Yaomu Shou eventually walked over, not taking her eyes off the overly bombastic brawler rabbit before she finally asked, “I-Is it dead?”

Her question was answered immediately after when a raucous noise erupted from its body, which frightened her into jumping back with her sword in hand.

****

“Relax,” Long Di quickly calmed her down. “It’s just snoring. I knocked it out.”

Yaomu Shou then saw that it wasn’t getting up. When she noticed the rhythmic rise and fall of its sleeping state, only then did she sigh a breath of relief.

Long Di then walked a short distance away from the overly bombastic brawler rabbit before sitting down in a meditative pose.

He was currently comprehending all he learned from his beat down to realise his shortcomings.

There were times that he landed a blow on the magical beast despite its never-ending flurry of blows.

His mind was working at light speed as he tried his best to establish a form that was all his own. It didn’t need a name or anything. He just wanted to be able to hold his own when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

Yaomu Shou didn’t say anything. Her knees were pulled up to her chest while her hands wrapped around them for good measure.

Though the moon was out, it was hidden by a blanket of clouds which darkened the surrounding area.

However, Yaomu Shou’s cultivation allowed her to clearly see Long Di despite the low visibility.

Her expression was unreadable at the moment, but it was clear that many things were on her mind.

Sometime after, Long Di opened his eyes to see her staring at him.

“Hello…”

Yaomu Shou smiled and replied, “Hello.”

Long Di nodded and looked over to where the overly bombastic brawler rabbit was… sleeping.

“I’ll take another day’s worth of pointers from it before we move on.” Long Di announced.

Hearing him say it like this, Yaomu Shou was surprised once more, “You’re crazy, you know that?”

Long Di shrugged before he retired, “The medical term is insane. Then again, I’m not a doctor and…”

Suddenly, Long Di stopped and stared out blankly into space. Yaomu Shou didn’t know what to make of this, and her brow furrowed in confusion.

After a while, she couldn’t help it and reached out to check if he was alright, “Are you-”

Without warning, Long Di’s snapped in her direction, blurting out, “I’m hungry.”

“Holy crap!” Yaomu Shou flinched back as she was frightened by Long Di’s sudden response.

Whoosh…

Before she could react and ask Long Di what that was all about, he waved his hand, summoning the corpse of the Monarch Gale Crow.

Even though it was no longer alive, it still radiated a powerful pressure. The aura of an overlord class could be felt and its form was majestic and awe-inspiring, regardless of life or death.

Yaomu Shou cocked her head to the side, much like Long Di did at times, “What are you-”

Shu!

Long Di stretched his hand towards the corpse and a palm-sized black crystal shot from the crow and flew into his grasp.

This was the Beast Xin of Monarch Gale Crow. If one put it to their ear, they could hear the howls of the wind from within.

He quickly put the beast xin away before clapping both hands together.

Hong!

The Profound Myriad Heavenseize Physique activated and Long Di stretched his hand toward the corpse.

Whoosh!

The Crimson Horizon Flame erupted from his palm and under the urging of his spiritual force, it twisted into an inferno that consumed the Monarch Gale Crow!

Yaomu Shou was taken aback by this sudden move, “What are you doing!?”

She didn’t expect Long Di to do something like this. After all, magical beast corpses, especially those of the overlord class, were priceless commodities that were always in demand.

So for Long Di to do something like this caught her completely off guard.

“I’m hungry,” Long Di repeated once more.

She simply stared at him, lost in a stupor.

Did he think that magical beasts were like chickens or dogs, that they were something that one could easily cook?

She couldn’t help a wry smile from appearing on her face, “Long Di, I don’t want to disappoint you, but if you think that magical beasts follow the same method of cooking as normal meat does, then you might be disappointed.”

Long Di heard what she said, but he didn’t stop what he was doing. He kept his focus on the Monarch Gale Crow.

Seeing that he didn’t listen to her, she remained silent on the subject.

Long Di’s spiritual force was the guiding hand that drove his Earth Flame so he could see the state of the Monarch Gale Crow, though the Crimson Horizon Flame obscured it from view.

He had a decent mastery over the Crimson Horizon Flame since he used it to help him and Jia Yan cultivate the month they were waiting for the Spiritual Bingqi Realm to open.

Though he couldn’t be called a master at wielding earth flames or anything, it was something that he could use without killing himself or others. That was progress in his book.

Whoosh…

The flames slowly receded, revealing the bare body of the Monarch Gale Crow. All the feathers had been burnt away. There were some parts of the skin that had been licked by the flames directly turning them black.

It no longer possessed the aura and prestige of an overlord class. As of now, it was more like a plucked turkey ready for the oven.

Yaomu Shou had to admit that even though Long Di’s control of the earth flame wasn’t perfect, he did do a fairly good job of burning away the feathers. Sure, there were some parts of the skin that was burnt, but perfection was a hard bar to reach.

However, one must know that Long Di was controlling an earth flame. A tyrannical and overbearing flame created by the heavens and the earth. It wasn’t something that just anyone was qualified to wield.

Upon remembering this, Yaomu Shou grew even more impressed with Long Di and his ungodly talent.

Whoosh!

The flames then returned and enveloped the ‘turkey’ once more. Though his control over the earth flame wasn’t perfect, it was enough for him to cook the Monarch Gale Crow. He then closed his eyes to feel his control over the spiritual force more effectively.

In truth, Yaomu Shou didn’t expect Long Di to successfully cook the Monarch Gale Crow.

Magical beasts were not like normal animals since they had spiritual energy. Because of this, if they were not prepared successfully, then the spiritual energy would dissipate and, in some cases, it would cause the meat itself to be ruined.

