270

Du Heng left the bean curd skin in the pot: "When Xiaoxiao and the others wake up, they can eat it hot." He walked out of the kitchen and looked at the basket at the kitchen door: "Let me see what delicious dishes we have today."

There was a storage bag in the basket, on which was embroidered the emblem of Shenxiu Palace - a long sword drawn from its sheath.

Du Heng looked at Xuan Yu in surprise: "Wang Jian is willing to give you a storage bag?"

Xuan Yu said, "Yeah." Du Heng was delighted: "Why is he so generous today?"

Xuan Yu chuckled: "He is in a good mood today."

Du Heng muttered, "Hey? That old guy looked at me as if I were a black-eyed chicken a few days ago, but how come his attitude becomes better when he sees you? Xiaoyu, you are really loved by everyone." Comparing yourself with others will make you feel depressed. Xiaoyu can get delicacies from mountains and seas when she picks vegetables, but all Du Heng can get are rotten leaves and pure fat.

Du Heng opened the storage bag and saw that, just as Xuan Yu said, there was a cow, a sheep, and several large sea fish in the storage bag. The sea fish were still red, and each one was bigger than Du Heng. Du Heng and the big fish looked at each other and didn't know how to start.

Xuan Yu said: "This is a kind of grouper, just steam it. If you want to eat raw fish, that's fine too. This fish tastes sweet and fresh when eaten raw, and it's pretty good."

Du Heng scratched his head and looked at the big fish: "Then... cut one into pieces and steam it? Slice one into sashimi?"

Xuan Yu smiled and said, "Okay, you have the final say."

At this time, a commotion was heard outside the dining hall: "Food errand boy, come out here! How dare you steal the food from the main dining hall?!"

Du Heng and Xuan Yu looked at each other, and Du Heng asked Xuan Yu with his mouth: "What's going on?"

Xuan Yu said calmly: "They said that we should take as many dishes as we can afford, so I brought them back."

Du Heng was very upset. Based on his understanding of Xuan Yu, things would definitely not be that simple.

Wang Jian and his companions rushed to the dining hall panting. Du Heng took a quick look and saw that there were four people, including Wang Jian, who were in charge of the morning side dishes. Outside the dining hall, there were also some servants and swordsmen who were watching the fun.

Wang Jian ran so fast that his face turned pale. His hands were shaking as he pointed at Xuan Yu: "You! You! You! You are so brave!"

Xuan Yu said calmly: "Manager Wang, what do you want to talk to me about?" Du Heng didn't want to laugh at first, but when he heard Xuan Yu's tone, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise.

Xuan Yu has a peculiar ability. He can always say the most irritating words in a calm tone.

Just like now, Wang Jian's voice trembled when he heard this: "What's the matter?! You still have the nerve to ask me what happened?! And you! What are you laughing at! I knew you were playing tricks!"

Du Heng was confused. What happened to him? Was he and Wang Jian incompatible? Why did Wang Jian always target him?

Wang Jian's hands were shaking, and his voice was sharp, like a rooster with its neck strangled: "There are only eighteen monks who have signed the seal in the dining hall. The sect stipulates that Jindan monks should have two kilograms of meat and four kilograms of vegetables every day. Adding the original quota of the dining hall, you can only have fifty-six kilograms of meat and one hundred and twelve kilograms of vegetables at most. How dare you move three hundred kilograms of flame grouper?!"

Yesterday afternoon, ten inner sect cultivators above the Golden Core stage went to the main dining hall to ask for the seal and gave it to Du Heng. Now there are thirty-eight quotas for dining in the dining hall.

Xuan Yu said, "Just now, I told you the same thing, Steward Wang. I said that the first dining hall came to collect the dishes, 56 kilograms of meat dishes and 112 kilograms of vegetarian dishes. It was Steward Wang who said that I did not report in advance and did not prepare so many dishes. I told you that you could divide the dishes from the main dining hall among us. What you said was that today's dishes have not been divided and are inconvenient to distribute in the storage bag. If I am able, I will take them away myself."

Xuan Yu said calmly, "Since Steward Wang has said so, I can only respectfully obey your orders."

Wang Jian's face looked just like the wilted eggplant that Du Heng had received two days ago. Du Heng felt extremely happy.

Wang Jian's voice became even sharper: "That's the stuff from the first canteen! How dare you, a janitor, drag it away?!" Perhaps he was so angry that he was confused. Du Heng thought that Wang Jian must be talking about the general canteen. But people always say one thing and mean another.

