Each Climbed in Search as Times Changed

Feng He Shou did not touch the National Fish at all. It was meant entirely for Chen Chuan; he ate only the sliced meat and rice before him.

Neither of them spoke while they ate, observing the old custom of silence at meals.

Chen Chuan had no such scruples, but since he was a guest, he respected his host's habits.

By the time he finished the National Fish, warmth suffused his body, and even his Mutated Tissue seemed to have grown a little languid. The dish really was excellent. Combining the ingredients seemed to have raised their nutritional value even further.

He remembered Mister Zhuan telling him in a later conversation about a Fighter in the Purity Faction who was particularly skilled at preparing ingredients. Even ingredients that lacked sufficient nutrition could, with the right combination of medicines, be made more effective than they should have been, with something to spare.

Without that skill, one could only rely on the ingredients' own nutritional value.

He was quite satisfied with this meal. It was enough to replenish what he had expended this time. In truth, their fight had not lasted very long.

Seeing that he had finished, Feng He Shou set down his chopsticks too. He had the attendants clear away the dishes, then bring a basin of clean water and hand towels for them both.

Once they had cleaned up, an attendant poured each of them a cup of Fragrant Dew.

Chen Chuan asked, "Wind Crane Pavilion Master, were all these ingredients obtained from the Rift?"

"Yes," Feng He Shou said. "At our Wave Pavilion, the elders usually prepare them for their successors. Once a new member of the Sword Sect emerges, he inherits the position of pavilion master, while the former master enters the Rift and remains there, fighting