"Master, can I drain all his blood?"
A tender, childish voice suddenly echoed in Yao Ranran's mind. She froze for a moment before realizing it was the phoenix at her side speaking to her through sound transmission.
Yao Ranran quickly shook her head.
"No, no, how could you want to drain tree blood? Aren't you a divine beast?"
"Fairy, what tree blood are you talking about?" Tang Xiangyin asked in puzzlement.
Yao Ranran let out a soft sigh and glanced at Xiao Rong, who was grinning proudly. "What else could it be? Isn't there only one tree here?"
Tang Xiangyin followed her gaze. Xiao Rong was laughing with hands on his hips, showing his teeth.
He stiffly turned his head. "That phoenix didn't actually understand I was insulting it, right?"
Yao Ranran shook her head. Just as Xiao Rong was about to burst into another round of laughter, she said lazily, "Not only did it understand, it even wants your life."
Xiao Rong forced a smile. "…"
The phoenix puffed itself up in triumph: Scared now, aren't you!
"If it dares attack us, can we stew it?" Tang Xiangyin stroked the back of her hand where it had pecked her earlier, her tone carrying a faint chill.
Yao Ranran replied, "That's not impossible."
"Clang!!"
The phoenix flapped its wings in alarm.
Tang Xiangyin rolled up her sleeves and licked the corner of her lips with her tongue.
"But since when do you know how to make stew?" Yao Ranran frowned, worried she would ruin a pot of good ingredients.
The phoenix let out a few loud cries, then quickly shrank down and curled up behind Yao Ranran.
"Of course, Master still loves me. By questioning that woman's cooking, she's clearly discouraging her from trying to kill me!
I am a divine beast, a phoenix! How could a strange woman with unknown bloodline compare to me in Master's heart?"
The phoenix's emotions steadied as it hid behind Yao Ranran, peeking out to glare provocatively at Xiao Rong and Tang Xiangyin.
Tang Xiangyin frowned, ignored the phoenix, and said seriously, "Fairy, I've recently been learning cooking from Physician Zhou. He said that though stewing soup is troublesome, once you memorize the steps, it's easy to succeed! So I'll definitely stew this wild chicken until it smells wonderful!"
Yao Ranran nodded in approval.
She hadn't expected Tang Xiangyin to harbor such ambition! If Tang Xiangyin truly became skilled at cooking, then each time she made soup with a few stalks of Spirit Lingzhi whiskers added, even if it was poisonous broth, Yao Ranran would drink it without hesitation.
"Good, since you have such determination, once you've finished studying under Physician Zhou, this phoenix will be yours to stew."
Yao Ranran couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
The phoenix behind her was dumbfounded.
"What did I just hear?!"
Tang Xiangyin's eyes sparkled. "Really? That's wonderful! I'll immediately learn stewing from Physician Zhou!"
Xiao Rong blinked. "But Physician Zhou and Nie Daoyou stayed behind in Central Continent!"
Tang Xiangyin, who had been excited, suddenly fell silent. Yao Ranran also remembered then. No wonder the journey had felt unusually quiet. The two chatterboxes had been left behind.
"Seems I have no fate with Physician Zhou…" Tang Xiangyin muttered. "Then I'll have to apprentice under Grandma Zhang!"
Yao Ranran almost said that changing masters was disgraceful.
But then she recalled she had never once eaten anything cooked by Zhou Lili, and she quickly fell silent. It was hard to imagine Zhou Lili's pampered temper producing anything delicious…
"Wow, Xiao Tang is going to study cooking with Grandma Zhang? I love Grandma Zhang's food the most!" Xiao Rong ran over to Tang Xiangyin in delight and shook her hand.
Basking in Xiao Rong's admiration, Tang Xiangyin instantly straightened her back as if she were already a master chef.
Cooking? That was nothing difficult!
Under Xiao Rong's urging, the two of them ran down the mountain together, heading straight for Longyin Village.
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
Once they were gone, the phoenix transformed into a delicate little bird and perched on Yao Ranran's shoulder, rubbing affectionately against a lock of her hair.
Yao Ranran set it down and lectured it, "From now on, you can't transform freely. If anyone discovers your true identity, it will be disastrous. The safest disguise is to remain a wild chicken. That way, fewer people will pay attention to you."
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
The phoenix protested in dismay. It didn't want to become an ugly wild chicken!
Yao Ranran insisted, "And you'd better imitate the calls of real chickens. Listen to how good they sound."
She carried it to the cliff edge, where the wild chickens of Lone Star Peak called out at just the right time.
"Cluck cluck cluck! Cluck cluck cluck!"
The phoenix: "…" "Is she serious? A divine beast phoenix, imitating common barnyard chickens?"
Yao Ranran nodded in satisfaction. "Whenever you have free time, practice chicken calls here. Once you've mastered it, the rest of your time is yours. I'll be cultivating now."
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
The phoenix refused to humiliate itself with such calls. Instinctively, it tried to follow her, but she struck it with the Demon Staff, freezing it in place.
Yao Ranran frowned slightly. "You're being disobedient."
With that, she drew a circle around the phoenix.
"Now you cannot leave this boundary until you've mastered a proper chicken call."
Retracting the Demon Staff, Yao Ranran looked upon her handiwork with satisfaction. Then she turned and left.
The phoenix stared blankly, lowering its head to examine the black line encircling it. Its feathers bristled, and with a disdainful flick of its dazzling tail, it scoffed at the drawn circle.
"A mere line on the ground, restraining a divine phoenix? Impossible!"
It spread its magnificent wings, stirring mountain winds and scattering snowflakes. With contempt in its eyes, it prepared to soar into the skies.
But the black circle came alive. Countless dark threads shot upward in an instant, tangling its talons, binding its radiant feathers, and devouring everything within the boundary.
The phoenix's eyes sank into darkness, filled with fear and disbelief.
"What kind of sinister power is this?!"
…
"Yao Ranran, once you reach the Eastern Wilderness, come to Yanhuo City to face me!"
Yao Ranran watched silently as the message appeared in the sky, drawn out of the Dark Marrow. She casually dispersed it, tossing the marrow into a smithy.
"Li Luoqi, your sub-demon skill remains unresolved. But since you've arrived in the Eastern Wilderness, you should have met Lu Ziqian by now."
Pei Xianqiao's matter was settled, more or less.
As long as they remained apart, Pei Xianqiao couldn't drag her into the Demon Abyss.
But Li Luoqi was an unstable factor. His sub-demon art could control her, and she had yet to find a way to counter it.
The one who might know the solution, Bai Qingwu, was now her bitter rival. Her only hope lay with Lu Ziqian, who was still in hiding.
She could only pray her disciple would carry her forward.
Yao Ranran shared the same dream as An Xiaolin.
The master lies back in peace, while the disciple soars into the skies.