Stay Any Longer, and You'll Have to Spend the Night

"Since you're already here, stay for a meal before you go."

Chu Xingchen said little else. He ought to be deeply grateful that she was willing to help; it was better than blundering around like a headless fly with his Spirit Stones.

Those Spirit Stones were taking up space in his Spatial Ring.

"No need..." Yaoqin stopped her instinctive refusal short, because what came next exceeded her expectations.

"I'll cook today," Chu Xingchen continued, then paused and looked at Yaoqin. "No need for what?"

Yaoqin immediately changed tack. "No need to cook too much."

Although Yaoqin had long since reached the Golden Core Stage and no longer needed food, there had been a period when she consumed nothing but the tea supplied by her sect.

But when it came to Chu Xingchen cooking for her himself, it was still...

Hard not to feel tempted.

A man of brilliant literary talent and a distinctly gentlemanly air was personally cooking for her.

Whatever else might be said, Chu Xingchen still wore a halo in Yaoqin's eyes.

Chu Xingchen nodded. "All right, but there's not much left in the kitchen. Yingling, take your junior brother and buy whatever you'd like to eat."

"Sure thing, Master." Li Yingling readily agreed. It had been ages since she had eaten rabbit cooked by her master.

This time, she was absolutely buying two so her master could make spicy rabbit!

Buying the ingredients meant having the right to decide what the cook made. Naturally, Li Yingling loved the job.

After watching his two threadbare little padded jackets head out to buy groceries, Chu Xingchen turned and gestured toward the tea Li Yingling had brewed:

"Shall we have some tea first?"

Yaoqin gladly agreed. "All right."

Chu Xingchen picked up a fresh cup from beside him and poured Yaoqin some tea:

"How have you been lately? Your eyes look a little tired. Don't wear yourself out."

Yaoqin froze at his words and quickly lowered her head. She really had not rested much lately, having spent all her time studying that Blood Qi Spirit Stone.

Could I look a little haggard right now, too?

As though seeing through her thoughts, Chu Xingchen continued:

"But you seem a little less icy, too. You look more approachable. Before, I always felt you kept people a thousand miles away."

"I still remember the first time I went to the Bamboo Jade Court to hear you play. I didn't even catch a glimpse of you."

Yaoqin took a small sip of tea. It was hardly good tea, yet it felt especially gentle on her tongue:

"Do you think the Bamboo Jade Court is a brothel? Few people can match the couplet at the entrance. Getting inside to hear a piece in the main hall is already good enough."

Chu Xingchen nodded in wholehearted agreement. "That's true... I spent half a month matching couplets before I could see your silhouette through the gauze window."

"'Suddenly, I turned back-and there she stood, where the lantern lights grew dim,'" Yaoqin recited, her expression unchanged. "I originally thought you were an ambitious man of great talent. Only after that conversation did I realize you were an ignorant little rogue."

Curious, Chu Xingchen asked, "Then why did you see me again the next time?"

"I simply happened not to dislike rogues quite that much." Yaoqin lowered her gaze to the cup in her hands, where a tea leaf slowly revolved in the center.

Yaoqin raised her head again and looked at Chu Xingchen as she asked:

"The spiritual energy within you is pure and abundant, at least at the mid-to-late Golden Core Stage. A year ago, you were only at the Foundation Establishment Peak. Since you haven't become an Evil Cultivator, why have you advanced so quickly? Or were you deceiving me before?"

Cultivators generally did not ask why someone else's cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.

It was an extremely presumptuous question.

After all, it might be the result of a tremendous fortuitous opportunity, or their cultivation technique might have finally borne fruit after years of accumulation.

The former could invite covetous eyes, while the latter could easily expose their weaknesses.

Thus, not asking why another person's cultivation had advanced so rapidly was an unwritten rule in the cultivation world.

Chu Xingchen sighed softly. "Let's call it a fortuitous opportunity... I don't know how to explain it, either. In any case, when I met you a year ago, I really was only at the Foundation Establishment Peak."

Yaoqin asked no further questions and merely nodded gently.

With that, her most important question had been answered.

Chu Xingchen kept Yaoqin company, chatting about everything under the sun and about where he had gone courting death over the past year.

By the time Li Yingling returned with the groceries, quite some time had passed.

Chu Xingchen asked Li Yingling to entertain Yaoqin for a while, then took the ingredients she had bought into the kitchen.

Li Yingling had bought quite a lot, much of it food she loved.

Chu Xingchen casually selected some ingredients and made a few dishes.

This world had never placed much importance on food.

After all, once people reached Foundation Establishment, they could abstain from eating, and those who truly held power were all cultivators.

Thus, the pursuit of good food was not particularly important.

As a result, this world's standard of cooking was truly low.

That also left Chu Xingchen's culinary skills galloping far ahead of the rest.

In any case, they were certainly enough to win Yaoqin over.

Judging by Yaoqin's stunned expression after her first bite of sweet-and-sour pork, Chu Xingchen knew his cooking was enough to conquer her.

Yaoqin, who had initially eaten with rather careful manners, saw how Li Yingling ate as though she wished she could lick the plates clean.

Li Yingling had never stood on ceremony around her master anyway. Besides, she could sense that Yaoqin seemed... somewhat interested in him.

In the end, Yaoqin could not help herself. Though she remained elegant, the speed at which she picked up food noticeably increased.

On top of that, Yaoqin seemed accustomed to chewing slowly and thoroughly, which sometimes left her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's as she chewed and chewed.

It clashed utterly with her icy demeanor, making the contrast look adorably charming.

Li Xingtian cared little for pleasures of the palate. After all, Li Yingling had described him as someone who could drink a chicken's bathwater without batting an eye.

Thus, he was merely a supporting presence at the table, occasionally taking a bite or two just to feel included.

Chu Xingchen occasionally fought his eldest disciple for a little food, then watched her look reluctant but always yield it to him in the end.

All in all, the meal was relaxed and pleasant.

What Yaoqin had feared most had not happened. The handsome young man before her remained just as he had been when they first met.

He had not been drowned by the surging tide of malice in the cultivation world. In his own way, he still shone with his own unique light.

Everyone knew that Rogue Cultivators always had the hardest lives. He had been in quite a sorry state when she first met him, yet he had always held on to his principles. That was truly rare.

Still, perhaps he could no longer be considered a Rogue Cultivator.

He was now a sect leader, and his late Golden Core Stage cultivation was enough to establish a sect in this little place.

And the sect he had founded was so small-small enough that even counting its leader, it had only three people.

It was even a sect whose leader fought his eldest disciple for food. Small though it was, it was genuinely warm.

After the meal, Yaoqin did not linger long before bidding Chu Xingchen farewell and leaving.

After all, night had fallen. If she stayed any longer, she would have to spend the night...

The moment Yaoqin returned to her room, she heard her maid's slightly anxious voice:

"Miss, you're finally back."

Yaoqin took off her outer robe. "What could possibly happen to me in a place like Yuzhou City?"

Xiao Ling's lips involuntarily puckered. What else could I be worried about?

Of course I'm worried that boy will swindle you!

Naturally, Xiao Ling did not say that aloud. Instead, she brought up something else:

"Miss Zhao came again. She's been waiting downstairs for you for nearly four hours."