“Whoa~”

“Magnificent!”

Byakko and I exclaimed to show our appreciation. Meanwhile, Ling flew around to show her excitement. She was still unable to articulate. From the intelligence she displayed, I was sure she would be able to do so soon.

Right now, we were on a hilltop. We were overlooking the city that was situated at the foot of the valley.

It was a beautiful city. Naturally, it wasn’t as big as the modern day cities on Earth. Neither did it have skyscraper like buildings. If the city were on Earth, it would be a cultural heritage and a hot tourist spot.

This city was reminiscent of ancient china cities that I had seen on Internet, just more exquisite and perfect. A huge wall that could make the Great Wall of China cry in shame surrounded it. If you lived a few kilometers away from wild beasts, you would at least need a wall like that to let you sleep soundly at nights.

The city was just a day or so away from the cave we lived in. But it took us nearly half a month to reach here. It was already a miracle that we made it here in such a short amount of time. We had no map, no direction. The only thing we knew was that there was a city close by. It was like searching for needle in a haystack.

We headed down.

This would be the first time I would come in contact with the society, in both of my lives. I had to be careful. There were many things I didn’t know. I repeated the plans in my head.

First, find something to eat.

Second, find a place to stay.

Third, make proper arrangement for future meals.

Fourth, find a place to study about this world. A library or something, if it existed.

Fifth, search and learn some good cooking method. Get some cooking utensils while I am at it.

Oh, I need to get some robes that fit me, too.

While I was buried in my thoughts, we reached the city gate. A huge number of people were queued outside it. With Byakka and Ling behind me, I also lined up.

The progression moved slowly. After several hours, I was finally able to reach in front of the guards who were guarding the gate. In the meantime I had seen several young masters and young mistresses enter the gate on their horses or in the carriages. They didn’t even bother to glance at the guards. The guards took it as if it was normal. Such privileges! I couldn’t help but feel envious of them.

Yet at the same time, I tensed up. In xianxia and xuanhuan webnovels I read, wasn’t this the perfect time for an arrogant young master to show himself?

“Name?” one of the guards asked, bringing me out of my reverie.

“Su Ren,” I replied.

“3 Copper Coins,” he said, without even bothering to look in my direction.

I handed him the money. It was the gate toll. I had already seen people before me pay; therefore, I had quietly withdrawn it from my spatial ring. At the moment, I was really wealthy. There were mountains of copper coins, silver coins, gold coins and some glowing stones, which I identified as ‘spiritual stones’. The measly three copper coins didn’t make even a tiny dent in it.

I entered the gate without any problem. But I suddenly felt at a loss.

This was the first time I was among a huge crowd of people. That time when Byakko got beastnap didn’t count since it was a special circumstance. Moreover, the number of people here were many times more than that time.

Street hawkers. Food stalls. Fruit vendors. Carriages. Throngs of people were moving here and there. I was suddenly overwhelmed. The only thought in my head was: Huge city, scary! I felt alienated. I never thought I would feel this way among a huge crowd.

“Young boy, are you lost?” A pudgy figure with a kind smile approached me.

Zuban watched the boy for a while. One look and it was enough for him to tell that the boy was a country bumpkin. Even if the oversized robe that was torn all over the place and the long messy dark hair didn’t give it away, the uneasy and the lost look on his face made really easy for others to guess.

These types of people made easy prey. He eyed the white tiger cub and the little butterfly that seemed to be made of flame. They seemed extraordinary. A greedy glint appeared in his eyes.

Not good. He couldn’t let his face betray him.

He adjusted his face to kind smile and approached the boy. “Young boy, are you lost?” he asked.

The boy looked at him and nodded. “I am looking for a place to eat but I am somehow unable to decide.”

“What a coincidence! I run a diner. Would you like to come with me?” Crap! Did I make it sound too effusive? He carefully examined the boy’s face. He sighed inwardly in relief. The boy didn’t seem to have caught on.

The boy thought for a while and gave a gentle smile. “Oh! That seems perfect. Lead the way, uncle,” he said.

Zuban took the boy to his restaurant.

“Listen!” he told the boy in a loud voice, drawing the attention of all the diners at the same. This was important. “I run an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant! There are some rules you need to follow!”

The boy was paying great attention to him. As for the other diners, they had returned to their meals. It was fine. As long as they testified that Zuban had warned the boy about the rules later, his ploy would succeed.

