Rainy Night

"Weren't you two coming out to meet me? Why are we heading farther away?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. We're going to celebrate our successful trip to the Radiant Dawn Tower Secret Realm!"

Chen Zui: ...Fine.

Business at the Little Pleasant Abode Spirit-Food Restaurant was booming, just as expected. With plenty of cultivators in the city flush with Spirit Stones lately, there was no chance of getting a table at this hour. But as Wen Xu had said, a city this large couldn't have only one spirit-food restaurant. After searching for a while, they walked into a place called Friends Come from Afar.

A food cultivator's sign hung outside, yet there wasn't a single customer inside. Little Pleasant Abode was packed to the rafters just one street away, while this place was... Could it be some kind of shady establishment?

"How could my humble restaurant be shady? Sir, you can't make accusations like that with nothing but your bare teeth and red lips."

Bian Chunchou looked apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it." Had he really blurted out what he was thinking? That wasn't like him.

"No matter. What would you three like to eat? My humble restaurant finally has customers today, so order anything you like."

...Somehow, this was sounding less and less reassuring.

The three of them had already sat down, but Bian Chunchou felt as though he'd boarded a pirate ship. "Don't you have a menu? Any signature spirit dishes?"

"No. You three must be from out of town, right?"

Wen Xu looked up. "How did you know?"

The proprietor only smiled. He had a pleasant round face but unusually narrow eyes; when he wasn't smiling, he had an air that warned strangers to keep away. Fortunately, he was running a business and greeted them