Xuan Yu bowed and said, "Yes, this is from the dining hall. Is there any problem if I take it away?"

Wang Jian's breath got stuck in his throat, and he groaned softly. The clerk behind him who was in charge of registration came up and patted Wang Jian on the chest: "Brother Wang, calm down. You have a bad heart, and it's not worth it to get angry over such a menial task."

Du Heng looked at Xuan Yu dimly: "How can you still have a bad heart if you have practiced Qi?"

Xuan Yu said slowly: "If you don't have the ability to cultivate and temper your body, you will still be useless even if you practice Qi." Du Heng gave a thumbs up, Xiaoyu, you can do it. He only knew that Jing Nan could make people's blood pressure soar when he spoke, but he didn't expect Xuan Yu to have this accomplishment.

Xuan Yu looked at Wang Jian calmly: "If I were you, I would cultivate myself well. I have already reached the fourth level of Qi training, so I can live for at least one or two hundred years. If I get excited and my spiritual energy goes backwards, it will cause great harm to my body, and I might even explode and die."

Manager Wang rolled his eyes! He started rolling his eyes!!

The monk who patted Wang Jian on the chest pointed at Xuan Yu angrily and said, "Shut up! How dare a mere servant lecture the steward?"

Xuan Yu bowed and asked, "What's your name?"

The monk said arrogantly, "I am Huang Yipeng, the steward of the dining hall. I know you have great cultivation. You can take away a thousand-jin storage bag just by saying so. But this is Shenxu Palace. Don't use the tricks you use outside in Shenxu Palace! Hand over the ingredients quickly if you know what's good for you, otherwise leave Shenxu Palace immediately!"

Hearing the words "leave Shenxu Palace", many servants got scared. However, Du Heng was familiar with the servants' instructions, so he stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, which of the instructions have we violated?"

Huang Yipeng snorted coldly: "You have claimed the food from the main dining hall privately, which is very disrespectful to the steward!"

Du Heng smiled and said, "But it is also stated in the chores that we must obey the orders of the stewards. It is reasonable for Yuxuan to take the storage bag according to the orders of Steward Wang. And you said that we were disrespectful to the stewards, which is even more unfair! We are respectful to the stewards and have never behaved disrespectfully!"

Huang Yipeng said: "No disrespect? Then what are you doing now? You are talking back to me! This is disrespect!"

At some point Jing Nan and the others appeared behind Xuan Yu. Jing Nan yawned, "It's so noisy so early in the morning. Can we have a quiet sleep?" Feng Gui stood around Jing Nan. He frowned and looked at Huang Yipeng and the others, "It's so noisy."

Jing Nan and Feng Gui's auras were too strong, and Huang Yipeng was unsure of their identities. A steward behind him whispered to him, and Huang Yipeng sneered: "Four servants in the dining hall are going to rebel! As servants in the dining hall, they dare to sleep until the beginning of the morning! Write down their names and fire them later."

"I didn't know that the outer gate manager of Shenxu Palace actually had such ability. It really opened my eyes." Tai Shuhong's voice floated over, and everyone looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Tai Shuhong holding Xiaoxiao, who was sleepy, in his arms. Under the night pearl, his silver hair was shining with silver light like a flowing galaxy.

When they saw Tai Shuhong, Wang Jian and the others were dumbfounded: "Tai... Tai Shu..." Their faces were filled with fear, as if Tai Shuhong was a terrible beast.

Tai Shuhong said, "The third rule of the Shenxu Palace is that monks should set an example and behave in moderation. They should not speak wildly, bully the weak, or break their promises. Since you asked a mess hall servant to fetch the food, why did you go back on your word?"

Wang Jian and the others were sweating profusely, and they stood there like little quails. Tai Shuhong didn't even use his coercion, but their faces turned pale.

Huang Yipeng said boldly: "Master, it's not that we don't keep our promise, it's just that the mess hall servant went too far. He took all the ingredients from the main mess hall. How will the main mess hall serve today?"

Tai Shuhong looked at Xuan Yu and asked, "When you took the ingredients, did he tell you that you could only take ingredients from the dining hall?"

Xuan Yu said: "No, Steward Wang just told me to take as much food as I can."

