“What rotten luck!” Luo Bigfoot cursed, flinging down his fishing rod while the brothers were in the middle of an animated discussion.
Xu Ziyan fell silent. Master, you could solve this with a single spell, but you insist on relying on technique. And your technique isn’t even good. What am I supposed to do?
“Ziyan!” Luo Bigfoot looked displeased.
“Yes, Master?” Xu Ziyan answered at once.
“Have you heard a certain saying?” Luo Bigfoot asked, his eyes swiveling.
Xu Ziyan obligingly looked puzzled.
“When something needs doing, the disciple does the work!” Luo Bigfoot clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m counting on you to catch and grill my lunch!”
With that, he dusted off his backside, found a shady tree, lay down beneath it and crossed his legs contentedly.
Xu Ziyan: =口=
Master, that’s horribly irresponsible! Your disciple doesn’t know how to fish!!!!!
He stared gloomily at the rod on the ground. He had been impatient since childhood. He was absolutely hopeless at activities that demanded this much patience.
Well, no. If this were work, he could grit his teeth and endure it. But fishing? Sitting in one place for half an hour just to catch a fish? He could have made several trips to the market in that time and bought any fish he wanted!
He brooded for a while, but a task assigned by his master had to be finished. He picked up the fishing rod and turned around, only to find Zirong holding a sharpened stick with two fish skewered on it.
“Big Brother, is this enough?”
Xu Ziyan: =口=
When did my little brother unlock the fish-catching skill? How did I not know?
His astonished expression delighted Zirong, who smiled slightly. In his previous life at the Xu family, there had been times when he lacked enough food and warm clothing. He had tried nearly every wild fruit in the woods; catching a fish to eat was a rare treat.
“Ha! That’s impressive, Zirong! You even caught fish!” Xu Ziyan praised him wholeheartedly. This was no empty compliment. Zirong had used no spiritual power at all, relying entirely on his own skill.
Xu Ziyan eagerly took the makeshift spear. “If Zirong has shown off his skills, Big Brother ought to show some of his own.”
He quickly lit a fire, set up a rack, cleaned the two fish, skewered them with branches and placed them over the coals.
His storage bag was never short of seasonings. He had even collected some ingredients unique to the cultivation world.
Once the fish were half cooked, he tore off a little piece to taste, then selected three little bottles of red and green seasonings from his storage bag and sprinkled their contents over the fish.
Before long, a tantalizing aroma rose from the grill.
Under the tree, Luo Bigfoot sniffed appreciatively, his crossed leg swinging with even greater enthusiasm.
“All done! Here, have a taste.” Smiling, Xu Ziyan lifted the fish from the rack and carefully peeled away a layer of charred skin to reveal the tender, gleaming white flesh.
He held it out to Zirong as though presenting a treasure, his expression plainly saying, Hurry up and try it!
Zirong accepted the grilled fish with delight. He did not care particularly about food, but would never refuse anything his brother had cooked.
“Hmph!”
That harmonious scene shattered at the sound of an indignant snort. Both brothers turned toward the tree.
“Unfilial disciple!” Luo Bigfoot thundered. The fragrance had long since awakened his appetite, but after all that waiting, the brat had given the first fish to his brother! What an unfilial apprentice!
Worse, when Xu Ziyan heard his snort, he did not immediately bring over the grilled fish. He simply put on a face that said, Master, stop fooling around. It was infuriating.
Zirong glanced at Luo Bigfoot, slowly opened his mouth and took a bite from the delicate fish. The flesh nearly melted on his tongue, and he made a small sound of satisfaction.
Luo Bigfoot: …
These two wicked disciples!!!!
Realizing that Zirong was deliberately showing off in front of their master, Xu Ziyan did not know whether to laugh or cry. Luo Bigfoot was, after all, the master of both brothers. Zirong really was being rude.
He lightly patted the back of Zirong’s head. “Behave.” Then he took the other grilled fish to Luo Bigfoot.
“Master, please enjoy.”
“Hmph!” Luo Bigfoot turned his head away with lofty disdain. Such a gesture might have looked elegant on a beauty, but on a disheveled cultivator it was almost unbearable to watch.
Fortunately, Xu Ziyan did not have to watch for long. The smell of the fish soon lured Luo Bigfoot back.
He ‘reluctantly’ accepted the grilled fish Xu Ziyan offered. A few bites later, only a pile of bones remained.
Xu Ziyan stared in disbelief. That had been a sizeable fish, at least five or six jin, and it had only just come off the fire. Yet his master had devoured it in a couple of mouthfuls. Was this some sort of advanced skill?
Under Xu Ziyan’s astonished stare, Luo Yun’s face grew warm. He coughed twice and accidentally spat out a fishbone.
