Hope I Haven't Harmed You

Wu Chu scooped some lake water into a basin to rinse it, taking great care not to let the Dragon Blood touch his hands. Then he splashed the bloody water toward the Red Giant Fish.

As the bloody water flew out, the Red Giant Fish leaped from the lake, opened its huge mouth, and instantly sucked all the bloodwater in.

Splash...

The giant fish curved through the air and plunged headfirst into the lake. The sound of it entering the water was not as loud as he had imagined, but surprisingly faint, with barely any splash.

After turning in the water, the fish surfaced again and continued looking at Wu Chu.

Wu Chu laughed. "I hope I haven't harmed you."

When he returned to the little cabin, Little Moon Spirit was standing on a Purple Jade stump stool before the stove. Standing on tiptoe and bracing herself against the counter, she used a large bamboo ladle to pour boiling water over the Dragon Tongue Meat.

"Why didn't you cut the meat into small pieces first?" Wu Chu asked with a smile.

Still, the way she stood on tiptoe was truly adorable.

"Uh! I forgot!"

Little Moon Spirit bared her pearly teeth awkwardly. "I'll cut it up right away..."

As she spoke, she drew the Spirit Prime Sword and was about to jab it into the clay pot.

Wu Chu cried out, "Wait!"

Little Moon Spirit held up the sword and turned to stare blankly at him. "What is it?"

"Better not go waving blades around. You might accidentally cut the clay pot in half."

"..." Little Moon Spirit paused, then said, "Brother A Chu, please believe me..."

"Mm, I believe you, but there's no need to make this so troublesome. Let's just leave it as it is." Wu Chu nodded, signaling for her to put the sword down first. "By the way, can boiling water scald the cells inside the dragon tongue to death?"

At that, Little Moon Spirit shook her head dejectedly. "No! That energy actively protects the Dragon Meat. Brother A Chu, look!"

As she spoke, she scooped up a ladleful of boiling water and poured it over the Dragon Tongue Meat. A glow immediately flickered across the meat, blocking the boiling water from reaching it.

Looking more closely, one could also see a faint layer of light on the surface of the dragon tongue submerged in the boiling water, resisting the scalding heat.

Wu Chu scratched his head. "This is really troublesome! Do we have to exhaust all the energy in this Dragon Meat? But without that energy, what edible value would it have left? Is this the difference between Golden Immortal-level Dragon Meat and ordinary beast meat? Come to think of it, how was I even able to chop up this kind of Dragon Meat? Am I already that powerful?"

"..."

Little Moon Spirit blinked her large eyes, seemingly unsure how to describe Wu Chu's current cultivation level. She tilted her head and thought for a moment before finally saying, "This cleaver was originally a fragment of that Azure Dragon's treasure. It should have no problem cutting through dragon tongue."

After a pause, she continued, "As for removing the energy within the Dragon Meat, it will still retain its edible value. I'm just worried that Brother A Chu, having contracted that 'Ordinary Illness,' may still be unable to digest it."

"I see. Then can you digest this Dragon Meat?"

"I can. I already tried refining some of that energy just now."

Wu Chu clapped his hands. "Then that settles it! As long as you can digest it, eating that Azure Dragon should greatly increase your cultivation, right? Once you grow stronger, you can protect me! By the way, Yueling, are you willing to protect me?"

"I-I am, of course!" Little Moon Spirit clenched her little fists. "But Brother A Chu has Yibao. Does he still need my protection?"

Wu Chu laughed heartily and reached out to rub her head, giving her an affectionate head pat. "Of course I do. Who told me to catch that damned 'Ordinary Illness'? As for Yibao, you know how she is..."

"What about me? I don't mind if you praise Little Moon Spirit, but you can't praise one person by putting another down. That's disgusting!"

Yibao, who had been lurking in the shadows watching, jumped out unhappily as though someone had stepped on her tail. She glared at Wu Chu with her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly unreasonable.

"I haven't even finished speaking. Why are you in such a hurry?" Wu Chu rolled his eyes at her.

"Then keep talking!"

"What I meant was, you're so powerful that I can't trouble you with every little thing! You're my ultimate nuclear weapon. Have you ever seen someone toss out a nuclear weapon just because they were in a fight?"

Though she felt Wu Chu's words were somewhat insincere, Yibao decided to let him off for now.

"Brother A Chu, what is an ultimate nuclear weapon?" Little Moon Spirit asked curiously.

"Uh... you can think of it as a Primordial Supreme Treasure."

Little Moon Spirit looked at Yibao and nodded. "Yibao truly is a Supreme Treasure! And an incredibly powerful Merit Supreme Treasure at that. Otherwise, she could never have given birth to a Spirit Treasure True Spirit."

"Hmph! At least you, little fool, have some discernment!"

Yibao proudly raised her little chin.

Wu Chu spread his hands toward Little Moon Spirit with a wry, apologetic smile. Little Moon Spirit smiled and shook her head, completely unconcerned. It was not the first time Yibao had called her a "little fool," after all.

Sometimes, Little Moon Spirit thought that she really was not very clever. She had actually fallen for the tricks of Yibao, a Spirit Treasure True Spirit, and wasted Merit Power on meaningless entertainment.

Wu Chu gave the sensible Little Moon Spirit another affectionate head pat and looked at the clay pot. "Little Moon Spirit, why don't you draw out the energy from this piece of dragon tongue? I may still be unable to digest the Dragon Meat, but I want to try it and see what it tastes like."

"Alright, no problem!"

Thus, under Little Moon Spirit's manipulation, the energy within the dragon tongue in the pot was drawn away.

Come to think of it, even if they did not draw it out, once the meat was truly cooked, that energy would be consumed anyway. That would amount to wasting it.

Once Little Moon Spirit drew away the energy that kept the cells alive, the color of the dragon tongue in the pot gradually began to change. The boiling water finally started having some effect on it.

However, by the time a layer of white substance appeared on the surface of the dragon tongue, an entire day had already passed. A day in the Primordial World was equivalent to a year on Earth.

Just think about it—boiling only the surface of Dragon Meat took a whole year. What kind of concept was that?

If not for Little Moon Spirit, he did not even know how much firewood he would have needed to chop.

During that day, the bored Wu Chu carried a hoe and cleared a plot of land nearly an acre in size in the flower field beside the lake. He then had Little Moon Spirit dig up all the wild ginger, scallions, and garlic she could find in the nearby mountains and forests, plant them there, and water them with some Primordial One-Qi Pure Spirit Spring.

This spring water was tremendously beneficial to spirit plants.

After finishing all that work, Wu Chu ate a meal of roasted Dang Kang Meat and happily went off to rest.

Little Moon Spirit fished the dragon tongue out of the pot, then wielded the Spirit Prime Sword to scrape away the white substance on its surface. She sliced the dragon tongue into thin, cicada-wing-like pieces and put them back into the clay pot to simmer.

When it came to food, Little Moon Spirit displayed extraordinary patience.

Wu Chu woke after sleeping for less than three hours. He could now easily go hundreds of hours without sleeping, and after resting for two or three hours, his energy would rapidly recover, restoring him to vigorous health.

By the time Wu Chu woke up, Little Moon Spirit had just placed several tender bamboo shoots into the clay pot.

"Brother A Chu, you're awake!" Little Moon Spirit looked excited. "The dragon tongue is almost done! Sure enough, slicing it thin makes it cook much faster."

"Ha! Then I'll be waiting to enjoy some Dragon Meat!"

As he spoke, Wu Chu circulated his mana and used it to wash up and brush his teeth.