Be Gentle, Immortal Master

Once again, Bai Ye impressed me that evening with his unbelievable skills in cooking. The supplies at the cabin were basic, and the spices we had brought from the pantry at Mount Hua were the bare minimum, but he turned the simplest ingredients into the most delicious meal with just that. The braised whole fish was crispy even with the thick sauce laying on top, the porridge with filets and dried mushrooms was rich and smooth, and the fishball skewers were better than the best ones I remembered from childhood. Everything was made to perfection and burst with flavor.

"Sometimes I find it a huge pity that you aren't a chef," I mumbled while slurping the date and wolfberry dessert drink. It was too hard to keep myself slow and civilized in the middle of such an incredible meal. "It's such a loss to the rest of the world."

Sipping his own cup—I had convinced him to share some of the drink with me, since its benefit in strengthening yang power would help with his recovery as well—he huffed. "The rest of the world doesn't have the privilege to make me cook for them." Then his eyes landed on the porridge bowl that I had all but licked clean. "Besides … Doesn't look like you have any interest in sharing."

I grinned. He was right—let alone the fact that I wouldn't want to give anyone else the honor to enjoy my husband's hard work, I couldn't help keeping everything to myself and devouring it just because of how good it was. I was actually past full a long time ago already, but that wasn't enough to stop me from continuing until all the bowls and plates were empty. "Then maybe you should consider teaching me how to share," I suggested. "Otherwise, you'll fatten me up in no time if you keep feeding me like this."

He smiled then, an insinuating smirk that made me pause in my gobbling. I looked at him suspiciously as he leaned into me. "If not like this," he breathed, "then how would you rather prefer me to feed you?"

"…"

Staring at the bright smile on his face, I suddenly realized that he probably had more than a few "exercises" in mind to help me burn off all the extra energy already, and I shouldn't need to ever worry about getting fattened up. Speechlessly, I picked up my plate again, making sure that I consumed the last bit of food left.

~ ~

The next few days passed quickly and blissfully just like that. Thanks to our luck with the traps, the items on the dinner table rotated with different types of fish, pheasants, rabbits, as well as various berries and nuts that we picked in the woods. Bai Ye never made the same dish twice, and neither did I ever fail to devour every bite with utmost satisfaction.

"Is your plan for our stay here just to cook for me every day?" I finally asked one day during dinner. Not that I had any complaints about such privileged treatment … But I was hoping that those books he read would offer enough hints for us to start looking somewhere soon. We didn't have all the time in the world left to find a cure for him.

He didn't answer my question, only scooping another ladle of rabbit stew into my bowl. "I haven't had a chance to do something for you the way I like for a long time, Qing-er, so at least let me live my dream life for a little while."

I chuckled. "No one at Mount Hua would've believed that Master Bai Ye's dream life is so worldly and uninspiring," I said.

He smiled. "Enjoy it while you can. We'll get busy quickly. The Hall of Dragons and Phoenixes is holding their annual fair of spiritual pets next week, and I'm thinking of taking you there, which means you'll have to get back to a cultivator's boring diet soon."

I put down my bowl in surprise. The Hall of Dragons and Phoenixes was one of the largest sects that focused heavily on training and fighting with spiritual pets, and their fair was the most prestigious in the field. Thousands attended every year for their vast selection of beasts for sale—even the Gatekeeper had paid his visits, and that was where he bought Chu Xi the venomous beast that bit me. But since when was Bai Ye interested in spiritual pets?

"The fair isn't just for selling pets," he saw my bafflement and explained. "The masters there hold lessons on spiritual beast training and bonding. It's a rare chance for members of other sects to learn the secret techniques from the best in the field, and most cultivators with pets or mounts wouldn't miss the opportunity. If luck is on our side—"

"Then we might find the people that stole the bixie's cubs!" I exclaimed, realizing what he was planning. Without any clues on Twin Stars at the moment, we might as well take the opportunity and tackle the issue with the young bixies first. "But will those people be so blatant as to show themselves in public with a bixie?" I asked after a second thought. "It's forbidden to capture a mythical beast as a mount. Wouldn't they try to hide it from crowds like this?"

"The whole point of stealing a bixie is to show off the owner's power in front of others. They'll only try to bring their mounts everywhere they can. As long as they claim that the beasts formed a bond with them naturally and chose to stay at their side willingly, it doesn't count as 'capture' and won't get them in trouble."

These people were so brazen with their behavior, I thought angrily. Stealing a cub first and then lying about its "attachment" to its capturer. "They need to pay for what they did," I said. "Actions like this aren't just wrong. They are disgusting." Please visit f𝘳𝐞𝒆wｅ𝚋𝗻𝚘𝚟e𝑙. c𝘰𝓂

A sly smile curved his lips. "If you want to teach them a lesson, my dear wife, isn't a fair with thousands of attendees the best opportunity we can ask for?"