Xu Ziyan’s eye twitched. He lowered his gaze, beginning to suspect that his original decision to seek this man as his master had been a moment of madness.
“Ahem, my good disciple,” Luo Bigfoot said, burping and patting Xu Ziyan’s shoulder.
Xu Ziyan’s mouth twitched. A moment ago he’d been an unfilial disciple; now that Luo Bigfoot was full, he’d become a good one.
“Your grilled fish is excellent. Where did you learn to cook?” Luo Bigfoot asked, patting his satisfied stomach.
“Our family had a skilled cook, and I’ve always been interested in cooking. I practice whenever I have time away from cultivation.”
“Good, good. My good disciple, I’ll leave my dinners to you from now on. Make them properly. Ask me for any ingredients you need, as long as they aren’t dragon liver or phoenix gall…” He paused. “Actually, I could get those too. Slaying a dragon or phoenix would just be a little troublesome. Anything else, though, I can get.”
Xu Ziyan’s eyes flashed. He immediately began bargaining. “Preparing meals for Master would be my honor. But cooking takes time, and if it slows my cultivation, I’ll have failed to live up to Master’s teachings.”
Luo Bigfoot scoffed. “All right, all right. I know what you’re after. Here.” He tossed over a white porcelain bottle. Xu Ziyan uncorked it and immediately smelled the distinctive fragrance of Essence-Replenishing Pills.
“Thank you, Master!” Xu Ziyan was overjoyed. These were the most effective pills for Foundation Establishment cultivators, exactly what he could use after his breakthrough.
“Then…” Xu Ziyan’s eyes lit up. He glanced at Zirong, then turned back to Luo Bigfoot with an expectant stare.
“Hmph, unfilial disciple!” Luo Bigfoot snapped, turned and walked away.
Xu Ziyan stared after him. He had been hoping to ask for some Qi Refining pills for Zirong, but his master had simply left without another word.
“It’s all right, Big Brother. I can manage without them,” Zirong said, hurriedly comforting him.
He was not lying. For Zirong, the best nourishment was not pills but the blood of cultivators or demonic beasts. Pills were useful if available, but he could do perfectly well without them.
Seeing that his precious brother had received nothing and was still trying to comfort him, Xu Ziyan decided their master was terribly stingy.
Look at my little brother, so sensible at only eleven! Master, you’re thousands of years old and you still compete with a child over food. How embarrassing!
He soon got over his disappointment, only to remember that Luo Bigfoot had summoned them without ever explaining why.
“Aaaagh! Master, what on earth are you doing?!” Xu Ziyan howled at the sky.
“This is all your fault!”
Before his words had faded, Luo Bigfoot suddenly dropped from a tree.
Startled, Xu Ziyan stuck out his tongue in secret, then hurriedly assumed a solemn expression. “Master, you’re back.”
Luo Bigfoot glanced at him and said with a crooked smile, “Indeed. If I hadn’t returned, I wouldn’t have known how much you were grumbling about me behind my back.”
“Master must be joking,” Xu Ziyan replied, forcing a smile.
Luo Bigfoot let the subject drop. Instead, he summoned both brothers and questioned them closely about the cultivation methods they had practiced before.
Whenever the Flowing Light Sect accepted new disciples, it passed down cultivation methods. Outer-sect disciples received the standard Five Elements Return-to-Heart Art. Its energy was balanced and gentle, making it easy to cultivate, though its results were unremarkable.
Inner-sect disciples, on the other hand, could apprentice themselves to a master upon joining. With that master’s guidance, they could select a cultivation method better suited to them from the Scripture Pavilion.
Luo Yun might be unreliable in everyday life, but he was a conscientious master. He approached the selection of cultivation methods with great seriousness, asking detailed questions about everything the brothers had learned and even requesting permission to examine their dantians.
Zirong flatly refused. Unfortunately, Xu Ziyan chose that moment to exercise his authority as an elder brother. One merely symbolic wave of his hand was enough to make Zirong yield.
Zirong had no intention of being spanked in front of Luo Bigfoot. He was certain his brother would actually do it.
Unhappily, he allowed Luo Bigfoot to examine his dantian. He was not particularly afraid of what the man might discover, but a cultivator’s dantian was a vital place. Unless there was absolute trust, no one willingly allowed another person’s spiritual power into it.
That was when their strengths were comparable, of course. At Zirong’s current level, Luo Bigfoot could kill him easily without tampering with his dantian, so the open request was arguably straightforward rather than sinister.
Luo Bigfoot watched Zirong’s sullen face with a delighted smile.
He had no idea why one wave of Xu Ziyan’s hand could make Zirong surrender, but discovering a way to frustrate this icy, perpetually impassive child was an immense pleasure.