Ling Jian'er Arrives

"Just what is this?"

"Aura? Who could possibly have such an oppressive aura?"

"You buffoons! Didn't the Young Master walk back there just now?"

Within the restaurant, numerous customers had stopped eating and chatting to look toward the outdoor kitchen. They could not see what was happening, which was arguably more suspenseful and frightening. Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er, on the other hand, were relatively unbothered. At the very least, they could still eat their food.

Ji San, Han Yueli and Han Long had only just entered the restaurant, and there were even more people waiting to get in now. They all felt that aura and slowly fell into a state of fear and shock.

"It really is the Young Master. Who else do you think could have such an aura?" Suddenly, Father Tang stood up and flicked his wrist. A thin, tiny cloud of fog filled the restaurant, reversing the ill effects of the aura just enough for the people to regain some clarity.

Sensing this, Father Tang was stunned. 'Even my Soul Calming Spell cannot completely neutralize this little bit of His aura?'

Mother Guan and Old Man Sun were also surprised. Father Tang managed a smile and said, "People, please be at ease. Sir Wuji, as he prefers to be called, will not harm any of us without reason. Please be calm, eat, and do not give him any reason to act against you."

Saying that, Father Tang sat down. The fog in the restaurant also faded gradually, but the calm atmosphere remained restored. Everyone took a short while to adjust, but they soon got back to their food and conversations.

As that was happening, Logean Wuji was slowly approaching the chef.

"Madam Chef, tell me, do you recognize this?" With a swift motion, Logean Wuji used his finger to draw in the air before the woman's eyes. Golden qi remained wherever his finger passed, twinkling like stardust.

'This qi… It's just the golden qi of mortals, but what grade?' Mister Mantiao finally had a somber, interested look on his face.

While this was happening, the white-haired chef was slowly losing her mind. That was because, when Logean Wuji finished drawing, the symbol in the air started to vibrate violently and then shot over to a fruit that was on the counter. In a matter of seconds, a random peach received the symbol on it, then started glowing and levitating.

The woman finally lost her grip on the rolling pin, but Logean Wuji used to wind to catch it.

"Z-Z-Zao Shen's Essence Evolving Trigram!? How is this possible!?" She looked at the floating peach, watching as it transformed into a gold mass that just barely resembled a peach.

Without batting an eyelash, Logean Wuji used his free hand and brought the peach flying over to her. "Take it, Madam Chef. Assess it yourself and see."

Suddenly, and with a fearful expression, she looked over to Mister Mantiao for help. Logean Wuji smiled as Mister Mantiao rushed over to her side; he had expected something like this ever since he guessed at the relationship between the two.

'If not siblings, then they are either lovers or very good friends. Their shared secrets should be entertaining.'

The two of them scrutinized the peach, but a maid entered the kitchen at that moment. There were beads of sweat on her forehead due to the effort it took for her to actually walk into the kitchen, and she was even panting a bit.

"Um, Mister Mantiao, that girl is back and she wants to see you-"

"Not now!" Shockingly to the maid, both Mister Mantiao and the chef berated her in annoyance. She nodded and stepped back, waiting for them to finish what they were doing.

"What do you think, brother," the chef quietly asked Mister Mantiao.

"What can I think? It's definitely evolved into a Divine Flat Peach, has it not? The only question is, is it a low grade, middle grade, or high grade peach?"

Hearing this, the chef scoffed. "Mantiao, surely you don't think it could possibly be a middle grade or high grade peach. That would mean that this man is more proficient than even the God of Food, Zao Shen, himself."

"Sister, 'this man' is Logean Wuji. Have you not yet realized? It is not impossible for him to be more proficient than Zao Shen." The woman frowned and fell into deep thought for a moment.

"Fine. Assuming it is a Divine Flat Peach of middle or high grade, can this really grant thousands of years to a mortal's lifespan?"

Mister Mantiao nodded seriously.

"Just after he simply waved his hand around a bit?"

Once more, he nodded.

Looking defeated, the woman turned to Logean Wuji and saluted him respectfully. "Zhou Hua acknowledges a true expert whose attainments in the Culinary Dao thoroughly exceed her own."

Stunned for just a second, Mister Mantiao looked at his sister in disbelief. Finally, he cleared his throat and also saluted Logean Wuji. "Zhou Mantiao prostrates before your understanding of the Culinary Dao."

Logean Wuji nodded at them, satisfied with their character. "Very good. Had you attempted to belittle this peach, I would have completely embarrassed you with a demonstration on one of the mortals outside."

Zhou Hua, the white-haired chef, tensed up and gave a nervous laugh. She felt like she had truly dodged a bullet. Zhou Mantiao also weakly smiled, but a strange light flashed in his eyes when he heard Logean Wuji's words.

"Sir Wuji means to say he has already ascended to immortality?"

Logean Wuji suddenly closed his eyes and turned around to walk away. "My cultivation is not your concern. Miss Hua, the complete version of 'Essence of the Culinary Dao' is on your counter. Study well. The village elders will soon be organizing an event for you all to showcase your talents before me. I hope to be impressed by one of your dishes."

After that, he left the kitchen and returned to his table under everyone's curious gazes. Ye Hong was chatting with some other people, but when he saw Logean Wuji return he hurried back to his side.

"Sir Wuji, have you decided on what you'll be ordering?"

Logean Wuji shook his head, then looked around a bit before asking, "Where's Ling Ji'er?"

Ye Hong frowned at first, but then he laughed nervously and said, "Remember that sister of hers?"

Outside of the restaurant, a brown-eyed redhead stood with her arms folded against her small chest. Her robes were silky, colored white and green, and there was a black ribbon on her as well as black leather shoes. Standing between her and the doorway was Ling Ji'er, a desperate and helpless look on her face.