Tai Shuhong nodded, and turned to look at Huang Yipeng and the others: "That's what happened. You broke your promise first. A canteen servant did nothing wrong. As for the rebellion? I didn't see it. I only saw the big bullying the small. I will report it to the Criminal Court and let them handle this matter later."

Hearing this, Wang Jian and the others knelt on the ground: "Master! I have parents and children to take care of. I was confused and said something wrong. Please forgive me, Master!"

Du Heng asked Xuan Yu softly: "What is the Punishment Hall?" It sounded like a small dark room.

Xuan Yu said: "The Punishment Hall is where the Shenxu Palace punishes monks who have made mistakes. It is located at the Shenzao Peak." Du Heng raised his eyebrows. Doesn't that mean... it is near the Beast Taming Garden?

Tai Shuhong lowered his eyes and said slowly, "Get up. Considering that this is your first offense, I'll let it go this time. But I won't give you the ingredients. If the chef in the main dining hall has any objections, just ask him to come see me."

Feng Gui looked at Tai Shuhong with admiration in his eyes. He whispered to Jing Nan, "He's a good person, but a little soft-hearted. He just needs more practice."

Jing Nan smiled and responded, "There's nothing wrong with being soft-hearted. If everyone in the Sword Sect had hearts as hard as a rock, Shenxu Palace would have been in chaos long ago."

Wang Jian and his companions' legs were shaking as they left the dining hall as if they were escaping. Their voices of relief could be heard from time to time on the mountain road: "Why is Tai Shuhong here? It's so scary!" "He's a demon cultivator who will set people on fire if he doesn't agree with you! Don't provoke him."

271

After Wang Jian and the others left, Jing Nan yawned, "Ah, a bunch of rubbish, they can't even look for bad luck."

Feng Gui said: "Yes, no matter how you find it, you have to be arrogant and beat first, then scold and then blame others."

Du Heng's mouth twitched: "You two should stop now, are there any people like you?"

Jing Nan sniffed: "Huh? There's something delicious~" The guy strolled into the kitchen to find some snacks.

Du Heng looked at Tai Shuhong gratefully. If Tai Shuhong hadn't spoken, they would have been driven away by Wang Jian and his men. But when Du Heng looked at Tai Shuhong, Tai Shuhong lowered his head like someone who had done something wrong.

Du Heng asked with concern: "Uncle Tai? What's wrong with you?"

Tai Shuhong's eyes were slightly red. "Did I... lose control of myself last night? Did I do anything to hurt anyone?"

Du Heng and Xuan Yu looked at each other. Tai Shuhong was too kind, wasn't he? Du Heng smiled and said, "No, you were just drunk, and then you slept peacefully all night. What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Hearing this, Tai Shuhong suddenly raised his head and looked at Du Heng in disbelief: "Are you telling the truth? Then why..."

The demonic fire that was surging in his body was particularly calm today. This kind of calmness usually only appeared after his spiritual energy surged. At that time, his spiritual energy had already caused trouble, either burning down a house or burning a person.

Du Heng asked in confusion: "What's wrong? Is there any problem?"

Tai Shuhong walked to the backyard, looked around at the backyard and then at everyone in the dining hall. Finally, he confirmed one thing: "Is my demon fire not out of control? Is everyone really not injured by my demon fire?"

Du Heng smiled and said, "No, we drank a little last night and slept well. You slept with Xiaoxiao last night. Xiaoxiao, did Tai Shuhong lose control last night?"

Xiaoxiao, who was squatting on the stove in the kitchen eating tofu skin, shook his head and made a rattle. Nothing happened last night and he slept very well. If Wang Jian hadn't woken him up, he could have slept a little longer.

Du Heng said to Tai Shuhong, "Look, nothing happened. Just relax."

Tai Shuhong finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then he remembered something else: "Then how did I get to the wing room after I passed out drunk last night?"

Jing Nan said with a smile: "It was our Xixi who carried you in! You slept so soundly in Xixi's arms." Feng Gui covered his face and said: "Nan Nan, can you please stop making trouble?"

Tai Shuhong bowed to Feng Gui and said, "Thank you very much." He bowed to Du Heng again and said, "Thank you very much, Daoist Du, for inviting me to dinner. The food is delicious."

Du Heng smiled and said, "That's good. Are you going back to the Beast Garden to get busy? Come, have breakfast before you go. I made tofu skin today, and I also made sweet-scented osmanthus wine dumplings. Eat some before you go back."

