Rebellious Disciple, You've Been Laughing This Whole Time—You Never Stopped!

Huo Yuhao snapped off a branch and used the White Tiger Dagger to shave down its forked end. The faintly jade-glowing blade passed over the wood as effortlessly as if cutting tofu. In just a few strokes, the tip of the branch had been sharpened to a point.

Huo Yuhao sheathed the White Tiger Dagger and fastened it back at his lower back before carrying the branch to the stream.

He took a slight breath, and his eyes immediately lit up. Every detail beneath the clear stream water was magnified in his vision. The minute changes in the flowing ripples, even the tiny shrimp hidden in the cracks between riverbed stones, could not escape the gaze of his Spirit Eyes. Moreover, everything before him seemed to slow down.

Suddenly, Huo Yuhao struck like lightning, thrusting the branch swiftly into the stream.

"Pfft—" He raised his hand and twisted his wrist, bringing up a black carp half a foot long skewered on the branch.

Although pierced through by the branch, the black carp remained remarkably tenacious. Its powerful tail lashed back and forth, but Huo Yuhao gripped the branch tightly, feeling the final burst of fierce vitality it released before death.

Huo Yuhao removed the black carp from the branch, pinched its head between his index finger and thumb, and exerted force. In the next instant, the poor fish stopped moving completely. After repeating the process several times, Huo Yuhao had speared more than a dozen black carp, each between half a foot and a foot long, from the river in no time. A heartfelt smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

He circled the area and inspected it again. Only after confirming that no Soul Beasts were approaching to harass him did Huo Yuhao crouch beside the stream and gut the black carp.

He expertly pulled the innards from their bellies and tossed them aside, then easily scraped away the scales with the incomparably sharp White Tiger Dagger. Before long, all dozen-plus fish had been cleaned.

He found some dry, large leaves in the forest and washed them in the stream, then placed the cleaned fish on top. After gathering dry branches for firewood, Huo Yuhao picked several shriveled pinecones that had nearly fallen to the ground from a few pine trees nearby.

These oil-rich pinecones were practically natural tinder. Huo Yuhao took a Fire Starter from his Storage Soul Guidance Device, opened its cap, and gave it a gentle blow. A tiny flame sprang out, and before long, a small campfire was burning beside the stream.

The corner of Huo Yuhao's eye swept over the pile of black carp innards he had left by the riverbank. None appeared to be missing or chewed on, and there were no claw prints nearby either. That put Huo Yuhao much more at ease.

A group of animals often gathered near streams. Some merely came for a drink, while others sought to replenish their water and prepare their meal for the day at the same time. So despite how clear, ethereal, and spotless the stream appeared, perhaps in the very next moment, surging blood would dye this seemingly pristine creek crimson.

After scoring both sides of the black carp, Huo Yuhao separated the flesh along the fishbones, leaving the back connected. He rubbed a little salt over the fish, tore up several perilla leaves and stuffed them into its belly, then took out the Secret Sauce he had recently developed from his Storage Soul Guidance Device and lightly brushed on a layer.

Huo Yuhao's entire sequence of movements flowed as smoothly as water, completed in one go. The reason was simple: this grilled fish was the foundation of his livelihood when he went to Shrek to do business. Its flavor had won unanimous approval from the Ashina soldiers. Even the Sculptor, Only Orangutan, who had always been sparing with words, could not help but speak quite a bit more at once.

"It's been so long since I've eaten grilled fish this delicious. The last time I had grilled fish like this was when River Cicada made it."

"Next time you bring wine, remember to grill another fish, kid."

And this was merely grilled fish Huo Yuhao had made with salt and perilla. With Huo Yun'er's help, Huo Yuhao used the spices he had gathered over the past three years to create several batches of Secret Sauce with different focuses. Even Huo Yun'er nodded repeatedly in approval of their flavor.

Not long after, a distinctive fragrance began to spread above the fire. It was rich, carrying an allure unique to itself. As Huo Yuhao slowly turned the fish, the black carp gradually became golden yellow, looking especially tempting alongside that intense aroma.

Huo Yuhao only grilled two fish, leaving the rest cleaned and prepared for later. Grilling too many at once made it easy to lose control of the heat. The wealthy people of Shrek City cared about refinement and did not mind the scarcity of food. On the contrary, the rarer such food was, the more it displayed the nobility of their social standing. Therefore, whenever Huo Yuhao trained himself in cooking, he always pursued perfection.

"Hey, Ao Tian, is my nose broken? Do you smell a very special fragrance? The kind that's really distinctive, completely different from the smells of the food we eat in the sect?"

In the dense forest not far from Huo Yuhao, an old man and a young man were walking side by side through the woods. Suddenly, the old man sniffed hard and spoke to the youth beside him with an extremely serious expression.

The young man called Ao Tian revealed a helpless look. His rugged face could only manage a trace of forced agreement.

"Yes, Master. This is already the fourth time you've said that today. I told you before, I can hunt Soul Beasts on my own just fine. Wouldn't it be better for you to stay in the sect and enjoy your retirement?"

As soon as the young man finished speaking, the old man gave him a sharp knock on the head.

"What do you mean, enjoy my retirement? I'm only a hundred and something years old! Compared with those old fossils, I'm still young! Even if I stayed in the sect, I'd be guarding it, not enjoying some damn retirement. And besides, I'm not teasing you this time. I really smelled an especially distinctive fragrance."

"Yes, yes, Master, you're right. If you want something good to eat, turn left and go thirty li to the nearby gathering point. There are definitely people doing business where those young Soul Masters rest and resupply. I can hunt the Soul Beasts by myself."

Ao Tian's tone was earnest, but the perfunctory attitude in his words was practically overflowing.

"You rebellious disciple, I really wasn't lying to you this time! It truly is a fragrant, special scent—the kind that exists only in heaven and nowhere on earth, a scent that shouldn't exist in the mortal world."

"Pfft."

An ill-timed laugh sounded between the two. The old man's animated face instantly darkened, but when he looked up, the young man still wore a serious expression, as though carefully listening to his description. He even nodded thoughtfully from time to time.

"I'll say it again: I'm not joking. That scent is really fragrant, truly the especially distinctive kind!"

"Yes, yes, yes—pfft!"

Long Aotian tried his hardest to maintain an attitude of serious attention, but in the end, he could not hold it in. He burst into laughter, lowering his head as his shoulders shook constantly, as if desperately suppressing something.

The old man finally snapped and leaped up, flailing his arms and legs.

"You rebellious disciple, you've been laughing this whole time—you never stopped!"