"Qing Jun, your cooking skills aren't bad!" Chen Ye praised with a smile.
The young girl hastily put down her bowl and chopsticks, a forced smile appearing on her little face.
Her small hands had nowhere to go, and she didn't dare to continue eating.
Chen Ye held his forehead: "Just keep eating, your master just wanted to praise you."
Upon hearing this, the young girl silently let out a breath.
She resumed eating from the porcelain bowl, which was even bigger than her face.
Qing Jun's cooking skills genuinely surprised Chen Ye.
Not good, but not bad either.
But she was just a little girl, and it was remarkable that her first attempt at cooking turned out so well.
Bear in mind, she had little knowledge of cooking, asking Chen Ye for guidance at every step.
"As expected of a future World-Ending Demoness, Qing Jun has been a smart child from a young age."
Chen Ye mused in his heart, gently holding the older girl and constantly feeding her.
Listening to the two girls' light chewing and shallow breathing.
Chen Ye felt an odd sense of reassurance.
The warmth from the young body in his arms reminded him,
that the older girl he was holding was a real, pitifully endearing bundle of black fur.
Not a surreal game data,
nor the Divine Maiden from game animations, looking down coldly upon all living beings.
Today, Qing Jun's appetite seemed smaller than usual,
her little face buried in the large porcelain bowl, eating a few mouthfuls while huffing and puffing.
She quietly climbed down from her chair and went off to wash the kitchen utensils.
"Master, I'm full."
The bundle of black fur suddenly said in a low voice, pursing her lips and refusing to eat any more.
She wasn't used to speaking with Chen Ye,
Even when she was full, she didn't dare speak up.
But if she didn't tell him now, her stomach might burst!
So being hungry was uncomfortable, but being full was uncomfortable too...
All this time, Zhiwei always thought that people could never get truly full.
Chen Ye glanced at the older girl's round belly, putting down his bowl and chopsticks.
Naturally, he took a handkerchief and helped her wipe her small mouth.
As if he were taking care of a little baby...
Zhiwei turned her head uncomfortably, but she could not escape Chen Ye's large hands.
This mealtime was an excruciating ordeal for her, akin to a year passing by.
Once Chen Ye had finished wiping,
The older girl eagerly jumped down from the chair.
She fled into the kitchen to help Qing Jun wash the dishes.
"Hmm? Why does it feel like the older girl is avoiding me? Could it be... I'm not gentle enough?"
Chen Ye frowned.
However, Zhiwei truly was a cold-hearted girl.
After spending days with Qing Jun, he had gradually gotten to know her, able to converse at times.
But with Zhiwei, his relationship made no progress at all.
Chen Ye sometimes even started to doubt if he had identified the right person.
How could such an innocent and lively young girl like Qing Jun be the World-Ending Demoness?
If anything, Zhiwei seemed to have more potential to become one...
Chen Ye shook his head, dismissing the wild thoughts.
"That's something hundreds of years in the future. Perhaps future hardships will turn such a well-behaved child like Qing Jun into a demoness."
"Hmph! No matter how cold-hearted the girl is, my enthusiasm will eventually melt her!"
"Bang bang bang!"
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Strange, who would take the initiative to visit me?"
He put down the bowl he had just picked up, placing a hand on the Bone-Scraping Whip, cautiously approaching the wooden door.
Through the crack in the door, he saw a young female cultivator standing outside.
She looked to be in her early twenties, her features elegant, her expression impatient.
She wore a sky-blue Taoist robe, her chest puffed up.
With a Magic Sword on her back, she also had a Jade Pendant at her waist, engraved with the words Lingyin.
She was an Outer Disciple of the Lingyin Sect!
Chen Ye nervously opened the door,
The female cultivator didn't bother to greet him. She craned her neck to take a few glances inside, and after seeing nothing unusual, she said:
"I am Li Qiuyun, the stationed disciple at Yunxi District, conducting a routine investigation. Recently, two demon cultivators have been on the loose. If you have any information, please report it. Otherwise, you'll be considered an accomplice and be killed without mercy!"
Sweat poured from Chen Ye's palms as he hastily nodded: "Understood!"
"Good to understand. Demon cultivators are dangerous, mad, and easily angered. I urge you to be careful and not go astray!"
Li Qiuyun couldn't be bothered to conduct a thorough check of the Chen Family, casually jotting a few notes in her booklet before rushing to the next house.
