Chapter 58: Delicious fish stew.

Still feeling thrilled from the previous battle, Zhu Dingxiang looked at Qiuyue and chuckled. With the sense of danger inside her heart slowly faded away, she also looked back at him, heaving a sigh of relief as her anxiety loosened.

After flying for a while, they soon located a small island in the outer area of the lake.

The water around here was shallow, only measured up to one's hip.

Amidst the abundant vegetation which adorned the area with life, many spiritual animals ran and played around, creating rustling noises.

In the bushes, countless insects are ringing, playing a unique tune of music...

Upon the tall tree's branches, birds were resting, while below on the ground, many mushroom-like beasts and plants creature leaning against each other, snoring soundly.

Somewhere, within a nest made of grass and dried twigs, mama duck was sleeping with its ducklings, at another place within a hollow tree log filled with damp green moss, the naughty little weasels playing fight with their siblings.

On the round lotus leaves floating on the water surface, chubby toads are croaking, trying to attract the female's attention. Meanwhile, spotty otters were busying hunting for fishes in the crystal clear water, spiky crabs dancing, waving their robust claw trying to spread the egg sacs, producing a new generation.

Maybe because of the abundant supply of foods and living a carefree life, they all look rather plumpy and adorable.

Once landed on the small island, they dismounted from Chibi's back.

"Puk! Puk!"

After making some funny noises, Chibi flew toward the water and started showing the other spiritual beasts who's the boss!

'So energetic!' The both of them thought.

"I will be back shortly, gotta wash off the blood. Do you mind waiting for a while?" Zhu Dingxiang inquired, pointing at the red stains on his haori. Although he could purify it off with his spirit ability, it would felt better if he used water instead.

"No, not at all...I will go and light up a fire..." Qiuyue said before turning to looks for dried branches.

...

After taking off his straw sandals and white socks, a pair of attractive, smooth, and slender legs soon exposed to the moonlight.

Getting into the lake, Zhu Dingxiang cleanses off the red bloodstains on his clothes and foxtails. Soon, they are fresh and clean, emitting starlight light sparkle beautifully, just like before.

Maybe it was just his illusion, but the three foxtails were growing longer and fluffier... Before, they were only about 2.5 meters long, but now... they are almost reaching the 3 meters mark.

After exploring around, something suddenly sparks in his mind.

Taking a deep breath, Zhu Dingxiang submerged himself into the cold water. Manipulating the surrounding water grass, they quickly knitting together and forming a net. Moving it around, he was trying to lure in a few regular Aurora Wine Fish and shrimp.

At one go, he was able to catch more than a few fishes and two big shrimps. In this world, both regular and spiritual animals tend to be a little oversized. You can't underestimate these shrimps, as their body is even longer than his arm and as thick as his thigh. With artistic black stripes on their shell, these shrimp moves extremely fast underwater and are very difficult to spot.

With a flick of his hand, the fishes and shrimp got swung onto the island.

'Xiao Jie's body is weak and unable to digest food with spiritual Qi yet; these normal shrimps and fishes would do the job to satisfied her gluttonous belly.'

After looking around some more, Zhu Dingxiang beaming with a smile as he began to dig his hand into the soft mud. Shortly after, he pulled out a white and fat lotus root.

'This looks delicious.' He thought, storing the lotus root away.

...

It's getting late; the monthly Wine Lake Festival is ending...

Many boats and crafts already began to recede to the harbor as thousands of water lanterns breaking through the darkness in place of the fleeting moon.

"These should be enough."

Drying up his clothes, Zhu Dingxiang looks at the flopping fish and shrimp he caught, feeling contented. Shortly after, he came back to the small island.

Walking over, he saw Qiuyue sitting on a large rock, watching the fireflies dancing above. With the golden light of the bonfire gently caressed her delicate face, she looks charming and lovely.

Suddenly, the world seems to lose its color.

Here, at this moment, everything else became unnecessary, for all that exists was he and her.

At a loss for words, Zhu Dingxiang walked over and sat next to her.

The sound of his heavy heartbeat attracted her attention, yet both of them didn't say anything.

Together, amidst the silent but warming atmosphere, he takes out a giant wok...

Anyway, after cleaning up the Aurora Wine Fish, Zhu Dingxiang carefully cut it apart. There was no fishy stench, by the way, only a unique mellow fragrance of wine.

With many failed attempts of carving formations runes on jade rocks and wasting countless gold coins, his knife skill has become pretty decent as each move was as smooth as flowing water.

Since Qiuyue doesn't know how to cook as she has always dedicated her time to training, Zhu Dingxiang has to help put the already prepared ingredients into the wok.

Sliced onions, sliced lotus root, spicy chili pepper, sugar, salt, fermented bean paste, and Fish Sauce he bought from the local for a stronger flavor...

Last but not least, they added in the Aurora Wine fish, the core ingredient.

Soon, once the fish stew boils as it's ready, a pleasant aroma surge and wrapped the area.

Smelling something delicious from the gentle autumn wind breeze, many chubby low-rank spiritual animals quickly come running over. However, they didn't come closer and only watched from afar with mouths open wide, drooling.

Filling up a bowl, he hands it to Qiuyue first.

"Thank you..." Taking the bowl with two hands, she said while a rosy red tint colored her cheek.

"It's nothing." Successfully performing his gallant deed, Zhu Dingxiang was proud of himself.

Filling the fish stew in his bowl, he gives the enticing piece of fish a large bite, and his mouth was overflowing with the freshness of nature. Although he has never drink wine or alcohol before, this taste is just heavenly.

"It's delicious!" They both exclaimed.

The sweetness from the Aurora Wine Fish, the spiciness from chili pepper, the herbal taste from the plants he harvests from the lakeside, and many other ingredients perfectly blending, complementing each other.

Beside Dingxiang was Chibi, who enjoyed the fish stew while not forgetting to gives the other spiritual animals taunting looks.

Watching they eat, the chubby spiritual animals on the sideline started wailing and crying funnily, questioning their life.

"Pfft hahaha, brother Dingxiang, let's share some with them. They look so cute, don't you think so?" Seeing the heart-melting expression of the cute spiritual beasts, she starts giggling.

"Okay." He replied.

After Dingxiang distributed the leftover fish stew in the wok, the chubby spiritual animal comes over and eats happily.

It was a wholesome scene.