Barbecue

"If this were modern society, seeing such a vast forest would be impossible." Xu Yanwu clicked his tongue. After admiring the spectacular view for a while longer, he shook his head and prepared to get down to business. "I should hurry and find Danzhu and Cang Xuan first. Come to think of it, they're Nuwa and Fuxi from the world of Honkai Impact 3rd... They should be okay... right?"

Xu Yanwu drifted slowly through the sky, sweeping his "wise" gaze across the boundless forest.

However, after searching for a long time, Xu Yanwu finally realized something...

He had no idea which direction Danzhu and Cang Xuan had gone in.

"..."

—More than ten hours later, nightfall—

Inside a cave in a small mountain range, a tiny campfire burned. Beside it sat two shivering figures clinging to each other.

"Big sis, I'm so hungry..."

Danzhu pouted, her face full of grievance.

"Mm..."

Cang Xuan also looked exhausted. It seemed the pair of sisters had suffered quite a bit in the forest today.

"Rustle, rustle—"

The sound of bushes rubbing together suddenly came from outside the cave.

"Big sis, could it be a Honkai Beast?"

Danzhu burrowed further into Cang Xuan's arms, her face full of fear.

"No. There are no Honkai Energy readings nearby. It should just be a wild animal."

Cang Xuan held Danzhu tighter. The scroll at her side had already risen into the air, aimed at the cave entrance as though it would blast whatever appeared at any moment.

"Rustle, rustle..."

The sounds drew ever closer to the cave, and Cang Xuan and Danzhu's hearts rose into their throats.

Then... a round, chubby... creature carrying a giant bear appeared at the cave entrance?

"Eh, eh, eh? I finally found you two."

The round creature spoke cheerfully. With a thud, he tossed the giant bear in his hands by the cave entrance and walked in. "You two little brats actually left me behind in the Cryo-sleep Pod. Well, look at you now. Suffered enough, haven't you..."

As he approached the campfire, the round creature finally revealed his true appearance. Who else could it have been but Xu Yanwu...

Except...

Danzhu shouted, "Why do you suddenly have such a round body?!"

Xu Yanwu's current appearance was really hard to describe. If one had to sum it up...

You know Baymax?

Xu Yanwu currently looked like Baymax with Xu Yanwu's head swapped in, and his color changed to that of blue crystal...

"Shut up! Wasn't it to find you two? How inconvenient would it have been for just a head to walk around? Think about it! This body was condensed from energy!"

Xu Yanwu slapped the rock wall beside him, shaking down a huge shower of stones. "I still haven't found my real body, so I can only make do with something like this for now. Though I wasn't very skilled at condensing it and ended up with this appearance, splitting mountains and shattering rocks is no problem at all!"

As he spoke, Xu Yanwu proudly puffed out his chest.

But inwardly...

Waaah~ Having a body to use feels so good! Good thing I'm smart enough to come up with this idea on the spot... Not having a body was seriously unbearable...

Cang Xuan glared at Xu Yanwu. "Who asked you to follow us? Leave!"

Tsk... what a stubborn little brat...

Xu Yanwu stroked the stubble on his chin. "Leave? Are you sure the two of you can make it out of this forest and find the Xuanyuan Sword in your current state?"

"W-We obviously can!"

"But haven't you noticed that the place you're staying in is a bear's den?"

Xu Yanwu pointed at the giant bear he had left at the entrance. "Luckily, I dealt with this bear while passing by.

"I had originally planned to spend the night in this bear den before going to look for you, but I ended up finding you two directly."

Xu Zifu burst out laughing. "All right, all right. Judging by how you look, you haven't eaten anything since leaving the Cryo-sleep Pod, have you? Since you already have a campfire going, how about I grill you some bear meat?"

At the words grilled meat, the sisters Cang Xuan and Danzhu involuntarily swallowed, and Xu Yanwu noticed it.

"Let me tell you, I was going easy on you before. Otherwise, with how amazing I am, how could I possibly have been reduced to that state by two little brats like you..."

That's right, that was it. It definitely wasn't because I never even thought I could fight back...

Xu Yanwu muttered as he controlled his current energy body, forming a knife from one hand. He walked outside, intending to butcher the giant bear. "Stay here and don't wander off... I'll bring back some bear meat for you to grill..."

After Xu Yanwu left the cave, Danzhu rubbed her hungry little belly and asked her sister, "Big sis, are we really going to eat the grilled meat he makes? We treated him like that before. He won't take revenge on us, will he?"

"Probably not. He doesn't seem like that kind of person. As for the grilled meat... he's treating us, so why wouldn't we eat it?"

Cang Xuan still wore that expressionless face, but judging from her rumbling stomach, she was just putting on a brave front too...

Before long, Xu Yanwu came back in, wiping sweat from his forehead and carrying bear meat skewered on sharpened wooden sticks. "I've got everything ready. I'll grill the meat for you now..."

"How were you so fast?"

Cang Xuan was startled. How long had Xu Yanwu been outside? Not even ten minutes, right? In so little time, he had butchered the bear and skewered the meat on sharpened wooden sticks? Where had the sticks even come from?

Xu Yanwu froze. He couldn't exactly say that after failing to cut it apart for ages, he had simply made a wish to get everything processed, could he?

"Um... well... this body of mine is rather convenient, so I can process things quickly..."

Xu Yanwu stammered.

"Mm?"

Cang Xuan narrowed her eyes at Xu Yanwu. This guy's reaction was highly suspicious...

"Stop fussing! Hurry up and grill the meat. I haven't had any meat in who knows how long..." Xu Yanwu changed the subject and walked to the campfire, placing the skewers over it. "Since it's wild bear meat, it might have a rather strong gamey smell, but you'll just have to bear with it... Being able to eat at all is good enough..."

"No problem at all! As long as it's grilled meat!"

Danzhu cheered.

Cang Xuan, meanwhile, furrowed her brows.

What exactly was Xu Yanwu's power?

Why had he been able to enter the Cryo-sleep Pod without making a sound? Why could he emerge from the sealed Cryo-sleep Pod? Why could he condense a new body for himself?

And just now, how had he done that?

As Cang Xuan pondered this, Xu Yanwu looked at the grilling meat and thought for a moment. "How can grilled meat not have seasonings...?"

With that, a pile of bottles and jars appeared in Xu Yanwu's hands.