"Please, Jian'er, calm down and think."

"Hmph! I don't want to calm down and think! If that greedy owner thinks he can ban me, Ling Jian'er, from entering his restaurant, then he's dead wrong!" Ling Ji'er sighed. This little sister of hers was too much.

"Jian'er, it's not that. You see-"

"Ah, Ling Ji'er, this is where you went." With his signature carefree smile, Logean Wuji walked out of the restaurant and came over to stand at Ling Ji'er's side, hands behind his back. He looked down at Ling Jian'er and could instantly see the resemblance between the two, aside from just the red hair.

"Ah, this must be the kid sister you were telling me about."

Ye Hong came out afterward, following behind Logean Wuji like an obedient pet. Ling Ji'er smiled, but then quickly shot her sister a glare.

"As I was saying, Jian'er, you need to be a little more mature. Did you even know that the great Son of Destiny, Sir Wuji of the Logean Clan, has returned? You need to mind your manners before he erases you from this realm! Hmph!"

Ling Ji'er was experiencing pure bliss. When had she ever dared to speak to her 'genius' little sister like this? A slip of the tongue was rewarded with a dreadful kick to the shin or a punch to the gut, both of which left her in pain for days.

'Truly there are heavens beyond the heavens!'

Logean Wuji and Ling Jian'er shared a look, with Ling Jian'er sizing him up and him smiling at her without a care for her actions.

"Hm. This is actually a bit disappointing. After all the stories I heard from the commoners here in this region, I thought their 'Son of Destiny' would be extremely mighty and, maybe, a worthy opponent."

Almost immediately, Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er frowned and their faces darkened.

"By the look of you, you don't seem much better than an ordinary man. Are you sure he hasn't just fooled the lot of you?" Ling Jian'er then took a step forward, staring Logean Wuji straight in the eyes. Amused, he looked down at her and giggled.

"This sister of yours sure is something. Oh, look at that. Ji'er, you never told me your sister was part monkey."

At first, they were all confused. It was only when Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er looked at Ling Jian'er that they noticed something mind-blowing.

At some point, a long brown tail had appeared, bursting out from under Ling Jian'er's clothes. It wagged around, swaying and curling at the end, but remaining poised like a serpent.

"Jian'er, you… You have a tail?" Ling Ji'er and Ye Hong were both stunned, but quickly realized how what they were seeing was possible. It was very likely that Sir Wuji did something to Ling Jian'er, causing her to grow a tail.

Yet again, they inwardly prostrated before his magic power.

Ling Jian'er sneered and looked down her nose at them. "You imbeciles! He says I'm part monkey and you just blindly agr- Eh?"

"EH!?!?"

Ling Jian'er's brown eyes were beyond wide, staring down at the unnatural thing that was jutting out of her backside. In her daze, she reached for and grabbed onto it, still refusing to believe it was real. As she looked around at the others, she realized that they were looking towards Logean Wuji in awe and wonder.

She immediately realized what happened.

Fuming, she turned herself back round and got closer to him, pointing a finger at him.

"What did you do!? Undo it, quick!"

Logean Wuji smiled in response to her demand, not placing her in his eyes. A trace of excitement was just barely hidden beneath the surface of his composure, but no one could possible notice it.

"Oi! Didn't you hear me? Hurry up and make it go away or I'll make it so that you can never smile again!"

Hearing that, Logean Wuji smirked and said, "How, pray, are you going to do that? I quite like to smile."

Ling Jian'er sneered, took a step back and made a fist. "Don't blame me, then." In that instant, seething flames began to swirl around her tiny frame and gather around her fist, coating it in a bright red flame. The wave of heat grew around her body, and specks of dust and particles of earth rose up around her, sending the wind into disarray.

Behind Logean Wuji, Ling Ji'er and Ye Hong were beginning to panic. Despite how badly they wished to run out from behind Logean Wuji, they didn't dare. Even so, they could not bear to see this foolish girl be killed for her insolent behavior.

Ling Ji'er frowned and shut her eyes, not wanting to look. In her hear, she whispered a prayer for her little sister. 'Heavens above, a true and unparalleled idiot was born into my Ling Clan. I only ask that, as she is removed from this world, you forgive my clan for this crime.'

Suddenly, Ling Jian'er scoffed. "You may not be ordinary, but surely you're overestimating yourself. I'll have you know that I, Ling Jian'er, am now a martial artist at the Mortal Qi Realm's first step!"

As she proudly gave voice to her accomplishment, she soon realized that no one was around to be amazed by her talent. Of the people that were around, the only person that seemed happy for her was Logean Wuji- however his smile seemed more like mockery than anything else.

Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er could not feel happy for her. They could only shed silent tears for her stupidity. No matter how grand and imposing her aura seemed at that moment, it could never match up to the man that had, with a glance, turned them both into elderly people.

Logean Wuji brought one hand out from behind him, crooking his finger and taunting her. "There's no need for your posturing. Come at me, if you dare."

"Tch!" Ling Jian'er went down low. All her energy, at that moment, spiked and swirled around her legs as increasingly overbearing might erupted and she rushed forward. In less than an instant, she had already arrived with her fist just inches away from Logean Wuji's porcelain face.

"Not bad for a monkey."

By the time Ye Hong, Ling Ji'er and Ling Jian'er heard Logean Wuji say this, the entire situation was reversed. Ling Jian'er was flat on her back, all of a sudden, and Logean Wuji did not even appear to have moved. The heat quickly vanished from the world, and all was calm.

Still smiling, Logean Wuji crouched and said to the stunned girl, "Come now, monkey. Is that all the fight you have in you?"