"What would you like for dinner?"
Xiao Jixue put the jade hairpin into his Sumeru Ring and asked Tang Yan.
Ever since he had heard Tang Yan complain that Fasting Pills tasted awful, he had arranged for the servant disciples on Purple Dawn Peak to collect spirit rice, vegetables, and fruit.
He remembered how Tang Yan had nearly burned down the kitchen the first time he cooked longevity noodles for him.
So Xiao Jixue had gone to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect's dining hall and spent several days learning to cook from the chef.
Unexpectedly, he had a talent for cooking, and his very first attempt earned Tang Yan's praise.
From then on, Xiao Jixue cooked three meals a day for Tang Yan.
He never found it troublesome or tiresome. Instead, the more he cooked, the more he found a quiet pleasure in it.
Tang Yan thought for a couple of seconds, then said, "Braised Spirit-Crest Fish, Sweet-and-Sour Spirit Pig Ribs, stir-fried Spirit Cabbage Hearts, and a soup. That'll do."
The casual ease with which Tang Yan ordered his dishes left Li Mo and the others staring in astonishment.
Their minds filled with questions.
What was going on?
Their eldest senior brother could actually cook? Didn't he hate troublesome chores like cooking more than anything?
Feng Sheng's eyes shone as though they held starlight, and she cackled wickedly to herself.
Hehehehe... she knew it!!!
There was definitely something going on between their eldest senior brother and their junior brother! Those two definitely weren't innocent!
"Eldest senior brother, we've never tasted your cooking before. Might we have the good fortune to try it today?"
Feng Sheng asked with a beaming smile.
Xiao Jixue paused as he rose, glanced at her, and spoke in an even voice.
"Sure. Stay for dinner."
Feng Sheng's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly. "Hehe, all right."
Li Mo and Cui Yishu swallowed their farewells and settled back into their seats.
For no other reason than that they, too, wanted to know what their eldest senior brother's cooking tasted like.
Only after eating at Purple Dawn Peak did Li Mo and the others take their leave.
Throughout the meal, Feng Sheng ate while continuing to sneak glances at the way her eldest senior brother and junior brother interacted.
The longer she watched, the brighter her eyes grew and the wider her smile became.
It made Li Mo and Cui Yishu think to themselves that their junior sister—or senior sister, in Cui Yishu's case—had not only developed an eye twitch today, but a twitch at the corners of her mouth as well.
Cui Yishu took it a step further.
She felt that her senior sister was avoiding treatment out of fear of admitting she was ill, so she decided to research spirit medicines for twitching eyes and mouths once she returned.
When she had time, she would make some and secretly deliver it to Feng Sheng.
Tang Yan had only just returned to his room and sat down when the system spoke in his sea of consciousness.
[Congratulations, host. You have earned one hundred affection points from the villain Xiao Jixue. These can now be exchanged for two hundred points, unlocking the points shop.] [Would you like to exchange them for points and unlock the points shop?] [Yes] [No]
The moment Tang Yan heard he could unlock the points shop, his interest perked up, and he clicked yes without a second thought.
[Open it, open it.]
Three breaths later.
[Ding—Xiao Jixue's affection is now zero. Please continue working hard to complete your conquest mission.] [Ding—the points shop is now open. From now on, you can use points exchanged from affection to purchase anything in the shop.]
Tang Yan asked, [Anything? Even a phone?]
His time in the cultivation world had left him bored out of his mind.
There were no phones, no internet, and no modern snacks. His spiritual root had been extracted, leaving him unable to cultivate. If not for the juicy gossip the system uncovered keeping him going,
Tang Yan would have grown mushrooms from sheer boredom.
How wonderful life would be if he could have a phone.
But the system crushed his fantasy without mercy. [Keep dreaming, host.]
Tang Yan said, [...Weren't you the useless piece of junk who said I could exchange points for anything?]
The system did not get angry at the insult. Instead, it drawled, [You can only exchange them for things stocked in the points shop~]
Tang Yan said, [Your System Bureau really is useless. Fine, show me what's in the points shop.]
The next instant, a crystalline blue screen appeared in the air before Tang Yan, visible only to him.
It listed a dense assortment of items, thoughtfully accompanied by pictures and written descriptions.
Tang Yan looked through them line by line. Almost all of them were cultivation-related things.
But he was an ordinary person now, so they were of no use to him for the moment.
Right now, there was only one thing he wanted: the Life-Bone Divine Lotus, which could regrow his spiritual root and allow him to cultivate again.
In the original novel's plot, Tang Yan would not obtain that opportunity and resume cultivating until three years later.
But parts of the plot had already gone completely off the rails, and Tang Yan could not be sure whether the opportunity originally meant for this body's owner still existed.
[System, can I exchange points for the Life-Bone Divine Lotus in the points shop?]
[Yes.] The system paused before explaining.
[The Life-Bone Divine Lotus is a spiritual treasure that harnesses the miraculous powers of heaven and earth. Even the most hopelessly untalented person can gain supreme talent in an instant by consuming it. The spiritual root it produces can reach one hundred percent purity, guaranteeing that they will eventually form a supreme-grade golden core and condense a supreme-grade nascent soul.
Even on the Immortal Spirit Continent, it is exceedingly rare. Someone might obtain this extraordinary opportunity only once in a thousand years.
Therefore, exchanging for the Life-Bone Divine Lotus costs one million points.]
Tang Yan said, [...One million? Fuck, one million points means five hundred thousand affection points from Xiao Jixue. If I keep wooing him until heaven and earth grow old, I might actually manage to scrape together five hundred thousand.]
But the problem was that the Demon Clan would return and attempt to seize the Immortal Spirit Continent again in twenty years.
By the time he gathered five hundred thousand affection points, it would be fucking far too late!
There was no telling whether he could even survive until the day he could exchange for the divine lotus.
Mentally exhausted, Tang Yan slumped against the back of his chair, looking despondent.
For once, the system did not kick him while he was down. Instead, it offered some thoughtful reassurance.
[Don't be so discouraged, host. The plot event where you obtain the Life-Bone Divine Lotus takes place in a Lesser Secret Realm discovered by chance in the Eastern Region.]
[If that part of the plot hasn't gone off the rails, you might still find the opportunity to cultivate again in that Lesser Secret Realm.]
“Ah!” Tang Yan let out a long breath. “Let's hope so.”
He was not someone who wallowed in self-pity, and he soon put that little bout of gloom behind him.
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