It was very convenient.
‘I don’t have to go through the trouble of delivering the Deluxe Merit myself. Good, very nice.’
Li Nianfan smiled.
The Golden Deluxe Merit Light faded. Daji and the others looked at their Immortal Items with joy.
The expert rewarded them with a lot of Deluxe Merit. It was so satisfying.
After all, they fought 12 powerful cultivators of the Yunhuang World with the Starburst Formation.
Goddess Nuwa looked at her Immortal Item. It was starting to emit a halo. Her eyes lit up with joy.
‘What a nice reward!
‘My Immortal Item became a Deluxe Merit Treasure!’
The girls had the Eastern Bell, the Flaming Flag, the Lotus Lantern, and the Dust Free Mirror. They used to be Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasures.
The items were much more powerful with the Deluxe Merit. There was a saying in the Chaos, ‘Once you have an Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasure with Deluxe Merit, your Immortal Item will be as powerful as a Chaos Spiritual Treasure!’
They could own a Chaos Spiritual Treasure with a bit more Deluxe Merit!
So awesome and powerful!
Yun Shu was anxious. She quietly asked, “Cultivator Nuwa, I’m not from the Eldritch World but the expert gave me Deluxe Merit. Was it a mistake?”
Goddess Nuwa reminded her, “The expert gave it to you, so accept it. I told you, don’t act too surprised. This is how we usually do things. Act normal!”
“Oh.”
Yun Shu gently nodded. Then, she tried to have courage. She carefully thanked Li Nianfan, “Thank… Thank you, Lord Saint.”
“You’re welcome.”
Li Nianfan chuckled. He asked curiously, “You look so familiar, cultivator. You are…?”
Goddess Nuwa helped her answer, “Lord Saint, she’s Yun Shu. A friend I met in the Chaos.”
‘A friend in the Chaos?
‘Is she an outsider? But I can tell from her Deluxe Merit that she helped a lot in the battle. It seems like cultivators from different worlds can be allies, too.
‘Since she’s Goddess Nuwa’s friend, she must be a Saint, too.’
Li Nianfan immediately saluted and said, “Greetings to Empress Yun Shu.”
Yun Shu went stiff. Her hair stood on ends. She hurriedly said with a trembling voice, “Lord Saint, just call me Yun Shu.”
‘I’m not used to a bigshot being so polite to me. I’m not used to it at all. Boohoo, somebody, help me!’
Goddess Nuwa knew that Yun Shu was not taking it well. She did not dare to let her speak any more. She did not want Yun Shu to anger the expert.
She pulled out the two fish and said, “Lord Saint, I captured these two fish by coincidence. I think they look like the Luo Fish so I brought them here.”
“Luo Fish?”
Li Nianfan was instantly intrigued. He looked at the Luo Fish and carefully observed them. “Yo, the two fish are huge. And with wings, too. It really is the Luo Fish!”
Luo Fish looked like ordinary fish. Their wings were not feathery wings. Instead, they were rather scaly and heavy. It glimmered under the sunlight.
Each fish was half a meter long. They could not move, but they still looked powerful.
‘Magical Beast! These are Magical Beasts!
‘Time to fulfill my palette again.’
Li Nianfan was pleasantly surprised. He tried Qiongqi before. Luo Fish also existed. ‘No way, are the beasts from ‘Classics of Mountains and Seas’ real? If so… I’m so excited to eat them.’
He wondered if he was lucky enough to eat them all.
Li Nianfan looked at Goddess Nuwa. Then, he looked at Yun Shu. He instantly smiled with understanding.
‘I get it.’
He asked, “Empress Nuwa, you just want to eat what I cook, right?”
‘Empress Nuwa brought her friend to her world, like how someone would bring a friend back to their place. She naturally has to treat her to delicious food.
‘Who’s better than me when it comes to cooking delicious food?
‘No wonder Empress Nuwa brought me two Luo Fish. She’s too embarrassed to ask for a free meal, so she brought the ingredients.
‘Wow, Empress Nuwa!
‘Perhaps Empress Nuwa boasted to her friend, saying that my meals are the best.’
He felt… happy and proud. ‘I can’t help being a capable man.’
Goddess Nuwa did not dare to lie to him. She anxiously replied, “Well, I would like to if I can.”
“Haha! You can! Of course, you can! No need to be courteous, Empress Nuwa. Feel free to look for me for delicious food.”
Li Nianfan laughed. He felt honored that Goddess Nuwa liked his cooking.
His casual words made Goddess Nuwa feel a warmth in her heart. She bit her lip and thanked him, “Tha—Thank you, Lord Saint…”
She could tell that the expert was not being courteous on the surface. He sincerely treated her as his equal.
‘The expert’s too nice to me.’
“No need to thank me. It’s a piece of cake.”
