Scrounging a free meal
Scrounging a free meal
Yi Yun was worried. If the fat elder had opened Heaven's Eye, could he not see what lies within his heart…
"Normal constitution, born poor, yet…" The fat elder pondered. He looked at the plunge basin behind Yi Yun, and a thought flashed through his mind.
He touched Yi Yun's body all over, giving him goosebumps.
What's this old man doing, doesn't he know it was improper to touch between men!?
"I understand now. This kid must have eaten some valuable item, and he trained his body in the deep pool. The valuable item's violent energy was neutralized by the cold pool water. As such, you accidentally tempered your whole body, allowing you to reach such a state!"
This old man's words made Yi Yun speechless. This old man was impressive. Although his guess was not fully accurate, he was in fact very close to the truth.
"To be able to obtain such an achievement at this age sure isn't easy. Although it's because you lucked out and managed to eat some treasure, in the future… I doubt there will be more. But, it's still not easy!"
The fat elder's words made Yi Yun roll his eyes. Was this a compliment or an insult!?
"Hey kid, I guess it must be fate that you met me…" said the fat elder as he reached into his chest as if he was taking something.
Yi Yun's eyes lit up. Is this the early indications of a pie in the sky? Could it be that the old man had appreciated him, and was planning on giving him some technique manual or desolate bone essence? Even magical pills would do!
The fat elder's hand was thick and fat. He wore a gaudy jade ring on his thumb. It was unlike the wrinkly look normal elders would have.
Having grabbed something, his fat fist was clenched tight. Like a white steamed bun, he placed it on Yi Yun's palm and released gently.
Clink! Clink!
A few bronze coins fell into Yi Yun's hands. The bronze coins were still warm from the fat elder's heat.
Bronze coins?
A dark cloud filled Yi Yun's mind.
"Take it and buy some sweets." said the fat elder as he smiled. He did so while waving his hands with an air of generosity. The linen-clothed girl beside him smiled mildly. They had treated Yi Yun as a child.
"What the f**k!" Yi Yun looked at the twenty bronze coins in his hand, with a thousand lines of "f**k your mother" running through his head.
In this world, mortals did use gold, silver, and bronze as currency. But in the Cloud Wilderness, gold and silver were only an auxiliary form of payment. The real currency was food, armor, and weapons.
This old man was obviously an expert, but he was still required to carry around some currency in this world.
Silver bullions were a large denomination in the mortal world. It was essential to have bronze coins for the typical inn or food stall.
So it was not a surprise the old man had bronze coins.
But…
But to experts, gold and silver were of little value to them, let alone bronze coins. If you wanted to give me something, at least give me a few golden ingots!
Yi Yun was speechless.
Actually having such thoughts of hoping to get something out of nothing was embarrassing. As the saying goes, "poverty acquaints men with strange bedfellows".
With his training resources spent, Yi Yun was still in the Meridians realm. Although having a Tempered Body was great, he did not dare to hunt in the vast wilderness without being at the Purple Blood realm. Without hunting, how was he going to eat? Am I supposed to just eat grain porridge?
And even for grain porridge, Jiang Xiaorou had always left the grains for him, while she just drank the porridge water.
If Yi Yun were to starve, he would also cause Jiang Xiaorou to starve.
Yi Yun felt ridiculed, but he still collected the bronze coins. He might as well take it. After all, if he gave it to Jiang Xiaorou, she could exchange it with the tribe or other people for some food.
Indeed, there was no pie in the sky.
Also, the fat elder only considered him a child; hence, he was given some bronze coins for sweets as a form of amusement.
Although he had a Tempered Body, he was nothing special as his constitution was average and he had reached that state through the consumption of a treasure.
He was small, poor, and lacking in strength. He was also a complete stranger to the old man, so why would the old man give him any benefits?
The old man just found him amusing, and he was just teasing him.
"I say, elder, where are you going?" Yi Yun tried to make conversation.
There was no harm in becoming an acquaintance of the old man after all.
"We are going to the Tao tribal clan."
The fat elder did not bother keeping it secret.
"Tao tribal clan…" Yi Yun knew the Tao tribal clan was a large clan near to the Lian tribal clan and was the patron of the Lian tribal clan!
The Lian tribal clan's manufacturing of weapons and armor were supplied to the Tao tribal clan.
This old and young duo were obviously people of stature. They had the ability to cross the Cloud Wilderness without any hesitations; it was admirable.
Yi Yun suddenly recalled that when talking to the Lian tribal clan, Zhang Yuxian had mentioned that something had happened in the Cloud Wilderness. He had also mentioned that several VIPs would pass by the Lian tribal clan, so as to prevent the Lian tribal clan's Patriarch from neglecting any niceties.
From the looks of it, this old man and the young girl were VIPs!
The fat elder was already planning on leaving. But just before he took a step, he suddenly felt hungry. He looked at the sun and rubbed his fat double chin saying, "It's time to eat something. The scenery here is not bad. There's a mountain and the water is clean. Let's eat here."
"Eat?" Upon hearing that word, Yi Yun suddenly felt… hungry, very hungry.
Having eaten porridge for two consecutive months, he had been using herbs and the desolate bone essence as energy sources, but he had digested all the energy he had absorbed last night in the deep waters.
It was as if Yi Yun's body was empty on the inside.
"Hey, disciple, let's eat." The fat elder called out to Lin Xintong.
Lin Xintong nodded and looked at Yi Yun, saying "Little brother, why don't you join us?"
"Eh?" Yi Yun was stunned. He was exploding with happiness. He felt that the girl's voice was extremely touching, "That… You don't have to do that…"
Although Yi Yun had said that, he was already finding a spot to sit.
This old man and the young girl must be of exceptional stature, the food they eat can't be that bad, right?
Any dish would be very conducive for cultivation!
The fat elder was planning to light a fire; however, seeing that Yi Yun was planning to drag out his stay, he scorned with disdain. But since his disciple had already invited him, he could only accept it.
He touched the jade ring on his right hand and pulled out three plucked pheasants like a magician. He pierced them using a pole and placed it by the side of the fire.
The old man's jade ring was like Doraemon's pouch. In a short while, he took out a bunch of bottles and jars filled with spices.
Yi Yun was envious. He had initially brushed the old man's ring off as a magical performance, but the item was a treasure that could hold the largest items.
Looks like this was similar to the legendary "interspatial rings".
"Hehe, count your lucky stars, kid. Not many people have tasted my culinary skills!" Saying this, the old man rubbed his hands and began grilling a pheasant.
Only then did Yi Yun realize that this was no ordinary pheasant. It looked like a pheasant, but within it was tremendous amounts of energy. This was because Yi Yun could see the light dots floating from the pheasant. This energy was very pure. It made him crave it.
Yi Yun felt his mouth salivating. It was good stuff!
He had not eaten meat in two months, so having seen this plump pheasant which consisted of pure energy, how could he not salivate?
He could not wait to roast the pheasant and swallow it down his stomach.
But very quickly, Yi Yun felt depressed when he saw the old man's method of roasting.
The old man's "culinary skills" were… too terrible to watch!