Wang Shiyi was chatting and laughing when a strange sensation suddenly swept through his entire body. He seemed to have grown sturdier all at once. He assumed he had simply eaten too much, but in the next moment, he suddenly realized his stomach was ravenous again.
He picked up his chopsticks and began grabbing dish after dish, faster and faster. The cultivator across from him looked astonished.
In the end, Wang Shiyi simply tossed his chopsticks onto the table and began eating with his hands instead, sweeping through the food on the table like a whirlwind.
The waiter gradually couldn't keep up with serving the dishes. Wang Shiyi then crowded around other people's tables, ignoring their strange looks as he picked up the plates and poured the food straight into his mouth, one after another.
"What's wrong with this guy?"
Before long, people began to complain. Of the seven or eight tables on the second floor, four had already been swept clean.
More and more people began grumbling.
"Was this kid reborn as a starving ghost or something?"
"This is too much! I'd only just picked up one piece of meat from my table, and the whole thing was gone in the blink of an eye."
Mortal watched that side in astonishment, and he himself was startled. The effect had completely exceeded his expectations.
It was terrifying. That bastard really looked like a starving ghost reborn, utterly unable to control his mouth. Thinking of how he had almost been eaten that morning, Mortal felt a chill run down his back and repeatedly warned himself inwardly.
Never eat anything from the Medicine Master again.
Cousin also stared at Wang Shiyi's frightening eating habits with his mouth hanging open, his heart sinking.
He had thought it was just a prank, but this time, things looked like they were going to get out of hand!
On the other side, the cultivator traveling with Wang Shiyi seemed to have noticed that something was wrong as well. His eyes instantly swept over coldly.
"Mo Xiuwen, aren't you afraid of disgracing your Household with tricks like this?"
The cultivator walked over and looked coldly at Cousin.
Cousin scoffed contemptuously and snorted several times. "Ou Mingdong, which of your eyes saw me do it?"
Ou Mingdong raised a hand and pointed at Mortal, saying harshly, "I saw him climb down from upstairs just now. He must have administered the medicine."
Mortal let out a derisive laugh. "I had to take a piss. Was I supposed to hold it?"
Pfft!
Hanyu was instantly amused, while Ou Mingdong's face turned ashen.
Seeing that negotiation was useless, Ou Mingdong said solemnly once more, "Friend, my name is Ou Mingdong. We are cultivators of the Peerless Tower. Sorry for the trouble, but hand over the antidote."
Unfortunately, of the three people here, excluding Cousin, one was a rookie who had only just left the protection of his teachers, while the other was a cultivator from overseas.
Neither of them had any idea how much weight the Peerless Tower carried.
Ou Mingdong was taken aback, then furious. He was just about to attack when a figure behind him bumped into him.
Wang Shiyi had already swept clean the food from the other seven tables and was now heading toward this final table.
"Senior Brother, I feel awful."
Tears streamed down Wang Shiyi's face as he continued to eat and drink ravenously, looking exceedingly comical.
"Mo Xiuwen, if my junior brother dies in Shuzhou Prefecture, my Peerless Tower will absolutely not let this go."
Cousin sighed and looked toward Hanyu and the others. "Give it to them. Better than letting him die on my Cousin's territory and making things difficult for her."
Thus, Mortal could only look at Hanyu. Hanyu shook his head, spread his hands, and sighed. "There is no antidote for this medicine."
"You're messing with me! How can poison not have an antidote?"
Ou Mingdong felt that he was being toyed with. With a clang, he drew his sword, and his aura erupted. As his True Essence surged, all the tables and chairs on the entire floor were blown away.
Wang Shiyi had just finished licking one plate clean and was involuntarily reaching out for more when he saw the food scattered across the table crash onto the floor. He immediately bent down and continued licking it...
"Have you had enough!"
A delicate shout came from the distance. Su Wanjun swept over from midair on her Flying Sword, made a light leap when she reached beyond the railing, sheathed her sword, and landed steadily.
She looked coldly at the chaotic second floor. Her gaze swept around, and when it reached Cousin, Cousin hurriedly lowered his head.
"Are you trying to change where you're confined?"
Cousin was startled and hurriedly shook his head, pointing at Wang Shiyi. "He started it."
Ou Mingdong looked at Su Wanjun as if he wanted to speak but couldn't. He stammered, "Wanjun..."
"Shut up."
Su Wanjun cut him off and glared coldly at him. Ou Mingdong could only close his mouth sheepishly.
"Quickly give them the antidote."
Su Wanjun gave Cousin a sharp command. Cousin wore a bitter expression and glanced toward Hanyu.
When Hanyu saw the female garrison commander's gaze turn toward him, his expression became solemn. He said seriously, "There really is no antidote. This is a restorative medicine, not poison. Where would the antidote come from?"
Ou Mingdong was furious. Pointing repeatedly at Hanyu, he shouted, "See? They clearly don't want to settle this peacefully."
