Chapter 379: 377, Really Fragrant (4/4) Extra Update
"What’s that smell so good?" Long Ke said, twitching her nose as if trying to catch every unusual scent in the air before her eyes shifted to the stove.
Huai Ye turned his head and immediately responded, "Oh... that’s the food. Zhao Keqing, why not sit down and have some?"
"Alright."
Long Ke nodded.
To be honest, she was originally cultivating, but the alluring aroma stirred up her hunger. It’s known that hunger in the stomach is the most distracting feeling during cultivation, even harder to suppress than pain.
Especially when that fragrance lingered, tempting her hunger several times as if a mischievous child waved a drumstick in front of her whenever she felt hungry.
Helpless, she could only follow the aroma.
Unexpectedly, this small Sect had such a skilled cook—the scent from one pot of food surpassed that of Spiritual Cuisine.
"Zhao Keqing, please head upstairs."
Yun Liao came up and gestured for her to follow.
Long Ke nodded and then went to the second floor.
But once she reached the second floor, she didn’t know where to sit, as all the chairs were arranged around a round table.
As a Guest Minister, where should she sit?
Yun Liao quickly spoke up, "Zhao Keqing, sit wherever you like. The spot by the window is the Sect Leader’s. You can just sit next to him."
"Is this how you all dine?"
A table, with a dozen chairs.
It felt like a family reunion meal.
Could it be that disciples and elders and the Sect Leader all dine at the same table?
"The Sect Leader says that at meal times, there’s no distinction between elders and disciples; everyone sits together like a family, making meals lively," Yun Liao explained, clearly understanding that she wouldn’t comprehend this rule.
It’s quite something, even in a small family, the Patriarch and elders dine separately.
Let alone in a Sect.
Long Ke remained silent, unsure if she should take a seat.
"Why is everyone standing?" At this moment, Wen Ping came up the stairs, glancing around at everyone.
"Zhao Keqing hasn’t sat down yet..." Yun Liao answered.
"Let’s all sit, no need for such pretense." Saying this, Wen Ping sat directly by the window and then looked at Long Ke, "Zhao Keqing, take a seat. Our Sect doesn’t have all these formalities when dining, the livelier, the better."
"This brat." Long Ke silently cursed Wen Ping in her heart, truly like a newborn calf unaware of the world. The Sect Leader is exalted, how could he be so close to disciples, dining together at the same table?
In daily interactions, you can be approachable.
But during meals, the Sect Leader should be where he is supposed to be.
How can he maintain the dignity of a Sect Leader like this?
Does he intend for the Sect Leader to be friends with all disciples?
He wants her, Long Ke, to sit here and eat?
Dream on!
Even if she, Long Ke, starved, she wouldn’t lower her status to sit here and eat.
"The food’s coming." Just as Long Ke was about to speak a few words, Huai Ye and Yang Lele arrived with the dishes.
The dishes were a feast for the senses: colorful, aromatic, and flavorful.
The rice was a glistening red, like dyed White Crystal.
And when the aroma from the rice reached the nostrils, one’s entire being became restless, and the Spirit Body turned into a "big mouth," continuously gulping down the fragrance.
"Sect Leader, this is..."
Everyone was startled as they looked at the rice.
Wen Ping answered, "This is the new Spirit Rice. You can call it Red Rice."
As Huai Ye handed him a bowl, Wen Ping took a bite and continued, "It’s even better-tasting, and its effect of warming the Spirit Body is twice that of the previous Spirit Rice. Alright, no need to just stare, dig in."
"Long live the Sect Leader."
"Thank you, Sect Leader."
Better than the previous Spirit Rice and no charge—it’s worth expressing gratitude, isn’t it?
"Sister Huai Ye, help me with a bowl too."
"Me too, Sister."
Everyone quickly held out their bowls.
"Sister, press it with the ladle, pack it tight," Lin Kewu didn’t forget to remind.
"That kid, able to eat two bowls but still pulling this trick," Yun Liao smiled helplessly on the side, imagining how he came up with this method to get more, "Well, help press mine too."
He could only eat one bowl; using this method was reasonable.
Seeing this scene, Wen Ping smiled helplessly.
Then turned his head to look at Long Ke—was his little aunt not planning to sit down?
"Zhao Keqing, won’t you have some?"
Long Ke remained silent.
Wen Ping quickly took two bites, exaggerating the chewing motions deliberately.
"Can it really warm the Spirit Body?" Long Ke watched everyone enthusiastically serving the rice, and with each scoop, the aroma became even richer, tempting her almost beyond control.
Fragrance of rice.
Fragrance of dishes.
Making one drool.
Especially hearing the sound of Wen Ping smacking his lips, it was even more enticing.
"Zhao Keqing, yours," at this moment, Huai Ye served a bowl, placing it in front of Long Ke, "It truly warms the Spirit Body... the Sect Leader has never been wrong, you’ll know after one bite."
"I’ll just try a bite."
As the Red Rice reached her mouth, Long Ke’s resolve completely crumbled.
She forgot what she had just said.
And also forgot about status and dignity.
"So delicious..."
Just one bite, and Long Ke couldn’t help but sigh.
To be honest, she had never tasted such delicious rice.
They say you need dishes with rice, but she felt that pairing something with this Red Rice was a bit wasteful.
As the Spirit Rice entered her stomach, the warm energy surged directly into the Spirit Body, agitating her long-established Great Success Spirit Body, which began to continuously absorb the Red Rice energy being sent from her mouth.
Her Spirit Body was in the top 2500 of the Spirit Body Ranking.
Usually, commonplace Celestial Materials less than 50 White Crystals had no effect on enhancing her Spirit Body.
But now, just a few grains of rice could enhance her Spirit Body—doesn’t that mean, eating it for three meals a day for two years, her Spirit Body would reach Perfection?
Just as she lost herself in this thought, her bowl was already empty.
"Help me with another bowl." Long Ke quickly held out her bowl.
Huai Ye immediately responded, "Zhao Keqing, sorry, but in Immortal Sect there’s a rule for meals, one person gets only one bowl per meal."
"Eating without being full?" Long Ke paused, her hand hovering in mid-air, then she noticed Lin Kewu was getting a second serving, "Didn’t you say one could only have one bowl? How come he can have a second?"
"That’s his reward for winning a competition," Wen Ping interjected.
"I..."
Long Ke then remembered the events outside the Viewing Room.
So the reward of eating two bowls referred to this.
No wonder everyone envied that reward, without a hint of disdain.
Others cultivate their Spirit Bodies by either hard cultivation or massive Celestial Materials, yet now at Immortal Sect with three daily meals of Red Rice to warm the Spirit Body, eating just a bit more is bliss, so who would find fault with it?
Long Ke quickly spoke, "But as a Guest Minister, Sect Leader Wen, you mentioned providing three meals a day. If I’m not full now, what should I do?"
"Eat the dishes."
Wen Ping gestured towards the nearly twenty dishes on the table.
"Dishes... can’t fill me up."
"Do you think I’ll believe that?"
"Sect Leader Wen, look, I’m in the Mountain Suppression Realm after all, responsible for protecting the Sect’s safety, can’t I have two bowls of rice?"
"No."
"You..."
Long Ke clenched her hand, and the bowl she was holding shattered.
"Damaging Sect property... no meal today. If it happens again, you’ll be expelled from Immortal Sect," Wen Ping said coldly.