Chapter 73: Don’t Cry

Ji Jiuxuan’s eyes sparkled. She hadn’t expected this at all! She’d thought that if her little martial uncle didn’t bring it up, she wouldn’t ask, and never imagined she’d hear about it today. Her restless curiosity for gossip was practically bubbling over!

“Ahem!” An ill-timed sound interrupted. Ji Jiuxuan looked over at Meng Chengfang. If she hadn’t misheard, that sound had come from him. The moment Meng Shibo heard the reminder, he immediately fell silent.

Meng Chengfang smiled. “Little Ah Jiu, your Shibo is right. If that venomous woman ever comes looking for trouble, just let your Shibo deal with her. It’s sure to work.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the whole lamb roasting in the furnace. “Isn’t the lamb about done?”

Ji Jiuxuan realized they were changing the subject, which only made her more curious about what her parents and the others had gone through back then.

The aroma of the Xuanbing lamb began to waft out, and Ji Jiuxuan herself was starting to feel tempted. After thoroughly removing all impurities, she handed the lamb over to Meng Chengfang. “Shishu, you keep going. It’ll be ready soon.”

She glanced at the other ingredients—there was still plenty of tripe and offal left! She decided she’d prepare them for a braised lamb offal dish.

Feng Hanxiao noticed her squatting by the table examining the ingredients and asked curiously, “Xuanxuan, have you come up with another delicious idea?”

Beside her, Meng Shaoying looked at the two delicate young girls standing together and felt her heart melt. She shot a look of mild reproach at Qin Yuzhou, thinking, Why couldn’t you have been a little girl? How adorable that would have been.

“If there’s anything I can help with, just say so,” Qin Yuzhou offered, coming over to stand on her other side with utmost seriousness.

He was even considering learning to cook himself someday. In situations like this, he was of no help at all, which might tarnish the reputation he hoped to build as the future senior disciple of Wangling Peak.

Qin Yuzhou, proud as he was, would never admit he was worried that, when his friends went out for training in the future, they might not want to bring him along since he couldn’t even build a stove or cook a meal.

“Then help me cut these into pieces, please!” Ji Jiuxuan had already cleaned the offal and, after removing all impurities, handed it to Qin Yuzhou.

Turning to Feng Hanxiao with a smile, she asked, “Xiaoxiao, could you make me another stove? One that can hold a pot.”

Feng Hanxiao was delighted to be of help again. “How big should it be?”

With a metallic clang, Ji Jiuxuan took out the large iron pot her senior sister had made for her yesterday and set it on the ground. She smiled, “Big enough for this.”

It was clear at a glance that this was no ordinary pot. Feng Hanxiao, seeing such a large one for the first time, curiously touched it. “Xuanxuan, where did you get this pot? It’s really nice.”

Judging by the material, the craftsman certainly hadn’t skimped on quality.

Ji Jiuxuan laughed. “My senior sister made it for me.” Just thinking of that scene made her want to laugh, and her heart felt warm.

“Oh, right—Senior Sister Meng Jiao is really skilled at forging,” Feng Hanxiao said in sudden realization. “I’ll ask my senior brother to forge one for me too. This is really handy.”

Qin Yuzhou, standing nearby, instinctively glanced at Meng Chengfang, his eyes clearly saying he wanted one as well. The task was as good as assigned.

Ji Jiuxuan was a bit puzzled. “Xiaoxiao, what do you want one for?” After all, Xiaoxiao hadn’t learned how to remove impurities and, though she loved gathering gourmet food, she never cooked herself.

Did she want to learn to cook now?

“To make delicious food for my Chenniu! Spiritual beasts love good food too.”

Ji Jiuxuan suddenly understood. She had read about that before, but her own little thin dragon had been asleep almost since the day of their contract, and her Divine Gale Eagle had only just been contracted today and hadn’t even hatched yet.

“I’ll help. Little Ah Jiu, just tell me what to do,” Meng Shaoying came over, feeling she’d made the right decision to visit today.

