Si Chen and his companions stayed in Hundred Flowers City for seven or eight days.
Those days had only one theme: eating.
Perhaps because Hundred Flowers City had so many female cultivators, its cuisine had a distinctive style, with an especially large number of pastry shops and sweet soup stalls.
Black Mountain and Red Wind, those two devoted meat eaters, went from initial suspicion to total surrender in less than half a day.
"Brother! These! These things called 'snowy glutinous rice dumplings' are so damned good!"
"So delicious!"
Black Mountain held one in each hand, eating until white glutinous rice flour covered his mouth. Their soft, sticky texture and delicate sweetness made his bear eyes narrow with bliss.
Red Wind, meanwhile, had a particular fondness for a pastry called "spirit honey mille-feuille."
Each layer was as thin as a cicada's wing, so crisp that crumbs flaked off, with spirit honey of different floral fragrances spread between them. He could not bear to waste even the crumbs on his fingertips, and solemnly offered his assessment: "This delicacy... is most exquisitely crafted."
Si Chen also enjoyed these delicate desserts. Sweets had always been among his favorite foods.
Li Tiezhu enjoyed the feast along with them, but his worldview continued to take a battering in that cloyingly sweet air.
The inn where they stayed was near the Spreading Moon Pavilion and counted among the Joyous Union Sect's properties.
Knowing that Si Chen was the newly appointed honorary elder, the innkeeper and staff attended to him with exceptional care, sending a steady stream of the city's famous pastries to his room.
That afternoon, the group had just returned from another sweep through the local food offerings and were resting in the inn's main hall.
Sharp-eyed Li Tiezhu noticed a small bookshelf beside the counter,