Dark Cuisine

Mount Fangzhang was vast and boundless, with countless places shrouded in Immortal Light.

Aside from the Three Lights Divine Water pool where she had first awakened and the Experimental Field she had carved out,

there were towering palace halls hidden amid the Rosy Clouds in the distance, as well as strange peaks, secluded valleys, flying waterfalls, and flowing springs, concealing countless naturally formed Treasures.

Su Miao's use of Spells had grown increasingly proficient.

Especially those minor Spells that made life more convenient and allowed for laziness—she had practically turned them into an art.

The Wind Control Art was no longer used for clumsy flight,

but had been improved into the "Automatic Dust-Clearing Breeze," sweeping through the Experimental Field and her residence several times a day, leaving not a single leaf clinging to her.

The Telekinesis Art was used to retrieve things from afar.

Whether it was tools in the distance or fruit high on branches, she only needed to move a finger to get them. There was no longer any need to climb up and down.

As for the precise control of the Water Control Spell and Earth Movement Art,

she devoted all of it to her precious fields.

Thanks to these "handy little tricks for daily life," she explored Mount Fangzhang much faster.

During that time, she did indeed find several more naturally born Treasures:

a stalk of Postnatal Pure Bamboo growing beside the Extreme Yin Cold Pool.

Its bamboo body was icy cool, each joint translucent, and it emitted a tranquil aura that could help dispel distracting thoughts.

Su Miao snapped off a small section and made it into a hairpin. It felt quite cool to wear.

There was also the Mist Dew Universe Net hidden behind a waterfall. Its threads were as fine as morning dew, capable of gathering moisture and concealing one's aura.

Su Miao used it as a high-end mosquito net, even though there were no mosquitoes on the island.

And there was a pair of Yin Yang Mother-Child Jade tablets submerged in a Warm Jade vein.

One yin and one yang, they could sense each other and transmit messages from afar.

Su Miao found the child tablet useless and tossed it into a corner of the Chaos Bead to gather dust.

She had once curiously ventured toward the grandest cluster of palaces amid the Rosy Clouds,

only to discover that an extremely powerful Restriction enveloped the palace complex.

With her current cultivation, actually entering would require at least thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of years spent studying how to undo the Restriction.

Clearly, Su Miao did not have that kind of patience.

"If I can't get in, then forget it. It probably hasn't been renovated yet."

She quickly lost interest and muttered an excuse for herself.

"My little pool is still more comfortable."

Indeed, perhaps because of a hatchling's attachment to its birthplace,

or perhaps because the Pure World White Lotus naturally favored still water,

no matter how far she explored, she would always eventually return to rest beside the Three Lights Divine Water pool.

Whenever she grew tired, she would return to her original form, take root at the bottom of the pool, absorb the light of the sun, moon, and stars along with the vast Spiritual Qi, and fall into a deep sleep.

Such sleeps often lasted through changing seas and shifting lands, through several cycles of spring and autumn in the mortal world.

Mount Fangzhang was cut off from the outside world and brimming with Spiritual Qi. Even the passage of time seemed to become slow and hazy.

Every time she awoke from a sleep,

she would find that the Spirit Plantings in the Experimental Field had already gone through countless cycles of withering and flourishing. Those meant to bloom had bloomed, and those meant to bear fruit had borne fruit.

Meanwhile, through these repeated slumbers and her original body's instinctive cultivation,

her cultivation naturally broke through to the middle stage of Mystic Immortal, and her command over her own power and various Spells became ever more effortless.

One day, Su Miao awoke from a slumber that had lasted several hundred years.

She transformed into human form and stretched lazily.

She felt refreshed and brimming with energy.

She skipped over to the edge of the Experimental Field and was immediately drawn in by the sight before her.

After countless failures, hybridizations, grafts, and the catalysis of time,

her Experimental Field was finally no longer a miserable sight,

but had sparsely produced some... rather peculiar-looking fruits,

along with strange flowers she had never seen before.

Though most were still crooked and misshapen, at least there were results!

Su Miao immediately perked up and decided to hold the "First Mount Fangzhang Immortal Herb and Spirit Fruit Harvest Evaluation Conference"!

Both the judges and the audience were herself!

Excitedly, she picked all the results that looked edible,

washed them clean with water, and arranged them neatly on a broad jade tree leaf.

The first things to catch her eye were several Cinnabar Fruits that were an especially deep red, so red they were almost black.

These were the products of her early, reckless crossbreeding with spicy Spiritual Pepper pollen.

"They look... pretty plump!"

Su Miao picked one up and bit into it without hesitation.

The next second—

"Pfft—cough, cough, cough! Waaah! So spicy! So spicy!"

