Chapter 295: Numbed

Aline and Xuan Che stared at each other, locked in a standoff.

After at least half a minute, the little doll glanced at the several items the other had just taken out. "That's all?"

Xuan Che's face twitched slightly, his century-old cultivation heart nearly destabilized, but he still steeled himself and nodded. "Indeed, that's all."

Yu Sheng sighed at the sight and stepped forward to console him. "It's fine, it's fine. You did your best."

"Ah, in the end, I'm shallow in learning, only good at following the textbook," Xuan Che sighed, packing his things while speaking dejectedly. "There might be methods, but I truly can't think of any. When I get back, I'll ask my master or consult the seniors in the sect. Perhaps there's still a chance."

"That works too," Yu Sheng nodded sincerely. "Then I'll trouble you."

After this matter was settled, it was almost noon.

Yu Sheng naturally invited the guest to stay for a meal. He didn't bother with the question of "do cultivators from Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain eat or not," since first of all, Xuan Che had already chugged a can of cola, and secondly, there was a cultivator in his own house who ate a lot every meal.

Xuan Che didn't decline the invitation much. He was even somewhat curious about how this houseful of beings who were definitely not human yet kept imitating humans actually lived their daily lives. When he agreed to stay for the meal, there was even a hint of an adventurous spirit of seeking the Great Dao in his heart.

He would soon know that choosing to stay and broaden his horizons was the right decision.

Because lunch was made by Hu Li.

Probably feeling that a guest from the same 'field' had finally arrived, Hu Li volunteered to personally cook and show off, letting the local immortal see what traditional cuisine from her homeland was like.

Yu Sheng's first reaction was actually to stop her. After all, he knew that the 'fox stew' had a somewhat cultish appearance. A bowl of colorful squirming things being served and scaring the guest was one thing, but if Xuan Che had a reflex and thought some demon was being served, drawing his sword to fight lunch to the death—that would be a huge joke. But he didn't stop her.

Because Hu Li grabbed his hand and wagged her tail.

"You just spoil her," said Aline Unit 01, carrying a picture frame on her back, looking helplessly at Yu Sheng from the dining table. "You give her whatever she wants, you agree to whatever she wants to do. Don't you know her stew is getting weirder and weirder? Soon the kitchen door will open and the dish will carry her out, and you won't say a word."

"It's not that bad, not that bad," Yu Sheng waved his hands repeatedly upon hearing this, and explained seriously, "The past few decades have been too hard for her. I just want to be good to her now. And am I not good to you? I've already crafted four bodies for you."

Aline curled her lips. "If only you hadn't used materials from the dollar store back then, I might believe you now."

Xuan Che, meanwhile, had been curiously monitoring the kitchen activity. The door was closed, and his spiritual sense, which could normally pierce mountains and ridges, was blocked by any closed door here, so he didn't know what was happening inside. He could only hear occasional clattering sounds, mixed with the crackling of rising flames and bursts of flashes. To be honest, it didn't sound like cooking, but calling it a positional battle might be a stretch...

After hesitating for a long time, he looked up at Yu Sheng. "Is this... the sound of cooking?"

"It's a specialty from her hometown, fox stew," Yu Sheng explained cheerfully to the guest. "It's fine, it's just loud, it's normal. Right now she's probably reasoning with the ingredients. Once they see reason, it'll be ready to serve."

Xuan Che: "...?"

Seeing this, Yu Sheng quickly added a few more words as a precaution. "By the way, the appearance of what's about to be served might be a bit shocking. Be mentally prepared. But although it doesn't look good, the taste is pretty good, and I reckon it should be very beneficial for cultivators like you."

Xuan Che listened, growing even more curious. Just as he was wondering how ugly a dish could look, the kitchen door finally opened.

Without paying attention, he subconsciously swept it with his spiritual sense.

The result: he saw a blazing mass of nine-tailed fire that was too dazzling to look at, as if undergoing a violent energy reaction inside, carrying a constantly rising ball of scorching spiritual light as it walked out.

Xuan Che was startled and hastily withdrew his spiritual sense. Then he saw a large covered soup pot being placed on the table. Yu Sheng stood up to help lift the lid. As steam rose, something else also rose up.

After standing up in confusion and looking into the pot, Xuan Che's cultivation heart trembled.

He stood frozen for several seconds, then stared at Yu Sheng with wide eyes, speaking hesitantly as if in a dream. "It... it greeted me."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment. "Then it seems today's stew is relatively polite."

Xuan Che: "...?"

This pot of 'food'—if stewed any longer, it would almost transform and ascend, right?!

While he was still puzzled, Hu Li quickly ladled out the food from the pot, distributing it bowl by bowl, muttering as she did, "One for benefactor, one for me, one for guest, one for me, one for Aline, one pot for me..."

