The case of the Grimoire of Heaven came and went, and things went back to normal for Zhang Long and his squad.
Or so it seemed.
The squad had run into a bout of good luck with all of them getting a chance to use the Grimoire of Heaven, and it looked like the universe wanted to balance out this gift of good fortune by sending a tribulation their way.
Not that Zhang Long was expecting a tribulation the day that it came.
It was a day like any other, after all. They had finished their allocated duties early in the morning and had the rest of the day off, which was nice.
There was a knock at the door of their shared living space, and when Zhang Long opened the door, he almost immediately burst into a cold sweat.
It took every ounce of self-restraint in his body to not slam the door shut in the visitor's face.
"Ah - Jin Zhen! What a surprise!" Zhang Long said. Normally, he would be quite excited to see his fiancé - but the thing was that if Jin Zhen had traveled all the way here, it was probably for a specific reason.
And he had nasty feeling in his stomach regarding what that reason was.
"Well, I had to surprise you," Jin Zhen said, looking slightly annoyed. "You won't ever tell me when all of you are free - so I decided to drop by!" She then peered into the room. "Look! Chen Yu and Yin Tiang are right here!"
"That's uh, that's right but uh - ah! Tang Ze is still out," Zhang Long said, hoping that this would convince her to give up and come back another day. Preferably never.
Only she didn't. She looked slightly disappointed, but was still resolute in her goal. Zhang Long began racking his brain, thinking of a way out of this predicament.
This wasn't about what he had seen while using the Grimoire of Heaven - no, he knew that the real Jin Zhen wasn't like that.
This was about regarding else entirely - what they had been discussing when he had gone to visit her during his earlier solo mission to collect taxes from the village.
A topic that he had hoped she would forget about, though clearly that hadn't happened.
"Hello!" Chen Yu said, seeing that Jin Zhen had dropped by. "Didn't expect to see you here today!" Yin Tiang also stopped whatever concoction he was working to wave towards her.
"Well, this person-" Jin Zhen said, pointing at her fiancé, "-won't tell me when all of you are free so that I can drop by after telling you all when I'll be here." She held up a small basket with ingredients. "I've been wanting to cook up something for all of you!"
"Ah great," Chen Yu said. He had been thinking of going down to the mess for lunch, but this no doubt was going to be far better. Given the slop they served them in the mess hall, Jin Zhen's cooking could only be an upgrade, or so he figured.
"Yeah, why have you been hogging her cooking all for yourself, chief?" Yin Tiang asked.
The two of them were smiling, but Zhang Long had a blank expression on his face as he was screaming internally.
This was… this was close to the worst possible outcome that he could've imagined!
He felt his heart racing in his chest, and his windpipe tightening - but he couldn't see any way out of this! Like a mouse caught in a trap watching as a cat slowly approached, he could only wait and watch as certain doom came ever closer.
Was there truly no way out of this?
He hadn't felt this scared even when facing those manticores back in the secret realm he'd found.
"Um, Jin Zhen, I had uh - official sect business to discuss with them, so you can get started while I have a word with them outside," Zhang Long said, motioning with his head for his two compatriots to join him in the hall.
Jin Zhen obliged and walked in, immediately setting things up, as Zhang Long practically dragged Yin Tiang and Chen Yu out and only spoke in a low voice once they were out of sight and earshot of his fiancé.
"Yo, what gives?" Chen Yu asked. "You're behaving like you saw a ghost."
"Yeah, what's going on?" Yin Tiang asked. Their leader's strange behavior did not go unnoticed by either of them.
"I need the two of you to understand something," Zhang Long said. The words seemed to burn his tongue even as he spoke them. "Jin Zhen… is a horrible cook."
"Is… that all?" Chen Yu asked.
"You don't understand," Zhang Long said, giving the two of them a 'thousand yard stare' one would usually only see from military veterans who were experiencing periods of shell shock. "She isn't just bad. What she makes is basically poison. And I mean that literally - her parents never let her cook, and they usually urge me to never eat what she makes. But, she's my fiancé and I can't really say that to her face, and I can't always say 'no' when she wants to make me something. She's been wanting to make something for all of us… but I wanted to shield you guys from what I have had to endure. It's too late for me - but you guys can still save yourselves. Pretend you suddenly remembered that you have to do something urgent, and I'll eat whatever she makes on my own."
For the sake of his friends, Zhang Long was more than willing to martyr himself.
Chen Yu and Yin Tiang exchanged glances, and then laughed.
"Ah, don't you think you're exaggerating a little?"
"Yeah it can't possibly be that bad."