Hanyu had no idea how to explain it. In the end, he simply said, "Cover his eyes and nose. As long as he can't see or smell food, he'll be fine."
Probably!
That was only Hanyu's guess.
"What about afterward?"
Ou Mingdong hurriedly asked.
That stumped Hanyu. They had said "afterward"—how was he supposed to know what would happen afterward?
"If you don't hurry down and cover him up, he'll probably eat his stomach until it bursts."
Mortal laughed gleefully from the side and pointed at the floor.
"You..."
Ou Mingdong was livid.
"Shopkeeper, bring me ten buckets of rice!"
Seeing that Ou Mingdong still wasn't leaving, Mortal suddenly shouted toward downstairs.
Ou Mingdong's expression changed at once. He hurriedly covered Wang Shiyi's eyes with one hand and his nose with the other, then vaulted down the stairs...
That left only Su Wanjun and the three of them.
At that moment, Su Wanjun looked at the three of them with a headache. They had caused trouble three days ago, and today they had created another mess like this.
She simply decided not to bother with it. Out of sight, out of mind. Su Wanjun glared at Cousin and said, "Don't cause trouble again, or I'll escort you home myself."
Cousin hurriedly nodded again and again.
They couldn't eat anymore. After such a disturbance, they had completely lost their appetite.
The three returned to the inn, where the other two gathered around Cousin curiously.
"What exactly is the grudge between you?"
Mortal wore an unmistakably gossipy expression as he eagerly questioned him.
Cousin's expression twisted with hesitation for a moment before he finally sat down and sighed. "Our families have never liked each other. The previous generation had friction between them, so the new generation naturally has conflicts too. They've even come to blows from time to time."
"Wang Shiyi once cornered me when I was alone. Then he fell for a trap I had crafted, and I left him bedridden for half a month. Ever since then, that fellow has been like a mad dog. Every time he sees me, he bites me."
Mortal's eyes shifted as he continued asking, "That Ou Mingdong's attitude toward you feels a little strange."
At that, Cousin's expression grew rather conflicted, as though he was hesitating.
"Is it inconvenient to say?" Hanyu asked with a smile when he saw Cousin's expression.
"It's not inconvenient. Just don't shout about it after you hear."
"Wang Shiyi and I hate each other mutually. As for Ou Mingdong, he's the only one who hates me."
What Cousin said next was rather interesting.
Ou Mingdong liked Su Wanjun!
This was practically explosive news. Hadn't he just said that their families were sworn enemies? Even if they were cousins, that should have had some effect, right? How had Ou Mingdong dared to like Su Wanjun? Mortal was immediately curious.
Cousin said that Ou Mingdong had actually liked Su Wanjun before he ever joined the Peerless Tower, and that it had happened more than a decade ago.
"Your Cousin and he look about twenty-five or twenty-six. Wouldn't that mean the Love Sea Waves began when they were fourteen or fifteen?" Mortal counted on his fingers in astonishment.
Cousin rolled his eyes and spat, "Bullshit about Love Sea Waves. Ou Mingdong didn't even make a ripple before sinking."
Ou Mingdong had been young and ignorant then, but he had been dead set on liking Su Wanjun. Su Wanjun, however, did not like him. As the years passed, Ou Mingdong's pursuit grew more and more intense, taking on a distinctly relentless, pestering quality.
Later, an elder of the Star Moon Pavilion, one of the Middle Three Sects, took a liking to Su Wanjun. After communicating with Su Wanjun's family, the elder brought her away.
What happened after that concerned Cousin. At the time, he happened to be visiting Su Wanjun's family. When he saw Ou Mingdong come to harass her again, he did something outrageous.
"I lied to him and told him that my Cousin had gone to cultivate in the Peerless Tower to avoid him."
Hanyu wore a strange expression and said incredulously, "He actually believed that?"
Cousin nodded helplessly. "I didn't expect it either! He really believed my Cousin would join the Peerless Tower just to avoid him. Even I, the liar, thought it sounded absurd when I said it."
Naturally, Ou Mingdong only discovered that he had been deceived after successfully joining the Peerless Tower. By then, it was too late, and an elder of the Peerless Tower had taken a liking to him as well.
"I bet he nearly bit his teeth to pieces back then!"
Mortal looked at Cousin with genuine admiration. Ou Mingdong's hopes had already been slim, and after Cousin's little trick, another heavenly chasm had appeared before him.
"Exactly! He clearly hates me, but he's never come looking for trouble. I suspect that if he didn't still like my Cousin, he would have entered my Household and killed me."
Cousin's face was full of rueful emotion.
What a damnable mess!
After recounting that old bit of history, Cousin straightened his emotions and looked at the two of them seriously.
"My affairs are manageable. What worries me is that Ou Mingdong and Wang Shiyi might come looking for trouble with you."
Hk~ Ptui~
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