Chapter 34
“Although we’ve met a few times on the way to the sect, our interactions weren’t deep.”
“I spent the whole day with her today and realized that Sister Ning is truly formidable.”
Holding the fragrant roast chicken, the girl spoke with a sense of admiration.
“Your decision to give her up was absolutely the right one.”
“I suspect you’ll end up completely hooked by her if you continue to fancy her.”
The girl said this while giggling and watching Li Muyang’s reaction.
Li Muyang, however, swallowed hard. His gaze was completely focused on the roast chicken in the girl’s hand and showed no reaction to her words.
This wasn’t entirely an act. The roast chicken truly emitted an irresistible aroma.Li Muyang’s eyes widened as he asked, “What kind of roasted chicken is this?”
“Why does it smell so delicious?
The mere aroma was enough to make one’s appetite uncontrollable.
Li Muyang instinctively thought of a delicacy from Yunxiao City.
The girl’s giggling response confirmed Li Muyang’s guess.
“This is the most famous Ginseng Wood Roast Chicken from Yunxiao City. It’s cooked over charcoal made from ginseng wood that contains spiritual energy. The chicken is sealed in a clay stove with the wood, perfectly stimulating the spiritual energy and aroma, locking it into the meat.”
“It’s said that even the immortals above the nine heavens can’t resist the fragrance of this Ginseng Wood Chicken!”
The girl cheerfully handed the steaming roasted chicken to Li Muyang, saying, “Brother, eat it while it’s hot. The chicken can retain its heat for two hours after coming out of the oven, and now is when it tastes the best. Once it cools down, it loses its flavor.”
Li Muyang immediately took the fragrant roasted chicken, tearing into it as he spoke, “The idea that even immortals can’t resist is pure nonsense, but I have indeed heard of the fame of this roasted chicken.”
I never expected it to be so magical. It truly is a world of cultivation that defies common sense.
Before, Li Muyang had thought it was all exaggeration.
It’s just a roasted chicken, after all. How could it captivate someone so?
Now, the reality proved that this Ginseng Wood Roast Chicken was indeed enchanting.
Without caring for appearances, he sat down on the ridge of the field and began to tear into the chicken meat the girl had brought, savoring it with big bites.
The chicken, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, melted in his mouth, a wondrous flavor unlike any ordinary food exploded on his taste buds.
As he ate, Li Muyang couldn’t help but marvel again.
The world of cultivation is truly full of wonders.
He looked up at the girl standing beside him, who was smiling sweetly.
“Brother, just eat. I’ve already tasted it with Sister Ning. We brought this chicken especially for you.”
“Alright,” Li Muyang simply replied, not being polite and truly enjoying the whole roasted chicken by himself.
After chatting briefly with the girl about their experiences in Yunxiao City, Li Muyang realized that this city was indeed vastly different from his homeland, Jiuyuan City. Ɽ
Jiuyuan City, a remote and small town, was considered by most to be a backwater, and everything there fit Li Muyang’s image of an ancient society.
The streets were filthy, dust filled the air, and the smell of excrement was everywhere.
However, with its population of a million, Yunxiao City was clean and tidy everywhere, with streetlights and sewers, more like the fantasy world towns in the video games Li Muyang played in his previous life.
Hearing about all these things from his younger sister Li Yuechan made Li Muyang want to visit Yunxiao City and broaden his horizons.
But in the end, Li Muyang steadied his emotions and suppressed his desire to go to Yunxiao City.
His progress in the game had reached a critical moment.
Xiao Yecao’s favorability was now at 39.
Just a bit more and he would reach a favorability of 40, earning the second-stage reward.
Li Muyang didn’t plan to wander around the city at this time and waste time.
On the other hand, his younger sister, Li Yuechan, and the young lady from the Ning Family, Ning Wan’er, often went to the city together.
The sect’s gates were about to close, and after that would come a year of seclusion.
For the girls, there were too many things to prepare.
The austere life of the Outer Sect was no match for the bustling and lively Yunxiao City.
And every time Li Yuechan returned from the city, she would bring some food for Li Muyang and talk about interesting events that had happened there.
The latest hot topic in Yunxiao City was a terrifying and mysterious person.
This mysterious figure’s origins and appearance were unknown, but they had killed many demonic cultivators in Yunxiao City.
Each demonic cultivator was drained of their blood essence and lost all their demonic cultivation before dying, turning into a horrific dried corpse, a truly gruesome death.
This terrifying manner of death had a great deterrent effect, so much so that although not many had died, Yunxiao City was in a state of turmoil, with various rumors flying around.
Li Yuechan clicked her tongue and sighed, “The grand base of the Demon Refining Sect is being thrown into chaos by a single mysterious person. I heard that the elders are furious and have sent their direct disciples into the city to hunt down the murderer.”
“Brother, what level of cultivation do you think that mysterious person has?”
Li Yuechan, who had just stepped onto the path of cultivation, was extremely curious about the world of cultivators.
She blinked her eyes innocently and looked at Li Muyang, who was sitting on the ridge and asked.
Li Muyang, while tearing apart and enjoying a delicious roasted chicken, replied, “To stir up trouble in Yunxiao City… they must be at least a fourth or fifth-grade master, right?”
“Anyway, they’re not someone small fries like us could provoke.”
