◎Why Is the Fairy Sneaking Around?◎
The servant was horrified. “Don’t!”
Remembering what had happened the day before, he reluctantly fetched her a bowl. “I’ll serve it for you.”
The bowl of soup he had originally planned to keep for himself was carried away by Nangong Yu. The servant looked at her as though his eyes were daggers.
Damn cultivator.
It was all because his soup smelled so good.
Nangong Yu inspected every pot and every stove.
Everyone braced themselves for the worst, but the aroma kept drifting into Nangong Yu’s nose. Like a general reviewing his troops, she pointed out more than a dozen portions.
Three portions became her lunch. She stored the rest in her system space.
“Oh, right.” As she reached the doorway, Nangong Yu turned around. “Did anything happen at the residence last night?”
Anything happen? What did she mean?
But since she clearly wasn’t asking for more food, everyone answered, “What kind of thing are you asking about, my lord?”
If they were talking about disturbances, then of course there had been some. Servants, masters, and guests alike—who actually went to sleep obediently at night? People gnawed on snacks, chatted in their rooms, disciplined their children, argued, counted money, and, most importantly, enjoyed the warmth of their beds. Which room wouldn’t make a little noise?
“Of course I mean something fun!”
Seeing that she still hadn’t left, everyone feared she might ask for something else. One of them casually picked an incident and said, “There were two cats near the spirit-beast garden in heat. They were crying so loudly that they woke one of the immortal masters nearby. He chased them around and hacked at them all night.”
Nangong Yu’s eyes rolled as she listened. “Got it.”
With that, she stepped over the threshold and left. Quick, decisive, and without the slightest hesitation.
“Damn her…”
Only after she had gone some distance did the servants begin cursing.
“Is she going to keep coming back?”
“Who knows? Didn’t she say she’d only been transferred elsewhere? She never said she’d stopped eating.”
“There are three meals a day. She isn’t going to come back tonight too, is she?”
“That won’t do!”
The servants gathered together, indignant.
On her way back, Nangong Yu passed the road where the cats had been “hacked at.” The paving stones were split, and the damage had yet to be repaired.
She giggled and skipped away.
“Brother Ruo Zhu!” When she returned to the spirit-beast garden, she called out, “I’m back!”
She entered Ruo Zhu’s room and looked around.
At the center of the room, arm-thick lengths of emerald bamboo had been arranged tightly together to form a small square table.
The bamboo had a warm, lustrous color and a smooth, translucent quality, like the finest green jade.
Nangong Yu placed the food box on the table and began taking out the bowls and plates.
“That much?” Ruo Zhu was startled when he saw her lift the lid of the food box.
Nangong Yu tilted her head back and smiled. “I came from the kitchen, didn’t I?”
There was that answer again.
But if she truly had powerful backing, why had Liu Shun thrown her into the spirit-beast garden?
Ruo Zhu couldn’t figure it out. He coughed, then turned around and took a white jade porcelain bottle from a drawer.
“The honey I promised you.”
Nangong Yu had assumed that when he said “a little,” he really meant only a little.
She never expected the porcelain bottle he handed her to have such a plump body that she couldn’t even wrap one hand around it!
“Brother Ruo Zhu, you’re so generous!” she exclaimed delightedly.
Ruo Zhu’s ears flushed faintly. “It’s to thank you for the food.”
A portion of spirit rice, a bowl of soup rich with spiritual energy, and a serving of translucent spirit-beast meat—clearly food intended for the masters.
Such things were occasionally presented to the stewards, or kept for the senior cooks. In any case, they never left the kitchen.
Even someone of Ruo Zhu’s status couldn’t buy them with spirit stones.
She had simply brought them over like this, leaving Ruo Zhu with no way to present what he had originally prepared.
“What do you like to eat? I’ll bring you more.” Nangong Yu set the honey aside, picked up her chopsticks, and began eating.
“No need. One meal is enough,” Ruo Zhu said.
“Huh?” Nangong Yu didn’t understand. “You only eat one meal a day?”
“Two or three meals are both fine.” Seeing that she had misunderstood, Ruo Zhu clarified, “Little Yu, this is spirit food.”
