"Fairy, couldn't you have given at least two immortal fruits back then?" Lu Yang could roughly imagine the storm that single immortal fruit had caused.
The longer he spent around the Immortal Fairy, the less Lu Yang knew which reason had led to her being killed—there were simply far too many reasons, and he didn't know which one to pick.
"I already told you, it was to be given to the 'most beautiful' of the demon race. Don't you know there can only be one 'most'?" The Immortal Fairy earnestly gave Lu Yang a little lesson in basic grammar.
Lu Yang fell silent for a long time before replying, "...You make a fair point."
"Right?" With her hands on her hips, the Immortal Fairy beamed with triumph.
"So who did that immortal fruit end up going to?"
"Afterward, I heard Immortal Suiyue say that right at the wedding, the prodigies of the Dragon and Phoenix Clans got into an unresolvable dispute over who should have the fruit, and were about to duel with magical arts."
"Speaking of which, Immortal Kirin was really stingy. He had immortal fruits of his own; wouldn't it have been settled if he just gave one to each of his wives? How did they still end up fighting?"
The Immortal Fairy shook her head. Compared to Immortal Kirin, she had been exceedingly generous to offer an immortal fruit as a gift.
"What happened after that?"
"Later, Immortal Kirin said that fighting at a wedding would be unseemly after all, so they might as well switch to a different contest. As luck would have it, three immortal guests had arrived, so he had Immortal Ying Tian, Immortal Jiuchong, and Immortal Suiyue serve as judges. He excused himself from judging to avoid a two-to-two tie."
"You see? If Immortal Kirin had invited me back then, couldn't all five of us immortals have served as judges? Besides, you know what kind of person I am—fair and impartial. It would have been fine even if I were the sole judge."
"If he thought I was too pretty and worried about me stealing the spotlight from the Dragon and Phoenix prodigies, I could have just worn a veil!" As the foremost of the Ten Great Ancient Beauties, the Immortal Fairy was exceptionally confident in her looks.
Lu Yang thought to himself, *Fairy, please develop some self-awareness. Immortal Kirin obviously took himself out of the running because he didn't want to be a judge.*
"What kind of contest did the Dragon and Phoenix prodigies hold?"
"Cooking."
The Immortal Fairy shook her head in regret. "None of the four—Immortal Kirin and the others—knew that I was the one who had taught cooking to both the Dragon and Phoenix prodigies. Though we lacked the formal title of master and disciple, the reality was there. Their skills were unpolished, having only learned ten or twenty percent of my culinary arts. Even so, it was hard to find a match for them among cultivators at the Tribulation Transcendence stage."
"During the competition, since they were taught by the same master, neither could counter the other's moves. Naturally, it was impossible to tell whose cooking was superior."
"Immortal Suiyue told me that when the three of them tasted the dishes prepared by the Dragon and Phoenix prodigies, they were utterly awestruck—they felt as though the food contained the power of time itself, causing all three of them to rapidly relive their entire lives."
"I humbly told him that I had taught them, though they had only scratched the surface of my craft."
"Immortal Suiyue was silent for a while before saying that the three of them had beaten up Immortal Kirin too early, and that he wasn't the true culprit. When I pressed him on what he meant, he wouldn't say anything more."
Lu Yang cupped his hands to the Immortal Fairy in deep respect.
If an outsider didn't know the Immortal Fairy's personality and merely heard this story, calling her an ancient mastermind would be no exaggeration: without even attending in person, with just a single immortal fruit, she had provoked the prodigies of the Dragon and Phoenix Clans to come to blows, turned the Four Ancient Celestials against one another, and cast Immortal Kirin into a treacherous spot devoid of honor and righteousness.
She had also secretly passed down skills to the prodigies of both clans, lying in wait for an opportunity.
Such intellect could only be described as unfathomable. Anyone facing such a deeply scheming ancient monster would tremble with dread and apprehension.
