Shen Xiang returned to Jade Spring Temple on Fengming Mountain.
Lei Zongliang was leading his men in dismembering the two exotic beasts.
Zhou Mingrui was looking after his father.
The constables and runners were loading the snake corpses onto carts, while the physicians accompanying them applied simple bandages to stabilize the injuries. Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Everyone was busy.
Except Cao Jinxing.
"Killed her?"
Cao Jinxing was grilling meat for everyone.
The essence of the Flame-Feathered Eagle and Golden Flame Snake lay in the eagle's blood and the snake's gallbladder, but their meat was nourishing too. He and Shen Xiang could not finish it all, so he might as well share it with everyone.
It would save wasting it.
Beside him, Xuan Yuan Fourteen was drooling, round eyes fixed on the skewers.
After following Cao Jinxing for so long, it had grown accustomed to cooked food and no longer liked eating raw meat. More than half the meat Cao Jinxing grilled had gone into its stomach.
"Killed her."
Shen Xiang sat down and picked up a cooked skewer to taste. "I ran into thirty mounted Shamanic Order soldiers on the way and dealt with them too. I never expected that Great Shaman to pass his cultivation on to Mingzhu. A pity, though... You didn't add any seasoning. It's a little bland."
"Where am I supposed to find seasoning out in these wild mountains?"
Cao Jinxing rolled his eyes and continued, "...What good was internal energy alone? Mingzhu was obsessed with tinkering with her Golden Flame Snake and studying crooked arts. She knew nothing about hand-to-hand combat. Passing it to her was a waste. He probably intended to let her assimilate it slowly."
"Mm."
"Whatever the case, things here are settled. There's nothing left for me to do." Cao