Chapter 54

Inside the steaming private room, the chef was slicing meat with great speed, and the six people at the table were devouring the meat just as quickly.

With a clatter, another stack of plates was emptied.

The six pairs of eyes eagerly watched the chef behind the chopping board.

The chef looked up and almost laughed in frustration.

What kind of well-bred sect raised a group that could devour food as if it were a whirlwind?

Had they been starving for three years before coming down the mountain?

Ni Jinxuan looked out at the ice lanterns on the street, her face full of admiration. “They’re so exquisite.”

Lin Du suddenly spoke up. “Do you want one?”

Ni Jinxuan whispered, “How about we go down and buy one? The meat hasn’t arrived yet anyway.”

The chef’s pace in slicing meat suddenly quickened.

Lin Du smiled. “What kind do you want?”

Ni Jinxuan tilted her head. “As long as it’s more delicate than the snowman Big Senior Brother made.”

Lin Du smirked. That snowman made with a shovel was like a small mountain—how delicate could it be?

The spirit power that had been sealed for nearly half a month suddenly dissipated. The steaming mist from the copper pot continued to spread, but the warm room quickly grew colder.

The chef couldn’t help but look up, wondering if someone had opened the doors or windows.

But the windows were still tightly sealed.

A freezing sound began to fill the room.

Crackling…

The mist from the copper pot surged out but quickly vanished as if something had moved it away.

A swirling white spiritual light hovered in front of Lin Du. Her expression was serious and focused, as if she was preparing something.

The cold in the room made the chef shiver. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a “Done.”

He turned his head, and a young disciple in green robes casually extended her hand. The white spiritual light gradually faded, revealing a crystal-clear ice rabbit in her palm. Though its lines were simple, it was vivid and cute, with a round night pearl embedded in its center.

Lin Du casually took a peach branch and red string to tie the ice lantern. “Here.”

Despite her young age, she handed the exquisitely crafted red and white ice lantern to the young girl with a gentle, child-like manner.

Ni Jinxuan received it, her apricot eyes shining with delight, her apple cheeks almost glowing with joy.

Yuan Ye jumped up, “I want one too! Junior Master Uncle, I want one too!”

Lin Du waved her hand dismissively. “You can have one, but you’ll have to wait a moment.”

Yuan Ye was about to throw a tantrum when he saw Lin Du quickly walk to the inner room.

“I need to advance a level first.”

With the spirit power sealed for half a month, as soon as she started using it, the barrier at the late stage of the Qin Xin Realm began to break.

She quickly set up a spirit gathering array and, to avoid causing a disturbance in the restaurant, placed a pile of spirit stones around herself like a small mountain.

Advancing to the Great Perfection stage would not take long.

The chef took a deep breath, feeling that this trip was worth it.

Seeing six people eat the equivalent of sixty people’s worth of meat, and watching a young disciple from the Supreme Sect advance in cultivation, made the trip truly worthwhile.

From now on, he would never find anything too outrageous.

Lin Du’s advancement was indeed swift. After swallowing the last Qi-nourishing and depression-relieving pill, her lungs were completely unblocked. The spirit power flowed into her body like a dam breaking, rushing through her meridians like a flood.

After the front group had eaten twenty plates of meat, Lin Du had already reached Great Perfection. The spirit stones in front of her had lost all their spiritual energy, becoming ordinary gravel, dull and gray.

The surroundings were silent. Lin Du’s spiritual sense extended outward but touched a barrier.

She sensed something was wrong, opened her eyes, quickly summoned the Floating Life Fan, and stood up. “Who is it?”

Someone dared to act against her in Dingjiu City—were they tired of living?

In the sudden silence, a clear, shallow male voice spoke up, “Just passing by. Didn’t your master teach you to set up a defensive array when advancing in the outside world? Otherwise… what if there are bad people?”

“You think your master is useless. Have you considered switching to another?”

In an instant, Lin Du recognized who it was: a voice as sweet as a romantic confession, dripping with sarcasm.

“Wei Zhi? What are you doing in Dingjiu City?”

The person sighed, “I really was just passing by. But since you called me, I had no choice but to show up.”

“Your sect has recently issued a kill order for the silver-masked white-robed individuals, right? Just as you were advancing and creating spiritual fluctuations, I happened to catch a small thief.”

Space slightly rippled, and the person who had been hidden in the barrier suddenly became visible.

Lin Du instantly grasped the Floating Life Fan at her waist as she turned her gaze toward the spatial distortion.

The Buddhist cultivator was wearing a bamboo hat today, seemingly to avoid the snow. His plain sea-green monk robes were extremely modest. The brim of his hat was pulled low, only revealing the lower half of his narrow, lean face. He looked far more presentable than when Lin Du first saw him in his ornate cloud-patterned cassock, now exuding an aura of purity akin to a dusty old Buddhist lamp.

What concerned Lin Du even more was that there was another person with the Buddhist cultivator.

This person wore a silver mask and a moonlit robe, with two curved blades strapped to his back. However, at the moment, his throat was seemingly casually held by Wei Zhi, and from the bulging veins and the struggling hands and feet, it was clear he was on the brink of death.

Lin Du detected the faint scent of wind and snow on Wei Zhi.

He had just arrived, but the masked man had not.

Lin Du was unsure which was more dangerous at the moment and was about to pull out her disciple token to call for help.

“Don’t call anyone. I’m a good person.”

“Bad people always say they’re good.”

Wei Zhi continued to restrain the masked man, effortlessly holding his neck with one hand while the other hand lightly removed one of the curved blades from the man’s back. The blade, clearly a top-grade spiritual artifact, snapped like an ordinary chopstick with just a bit of pressure from Wei Zhi’s knuckles.

Lin Du tensed up, her gaze shifting to the potential gaps in the barrier she could use.

“You haven’t changed your habit of scaring children all day.”

“Do you have to make everyone dislike you to ruin the reputation of Buddhism?”

A dispassionate, indifferent voice entered the barrier set by Wei Zhi, followed by the unique aroma of alcohol from someone who was clearly drunk.

Wei Zhi broke the masked man’s two curved blades, and with his bamboo hat covering half his face, it was hard to discern his expression.

But Lin Du clearly sensed something odd in the tone of that voice, and the aura of the sea-green monk robe wearer became even more intense.

She looked toward the person who had easily entered the barrier of the top combatants in Buddhism.

This person wore an oversized deep purple robe embroidered with sun, moon, and stars. His hair was messily tied up, with stray hairs hanging over his forehead and the back of his head. Despite his prestigious appearance, he was less meticulous than Lin Du, holding a wine jug with a drunken, indifferent look in his eyes.

At the same time, the system, which had been silent, finally reacted.

[Host, this is the ultimate romantic fool you’ve never met. The master from the script who selflessly sacrificed the Heaven of Heaven for his lover after three thousand years. Your master’s eldest senior sister, the previous Sect Master, and now the number one on the Chongxiao Ranking, Immortal Lin Tuan.]