Chapter 71 (continued)

"Hmm," Telingewei said, "The Dwarf are quite skilled. Let them select the best-smelling wood to make barrels."

Hearing him say that, Xie Juanhan looked at him.

Telingewei, puzzled, returned a questioning look: What?

Xie Juanhan shook his head.

Telingewei previously disliked the Dwarf, but his attitude seems to have changed now.

I wonder what happened?

After learning the Blessing Magic, Xie Juanhan became even more proactive in hunting and gathering in the forest.

When Xie Juanhan returned that evening, he had once again defeated Demonic Beast that tasted quite good.

Upon seeing this, the Companion Beast immediately settled down in the corridor, waiting for the delicious-smelling meat to eat.

The weather was cold, Xie Juanhan marinated the meat and then steamed it with rice flour.

The meat is marinated with spice powder, Spicy Clam powder, fish soy sauce, etc., then coated with stir-fried rice noodles, and placed on a bed of previously dried pumpkin.

When this kind of steamed pork is placed in a pot, the aroma and steam keep wafting out, making the whole kitchen smell delicious and warm.

Harper and the others were sleeping in the hallway, but as they slept, their bodies gradually moved towards the kitchen doorway.

Several little creatures, not content with just that, shoved their furry paws into the kitchen, their claws hooking the ground, their eyes darting around, watching for Xie Juanhan's figure.

If Xie Juanhan doesn't object, they plan to go into the kitchen and smell the aroma up close.

Xie Juanhan was tending the fire in front of the stove when, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he threw a wooden stick over his shoulder.

"Thud," the wooden stick landed on Haxi's paw.

"Chirp." It quickly retracted its paw and licked the back of its paw.

Xie Juanhan wouldn't let them in, so the little ones had no choice but to wait at the kitchen door.

As they waited, a little messenger bird passing by smelled the fragrance and flew over to try and rub against them.

The fluffy creatures chased after the little messenger birds.

The little messenger birds fly up when chased away and come down when not chased away; they won't leave until they get some food.

Steamed pork with rice flour takes a little longer to prepare than other dishes.

The advantage is that you can put several steamers in one steaming session, and each steamer can steam several bowls of meat.

As dusk fell, Telingewei returned from fishing, and the steamed pork with rice flour was ready in the pot.

Xie Juanhan distributed food to the little guys, and even the little messenger birds each received a piece of dried pumpkin and a piece of meat.

After enjoying their meal, the furry creatures lay dozing off in various corners.

Telingewei went to wash the dishes.

Xie Juanhan fed the little Demon Wolf the remaining dried pumpkin from the steamed pork.

The other little ones had already eaten their fill of meat and weren't particularly interested in the dried pumpkin.

The little Demon Wolf accepts everything; it can clean up any leftovers made by Xie Juanhan, no matter what they are.

Xie Juanhan pinched the dried pumpkin in his palm and fed it to the little Demon Wolf, also showing affection to the little Demon Wolf.

The little Griffin watched from the side, then cautiously approached and nuzzled Xie Juanhan's hand with its head, meowing.

Xie Juanhan then gave it one as well.

Dried pumpkin slices are quite tough, and the little Griffin's two sharp teeth aren't good at gnawing on this kind of food.

As soon as it ate it, the dried pumpkin got stuck in its teeth.

It had to shake its head and wiggle its head for a long time, and even stretched out its paws, meowing, trying to pry the dried pumpkin off its teeth.

Xie Juanhan smiled as he looked at the little Griffin.

The little Griffin was shaking its head and swaying back and forth, much like a lion dancer; it was quite amusing.

His attention was entirely focused on the baby Griffin, and he forgot to feed the little Demon Wolf.

The little Demon Wolf waited for a long time, but the dried pumpkin didn't come. It let out a "woof" and stuffed its muzzle into his hand.

The little Demon Wolf's nose twitched, its breath brushing against Xie Juanhan's hand, warm and ticklish.

Xie Juanhan grabbed its beak and squeezed it, then stuffed a piece of dried pumpkin into its mouth.

On several subsequent occasions, the little Demon Wolf kept trying to sniff Xie Juanhan's hand.

Xie Juanhan didn't pay attention.

He had handled dried pumpkin and steamed pork with rice flour, and his palms still carried the aromas of oil, meat, and dried pumpkin.

It's normal for little Demon Wolf to like sniffing.

He hadn't expected that, despite having washed his hands many times, the little Demon Wolf could still smell the lingering scent of magical herbs in his palms.

After finishing the dried pumpkin, the little Demon Wolf quickly started playing with its Companion Beast.

After a while, the Companion Beast also nudged Xie Juanhan's hand with their heads, begging for a pat.

On this freezing day, Xie Juanhan simply sat on the cushion, held his Companion Beast on his lap, and idly stroked them.

That night, inside the dragon's cave.

Just as Telingewei finished showering and got into bed to rest, he saw his Companion Beast lying on their mats, their eyes darting around, clearly hiding something.

The little ones run out to play every day, and they have many secrets.

Telingewei didn't care.

He lay down on the bed of gold coins, ready to rest.

