The next day.
It was bright outside. The blinding sunlight fell from the sky. It was kind of strong. The sound of birds and insects could be heard throughout the mountains.
Spring unwittingly ended. The air started to feel hot.
At the Fallen Immortal Mountain.
A cloud quickly arrived from the sky. The cloud was thicker than a usual cloud. There was a huge jade pot on it, too!
The pot was way too humongous. It was like a giant disk in the sky. It looked majestic.
“Careful!”
The Jade Emperor sternly commanded, “Don’t harm the grass or trees around here. This is the turf of the expert!”
“Yes, we understand!”
Everyone nodded. They slowly landed the cloud and carefully placed the pot on a field at the foot of the mountain.
“Look after it. We can’t afford any mistakes. Don’t simply touch it either!” the Jade Emperor and Ao Cheng reminded all the soldiers and crustacean soldiers. Then, they walked uphill.
Creak.
Xiao Bai answered the door. Xiao Bai moved aside and said, “The guests are here. Welcome.”
“Hello, Xiao Bai.”
The Jade Emperor and the others all greeted Xiao Bai. They did not dare to ignore it. They must be respectful because Xiao Bai was also a bigshot.
They walked into the four-part architecture. The yard full of vegetables caught their eyes.
Li Nianfan seemed to be preparing for something. He had a basket in his arms. He was organizing the vegetables. There were all sorts of mushrooms, eggs, honey, dates, milk, and a lot of other vegetables.
Daji and the Fire Phoenix were his helpers.
Gulp!
The Jade Emperor and the others gulped at the same time. They felt thirsty as their minds went blank. They were about to lose control.
‘Are those for eating? Those were Spiritual Plants! Each of those are rare and precious treasures! Any one of those could cause Immortals to fight!’
How did it feel to be there?
It felt like an ordinary person standing in a place filled with gold and money. How would one feel standing in front of a billion-dollar stack?
‘I can’t. My heart can’t stand it. I’m about to faint…’
‘Especially when I have to watch those rare treasures be treated like ordinary vegetables. He simply arranged them like that…’
The Jade Emperor and the others pressed on their hearts at the same time. They silently took deep breaths.
‘Calm down. I have to calm down!’
‘We’ve been with the expert for so long. We should be used to this, right? Relax. Relax, damn it!’
Li Nianfan noticed his guests. He was slightly shocked. He said, “Emperor, Empress, why are you guys here? Sit, take a seat. Xiao Bai, serve some tea.”
‘Didn’t they just leave yesterday? They’re here again today? Something probably happened.’
“Sorry to disturb you, Lord Saint.”
The Jade Emperor saluted. He asked curiously, “Lord Saint, are you…picking ingredients?”
“Yeah. Sort of. I’m going to make a nice meal.”
Li Nianfan laughed and said, “Daji and Fire Phoenix were hurt. I can’t help them with much so I thought I’d make a nice soup for them. Hopefully, they’ll heal faster.”
‘Make a nice meal?’
‘Nice soup?’
The Jade Emperor and the others knew that the expert was talking about the Kunpeng soup!
‘Everything’s indeed going as planned by the expert. Look, Kunpeng’s in the pot. The ingredients for the soup are also ready.’
‘Kunpeng hurt Daji and the Fire Phoenix. The expert turned Kunpeng into a soup to heal Daji. I see nothing wrong with that.’
‘Saints shall not be insulted. Why would the expert be any different?’
‘Kunpeng was an insect that didn’t know any boundaries. He displeased the expert. He was fated to die.’
They immediately asked, “Lord Saint, Kunpeng has been defeated. Do you want to take a look at the foot of the mountain?”
“Oh?” Li Nianfan raised his eyebrow. He was in disbelief. “Defeated? Really? Why not bring him here?”
‘No way. This is Kunpeng we’re talking about. He’s supposed to be a force from the eldritch eras. We were just talking about him yesterday. He was supposed to be troublesome but now he’s been defeated?
‘So out of the blue? You’re Kunpeng, man! So shamelessly weak?’
The Jade Emperor tried to control his facial expression. He went along with Li Nianfan, “Um… We defeated him. But we could only place it at the bottom of the mountain because his body’s too big.”
“Big? Of course. I have to check it out.”
Li Nianfan was instantly intrigued. ‘The true form of Kunpeng. I’d feel sorry for myself if I don’t take a look.’
The Jade Emperor gestured for him to go. He smiled and said, “Saint, after you.”
Everyone immediately stepped on clouds with Li Nianfan. They soon arrived at the bottom of the mountain.
They instantly saw the huge pot. It could not be helped because it was too obvious.
“Damn… This pot’s larger than the entire Fallen Immortal Mountain.”
Li Nianfan was truly shocked. The huge pot was too majestic. He could not even imagine it.
A huge Garuda Bird of the same size lay in the pot. His body was curled up in his wings. He died peacefully with his eyes shut.
He died in peace but it still felt powerful. They could feel the strong aura from the huge body. It was frightening.
Li Nianfan stepped on clouds and watched from above. He kept hollering internally.
‘The whale was too big to fit in a pot, so they custom made a huge pot…’
Daji and the Fire Phoenix stayed behind Li Nianfan. They looked at Lord Kunpeng who was inside the pot, then they looked at Li Nianfan. They instantly felt conflicted and touched.
Combining it with what Li Nianfan painted yesterday, they guessed that Lord Kunpeng died because of Li Nianfan. They did not know how he did it but the Jade Emperor and the Empress could not have defeated Lord Kunpeng alone.
‘The Master’s too nice to us. We were harmed and he immediately avenged us. So nice…’
Li Nianfan observed for a while. He inhaled and genuinely exclaimed, “Emperor, you guys…really defeated Kunpeng. Awesome, so incredible! Respect, respect!”