There was a pot of rice wine dumplings in the casserole. After it boiled, Du Heng placed the casserole next to the sink. The dumplings were neither hot nor cold, just the right time to drink them.

A bowl of yellow and white dumplings was placed in a white porcelain bowl. There are two kinds of dumplings made by Du Heng, one with pumpkin juice and the other with ordinary rice flour. The dumplings of uniform size were soft and glutinous and soaked in the slippery fermented glutinous rice. If you scoop up a spoonful, you can see the fermented glutinous rice and dumplings in the spoon with the aroma of rice and wine.

It is also dotted with sweet osmanthus flowers picked by Du Heng in Dongji Mountain. The small four-petal sweet osmanthus flowers hide among the fermented rice and dumplings, and you may miss them if you don't look closely. But when the spoon is close to the nose, the faint sweet osmanthus fragrance permeates the nose.

There is a formation in the Shenxu Palace, which makes the world in the formation like spring all year round. This is actually a pity. Although spring all year round is beautiful, how can it be as pleasant as the four distinct seasons? If the formation is eliminated at this time, there should be snow falling on the main peak of the Shenxu Palace.

In the mornings of autumn and winter, drinking a bowl of hot rice dumplings with fermented glutinous rice and a few pieces of bean curd skin will warm you up and bring you peace of mind.

Xiaoxiao squatted beside Taishuhong and was very attentive. He even offered his own snacks to Taishuhong for breakfast. Du Heng thought this was a good thing. Xiaoxiao had never had a close friend. Taishuhong was a demon cultivator and was as lonely as Xiaoxiao to some extent. It was a blessing for both of them to be able to play together.

In the next few days, everything was peaceful in the dining hall. Wang Jian and his men stopped cutting back on their food for the time being. The number of monks who had registered their seals to eat in the dining hall had reached more than 50, plus the original 20 diners and monks who came to order food. Du Heng had to cook seven or eight dishes for every meal. As the spirit stones soared, Du Heng felt that his spiritual energy was also soaring.

When he was in the village, Du Heng had already tried to control the spiritual energy and control kitchen utensils such as kitchen knives and chopsticks. After practicing all this time, he can now control several spatulas to cook at the same time. When he was in Dongji Mountain, he could stir-fry two dishes at the same time. Now, he can stir-fry dishes in five pots at the same time.

Stir-frying is different from stewing. You can add seasoning to stewing slowly, but stir-frying is faster. When Du Heng stands next to the stove, his spiritual energy will be divided into several branches, digging salt, scooping sugar, pouring soy sauce... He doesn't even need to do it himself, and the dishes will jump into the pot and then be fried and put on the plate.

The only downside to doing this is that it takes a lot of effort and consumes a lot of spiritual energy.

After Du Heng finished cooking, he had to calm down and practice his mental method to recover his spiritual energy. He thought it was mainly because he was in a place where gold spiritual energy gathered, which was not conducive to the recovery of his wood spiritual energy. Now he felt like he was heading for the tiger mountain even though he knew there was a tiger in it. Under the cover of gold spiritual energy, he, a small wood spiritual root cultivator, felt more courageous as he fought.

The bamboo he planted in the wooden barrel has grown a second shoot, which looks bigger than the previous one. Du Heng was very pleased, and he placed the wooden barrel in the spirit gathering array in the yard, hoping that the bamboo can grow well in the array.

In a blink of an eye, it was Du Heng's day off. According to the rules, he could leave the sect and rest for a whole day. But Du Heng only wanted to go out of the mountain gate to Zhengyang City to buy some food such as beans and rice, so that they could go back and forth in just half a day. He mainly wanted to keep his vacation.

They would stay in Shenxu Palace for a while, at least until the spring of next year when the forbidden area of ​​Shenxu Palace was opened. However, the monks of Shenxu Palace did not celebrate the New Year, so he wanted to wait until the New Year to collect their holidays and take them together.

Du Heng calculated that he had three days off every month, and there were still more than two months before the Chinese New Year, so he could save up six or seven days of vacation. Then he and Xiaoyu would go back to celebrate the Chinese New Year, put aside all their worries and have a good rest for a while.

Xuan Yu and the others also agreed with Du Heng's point of view. They planned to save up their vacation time in the next period of time. So they decided to go out of the mountain gate together today and buy all the things they needed to buy.

