27. Are you deranged?

Considering that winter had not yet arrived and there was no northwest wind to drink for sustenance, Jiang Xuan exercised the last vestige of his conscience and chose the shabbiest restaurant in the entire town for their meal.

Cui Huai and the others followed their senior brother, drawing ever closer to the town center. They assumed their master must have been exceptionally generous, providing Jiang Xuan with a significant number of spirit stones; otherwise, how would their senior brother dare to hunt for a restaurant in such a prime location?

When they arrived at the destination, they were all left dumbfounded.

Cui Huai looked at the dilapidated little building teetering before them and asked, "Senior Brother, in such a bustling district, how did you manage to find such a run-down place?"

The Flavor Pavilion, as shabby on the outside as it was on the inside, occupied the best spot on the street—it was directly across from the town’s most famous restaurant, the Fragrant Tea House. Yet, despite such a prime location, the Flavor Pavilion was completely empty. One could only imagine how terrible the food inside must be.

The wealthy and imposing Fu Qin frowned, feeling that even standing within half a step of this place degraded his stature. "Senior Brother, can't we choose a different restaurant?"

The fact that he hadn't embezzled those five spirit stones was already a sign of Jiang Xuan’s great benevolence. With only five spirit stones, he wasn't in a position to be picky. His junior brothers and sisters truly didn't know the cost of everyday living.

For the first time, Jiang Xuan stood his ground and dragged everyone into the shop.

As soon as he stepped into the Flavor Pavilion, Fu Qin immediately activated a Dust-Clearing Spell. Spending a bit of spiritual energy didn't matter; what mattered was insulating himself from the filthy environment. However, the dust didn't disappear—it merely shifted. Cui Huai, standing next to Fu Qin, was caught off guard and hit with a face full of grit.

Sneezing violently, Cui Huai glared at him. Fu Qin prudently deactivated the spell. He decided to endure it for now; after all, he couldn't beat Cui Huai yet, and provoking her rashly would be nothing more than asking for a beating.

Even Cui Huai, who had grown accustomed to a rougher life recently, found the environment hard to bear, let alone Zhao Zhixu and Zhu Yu. Only Jiang Xuan, whose poverty was as consistent inside and out as it was stable, could stomach such hardship.

He called out to the invisible shopkeeper, "Is anyone here? We're here to eat!"

After Jiang Xuan called out a few times, the shopkeeper approached at a leisurely pace. "What will you have?"

The moment she saw the shopkeeper, Cui Huai knew he was no ordinary man; he was a high-level cultivator. He looked both old and young—his face was youthful, yet his demeanor carried the weight of vicissitudes. He was likely a high-level cultivator whose lifespan was nearing its end, yet he remained unable to achieve a breakthrough, as his hands, when holding the menu, already showed signs of age.

Besides Cui Huai, Fu Qin also noticed this. The other three merely saw the shopkeeper as a lazy young man with a bit of cultivation. After all, he had let such a decent establishment fall into such a dirty, chaotic state, clearly having not cleaned it in ages.

At Fu Qin's strong insistence, they moved their table outside the Flavor Pavilion, if only to consume a little less dust. While the junior brothers and sisters were moving the tables and chairs, Jiang Xuan lingered behind, pulling the shopkeeper aside to hand over four spirit stones, asking him to arrange a meal for five.

The shopkeeper arched an eyebrow, his eyes widening slightly, revealing a look that suggested he was not to be trifled with. Four spirit stones? Was he playing a joke on him?

Seeing this, Jiang Xuan painstakingly fished out one more spirit stone—that was everything he had. But the shopkeeper’s brow remained furrowed, so Jiang Xuan had to produce one more, which he had borrowed as a high-interest loan from his junior brother a few days prior.

"That's truly all I have. Please, I beg you, we'll come again next time!" After much pleading, the shopkeeper reluctantly agreed. As he was the only one managing the shop—serving as both the proprietor and the cook—he turned and headed to the kitchen to get to work.

Jiang Xuan felt his heart bleeding, though he comforted himself that he was merely fulfilling his duties as the eldest senior brother; spending a spirit stone on his juniors was only right.

"Senior Brother, what are you standing there for? Come over and sit!" his junior brother Zhu Yu called out.

Jiang Xuan sat down, his face full of gloom. "The spirit stones Master gave weren't enough, and I had to chip in five more. Why don't you all contribute one each to offset my losses?"

Jiang Xuan didn't hesitate; his mouth was faster than his brain, turning his one contributed stone into five. At this critical moment of parting with money, Cui Huai immediately found a like-minded person in Zhu Yu and struck up a conversation: wouldn't the health-strengthening prescription sell better if they lowered the price for a promotion? By rambling about the business blueprint of the prescription, they successfully feigned being very busy. Since they were discussing such "major business," how could they possibly have the mind to involve themselves in the petty matter of a spirit stone or two?