As Li Muyang spoke, he glanced at Li Yuechan again: “You know there’s a mysterious person causing chaos in the city, yet you go there every day… Aren’t you afraid of dying?”
Li Yuechan said with a giggly smile, “I’ve found out that the mysterious person only kills those above the Qi Refining Realm. Someone without any cultivation like me wouldn’t even catch their eye.”
After the girl finished speaking, she saw Li Muyang’s skeptical expression and sighed.
“Actually, I don’t want to go every day either. It’s exhausting.”
“But before leaving home, Uncle said that he has a friend who will come to Yunxiao City during our sect’s grand opening. He will ask his friend to bring some items over for our use.”
“Uncle said those items are very valuable, and he’s worried it would be dangerous for a young girl like me to carry them on the road, so he could only entrust his friend to bring them.”
The girl shrugged innocently, “So I go to the city every day, actually just to wait for uncle’s friend.”
After the girl explained the reason, Li Muyang frowned.
“That Old man entrusting someone to send things over? What valuable things can he send as a country martial artist?”
(TLN: Old man here means father.)
At most, it would be some low-grade spiritual instruments and cultivation materials.
Li Damu, a martial artist from the countryside at that level couldn’t save up anything valuable.
Li Muyang didn’t care at all about the things sent from his old home.
Now, even if he leaked a bit of high-grade spiritual rice from between his fingers, it would be enough to make his stingy old man, Li Damu, pop his eyes out.
After sending his little sister away and cooking a dinner of high-grade spiritual rice, Li Muyang continued his monotonous but regular life.
When night enveloped the mountains, he closed his eyes and entered the game.
The appearance of his little sister these days had indeed interfered with his gaming progress.
The time spent chatting with Li Yuechan seemed to be getting longer, causing his game progress to slow down as well.
On the small square of Black Cloud Village, Li Muyang looked at Xiao Yecao in front of him and sighed.
Li Muyang, oh Li Muyang, you can’t go on like this.
Chatting with the sweet girl was relaxing and for someone like Li Muyang, who had been living in solitude for a long time, having someone to talk to dispel his loneliness and make him feel much happier.
But he couldn’t delay important matters!
Tomorrow, he couldn’t chat with his adopted little sister for so long. He had to work hard and pull himself together!
Looking at the favorability bar in the upper right corner of his field of vision, 【Xiao Yecao: 39】.
Li Muyang clenched his fist.
From today on, he would pull himself together and return to his former self, who devoted all his time and energy to the game!
Now, he was only one step away from breaking through the second stage of the game and getting the reward.
How could he indulge in chatting with the sweet girl at such a time?
Li Muyang decided to change himself.
So the next day, Li Muyang finally spent less time chatting with his adopted little sister than usual when she returned from the city.
After watching his adopted little sister’s figure leave once again, Li Muyang sat on the ridge and scratched his head.
“Have I been alone for too long? How can I talk about such pointless nonsense for so long?”
Li Muyang, who had intended to quickly end the conversation for the day, found himself feeling somewhat dejected and frustrated after failing to do so.
He realized that he might have been alone for too long, making it difficult for him to stop chatting with his sister once they started.
He seemed to be craving this kind of interaction and the feedback from the conversation.
“People really are social animals, huh? Being alone for too long can really cause problems,” Li Muyang muttered to himself.
He no longer tried to cut short his chats with his sister.
It’s okay if the game completion takes a bit longer because if he ends up developing a mental illness from isolation, that would be a real loss.
Fortunately, he spent almost all his time in the game besides his daily chats with his sister.
As the saying goes, hard work pays off, and he did receive a reward.
On the third-to-last day before the Demon Refining Sect closed its gates, Li Muyang successfully completed the second stage of cultivation, raising Xiao Yecao’s favorability to over 40.
【Xiao Yecao: 40 (She regards you as a precious friend… or perhaps a family member?)】
The moment that favorability number appeared, Li Muyang couldn’t help but clench his fist and wave it with force.
This second stage really did kill time!
It took him almost a month to raise Xiao Yecao’s favorability to 40 points, during which he relied on eating spiritual rice to pile up his cultivation to the Qi Refining Realm Sixth Layer.
But despite the torturous daily tasks over the month, Li Muyang felt genuinely happy after he saw the sweet smile of Xiao Yecao in the game.
Because in his view, the system’s reward text popped up.
【Xiao Yecao’s favorability has broken through 40 for the first time, nurturing progress has entered the third stage (out of five stages)】
【Congratulations Host, the second stage reward is available for collection】
【Please select your second stage cultivation reward (choose one of three)】
【Cultivation +1 (Qi Refining Realm Sixth Layer → Qi Refining Realm Seventh Layer)】
【Taiyi Dividing Light Talisman (low-grade spiritual talisman) x3】
【Mortal-grade Flying Sword x1】
The rewards that popped up from the system made Li Muyang ecstatic.
Low-grade spiritual talismans… f*ck!
It turns out the system’s reward pool had more than just secret manuals and weapons?
It even included scarce items like spiritual talismans… Although spiritual talismans are one-time use items, they are extremely powerful.
Even the lowest-level low-grade spiritual talisman can easily kill a cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm.
This system really can surprise him. There are such a variety of rewards, and all of them are good.
Li Muyang stared at the second option for the low-grade spiritual talisman and chose to receive it without hesitation.
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