Troublesome Delicacy

The next day, when Zhang Xiaofan saw his little junior brother doing what he did every day—watching his senior brothers cultivate, then making some detailed adjustments to the incantation he had created—he truly breathed a sigh of relief.

But he had not even enjoyed that relief for a few days!

"Senior Brother! I finished changing it!" That night, Zhang Xiaofan had only just lain down on his bed when his little junior brother suddenly pounced onto him, crushing him so hard that he went "pff" on the spot and nearly coughed up blood.

"Little Junior Brother! You're going to crush me to death!" Zhang Xiaofan coughed several times under the weight before saying helplessly.

"It's fine! I don't hurt!" Luo Yunji completely missed the point of what Zhang Xiaofan was saying.

"I hurt!" Zhang Xiaofan looked gloomily at his little junior brother, who was still lying on top of him, and said in despair.

"Oh!" Luo Yunji answered, but showed no intention of getting off.

"All right! Junior Brother, what did you just say?" Zhang Xiaofan rolled his eyes helplessly and asked with some difficulty.

"I finished changing the cultivation method!" Luo Yunji cried excitedly.

"What!" Zhang Xiaofan was so shocked that his body went rigid, instinctively trying to sit up, but with the little fatty pressing him down, he only twitched before being "suppressed" again.

Zhang Xiaofan coughed several more times before he finally felt a little better.

"That cultivation method is already changed! So fast! It hasn't even been six days, has it!" Zhang Xiaofan stared in shock at the monstrous little junior brother pressing on top of him.

"No!"

"Oh! No hurry!" After Zhang Xiaofan heard that, he inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief inside.

"I borrowed from that cultivation method of yours and changed our cultivation method!" Luo Yunji replied happily.

"What!" Zhang Xiaofan's body, shocked, once again instinctively tried to spring upright, but once again he was pushed back down by the little fatty's weight.

"Pff!" Zhang Xiaofan took a long while before he finally recovered.

"You practice this, and I guarantee your cultivation will shoot up whoosh-whoosh!" Luo Yunji wore a face that was plainly begging for praise.

At that moment, Zhang Xiaofan was somewhat depressed as he silently swallowed his tears back into his stomach.

"R-really amazing! Little Junior Brother, you're too amazing!" Zhang Xiaofan did not dare imagine what would happen if his master learned that, because of some other sect's cultivation method Zhang Xiaofan had given him, his little junior brother had gone and altered the method Azure Clouds had passed down for thousands of years. Would his master directly grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes?

Just thinking about it made his whole body turn cold. It would be better if his master simply found out he had practiced a Buddhist cultivation method!

If only he had known!

After being praised, Luo Yunji, looking utterly satisfied, taught the cultivation method to Zhang Xiaofan. Then he used Zhang Xiaofan like a rolled-up quilt, hugged him, and fell asleep.

As for Zhang Xiaofan, he did not sleep all night.

"Beaten to death by Master! Beaten to death by Master! Beaten to death by Master..." Zhang Xiaofan's grief had already flowed backward into a river in his heart, and all night long he kept muttering that sentence inside.

"Little Junior Brother! Can't you stop being such a monster?"

Luo Yunji seemed not to take the matter of modifying the cultivation method seriously at all. Rather, he himself started cultivating first, and his cultivation, which had only recently broken through to the sixth level, grew again.

While chanting inwardly that he would not compare himself to a monster, Zhang Xiaofan, under Luo Yunji's expectant gaze, resigned himself to practicing the modified "Taiji Mystic Purity Dao."

After that, however, Luo Yunji quieted down. He did not do anything monstrous again, but instead followed Zhang Xiaofan every day, going in and out of the kitchen.

"No, this has to be blanched first!" In the kitchen, Luo Yunji stood beside Zhang Xiaofan, directing him until Zhang Xiaofan was run ragged and spinning in circles.

"That's not how you blanch it! You have to use cold water, then warm it over a low fire until it's slightly hot, and then put the meat in!" Luo Yunji hopped anxiously in place and shouted in frustration.

Zhang Xiaofan could only take the meat out of the water again and blanch it according to Luo Yunji's method.

"For this, you have to cook the ingredients first! Wait, let me check again!" As he spoke, Luo Yunji pulled a booklet out from behind his waist. Written on it was %$#%$@. Judging from the handwriting, it was definitely Luo Yunji's work.