"Eat while it's hot," Yu Sheng said with a gentle smile, nodding to the handsome young man across the table. "The taste is really quite good."

He had his master's orders.

These words surfaced in Xuan Che's heart. In a daze, he seemed to see something familiar reflected in the slightly rippling, still-bubbling soup. In his trance, he saw clearly—it was his master's brass-studded belt.

Along with the brass-studded belt, his master's earnest teachings before departure also surfaced. 'Xuan Che, remember, the master you are going to see this time is the one who defeated the Dark Angel... Such a master must have extraordinary and strange things around him. When you go, you must be bold and careful. If the master gives you something, accept it. It might be a great opportunity...'

With that thought, he finally steeled himself, scooped up a spoonful from the bowl, and put it in his mouth.

Yu Sheng saw the handsome young man across the table take one bite, then suddenly freeze with a strange expression, motionless as if in meditation.

He waited half a minute before finally asking, "What's wrong? Not to your taste?"

Xuan Che snapped back to reality, but his expression became even stranger. After holding it in for a long time, he blurted out, "...Better than what I refine."

Yu Sheng didn't understand at first. "...What?"

Xuan Che was already too busy to answer. Another spoonful went down, and in his mind surfaced the scoldings he had received over the past century for misremembering pill formulas, the kneeling punishments for mistiming, the beatings for messing up the pill fire...

He looked down at the contents of his bowl, puzzled by one thing: this pill had such pure effects—how could it look like this?

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw two golden-glowing figures jumping out from somewhere.

Looking up, he saw that they were two majestic, golden-winged, jade-crested, radiantly spiritual birds—ah, unnamed divine birds—hopping from Hu Li's shoulder onto the table, lowering their heads to peck at a small bowl of 'stew.'

He didn't know what divine birds they were, but he suspected that these two birds had higher cultivation than the two cranes his master kept in the cloud sea—except their eyes looked a bit strange.

They carried an aura of 'holiness as before.'

Yu Sheng introduced them to the guest again. "These two are Baijie and Yanju. They are Hu Li's pets."

Xuan Che hesitated, looked up at the nine-tailed fox who had already started eating straight from the pot, and after a long moment, squeezed out through gritted teeth, "The names... are good."

Yu Sheng smiled awkwardly, hesitating whether to tell the other the true species of Baijie and Yanju, when suddenly he heard a 'bang' from somewhere.

The next second, he noticed that the TV sound in the living room was gone, the kitchen lights were off, the air conditioner's hum had stopped, and even the refrigerator in the dining room had gone silent.

Aline, who was sitting cross-legged at the table, let out an 'Oh my!' and leaped up, falling off the edge of the table!

This sudden situation startled Yu Sheng. He quickly reached out and caught Aline, but he saw the little doll was completely dazed. Then he heard the sound of something falling in the living room.

An intense 'holy crap' intuition shot from his crown to his tailbone. Yu Sheng leaped off his chair instantly, ignoring Xuan Che, and turned to rush into the living room.

There, he saw a little doll lying on the floor next to the TV stand, smoking, and on the other side, a power strip that had blown open.

Yu Sheng: "..."

He was completely dumbfounded. He ran a few steps to the little doll's side, looking exasperated. "Did you really go and chew on the wires?!"

Aline was probably still numb at this point, her little face blackened with soot, her hair standing on end. But even so, she resolutely raised her hand and flipped Yu Sheng off.

In the moment Yu Sheng was stunned, another Aline emerged from between the sofa and the coffee table, looking up at him with wide eyes. "You're the one chewing wires! Your whole family chews wires! I'm not stupid!"

Yu Sheng looked at the Aline who came out from beside the sofa, then pointed at the one still smoking on the floor. "Then what's this about?"

"What's it about? Ask the socket you bought at the dollar store!" Aline fumed. "I was watching TV when it suddenly started smoking on its own. I rushed over to unplug it, but the moment I grabbed the wire, boom! I didn't even have time to dodge and got zapped!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

All his snark immediately turned into embarrassment. He recalled that he had indeed bought a cheap socket for the living room, and Aline had complained about it the day before yesterday, telling him to buy a new one soon. He had forgotten...

With that thought, he quickly picked up the smoking Aline from the floor, grabbed a tissue, and started wiping the little doll's face. But just as he was about to say something to ease the awkwardness, the doll in his arms suddenly stirred and raised a hand to stop him. "Wait."

Yu Sheng: "What's wrong?"

Aline (Pro Max Smoky Black Gold Limited Edition 66.6cm) had a strange expression on her face—likely a strange expression, since she was too blackened to see clearly. She raised her wrist, moved it around, then jumped down from Yu Sheng's arms and looked down at her own body.

"...It's charged up."

Yu Sheng: "...What?!"