Chapter 38: The Extremely Delicious Spiritual Chicken Soup
Chapter 38: The Extremely Delicious Spiritual Chicken Soup
The heavens were unkind.
The weather, though clear earlier, began to drizzle as it neared noon.
Stallholders in the Suichuan Immortal City market area hastily packed up their stalls.
Liang Liang held up a large umbrella, sheltering himself and Yu Qingtan from the rain.
"Qingtan, let’s go to Extreme Flavor Pavilion, I’ll treat you to a feast," he said.
"As Young Master Liang suggests," Yu Qingtan replied with a slight nod and a soft voice.
"Haha, let’s go."
The group arrived at the Extreme Flavor Pavilion, a restaurant somewhat inferior to the Drunken Fairy Building.
Liang Liang ordered a private room for himself and Yu Qingtan and arranged for his attendants and the Protecting Disciples following Yu Qingtan to be seated in the adjacent private room.
Liang Liang ordered a large table full of spiritual delicacies.
Soon, all the dishes were served.
"Qingtan, the spiritual chicken soup is here! This is the spiritual chicken I prepared; I had the kitchen stew it for us."
A pot of chicken soup was brought over, and after the waiter left, Liang Liang introduced the dish, promptly pouring a bowl for Yu Qingtan.
"This is genuine Xishan free-range chicken. The soup is fresh and the meat flavorful. Here, have a taste."
"Young Master Liang, as for this chicken soup, I dare not drink it!" Yu Qingtan said with what seemed like a smile.
"Qingtan must be joking. It seems you don’t trust me. Surely, here in the Immortal City’s restaurant, I, Liang, couldn’t possibly poison you," Liang Liang said, his expression turning somewhat unpleasant.
Yu Qingtan simply looked at Liang Liang without speaking.
"Haha, so be it, I’ll drink a bowl first." With that, Liang Liang served himself a bowl of the chicken soup and drank it down.
"Ah, drinking spiritual chicken soup, a delightful affair indeed."
"Not too salty, not too bland, the flavor is indeed wonderful. Come on, Qingtan, you drink some too."
Yu Qingtan continued to sit still, quietly watching Liang Liang.
An extremely awkward silence settled over them.
"Drink, why won’t you drink?" Liang Liang’s expression reddened slightly, as if he was resisting something.
"Young Master Liang, it may not be convenient to poison someone in this restaurant, but that doesn’t mean you can’t slip in something else, like an aphrodisiac." Seeing Liang Liang’s state, Yu Qingtan guessed his intention, smiled brightly, and said.
Already feeling hot and bothered, Liang Liang’s eyes reddened further at her smile. He too laughed and said, "Haha, since Qingtan has already discovered it, then just submit to me!"
Having said this, he slapped down a Soundproof Talisman and an Immobilization Talisman.
Yu Qingtan was immediately immobilized by the talisman, and Liang Liang moved forward to seal her Dantian with his spiritual power. That would make Yu Qingtan like a little lamb at his disposal.
Just as Liang Liang’s finger was about to touch Yu Qingtan’s lower abdomen, where her Dantian was, she suddenly kicked out, hitting him right in the crotch.
Liang Liang immediately curled up like a cooked shrimp, hands cupping his groin, letting out agonized howls from his mouth.
"Ahhh—"
Seizing the opportunity, Yu Qingtan rushed forward, placing a finger on Liang Liang’s Dantian, and taking control over him.
There were two crucial nodes where spiritual power entered and exited the Dantian, easily blocked by someone else’s spiritual power, hence sealing the cultivation level.
Almost all cultivation techniques included this trick, and touching one’s Dantian was also one of the taboos among cultivators.
Moreover, it was easier for those with a higher cultivation level to do this to those with a lower level, and much harder the other way around.
The Immobilization Talisman was similar. The one used by Liang Liang was barely at the late first stage, capable of immobilizing someone at the sixth level of Qi Cultivation for five breaths, at the seventh level for a single breath, and was almost ineffective for those above the eighth level.
Yet now, the spiritual power that Yu Qingtan emitted when she moved was unmistakably from the eighth level of Qi Cultivation.
This was, of course, because she had used Song Zhenbo’s "Love’s Protection."