He flipped through a few pages, then continued, "Bamboo shoots! Put in the freshest, nicest-looking one too. Then the water taro. Senior Brother, did you peel the skin clean?"

Water taro was something the little fatty had discovered by the spring lake behind the mountain. Its texture was faintly sweet with a slight plantlike bitterness, and it gave the tip of the tongue a tiny prickling numbness, but if it was cooked together with bamboo shoots, the bitterness would be removed, leaving only a faint astringency to stimulate the taste buds.

Zhang Xiaofan helplessly handed the peeled water taro in his hand to the little fatty for inspection.

"Oh! Then the seasonings. Where are the seasonings?!" The little fatty was directing with boundless enthusiasm, and Zhang Xiaofan did not dare provoke this little junior brother beloved by all of Big Bamboo Peak, so he could only obediently cooperate.

After a bout of bustling, all the preparations were finally done.

"Little Junior Brother! Isn't this maybe not too good?" Zhang Xiaofan advised somewhat worriedly, looking at the little fatty who, for the sake of satisfying his appetite, had become somewhat unscrupulous.

"Go away! I want to eat something delicious! Just wait! This will definitely be the most, most delicious meat under heaven!" As he spoke, he lifted with both hands a freshly chopped section of "black-jointed bamboo" from the side, thick enough to match one and a half of his arms, and placed it in front of him. Then he once again took out that booklet, flipped through it, and mumbled to himself, as though memorizing the contents inside.

"First, smear some of the mashed water taro onto the inner wall of the bamboo." As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed a handful of the ground, powdery-white water taro mash, shoving it into the bamboo. When Zhang Xiaofan saw Luo Yunji's ghastly manual dexterity, he sighed, stepped forward, took the "black-jointed bamboo," and finished it in a few moves.

"S-so amazing! Then I'll leave it to you. Once my most delicious meat under heaven is done, I'll allow you to taste a tiny bit!" Luo Yunji nodded his little fat head and looked at that section of black bamboo with satisfaction.

Zhang Xiaofan did not become particularly happy because of that. Right now, he just wanted to finish making this strange dish of his little junior brother's as quickly as possible so he could go back and cultivate.

"After smearing it on, sprinkle a little of the dew collected from bamboo leaves over it. Not too much, just enough to moisten it!" Luo Yunji nervously watched Zhang Xiaofan move his hands.

That dew had also been collected by Zhang Xiaofan early in the morning. Because of that, he had almost delayed Big Bamboo Peak's breakfast.

"Supplementary ingredients!" Luo Yunji glanced at the booklet in his hand and directed.

After Zhang Xiaofan heard him, he immediately started moving.

"Water taro mash!"

Zhang Xiaofan smeared on another layer.

"Bamboo shoots!"

"Dew water!"

"Supplementary ingredients!"

"Sauce!"

"Meat!!!"

At last hearing that word, Zhang Xiaofan silently let out a breath of relief. He stuffed the meat, which had been processed through several steps, into the "Blackjoint Bamboo," which had almost no space left inside.

"Seal the opening with water-taro mash!" Luo Yunji finally let out a breath of relief too! For this one bite of food! Had it been easy for him!

He had talked until his mouth was dry and his tongue was parched!

"What do we do now?" Zhang Xiaofan asked, feeling the rather heavy "Blackjoint Bamboo" in his hands.

"Use water to make the flavors even, use fire to make the flavors meld!" Luo Yunji stared at the bamboo in Zhang Xiaofan's hands, his eyes shining.

"I don't understand!" The world of monsters really wasn't something a mortal like him could comprehend, Zhang Xiaofan muttered silently in his heart.

"It means wrap it with water, then keep rotating it and washing over it, so the flavors of the ingredients inside can spread evenly. Then smoke-roast it with fire—first a gentle fire, then a fierce fire, then a gentle fire again, until the flavors of the ingredients inside the bamboo fuse together!" Luo Yunji explained patiently. For the sake of this delicacy, he could be considered to have poured out all his heart and strength.

After listening, Zhang Xiaofan shook his head. "Still don't understand!"

"Give it here!" Luo Yunji rolled his eyes, then hugged it with both hands, turned around, and was about to leave the kitchen.

"Little Junior Brother, where are you going?" Zhang Xiaofan hurriedly followed him out.