Seeing the two little girls, she was simply fond of them from the bottom of her heart. She took out two boxes from her storage and stuffed them into their arms. “These are for you—some spirit candy beans I made myself.”

Ji Jiuxuan and Feng Hanxiao, hearing they were spirit candy beans, accepted them with smiles and gratitude.

Meng Chengfang, who was turning the roasting lamb, was a bit surprised. He knew exactly what his senior sister meant by spirit candy beans—they were beans condensed from spiritual power, extremely difficult to make, able to increase cultivation, and even better than Spirit Replenishing Pills.

Then he smiled. It seemed his notoriously difficult senior sister was quite fond of these two.

When the whole lamb was finally ready and brought out of the oven, the smell was so mouthwatering that, if Meng Chengfang hadn’t been foresighted enough to set up a barrier, the entire Wangling Peak would have been flooded with the aroma.

“Xuanxuan, how are you so amazing? This is delicious!” Feng Hanxiao’s admiration for Ji Jiuxuan grew even deeper.

“I have to be,” Ji Jiuxuan replied, uncharacteristically proud for once.

After some chatting, Meng Shaoying asked, “The sect’s grand competition is about to begin. Are you youngsters taking part this time?”

They were still young enough to wait for the next round, but judging by how quickly they were progressing, by then their cultivation might have already surpassed the eligibility limit, so they wouldn’t be able to participate.

It had only been a short time, but both Feng Hanxiao and Qin Yuzhou had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. With some more focused cultivation before the competition, they’d certainly qualify.

“My father told me to try and take part—he said it’s about the experience. Three years from now, I might not get another chance,” Feng Hanxiao said, turning to Ji Jiuxuan. “Xuanxuan, are you joining?”

She hoped Ji Jiuxuan would. She was so talented, and with all those rumors spread by Senior Sister before, if Ji Jiuxuan participated and won, everyone would know those rumors were wrong—Ji Jiuxuan had always been amazing.

“I am.” She was looking forward to utterly defeating Jiyue; how could she miss it?

Qin Yuzhou, who hadn’t spoken until now, glanced at his mother and then said, “I’ll join too.”

Meng Shaoying was pleased with this answer and said seriously to Qin Yuzhou, “Since you’ve decided, make sure you work hard to advance your cultivation, or you’ll regret it if you’re not qualified and can’t participate.”

At this, both Ji Jiuxuan and Feng Hanxiao looked over at Qin Yuzhou. The moment they did, his ears turned red, and he stiffly replied to Meng Shaoying, “I would never cry over something like that. I’ve never cried over anything.”

Meng Shaoying had never seen her son like this—so lively, and rather endearing.

Their gathering lasted until the moon was high in the sky. Since they were within the sect, safety was not a concern, and after parting from the others, Ji Jiuxuan was ready to summon her little skiff and fly back. But as soon as she stepped outside, she saw Moonwhite Rabbit waiting for her.

She ran over joyfully. “Moonwhite! Have you been waiting for me?”

Ji Jiuxuan reached into her storage space and took out a spiritual fruit she’d recently grown using her space cultivation scroll, handing it to the rabbit. “Try this, Moonwhite. It’s a new variety I’ve cultivated. It smells wonderful.”

Since she’d acquired the space cultivation scroll, she diligently went in every day to plant spiritual herbs and trees. Aside from medicinal plants, many were edible, so she kept the harvest in storage boxes.

Her master had even given her an extra storage box especially for storing food, making it even more convenient.

“Thank you, Xuanxuan.” Munching on the spiritual fruit, Moonwhite Rabbit squinted its eyes in happiness. “Xuanxuan, something really interesting happened today. Let me show you—do you want to come?”

That nasty person, always bullying Xuanxuan, finally got what he deserved today.

Many thanks to Morning Light at Dawn for the reward, thank you!~

(There will be more updates today. The author is working hard…)

(End of chapter)