Xiao Xue, Qian Renxue!

"Is that you? Didn't you leave?"

Li Qing froze for a moment, a trace of confusion rising within him.

Xiao Xue covered her mouth and chuckled. "Hehehe, what? Is it strange for me to line up and buy something?"

"Line up? All right."

Li Qing smiled. This was not something he had expected, but wasn't the current situation quite nice?

"Here, your popcorn. That'll be six Copper Soul Coins!"

"No way. You snatched my squid yesterday, and you still want to charge me? Aren't you being a little too shameless?"

"Hehe." Li Qing's honest-looking smile appeared again.

"That won't do. This is a small business. If I don't charge you, I won't be able to afford food!"

"What?" Xiao Xue's beautiful eyes widened. "You'd go hungry over six Copper Soul Coins? Aren't you ashamed to say that? Listen to all the money clinking around in that bag!"

Li Qing's smile stiffened. He had been exposed. How embarrassing!

"Uh... can't help it. I eat a lot."

"Then you eat way too much."

Xiao Xue sighed helplessly.

"Fine. Look at how stingy you are. Here, one Silver Spirit Coin. Keep the change!"

Li Qing picked up the scoop and bucket, then filled another two portions of popcorn. The popcorn in the pot was finished exactly.

"That won't do. A gentleman loves wealth, but acquires it properly. I only need what I'm owed. Since you gave me one Silver Spirit Coin, I'll give you two more portions."

"You, a gentleman?" Xiao Xue rolled her eyes at Li Qing, though a glimmer of interest appeared in her gaze.

A gentleman loves wealth, but acquires it properly...

That saying had quite some depth to it!

Xiao Xue picked up the two buckets of popcorn. Light flashed across the ring on her hand, and the two buckets vanished the next moment.

"A Soul Tool..."

Seeing this, Li Qing began pondering.

To him, a Storage Ring was nothing rare. But on the current Douluo Continent, the methods for crafting Soul Tools had been lost, and Storage Rings were exceptionally scarce. Yet even a prince's maid possessed one.

Li Qing realized that he was becoming less and less able to see through this woman's identity.

Crunch~

Xiao Xue tossed a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"Mmm~ So delicious! I never expected your cooking skills to be this good!"

Li Qing grinned smugly. "Naturally!"

"Oh, right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Xiao Xue. What about you?"

"Me? My name is... Qin Li!"

Without changing expression, Li Qing put away the two wooden signs in front of his stall and answered with a straight face.

The reason he had not told Xiao Xue his real name was that he felt this Xiao Xue was far from simple. For the sake of self-preservation, Li Qing gave himself another name.

As the saying went: when wandering the martial world, an alternate account was the key to staying alive!

"Qin Li. That name sounds rather refined, but you... have absolutely nothing to do with 'propriety.'"

Xiao Xue ate popcorn as she mocked Li Qing, but Li Qing did not mind in the slightest.

Because...

Xiao Xue believed his name was "Qin Li." His alternate-account strategy had worked.

"Qin Li, how did you recognize me yesterday?"

"Wasn't that scene very similar to what happened before? Although you had dressed yourself up to look like a boy, your hands... uh, no, that's not it. Anyway, I recognized you."

"Then what are you doing in Kus City this time?" Xiao Xue continued asking.

"I came here to..."

"Wait, don't tell me you came here to sell popcorn and make money. I'm not that stupid!"

"Uh..."

Li Qing's words immediately caught in his throat.

To be honest, he had been about to say that he really had come here to sell popcorn, but he had not expected Xiao Xue to see through his trick so directly.

"All right, I actually came to participate in the Best Chef Competition."

"That doesn't sound right." Xiao Xue frowned slightly. "I remember that the two people beside you were wearing what looked like Nuo Lan Academy uniforms. Then you should be a student of Nuo Lan Academy too. Why would you participate in a competition between chefs?"

"Who said a soul master can't participate in a chef competition? Although I'm a soul master, I'm also a soul master who loves cooking! Enough about me. Why are you here?"

"I'm the eldest prince's maid. Of course I'd be here!"

"You're a maid? Stop joking."

In an instant, Li Qing realized something he had been overlooking all along.

What if... Xue Qinghe really was Xue Qinghe at this time...

Looking again at Xiao Xue, who stood before him with a blissful expression as she ate popcorn, Li Qing suddenly felt a chill run through his entire body.

That possibility was highly likely!

"Uh... Miss Xiao Xue, I have something to do later, so I'll be taking my leave!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qing grabbed a large bag of things and fled the area as if escaping for his life. Because Xiao Xue was there, he could not directly put the pot and other utensils into his Storage Ring.

"Eh... This guy is so fast, even faster than before."

Xiao Xue popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth, and a strange gleam flashed through her eyes.

"Huff, huff, huff~"

Li Qing quickly ran to an unoccupied corner, hurriedly placed the pot and utensils into his Storage Ring, and panted heavily.

Though his blood was hot, his heart was exceptionally calm.

He was thinking.

Based on all the signs, the Xiao Xue he had met just now was the Saintess of Spirit Hall, Qian Renxue.

Li Qing only knew that many years later, the eldest prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Qinghe, had already been impersonated by Qian Renxue. But now...

It seemed that had not happened yet.

However, the time when Qian Renxue would replace the real Xue Qinghe should not be far off.

Li Qing did not want to be dragged into Spirit Hall's grand plan, which was why he had hurried away from Qian Renxue.

It was not that Li Qing particularly hated Spirit Hall or anything. It was simply that he did not want to get entangled in Spirit Hall's enormous scheme.

"Sigh, this is such a hassle. Every single one of them wants to fight and kill. Wouldn't it be better to live happily together?"

"Forget it. I'll leave after the competition ends tomorrow. I've seen all there is to see in Kus City. It's time to head to the next city."

However, Li Qing did not know a certain saying.

You never knew whether tomorrow or an accident would come first.

The next day, the rising sun climbed into the sky, casting endless brilliance from the horizon.

The rules for this round were the same as the last: contestants would face each other in pairs, and the winners would advance to the next round.

The selection of opponents was also the same as in the previous round.

This round, Chen Zhi's opponent was a contestant named Pan Long. Pan Long was his senior brother, and the two of them were both Ma Yu's disciples.

Under ordinary circumstances, their cooking skills were evenly matched, and either could win in a contest.

Therefore, in order to defeat Pan Long, Chen Zhi decided to make a serious dish this time!

A dish that required extremely high concentration and precise control.

Crystal Poison Sting Fish!