“And then?”
Nangong Yu wore a puzzled expression.
Ruo Zhu suddenly realized something. His hand paused while he was picking up food.
“You can eat this kind of food twice a day?”
“Not necessarily.” Nangong Yu shook her head. “If I have the time, I can eat three, four, or even five meals a day.”
Ruo Zhu’s gaze instantly became complicated.
He lowered his eyes, drank some soup, and took another bite of the finest spirit rice.
“Little Yu…” He hesitated, but in the end he couldn’t hold back. “Mortals can’t eat food like this.”
“Eating it once in a while can nourish the body and purge impurities. But if you eat it often, your body won’t be able to withstand it.”
Mortals simply couldn’t endure too much spiritual energy.
It would kill them.
Nangong Yu lifted her head. Her bright, clear eyes shone with pure light.
“But I am a mortal.”
“Maybe I have a spiritual root?” Her eyes lit up. “Maybe I have the potential to cultivate?”
Spiritual roots naturally existed within cultivators.
But did that mean they didn’t exist before a person cultivated, drew spiritual energy into their body, entered the Dao, and became a cultivator?
Ruo Zhu had never heard of anyone growing a spiritual root through cultivation. He had only heard that one needed a spiritual root in order to cultivate.
So what did spiritual roots do normally? Did they eat food? Did they absorb nourishment? Were they fixed from birth, or did they grow along with a person? If they grew, then why didn’t people test for spiritual roots as soon as they were born?
Ruo Zhu couldn’t figure it out. Still, he felt that there was nothing especially strange about Nangong Yu’s frequent consumption of spirit food.
He stopped speaking and continued eating slowly, each movement carrying a peculiar rhythm, like a beautiful painting brought to life.
“Brother Ruo Zhu,” Nangong Yu asked, watching him with sparkling eyes, “how can I find out whether I have a spiritual root, and what kind it is?”
Where was the spiritual-root testing array?
How could she get access to it?
“You’d need a spirit-root testing stone, a testing array disk, or something similar,” Ruo Zhu replied. “But ordinary people can’t get their hands on such things.”
He thought for a moment. “The Myriad Treasures Trading Association and the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion sell them, but they’re extremely expensive.”
Nangong Yu knew that.
Otherwise, why would she have come to the Lin residence?
“There’s no other way?” Nangong Yu blinked. “Brother Ruo Zhu, I really want to know.”
Ruo Zhu looked at her expectant expression and slowly shook his head.
Her favorability still wasn’t high enough!
Nangong Yu wasn’t discouraged. “Then I’ll eat more from now on. I’m going to eat properly. Maybe if my spiritual root is strong enough, it’ll start cultivating on its own?”
Ruo Zhu merely treated it as a child’s fantasy and shook his head with a laugh.
After a while, they were both full of food and soup.
Nangong Yu patted her stomach and let out a satisfied sigh.
Ruo Zhu was sprawled back in his chair as well, his cheeks faintly flushed, as though he couldn’t withstand the impact of the spiritual energy.
“You’re completely fine?” He looked at the girl across from him. Her cheeks were still fair and spotless, as if she had merely eaten an ordinary meal.
Nangong Yu patted her stomach again. “My spiritual root must be incredibly strong!”
She seemed to be thinking about something. Her eyes sparkled, and shallow dimples appeared on her face. She looked innocent and carefree.
Ruo Zhu pressed his lips together.
He didn’t tell her that there was another possibility: she might possess a spiritless body. Any spiritual energy that entered her would flow into a barren wasteland, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.
After resting for a short while, the two of them began preparing food for the spirit beasts.
Every kind of spirit beast ate something different. Some foods couldn’t be placed together, or the spirit beasts would smell something they disliked and refuse to eat even the food they normally loved.
The day passed quickly.
They remained busy until nine that evening. Then Ruo Zhu opened the enclosure and led Nangong Yu outside.
“You’re adapting quickly.” Ruo Zhu was delighted that she had finished half an hour earlier than the day before, and couldn’t help praising Nangong Yu. “You’re truly clever. You remember things quickly and put in real effort. Basically, you remember everything after I explain it once.”
