Chapter 60 Peacock Spreads Its Tail – A Fish Dish (a)
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou
After getting this answer, Meng Li left her friend with a troubled heart. Mo Yin assumed that she was just worrying over Feng Luo and said nothing about it.
The next day, Meng Li headed over the Treasure Pavilion to browse among the precious herbal medicines, treasures and weapons to calm herself down. [1] After exchanging CPs for a few items, she was getting ready to leave when she encountered Feng Luo just as he was just about to enter the pavilion. She had no idea whether it was a figment of her imagination, but, she had a sense that Feng Luo was not quite as noble as before.
The Feng Luo of the old would have a few hangers-on, eager to do their best to curry favour with him. However, there was not a single person beside him today. From her vantage point, she could see people whispering to each other in the side and pointing at him.
Her heart sank even more.
All the indications were there. The House of Feng was in its sunset years.
“Meng Li,” at the sight of the girl he loved standing there in a daze, Feng Luo called out to her. “What are you here for? Do you have enough Contribution Points to get what you want?”
Subconsciously, Meng Li had already distanced herself from this person. Without much thought, she said, “I’ve already exchanged for the things I needed.”
Feng Luo saw nothing strange in her attitude, he continued amiably, “By the way, you said that you’ve been looking for a 300-year-old Spiritual Wind Grass. I’ve managed to get my hands on some, I’ll send it to you later.”
A 300-year-old Spiritual Wind Grass was worth hundreds of thousand taels of silver. Not only that, because of its scarcity, it’s rarely available for sale. He had specifically asked a friend to keep an eye out for it and to contact him when they managed to get it.
When Meng Li heard this, a thin flush crossed her cheeks and she said, “How can I just let you pay everything all the time? I’ll definitely pay you back in the future.”
“No need, I’m happy to gift it to you,” Feng Luo smiled. “I’m going in now, would you like to come with me?”
Still feeling a little moved from the gift, she said, “Alright, I’ll come with you.”
By the time the two of them left the Treasure Pavilion, the spatial ring on Meng Li’s fingers has a few additional medicinal herbs that just happened to catch her eye.
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Though Shiyu had been seeing this spirit every day for the past few days, it still shocked her whenever she caught sight of it unexpectedly.
Imagine opening a random door and seeing a floating, semi-transparent old man smiling benevolently down at you. Could you bear it? Could you?
“Grandpa Gu,” Shiyu forced a smile on her face. When she asked to ‘borrow a person’ from Lin Fan, this was the actual guy she wanted to ‘borrow’. She intended to have Grandpa Gu pose as her ‘master’ and deal with Elder Liu.
Lin Fan was shocked to find out that she even knew about Old Gu, and that he came from Lin Fan’s special jade pendant. However, to his credit, he did not voice out his questions, but only asked to accompany her when Shiyu obtained permission to enter the Third Floor of the Treasure Pavilion.
Shiyu was mulling over what to say to this request when Fat Cat appeared, yes, just ‘appeared’ and said, “That is fine.”
Since their mysterious companions already agreed for them, Shiyu and Lin Fan decided to just go along with it. From that day onwards, Old Gu did not hide his presence within the villa grounds. He could be seen floating along the ceiling in various rooms from time to time. But more often than not, he could be seen leisurely flipping through a book in the garden chair. Who knows where he had gotten the book from though.
Today was a little different, however. It looked like Old Gu had deliberately sought out Shiyu, “We’ve been eating Squirrel Fish every day, why don’t you change up the menu today?”
Oh, that’s right. Though you are a spirit, you seemed to enjoy the very material indulgence of eating good food. In fact, the old man was not the only immaterial creature she was feeding. The Fat Cat ate up to 10 portions of Sashimi every day as well as two portions of Squirrel Fish.
What happened to the old man of good repute and high moral standing?
Shiyu felt a little cheated. “So, what do you want to eat? I’m still perfecting my Squirrel Fish, but I can make something else for you.”
“Oh, maybe something like that very fragrant chicken cooked in bamboo…” more importantly, the Spiritual Energy he absorbed from Lin Fan after that guy drank that soup was immense. It helped him to restore a lot of his own power.