Though she didn’t show it, Yaomu Shou had eaten countless delicacies before and had a refined palette. Though she would eat snacks and fruits and things of that ilk, when it came to cooked meals, she was quite picky.

Cooking was also a type of cultivation and there were masters that took it seriously and even defended their arts to their last breath.

Because of this, she didn’t hold out much hope for Long Di and his meal.

After a while, to her surprise, a mouthwatering scent eventually spread out. Its aroma was tempting and grew stronger as time passed.

Yaomu Shou nearly drooled when she smelt it before surprise took over. The only way for a magical beast to smell this good when it's being cooked is for it to be cooked with a profound cooking method.

However, she didn’t see anything profound about Long Di’s method outside of him just roasting the thing.

She couldn’t hold her curiosity back and wished to inquire, “Long Di, you…”

Suddenly, a peaceful and benevolent voice drifted over, “Amitabha, don’t frighten the young benefactor.”

Yaomu Shou was shocked by the new arrival and quickly rushed to Long Di’s side with her sword drawn.

She looked over to where the voice came from to see a young monk approaching them with the Anjali Mudra on display.

His head was bald save for a single dot on the centre of his forehead. His entire skin was a beautiful bronze colour.

His eyebrows were shaped like crescent moons while his smile was warm and inviting.

One would take him for a sincere monk if it wasn’t for the grease that covered his mouth and the oil-stained Kasaya he wore. This instantly destroyed his image of a monk that followed the Buddhist teachings.

“Who are you!?” Yaomu Shou was wary of this new arrival since his strength was at a level that was above even her own!

Though she didn’t take her cultivation seriously because of her free-spirited nature she was well aware of her strength. It was not something that just anyone in the younger generation could surpass, so she grew suspicious of this monk’s identity.

Even more weird was that Long Di didn’t react to this.

“Amitabha,” the monk stated once again before he bowed toward Yaomu Shou with that same smile. His eyes were also smiling, though they were closed into slits.

He continuously sniffed the air, obviously enamoured by the scent of the roasting meat.

“Dear benefactor, this monk was taking a stroll to celebrate the ending of my fast when I saw the two benefactors enjoying each other’s company. I thought I would pay a visit, is all, to spread the teachings of Buddha.”

Though the monk spoke to Yaomu Shou, his eyes never left the roasting Monarch Gale Crow.

“Then why are you drooling?” Yaomu Shou asked with her sword still pointing at him.

The monk didn’t even try to hide the drool that drained from the side of his mouth before he used his Kasaya to wipe it off in a sloppy manner.

“Is the benefactor aware that feeding a starving monk can increase one’s karma?” the monk asked shamelessly.

Yaomu Shou was stunned at the monk’s shamelessness. She had met monks before, but none like this.

The monk moved closer to them, which caused Yaomu Shou to tense up. However, he simply sat opposite them with his eyes on the blazing fire that covered the Monarch Gale Crow.

Enlightenment dawned before he exclaimed in surprise, “Amazing! Benefactor is truly incredible! To have the Crimson Horizon Flame at such a young age.”

Yaomu Shou didn’t feel any hostility from the monk, so she finally sat down, but she held the sword in her hand, just in case.

Long Di was unaware of all of this. He had entered a profound state while controlling the Crimson Horizon Flame.

He remembered when he had once read a cultivation novel where the focus of it was on cooking. The protagonist was a cold but gifted chef that embarked on the dao to become the god of cooking.

In it, Long Di remembered several methods that the chef used to cook his dishes. As of now, Long Di was using one of those methods to cook the bird.

Of course, Long Di wasn’t expecting to be anywhere near the level of the chef in the novel and just wanted a decent meal.

This didn’t mean that this was Long Di’s first time cooking. This was far from the truth since Long Di was quite skilled around a stove.

He actually incorporated that chef’s methods to prepare the bird the way he knew to do it. His spiritual force even replaced his hands as he used to massage the bird to seal in the flavour among other things.

This skill didn’t come out of nowhere. There were many times that he was forced to cook for his uncle. The first few times brought him a level of punishment that he would never forget, as they were above the norm, even for him.

It was back then that something that was far and few in between took place as he could count the number of times this happened on one hand. His uncle took the time to teach Long Di how he should cook the former’s food.

The method was… different. Long Di had never seen anyone cook like this before and the method was quite literally beaten into him. There were times when his limp body was left on the floor to digest his learnings.

As a result, he quickly tried to raise his skill to lessen his punishment. Unfortunately, this never worked, and it only left him with more trauma and he thought very little else.

Nevertheless, the conflicting thoughts pulled him into a realm where he was able to see the form of the Monarch Gale Crow clearly and the flow of the Crimson Horizon Flame.

Was this some sort of cooking realm? Was the necessary qualifications to enter this realm, trauma and an unhealthy obsession with cultivation novels? Because if that was it, then he had that in spades.

However, he put that aside and used this ‘cooking realm’ to better roast the crow. He realised that some parts of the flame had to be hotter than other parts and even though it was his first time, he found it effortless and easy within the ‘cooking realm.’

With the help of this mysterious state, he was able to complete the roasting with very few hiccups.

Long Di opened his eyes and saw a scene that he couldn’t quite explain.

Yaomu Shou was now beside him… that was fine. But opposite him was a monk he didn’t know holding a plate staring at the Monarch Gale Crow.

In addition, the overly bombastic brawler rabbit was also sitting to the side, staring at the Monarch Gale Crow with a plate in hand.

What the heck happened while he was under!?

[Author’s Note: The Anjali Mudra is a hand gesture where both palms are pressed together in front of the sternum. It is used for both greetings and farewells. There is a deeper meaning to it but that can be researched on the internet.]