Chapter 7-Thank the Heavens

As he took out his things he didn't notice that Xu Huo was mumbling to himself about getting stronger, love, goals, and making his parents who have passed away, proud. After hyping himself up, he noticed the things that weren't strewn about him when he and brother Ping were chatting about relationships. "brother Ping, what are you doing with these mortal tools?" as he started picking them up and swinging/touching/injecting spiritual qi into them to see if they had any use. "oh, I was gonna cook a meal for myself since I can still taste them since I haven't gotten too far in cultivation but you should just cultivate since you wouldn't like it" "I'll just give it a try since it couldn't be that bad right?" "If you insist but I have to think of what to cook first with what I have" then he started checking the herbs, vegetables, and seasonings he had so that he could come up with an idea for dinner, "I'll use whatever animal you can catch/kill around the outskirts of the forest of eerie" "Deal!" then Xu Huo got up and started walking in a direction to go looking for some animals while Liao Ping started preparing some things for a soup as a side dish.

While Ma Shu and Gao Shi are cultivating in their huts, Master Hu Tu has just finished reaching the 1st level of Sanity Scattering in his body cultivation. 'Sigh, it took a great deal of effort to reach this stage but it was worth it! Now, how should I celebrate?' 'Oh, I know! I gonna go get myself a spiritual beast companion!' then he got up and walked out of his hut to check in on his disciples before heading out of the peak. As he headed into the sect, his disciples Ma Shu and Gao Shi had gotten to the 1st level of Qi Gathering but Gao Shi could immediately reach the 5th level of Qi Gathering if she tried. "Senior sister Gao Shi, weren't you chosen for being a great candidate for cultivation?" "Yes I was but what does that have to do with our cultivating session?" "Aren't you supposed to be at a higher level than me?" "Does that really matter that much to you?" "Yes!" "Well, we're sisters aren't we?" "Yes!" "Then there's your answer to your question" "But I don't understand why" "Well then we can ask senior brother when he returns" "all alright" "don't think too much about it since we'll be sisters forever even if we are married or dead" "thank you sister Shi" then they quietly went back to cultivating.

As Xu Huo ran around looking for animals to hunt so that he could feed his curiosity, he spotted a squirrel and was going to kill it and bring it back but decided to just bring it back since he thinks that brother Ping will show more of his culinary skills if he brought back an alive animal. Then he started to try to catch the squirrel but to no avail which eventually led to the squirrel getting away. 'Aww man, the squirrel got away!' mumbled Xu Huo. Then Xu Huo thought of a prediction, 'What if brother Ping wanted me to leave so that he won't embarrass himself so he went back to get some food and would be waiting for me to taste it even if it's not his own cooking, I'm such a genius that it even scares myself!' then he started walking toward the direction they had set up camp. As he was walking back, he noticed that the forest of eerie was deathly silent and the only noise that could be heard were his own footsteps as he walked back to the camp. "Brother Ping, I couldn't catch any animals since they were too far away, sigh" "That's alright since I could just make some soup and eggs for dinner" "oh thank the heavens that I didn't straight up kill that squirrel" "What?" "Nothing!" "So as I was saying, do you want to try out the soup or eggs first after I've made them?" "I'll try out the eggs then the soup!" "Okay then just wait until I finish cooking them" while Liao Ping started cooking the eggs, Xu Huo sat by watching for a bit until he got bored and started cultivating to progress his cultivation base.

After a while, an aroma started wafting through the air and into the deathly silent forest. Xu Huo stopped cultivating since he was smelling the aroma in the air which was causing thoughts to appear in his head. "Brother Ping! Didn't you say that I wouldn't like it?" "No, I said that you probably wouldn't like it" "Yeah, yeah, but I think the eggs or soup is smelling great!" "Whatever food that is causing that aroma I wanna try it first!" "Are you sure?" "Yep!" "Okay then" then he hands a plate with some eggs to Xu Huo. "It should be much bigger shouldn't it?" "Well, I had only bought some ordinary eggs since I thought I was gonna be alone" then Liao Ping started eating the eggs while Xu Huo thought of a reply, 'Should I say something that will comfort him? Or eat the eggs?' "Brother Huo, your eggs might get cold if you don't eat them" "Huh? oh right!" then Liao Ping watched as Xu Huo ate the eggs while mumbling about himself, "should I comfort him? Or-" "You know what? brother Ping, what do you mean you were gonna be alone?" "I doing this mission to earn some change for my goal" "Oh what's your goal?" "I'm gonna go buy some materials so that I can make some pills to offer to Elder Fairy" "Oh? You're going to offer some pills to Elder Fairy from the White Immortal Palace. What for?" "I wanna learn how to grow spiritual plants properly" "Pfft! haha, haha" "Laugh all you want, just know I won't be there to pick you up a second time" "..." "I'm sorry brother Ping but your idea was hilarious! She has many suitors, admirers, and she's at the Glowing Lantern Realm! You don't stand a chance at getting approval from her" "We'll see" Xu Huo looked at brother Ping to see his tone change to indifference and his face filled with coldness. He'll never forget the sight of the eerie woods as brother Ping's backdrop while the embers from the campfire flew up with smoke and brother Ping's cold look.