The Ask Dao Sect had all kinds of businesses, offering everything one could want for eating, drinking, entertainment, and leisure. Cultivation wasn't just about shutting oneself away in seclusion, and dull training alone couldn't make one an immortal. The sect had all the entertainment businesses one could ask for.
For example, there was the Sichuan-style hot pot mentioned earlier, and then there was the Hundred Fragrances Tower the three of them were headed to.
Lu Yang had heard that the Ask Dao Sect hadn't always been like this. In the past, cultivation meant cultivation, and people were told not to dabble in all sorts of miscellaneous things lest they interfere with their pursuit of the Dao.
Later, the old Sect Master and the previous elders retired, and the Sect Master and eight elders took over. The Ask Dao Sect was transformed overnight. They encouraged everyone to cultivate when it was time to cultivate, relax when it was time to relax, and balance work with rest.
As they put it, if something like this could interfere with one's pursuit of the Dao, then what the hell was the point of pursuing immortality?
Lu Yang felt that the Ask Dao Sect's ethos had gone awry. Once he became one of its senior leaders, he would certainly have to whip things into shape.
The Hundred Fragrances Tower was bustling with people. After completing missions or enduring arduous cultivation, many Ask Dao Sect disciples liked to gather here for meals and discuss their cultivation insights, mission experience, and the like.
For one thing, the food alone was better than the cafeteria's.
"Waiter, the table number nine I reserved earlier, please. Three sets of bowls and chopsticks, and bring out the dishes I ordered."
"Coming right up. You can count on me."
Once they reached the second floor, the aromas from the food at the other tables wafted over, making their mouths water and their appetites soar.
Lu Yang stared at the waiter for a long while. Only after the waiter disappeared at the top of the stairs did he look away. He'd discovered that he couldn't even see through the waiter's cultivation level.
Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye looked around curiously, fascinated by the place.
Lu Yang had meals on Heaven Gate Peak, while Tao Yaoye cooked for herself, so neither of them needed to come here.
Meng Jingzhou was quite familiar with places like this. "You've never been here, have you? Let me tell you, there's tons of delicious food here. If you can think of it, you can eat it. Take a look at the menu."
Lu Yang took the menu and opened it to the first page. He was quickly drawn in by its contents.
There were no dishes on the first page, only a prominent line of text: This establishment sells prepared dishes only, not ingredients. We appreciate your understanding.
The actual menu began on the second page. Each dish had two prices: contribution points and spirit stones.
"Steamed Lightning Tribulation Essence. The essence left behind when a cultivator undergoes tribulation. Greatly beneficial for comprehending the Dao of Lightning."
"Braised Ice Abyss Mammoth. Ice Abyss Mammoths live in the frigid Extreme North and are the dominant species there. An adult Ice Abyss Mammoth can shatter a glacier with one step and stand firm against an avalanche."
"Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry. This establishment offers a variety of eggs, including ordinary chicken eggs, Eight-Treasure Chicken eggs, and Golden-Winged Great Roc eggs."
After seeing the prices, Lu Yang couldn't help clicking his tongue. Clearly, these things weren't meant for Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators like them, who couldn't afford them anyway.
There were some dishes he could afford, though, such as stir-fried Fasting Pills.
Seeing Lu Yang's brow furrow, Tao Yaoye assumed the prices had shocked him and asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Run into a problem?"
"Look, fasting means absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth instead of eating. Taking a Fasting Pill lets you fast."
"That's right." Tao Yaoye nodded.
"Then if you eat stir-fried Fasting Pills, does that count as eating, or as fasting?"
Tao Yaoye and Meng Jingzhou froze in unison. At first, they thought the question was absurd. But the more they considered it, the more profound it seemed.
The three of them called the waiter over and asked whether he knew the answer. The waiter was stumped too.
In all his time working there, he'd never had a customer ask such a question.
Was it because the food was taking too long and they were bored?
"The dishes here aren't cheap. Do you have enough contribution points?" Lu Yang didn't dwell on the Fasting Pill question. Instead, he worried they might not have enough money to eat.
