Li Changfeng turned pale. "Grand Elder! Silence!"
"I will expose this charlatan," Elder Yan declared. He strode forward, releasing his aura. The pressure of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator rolled out like a tsunami, kicking up dust and rattling the swords in the ground.
"You there! Shopkeeper!" Elder Yan boomed.
Shen Yu looked up, a piece of Youtiao hanging from his mouth. He frowned.
"We're closed for lunch prep," Shen Yu said muffledly. "Come back in an hour. And stop yelling, you'll wake the dog."
Elder Yan's eye twitched. "You dare dismiss me? Do you know who I am? I am Yan Beitian, the—"
Growl.
The snoring stopped.
Meatball rolled over. It didn't stand up. It just opened one eye.
To Shen Yu, it was a lazy dog waking up.
To Elder Yan, the sky turned black.
In that single open eye, Elder Yan saw a bottomless abyss. He saw a mouth the size of a galaxy devouring stars. He felt a hunger so ancient and terrifying that his Nascent Soul shivered inside his dantian, curling into a ball and screaming.
The pressure Yan Beitian had released didn't just vanish; it was eaten.
H-Holy Beast?! Elder Yan's knees knocked together. No, this is a Calamity Beast! A Beast King of the Ancient Era! And it's guarding the door?!
Meatball let out a huff, scratched its ear with a hind leg, and went back to sleep.
The darkness lifted.
Elder Yan stood frozen, drenched in cold sweat, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
"Grand Elder?" Li Changfeng whispered smugly. "You were saying?"
Elder Yan swallowed hard. His arrogance evaporated instantly, replaced by the survival instinct of a man who had lived 400 years.
"I... I was saying..." Elder Yan's voice trembled, then pitched up into a bright, friendly tone. "I am Yan Beitian, a hungry traveler! I heard the food here is delicious!"
Shen Yu swallowed his Youtiao. "Oh. A customer? Why didn't you say so? I thought you were another debt collector or something."
Shen Yu wiped his hands and stood up. "Take a seat. Menu is on the board. Cash only. No I.O.U.s."
Li Changfeng hurried forward, placing the heavy wooden box on the counter. "Senior! I have returned to pay my debt for the noodles! And to introduce my... uh... younger brother, Yan."
"Younger brother?" Shen Yu looked at the white-bearded old man, then at the middle-aged Li Changfeng. "Genetics are wild here. Anyway, what's in the box? I hope it's not rocks again."
Li Changfeng opened the box.
Inside sat ten bars of Purple Mystic Gold. A material so dense and conductive to spiritual energy that a fingernail-sized piece could cause a war between nations.
Shen Yu picked one up. It was heavy.
"Gold?" Shen Yu bit it. It was hard. "Purple gold? Is this real? Or is it painted lead?"
Li Changfeng sweated. "It is... the purest metal from our sect's mines. To pay for the meal."
"It looks a bit tacky," Shen Yu critiqued honestly. "But gold is gold. I can probably pawn this. Alright, debt cleared. What do you want to eat?"
Elder Yan, still shaking from the dog's glare, looked at the menu.
[Golden Egg Fried Rice - 1 Spirit Stone][Soy Milk & Youtiao Set - 2 Spirit Stones]
Two Spirit Stones? Elder Yan thought. For breakfast? That's robbery.
But then he looked at Su Ling, who was clearing the table. He froze.
He recognized her. The runaway Holy Daughter of the Alchemy Alliance. The one with the "Waste Body" filled with pill poison.
But right now, her skin was glowing like translucent jade. Her aura was pure. The pill poison... was gone.
Impossible, Elder Yan thought. The Alchemy Alliance spent millions trying to cure her. How?
He looked at the empty bowl of soy milk she was holding. He sensed the residual faint aura of the "World Tree" vitality coming from the dregs.
The food, he realized. It's the food.
"I... I will have the Soy Milk Set," Elder Yan stammered.
"Coming right up," Shen Yu said. "Dumpling, get the bowls."
From the back, the massive white puppet stomped out. Its mechanical eyes whirred.
Elder Yan stopped breathing.
The God-Slaying Vajra Puppet. The legendary war machine lost in the Great War. It was holding a stack of ceramic bowls.
"Here," Dumpling buzzed, placing the bowls down with a delicate clink.
Shen Yu ladled the hot soy milk. He placed two crispy Youtiao on a plate.
"Eat up," Shen Yu said casually. "Careful, the milk is hot."
Elder Yan took the bowl with both hands, shaking like a leaf. He wasn't just holding breakfast. He was holding a bowl of liquid destiny, served by a hidden god, guarded by a calamity beast, and cleaned by a war machine.
He took a sip.
The rich, creamy taste filled his mouth.
Boom.
Elder Yan's eyes rolled back. His mind was pulled into a vision. He was floating in a milky white ocean of pure energy. A giant made of golden dough rose from the sea, imparting upon him the "Scripture of the Golden Body."
His aging muscles tightened. His grey hair regained some luster. His life force, dwindling from old age, suddenly spiked.
"Oh my god," Elder Yan moaned aloud.
"Too hot?" Shen Yu asked, leaning on the counter.
"No..." Elder Yan whispered, tears streaming into his beard. "It is... perfect."
He looked at Shen Yu. The young man was boredly checking his fingernails.
He is testing us, Elder Yan realized. He acts mortal to see if we can see through the illusion. He gave me youth in a bowl of bean juice. This is the Dao of Reversal!
Elder Yan kicked Li Changfeng under the table. You idiot, his eyes communicated. You said he was an expert. You didn't say he was the Creator himself!
Li Changfeng smirked while eating his own Youtiao. I told you so.
"Boss Shen," Li Changfeng said respectfully. "My... brother and I were wondering. Do you accept apprentices? Or perhaps, could we perform odd jobs for you?"
Shen Yu looked at the two well-dressed men. One looked like a CEO, the other like a retired professor.
"Odd jobs?" Shen Yu scratched his head. "Well, the roof of the tavern is leaking a bit. And I need someone to chop firewood for the stove. But are you sure? You guys look like you have back problems."
Elder Yan stood up, slamming his chest. "I have the back of a dragon! I will chop the wood!"
"And I will fix the roof!" Li Changfeng declared.
Shen Yu shrugged. "Okay. Free lunch for labor. Tools are in the back."
As the two most powerful cultivators in the region scrambled to grab an axe and a hammer, fighting over who got to work first, Shen Yu sighed.
"Free labor is great," he whispered to Su Ling. "Look at them. City folk wanting the 'rural experience'. They'll quit in an hour."
Su Ling watched the Grand Elder of the Cloud Soaring Sect using a "Heaven-Splitting Axe Technique" to chop a log of firewood.
"I don't think they'll quit, Boss," she said softly.
[Ding! Customer Satisfaction: Overwhelming Awe.][Reward: 100 System Points. New Feature Unlocked: The Alcohol Brewing Vat.]
Shen Yu's eyes lit up. "Alcohol? Finally. Now I can make beer."
He didn't know that the "Alcohol Brewing Vat" was actually the Divine Furnace of the Nine Yangs, capable of brewing liquified time.
"Today is a good day," Shen Yu smiled.
Outside, in the shadows of the sword grave, a blood-red bat watched the scene, its eyes fixed on Su Ling.
It screeched silently and flew away, heading toward the Blood Puppet Sect.
Trouble was coming. But for now, there was soy milk.