?”
The smell made the saliva gather again. She hurried to swallow it back down. Probably feeling that this was getting far too undignified, she straightened up and said in an airy tone,
“That cheap master of mine’s never roasted meat for me like this.”
Yu Mi knew Bao Gu’s cooking skills quite well. She smiled.
“What does that cheap master usually make you to eat? Invite you to drink tea?”
Qing Ying caught the implication in her words. Her eyes half-narrowed as she looked at Yu Mi.
“Are you making fun of me?”
The Demon Saint, sitting to the side with a cup of wine, had her whole body tensed tight.
Zi Yunshu took the Demon Saint’s free hand and gave it a soothing squeeze. She leaned to the Demon Saint’s ear and sent a quiet voice transmission.
“Grandmaster Granny’s here.”
The Demon Saint nodded lightly and looked over at Xue Qing—only to see Xue Qing already lifting her gaze to watch Qing Ying.
Qu Yirou, Jade Shura, and Si Ruo were all staring curiously at this legendary ba.
Si Ruo had never imagined that the ba who’d almost wiped Yue Country off the map would look like… this! The contrast was so huge she still couldn’t quite connect the name “ba” with the person Qing Ying in front of her.
Yu Mi, on the other hand, didn’t particularly take the ba’s threat to heart. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen the ba’s methods. They all boiled down to one thing—beating. Beating and beating and beating again. When you finished beating, you beat some more.
She believed that if Bao Gu dared bring the ba back, then she was certain the ba posed no threat to her. And besides, Bao Gu trusted the ba so much; the ba would definitely not harm her.
Yu Mi laughed.
“What would I make fun of you for? If I’m making fun of anyone, it’s that cheap master of yours. When she cooks, it’s nothing but spiritual treasures and spirit herbs boiled with meat, meat boiled with spiritual treasures and spirit herbs, and then those steamed dishes that don’t taste like steaming, braises that don’t taste like braises. Her skill at brewing tea, though, is first-rate.”
She glanced up at Qing Ying.
“Do you usually drink tea?”
Qing Ying noticed there was an empty stool beside Xue Qing, with a big gourd of Supreme Monkey Wine set on the table in front of it, its lid already off and the gourd filled to the brim.
Feigning a very casual air, she drifted over and sat down on the empty stool at Xue Qing’s side. She tipped her chin up and snorted lightly.
“What’s it to you?”
Her gaze turned again.
“My cheap master’s gone into seclusion?”
Yu Mi hummed in acknowledgment.
“Yeah. Didn’t you hear me just say so?”
Qing Ying lifted those pretty eyes and swept them slowly over the people present, then let her gaze land back on Yu Mi.
“Before my cheap master went into seclusion, she must’ve told you all to take care of my rations and not let me go hungry.”
Yu Mi gave it serious thought.
“No, she didn’t. She did remind me again and again that if I ran into trouble I couldn’t handle or any danger, I could go find you. She said you’re the one she trusts most.”
Qing Ying’s brows scrunched up at once.
“Then what about my rations?”
“She didn’t say.”
Qing Ying’s brows jumped.
“She didn’t say?”
Her tone was angry, but her expression was aggrieved.
Xue Qing picked up the wine gourd, poured herself a cup, and took a light sip. Hearing Yu Mi and Qing Ying’s back-and-forth, the corners of her lips curled into a faint smile.
The Duobao Spirit Monkey, sitting on the table beside Xue Qing, keenly noticed that Qing Ying’s gaze kept “accidentally” sweeping over the wine gourd in front of Xue Qing.
It decisively nudged the gourd closer to Xue Qing, shifting it to the far side away from the ba.
Yu Mi plated the finished skewers neatly onto delicate jade plates, putting one set in front of Xue Qing first, then going around the round table, serving each of the others in turn.
Starting with Xue Qing and circling left, by the time she came back around to Qing Ying, there was only one plate left. Yu Mi calmly kept that last plate for herself.
Qing Ying looked around.
