IS Chapter 16
by VolareJinguan City was a major city in Shu, bustling with people and traffic.
The Dish Xia Restaurant was also almost full, lively and bustling.
The moment the two entered the restaurant, they attracted a lot of attention.
Such ethereal and jade-like figures caused the waiter to widen his eyes the moment he caught sight of them. Taking another look, their temperament was so otherworldly that he immediately informed the manager and cautiously asked if they needed a private room.
Li Yuan said it wasn’t necessary.
He felt that being in the main hall was fine, as it had the atmosphere of the mortal world.
He felt rather out of place when he came here alone, but now that there were two of them, wouldn’t going to a private room be like showing off wealth at night?
That was also a negative term in the mortal world, and he wouldn’t do such a thing.
In the end, the two of them sat down at a table by the window on the second floor.
As soon as Ye Zhuo sat down, he cast a soundproof barrier. He felt that it was too noisy around them.
Li Yuan disagreed.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” he said. “I think it’s better to be able to hear the sounds.”
The waiter stood in front of the table with the menu, feeling the surrounding noise sometimes present and sometimes absent, sometimes loud and sometimes soft, finally settling at a level that was neither too disruptive to the conversation at the table, nor too quiet.
The waiter was already sweating profusely.
But his stance here was exceptionally firm.
His enthusiasm for introducing the restaurant’s food and drinks was also extremely high.
Because the young and handsome guest in black and ornate robes had handed him a piece of gold as soon as he sat down.
He even politely said, “Sorry to trouble you.”
As expected, as soon as he started his introduction, the waiter was gratified to hear, “If it’s not too much trouble, bring one of each of your specialties.”
“Not at all!” the waiter said. “Sir, we have red broth, white broth, golden broth…”
Li Yuan: “What are they like?”
Ye Zhuo looked at Li Yuan, who felt as if he was being judged, which was strange.
“Please listen carefully, sir…”
After listening to the introduction, Li Yuan was very interested in the red broth, especially since it was unique to Shu, so he naturally wanted to taste it.
“Then I’ll have the red—”
Ye Zhuo interrupted, “Red and white, yin and yang.”
Waiter: “Alright!”
Li Yuan had no objections.
The waiter retreated to the kitchen, and the various gazes around them finally subsided somewhat. Ye Zhuo began to close his eyes and cultivate.
Midway, the waiter came up to light the charcoal fire and set up the pot, arranged the dishes for a while, and then quietly went back downstairs.
Li Yuan began to quietly examine the person across from him.
In the mortal world’s restaurant, the carved beams were decorated with patterns of swirling clouds.
Ye Zhuo’s sword was placed aside, and the evening sunlight shone on him through the half-open lattice window. Around him were people coming and going, and the rising wisps of steam. He just quietly closed his eyes like that.
He was completely unlike the man who had revealed his murderous aura not long ago, whose sword was dripping with the blood of others.
—He had even smashed someone’s head.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but recall the way this man had caught the Two Realms Territory in the mountains, and the way he had used Buddhist techniques to conjure thousands of sword shadows.
He was indeed good at fighting.
“Ye Zhuo,” Li Yuan suddenly said, “Why did you learn Buddhist techniques?”
His attitude was natural, without any awareness of disturbing the other person’s cultivation.
After all, entering meditation was a common occurrence, and it was perfectly possible to do other things while cultivating without affecting anything.
As expected, Ye Zhuo calmly opened his eyes without being disturbed, and the circulation of spiritual energy within him continued.
Ye Zhuo: “Because I went to Spirit Mountain.”
“I’m asking, why did you want to learn Buddhist techniques?”
“No reason, just because I went to Spirit Mountain,” Ye Zhuo said.
—Spirit Mountain was a Daoist temple left in the human world by the Sumeru Buddhist Realm. If he didn’t learn Buddhism on Spirit Mountain, what else could he learn?
Li Yuan: “Then why did you go to Spirit Mountain?”
Ye Zhuo: “Nowhere else to go.”
“Is there truly nowhere else to go in all the world?”
“Not really.” Ye Zhuo thought for a moment and said, “Everyone said that Spirit Mountain had the supreme Dao, so I went.”
“I heard them say that Spirit Mountain in desperation has mountains of knives and seas of fire, and that there’s no return. All those who climb the mountain will die on the way.”
“If I died, then it would just be my bad luck and lack of ability.”
Li Yuan realized that this person really wasn’t afraid of death.
That’s right, how could someone who was afraid of death dare to pull out a dragon’s reverse scale?
He stared at Ye Zhuo for a long time, until the boiling soup in front of him also released a spicy and fragrant steam. Li Yuan suddenly said seriously, “Ye Zhuo.”
