I like mine more well-done; I was just letting it cook a little longer! (Please subscribe and vote with your monthly tickets)

Seeing Li Chen and Jade-Washing Fairy enter, a nimble waiter dashed over in an instant and said with a dazzling smile, "Honored guests! A private room or the main hall? Today's recommendation is the Dragon-Breath Mala Hotpot with Ice Phoenix Snowflake Meat. So spicy your primordial spirit will leave your body, so satisfying you'll sprout wings and ascend to immortality!"

For some reason, Jade-Washing Fairy wanted to laugh when she heard this. She found it amusing, too, and wondered how they had come up with such phrases.

"Dragon breath" and "ice phoenix" were surely figurative names for certain ingredients, just as braised lion's head meatballs contained no actual lion's head.

Jade-Washing Fairy understood this perfectly well, since many medicinal herbs in the cultivation world were named in much the same way.

Still, hearing those names really did make cultivators want to order a portion and try it.

"A private room," Jade-Washing Fairy said softly. "Do you have anything lighter?"

The waiter immediately produced a jade-slip menu as though performing a magic trick. "Rest assured, Fairy. We have something for every taste."

Jade-Washing Fairy seemed to have trouble making decisions. Faced with the dazzling array of soup bases, she had no idea which to choose.

She glanced at Li Chen, who chuckled. "Then we'll have a split pot with mala broth and clear broth, along with these drinks and ingredients."

As a hotpot veteran here, Li Chen placed the order very quickly.

The waiter called out loudly, "Heaven No. 1 private room, two honored guests!"

Before his voice had faded, a rather attractive maid had already approached and respectfully shown them the way. "Please follow me upstairs to the Nine Heavens Pavilion."

Li Chen and Jade-Washing Fairy followed her to their private room.

Before the soup bases arrived, Jade-Washing Fairy seemed