Song Zi'an was very conflicted.
He wasn't a fool; he could see that the person before him was showing him favor likely because of his cooking skills or because they saw something special in him.
He wasn't ungrateful. Under normal circumstances, he would certainly be willing to follow this lord and work like an ox or horse to repay the life-saving grace.
But right now, he had a reason why he absolutely had to go to the provincial capital.
He didn't want to become a burden to this lord.
"My Lord, it's not that Zi'an doesn't appreciate your kindness,"
Song Zi'an gritted his teeth and said, "It's just that I have a reason I must go to the provincial capital this time. I truly cannot follow by your side with a clear mind."
Seeing him hesitate, Wu Gou interjected from the side, "Oh, why are you being so indecisive?"
"Benefactor Song, your heart is heavily burdened. You likely have an unfulfilled promise or someone you haven't found yet."
"Obsessions require strength to maintain, and great vows require resources to sustain. My Lord isn't giving you charity; it's simply that in the flow of karma, you happened to arrive at a ferry where you can borrow some strength."
"As for the trip to the provincial capital, why view it as a path of dread?"
"We happen to be planning to go there as well. You can just travel with my lord. Your vow is your way; his path is his journey."
"Traveling together for a stretch while each follows their own karma—how can you call that a burden?"
"Accept it with peace of mind. The road ahead is long, and you need to travel light. You must have enough strength to reach the place you want to go and see the person you want to see."
"If you really feel bad about it, just make some more delicious food and drink to host this poor monk."
Wu Gou patted his little belly. "After all, this poor monk is still growing."
Wu Gou's words struck Song Zi'an's weak spots one by one.
Song Zi'an hesitated for a moment before finally making up his mind.
He accepted the pine nut with both hands and bowed solemnly to Chen Zhou.
"I will remember your great kindness in my heart, My Lord!"
After speaking, he tilted his head back and swallowed the pine nut.
The pine nut melted the moment it entered his mouth, and a massive surge of vitality instantly exploded within him.
A faint green light surfaced on Song Zi'an's body. His soul, which had been damaged by long-term exhaustion and the recent events, rapidly recovered under the nourishment of this vitality.
The man looked several years younger.
His lifespan increased, and his cultivation even felt a slight loosening.
But...
The phenomenon Chen Zhou had expected did not appear. There wasn't even a hint of a unique destiny manifesting.
"Hmm?" Chen Zhou frowned slightly.
Wu Gou also leaned over to look, rubbing his chin as he asked, "How is it? Is it what you were hoping for?"
Chen Zhou frowned and shook his head.
After consuming the pine nut, he had merely become younger and gained some lifespan, but no destiny had manifested.
By all accounts, this shouldn't be the case. Even someone like Jiu'er could cause the spiritual rhythm of the City of the Wrongfully Dead to explode with a single pine nut.
Song Zi'an was deeply immersed in the path of food. The auspicious god related to that should most likely be the Heavenly Chef, so why couldn't the Heavenly Chef be activated by the pine nut?
It was impossible that he had found the wrong person. The auspicious clouds had guided him here, and on this night of red rain, only Song Zi'an showed any sign of anomaly. Chen Zhou was completely perplexed.
Song Zi'an didn't know what Chen Zhou was thinking. He only felt his body filled with strength. After cupping his fists to thank Chen Zhou, he turned and went to the back kitchen to get busy.
He wanted to use his best skills to prepare a breakfast for the lord; it was the only way he could currently repay him.
The Innkeeper and the Waiter also began to get busy.
They knew this place wasn't safe to stay in and prepared to pack their things and leave at dawn.
Having offended the provincial capital, they obviously couldn't stay any longer. If they wanted to live, they had to find another way.
Although leaving their hometown felt terrible—and the Innkeeper felt like his heart was being cut at the thought of giving up the inn he had run for half his life—there was no other choice.
Seeing them in such a pitiful state, Chen Zhou casually pointed them toward a path to survival.