“You have to finish the first serving no matter what. If you are unable to finish it, you will have to pay ten times the price. Boy, let me warn you, it’s very expensive! On the other hand, if you are able to finish the first serving and finish ten servings, then you will be waived off of all bills. Naturally, if you are able to eat more than ten servings and still wants to eat more, the restaurant will provide food until you are full.” He grinned inwardly. As if that’s possible.

The boy stood in silence for a few seconds in thought and said, “Uncle, give me three servings.”

Zuban rejoiced. The prey had bitten the bait. Hook, line and sinker. He hadn’t even asked the price of a serving before he ordered one! He must be attempting to finish ten servings. Little did the boy know that the very first serving would be his stumbling block! A huge serving of foundational stage beast meat! He would like to see how a brat at Qi Gathering Stage manages to finish it all.

He had been in this business for years. Apart from veteran cultivators in Core Formation Stage, few had been able to finish the first serving. As for the ten servings, none in all his years had been able to finish.

He guided the boy and his two companions to a table.

What he wanted from the boy was not money. He wanted to get his hands on the two beasts. At the same time, it wouldn’t hurt to have a new serving boy. The boy seemed to possess high charm; the older ladies would definitely go crazy over him.

He personally helped to deliver one of the servings. “Enjoy~” he said.

“Thank you, uncle.” The boy gave him a harmless smile.

He returned the smile. Smile while you can. It will soon disappear. He had such sinister thoughts in his head.

Disappear, the smile did. But it wasn’t the boy’s smile. It was his. It took all his effort to keep his face from crumbling.

Where did these ravenous monsters come from? He could only watch in horror as servings after servings of high quality disappeared in their mouth. Even the little butterfly managed to eat twenty-three servings! Where did all those food disappear in that tiny body? The white tiger cub managed to eat forty-seven servings before he gave up. As for the boy, he was still eating. Was his stomach a black hole?

Zuban knew he made a mistake. A huge mistake. The most infuriating of all, there was nothing he could do. The only reason his restaurant had no problem so far was because of the rules. He had explained it clearly to all the diners. They couldn’t argue back when he had extorted an exorbitant amount from them.

Now, those same rules bound him. He could only watch helplessly as the boy ate everything in his restaurant. He couldn’t stop the boy or the people he had scammed would come knocking at his door.

More than a years worth of profit disappeared just like that! The meat and condiments were specially ordered. They had very high energy content. He had to pay a hefty sum to acquire them but he was satisfied with it. He was able to earn so much from them.

Is it karma coming to bite back at me?

After eating hundreds of serving, the boy gave a satisfied burp. “That felt good. Thank you, uncle. You are a good man. I will patronage your restaurant everyday.

Don’t! He wanted to yell but couldn’t. He gave a cramped smile.

If this malefic visited him everyday, he would soon go bankrupt. He had to think of a solution to stop this freak. Quick!

What a ‘kind uncle’! I laughed. It was a scam. It was easy to see through. But putting on an innocent facade, I decided to play along. In the end, I didn’t even had to do anything to foil his scheme. The pudgy man digged a hole and jumped into it himself. All I did was eat delicious food to my heart’s content. If all scams were like this, I would like more.

Byakko and Ling had fallen asleep as soon as they finished eating. Jeez! These fellows had nary a care in the world.

I asked the ‘kind uncle’ to recommend me a good inn to rest. I put the most innocent smile I could find in my arsenal. He lifelessly gave me directions to an inn that was nearby.

Cradling the two sleeping fellows in my arms, I walked out of the clamoring restaurant.

It was a satisfying meal.

I opened the last notification that came to me as soon as I finished eating the meal.

You have consumed a huge amount of High Quality Meal.

Congratulations!

You have gained +5 to all six basic stats.

This was far higher than the other Foundational Stage beast’s meat gave me these days. It seemed the condiments and the cooking method used had a lot of effect. I needed to do more research on it.

I opened my status.

GENERAL

Name

Su Ren

Age

11 years old

Cultivation Method

Heart’s Yearning

Realm

Qi Gathering 9

(999/1000 Essence)

Lifeforce

5010/5010 (Regeneration: 20% per second)

Qi

5020/5020 (Regeneration: 20% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

473

Physique

501

Movement

497

Control

495

Soul

502

Comprehension

500

Charm

67

Fate

41

INNATE TRAITS

Innards of a God

Kaleidoscope Eye

Photosynthesis

Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)

############

Heavenly Butterfly Flame

Bow

Bond:

Byakko (White Tiger)

QI SKILL LIST

Slot

Skill Name

Rating

Level

1.