An overwhelmingly fierce, scorching heat instantly swept through her mouth,

as though a ball of fire had exploded inside it!

The heat made tears burst from her eyes. Her little face turned bright red, her tongue went numb, and she kept sucking in cool air.

In a fluster, she summoned the Profound Origin Water Control Banner and directly drew out a stream of water into her mouth.

Then, finding that insufficient,

she simply plunged her head into the pool and gulped down several mouthfuls of Three Lights Divine Water before barely suppressing the shocking heat.

"Th-this isn't a Cinnabar Fruit! This is clearly Flame Mountain!"

Sticking out her still-numb tongue, she stared tearfully at the remaining spicy Cinnabar Fruits, lingering fear still in her heart.

But... aside from the heat, the Fire Spirit Power contained within seemed especially pure and violent?

[Prehistoric World Certification: Explosive Flame Vermilion Fruit. Contains violent fire spirit essence. Consuming it burns the meridians. It can be used to refine potent fire-element Alchemical Pills or... as a prank item.]

Next, she turned her gaze toward a cluster of flowers as dazzling as rainbows, breathing out hazy rosy mist.

—Rainbow Haze Flowers.

These were the failed products of her attempt to merge Calming Grass with some kind of plant that sprayed air, but the flowers had bloomed truly beautifully.

She plucked off a petal and cautiously licked it.

There was no taste.

So she boldly stuffed the entire flower into her mouth and chewed.

Mm... there was nothing particularly special about the taste. The texture was a little like...?

Just as she was wondering what this flower was for,

"Burp—"

A loud burp escaped uncontrollably.

And what came out with it was not one bubble, but a string of colorful, shimmering... Rainbow Bubbles!

The bubbles drifted unsteadily through the air, refracting dreamlike light beneath the sun. They even carried a faint scent, somewhat like floral fragrance.

Su Miao: "???"

She blankly watched the Rainbow Bubbles floating around her and instinctively burped again.

"Burp—"

Another string of Rainbow Bubbles burst out.

"Pfft... hahahaha!"

She was startled at first, then the absurd sight made her double over with laughter.

She had amused herself, and her playful nature surged up. She deliberately kept burping to produce more Rainbow Bubbles,

rolling around amid the bubbles and having the time of her life.

[Prehistoric World Certification: Neon Light Bubble Flower. Consuming it causes one to burp dazzling bubbles. The bubbles contain a faint hallucinogenic fragrance. More ornamental than practical.]

After playing with the bubbles to her heart's content, her gaze was drawn to another kind of fruit, golden and shaped like tiny stars, giving off an enticingly sweet fragrance.

She had crossbred these with Star Fruit and another extremely sweet spirit honey melon. They looked very successful.

She picked one up and put it in her mouth. As expected, it was sweet and juicy, melting the instant it entered her mouth. Its rich fruity fragrance and pure Star Power made her narrow her eyes in bliss.

"Mmm! This is delicious! It worked!"

She ate several in a row, her mood soaring.

Finally,

she spotted an unremarkable little grass with grayish-green leaves that gave off a faintly peaceful aura.

This was the product of repeatedly grafting ordinary Calming Grass with Calming Dao Pattern Grass. She had intended to enhance its calming effect.

She plucked several leaves and chewed them. They tasted bitter and fresh,

but an immensely powerful feeling of peace and drowsiness instantly flooded her mind like a tide.

"Mmm... so sleepy..."

Her little head began to nod, and her eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. She did not even have the strength to yawn.

The half leaf in her hand fell away. Her body tilted, and she collapsed directly onto the soft grass,

still unconsciously hugging a Sea Calming Bead to her chest.

Almost instantly, faint snores began to sound.

She slept so deeply that she even began to dream.

In the dream, there seemed to be a vague, tall figure with the bearing of an immortal, surrounded by what looked like other shadows...

She smacked her lips, drooling as she mumbled indistinctly in her sleep:

"Master... found... room and board included... want... want someone powerful..."

The sunlight was warm, and a gentle breeze passed through,

lifting Rainbow Bubbles from the ground and sending them around the little girl sleeping soundly on the grass with a bead in her arms, suspicious traces of drool still lingering at the corner of her mouth.

The New Variety Spirit Plantings she had cultivated, each with different functions and strange effects, swayed gently in the breeze.

They might have seemed absurd to orthodox cultivators,

perhaps even entirely useless,

but they truly were new things that had never before appeared in the Prehistoric World, containing peculiar Law Fragments and possibilities.

In the darkness, the will of the Heavenly Dao slowly swept over them,

silently recording the names and properties of the Explosive Flame Vermilion Fruit, Neon Light Bubble Flower, Powerful Calming Grass, and others, without passing judgment.

Useful or useless,

existence itself was reasonable.