The Jade Emperor looked at how impressed Li Nianfan was. His skin crawled because he felt like he did not deserve the compliments.
He coughed and hurriedly said, “Actually… We were lucky. We coincidentally ran into Lord Kunpeng while he was down. We got lucky.”
‘Seriously?
‘You’re clearly the one who captured Kunpeng so why are you so surprised? And you’re complimenting me. I have to go along with your act.
‘Sigh, it’s so hard being the Jade Emperor.’
“No matter what, thanks. You helped Daji.” Li Nianfan then smiled and said, “By the way, the Heavenly Palace is so generous. You guys made such a huge pot. You guys really know what’s up.”
The Jade Emperor felt like he was about to have a breakdown. He forced a smile and said, “Ha, you noticed, Lord Saint.”
‘Come again? Whose pot is this again? Are you trying to put this on us?
‘We know what’s up? No, you know what’s up for real!’
Li Nianfan looked at the setup and asked curiously, “Are you trying to…stew soup?”
The Empress could instantly tell what Li Nianfan truly meant by that. She went along with it. She nodded and smiled, “Yeah, are you interested, Saint?”
“Yes, very much so!”
Li Nianfan laughed. He said, “You guys came to the right guy. I’m a professional at this. It’s a new challenge for me to stew such a huge pot of soup, but… I like it.”
Ao Cheng smiled and said, “Lord Saint, we’re in for a treat if you’re willing to make the soup.”
“Haha, hungry already? Don’t worry, I promise I won’t let you down.”
Li Nianfan looked at Ao Cheng. Then, he said, “Brother Ao, I’ll write you a list later. Help me prepare some seafood like sea cucumber, fish lips, and abalones. Kunpeng’s a hard-to-come-by ingredient. It’d be a waste to not make a nice soup out of him.”
He was just about to make soup for Daji and the Fire Phoenix. Lord Kunpeng came at the right time.
Ao Cheng immediately slapped his chest. He said with seriousness, “Don’t worry, Lord Saint. I’ll prepare it well. I’ll ensure every seafood is fresh and of top-notch quality!”
Li Nianfan nodded and teased, “You’re the local manufacturer of seafood. I’m naturally not worried.”
The Jade Emperor and the Empress looked at each other on the side. The Jade Emperor went ahead and pointed at the Spiritual Treasures hanging on the pot. He said, “Saint, these are some Spiritual Treasures we earned. If you don’t mind, feel free to take them.”
“Spiritual Treasures?”
Li Nianfan had to frown. He shook his head and said, “I’m just an ordinary man. I have no use for Spiritual Treasures. Moreover, you guys killed Kunpeng so they belong to you. How can I take them?”
“Of course, you can!”
The Jade Emperor jumped. He hurriedly said, “Saint, you’re a crucial member of the Heavenly Palace. Who would dare think you don’t deserve the treasures?!”
The Empress had an idea. She chimed in, “Saint, you’re a Saint that the Heavenly Palace is indebted to. You should be given these Spiritual Treasures. Also…this incident harmed Lady Daji and Goddess Fire Phoenix. We felt bad. Please, don’t reject us.”
“This…” groaned Li Nianfan.
Last time, the Empress and the Jade Emperor already gave him a defense armor. It was effective and helped him block out a disaster. Li Nianfan naturally did not want anything else. He did not want to continue accepting gifts. However…he hesitated at the thought of Daji and the Fire Phoenix.
Spiritual Treasures were indeed beneficial and precious. Daji and the Fire Phoenix would be protected. Li Nianfan did not want to say no.
The Empress convinced Li Nianfan.
‘The Heavenly Palace is so generous and rich. These Spiritual Treasures mean nothing to the Jade Emperor and the Empress, but to everyone else, it’s rare treasure!
‘This is the benefit of befriending bigshots. I feel embarrassed by my shameless bootlicking.’
“Fine. I shall shamelessly accept it.”
Li Nianfan paused and continued, “But I can’t take them all. Daji and the Fire Phoenix should take one, preferably a defense type Spiritual Treasure.”
“Yes, we got it!”
The Jade Emperor immediately passed over the Eastern Bell and the Flaming Flag.
Those two items were the most precious items amongst the treasure. The Sky Stamp was the third most precious. It was an attack-type Spiritual Treasure.
‘As expected, the expert wasn’t impressed by that.’
“Thanks.”
Li Nianfan passed the Eastern Bell to Daji. He gave the red flag to the Fire Phoenix. He suddenly thought of novels from his past realm. He asked curiously, “Oh yeah, are the Immortal Items directly usable? Or is training required?”
“Training is required,” the Empress said. “Otherwise, the items will easily be taken by enemies if they can’t control it.”
“I see.” Li Nianfan nodded with understanding. “Daji, you guys should train the Immortal Items well to defend yourselves.”
He paused. He saluted the Jade Emperor and Empress. “Thank you for everything. You should take the rest of the Spiritual Treasures.”
A mysterious force suddenly fell on Daji and the others as soon as he said that. Daji and the others felt heavy, as if something had possessed them.
Daji and the Fire Phoenix felt something. Their pretty eyes looked shocked. They suddenly realized that they had bonded with their Spiritual Treasures!
It was not a usual bond. It felt like the Spiritual Treasures became their arms, like they became a part of their bodies. The items were fully trained!
The Empress and the Jade Emperor were also stumped at the same time. They felt the same thing.
They heard the calls from the Spiritual Treasures!
Calling on them!
They called on them like they were picking up customers. ‘Pick me, pick me…’
They had no doubt that whatever they choose could be fully trained in an instant!
‘Fully trained item! Incredible!
‘This is supposed to be way harder than gaining the Immortal Items in the first place!
‘All because of a sentence from the expert!
‘This… This is…
‘Gift from God?!’
