While plucking the feathers from the pheasant, she sighed. “The Five Great Sects monopolize the Spirit Veins, leaving small-time cultivators like us…”
“Without Spiritual Qi, cultivation is as difficult as ascending to heaven.”
That’s why she must find ways to earn Spirit Stones and Spirit Crystals. With money, she would have resources, and anything would be possible.
Mo Cheng chuckled softly at her grown-up demeanor. “In the future, you may come to the Back Mountain to cultivate.”
Shen Ci’s eyes instantly lit up with startling brightness. She nearly jumped up to run to Mo Cheng’s side but stopped herself upon remembering the feathers stuck to her clothes.
Then she cautiously ventured, “Then, Senior, what about my senior brothers and sisters…”
She knew she might be pushing her luck, but she couldn’t bear to see her senior brothers and sisters toiling away outside.
Although Shen Ci had meticulously planned—first earn Spirit Crystals, then buy resources—it would still require step-by-step progress, and success wasn’t guaranteed. If there was readily available Spiritual Qi…
Mo Cheng shook his head.
Shen Ci’s head drooped. Sensing the girl’s disappointment, Mo Cheng offered an unprecedented explanation. “Others cannot absorb it.”
“Huh?” She looked up, confused.
Xiao Lie approached her. “Apart from A-Ci, no one else can use the Spiritual Qi here.”
Shen Ci was taken aback, suddenly recalling how she had asked her two senior brothers why they didn’t use the dense Spiritual Qi on Back Mountain for cultivation.
Both Little Bu Senior Brother and Shi Senior Brother had looked utterly bewildered.
But why couldn’t they sense the Back Mountain’s Spiritual Qi while she could?
Shen Ci felt too embarrassed to press further. But! She could cultivate on Back Mountain from now on. Once she became stronger, she could protect her senior brothers and sisters then.
With this thought, Shen Ci’s mood lifted again. Humming a little tune like Ling Yimian, she resumed plucking the feathers.
Before long, the chicken was completely cleaned. She briskly clapped her hands together, and Xiao Lie’s eyes widened in amazement. “A-Ci is amazing!”
The wolf demon youth swallowed hard, recalling how before taking human form he’d devoured everything—feathers, bones and all—raw. It wasn’t until he once sneaked into a human restaurant to steal food that he realized what a hard life he’d been living.
Now, however, he felt that nothing he’d eaten before could compare to even one-tenth of what this young girl was preparing.
Shen Ci tossed the clean, pale pheasant into the soup pot. The mushrooms instantly released a rich, savory aroma upon hitting the heat. She suddenly slapped her forehead. “I almost forgot something important!”
She swiftly set up another pot, rinsing rice and adding water in one fluid motion. The Mushroom Sauce bubbled on the stove, its glossy, oily sheen making Xiao Lie swallow repeatedly.
Shen Ci’s eyes sparkled. “Brother Xiao, Mushroom Sauce is super, super, super good with plain rice! You must eat several big bowls!”
Xiao Lie nodded vigorously.
Mo Cheng lightly flicked his wide sleeve, and stone table and chairs materialized in the center of the Cave Residence. He gracefully took a seat, idly tapping the tabletop with his fingertips as he watched the two whirl around the stove like spinning tops.
Of course, Shen Ci remained the center of activity most of the time, with Xiao Lei buzzing around after her.
Mo Cheng turned his head, a slight smile touching his lips. Before long, a rich, savory aroma filled the air.
“Time to eat!” Shen Ci stood on tiptoe to place the final dish of fried mushrooms on the table.
The Mushroom Sauce glistened with an amber sheen, golden oil droplets floated on the surface of the stewed chicken soup, and the piled-up fried mushrooms still sizzled audibly.
Xiao Lie had long been waiting with a bowl larger than his face. Shen Ci served him a generous portion of rice and ladled mushroom sauce generously over it.
The rice instantly took on an enticing sauce color. He lowered his head and shoveled a mouthful, mumbling indistinctly, “Mmm… so fragrant.”
