Chapter 63: Chapter 60: Yinuo’s Worthwhile Promise (Seeking Continued Reading) _1
The two of them returned to the cluster of Bloodthirsty Flowers, picked a handful, and went back to the crevice.
With Bloodthirsty Flowers in hand, they shook them gently. A faint sprinkling of pollen fell. As expected, the Blood Armor Lizard showed signs of fear and kept retreating before it ultimately turned and fled.
Easily handled.
They tucked the Bloodthirsty Flowers into their belts and began climbing the crevice.
The crevice ascended at an angle, filled with weeds. It might have been a difficult climb for ordinary people, but for Lu Yan and the girl, it was a breeze.
Having climbed halfway up, they safeguarded the Bloodthirsty Flowers and continued upwards.
A moment later, a glimmer of light shone through. The two held their breaths and quietly observed. After confirming there was no one outside, they finally climbed out.
It was daytime, the sun was shining brightly, and where they were was a hilly area blanketed with weeds and shrubs that hid the crevice on the ground. Even if someone came near, they wouldn’t easily discover it.
Still, they weren’t careless. After exploring the surroundings, they confirmed that they had wholly escaped the encirclement of the two feudal lords and were now over ten miles away from the forbidden area.
Of course, they were still within the boundaries of Changfeng Mountain.
Whoosh!
The girl threw out a small knife, killing a yellow goat. She then swiftly gutted the creature, cleaning it and removing its fur. She proceeded to smear some seasoning onto the goat meat found inside her cauldron.
She lit a fire to roast the goat. A rich aroma quickly filled the air, and Lu Yan’s stomach began to rumble ungraciously.
"Here, for you."
When it was ready, the girl tore off a leg and handed it to Lu Yan.
The golden-colored leg was shiny with fat, with a tantalizing smoky aroma that wafted into Lu Yan’s nose. Lu Yan accepted it and began eating heartily.
When he finished the goat leg, he was shocked to find that the remaining goat meat had all been devoured by the girl, leaving only a pile of white bones.
You should know, this yellow goat weighed over 40 pounds. Lu Yan’s leg was around 10 pounds, so the remaining 30 pounds had all gone into the girl’s stomach.
The girl patted her swollen belly, a satisfied expression on her face.
"She’s a glutton, as I suspected."
Lu Yan muttered to himself.
"To be honest, there’s a favor I need to ask of you."
The girl suddenly spoke, sounding very serious.
"Let me guess, you want me to help you hunt the Blood Armor Lizard?"
"I love dealing with intelligent people. Yes, my cooking skills have reached a bottleneck, and I need to find high-grade ingredients to refine them and enhance my Martial Chef level."
The girl nodded earnestly.
Knowing that Lu Yan wouldn’t agree easily, she continued: "I promise once more, I’m not interested in the Blood Land Vein itself. I’m just curious about the meat of unseen alien beasts. I need some of it to work on my cooking, and the rest is all yours. Besides, whatever Martial Food I create, apart from what I need, you can take the rest."
"I’ll even throw in one last condition; I’ll cook Martial Food for you for free for half a year. How about it?"
A gleam appeared in Lu Yan’s eyes. The last condition was tempting.
There was plenty of alien beast meat available in the Blood Land Vein right now. But without a Martial Chef to convert it into Martial Food, it was useless, no different from a pile of junk.
Sell it off?
As a mere Red-clad Guard, bringing a large quantity of alien beast meat to sell? He’d probably draw the attention of the feudal lords.
"Two years. Cook for me for free for two years."
Lu Yan held up two fingers.
"Two years? You wish. My goal is to travel the world, sample different Martial Foods, find different recipes, and improve my culinary skills. I aim to become the wife of a Martial Chef God in the future. I can’t waste my time here. No."
The girl firmly rejected.
"Then there’s no deal."
Lu Yan shook his head.
"All right, add two months. Eight months."
"A year and a half."
"Nine months..."
After a bit of haggling, they finally settled on the girl cooking for Lu Yan for free for a year.
"I have another condition; teach me your movement technique."
Lu Yan started to push his luck.
"You’re asking for a lot. But unfortunately, my movement technique is top-notch martial arts. It requires the Divine Intent Diagram to master, and I don’t have that with me."
The girl shook her head.
"The Divine Intent Diagram again."