By noon, Du Heng and his team had returned safely. But as soon as they reached the entrance of the second dining hall, Xiao Cai hurriedly stopped Du Heng. Xiao Cai stumbled, "Xiao Du! Go to the main dining hall!"

Du Heng was stunned for a moment: "Huh? What's wrong?"

Xiao Cai said, "People from the main dining hall came and took away all your pets!"

Du Heng: !!!

Thinking that they would only be out for half a day today, Xuan Yu suggested leaving Wonton and Ciba in the dining hall to save them from running around with others. Du Heng thought that Ciba and the others were busy catching mice at night and sleeping during the day, and Wonton was an obedient child. When they went out, they locked the dining hall and locked Wonton in the dining hall.

He was only away for half a day, and the canteen came to catch the dog? How could a person be so filthy? !

Shenhua Peak is in the south, and it would take at least an hour to walk there without a magic weapon. However, Du Heng and the others were anxious, and Feng Gui directly summoned his flying sword: "Come up!"

A golden-red light spread out, and Feng Gui carried a few people and flew towards the Shenhua Peak.

The main dining hall was on the hillside of Shenhua Peak, and Du Heng had never been there before. Before Feng Gui's spirit sword reached Shenhua Peak, two Yuanying cultivators with swords as powerful as rainbows came to Feng Gui and said, "You are not allowed to fly on the Shenhua Peak!"

Feng Gui sneered: "No flying swords allowed? Then what are you two standing on?"

Two Nascent Soul cultivators: ...What a ferocious beauty.

Feng Gui said, "My dog ​​was captured by the evil guy in the general canteen. Where is the general canteen?"

The two Yuanying monks somehow stretched out their fingers and pointed at a palace in the north mountain: "There."

Feng Gui nodded: "Thank you." He had never seen such an arrogant way of saying thank you.

After Feng Gui's spiritual sword passed through the two of them, they looked at each other in bewilderment: "Which mountain was that cultivator from just now?"

"I don't know, but it gives me a very dangerous feeling." "He is obviously just a Jindan cultivator, but with this kind of momentum... he will definitely achieve great success in the future."

"By the way...did the canteen really catch his dog?" "I don't know. Judging from the situation, they must be fighting for their lives. It shouldn't be fake."

"Yeah... that's true. I've seen sword cultivators who raise spirit pets fight to the death with anyone who messes with their spirit pets."

Jing Nan and the others couldn't hear the conversation between the two Nascent Soul cultivators, so he reminded Feng Gui, "Xixi, walk slower. If you walk any faster, you'll be exposed." Feng Gui snorted, "How can I walk slower? Du Heng is almost crying."

Jing Nan looked back and saw Du Heng rubbing his eyes with red eyes. "I should have taken them out. I didn't expect the people in the general canteen to be so shameless."

Xuan Yu comforted Du Heng: "Don't be afraid, I have a soul attached to Xiao Wonton. If there is any danger, I will know. It is fine now."

Du Heng was still worried: "There are also Ciba and Nianniansuisui. They are still so young, and they have been diligently catching mice these past few days. What did they do wrong?"

Xuan Yu said slowly: "It's okay, don't underestimate them."

Du Heng's voice choked up: "How can I not be worried? That's the main dining hall. Most of the monks of Shenxu Palace eat there. If they raise their hands, can Wonton and the others resist?"

The flying sword stopped in the square in front of the main dining hall, which looked like an enlarged version of a dining hall. There were three layers of servants surrounding the main dining hall, and the main door was closed!

The canteen was in chaos. Du Heng had never heard Xiao Wonton scream so loudly. Mixed in with the barking of dogs were people crying and shouting: "Oh my god! What is this!" "Don't come over here——"

Du Heng jumped off the flying boat and ran towards the dining hall's door: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way! I'm afraid it's the dog's owner!"

The servants made way for him, and Du Heng kicked open the door of the dining hall. The door collapsed, and Du Heng rushed in with red eyes: "Wontons!!"

The author has something to say: Feng Gui: Du Heng was actually bullied by this kind of person. It was such a waste of all his cultivation.

Du Heng: The servants in Shenxu Palace must know that they must not bully the small or the weak by taking advantage of their power.

Tai Shuhong: This kind of villain can be dealt with with just one sentence.

When it comes to getting slapped in the face, do you prefer a fight between people of the same level or a demotion from a higher-up?