Stumped by the problem, Shen Ying could only do what she usually did in the past: dump the meat in the water, wait for it to be cooked and then fish it out to eat. She took a bite when it was done. The flavor was bland, astringent and made her whole mouth feel numb—the greater the expectation, the harsher the reality.
She opened her mouth and spat it out. Bleh, bleh, bleh. Disgusting. It had not bothered her much in the past as she had cooked simply for the sake of satisfying her hunger. But now that the rabbit had taken care of her food ingredients problem, why did she find the food so unpalatable?
Clearly, the culinary arts was a profound field of knowledge.
She silently turned her head to look at her newly appointed gofer. “Do you know how to cook?”
The rabbit gave a shudder, shaking its head vigorously. “I eat grass! I have never done any cooking before. What’s more, I… I’m afraid of fire!”
Okay, she finally gave up; it seemed that she would not be able to enjoy a normal meal. This just went to show that having a skill was indeed important. Her university should have taught the culinary arts. Shen Ying slumped her shoulders in despair. What to do now, the food was wasted and there was nothing else…
Suddenly, an idea struck her. Turning round, she ran towards the front door of her house, pushed it open and rushed towards the man kneeling in the yard. “Hey, whoever you are…”
The person in the yard was taken aback at first but seeing it was her, immediately clasped his fists in salutation. “I’m Yi Qing.”
“Err, can you cook?”
Though bewildered by her question, he nevertheless honestly replied, “I did a little cooking before I started Grain Liberation for my Qi Refinement.”
“That means you do know!” Shen Ying skipped in delight.
“Yes, I do know… a little.”
“Good!” Slapping his shoulders hard, she said, “You have my approval.”
“Huh?”
“From this day onwards, you are my chef… arh!” She quickly corrected herself. “You are my disciple!”
“…” Yi Qing was stunned for a moment, then his face broke into a huge grin. Taking a few deep breaths, he turned toward her and bowed three times. “Thank you for granting my request, Senior. I am your disciple, Yi Qing. Please accept my respects, Master.”
“Okay, okay, get up, no need to stand on ceremony. We are family now!” She laughed, helping him up. “I’m a little hungry now. Can you prepare a meal first?”
“Yes!”
Still wearing an expression of delight and disbelief on his face, he stood up immediately and entered the kitchen with light-hearted footsteps.
——————————
An hour later…
The table was already set with plates of delicious-smelling food.
“Master, this is my first attempt. I hope it will be to your taste?” Yi Qing said in nervous anticipation.
Shen Ying was so busy stuffing her mouth with food that she did not bother to reply, only nodding as she ate. Finally, she mumbled indistinctly, “Ya, ya, ya…”
Damn! The food was delicious. Although it was just simple home-cooked fare, for somebody who had been living on pig food and carrots for half a year, even a piece of fermented tofu would smell heavenly. Moreover, the food was very well-cooked.
Shen Ying swept up the food on the table like a whirlwind till her stomach finally protested. Only then did she sit back and let off a string of hiccups.
This was sheer happiness; her stomach felt revived. She had definitely picked up a treasure.
Turning to look at her cheaply-gotten disciple in satisfaction, she discovered that he had been sitting motionlessly at the table all the while, silently watching her eat.
“Why aren’t you eating? Not hungry?” She seemed to recall that he had been kneeling for the past three days so he probably hadn’t eaten anything, as he had even rejected the carrot and cabbage that she offered. She had assumed that he was on a hunger strike. Now that she had already given her promise, why was he still not eating?
“Master, during my Foundation Establishment, I had already begun practising Grain Liberation. Moreover, the food of mortals is not beneficial to cultivation, so I…” He stopped in mid-sentence as if having realised something. Eyes brightening, he asked, “Is Master telling me that eating the food of mortals is a form of cultivation?”
With that said, he happily took up the chopsticks and started eating.
“No!” Shen Ying slapped at his chopsticks. How would I have known that you did not need to eat! “I am unlike you. I eat because I’m hungry, because I have to. Since food is not beneficial to your cultivation, then better not eat.” There was no knowing what harm the food might cause to his stomach.
This was why he should not have asked her to be his master. Their specialities did not even match, and that could lead to harmful consequences!
“Yes, Master.” He put down the chopsticks without hesitation.
Having finally eaten a good meal, Shen Ying felt that her life was now complete. She felt lazy and lethargic. She lay on the table in an unbecoming posture like a spineless insect, her eyes gradually losing their focus on the surroundings.
As Yi Qing was now used to seeing her in this sorry condition, he started to clear the table. Shen Ying looked on with eyes half-closed. She wanted to help as he was the one who had done the cooking. However, she was too lazy to move, so she silently watched him enter the kitchen. At that instant, a thought arose in her mind—maybe taking in a disciple was not that bad after all.
“Master.” Yi Qing, who had emerged from the kitchen after doing the dishes, suddenly spoke.
“Yes?” she answered, turning her head around before resting it on the table again.
Yi Qing hesitated for a while before asking, “I have a matter to consult with Master.”
“Yes.”
“Could Master reveal the whereabouts of the Fiendish Cultivator Rui Mi, the one I fought against?” He frowned and continued on, “He used the souls of living mortals as offerings to the Soul Devouring Gonfalon. A great debt of blood is on his hands. Not only that, his whole body is covered in venom from cultivating an extremely vicious fiendish technique.”
“Oh, that guy… he was carried off by the rabbit.” Shen Ying answered lifelessly. “The rabbit said it liked his flesh, said it wanted to take him back to make carrot stew, so I let it have him.” She could not just leave him lying in the yard afterall.
“In that case, it’s fine…” Yi Qing heaved a sigh of relief. Even if the Fiendish Cultivator had survived, he would meet no good end in the face of that Demon Monarch’s cultivation. Moreover, the venom in his body would have no effect on demonic aura.
“By the way!” She tilted her head which had been resting on the table. “That guy seemed to have left something behind…”
Shen Ying fell into thought for a while, before she gave a sigh and slowly got up from the table using her hands as support. After lifting the curtain in the house, she suddenly crawled to the bed, trying to grab at something.
“Master?”
“Found it!” She gave a tug and suddenly pulled out a black flag. “This is the one. The rabbit only carried out his body, but left this behind. You want it?” She extended it to him.
“The Soul Devouring Gonfalon!” Shocked, Yi Qing took the flag from her and looked at it closely. The flag was covered with swirls of black Qi. His face turned pale instantly. “Oh no, the Gonfalon is under the control of his master. The Soul Devouring Array is about to collapse, and inside it are all the ghosts of those who died in grievance…” His expression grew more serious as a certain thought crossed his mind. He sat down immediately in the lotus position. “We must quickly seal them off.”
He immediately forced his Spirit Qi to activate, directing it to imprint the layout of an array. The moment the array formation appeared in his hand, the demonic aura in his body once again engulfed and attacked his meridians. He opened his mouth and blood spurted out in a gush. His clothes, already covered in blood stains, were dyed into an even deeper shade of red.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s happening. Are you alright?” Shen Ying got a fright. Why was he doing this?
Yi Qing did not answer as he was enduring the great pain caused by his meridians being gradually severed by the demonic aura. He forced himself to complete the array formation imprint in his hand, stopping only after the array formation had taken shape and suppressed the swirls of black Qi on the flag. His body started to sway on the spot, and then he once again collapsed onto the floor.