'What a pig.' Lihua scowled at Junjie's actions. He had devoured nearly an entire roast by himself and showed no signs of slowing down. She had understood he was hungry, but could he have truly been that hungry? Certainly not.
Although Lihua refused to acknowledge it, even mentally, when she had first awakened, she had eaten so much she nearly put her mother into debt.
Ignoring the glare from across the table, Junjie followed Xingjuan's advice and ate to his heart's content. Each dish was just as good as the last, or so he thought. He probably thought that way because he was indiscriminately stuffing all kinds of food straight into his maw, which blended the flavour a bit. If he hadn't been so malnourished, he probably would have taken the time to enjoy each unique flavour and aroma, as he typically does.
Xingjuan observed the two. Her daughter who was staring at Junjie, and the man in question eating without a care in the world. They were quite an unforgettable couple; their characters were very contrasted to one another, yet they didn't seem to hate each other.
'You know what they always say, opposites always... never mind. I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet!'
In the middle of stuffing all of that food into his face, Junjie suddenly paused and asked,
"So does awakening actually provide any other benefit aside from physical enhancement? It surely would if these magical veins in my body decided to start working, right?"
Xingjuan paused for a moment before looking to Lihua, her face slightly skewed. Lihua paused eating for a moment to answer his question.
"You also gain a source element. It's any kind of element that your body is most comfortable in, giving a nice boost to cultivation and body tempering speed."
'Seriously?'
What a boon! If Junjie could immediately start training in such an environment, he'd feel comfortable, and his body cultivation would progress faster? What isn't there to love about that! The prospect excited him, to say the least.
"You are lucky; if we were in my source element, I would have put you down easily."
"No, no. You can't recover your reputation now. I beat you fair and square." A taunting smirk painted Junjie's face. He was still so incredibly proud of himself. It wasn't every day that a mundane person beat a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"Shut it, bastard." She would probably take a bit of time to process the fact that she lost to a complete combat beginner.
Junjie stared at her eating for a moment before returning to his own portion.
After everyone finished their respective portions and exchanged pleasantries, they returned to their rooms.
Junjie sat in bed awake. He wasn't tired after his voyage through dreams over the past three days, so he opted to ponder instead. The time he'd spent here with the Xu family felt like a fever dream. Everything seemed so perfectly in place that it had honestly spooked him.
His connection to this place and these people felt so ethereal, yet they had already taken root in his heart. Perhaps it was because they were the first he had come across, so they were technically the best people he had ever met but also the worst at the same time. He loved them regardless; irrespective of whether he had ever met anyone else, his intuition told him they were good people.
Past that was the constant gloom that would dwell in the back of his mind. He had felt hopeless and had given up on even wondering where he had come from. He had explored the bamboo forest a number of times, but that yielded no promising results. He'd hit a dead end.
The only path forward was either acceptance or eternal lament.
'I can't exactly brood about this forever; it'll affect my cultivation later on or something along those lines.' Xingjuan once told him that a turbulent mind would lead to a turbulent foundation, which could one day lead to a total cultivation base collapse.
He audibly sighed. Who thought beautiful people actually had to deal with problems too? How absurd! Had he not already been cursed by the heavens with this irresistible face, which will surely cause chaos in the future?
Though not all was glum inside of his mind, he was excited too. For example, he was excited to find out what his source element was. He was also proud of himself for finally becoming a real cultivator, not just a tempered young man.
He would dwell on these topics for so long that, by the time Junjie went to bed, it was already well into the night when the other two inhabitants had long gone to sleep.
---
The next morning was distinctly different. The mood at the table had taken a strange turn. Xingjuan wasn't as chatty as usual, and Lihua wasn't as moody either. Instead, both of the girls seemed deep in thought. It was clear they had been chatting about something before Junjie woke up, but he couldn't really think about what it could be. Hoping to dispel this strange mood, Junjie tried asking Lihua,
"So are we going to go train after breakfast or—"
Her reply was immediate.
"No."
'Oh boy, what'd I do this time?'
Now Junjie had that same thoughtful look on his face. What had he done wrong, if anything? It must be pretty bad if even Xingjuan was silent, but he really couldn't think of anything.
'Am I stupid?'
The look on his face twisted into a blank stare. He was now doubting his own intelligence merely from their silence.
The mother and daughter exchanged glances before Xingjuan suddenly spoke up.
"Alright, it's settled then."
"What exactly is settled?"
"We're going to go find out what your source element is." She had a smile on her face while speaking, which starkly contrasted the harsh thoughtfulness that had encompassed it before.
More importantly, that was it!? That was what this was all about? Something as simple as a source element. But something peculiar stuck out to Junjie. Xingjuan hadn't said, 'I'm going to check,' but rather, 'We're going to go get your source element checked.' Was she implying that they were seeking external help to discover it?
"Judging by the look on your face, I assume you've figured it out by now. Hey Junjie, are you ready to meet some new faces?"
'Huh?'