Lin Wu didn't come out directly but rather scanned the area with his spirit sense. He was now getting habitual to it and was feeling proud of himself for that.

"Hmm, so fifteen servants, three guards and four clan members around here." Lin Wu observed.

The kitchen of the Lu clan was actually quite big as they needed to prepare food for more than five thousand people every day. The Lu clan had around two thousand direct members and three thousand branch members, not to mention the non related people like servants that worked there.

The kitchen of a clan as big as this usually functioned all hours of the day as the people could need food at any time. There were a majority of cultivators that needed this as they cultivated for long periods of time and would take a break in the middle of the night to get food.

For them, time had long since become a foreign thing in terms of normal schedule.

"Hmm… now how do I actually go about getting the food?" Lin Wu wondered as he saw the servants busily cooking.

"Hurry up, the clansmen are still waiting for food. Even if the banquet is over, the others have still not eaten!" One of the clansmen nagged.

"Yes, Senior. We'll get it done, don't worry, but the problem is a lot of our workers are out preparing for the tasks Clan head ordered. We are lacking at least a hundred workers." One of the other clansmen spoke.

"Did you try calling the others from the mansion temporarily?" The Senior clansman asked.

"We sent someone to call them, but no one has responded yet. I fear they may have been assigned to other tasks as well." The junior clansman who was assigned to oversee the kitchen spoke.

~Sigh~

"Seems like we'll just have to be late…" The senior clansman replied in a helpless tone.

'At least they are still cooking food that means I'll have the chance to eat as well. Damn that aroma though!' Lin Wu thought.

The aroma from the food was spread all around the area, and Lin Wu was tempted to knock everyone out and eat everything. Just as he was relishing this feeling, a few trays of food were brought out.

"Another round is ready. Please take this to the dining hall and put it there. They will take it on their own, and bring back the empty dishes." The junior clansman ordered one of the servants.

"Yes, chef!" The servant replied.

"Oh, so he's a chef…" Lin Wu muttered.

The servant then put the food onto a multilayer trolley and started moving to the building that functioned as a dining hall. Lin Wu looked at it for a moment and then looked back at the kitchen before making up his mind.

"I'll see where they go, perhaps I'll have a better chance there." Lin Wu said to himself before going back into the ground and following the servant.

It was easy for him to follow the servant hidden in the ground, but then he had to come out of it when they reached near the entrance of the dinner hall. Lin Wu spotted a brazier that was burning at one of the corners and found it to be the perfect place to come out of.

The brazier was brightly burning, thus the area directly below it was extremely dark, making it the perfect place for Lin Wu to hide. He waited for the servant to enter the dining hall before coming out of a hole below the brazier.

Usually, this spot would have been burning hot, but Lin Wu's resistance to heat made it easy for him and he felt nothing. The servant entered inside and exchanged the empty trays of food for the filled ones before taking them back.

Once he was gone, Lin Wu peeked through one of the corners. He saw the long tables that were set up in rows and the nearly hundred people that were eating there all at the same time. They were talking with each other as well, so barely anyone was keeping attention on the back entrance.

Lin Wu then saw a couple of servants that were acting as waiters to take food from the newly arrive trays and serving them to the people that were eating there. Lin Wu wondered how he could get some food now. While he was stronger than anyone in this room, he couldn't just start a straight up battle.

After observing for five minutes, he learned that there was a certain delay between when the servant took the food and went to serve it. During that period there was no one paying attention to the food.

"Looks like I found my chance!" Lin Wu muttered to himself before moving ahead.

He crawled from the very corner of the wall and headed under the table on which the food was kept.

'Annnd safe!' Lin Wu said in his mind after reaching the table.

The table was covered with a long table cloth so he was perfectly hidden below it.

"Hehe… now to sample some food…" Lin Wu spoke before checking the area with his spirit sense.

As soon as the servant was gone, he extended his tail from behind the table and stored the entire tray of food in his inventory. He then withdrew it below the table and ate a little bit before storing it in the inventory again and summoning it back on the table using his tail.

"Damn, this food is good!" Lin Wu praised as he relished the food in his mouth.

He had already changed his head back to its organic form so that he could fully taste the food. Which honestly was the best tasting food he had eaten. But that was probably because this was the first time he was eating in a long, long time.

Lin Wu had literally not eaten properly cooked food in about two and a half years now.

"Ahh! Who knew the food in a cultivation world could be so good!" He praised again as his eyes turned greedy for more food and he started scheming.