Haxi and the other little guys stared intently at him, initially looking somewhat smug, but seeing that he didn't care at all and had already gone to bed to rest, the little guys felt a bit disappointed.

It's as if you have a secret you've managed to keep from revealing it, but the other person finds out and doesn't want to hear about it at all.

This frustrated the beast.

"Chirp." Haxi rolled over on the mat and sighed almost imperceptibly.

Telingewei had already covered himself with the blanket, but when he heard it making a sound, he simply got up again.

"Chirp!" Haxi quickly backed away, trying to sell the secret to Telingewei.

Telingewei didn't give it a chance at all; the memory is shared in one post.

Haxi is deflated.

Telingewei grabbed Haxi's armpit. "Xie Juanhan's hands smell strange?"

Haxi was too lazy to "chirp," his relaxed body hanging in a long strand on Telingewei's hand.

Telingewei thought for a moment, then decided not to delve too deeply into Xie Juanhan's secret.

Who doesn't have secrets?

Telingewei didn't take it to heart.

A few days later.

He and Xie Juanhan happened to bump into each other deep in the Magic Forest.

"Didn't you go out to sea to fish?"

"Are you digging for magical herbs?"

Both dragons spoke at the same time.

Xie Juanhan's basket was filled with a large number of magical herbs and special tools ordered from the blacksmith's shop.

He was the first to admit, "Yes, we came to dig for medicinal herbs."

Telingewei: "You want to make potions?"

"No, potions aren't very effective for us magical creatures."

After Xie Juanhan finished speaking, he felt it was too absolute, so he added, "Let's not do it for now; we'll talk about it later."

Telingewei looked at the magical herbs in his basket and wanted to ask him more questions.

Xie Juanhan remembered, took out a magic compendium from his basket, and called to Telingewei, "You've come at the right time. Can you check if the magic herbs I dug up are correct?"

The potion and magic encyclopedia that Xie Juanhan bought belonged to a relatively high-level category.

It records the appearance, smell, and growing location of the potion.

Xie Juanhan was full of confidence when he first started digging.

The more he dug, the more he discovered that many of the potions looked almost identical.

After the leaves of the potion withered, leaving only the bare stem and roots, he had even less of a chance to determine its nature.

Xie Juanhan had a headache from trying to figure it out.

They finally managed to get Telingewei involved.

Telingewei wasn't very familiar with magical herbs either, but having lived in the Magic Forest for so many years, his ability to identify them was much better than Xie Juanhan's.

As they identified the objects, they dug, and gradually, Xie Juanhan's basket filled up.

"Are we going back?" Telingewei asked.

"No, let's have a picnic." Xie Juanhan glanced at the sky, then excitedly pulled Telingewei along, saying, "I'll take you to eat something delicious."

Telingewei followed him.

Xie Juanhan several turns and soon led Telingewei to the back of a small hill.

There is a small pond here, nestled against the hillside and sheltered from the wind, surrounded by soft, withered grass.

Xie Juanhan took out a ceramic pot from the Dragon Scale Space, built a simple stove with stones from the pool, placed the pot on it, washed the roots of some magical herbs, and put them in to cook.

Telingewei hesitated. "This really isn't brewing a potion?"

Xie Juanhan: "No, I'll make soup."

Telingewei: "Herbal soup?"

Xie Juanhan chuckled, "Of course not, it's Demon Bird Soup. There's a kind of Demon Bird that tastes quite good living around here. You stay here and watch the fire for me while I go hunt down a plump one."

This isn't the first time Xie Juanhan has cooked soup here.

He walked into the woods and soon came out carrying a level-two Demon Bird.

The level 2 Demon Bird is also quick to process: remove its feathers, head, claws, and internal organs, leaving only the body and Demonic Core.

Xie Juanhan said to Telingewei, "I was originally planning to boil some water to scald the skin, but you've saved me the trouble. Just scald the outer skin for me until it turns slightly yellow and shrinks."

Telingewei did as he was told, "And then?"

"Then just wait to eat." Xie Juanhan snapped his fingers. "You can sit in the grass and rest for a bit; it'll be ready soon."

Xie Juanhan specially separated the bird bones first and put them in a ceramic pot to cook with the magical herbs.

He bought the earthenware pot at the Star Market.

The earthenware pot made by the craftsman was large and rugged, and even after stuffing in the bones of an entire Demon Bird, there was still plenty of space inside.

The large earthenware pot concentrated all the heat inside, and the magical herbs and bird bones simmered and gradually released a rich aroma.

The previous smells of grass and meat in the air were completely swept away, it was almost like magic.

Telingewei: "Magic herbs can be used like this?"

"We often use it this way in my hometown, but we only use ordinary herbs, not magical herbs." Xie Juanhan patiently waited for the soup to simmer. "I was worried before that using magical herbs to make soup wouldn't taste good, but it turned out to be much better than I expected."

They waited quite a while, and a pot of soup was reduced to half.

Xie Juanhan opened the pot lid, put the Demon Bird meat into the soup, and kept the fire at a very low level to slowly simmer the Demon Bird meat until it was cooked.