After all the dishes were prepared and set on the table, she said somewhat apologetically, “This is my first time handling Spirit Food, so I’m not great at getting the flavors right. Fifth Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother, please just make do with what’s here.”
He Fan and Rong Xuan didn’t see it that way at all. While she was grilling the meat, the two of them had already caught the rich aroma wafting through the air. If it smelled that good, how could it possibly taste bad?
Sure enough, one bite of the meat and they felt like they were floating in bliss, unable to find their way back.
You Yu had prepared quite a lot and thought there might be leftovers, but in the end, the two senior brothers devoured every last piece of meat without leaving a single bite.
The two of them had eaten this much for the first time and felt a bit embarrassed.
“Little Junior Sister, we’ll come by the day after tomorrow to help you sow the seeds.”
After leaving those words, the two embarrassed men each headed back to their own quarters.
You Yu washed the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, and feeling a bit tired, washed up and lay down on the bed.
“This body still gets tired too easily. I really need to exercise more in the future.”
She wanted to sleep but couldn’t, so she took out the seeds she’d need for the day after tomorrow to examine them.
These seeds looked about the same as the ones from her previous life. Remembering that she had a Mu Linggen, she tried channeling the Mulingli within her body into the seeds, wanting to see if there was any difference from the seeds of her past life.
Then she discovered something truly amazing—her Mulingli remained inside the seeds and was even nourishing the embryos within them.
“Hmm? Could my Mulingli actually upgrade seeds?”
She took out some other seeds and found that no matter what kind of seed it was, as long as she infused her Mulingli into it, the energy would stay inside.
She felt a flutter of panic. Could she be one of those extremely rare Mu Linggen users who could only grow Lingcai?
She didn’t want that!
But if not, then why could her Mulingli nourish seeds?
She remembered that her master’s welcome gift included a Mu-shuxing Lingji, so she took it out to study.
At the second level of the Lianqi Period, she could use the simplest Lingji.
The booklet was very simple—no title, no introduction, just the cultivation method when opened.
She studied it all night, and when the sun rose the next day, the Mulingli in her palm had transformed into a thin wooden vine.
Although this vine was even thinner than a bean sprout, it filled You Yu with immense joy.
She could sense that the vine had offensive capabilities. As her Xiuwei increased, the vine would grow thicker and thicker.
Her Mu Linggen wasn’t the farming type of Mu Linggen!
She breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t that kind of Mu Linggen, she was fine.
At the same time, another question arose in her mind: since her Mu Linggen wasn’t for farming, why could she nourish seeds?
Could her Mu Linggen also be a mutated variant?
She dismissed the Lingji and went to check on the seeds. After a night of nourishment, the seeds had absorbed her Mulingli and were now emanating a faint spiritual energy of their own.
“Could these have been upgraded to Lingcai seeds?”
She couldn’t figure it out and planned to ask her senior brothers later.
Seeing that it was still early, she first made a pot of Linggu and lean pork congee, then kneaded dough made from Lingmai flour. While letting the dough rest, she minced some Demonic Beast Meat, added some chopped vegetables, wrapped over a dozen large bamboo steamer baskets of soup dumplings, and put them all on to steam.
Then she stir-fried a few light and delicious side dishes.
Once the dishes were stir-fried, the soup dumplings steamed, and the congee ready, she set aside the dumplings for today’s meal and stored the rest away so she wouldn’t have to cook from scratch every single meal and waste too much time.
“Little Junior Sister, we’re here.” He Fan called out from outside the door.
“Fifth Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother, you’re here? Want to join me for breakfast?” You Yu invited.
“No need. We’ve already reached Bigu…” He Fan trailed off as he caught sight of the strange-looking soup dumplings and smelled their aroma, swallowing hard.
“I know a bit more about Spirit Food now. Today’s should taste better than last night’s. Why don’t you both try some?”
“Well… then we won’t stand on ceremony.” Rong Xuan walked over and sat down.
Fine, they’d eat, and later they’d go buy some more Spirit Food for their little junior sister.
Just as they were about to eat, Ji Qing and Liao Xing also arrived, followed by Jin Haochen, whose injuries had healed considerably.
No need for further explanation—they all ate together.
Fortunately, she had made a lot, so there was enough for everyone.
You Yu thought it was a perfectly ordinary meal, but the others had varied reactions.
He Fan and Rong Xuan thought it was even better than last night’s food. Ji Qing and Liao Xing, having tasted something this delicious for the first time, were both amazed and felt a pang of sympathy for You Yu.
Both junior brothers had come by last night to tell them about how she’d been bullied by the You family and You Xue’er. Now seeing the level of cooking she could produce, they could only imagine how many times she must have practiced to reach this skill.
While the four of them were simply amazed, Jin Haochen’s shock led him to think much deeper.
He’d heard that all these ingredients were bought from Wangyue Lou. With this level of culinary skill, she was light-years ahead of his own family’s chefs. If these dishes were sold at Wangyue Lou, business there would definitely reach new heights.
He didn’t rush to bring it up with You Yu. It would be too abrupt to mention now. Since he’d be staying here to recover from his injuries, he could bring it up later once they were more familiar.
While eating breakfast, You Yu was also sizing up Jin Haochen.
In the book, Jin Haochen was described as extremely obsessive, with a cold, sinister look in his eyes, as if everyone owed him tens of millions of Lingshi that they’d never repaid.
All in all, he was a very unlikable character.
Now Jin Haochen’s eyes still held the pain of betrayal, but without that cold, paranoid intensity—he still looked warm and sunny.
She wondered if this counted as changing Jin Haochen’s fate.
After the meal, You Yu wanted to ask her senior sister and senior brothers about the seeds, but the words caught in her throat when she remembered Jin Haochen was still there.
Jin Haochen noticed and spoke up: “Daoist Ji, I’ll head back to recover from my injuries first.”
“Your injuries aren’t suitable for using Lingli right now—let me escort you back.” Ji Qing rose as well, saw him back, then returned.
“Little junior sister, was there something you wanted to ask earlier?”
Seeing Ji Qing back, You Yu took out the seeds she had nourished last night and said, “Senior sister, third senior brother, fifth senior brother, sixth senior brother—take a look at these seeds.”
He Fan was the first to take the seeds, smiling as he said: “Are these the seeds you’re planting today? These seeds… Huh? These seeds… have Lingqi?”
The others also took the seeds and all felt the Lingli within them at once.
Ji Qing looked at Liao Xing: “Did you buy Lingzhong yesterday?”
“No.” Liao Xing shook his head. Everyone could distinguish between Lingzhong and ordinary seeds—if they had been Lingzhong, he would have known.
“Little junior sister, where did you get these Lingzhong?”
“They’re just the seeds I bought yesterday.” You Yu said. “When I bought them yesterday, they were indeed ordinary seeds, but I nourished them with Mulingli last night, and when I woke up this morning, they had become like this.”
“Ah? Little junior sister, you have Lingli now?” He Fan and the others were astonished. When she had entered the sect the day before yesterday, she hadn’t had any Lingli—could she have reached the first layer of the Lianqi Period in just two nights?
You Yu explained somewhat sheepishly: “I was hiding my Xiuwei. Right now, both my Huo Linggen and Mu Linggen have already reached the second layer of the Lianqi Period.”