"No you guys don't understand-" Zhang Long began, seeing that they were not appreciating the gravity of the situation.
"No worries, we won't say anything mean to your fiancé."
"Yeah, that's a promise. Plus, how bad can it possibly be? The food in the mess looks like an alchemical mixture in the process of being refined half of the time. Tastes like one occasionally too."
The two of them walked back in, Zhang Long being unable to continue telling them what kind of minefield they were willingly stepping into.
He shook his head - there was nothing he could do for these two poor souls now.
If there was a silver lining to this, it was that at least, Tang Ze was going to be spared their fate.
While they were waiting for Jin Zhen to finish, a gentle aroma began to fill the room.
"This smells great," Yin Tiang whispered to Chen Yu.
"Yeah, I bet Zhang Long just wanted to hog all of it for himself," Chen Yu said.
Zhang Long, meanwhile, had the face of a prisoner soon awaiting execution.
How could he explain to these two that Jin Zhen's cooking looked and smelled normal most of the time, it was only once you ate it that you realized how bad it was!?
"So, where is Tang Ze right now?" Jin Zhen asked while setting up the plates. "Is he playing dress-up somewhere?" Jin Zhen had been told by Tang Ze that his costumes gave him strength - but she honestly thought that was just a placebo effect and that Tang Ze was strong as is without his costumes.
"Nah, he's getting extra martial arts lessons," Yin Tiang said. "Elder He Xuan authorized him to get special tutoring after he helped-" he suddenly paused, remembering that they weren't supposed to talk about the incident when the Grimoire of Heaven had been stolen to outsiders, "-with something."
"Wow, he really works hard, doesn't he? Practicing even during his time off?"
Meanwhile, With Tang Ze
The martial arts instructor glared at Tang Ze.
The two of them were in a difficult spot - given that Tang Ze was sure the guy was secretly terrified of his strength on some level, but also saw serious potential within Tang Ze. Tang Ze knew this, and the martial arts instructor also knew that Tang Ze knew this.
That was where the awkwardness came from. This was their first one-on-one lesson, after all.
"Alright, it's time for your real training to begin," the martial arts instructor finally said, breaking the ice.
"Yes! I'm ready!" Tang Ze said, happy on some level to at least be doing something he was relatively good at.
"Now, to train properly, you need to do a few things. First off, follow my strict training regimen and wake up early every day to jog - hey wait! Junior! Where do you think you're going?! Come back here, the lesson's just started."
And Back To The Squad
"Yeah, he's a hard worker," Zhang Long said, sorely wishing that all of them could somehow join him in his lesson right now.
But, nothing of the sort was possible. Zhang Long had hoped secretly that there would be some kind of sect emergency and they would then have an excuse to leave.
Unfortunately, things were calm and quiet right now.
In other words, no one came to save them. They had no choice but to endure this tribulation.
Lunch was served, and Jin Zhen clapped her hands and said, "Dig in!"
"Ah, it looks and smells amazing," Yin Tiang said, and Chen Yu though the same. Both of them were now completely convinced that Zhang Long had been pranking them in some way earlier.
However, the moment that they put a small amount of the food in their mouths, their expressions froze.
What was this?!
The food looked normal.
It smelled normal.
How could it possibly taste this bad?
It was even worse when it went into their stomachs, which seemed to instantly want to reject what they had eaten. 'Is… is this just my mind playing tricks on me?' Chen Yu wondered as he took another bite and then his entire body shuddered as if he was having a seizure.
No! It really was this bad.
Yin Tiang also tried another bite. He had once accidentally inhaled some noxious fumes while working on an experiment, and had been sick for two days thereafter.
Right now, he felt sicker than he had during that time.
And then the two of them, despite themselves, took a third bite.
"So, how is it?" Jin Zhen asked expectantly.
'You utter monster! This thing is the worst meal I've ever had! I think I'm going to end up a cripple after eating this! Jin Zhen, everyone knows that you aren't very pretty - the least you could do as a soon-to-be wife is to be somewhat good at this kind of stuff!'- this is what Chen Yu thought, but he couldn't say these words, no matter how much he wanted to scream them at the top of his lungs. For the sake of his friendship, and his friend's love, he had to swallow his anger - which was even harder somehow than swallowing the food, and said, "Sister Jin Zhen, your hands seem to be magical." The magic of a demoness, maybe. "I've never tasted anything like this before in my entire life."
"Oh, you're just flattering me!" Jin Zhen said, a light blush on her cheek.
"No, those words truly are sincere and come from the bottom of my heart," Chen Yu said. They really were, just not in the way that Jin Zhen was thinking!