Everyone had something—Supreme Monkey Wine that even that cheap master of hers didn’t have anymore, spirit fruit, and roasted meat.
Only her place in front was empty.
Ever since she’d “picked up” that cheap master, when had she ever not been treated like the stars around the moon, properly pampered and worshiped? When had anyone ever dared leave her hanging like this?
Her teeth ground together in anger. But then she felt that throwing a fit over a few thin skewers of meat that weren’t even enough to fill the gap between her teeth was a bit beneath her dignity.
So she simply opened up her Blood Prison World and yanked out a perfectly fresh Earth Immortal corpse whose neck she’d personally twisted, still well-sealed and radiating warmth.
“Bargain Martial Uncle,” she said,
“That cheap master of mine claims you’re amazing at cooking meat. I don’t believe it. If you can roast this Earth Immortal’s flesh properly, I’ll admit it! Looks to me like cutting it into small little pieces and roasting them turns out pretty good. I’m not picky. Just roast it like that.”
Feeling she ought to offer something in return since she was the one asking a favor, she added,
“If you roast it well, I’ll give you… I’ll give you all a third of the meat. Not any more. I’m already being very generous.”
The moment the Earth Immortal corpse hit the ground, Qu Yirou, Jade Shura, Si Ruo, Yu Mi, Zi Yunshu, the Demon Saint, Ling’er, and Xuan Yue all froze, eyes going wide.
They couldn’t see what cultivation level this corpse had reached. They only saw that the skin had already taken on a jade-like quality yet still looked like flesh. Even though this person the ba called “Earth Immortal meat” was already dead, they all felt as if they were standing before a towering mountain.
The aura leaking from that body was so powerful they clearly understood: if this “Earth Immortal meat” weren’t sealed, then even if it were only a corpse, the pressure it gave off was not something they could withstand.
Xuan Yue’s eyes went round.
“Is that really an Earth Immortal?”
Xue Qing said,
“A barbarian Asura. This barbarian Asura’s cultivation is equivalent to a cultivator’s Earth Immortal realm. But barbarian Asura are born for battle. An Earth Immortal realm Asura usually has the combat strength of a True Immortal.”
Hearing Xue Qing’s assessment, Qing Ying turned her head, curious.
“Oh? You’ve got some eye on you. Not like that cheap… who doesn’t understand anything—”
She cut off mid-sentence.
In that instant, she finally registered that the aura on Xue Qing, which she’d skimmed over and ignored before, was not right. Every hair on her body stood on end. A chill crawled up from the base of her spine.
She blinked hard, forced herself to steady, and asked,
“Your… your surname?”
Xue Qing lightly exhaled a single syllable.
“Xue.”
Qing Ying blinked again, carefully.
“Which Xue?”
“The Xue as in falling snow.”
Qing Ying glanced at Xuan Yue sitting beside Xue Qing, then at Ling’er next to Xuan Yue. Then she asked,
“Xue as in Xue Wuming?”
Xue Qing hummed in acknowledgment.
“The Xue Wuming you speak of is my great-grandfather.”
Qing Ying’s red lips parted halfway.
Then she shot three zhang straight back, landing a full ten meters away, body taut with vigilance as she stared at Xue Qing, over and over, trying to see through her.
But Xue Qing had heavy treasures on her person. Qing Ying couldn’t see her cultivation realm or strength at all.
“You… you put away those protective treasures you’ve got on you,” Qing Ying said.
“Let me take a look at you.”
Xue Qing laughed softly. She took the demon emperor artifacts she’d kept within her body out one by one and set them beside her.
“How about now? Can you see clearly?”
Qing Ying watched as Xue Qing pulled out one imperial artifact, then another, and another, and another—nine in total.
She forgot to breathe.
Though a few of those nine were only half-step imperial artifacts, they were still far beyond what she could handle right now. Worst of all, she saw that Dao-proving imperial cauldron of Xue Wuming’s.
