As a top-tier clan on the Central Continent with a hundred-thousand-year history, the Meng Family possessed excellent breeding. As the eldest son of the main line, Meng Jingzhou carried himself with uncommon poise and naturally would not hold a grudge against Li Haoran over a trivial matter.
Looking at Li Haoran, Meng Jingzhou said faintly, "Next time something boosts virility, could you mention it earlier?"
Li Haoran gave an "oh," as if suddenly remembering something, and added, "Master told me that soaking in magma long-term also boosts virility. That was one of my motivations for persevering. Turns out the results are indeed pretty good."
"...Can we skip the virility topic?"
"All right."
By the time Lu Yang's group returned to the Li residence, Mother Li had already prepared a sumptuous dinner waiting for everyone.
After all, they couldn't have Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, two guests, cooking every day.
Meng Jingzhou had bought a whole pile of things—basically, if he hadn't seen it before, he bought one of it.
Setting aside whether it was useful, the novelty was what mattered.
Of course, Meng Jingzhou refrained from buying things that insulted one's intelligence—such as "all-natural spiritual energy" that supposedly had a four-thousand-year history, hailed from the same era as the ancient phoenix, and had witnessed the entire process of the phoenix's fall.
Lu Yang bought an exquisitely crafted phoenix pendant, tied it together with his identity jade plaque, and fastened it at his waist.
Qin Yanyan bought a crate of bamboo juice; while eating barbecue the previous night, she had found the local Luofeng Commandery specialty to be quite good.
Su Yiren bought nothing at all. As a cultivator at the Body Integration stage, there was nothing in Luofeng Commandery worth her buying, unless it was the corpse of the ancient phoenix.
"Mom, you actually have this kind of cooking skill?" Staring at the table brimming with dishes, Li Haoran was dumbfounded. In his memory, his mother had never been able to make this much delicious food.
Mother Li smiled. "I just learned. While you were away, having nothing to do was boring anyway, so I figured I might as well learn something."
Father Li chimed in, "Your mom just learned how to buy dishes from the Old Restaurant."
Mother Li glared at Father Li.
Li Haoran: "..."
Needless to say, the culinary skill of the Old Restaurant was superb. Century-old establishments, which Lu Yang had rarely seen in his previous life, were everywhere on the Central Continent.
However, a century was nowhere near enough to qualify as an old shop; claiming that title required at least five hundred years.
The Old Restaurant was a millennium-old establishment. Batch after batch of staff had come and gone, yet the shop owner had never changed once over those thousand years, ensuring from the very root that the flavor would never be lost.
The oldest thing in the Old Restaurant was neither the recipes nor the furniture, but the shop owner himself.
*What, you say this doesn't taste like what you ate here as a child? The food you ate as a child was cooked by me!*
After dinner, Lu Yang consulted Su Yiren about matters regarding Core Formation.
"Core Formation?" Su Yiren had not expected Lu Yang to ask her about this. Hadn't Haoran said he was the fourth disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect's Sect Master? Why didn't he ask the Sect Master directly?
Though both were at the Body Integration stage, the Sect Master of the Dao Seeking Sect was on an entirely different level of prestige.
In front of an outsider, Lu Yang couldn't very well admit that his master was an old scoundrel who went out storytelling pingshu every day and hardly taught him a few days in total.
"Master carries the world in his heart, so he has no time to look after me."
"I see." Su Yiren nodded, buying Lu Yang's explanation.
To the side, Meng Jingzhou rolled his eyes.
Meng Jingzhou and Li Haoran were also in the room, listening to Su Yiren explain the intricacies of Core Formation.
Li Haoran was currently only at early Foundation Establishment, but it didn't matter; knowledge of Core Formation would come in handy sooner or later.
"In my view, the most crucial aspect of Core Formation is destiny and epiphany," Su Yiren said. "My talent was ordinary, and my greatest wish was merely to form a second-grade Golden Core—that was already the best scenario I could imagine.
"To form a second-grade Golden Core, I tried every possible way to gain insight: venturing deep into mountain forests to fight demon beasts, sitting on boulders letting waterfalls crash over me, observing the myriad states of humanity to comprehend the mortal realm... All of those attempts, without exception, ended in failure.