Speaking of which, Song Zhenbo hadn’t even come to find Yu Qingtan alone yet, he really self-sabotaged.
At this moment, three new spells had formed in Yu Qingtan’s mind.
"Wood Escape Technique, Wooden Shield Technique, Green Wood Sword Technique."
The Five Elements Spells are indeed the most widely spread spells.
"You... you are actually at the eighth level of Qi Cultivation!"
At this moment, Liang Liang, still covering his lower area and somewhat flushed, looked at Yu Qingtan incredulously.
Suddenly, Liang Liang’s eyes bulged, blood flowing from his mouth, his face showing even greater disbelief.
"You... you sly woman... actually deceived... me!"
Then he fell forward, dead.
Yu Qingtan was also full of astonishment. From Liang Liang’s words, it seemed he had been deceived as well.
"As I thought, someone is really after my life."
Yu Qingtan’s expression turned cold.
Stepping forward to retrieve the spiritual power sealed in his dantian, Yu Qingtan considered how to deal with the situation.
"Bang bang–"
At that moment, a rough knocking sound arose.
Yu Qingtan quickly collected the now ineffective Immobilization Talisman, concealing her own aura of spiritual power, and messed up her hair and clothes before squeezing out two lines of tears.
"Bang bang–" The knocking from outside grew more impatient.
Yu Qingtan went forward and opened the private room door, which had been locked by Liang Liang.
The ones knocking turned out to be two members of the Enforcement Team and a shop attendant.
"Why did it take so long to open the door, it’s just a routine check, hey, what happened to you, miss?"
The Enforcement Team member, who began scolding loudly, softened his voice considerably upon seeing a girl with disheveled clothes and tearful eyes opening the door.
"Sir, you must stand up for me!" Yu Qingtan’s voice was somewhat hoarse, her acting at full throttle.
At this time, the Enforcement Team members also saw the scene inside the room; one of them immediately went in to check the person on the floor.
He was already cold.
"Someone’s dead!"
Saying this, he drew his long sword, watching Yu Qingtan warily.
The person at the door, hearing these words, did the same and shouted to the outside.
"Captain, there’s a situation here!"
Yu Qingtan just lowered her head, sobbing.
Soon, several more members of the Enforcement Team arrived.
The person leading them was Ouyang Wulong.
Ouyang Wulong also recognized Yu Qingtan at a glance, surveyed the situation, and approached her to ask, "Miss Qing Tan, we meet again. What has happened here?"
Yu Qingtan also recognized Ouyang Wulong, slightly lifting her head to speak, "I have seen Captain Ouyang. I was taking a leisure day to visit the market when I encountered this young master Liang Liang whom I had met before. Young master Liang invited me here for a meal. He tried to drug me with an aphrodisiac, so I insisted he eat first. After eating, he attempted to force himself on me. I resisted with all my might, but to my surprise, he suddenly fell down dead."
As she spoke, the tears flowed down again.
Ouyang Wulong, seeing Liang Liang still holding his lower area and blood at the corner of his mouth, had the corners of his mouth twitch slightly, then ordered his subordinates to investigate.
"It’s just like the girl who could turn the tables on a poison needle; we can’t be deceived by her fragile and pitiable appearance," Ouyang Wulong thought to himself.
At that moment, an officer stepped forward and said, "Captain, upon investigation, we found Yin Yang Joy Powder and Five Poisons Powder in the chicken soup, and there was a used Soundproof Talisman in the room."
Another officer came in from outside and said to Ouyang Wulong, "Captain, after inquiring, the attendants of Liang Liang said they were unaware of the situation in the private room. Liang Liang had only instructed him to take good care of the lady’s guard. Additionally, the shop attendant mentioned that Liang Liang ordered a table full of spiritual food and had brought his own chicken for the kitchen to make into soup. After they served the dishes, he told the attendant not to disturb them during their meal."
After hearing his subordinates’ reports, Ouyang Wulong said, "Earlier, I received a tip-off that a suspected wanted demon cultivator was sighted at Wei Ji Xuan, so I brought my men here to search. We didn’t find the demon cultivator, but this incident occurred instead. It seems this was a trap set for Miss Qing Tan, but it appears that Liang Liang was probably a pawn as well."