Qi Arrow

Unranked

8/10

2.

Earth Steps

Epic

7/10

3.

Heart Force

Unranked

4/10

4.

Spiritual Sense

Unranked

3/10

It had grown. I was satisfied.

It wasn’t that difficult to find the inn. The innkeeper was a homely plump lady. She was really kind and helpful.

After tucking the two little fellows in, I also dropped myself onto the bed. I was soon overwhelmed by sleep.

I woke up the next day, feeling refreshed.

The two little fellows woke up at the same time.

“Food~” Byakko said. Ling fluttered around ceaselessly. She seemed to be saying that she wanted to food, too. They must have fallen in love with the meal he had yesterday. Well, it could be said the same for me. It totally beat the raw meat and the roasted meat we had been having.

“Shall we go and visit that ‘kind uncle’ again?” I sneered. I would make him pay a huge price for trying to scam me.

But when we neared the location, there was a huge commotion going on there. A huge crowd was gathered in front of the restaurant. I made my way through the crowd to the front. The restaurant was closed. I heard snippets of conversation from around me.

“…what? He’s gone?”

“…He quit…?”

“…but his business was going so well…”

“…heard a freak appeared…”

“…too bad. I liked the meals here…”

“…the quality was really good, although the price...”

To summarize, the ‘kind uncle’ had closed down his business. Did I push him too hard? I wondered. It was a pity. I was betting on a source of delicious free food. But it didn’t affect me. There were many restaurants in the city. It shouldn’t be a problem for us to find food. Money was the least of our worries. I was still a little hesitant to talk to strangers but I thought I would be able to manage. With Byakko and Ling on my heels, we left the place.

For a little more than a week, we went on an eating spree. We went to all sorts of restaurants and tasted all sorts of delicacies. This was how a fulfilling life should be. This was what I was craving for. Eating whatever I wanted and all I wanted. It was pure bliss!

Byakko and Ling were also satisfied with such a lifestyle.

Alas! Nothing could continue forever.

“I am sorry, young sir, you are no more allowed in our restaurant,” the serving boy said to me.

“Why?” I asked. “As far as I know, I had created no problems for you guys.”

The boy awkwardly rubbed his head. “The thing is, young sir and your two companions eat too much. All the materials would be exhausted after serving young sir. There would be none left for the next guests. There had been many complaints. If this continued, we are afraid, there would be a riot soon.”

I was speechless. Such things could happen, too?

“Fine!” I decided to not make it difficult for him. He already sounded apologetic. Besides, his superior must have set him onto me. He was just a go-between. There was no use venting my emotion on a small figure.

I left that restaurant and moved to the next one. Similar things happened in all of them. Byakko, Ling and I had been blacklisted in all the restaurants. The reason? We ate too much and disturbed the normal flow of the place.

That was weird. Wouldn’t people normally want customers who ate a lot and paid a huge amount of money? What the hell was going on with this world? Was this world bent on starving him?

Bai quietly made his way through the shadows and stopped before a door. He knocked on the door with a certain rhythm.

“Uncle Bai, please enter.” A tender voice came from inside.

He pushed opened the door and entered the study to find a young lady pondering upon some documents.

“Uncle Bai, please take a seat,” Mu Lanran said. But when she saw that Bai made no move to sit, she sighed helplessly. “Do you need to be so stiff when it is just the two of us?”

“Protocols must be observed on all occasions. Only then will everything operate smoothly.” She had grown up to be a beautiful and a smart lady. A little on the side of manipulative but he felt that was necessary quality. She was hundred percent better than that straightforward lass of Yu Clan. He was quite proud of her. He had no children of his own, let alone grandchildren. He doted on her like she was his own granddaughter. But this and that were difficult.

Sighing again, she asked, “What report do you have for me, Uncle Bai?”

“That boy has appeared here,” he said.

“The boy from the forest?” she asked.

When Bai nodded, she smiled. “I was unable to do anything to him. But now that he is in my turf, I will have him dancing around my palm.”

Bai wanted to dissuade her. The boy was far more dangerous than they had given him credit for. Last time, whenever he looked at the boy, he would get a prickly feeling in his gut telling him to avoid the boy. But now, he felt nothing. If he hadn’t encountered him before, he would have dismissed him as an ordinary boy.

The monster had learnt to retract its claw. That only meant one thing. The monster had become more cunning and dangerous.

But in the end he didn’t say anything. It was not his place to advise the heir of Mu Clan. The only thing he could do was to guard her tightly. He would do that without fail.