Erin and Xuan Che stared at each other, wide-eyed.

After about half a minute, the little puppet glanced at the few items the other had just pulled out: "That's it?"

Xuan Che's face twitched slightly, nearly losing his century-old Dao Heart, but he still forced a nod: "That's all there is."

Seeing this, Yu Sheng sighed and stepped forward to comfort him: "It's okay, it's okay, you did your best."

"Ah, after all, it's because I'm shallow in knowledge and only know how to follow the book," Xuan Che sighed as he tidied up his things, speaking with frustration, "There might be a way, but I just can't think of it. When I get back, I'll ask my master or consult with the seniors in my sect; maybe there's still a chance."

"That works," Yu Sheng nodded sincerely, "Thanks for your trouble."

After finishing this conversation, it was almost noon.

Yu Sheng naturally invited the guests to stay for a meal — he wasn't bothered by the question of whether cultivators from Qianfeng Ling Mountain ate, since, first, Xuan Che had already downed a can of cola, and secondly, he himself had a cultivator at home who ate quite a lot each meal.

Xuan Che didn't decline the invitation much either; he was even quite curious about how these beings that were clearly not "human" yet always "imitating" humans lived daily. When he agreed to stay for the meal, there was even a spirit of adventure in his heart in search of the Dao.

He would soon realize that his decision to stay and broaden his horizons was the right one.

Because the lunch was made by Hu Li.

Perhaps feeling it was a rare opportunity to have a guest from the same "field," Hu Li volunteered to personally cook and show the local Immortal the traditional cuisine from her hometown.

Yu Sheng's first reaction was actually to intercept, since he knew that the appearance of the "fox stew" had some occult elements in it. Bringing a dish of colorful wriggling stuff to the table could scare the guest was still secondary; if Xuan Che reacted impulsively and thought what was served was some demon and drew his sword to fight a battle with lunch, that would be a big problem — but he couldn't stop her.

Because Hu Li was holding his hand and wagging her tail.

"Just indulge her," said Erin Alpha, carrying a picture frame, looking at Yu Sheng with a helpless expression at the dining table, "You give her whatever she wants, you agree to whatever she wants to do, as if you don't know her stew is getting more and more outlandish; once the kitchen door opens and the dish is served, you'll be speechless."

"Not quite, not quite," Yu Sheng quickly waved his hand seriously explaining, "She's had it tough the past decades, and now I just want to treat her better — and am I not good to you? I've even made four bodies."

Erin twisted her mouth: "If you didn't use materials from the ten-dollar store back then, I might believe you now."

Xuan Che, on the other hand, continued to curiously watch the movements from the kitchen — the door was closed, and his Divine Sense, which could originally pass through mountains and ridges, was blocked by just a closed door here, so he had no idea what was going on inside, only able to hear clanging noises from time to time, mixed with the explosive sound of flames rising and bursts of flashes of light. Honestly, it didn't quite seem like cooking, but calling it a battlefield might be a bit too much...

After hesitating for a while, he finally looked up at Yu Sheng: "Is this... the sound of cooking?"

"A special dish from her hometown, Fox Stew," Yu Sheng explained cheerfully to the guest, "No worries, it's just loud, it's normal; she's probably reasoning with the dish right now, and once the reasoning makes sense, it'll be ready to serve."

Xuan Che: "…?"

Seeing this, Yu Sheng quickly added a few more words to prepare him: "By the way, the dish may look a bit stimulating when it's served, so be prepared mentally. Though it might not look good, the taste is still quite nice, and I estimate it might be beneficial for someone like you who's into cultivation."

Listening, Xuan Che became even more curious, and just as he was pondering on how unsightly a dish could possibly be, the kitchen door finally opened.

He inadvertently used his Divine Sense to scan.

The result was that he saw an intense, unviewable Nine-tailed Fierce Fire that seemed to be undergoing a fierce energy reaction internally, carrying a mass of intensely rising spiritual light.

Xuan Che froze, hurriedly withdrew his Divine Sense, then saw a large soup pot with a lid placed on the table — Yu Sheng got up to help lift the lid, as steam rose, something else also ascended.

Curiously getting up to glance into the pot, Xuan Che's Dao Heart shivered.

He stood there for several seconds, then turned to Yu Sheng, eyes wide, hesitating as if sleepwalking: "It, it greeted me."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "Seems like today's stew is quite polite."

Xuan Che: "...?"

Is this stew about to transform and ascend or what?!

As his mind swirled in confusion, Hu Li had already quickly ladled out the food from the pot, distributing it bowl by bowl, mumbling as she did: "A bowl for my Savior, a bowl for me, a bowl for the guest, a bowl for me, a bowl for Erin, a whole pot for me..."

"Eat it while it's hot," Yu Sheng, with a gentle smile, nodded at the handsome young man on the opposite side of the table, "The taste really isn't bad."

