This Food Tasted Awful

Qian Chongling naturally paid no attention to the chatter of a few nobodies. He had already parted ways with the pretty young married woman, though she had thanked him a thousand times over before leaving.

Qian Chongling also understood that, if he wanted, spending tonight "vanquishing demons and defending the righteous path," with a little coy resistance followed by willing surrender, would be no problem.

But Qian Chongling had long since lost interest in such things-or rather, he simply did not want to!

Back in his younger days, when he was young and reckless, he had naturally dreamed of gathering a harem of beauties. With his strength and standing, realizing that dream had been simplicity itself.

But once there were too many women, the romantic battlefield inevitably followed. Sharing one enormous bed together? He could forget about it!

Any girl who caught Qian Chongling's eye had, at the very least, the potential to become a Titled Douluo. Such daughters of heaven all wanted him to themselves; why would they want to share a man? Yet the old womanizer was far too powerful, so they could only accept that he had other women. Expecting them to smile about it, however, was out of the question.

Secondly, Qian Chongling lived far too long. Having seen off his women and his few descendants time and again, he now had no interest whatsoever in ordinary women.

In his own words, "Unless you become a god, I'm not interested in you!"

After a long while, Qian Chongling came back to his senses and began surveying Longxing City's inner city.

Within Longxing City, handsome young nobles in fine clothing were a common sight as they came and went. Countless merchants driven by profit hawked their wares here as well, presenting a scene of peace and prosperity.

The Longxing Hotel stood to the southeast. Built entirely of uniform blue stone, it rose four stories high. Its stone blocks had deliberately been left unpolished, giving it a rugged, imposing presence, like a giant baring his sturdy chest and open heart.

The first floor catered to ordinary people seeking food and rest. Naturally, the meals served there were plain fare with little nutritional value, but at least they filled the stomach.

The second floor admitted only those of noble status. It consisted of small private rooms and served dishes made with soul beasts less than a thousand years old.

The third floor received soul masters above rank thirty and below rank seventy. It likewise had separate private rooms, only larger ones, and the ingredients it offered were much the same as those on the second floor.

The final floor admitted only Soul Saints and above, and its ingredients had to be reserved in advance. Since its dishes used soul beasts around three thousand years old, soul masters had to hunt them down, making the prices even more terrifying.

Qian Chongling went straight to the third floor, called over a waiter, and ordered several signature dishes with a grand wave of his hand.

The Longxing Hotel was fairly efficient at serving its food. Before long, one fragrant dish after another was brought to his table.

Still, it certainly could not compare with Qian Chongling's own cooking. Leaving everything else aside, as Spirit Hall's patriarch, Qian Chongling ate even better than its pope, Qian Daoliu. The pope's ingredients were the choicest parts of soul beasts, with ten-thousand-year specimens as the bare minimum.

Spirit Hall specifically dispatched people to deliver fresh, choice cuts of soul beasts to him. Although these dishes were also made from soul beast parts, the oldest beasts used were only at the hundred-year level.

Qian Chongling picked up a piece of Braised Earth Dragon Meat, put it in his mouth, and savored it carefully.

"The flavor is passable."

"The heat control on these Dry-Fried Four-Season Vine Beans is a little off. The oil was too hot, and they took too long to get them out of the wok."

"Is this fish fin stewed with ribs? Fins from Black-and-White Fish and the second row of ribs from Flame Chicken-the idea was delicacies from mountain and sea, with water and fire creating two contrasting worlds! But I can't taste anything of the sort. Isn't this just a pot of everything thrown together?"

Amid Qian Chongling's complaints, he gradually polished off his first meal in Longxing City. Though he scorned the cooking, he had never been one to waste food.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Qian Chongling strolled leisurely out of the Longxing Hotel and began his after-meal walk.

He had to admit that, although even a lowly gate guard in the Star Luo Empire was so arrogant that the whole place looked doomed sooner or later, they had done a decent job of keeping up appearances.

The entire street had been swept spotless, and there was not even a single beggar!

They probably drove all the beggars outside the city and left them to fend for themselves, Qian Chongling thought maliciously.

As he walked, he unwittingly arrived before a small alley packed with people. At a glance, he could see little but heads-white, black, green, blue, every color imaginable.

Sure enough, watching a spectacle was human nature. Whether in another world or the world of his previous life, people were all the same.

Could someone be performing "panda" stone-breaking? The Lightning Venomous Dragon Drill? Or perhaps a spear thrust against the throat? If it's any of those, it'll definitely be worth watching, Qian Chongling thought.

And so, taking full advantage of his "strong and sturdy" physique, he pushed straight through the crowd and claimed the best viewing spot at the front.

Naturally, some people resented him exercising this "advantage." But when they saw how expensive his clothes were and how old he was, they were frightened into keeping well away.

Everyone feared being caught in a staged accident scam.

"Please, save him."

From his prime spot in the front row, he saw a young man in plain, old-fashioned clothes covered with patches lying in the arms of a pretty young married woman dressed much like him. Blood kept seeping through his torn clothing.

By coincidence, this pretty young married woman was the very same young lass who had flirted with Qian Chongling that morning.

Through the young man's torn clothing, several wounds left by sharp claws and fangs were faintly visible, so deep that they exposed bone. Without help, he probably would not survive another two to four hours.

Clearly, the pretty young married woman was probably his wife. As for his injuries, he had likely been bitten by some soul beast or beaten by a beast soul master. Most likely, he had encountered a soul beast while away from home, and the result was obvious: even against a soul beast less than a hundred years old, an ordinary person's life and death still rested in heaven's hands.

Ordinary people walked on thin ice just to survive, terrified of accidentally offending a noble. Meanwhile, the nobles lived in drunken dreams, rotten and depraved, and could spend unimaginable sums of money in a single night. Yet such things happened frequently on this continent; they were simply the norm in this world.

Ultimately, it was because they were weak. The weak could only follow the rules laid down by the "strong," and even endure their exploitation, because they lacked the ability to resist. This was also why ordinary people all wanted to become soul masters. Soul masters represented power, and power was roughly equivalent to being strong!

While the old man indulged in his usual reflections on life, a middle-aged man in brocade clothing, with a somewhat lecherous face, suddenly spoke from the outer edge of the crowd. "I can save him. Spend a few days playing with me."

The pretty young married woman looked up at his words. Had she not looked, she might have been fine, but the moment she saw the middle-aged man, fury blazed within her. "Viscount Lu Yuan, my husband entered the Soul Fighting Arena in your place! How could you do this?"