“Get some rest early tonight,” Ruo Zhu said before entering his room.
As he closed the door, he gave her a solemn warning. “Don’t go out tonight. No matter what sounds you hear, remember that. Understood?”
Nangong Yu asked curiously, “What sort of sounds?”
“Nothing at all.” Ruo Zhu calmly raised his hand and shut the door.
Nangong Yu stretched, glanced at the pitch-black night sky, and headed out of the spirit-beast garden.
She had worked all day and was hungry.
Ruo Zhu, however, wasn’t hungry. He had said that the meal at noon would last him the entire day.
“Why are you here again?”
The servant on duty in the kitchen looked up at the sound of footsteps. The moment he saw Nangong Yu enter, his drowsiness vanished.
“There’s nothing to eat at this hour,” one of them said, standing up.
Nangong Yu frowned unhappily. “If there’s nothing, then go make something. Do you expect me to starve?”
She said it with complete justification.
The other servant also stood up, looking aggrieved. “What would you like to eat, my lady?”
“Make something I haven’t eaten before,” Nangong Yu ordered. “It has to be delicious. If it isn’t, I’ll cut off your hand.”
How vicious.
But the two servants were already used to it. That was how cultivators were. If they were cultivators themselves, they would also cut off the hands of mortals who made bad food or treated them carelessly.
“Yes, my lady.” The two servants answered obediently, washing their hands and getting to work.
“Why doesn’t the Fairy reveal her identity?” one of them asked as he lit the fire and began heating the wok. “The Head of the Lin Family is very generous when entertaining guests.”
Miss Lin Qi’s Foundation Establishment banquet was only a few days away.
More than a hundred cultivators had come to offer their congratulations. Everything they ate and used was lavish, and the Head of the Lin Family granted every request.
Since Nangong Yu was a cultivator, she could simply announce her name and be treated as an honored guest.
Why go to all this trouble to hide herself?
“What do you know?” Nangong Yu snapped. “I’m staying in the shadows to help the Head of the Lin Family keep an eye on people with bad intentions!”
She spoke with righteous indignation. “So many people have come to Miss Lin Qi’s Foundation Establishment banquet. Do you really think every one of them is easy to deal with?”
“The Head of the Lin Family is generous and sincere toward us. How could I allow anyone to ruin his plans?”
The two servants immediately understood. “So that’s how it is!”
Now that they understood her motives, they respected her a little more.
“You’ve worked hard.” After taking the food, Nangong Yu pulled out a handful of spirit stones and handed them over without even counting them, leaving the two servants to divide them between themselves.
Neither servant had expected this unexpected windfall. Their smiles stretched from ear to ear. “Thank you, Fairy.”
Nangong Yu did not hurry to leave. Pretending to make casual conversation, she said, “There have been people coming and going near the treasury these past few days. It’s been giving me a headache.”
One of them nodded emphatically. “The Head of the Lin Family’s treasury contains countless treasures. Just as the Fairy said, people with ulterior motives must have slipped in.”
The other servant said, “Still, the treasury is a forbidden area of the Lin residence, protected by layer upon layer of formations. Not even a mosquito or a fly could get inside. Someone tried to steal from it once, but the formations ground him into minced meat. Even when I make meatballs, I can’t chop meat that finely.”
A glint flashed through Nangong Yu’s eyes. “I know there are formations. But there are so many guests here these days. I’m worried that someone with extraordinary methods might find a way to slip inside.”
“Fairy, you really don’t need to worry,” one of them advised. “You’re only a guest cultivator. How could the entire responsibility fall on you alone?”
“Exactly. The Head of the Lin Family is generous, and you’ve shown such a strong sense of justice. That’s more than enough,” the other added.
After chatting for a few moments, Nangong Yu left.
If she asked too many questions, she would arouse suspicion.
Before leaving, Nangong Yu warned them, “Don’t reveal my identity to anyone else. If you ruin my plans, you’ll regret it!”
The two servants hurriedly nodded. “Understood, Fairy.”
Why would they reveal anything?
They certainly weren’t going to mention the spirit stones they had quietly pocketed.
As far as anyone was concerned, she hadn’t come by tonight at all.