Ye Zhuo was originally using chopsticks to stir something on the surface of the soup, but when he heard such a solemn tone, he looked up at Li Yuan across from him.
Li Yuan said, “Actually, I really want to kill you.”
Ye Zhuo thought he was going to say something earth-shattering, but he didn’t expect it to be such an ordinary and self-evident matter.
“I know,” he said.
“But what you said is also correct.” Li Yuan said frankly, “It was my own bad luck and lack of ability to have my scale pulled out and my blood let, which is only proper.”
In the end, the reason why he was able to travel alone to the human world was because he was playful when he was young, and because all the elders in the dragon realm didn’t think that this small human realm had anything that could harm a true dragon, or people who would dare to harm the dragon race.
Danger and death were too far away from a dragon.
But there was such a person in the world. Not only did he have the sword techniques to fight a dragon, but he also had the courage to pull out a scale.
Li Yuan felt that he would always remember the first sword that Ye Zhuo thrust at him.
That sword allowed him to see another side of fate in the world.
If he had been even slightly negligent in his cultivation when he was young, perhaps he would have died in the East Sea.
Then, the elders of the dragon realm would definitely be furious, and they would overturn the human realm to find Ye Zhuo, kill him, and avenge him.
But so what? Dead was dead, defeated was defeated.
After returning to the dragon realm, several elders asked him what had happened in the human world, and why his state of mind seemed to have changed.
He didn’t say anything.
After that, he consulted dragon race seniors who had experienced countless battles, visited the old Holy Lord of the primordial great world who was most skilled in attack, and even went to the Netherworld Ghost Realm to challenge the young Ghost Emperor who was famous for his sword techniques.
But their swords were not like Ye Zhuo’s sword, which made him feel so sharp.
“Ye Zhuo, do you know why I insist on fighting you head-on?”
Ye Zhuo looked at him without speaking. He poured himself a cup of tea and pushed one towards Li Yuan as well.
Li Yuan: “Back then, you suddenly attacked and pulled out my scale, but in reality, it was ultimately because my skills were inferior to yours.”
“At that time, you defeated me with your sword, and I remembered it deeply. From then on, I traveled throughout the dragon realm and cultivated day and night.”
“The first time I saw you, you were poisoned, and the second time, you deliberately got drunk. I could have directly taken your life. However—”
“Killing you would relieve the hatred in my heart, but it wouldn’t subdue the demons in my heart. Therefore, I must defeat you with my sword in a fair and honorable manner. After that, I will decide whether to kill you or flay you.”
Finally, he spoke the words in his heart, and his state of mind seemed to have become much clearer.
Li Yuan looked at Ye Zhuo, wanting to know how he would react.
Ye Zhuo smiled.
“What are you smiling at?”
“You’re not very good at speaking human language,” Ye Zhuo said. “It’s too literary and difficult to understand.”
“…You!”
“It’s cooked,” Ye Zhuo said. “Eat.”
As he spoke, he picked up a piece of meat from the boiling copper pot and placed it in Li Yuan’s dish. “By the way, do you know how to use chopsticks?”
Chopsticks were nothing, why did this bastard think he didn’t know how to use them?
Li Yuan felt that as long as this person was still alive, his state of mind would never be clear!
Li Yuan took a deep breath.
“My dragon race has the four schools of wind, thunder, water, and electricity.”
Ye Zhuo: “Mm?”
“So, in the next competition, you don’t have to only use sword techniques either. You use Buddhist techniques, and I’ll use dragon race techniques. Only then will we have competed with all our strength.”
“Alright,” Ye Zhuo said.
Li Yuan: “Then when is the next time?”
“I’m injured. We’ll compete when I’ve recovered.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Okay.”
Having received a satisfactory answer, Li Yuan picked up his chopsticks.
At this time, Ye Zhuo had already placed the second piece of meat in his dish.
Li Yuan remembered clearly.
The first piece was scooped out from the small white broth compartment in the center of the copper pot, with normal color and texture. The second piece was scooped out from the rolling red broth on the outside, emitting steaming heat and a strange spicy aroma.
The person across from him was staring at him without blinking, as if waiting to see him eat it.
A sense of vigilance suddenly arose in Li Yuan’s heart: “Why aren’t you eating?”
After he asked, Ye Zhuo scooped out a thin slice of meat from the red pot, quietly ate it, and swallowed it without changing his expression.
Then, he continued to look at him.
Li Yuan still felt that something was wrong. He picked up that thin slice of meat from the red pot that was still emitting heat and carefully examined it, but couldn’t see anything unusual.
Forget it.
It was just mortal food. If mortals could eat it, and Ye Zhuo could eat it, could he not eat it?
Li Yuan took a bite.
“…”
He knew that Ye Zhuo wouldn’t bring him anything good!