Chapter 154: Internal storage ring
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——(POV third person)——
"There is no need for you to do that, we are perfectly fine where we are." Li Huang waved his hand dismissively and said.
Li Huang meant every word in that sentence as he wanted to eat something and be on his way, but manager Zhi thought that Li Huang was being sarcastic as this floor was clearly not up to a young master's standards, much less someone of Li Huang's status.
"Please rest assured young master Li, I will see to it personally this instant!" manager Zhi said and started walking after bowing to Li Huang and others.
Li Huang was baffled, he couldn't understand how his words could have the exact opposite effect from what he was going for. It seems that the restaurants are clearly a cursed place in a cultivation world.
"Manager Zhi, there is no need." Li Huang said with a voice that promised pain if one were to disobey. Li Huang used half of the past month to convince grandpa Long to teach him the technique that would have such effects on a person. He wanted to be able to stop someone from doing something or at least make them hesitate a moment as it could be really helpful in a dire situation. Well, deep down he wanted to learn this technique as it was on his bucket list to do something like this at least once, but he wouldn't admit it.
The technique works by relaxing one's muscles for a fraction of a second by injecting Qi into their nervous system, this makes them stop doing whatever they were doing. Of course, if one is strong enough or quick enough to dispel the Qi it would not be effective at all, but manager Zhi was neither strong nor fast enough so he stopped in his tracks.
"Yes, young master Li." Was all he could muster to say as he now understood that Li Huang was angry that he was wasting his time and making them move from floor to floor. Well, he thought he understood.
"Forgive me manager Zhi, it is just that we are comfortable here so there is no reason to change anything." Li Huang said with an apologetic look on his face as he didn't want to seem too aggressive. His words only confirmed manager Zhi's thoughts.
"I understand. At least allow this old man to reserve a room on the top floor for you before you depart from the city." Manager Zhi said and tried to show his sincerity by inviting them to stay here on their last day. As this was the time for the auction, the city was filled with cultivators who have high influence in their circles, so this invitation was showing favor to Li Huang and others.
"Thank you, manager Zhi." Li Huang cupped his fist and said.
Manager Zhi smiled and said his farewells and left them be.
There was only one small thing that he didn't say to Li Huang, he had already sent an employee to check if anyone with a simple background is dining on the top floor and if there is, the employee would offer to give them a good sum of money while paying for their meals so that Li Huang and others could have that room. He just sent another employee to cancel this arrangement as it wasn't necessary anymore.
…
"I'll be honest. I didn't think you could do this." Li Huang said as he was astonished.
"I think it would be fair to say that no one was expecting this." Li Wanrou said and nodded to Li Huang's words, while everyone else was nodding to her words.
"This is the normal amount that I eat when I'm given the chance to do so." Cai ZhenKang who was the center of attention, just shrugged and started his last plate. He did eat ten of each item on the menu and he could still continue. Li Huang always took pride in his appetite but he couldn't imagine doing the same as Cai ZhenKang, even if he was starving for days.
"There has to be an explanation for this." Lai Xinyue said. She was thinking about what could allow Cai ZhenKang to eat this much.
"Like what?" Cai ZhenKang said as he was finishing his last plate. As long as Cai ZhenKang could remember, he could eat this much if he wanted but he didn't know why.
Lai Xinyue looked at her surroundings and just now she understood that she said those words out loud. Seeing that no one was reacting weirdly, she decided to continue.
"It could be that you have eaten a storage ring mistakingly when you were a child…" Lai Xinyue said and Cai ZhenKang almost choked on his food. While he was coughing to clear his throat, Lai Xinyue continued.
"…After you became a Qi practitioner you have unknowingly activated that storage ring each time your stomach was filled to free some space for more food…" Lai Xinyue said while pondering, while doing so she missed how horrified Cai ZhenKang was.
"…You might be using that food after you have digested a portion of the food in your stomach as the storage ring would be filled by now otherwise." Lai Xinyue said her analysis about the situation and no matter how absurd it was, Cai ZhenKang was convinced that this was the case for him.
Cai ZhenKang immediately turned to face Li Huang.
"Huang! Check if I have a storage ring in my stomach! I don't have the heart to check it myself!" Cai ZhenKang said while putting his hands on Li Huang's shoulder.
Li Huang didn't want to banter with Cai ZhenKang so he injected some Qi into his body and checked his stomach. As far as he could check, there was no sign of a storage ring in there. He could even detect some of the earlier dishes that Cai ZhenKang had so there was no way that some of them were stored there.
Li Huang shook his head to put this image out of his mind but he wasn't successful in doing so.
"There was no storage ring." Suppressing an urge to vomit, he said to Cai ZhenKang and then looked at Lai Xinyue "Junior sister, your theory was wrong…" he said and Lai Xinyue nodded to him. She continued thinking about the reason that Cai ZhenKang could eat this much. Cai ZhenKang felt more at ease now that a storage ring wasn't stealing his food but he couldn't shake the feeling of unease completely.
Luckily for Li Huang, he was long done with his meal, or else he wouldn't have any appetite left for food now. He waited a few more seconds and decided that it was a good time for them to get to their lodgings to rest for the night.
"If everyone is ready, let us go back and sleep, we have to get to the auction first thing in the morning." Li Huang said. He had all the intention to get everything even remotely useful for him in this auction.
…
They had to wait a few more minutes as some of them didn't finish their meals as they were distracted by Cai ZhenKang's speed and capacity.
After everyone finished their meals, they started walking toward the lodgings that Li Huang selected for them beforehand. To avoid suspicion about the addition of Li Wanrou and others he reserved a wing of that building so no one could say that they planned to get in the same location with each other. In fact, Li Wanrou and other Li family members had a different place reserved but they 'decided' to stay in this place to be closer to each other.
As they were walking toward their resident for the week, a group of 12 were watching them closely. Well, most of the eyes were focused on Li Huang but others were getting evaluated too.
"Big brother zheng, is it them?" A girl who was on the right side of 'big brother zheng' asked. She was acting like a 15-year-old while looking 20.
"Don't cling to Huizheng like that. The description matches to what we heard." Said another girl to the first one without looking at her. She kept looking at Li Huang and others while she had a hand on her sword's hilt.
The man who was called Huizheng nodded and looked at Li Huang with a smirk.
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