That cauldron was no longer what it had been when it fought her father. Its aura was much stronger. When her gaze swept over it, she could clearly sense the formidable soul-consciousness of the artifact spirit within.
The Myriad Spirits True Cauldron.
That one cauldron alone could suppress her.
She stood there, several zhang away, quietly staring at Xue Qing. Her voice shrank down to a tiny mutter.
“You already have so many imperial artifacts… can’t you just… give my father’s cauldron back to me?”
Her voice suddenly rose.
“My cheap master promised she’d help me get the cauldron back. Now she’s in seclusion, I…”
She abruptly felt that cheap master of hers had picked the most hateful possible time to shut herself away.
Qing Ying feared Xue Qing’s pile of imperial artifacts, but she also believed her own strength wasn’t weak. She clenched her teeth.
“Give my father’s cauldron back!”
Yu Mi calmly pulled out another plate, piled the remaining skewers from the grill onto it, and set it on the empty seat beside Xue Qing.
“Eat first, then argue about cauldrons. Grandmaster Granny is sitting right here. You afraid she’s going to run off?”
The sight of that fragrant meat immediately threw Qing Ying into turmoil.
In her head she was shouting: “Cauldron? Meat? Cauldron? Meat?”
When she heard Yu Mi say eat first, that Xue Qing wouldn’t run, she found that logic quite persuasive. Then Yu Mi poured her a cup of Supreme Monkey Wine, and the scales in her heart tipped at once.
A little wary, Qing Ying said to Xue Qing,
“So, um… we all know you’ve got a lot of imperial artifacts. You can, uh, put them away now.”
Xue Qing lifted her sleeve and swept it lightly. All the imperial artifacts vanished back into her body.
Qing Ying hurried back to sit beside Xue Qing. She grabbed a skewer and popped a piece of meat into her mouth. After swallowing, she felt like bubbles of joy were rising in her chest. It was so delicious she felt like she could swallow her own tongue.
Then she took a sip of Supreme Monkey Wine, eyes half closing in bliss. She drank in small, careful sips, savoring it, slowly working her way through a whole skewer.
Only then did she remember the Earth Immortal’s corpse dumped to the side. She seized one leg from the barbarian Earth Immortal and tossed it toward Yu Mi.
“Roast this.”
“Earth fire won’t cook an Earth Immortal through,” Xue Qing said.
She turned her head to Qing Ying.
“You’ve met my great-grandfather?”
Qing Ying mumbled around her meat, “What?”
“My great-grandfather. Xue Wuming.”
“I’ve seen him,” Qing Ying said after swallowing.
“Three times.”
She thought about it seriously.
“The first time, my father wasn’t there, only Grandpa Tree. I was napping at Grandpa Tree’s roots and he woke me up with all the noise. He and Grandpa Tree had a fight, and he snapped off one of Grandpa Tree’s branches to take away. Grandpa Tree cursed for a long time.
“The second time, he was fighting my father. They fought like crazy. I didn’t dare get close. When they finished, the two of them ended up hugging each other and going ‘hahahaha’ with laughter, and then they drank together.
“The third time, my father was holding me and chasing after a coffin drifting through the void. When we finally caught up, he opened it. Great-grandfather was lying inside, not even in human form anymore, just a fox with a vertical eye glaring round in the middle of his forehead, and nine big tails behind him.
“When my father saw him, he also went ‘hahahaha’ with laughter, but it didn’t sound like before. It was kind of muffled. Then he shut the coffin again.”
She held the skewer in one hand, cheek propped in the other, thinking.
“I remember my father being really unhappy then. He told me, ‘Ying’er, this is the Celestial Fox demon emperor of the demon realm. Today he lies here, already dead. One day, your father will lie like this as well, and will die too. There are no eternally invincible beings, no undying existence. Ying’er, you must remember, your father only wants you to live happily every single day. If one day your father lies down like this, you must go with your Grandpa Tree…’”
She had clung to her father’s neck, refusing to let go, insisting she wanted to lie down with her father…
In the end, she’d lost too many memories of her previous life. No matter how she tried, she still couldn’t recall how her father had died.
