The Senior Sure Knew How to Joke

Jing Pu grew interested. The next moment, he pressed the button on the small formation again, and his mind once more slipped into that strange space.

Ling Ju wasn't in a hurry. After putting away the tea jar, she stood quietly to one side and waited for Jing Pu.

Four minutes later, Jing Pu came back out.

The first time he went in, Jing Pu had needed to get used to everything, so he'd wasted quite a bit of time. This time, he'd operated everything properly. Four minutes. Done!

That had to be faster than Ling Ju, right?

Jing Pu had barely come out, not yet even reporting his time, when Ling Ju raised an eyebrow from where she stood.

"Senior..."

There was no need for her to say more. Judging by Ling Ju's expression, Jing Pu knew he'd damn well come in slower again!

All right, Ling Ju really was impressive. Jing Pu was a little surprised. He had the pinnacle-level God of War skill, on top of his status as a veteran of Red Alert, and yet he still wasn't as good as Ling Ju.

But... when it came down to it, since this was a racing game, there were plenty of details that had to be perfect to save time.

In his previous life, some racing-game experts would grind the same map for days and nights before they could break a record. This was only his second run.

Jing Pu immediately said, "Um... that one didn't count. I'm going again!"

The next moment, Jing Pu dove back in with a huff. Ling Ju stood there, stunned for a moment, then couldn't help smiling behind her hand. Senior... was rather adorable, really. Just like a child.

But... why was Senior's time getting worse and worse? He'd taken five minutes before, and that last run hadn't even been as good as his first.

Ling Ju didn't think anything of it. No one could be good at everything, after all—even Senior. Besides, Senior was such a gentle and refined person. She supposed, like her, he didn't cultivate the Dao of Slaughter.

And... Ling Ju still felt a little happy. Before, she'd looked at Senior as if he were the sun in the sky, beyond her reach.

But what had just happened made Ling Ju feel that Senior had a side just like those of them from the lower realms. He was a little adorable, and somehow didn't seem quite so far away anymore.

Three minutes!!

Jing Pu came out after three minutes, looking triumphant!

This time, there was no way he could fail!

Jing Pu was sure he'd nailed every detail. It was absolutely flawless!

Except...

When Jing Pu came out, the first thing he did was look at Ling Ju. He saw the faint, inexplicable smile on her face.

The triumphant look on Jing Pu's face froze.

Damn!

He'd been slower again!

That was damn well impossible!

He'd already done it perfectly. Three minutes—there wasn't a single second he could shave off.

For a moment, Jing Pu stared at Ling Ju strangely. Could Ling Ju... have found a way to exploit a bug?

Ling Ju saw the look on Jing Pu's face. Faced with his profound self-doubt, she couldn't help smiling warmly.

"Senior, there's no need to be like this. This formation can't be used with Spiritual Power; it all comes down to strategy. No one can be proficient in everything. You're already outstanding. You should give other people a chance, too."

That was all well and good, but Jing Pu really felt that three minutes was the absolute limit. He genuinely couldn't understand how a faster record could even be possible.

Still, Jing Pu did have one advantage: if he couldn't figure something out, he simply stopped trying. To hell with this lousy game, ruining his youth. He was done playing.

Jing Pu set the palm-sized formation aside and looked at Ling Ju.

"Do you know how to roast tea?"

Ling Ju was taken aback. She shook her head, looking confused.

"I don't..."

The servants took care of such things, so Ling Ju naturally wouldn't know.

Jing Pu understood. He simply nodded, then said, "Come, I'll teach you."

Ling Ju was stunned for a moment, then immediately smiled and nodded repeatedly.

Drying tea leaves was simple. You just needed a little device, something like a stove. Then you lit a fire and steamed the tea leaves over it. The person roasting the tea only had to control the heat.

Jing Pu had all the necessary tools. After completing each stage of his various skills, the system gave him the corresponding equipment. He'd received the tea-roasting tools after completing the first stage of Tea Dao cultivation.