Mo Cheng picked up a piece of fried mushroom. The crispy coating shattered in his mouth, exceptionally fragrant and crunchy.
Shen Ci carefully spooned several servings of mushroom sauce onto the plate before him, then placed a handkerchief underneath to prevent staining his clothes.
Mo Cheng’s fingers paused. Even blindfolded, he could sense the girl’s attentive and meticulous movements, fearing that the sauce would dirty his robes.
He turned and patted Shen Ci’s head, “Little girl, why go to such lengths?”
Seemingly caught off guard by the question, Shen Ci thought for a moment, “Because Senior treats A-Ci well.”
“Just over a set of clothes?”
Mo Cheng frowned. Clothes, the Naring—these were trivial matters to him. Were they worth her…
Shen Ci shook her head with a smile, “It’s different.”
“No one has ever given A-Ci clothes—clean, beautiful clothes.”
She looked up at the plain gauze covering Mo Cheng’s eyes, suddenly recalling his words during their first meeting about being blind yet clear-hearted. Could someone as powerful as him also get hurt?
Mo Cheng was taken aback. Just as he was about to speak, Xiao Lie suddenly lifted his head from his bowl, grains of rice sticking to the tip of his nose: “Buy! From now on, every month… no, every day, we’ll buy A-Ci new clothes!”
“No need for that.”
Shen Ci burst out laughing, casually plucking the rice grain from his nose, “When A-Ci learns sword control, I’ll fly to Cloud Garment Pavilion myself and use Spirit Stones I’ve earned!”
Her round eyes sparkled like stars. This time, she would seize every strand of light shining into her life with her own hands, not like her previous life, waiting in darkness, begging for someone’s pity.
Xiao Lie’s eyes darted, “Then I’ll assist you, earn Spirit Stones!”
Shen Ci laughed heartily, “Deal!”
Mo Cheng’s lips curved slightly, “You’ll reach Foundation Establishment soon.”
Shen Ci wanted to ask more, but saw Mo Cheng deftly deflect Xiao Lie’s chopsticks and elegantly pick up the last piece of fried mushroom. Indeed, Senior remained Senior—even snatching food was a pleasure to watch.
Xiao Lie shot a fierce glare at Mo Cheng.
While the fire still burned in the pot, Shen Ci grabbed two pheasants to make honey-glazed roast chicken, planning to bring them back for her two senior brothers.
Speaking of which, the flora and fauna in the Back Mountain were rich with Spiritual Qi—she wondered if it would benefit her senior brothers.
Just as she stored the honey-glazed chicken in her Naring, she turned to meet Xiao Lie’s wide, sparkling eyes, “A-Ci, the chicken smells so good. Just a small piece, just one small piece.”
Shen Ci: “…”
She glanced at the empty rice pot, “Brother Xiao, you ate more than half of that pot of rice. Still hungry?”
Mo Cheng wiped his fingertips leisurely, “He’s not hungry—he’s greedy.”
The wolf demon youth blinked at her, his round nose still dotted with rice grains, his deep-set eyes crinkled into crescent moons from smiling.
Shen Ci’s heart softened. She broke off a drumstick and handed it over, “The senior brothers are waiting… Next time I’ll make two for Brother Xiao, alright?”
“Rawr!”
Xiao Lie snatched it with his mouth, huffing from the heat but refusing to let go, mumbling, “A-Ci’s the best… sweeter than Snowy Plains honey!”
Shen Ci scratched her head, looking at Mo Cheng, “Snowy Plains honey?”
Mo Cheng chuckled dismissively, “He finds live prey unpalatable, so he fought some foolish bears for honey.”
“No wonder he’s so dim-witted.”
Xiao Lie bared his teeth at him fiercely again.
Shen Ci laughed so hard he nearly toppled over, casually ruffling his disheveled hair: “Brother Xiao isn’t foolish, he’s pure-hearted!”
Xiao Lie nodded emphatically, “Pure-hearted!”