"One day, after finishing my cultivation, I lay by the edge of a cliff gazing at the star-studded sky, feeling extraordinarily tiny.
"Right at that moment, an indescribable comprehension welled up in my heart. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I gathered my qi and condensed my core. The core turned out full and lustrous—it was a first-grade Golden Core.
"When I stopped deliberately chasing it, the insight came to me instead. I have exchanged experiences with several fellow daoists, and two of them had situations similar to mine."
Having gained some insight, Lu Yang thanked Su Yiren.
...
In the darkness of the night, Lu Yang opened his eyes, unsure what hour of the night it was.
"Awake? I was just about to call you," the Immortal Fairy said, unperturbed by Lu Yang waking up.
Lu Yang frowned. In his sleep, he had sensed someone sneaking into Li Haoran's house.
What was their goal?
"Two of them, middle Golden Core stage," the Immortal Fairy informed him of their situation.
Lu Yang was puzzled. Father and Mother Li were only at the Foundation Establishment stage and had modest financial means. Was there anything in Li Haoran's house that could attract cultivators at the Golden Core stage?
Could it be the Phoenix Blood Stone Meng Jingzhou bought?
Lu Yang was not worried about danger; even if Su Yiren did not intervene, he and Meng Jingzhou were more than enough to handle these two uninvited guests.
"Young Master Lu, Young Master Meng, are you awake?" Su Yiren's voice echoed in Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's minds.
Li Haoran and Qin Yanyan were still inexperienced, lacking the vigilance of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.
"Just woke up," Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou replied. "Senior Su, what is the situation?"
Su Yiren shook her head. "I don't know much. I only know that two middle Golden Core cultivators crept into the house, acting stealthily. Their purpose is unclear. My intuition tells me someone is behind them. I want to capture them, but I'm worried about alerting the snake in the grass."
"That's easy to handle. Senior Su, you just need to hold the line in the background." Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou quickly came up with a plan.
Under Su Yiren's curious gaze, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou changed into night clothes with practiced ease and quietly stepped out of the room.
The two Golden Core cultivators were evidently searching for something, but they dared not use their divine sense for fear of being detected.
They had heard this family produced a genius who was a disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect. Unless necessary, they could not let the Dao Seeking Sect learn of their actions.
They assumed their movements were covert, completely unaware that several pairs of eyes were already fixed on them.
Suddenly feeling a prickle of danger approaching, the two snapped to attention and dodged abruptly, evading Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's strike.
"To think you could dodge that strike—not bad at all," Lu Yang sneered, transmitting his voice via divine sense.
"Who are you! What are you doing in the Li family's house!" the two Golden Core cultivators retorted.
"Heh, asking what you already know. Since we crossed paths at the Li residence, what else could it be for? Naturally, to search for that item!" Meng Jingzhou smiled carelessly, as though mocking the foolishness of their question. "As for who we are, who else do you think would know about this?"
The two Golden Core cultivators' eyes went wide. "How did you find out!"
"No wall in this world is completely windproof; what eternal secrets could there be? What ought to be known, we will find out no matter how you hide it," Lu Yang smiled. "Did you really think you were the only ones keeping an eye on that item?"
"Damn it, how does the Mo Family know about the Phoenix Blood Stone!" The two Golden Core cultivators quickly deduced Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's identities.
It had to be the rival Mo Family!
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou exchanged a glance. It really was triggered by the Phoenix Blood Stone they had bought.
Realizing their operation was compromised, the two Golden Core cultivators didn't linger after a brief exchange of blows, seizing a chance to flee.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou gave chase with all their might, unable to keep up with the two Golden Core cultivators' pace, looking rather exasperated.
Seeing that they had shaken off Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, the two Golden Core cultivators hurried back to report the situation.
"Senior Su, if we follow them, we'll find out who is pulling the strings," Lu Yang said, quickening his pace to tail the two Golden Core cultivators in secret.
Su Yiren wore an odd expression. *Why are you two so well-practiced at this kind of thing?*
Chapter 223