Come to think of it, he hadn't used them in a long time. In the Void Space, Jing Pu had grown fresh tea himself, and fresh tea didn't need this kind of equipment. He did miss the tea he'd drunk in the Void Space; it had been truly delicious. He'd left in such a hurry that he hadn't brought any with him.

Still, Jing Pu had a few seeds. When the time was right, he planned to plant them again. Just not now, of course.

Jing Pu immediately took a little stove and a palace fan out of his Space Bag. The fan was just like the ones carried by the women of the imperial palace or noble families in ancient times in his previous life. It was quite beautiful, with a round face, a white jade handle, and a painting of a goddess dancing beneath the moon.

Jing Pu hadn't used it much. He'd always thought it was a little too girly, so he'd kept it put away.

After setting down the little stove, Jing Pu handed the palace fan to Ling Ju with a smile.

"It's very simple. Just keep an eye on the heat. Start with a gentle flame, then lower it to a small flame. One urn of tea leaves takes ten minutes."

Ling Ju looked at the beautiful palace fan in Jing Pu's hand, the likes of which she'd never seen before, and found herself quite taken with it. But as soon as she reached out and took it, she suddenly froze.

All at once, the scene depicted on the fan seemed to spring to life!

Ling Ju seemed to see a celestial maiden dancing beneath the moon, beneath a bright, full moon.

She couldn't make out the celestial maiden's face, but somehow, even through the haze, she could sense the woman's astonishing elegance and beauty. The sacred aura about her was especially overwhelming, making Ling Ju feel almost inferior.

As the Holy Maiden of the Jade Pond, Ling Ju's own master had once been the famed Orchid Holy Maiden. Yet even in her master, Ling Ju had never sensed anything like this!

In an instant, Ling Ju understood. This was... Senior granting her an enormous opportunity!

Ling Ju gazed at the dancing celestial maiden, at once bewildered and entranced. In the end, it seemed she'd gained a faint insight.

In just those few dozen seconds, Ling Ju felt the Spiritual Power and True Qi within her Golden Core, which she'd reached only a year ago, rapidly increasing.

If she could hold this palace fan every day, she'd probably advance again in less than half a year!

When Ling Ju finally came to her senses, still utterly astonished, she saw Jing Pu staring at her with a puzzled expression.

Before Ling Ju could say anything, Jing Pu suddenly raised an eyebrow.

"You like the fan?"

Seeing Ling Ju staring blankly at the palace fan, Jing Pu had wondered if she liked it.

Ling Ju came back to herself and immediately nodded again and again.

"Of course I do... It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..."

The most beautiful?

That was a bit much. Jing Pu had made plenty of fans, many of them far prettier than this one. So he simply shrugged and said, "If you like it, you can have it."

Jing Pu's sudden generosity left Ling Ju flustered and at a loss.

"Y-you're giving it to me, Senior?"

Ling Ju didn't know what rank of divine artifact this palace fan was, but just the Principle Profound Mechanism within it seemed enough to rival the Jade Pool Holy Land's guardian artifact. And he was just... giving it to her?

Jing Pu nodded casually and smiled.

"Didn't Fairy Maiden Ling Ju say the fan was beautiful? Beautiful things should be given to fairies. I even think it's less than a tenth as beautiful as Fairy Maiden Ling Ju. I only hope you don't mind it."

No one disliked being praised. There was no harm in being a little sweet-tongued. Besides, Jing Pu really did think so. This was just a worldly trinket; if Ling Ju liked it, all the better.

When Ling Ju, who'd already been flustered, heard those words, the tranquil, lofty air of an orchid in an empty valley and her usual noble, aloof bearing vanished.

Instead, she lowered her head, her face flushed with embarrassment. She seemed all the more human for it, her cheeks red as she stammered nervously.

"Senior... you sure know how to joke... I'm not nearly as wonderful as you say..."