However, he had barely gotten the words out when the cat leapt in between them and addressed the old man, “The ingredients for Bamboo Chicken is gone. As for the Squirrel Fish, Little Shi, you have achieved the desired level two days go. You may focus your energy on the next dish.”
Very well, if he could not eat the desired Bamboo Chicken, the old man was determined to eat something he wanted.
“What’s the next dish? Crispy Roasted Chicken? Salt Baked Chicken? Mala Chicken Pieces? Or could it be… Yellow Braised Chicken? When it comes to rice, Yellow Braised Chicken is the best. Since the weather is so lovely, let’s have Yellow Stewed Chicken with rice, ba!”
When she heard this, Shiyu thought: Old sir, has your brain fallen into a chicken coop…
Fat Cat’s claws glinted as it said, “Then you shall be disappointed. The next dish also featured fish.”
“Fish again! Can’t you switch up the ingredients? It’s fish, fish, fish all day every day. If I eat any more fish, I’ll grow gills.” Old Man Gu was clearly very unhappy.
“If you don’t want fish, you’re welcome to get your disciple to cook for you.” Fat Cat was merciless.
Merciless, because although Lin Fan was exceptionally talented in Cultivating, he was also exceptionally talented in Dark Cooking. [2] When Old Gu thought back to the Jet Black Blackened Chicken barbecued by Lin Fan, he sank down into quiet misery.
Bystander Shiyu had been listening carefully to the conversation between the cat and the semi-transparent old man and was quietly amazed by the absurdity of the entire interaction. Just who is Old Gu? As a reader of the original novel, Shiyu knew that this guy used to be a big shot during his lifetime. A famous Cultivator respected by all. The fact that this cat was being so dismissive of him really amazed Shiyu.
Was this fat cat some kind of saint or divine creature?
Wordlessly, she grabbed San Pang, citing the need to fetch more fish from the pool and took the opportunity to interrogate the radish, “I’ve never asked you this before, but just what is Fatty’s real identity? You had better tell me now!”
Fatty the Fat Cat, was how she privately called that cat.
San Pang suddenly trembled. He recalled the time when Fat Cat had narrowed its eyes at him, casually sharpening their claws on some log while staring meaningfully at his very soft and fragile body.
“W-well, I’m not quite sure…”
Shiyu grabbed his little ear, he regretted being in his human form so much. Shiyu looked very scary when she smiled, “If you answer me, I shall give you some extra side-dishes. Let’s say, the petals of a certain Immortal Lotus…? It’s very fragrant, you know? Very sweet, just thinking of it makes me sigh, ah…”
“Yes, yes!” San Pang immediately agreed. All thoughts of a certain sharp gaze and sharper claws dissipated from his head. “I have no idea where he came from, but I can be sure that he has existed for over a thousand years.”
“A thousand years?” Shiyu frowned. That was… a really long time ago, even by novel standards. Also, “Aren’t you just a hundred-year-old Radish Demon? A hundred-year-old being should not be able to see through the existence of beings over a thousand years old. Are you really a Radish Demon? Why do I have the feeling that you know more than what you reveal? Just what are you?”
When it came to spilling secrets of others, San Pang was rather free with his mouth. However, when it came to his own secrets, he remained tight-lipped. No matter how much Shiyu threatened or bribed him, he refused to say anything else.
Shiyu had no choice, but to give up on this line of interrogation.
Meanwhile, someone else was also interested in Fat Cat’s origin. Lin Fan was currently grilling Old Gu for more information on the cat.
“I’m not entirely sure, “Old Gu shook his head. There was a complicated look on his face. “That cat gave off a very familiar feeling, but I’m pretty sure all the people I’ve known in my life had all died over a thousand years ago.”
He had hidden his soul inside a jade pendant when that happened, unable to face reality. Eventually, after hundreds of years of loneliness, his Spiritual Energy exhausted itself and he fell into a deep sleep. Until Lin Fan has woken him.
“Time flew by so fast. Just a blink and it’s a thousand years later.” Old Gu sighed,” he looked expectantly at Lin Fan. “You must leave the Ninth Realm as soon as possible, your growth should not be limited to this only.”
[Gumihou: … you named a possibly scary entity… Fatty?]
[1] Added More Details for Dramatic effect: Window shopping therapy.
[2] Added Details for Comedic Effect: mentioned Dark Cooking, because it’s funny, trololol!
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