Chen Ye stole a glance, noticing the booklet filled with names, some of which were crossed out with red lines.
It should just be a simple census of the loose cultivators in the shantytown.
Watched the stationed disciple leave, Chen Ye closed the door.
"Half-hearted effort, catching a demon cultivator like this would be a miracle. But although this disciple looks young, their cultivation is likely not bad. Otherwise, how would they dare to come to the shantytown alone? Those scoundrels, entranced by lust, won't care if you're a sect disciple."
Chen Ye silently ridiculed, but couldn't help clicking his tongue.
This sect disciple is indeed different, young, pretty, with a nice figure...
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Chen Ye quickly shook his head to dispel the image of the female cultivator's voluptuous bosom from his mind.
A vague heat simmered within his body.
This body, at over forty, was still a virgin. Once his mind awakened, he couldn't ignore the demands of his flesh.
Chen Ye washed his face, locking eyes with the haggard man reflected on the water's surface.
He felt inexplicably irritable, randomly disturbing the reflection.
After doing all this, Chen Ye sat back in his chair, continuing to eat his white rice.
The dry rice tasted like nothing in his mouth.
He picked up a piece of beef.
The beef was cut large, almost as big as Qing Jun's little fist.
Yet in his mouth, it still tasted like chewing wax.
That girl had clearly used a lot of salt...
"Master, who was it just now?" Qing Jun peeked out from the kitchen, her long eyelashes trembling, uneasy.
"They weren't here to buy you, it was a disciple stationed at the market."
Chen Ye took a few random spoons, giving the little girl a blank look, then suddenly said,
"Qing Jun, do you want a Master's wife? Tsk, tsk, tsk, pretend Master didn't say that."
"Oh..."
Qing Jun retracted her head, but seriously pondered in her heart.
If a kind Master's wife came, that wouldn't be bad?
No way, then the kind person would be bullied by Master!
But if an evil Master's wife came, she and her sister would be bullied by two people!
So, better not have a Master's wife!
Zhiwei, washing the dishes, perked up, listening silently.
Hmm...
She kinda wanted a Master's wife, so Chen Ye would be too lazy to feed her!
The black-haired kitten had a flash of annoyance in its eyes, twisting water from the cloth forcefully, scrubbing the pot hard.
She's a little girl!
But not a baby!
Has hands and feet! Doesn't need to be fed!
...
"Warm, full, and lustful thoughts arise, ancient people did not deceive me. Chen Ye, oh Chen Ye, just settled down and already thinking about finding a wife? At least wait until you reach late-stage Qi cultivation..."
"Haven't you been a virgin for over sixty years? Aren't you overreacting!"
Chen Ye returned to the storage room, flipping through the Geng Metal Technique he bought.
Among the five elements, metal is sharp and deadly, primarily for attacking.
Its vigorous ferocity outshines others in the five elements.
And the Geng Metal Technique focuses on cultivating a strand of Geng Metal Qi.
Condensing Qi from Golden Qi, using its sharpness to break all spells.
The first half of the booklet illustrated various weapons transformed from Geng Metal Qi, magnificent in might.
Chen Ye watched with interest, remembering each picture carefully.
But after flipping several pages, his frown deepened.
These were just commonplace drawings, what was the point of memorizing them?
Damn!
Chen Ye finally realized,
These drawings were just fillers, completely useless!
Chen Ye flipped directly to the latter half, finding only a few pages recording the spell instructions, but each word was essential.
He twitched his lips.
No wonder the vendor let him browse the front part's drawings; it was just to trick people with these extra pages...
Unfortunately, he indeed got tricked.
"Qi runs along the lesser yang, the sharpness hides at the hundred meetings..."
He murmured the incantations softly, trying to mobilize the thin spiritual power in his Dantian.
The smoke-like spiritual power condensed, forming a faint golden point.
Just as a hint of joy appeared on Chen Ye's face, his meridians suddenly transmitted a cutting pain as if being sliced, making his hand tremble.
The golden gleam instantly disappeared.
"The Geng Metal Qi is sharp and deadly, hidden in the meridians; one wrong move, and it's easy to hurt oneself."
"Cultivating this is practically self-torture."
In the silent storage room, an oil lamp flickered uncertainly.
Moonlight seeped through the cracks, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in Chen Ye's eyes.