Since she couldn’t remember, she chose not to think about it. She buried her head in eating meat and drinking wine. After draining another cup, she asked,
“Is there more?”
Her gaze fell on the big gourd of Supreme Monkey Wine at Xue Qing’s side, still filled to the brim.
Xue Qing picked up the whole gourd and placed it in front of Qing Ying.
“You really like this stuff, huh?”
Qing Ying’s eyes were practically falling into the gourd.
“Mhm. Father loved it too.”
She hugged the gourd to her chest, ate another skewer of meat, then took huge swigs of wine, gulping happily.
Xue Qing, however, saw a single tear flash quickly from the corner of Qing Ying’s eye.
She gently pushed her own plate of meat over to Qing Ying.
“I don’t like eating demon beast meat. Help me with it. You don’t mind if I take that Earth Immortal of yours and stew it, right?”
Qing Ying’s eyes lit up.
“You can cook an Earth Immortal through?”
Xue Qing chuckled.
“Give me time, I can stew you through as well.”
“Uh…”
Qing Ying blinked.
“Um, you just stew the Earth Immortal. I, uh… I’m full of death qi. My meat doesn’t taste good.”
“No problem,” Xue Qing said.
“My Myriad Spirits True Cauldron can refine away your death qi.”
Qing Ying blinked again, then stubbornly repeated,
“My meat doesn’t taste good.”
She clutched the Supreme Monkey Wine, scooped up two big plates of meat, tucked the jade stool under her arm, and decisively moved the stool to sit opposite Xue Qing, by Yu Mi’s side.
“I’ll… I’ll just eat demon beast meat. That… that Earth Immortal meat is yours. Take it as… as my thanks for giving my father’s cauldron back to me. When are you going to return it?”
She was sure Xue Qing wouldn’t want to hand the cauldron over that easily. She was already running through the odds of snatching it by force—but just thinking of that row of imperial artifacts Xue Qing had displayed a moment ago made her completely lose confidence.
When Xue Qing had laid out all those imperial artifacts, Qing Ying had already seen through her strength. Her bones were of Golden Immortal level, but her cultivation was only at the Tribulation stage. In terms of battle power, she could absolutely fight an Earth Immortal. As for how she’d fare against a True Immortal, that was harder to say.
Given Qing Ying’s combat power, if they were only comparing their own cultivation and bodies, ten Xue Qings wouldn’t be her match. But she couldn’t stand up to that arsenal of imperial artifacts. One would be bad enough—let alone a whole row.
Qing Ying suddenly missed that cheap master of hers so much it hurt.
Xue Qing summoned the Myriad Spirits True Cauldron. It descended with a boom, and in one strike shattered the clothes, artifacts, and seals Qing Ying had left on the Earth Immortal corpse into drifting smoke.
Then the cauldron rose, swallowing the corpse whole.
The great cauldron shrank to palm-size and settled on the jade table. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled around its mouth, clouds swirling; within, a sea of fire surged and thunder intent pervaded.
Qing Ying, sharp-eyed, saw that barbarian Earth Immortal, under the cauldron’s refining, was turning into jade-like nectar at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Her eyes went wide. She gulped.
She quietly patted her own chest and comforted herself inwardly.
“I didn’t get stewed, I didn’t get stewed!”
Her gaze flicked around. Everyone’s attention was fixed on the cauldron; no one was watching her.
Silently, she scooped up the two plates in front of her. On the way out, she casually grabbed the Demon Saint’s plate as well, hugged all three to her chest, and bolted in a blur.
The Demon Saint was speechless.
How had she not realized this ba was the type to bully the soft and fear the hard?
Xue Qing looked at the ba she’d scared into running and nodded, satisfied.
“Let’s see if you still dare to come ask for the cauldron now.”
That Heaven-Refining Cauldron she’d spent several hundred years and endless effort to repair—how could she just hand it back to Qing Ying so easily?