Li Nianfan waved it off. Then, he smiled and said, “Let’s not delay then. Let’s go. Back to my place. I’ll make a Luo Fish feast!”
He felt like he was lucky.
Cultivators like Goddess Nuwa wanted to eat something extraordinary. Her ingredients were rare and precious, too. Li Nianfan thought it was unimaginable.
He had a personal hunting team. ‘Is this the happiness of being a food expert?’
Li Nianfan naturally would try to please Goddess Nuwa and her friend. The Wuzhuang Temple could wait.
They immediately rode on clouds to the Fallen Immortal Mountain.
It was faster than walking. They saw the Fallen Immortal Mountain after half an hour. Soon, they arrived at the four-part architecture.
Creak.
The door of the four-part architecture opened.
Xiao Bai welcomed Li Nianfan, “Welcome home, my dearest Master.”
Li Nianfan ordered, “Xiao Bai, hurry up and make a fruit platter. Serve our guests some good tea and wine.”
Xiao Bai asked, “Master, the fresh yogurt’s ready. Should I serve it as well?”
Li Nianfan was surprised. “Yo, nicely done, Xiao Bai. Of course. Serve it.”
They followed Li Nianfan into the four-part architecture.
Daji and Fire Phoenix had not returned home for a long while. They instantly felt warm when they saw the familiar surroundings. They became happy, too. They suddenly understood how Li Nianfan felt.
‘No wonder the expert chooses to be an ordinary man. He chose the quiet life because he’s seen countless battles. The true meaning of life is the quiet after the storm.’
‘Happiness has always been around me. I’ve asked for too much. I thought too much. It only makes me anxious. In the end, I was only looking for trouble.’
‘So what if people think I’m the best?’
‘The simple life is where it’s at.’
They oddly felt like they were wise.
As expected, opportunities were everywhere around the expert. They discovered something new every day.
They were at peace with themselves. Unlike Yun Shu, she was feeling a tsunami of emotions. It almost made her heart stop beating.
‘What is this magical place?
‘Did I stumble into a super paradise in the Chaos?
‘This must be a hallucination. It can’t be real. Right?’
The Saint was out of it. She dazedly walked like a zombie. Thankfully, Goddess Nuwa stopped her.
“Cultivator Yun Shu, are you crazy? What are you doing?!”
“I… I can’t control myself.” Yun Shu pursed her lips. Her voice was hoarse.
She could feel the Chaos Spiritual Qi in the air every time she spoke and with every breath she took. It was…
‘I think I’m polluting this place by standing here…’
“Calm down. Calm down!”
Goddess Nuwa hugged Yun Shu. She whispered in her ears, “Are you trying to die? What did I tell you? Behave yourself!”
“But the problem is I can’t control my body anymore.” Yun Shu took deep breaths to calm down, but then she remembered she was breathing in Chaos Spiritual Qi. She instantly went crazy again.
‘I can’t do this. I’m about to slump to the floor.
‘Is this how it feels to be corrupted by vanity? It’s…so wonderful.’
“Pull yourself together!”
Goddess Nuwa shook Yun Shu. “You’re such an inexperienced cultivator!”
She regretted bringing Yun Shu along. Her teammate was lousy. She might trouble her.
Yun Shu felt helpless. ‘Inexperienced?
‘Go find an experienced cultivator in the Chaos then. Go on!
‘They will have an instant mental breakdown as soon as they enter the four-part architecture!’
She remembered when she first wandered in the Chaos. She first witnessed how horrifying and vast the Chaos was.
Back then, there was a powerful cultivator with an Immortal Item that could produce Chaos Spiritual Qi each year!
One could not exchange that Immortal Item with Chaos Spiritual Treasure!
Countless powerful cultivators were envious. Some even begged for the Immortal Item. She was also very envious. Which was why she remembered it well.
Back then, she was prideful. She was envious, but she would not betray herself and become a bootlicker.
However…
She would not believe that her future self was standing in such an awesome place.
Gasp—
She took a deep breath.
That Immortal Item probably produced less Chaos Spiritual Qi annually than that one breath she took…
‘Damn, how can I stay calm?’
At that moment, she suddenly realized.
She did not become a bootlicker back then, not because she was prideful. It was because… The cultivator did not have enough Chaos Spiritual Qi.
She started to think of ways to kiss up to the expert. She hated that she was inexperienced in bootlicking.
“Have a seat, everyone…”
Li Nianfan was about to treat them with hospitality. He turned and saw Goddess Nuwa and Yun Shu hugging each other. They seemed to be wiggling around too.
“Yikes—”
‘What’s going on?’
He hurriedly looked away. He pretended he did not see anything.
‘Oh, they’re ‘roommates’.
‘We’re still in public, girls.
‘This is so promiscuous.’