Lu Yan sighed. He had long admired the girl’s movement technique, but since he couldn’t cultivate it, he settled for less, asking, "What about second-rate martial arts? Teach me a few."
"Since the beginning of my martial arts practice, I’ve poured all my energy into top-tier martial arts, without considering the second-tier martial arts."
"Not even a single second-tier martial art?" Lu Yan asked, unwilling to accept this.
The young girl pondered for a moment and then said: "Well, I have practiced a second-tier martial art, but it’s a shovel technique. Do you want to practice it?"
"What shovel technique?"
"This one..."
The girl took off the pan spatula from her back, hit it on the black pot a few times and said, "The technique of using a pot spatula."
"... What a lame martial art, I’d rather die, even though I don’t practice martial arts, I still...."
"Practice!"
In the end, Lu Yan gritted his teeth and spat out a word.
No matter what kind of martial art it is, as long as it’s martial arts, he will practice.
Whether it’s practical or not, the more martial arts he cultivates, the more collateral channels he could open up, the faster he accumulated Qi-blood.
"Good, then I will dictate it to you later, now, follow me to hunt mutated beasts."
The girl waved her hand.
"Going to hunt now, do you think we two can get it done?"
Lu Yan said.
"How would we know if we don’t try it? You still have a trump card to play, it might just work."
The girl said.
"Let’s go in three months. During this period, I also need to cultivate a killing technique. Then, we will have a higher chance of success."
Lu Yan said.
Mutated beasts, with their thick and tough skin and astonishing defense, are hard to hurt by mere punches and kicks.
Lu Yan planned to use this time to fully master the Broken Sky Blade. With the aid of this knife technique, he would stand a better chance of hunting the Blood Armor Lizard.
"That’s good, during this period, it’s also a good opportunity to study the nature of the Blood Armor Lizard’s meat and the depth of its blood toxin, which will make it easier to cook mutated heart meat later."
The girl thought for a while, then nodded in agreement, and quickly added: "Oh, I’m not going to Changfeng City. I’m worried that those two feudal lords would make a fuss if they see me. So, can you help me buy some kitchenware for cooking martial food, such as a specially made stew pot, furnace, and some auxiliary spiritual medicine..."
The girl reeled off a long list of names. Lu Yan had to repeat them three times before he could remember them all.
"Of course, and please also buy some food for me, delicious food."
The girl added again.
Lu Yan silently nodded.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Shen Yinuo, ’Yinuo’ as in ’promising a thousand ounces of gold’. And what’s your name?"
The girl asked.
"Lu Dachuan, ’Dachuan’ as in ’large rivers and mountains’."
Lu Yan didn’t know if the name she gave was her real name, so he just made up one on the spot.
"...."
Then, an awkward silence ensued as they stared at each other.
"What about the money?" Lu Yan reminded.
"What money?" The girl wondered.
"To buy all these things, don’t you need money?"
Lu Yan reminded her again.
The girl’s fair face turned a rare hue of red, she said: "I’ve spent all my money on buying all kinds of food ingredients during my two-year journey. Can you front the money for now? It won’t cost much. I did promise to help you cook martial food."
"Let’s go. We’ll keep in touch."
Feeling helpless, Lu Yan turned around and left. Seeing that she would cook martial food for him later, he’d front the money for now.
Lu Yan didn’t return home directly. Instead, he quietly returned to the outskirts of the forbidden area to take his disguised Red-clad Guard’s clothes that he had previously hidden. After changing into them, he slapped his own shoulder, tearing the outfit, leaving a palm print.
He needed a reason to account for his days of absence.
He activated his Shape-shifting Technique, transformed back into his original appearance, and went back home first to reassure his parents that he was safe before going to the Red-clad Mansion.
Upon his return to the Red-clad Guard, he was immediately summoned by the captain to explain his whereabouts during his absence.
Lu Yan had prepared an excuse in advance. He said that on the rainy night, he spotted someone trying to sneak into the forbidden zone and chased after them. He exchanged blows with them but got hit by a palm and was severely injured. The past few days, he had been hiding in the mountains to heal his injuries and had only returned after he felt a bit better.
After he finished, he showed the captain his injuries.
Seeing Lu Yan, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy that had achieved a second limit-breaking, the captain didn’t suspect anything. So, he told Lu Yan to rest and return to guard the outskirts of the forbidden zone in a few days.
After expressing his gratitude, Lu Yan left the Red-clad Mansion and returned home.