Meng Jingzhou had only done three missions. He couldn't have earned many contribution points in total.
Inviting Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye to a feast, only for the three of them to end up washing dishes to pay the bill, somehow seemed just like something Meng Jingzhou would do.
"Why would I use contribution points? Of course I'm paying with spirit stones." Meng Jingzhou spoke with the confidence of a rich man.
Tao Yaoye glanced at Lu Yang in surprise, puzzled that he would worry about a member of the Meng family being short on money. "You've never heard of the Meng family?"
Lu Yang was confused. "Is Meng Jingzhou's family famous?"
The Central Continent was vast beyond measure, and cultivators could spend their whole lives exploring it without seeing all of it. There were plenty of families with the surname Meng. How was Lu Yang supposed to know which one Meng Jingzhou's family belonged to?
He'd known Meng Jingzhou for quite a while, but had never heard him talk about his family.
When Meng Jingzhou had come to the Ask Dao Sect to take part in the trial, he hadn't even had an elder accompanying him. Lu Yang had assumed his family had fallen on hard times and needed Meng Jingzhou—their lone spiritual root—to restore its fortunes.
"The most famous one."
Lu Yang's pupils contracted. He was quite astonished, now realizing which Meng family Meng Jingzhou belonged to.
There were plenty of Meng families, but the most famous one was naturally the Meng family of the Imperial City.
"The Meng family of the Imperial City that once joined forces with the ancestor of Emperor Xia to conquer the realm and establish the Great Xia Dynasty?!"
Lu Yang was truly taken aback. The Meng family of the Imperial City had an extraordinary history. Ten thousand years ago, the realm had fallen into chaos. As the saying went, heroes emerged in troubled times. The Meng family's ancestor and the ancestor of Emperor Xia had raised armies and waged war across the land, creating a legendary tale that had been passed down far and wide.
The story still lived on in the mouths of teahouse storytellers and on theatrical stages, never growing old.
Ten thousand years ago, the previous dynasty had been beset by internal strife and external threats, and had fallen apart, ushering in an age of chaos. The yao, barbarians, and sea beasts had left their respective territories, hoping to claim a share of the Central Continent, a land rich in heroes and natural treasures.
The Meng family's ancestor had risen from their ancestral lands in the east, campaigning from east to west and fighting across countless miles. They had slaughtered the yao and barbarians until they fled to the Yao Realm, driven the sea beasts back to the Eastern Sea, and forced rebels, rogues, and would-be heroes to bow their heads in submission.
The Meng family's ancestor had led an army for a thousand years, conquering half the Central Continent and becoming one of only two overlords in the land.
The other overlord was the ancestor of Emperor Xia, who had conquered the other half.
The ancestor of Emperor Xia had likewise driven out the barbarians and yao beasts, ended the chaos, and ruled over half the realm. Their achievements were impossible to distinguish.
People at the time believed that the two overlords would either each rule half the Central Continent or fight a great war to claim the whole realm.
So military strategists from every corner began running war simulations, calculating which side had the advantage and how the weaker side might overcome the stronger.
What no one expected was that both the Meng family's ancestor and the ancestor of Emperor Xia believed the continent had been in chaos for a thousand years. Its people had been plunged into misery, and rivers of blood had flowed. It was a scene straight out of hell. If the fighting continued, no one knew how many more years the chaos would last—or how many more people would die.
They had waged war across the realm to bring peace to the land, not to claim an imperial throne.
So the Meng family's ancestor and the ancestor of Emperor Xia gave up their armies and faced off in the vast starry sky as cultivators. That battle shattered heaven and earth, blotted out the sun and moon, and sent stars crashing down. In the end, the ancestor of Emperor Xia proved more skilled and emerged victorious.
The Meng family's ancestor accepted the wager and yielded the throne.
At the time, the ancestor of Emperor Xia publicly declared that as long as the Great Xia Dynasty existed, the Meng family would never perish.
And so it proved. After the Great Xia Dynasty was founded, the Meng family settled in the Imperial City and was never suppressed.
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