Yet Lu Yang knew the Immortal Fairy all too well, so he decided to use a different phrase to describe her wisdom—
Great foolishness masquerading as wisdom.
...
"You should know that the Dragon and Phoenix Clans are the proudest races among the demons. Their blood is extraordinarily precious, and for humans, obtaining their blood is as difficult as ascending to heaven. That is why Phoenix Blood Stones are so immensely important."
"Phoenix Blood Stones are not only the specialty of our Luofeng Commandery, but also our pillar industry. The amount of spirit stones earned from selling them each year is astronomical!"
"Phoenix Blood Stone is not only an excellent material for artifact crafting, but when worn on the body as an ornament over a long period, it also has unexpected, marvelous effects."
"I heard my father say that mining Phoenix Blood Stones in Luofeng Commandery has a history of four thousand years, yet the veins still haven't run dry, with a steady stream of stones constantly being excavated."
Li Haoran introduced his hometown's economy while Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou nodded repeatedly, looking like inspecting dignitaries.
"How many spirit stones for this Phoenix Blood Stone?" Meng Jingzhou browsed the shop. Finding them novel, he intended to buy a few for fun.
"Three hundred spirit stones."
"And this one?"
"Four hundred and fifty spirit stones."
Meng Jingzhou continued shaking his head. Such cheap Phoenix Blood Stones were unworthy of his status.
"Bring out the finest Phoenix Blood Stone you have. I'm not short on money," Meng Jingzhou said, carrying himself every bit like a spoiled young master.
Hearing this, the shop owner's eyes lit up. He had hit upon a big customer!
Glancing around and seeing only Meng Jingzhou and his companions in the shop, the owner led them to the backyard. He carefully took down an exquisite wooden box from a shelf and opened it. Resting quietly inside was a pebble-sized, bright red stone, vivid as fresh blood, as though it had been dyed the moment that legendary ancient phoenix drew its last breath.
Even Qin Yanyan could sense the extraordinary nature of this Phoenix Blood Stone.
The shop owner whispered, "A mine collapsed a few days ago, and this was the very last Phoenix Blood Stone hauled out. It took me a tremendous amount of effort to acquire it. Firm price: five hundred thousand spirit stones."
Meng Jingzhou nodded. Now that was more like it. "Give me ten."
To the eldest young master of the Meng Family, five hundred thousand or five million spirit stones were no different from a light drizzle, barely worth mentioning.
The shop owner pulled a bitter face. "Honored customer, it's not that I don't want to sell more, but I truly only have this one."
"Fine, I'll take this one then."
The shop owner was ecstatic. In truth, his price had been somewhat inflated to leave room for bargaining; he had never expected Meng Jingzhou to buy it outright without even trying to haggle.
The owner even threw in several decent-quality Phoenix Blood Stones as gifts, though compared to Meng Jingzhou's, they were far inferior.
Meng Jingzhou knew he could have bargained, but he was always too lazy to haggle when buying things—it was just too troublesome.
He had the shop owner drill a hole in the stone and thread a cord through it.
Meng Jingzhou wore it around his neck, feeling quite pleased with himself.
He felt that since everyone was shopping together, he couldn't be the only one buying Phoenix Blood Stones. He visited several shops in a row, intending to buy each of Lu Yang and the others a stone of comparable quality. Unfortunately, after looking around, none could match his.
Many shop owners asked Meng Jingzhou where he had bought his Phoenix Blood Stone, but Meng Jingzhou didn't tell them.
"How can it be this hard to spend money?"
Li Haoran advised, "Senior Brother Meng, forget it. The phoenix power contained in Phoenix Blood Stones isn't of much use to us. Even for artifact crafting, I don't have the skill to refine a stone of such high quality right now. Even if you bought them, we couldn't use them."
"All right then." Hearing Li Haoran say this, Meng Jingzhou could only give up.
"By the way, what does wearing a Phoenix Blood Stone long-term actually do?" Meng Jingzhou asked, pointing at the stone on his chest.
"It boosts virility."
Chapter 222