Knowing he couldn't count on them, Jiang Xuan didn't hold much hope anyway and turned his gaze toward the two wealthy members, Fu Qin and Zhao Zhixu.

Zhao Zhixu was the first to be annoyed by his staring. "Stop looking. I'll pay two spirit stones, alright? Look at how pathetic you are."

Fu Qin, however, had a condition. "If you promise never to come to this restaurant again, I'm willing to pay two spirit stones."

Jiang Xuan agreed decisively, happily pulling the four spirit stones toward him. He had paid out one, earned four, and had a surplus of three!

The shopkeeper returned to deliver the first dish and happened to overhear the conversation between Fu Qin and Jiang Xuan. He placed the terrifying, pitch-black food on the table and, with a casual sweep of his hand, tucked the four spirit stones sitting before Jiang Xuan into his sleeve.

"You just said you'd patronize my business again next time, which is why I gave you a forty percent discount. Since you and your senior brother have now stated you won't be returning, it's best if you pay the full price." After saying this, the shopkeeper returned to the kitchen, leaving Jiang Xuan on the verge of tears.

After all that fuss, how was he still losing one stone?

***

When the dishes were all served, no one made a move to pick up their chopsticks. It made perfect sense that the restaurant had no customers; every dish on the table looked like it possessed a high attack power, giving one the distinct impression that eating them would prevent one from living to see the next day.

Cui Huai grumbled to the system in her mind, "I think the lethality of this food might be even stronger than your 'Dragon Overlord' plot."

The System: "..."

In the ensuing silence, Zhu Yu, as a physician, felt confident he could save himself, or if he were truly poisoned, he could extort a sum—or rather, obtain proper compensation. Considering these factors, he held a medicine vial in his left hand and chopsticks in his right, taking the first bite. It looked pitch-black; perhaps it was some kind of meat.

He chewed, then chewed again, and chewed repeatedly. Under the expectant gazes of the others, the piece of meat remained unswallowed. He mumbled, "Aside from being impossible to chew and tasting a bit strange, it shouldn't kill anyone."

The shopkeeper, sitting at the counter and watching the group hesitate, couldn't help but sneer—what a bunch of cowards. He had simply tossed the ingredients into an alchemy furnace to sear them; the furnace cooked quickly, but the high heat just made the presentation a bit poor. How could it possibly kill anyone?

Just as the group was grimly enjoying this "delicacy" that served as a workout for their jaw muscles, a few young cultivators, slightly tipsy, walked out of the Fragrant Tea House across the street.

The leader recognized Jiang Xuan first, looked at the food on their table, and mocked, "Oh, isn't this the eldest disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect? Why are you eating trash here?"

Jiang Xuan, for once, let his face darken. "Watch your tongue. This is not trash; this is a feast specifically to celebrate my junior sister's entry into the Dao."

"Celebrating 'drawing Qi into the body'? Isn't that something that can be accomplished with ease? Truly, your Xiaoyao Sect is full of losers; you celebrate every trivial little thing."

Zhao Zhixu whispered to the others at the table why this person was picking a fight as if his brain had been caught in a door. "They are disciples of the Luoxia Sect. In the past, their sect enslaved mortals, and after our Master reported them to the Immortal Alliance and they were punished, they have held a grudge ever since, coming to pick fights from time to time."

Even knowing the reason, Cui Huai was so angry she laughed. How dare they call her a loser? Was this person afraid of nothing? What did he mean by "accomplishing it with ease"? If he was so capable, why didn't he try it with seven spiritual roots?

The brain-damaged Luoxia Sect disciple continued to provoke them, "Only poor wretches like your sect would come to such a dump of a restaurant."

This remark successfully infuriated Fu Qin. He had already tried to accept the fact that he might have mediocre aptitude in the world of cultivation, but to be called a "poor wretch"? This was intolerable! It was one thing to look down on Cui Huai, who was genuinely poor, but how dare he mock him for having no money!

Another Luoxia Sect disciple standing next to the brain-damaged one swung his fist and charged over. "Why waste words with them? We haven't run into them for a long time. Last time, Jiang Xuan was pinned to the ground and beaten by us. We find them particularly eyesore today—let's just beat this trash into submission!"

Jiang Xuan was not afraid at all; his cultivation had improved significantly, so it was anyone's guess who would win!

Before the two groups clashed, Cui Huai did not forget to remind them, "Be very careful—don't break the tables and chairs!"

Jiang Xuan nodded repeatedly in agreement. If they got hit, they would heal in a few days, but if the furniture broke, they couldn't afford the compensation!