After he finished speaking, the other servers walked to their sides carrying their trays.
Gu Ningyun watched as the server beside her opened a tray and brought out a pot of steaming soup. The broth was pure white and rich with fragrance.
“This is Broken Jade Snow-Sensing Deer Bone Soup. It uses the leg bones of a rank three wind-attribute Broken Jade Snow-Sensing Deer and was prepared by a food cultivator of Yaoxian Residence over the course of a month.”
“The dishes prepared for you and your companions today are all made from high-grade demon beast ingredients.”
“Through the unique techniques of our food cultivators, these high-grade ingredients will not cause any strain on your system. Instead, as you eat, they will gently integrate into your body.”
“Any part that cannot be immediately absorbed will be stored within you, naturally nourishing your body and aiding your cultivation.”
“Later, when you are in combat and your spirit energy runs low, the energy within these ingredients can even provide a helping hand.”
Under normal circumstances, if a low-level cultivator consumed too many high-grade ingredients, the excess spirit energy would cause them to explode and die. Yaoxian Residence’s dishes, however, did not have this issue. It was no wonder a single meal here started at the price of high-grade spirit stones.
The server then brought out an oval platter with six ribs neatly arranged on it. “This is Earth-Fire Roasted Cloud-Azure Boar Ribs. It uses the rib closest to the heart of a rank three wind-attribute Cloud-Azure Boar. The wind spirit energy there is the gentlest and purest.”
Next was a small bowl of rice. “This is Heavenly Spring Mutton Steamed Rice. It is cooked with Penglai Heavenly Spring Water, the hind leg meat of a rank three wind-attribute Extra-Terrestrial Green-Sand Sheep, and mysterious-rank top-grade spirit rice.”
Finally, there was a plate of pastries. “This is Green Feather Pea Cake. During preparation, high-grade mysterious-rank peas are placed inside the tubes of top-grade mysterious-rank Green Feather Bamboo and steamed. This pastry is the most effective at soothing wind spirit energy, making it perfect for wind spirit root cultivators to enjoy after a meal.”
“Please enjoy your meal, little friend.” The server set down a soup spoon and wooden chopsticks before withdrawing.
Gu Ningyun was already a bit dazzled. As a food cultivator herself, she could naturally sense the gentle wind spirit energy contained within these dishes due to their special preparation.
She glanced over at Wen Xuan’s side and saw that her dishes were all prepared with fire-attribute ingredients.
Once all the servers had left, Mu Chenze picked up a bowl of soup and said, “The two martial uncles are certainly generous. This table of food must have cost at least ten high-grade spirit stones, right?”
Gu Ningyun did the math. Ten high-grade spirit stones were equal to a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones. Eating such a meal was indeed incredibly expensive.
Jiang Yao swallowed a mouthful of meat and licked his lips. “It’s so delicious I might swallow my own tongue.”
Martial Uncle Lu and Martial Aunt Yang looked at each other and laughed. “Most Xiaoyao disciples cultivate the four arts as a secondary focus, so they generally don't lack spirit stones. You all will be the same in the future.”
Martial Aunt Yang added, “That’s right. Once you’ve earned some spirit stones in the future, you can come back whenever you want. For us Xiaoyao disciples, the only troublesome thing about Yaoxian Residence is having to queue up and make a reservation in advance.”
Gu Ningyun nodded and took a sip of the soup.
It was savory, fragrant, and smooth—truly delicious.
As she ate, a massive yet gentle surge of spirit energy flowed into her limbs and bones. The feeling was even more comfortable than soaking in a spirit herb bath after body refining.
Gu Ningyun’s eyes lit up. What kind of cooking technique was this? If she could learn even a little bit of it, she could make it for herself whenever she had a craving.
However, she quickly dismissed the thought.
It was obvious that this was a secret technique unique to Yaoxian Residence. A secret method that allowed them to be famous across the Five Continents and surpass other establishments would certainly not be shared with outsiders.
Gu Ningyun couldn't help but think of the Xiaoyao library. She should find some time to look there; there were bound to be good food cultivation recipes and secret cooking methods.
After they had eaten their fill, the group left the booth and headed downstairs.
Aside from the specially prepared dishes they had just eaten, the first-floor lobby of Yaoxian Residence provided ordinary spirit food, just like other restaurants.
It was currently the middle of the Si hour, and the lobby was packed with diners.
Just as she stepped onto the stairs, Gu Ningyun heard them discussing a piece of news.
“Have you heard? The Xiaoyao Punishment Peak destroyed an evil cultivator den in Chongjian Forest near Wuxin City.”
Gu Ningyun subconsciously slowed her pace.
“This is right at the foot of Xiaoyao. Are the evil cultivators really that bold now?”
“My third aunt’s second uncle’s son-in-law’s cousin’s youngest son is a handyman disciple at Xiaoyao. He happened to take a labor mission for the Punishment Peak recently.”
“According to him, that den grew an evil flower that could continuously produce evil qi. The flower seemed to be rooted there; it would die if moved, so those evil cultivators stayed there and made it their nest.”
“Isn't that distant relative of yours just a laborer? How does he know so much detail?”
“The Xiaoyao Punishment Peak released a notice about this. They explained the whole story very clearly.”
“However, my relative didn't say everything. He only revealed one thing.”
“Xiaoyao stated that during the recent New Disciple Competition, this evil flower seemed to have a concealment function, hiding that evil qi den incredibly well. The only reason Xiaoyao found it this time was because of that competition.”
“What does that mean? Give us some details.”
“I don't know the specifics either.”
...
Gu Ningyun and the others exchanged glances, all thinking of what Perfected Person Ye had said about the incident with the evil qi-infected demon beasts at the end of the competition.
Could this evil cultivator den be related to that incident?
Martial Aunt Yang took out her identity jade token to check it. Finally, she smiled and said, “It seems the rewards for passing the evil qi trial are about to be issued.”
“What rewards? Do you know, Martial Aunt Yang?” Jiang Yao asked.
“The Disciple Training Department decides those. It’s different every year, so I’m not sure.”
“Alright then.”
Gu Ningyun listened to the talk about rewards, and seeing that Martial Aunt Yang had no further news, she sent her divine sense into her identity jade token to check the Punishment Peak platform.
The first piece of information was about the evil cultivator den. It was similar to what they had just overheard, but with more detail.
Originally, the evil objects prepared by the Disciple Training Department were only meant to allow a rank one peak demon beast to barely break through to rank two, without even stabilizing its cultivation.
However, the lynx they encountered had a cultivation level close to the rank two middle stage.
The Punishment Peak investigated through the two clues of the evil object and the lynx. There was nothing wrong with the evil object, but when they examined the lynx's corpse, they found some evil qi inside it that was different from the qi on the evil object.
This evil qi was colder, more violent, and more hidden.
After the lynx absorbed the evil object, that object triggered the dormant evil qi within the lynx's body.
The two forces combined and erupted, which was why the lynx's cultivation surged, nearly breaking through to the rank two middle stage.
It was also because of this dormant evil qi eruption that more demon beasts than estimated were tainted by evil qi and went into a frenzy.
By following the trail of the lynx’s origin, they managed to track down this evil cultivator den.
Seeing this, Gu Ningyun understood.
If everything had gone according to the Disciple Training Department's original plan, there wouldn't have been many frenzied demon beasts, and naturally, fewer disciples would have been injured.
Even without her 《Zongjiao》, Ling Hanbai’s thunder spirit root combined with the alchemy cultivator's pills would have easily taken down those frenzied demon beasts and the lynx.
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