Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

“I told you, it had to go to the ‘most beautiful’ demon clan member, and ‘most’ implies there can only be one, didn’t you know?” The Everlasting Fairy earnestly explained the basics of grammar to Lu Yang.

Lu Yang remained silent for a long time before saying, “… You have a point.”

“See?” The Everlasting Fairy placed her hands on her hips, looking triumphant.

“So, who did you give the immortal fruit to?”

“Later, I heard from the Immemorial Immortal that at the wedding scene, the prodigies of the Dragon Clan and the Phoenix Clan were arguing fiercely over the ownership of the immortal fruit, leading to a showdown.”

“Speaking of which, the Qilin Immortal is really stingy. He himself had immortal fruits, he could have given one to each of his wives, and there wouldn’t have been a fight.”

The Everlasting Fairy shook her head. Compared to the Qilin Immortal, she felt she was very generous, willing to give out an immortal fruit as a gift.

“What happened next?”

“Later, the Qilin Immortal suggested that fighting at a wedding was inappropriate, and proposed a different form of competition. It just so happened that three immortal guests were present, so he suggested that the Ying Tian Immortal, Nonuple Immortal, and Immemorial Immortal be the judges, while he abstained to avoid a two-to-two tie.”

“You see, if the Qilin Immortal had invited me, there would have been five of us immortals as judges. Moreover, you know me, I’m fair and impartial, I could have judged alone.”

“If he was worried that I might outshine the Dragon and Phoenix Clan prodigies, I could wear a veil!” As one of the top ten beauties of ancient times, the Everlasting Fairy was very confident in her appearance.

Lu Yang thought to himself that the Qilin Immortal simply didn’t want to be a judge and was using any excuse to step aside.

“What was the competition between the Dragon Clan prodigy and the Phoenix Clan prodigy about?”

“Culinary skills.”

The Everlasting Fairy regretfully shook her head: “What the Qilin Immortal and the others didn’t know was that both the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan prodigies had learned their cooking skills from me. Though not officially my disciples, they were in practice. They only grasped a tenth of my culinary skills, but even so, it was unrivaled during the tribulation period.”

“During the competition, since both were taught by the same master, neither could outdo the other, and their dishes were indistinguishable in quality.”

“The Immemorial Immortal told me that when they tasted the dishes made by the Dragon and Phoenix Clan prodigies, they were astounded, feeling as if the dishes contained the power of time, making them swiftly review their entire lives.”

“I modestly said it was I who taught them, but they only learned the basics.”

“The Immemorial Immortal was silent for a while before saying they had wronged the Qilin Immortal too early; he wasn’t the main culprit. When I asked what he meant, he didn’t elaborate.”

Lu Yang bowed to the Everlasting Fairy out of respect.

If others who didn’t know the Everlasting Fairy’s nature heard this story, they might say the Everlasting Fairy was an ancient mastermind: without being present, a single immortal fruit caused a fierce fight between the Dragon and Phoenix Clan prodigies, turned the four ancient immortals against each other, and left the Qilin Immortal in an awkward position.

She also secretly taught the Dragon and Phoenix Clan prodigies, waiting for the right moment to act.

Such wisdom could only be described as unfathomable. Anyone would be fearful and cautious when facing such a deeply scheming old monster.

However, Lu Yang knew the Everlasting Fairy well, so he decided to describe her wisdom with a different term—

Profound stupidity resembling wisdom

…

“You should know that the Dragon and Phoenix Clans are the most proud among the demon clans, and their blood is extremely precious. It’s almost impossible for humans to obtain their blood, hence the importance of the Phoenix Blood Stones.”

“Phoenix Blood Stones are not only a feature of our Luofeng County but also our main industry. The number of spirit stones we earn each year from selling Phoenix Blood Stones is immense!”

“Phoenix Blood Stones are excellent materials for refining tools. When worn as jewelry, they also have unexpected benefits.”

“My father said that the mining of Phoenix Blood Stones in Luofeng County has been ongoing for four thousand years, yet the veins have not dried up, with a continuous supply of Phoenix Blood Stones being extracted.”

Li Haoran introduced the local economy, with Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou nodding continuously, like visiting leaders inspecting the area.

“How many spirit stones for this Phoenix Blood Stone?” Meng Jingzhou asked while selecting items in the shop, finding this material intriguing and wanting to buy some for fun.

“Three hundred spirit stones.”

“And this one?”

“Four hundred and fifty spirit stones.”

Meng Jingzhou kept shaking his head; such cheap Phoenix Blood Stones were not worthy of his status.

“Show me your best Phoenix Blood Stone. I don’t care about the cost.” Meng Jingzhou displayed the demeanor of a young master.

The shop owner’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, recognizing a big customer.

He looked around and, seeing only Meng Jingzhou’s group in the shop, led them to the back yard. Carefully, he took a delicate wooden box from the shelf. Opening it revealed an egg-sized, bright red stone, as vivid as blood, seemingly stained by the freshly shed blood of the mythical old phoenix.

Even Qin Yanyan could sense the extraordinary nature of this Phoenix Blood Stone.

The shop owner whispered, “A few days ago, a mine tunnel collapsed. This is the last Phoenix Blood Stone extracted from it. It took me a lot of effort to get it. The price is fixed at five hundred thousand spirit stones.”

Meng Jingzhou nodded, thinking it was about right: “I’ll take ten.”

Five hundred thousand or even five million spirit stones meant nothing to Meng Jingzhou, the young master of the Meng family; it was like a drop in the ocean, not worth mentioning.

The shop owner pulled a long face, “Sir, it’s not that I don’t want to sell more, but this is the only Phoenix Blood Stone I have.”

“Alright, just give me this one.” The shop owner was overjoyed. In fact, he had quoted a slightly high price, leaving room for negotiation, but Meng Jingzhou bought it without haggling.

The shop owner even threw in several other good quality Phoenix Blood Stones, though they paled in comparison to the one Meng Jingzhou bought.

Meng Jingzhou knew he could haggle, but he always found bargaining too troublesome.

He had the shop owner drill a hole in the Phoenix Blood Stone and string it on a cord.

Meng Jingzhou wore it around his neck, feeling quite pleased.

He thought everyone was out shopping and that he shouldn’t be the only one buying Phoenix Blood Stones. He visited several shops in a row, trying to buy a piece for each of Lu Yang and the others, but none matched the quality of his own Phoenix Blood Stone.

Many shop owners asked where Meng Jingzhou had bought his Phoenix Blood Stone, but he didn’t say.

“Why is it so hard to spend money?”

Li Haoran advised, “Senior Brother Meng, let it go. The Phoenix Blood Stone’s contained phoenix power isn’t very useful to us. Even for refining, I currently lack the ability to refine such high-quality Phoenix Blood Stones. Buying them would be a waste.”

“Alright.” Hearing Li Haoran’s reasoning, Meng Jingzhou reluctantly gave up.

“By the way, what’s the effect of wearing Phoenix Blood Stones long-term?” Meng Jingzhou pointed at the stone on his chest.

“It enhances vitality.”

Meng Jingzhou responded casually, “That’s not very useful.”