Under the orders of his master.

Xuan Che found these words surfacing in his mind, and in a daze, he seemed to see something familiar reflecting in that bowl of slightly rippling and constantly bubbling soup. In a blur, he realized—it was his mentor's copper headband.

Alongside the copper headband, he recalled his mentor's earnest advice before he set off, "Xuan Che, remember, the expert you're visiting this time is someone who has triumphed over the Dark Angel... Such an expert is sure to have something incredibly extraordinary around him. You must be bold yet cautious. If the expert offers you something, take it. It might be a great opportunity…"

With this in mind, he finally steeled his heart and scooped up a spoonful from the bowl and put it into his mouth.

Yu Sheng saw the handsome young man across the table take a bite and suddenly freeze, his expression turning strange, as if meditating.

He waited for half a minute before he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Not to your taste?"

That's when Xuan Che snapped back into reality, but his expression was even more peculiar, and after suppressing himself for a while, he finally said, "...Better than what I've made."

Yu Sheng didn't quite understand for a moment: "...What?"

But Xuan Che couldn't be bothered to answer, downing another spoonful, memories of a hundred years of being scolded for remembering the pill recipes incorrectly, punished for getting the timing wrong, and beaten for mishandling the Pill Fire flashed in his mind...

He looked down at the contents of the bowl, puzzled at one thing—the pill's effects were so pure, how could it look like this?

Just then, out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed two silhouettes shimmering with golden light leaping out from nowhere.

Looking up, he saw two divine birds with golden wings and jade crowns exuding majesty and spiritual light, ah, Nameless Divine Birds, were leaping from Hu Li's shoulder onto the table, pecking at the "stew" in a small bowl.

He didn't recognize what kind of divine birds they were, but he suspected these two birds might have a higher cultivation level than the two immortal cranes his mentor raised in the Cloud Sea—just their eyes looked kind of odd.

They carried a sort of sacred aura.

Yu Sheng began to introduce again to his guest, "These two are White Cut and Salt Roasted, Hu Li's pets."

Xuan Che hesitated for a moment, looking up at the Nine-Tailed Fox who was already starting to eat from the pot, and finally squeezed out a sentence from between his molars, "The names…are great."

Yu Sheng smiled awkwardly, pondering whether he should tell the guest the true species of White Cut and Salt Roasted, when suddenly a "bang" was heard from somewhere.

The next second, he noticed the TV in the living room stopped making sound, the kitchen lights went out, the hum of the air conditioner ceased, even the hum from the refrigerator in the dining area was gone.

Erin, who was sitting cross-legged on the dining table, shouted "Oh my god" and instantly jumped up, falling off the edge of the table!

This sudden situation startled Yu Sheng, and he quickly reached out to catch Erin, only to see the small puppet disoriented. Just then, he heard a thump from the living room.

An intense "oh crap" intuition surged from the top of his head straight to his tailbone, and Yu Sheng instantly jumped up from his chair, turning around to rush straight to the living room without even saying goodbye to Xuan Che.

There he saw a small puppet lying on the floor by the TV cabinet, smoking, while on the other side was a power strip that had exploded.

Yu Sheng: "..."

He was stunned, rushed to the small puppet in a couple of steps, looking frantic, "Did you really go chew on the wire!?"

At this moment, Erin was probably still numb, with a small face covered in soot and hair standing on end. Yet, she still resolutely raised her hand and gave Yu Sheng the finger.

While Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, another Erin popped out from between the sofa and the coffee table, glaring up at him, "You're the one chewing wires! Your whole family chews wires! I'm not stupid!"

Yu Sheng, looking at the Erin popping out from beside the sofa, pointed at the one still smoking on the floor, "Then what about that one?"

"What about it? Ask the socket you bought for five bucks!" Erin exclaimed indignantly, "I was watching TV when it just suddenly started smoking by itself. I rushed up to try pulling out the plug, just grabbed the wire, and bang, didn't even have time to dodge before I got zapped!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

All his rebuttals turned into embarrassment in an instant. He remembered he had indeed bought a cheap socket to use in the living room, and Erin had already complained about it two days ago, urging him to replace it soon, but he forgot…

Thinking of this, he quickly picked up the smoking Erin, grabbed a tissue from the side to wipe the little puppet's face. However, just as he wanted to say something to diffuse the awkwardness, the puppet in his arms suddenly moved, raising a hand to stop him: "Wait a moment."

Yu Sheng: "What's wrong?"

Erin (Pro max smoked-black-gold limited edition, 66.6 cm) wore an odd expression on her face—probably an odd expression, as it was hard to tell with the soot—she raised her wrist to flex it, then jumped down from Yu Sheng's arms, looking down at her body.

"...It's charged up."

Yu Sheng: "...What?!"

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