"Go west. Look for Lantao City in Thousand Isles County."
"That place is my territory now. Take this."
Chen Zhou casually tossed a token engraved with a bone mark to the Innkeeper.
"Once you arrive, someone will naturally settle you in."
The Innkeeper treated it like a priceless treasure, kowtowing repeatedly.
While thinking about Song Zi'an, the bone ring on Chen Zhou's hand suddenly lit up for a moment.
A subtle ripple was felt as the Cloud Sea Resplendence authority on the bone ring automatically triggered.
Wu Gou saw this and chuckled, saying with schadenfreude, "Oh, someone is trying to divine you."
He was all too familiar with this. Ksitigarbha of Great Vows had almost divined himself to death several times in the past.
Chen Zhou rubbed the bone ring, feeling the sensation of being momentarily peered at.
Then, a mist instantly rolled back, following the causal lines to violently strike the voyeur.
Faintly, Chen Zhou seemed to hear a distant sound of something shattering.
"Pushed back."
Chen Zhou let out a cold laugh. "I imagine the other party suffered quite a backlash."
"Good. Keep divining. Better if you divine yourself to death."
He was now at the seventh-stage first-symbiosis. Without at least ninth-stage strength, trying to spy on a god's movements?
It was nothing but seeking death.
Soon, Song Zi'an finished preparing the food and brought it up.
Several baskets of crystal-clear translucent dumplings, a pot of thick spirit rice porridge, several dishes of refreshing small appetizers, and a plate of braised pork hock specifically for Wu Gou.
It was the same high standard as always, with a fragrant aroma.
Wu Gou ate heartily, popping a dumpling into his mouth with every bite, his eyes narrowing in delight.
Chen Zhou also had a taste; the deliciousness remained unchanged.
The system notification sounded again. The effect was the same as before, only temporarily suppressing the aberration for 60 minutes.
If it were the Heavenly Chef destiny, it indeed hadn't manifested.
Chen Zhou felt a bit disappointed, but he didn't dwell on it too much.
Perhaps the timing wasn't right, or perhaps some key trigger was still missing.
The night passed in a hurry.
Fortunately, with Chen Zhou overseeing things, no more strange occurrences happened in the latter half of the night, and those Yinsi Guards didn't dare come back to seek their deaths.
The Innkeeper and the Waiter had already packed their belongings, stacking bags of all sizes by the door, ready to flee.
"It's dawn!"
The Waiter had been staring through the crack in the door and suddenly shouted.
The dawn came very abruptly.
one moment it was pitch black, where one couldn't see their own hand, and the next, it was as if someone had suddenly pulled back a curtain, flooding the world with pale daylight.
The red rain was still falling.
It drizzled down, dyeing the entire world in an eerie red.
"Go, go, go! Leave quickly!"
The Innkeeper urged, pulling the door open.
However, the moment the door opened, he froze.
The Innkeeper sat on the ground in terror, his whole body trembling as he pointed outside, unable to speak.
Standing outside the door was a person.
A eunuch wearing a bright red python robe, his face pale and beardless, coated in thick cosmetic powder.
He held an oil-paper umbrella painted with peach blossoms, which looked exceptionally piercing amidst the falling red rain.
The eunuch was wearing makeup like that of a corpse being prepared for burial, with heavy rouge on his cheeks, scarlet lips, and black eye shadow.
Paired with that deathly pale complexion, he looked exactly like a malevolent ghost that had just crawled out of a coffin.
There were no Yinsi Guards following the eunuch; he was alone.
Seeing the Innkeeper fall, he didn't get angry. Instead, he bowed slightly with great politeness. His voice was shrill, feminine, yet filled with a chilling cold.
"Did our humble self frighten you?"
His gaze passed over the Innkeeper, looking deep into the main hall, but shrouded by Chen Zhou's ghost domain, he could see nothing.
"The Co-lord of the North and South Regions should be here, shouldn't he?"
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