Dan Feng, bearer of the title Dragon Lord, the Moon-Drinking Sovereign, counting also the inherited memories he carried, could be considered a dragon of rich experience, one who had seen great storms and waves.
And he, the Lord, was both accomplished in literature and skilled in arms.
With words, he could anger a Dragon Master so much they would reincarnate into an egg on the spot; with weapons, he could hack down Abundance Aberrations till blood and flesh flew everywhere.
No matter how dangerous the situation, he would never waver an inch.
But at this moment, seeing Jingliu's face, smiling yet burning with rage, rage that carried a killing intent…
And then looking at the glass in Jingliu's hand.
Cracks like the shape of lightning spread from bottom to top.
Just a bit more before it was ruined.
The Dragon Lord, after a long time, once again experienced that feeling of "sitting on pins and needles."
Meanwhile, the culprit, Baiheng, was completely unaware.
Dan Feng deliberately turned his head away from Jingliu.
He looked instead at the only one present besides himself who could break this awkwardness, Yingxing.
Yingxing, "What did the Abundance Aberrations ever do to you?"
Clearly, he didn't get the joke, nor could he sense the strange atmosphere hanging over the dinner table.
The culprit Baiheng, unwilling to accept defeat, wanted to find someone to acknowledge her point of view. So she turned her spearpoint toward Dan Feng, delivering a fatal strike.
Baiheng, "Dan Feng, if someone gave you Abundance Aberrations as a gift, what would you think?"
Jingliu set down the scar-covered glass, folded her arms, and turned toward Dan Feng with a gaze both obscure and hard to define.
Dan Feng, "..."
He forced himself to speak with difficulty, "I would think… it's very special."
Jingliu seemed satisfied with his answer, and quickly looked away.
At the side, Yingxing nodded fiercely in agreement, "Yeah, it's a very special gift."
The straightforward science-minded man instinctively wanted to give an example as proof. He looked at Jingliu, and without thinking opened his mouth, "For example..."
The corner of Dan Feng's eye twitched. If Yingxing really said it out loud, then what would happen?
He quickly cut off his friend's words, "Baiheng, why don't you check when the hotpot base will be ready?"
Seeing that the two still didn't get her joke, Baiheng gave up, dropping the subject without pressing further into Yingxing's unfinished words.
"You lot really don't understand romance. At this rate, you'll be single for life!"
The fox-woman snorted coldly, threw down her words, and strode off.
Dan Feng, "..."
Once Baiheng had gone far, Jingliu slowly turned her head toward the Dragon Lord across from her, who was feigning calm.
Her red pupils carried neither joy nor sorrow. She struck first, speaking in a faint, ghostly tone, "Dan Feng, you said Abundance Aberrations can be given as gifts."
Dan Feng stayed silent, but Yingxing spoke instead, indignant, "What do you mean we don't understand romance? What's wrong with Abundance Aberrations? Isn't that special enough?"
Yingxing shifted the topic onto Jingliu, asking, "Jingliu, didn't you give Aberrations as a gift? What did that person say? Were they flattered? Ecstatic?"
At those words, Jingliu temporarily lost the urge to attack. Her tone was hard to read, "…I haven't had the chance to ask yet."
As one of the short-lived species, Yingxing had met plenty of cold stares in his youth. Back then, he was sensitive, and when talking with others, he would always deliberate over every word.
But as he grew older, he stopped caring, letting cruel words in one ear and out the other, completely indifferent, his main style being "to hell with it."
The time he could spend fussing over gossips, he figured he might as well use to hammer iron.
Later, when he became one of the Hundred Smiths thanks to his brilliant forging skills, he really let himself go.
When it came to sensing the mood, Yingxing was pure "do whatever feels right." Not to mention, the ones around him were all friends who could banter freely, so he was even more unrestrained.
Yingxing said matter-of-factly, "Then just ask them later! If you ask me, it's that girl who doesn't get it! Probably not even a local of the Xianzhou!"
His thinking was simple and direct.
'Come on, that's Abundance Aberrations we're talking about! The sworn nemesis of the Xianzhou! If someone in a family became a Cloud Cavalry soldier and fought Aberrations on the frontline, the family tree would get a whole new page just for them!'
'So tell me, what Xianzhou native could refuse such a gift? Who could resist that kind of temptation? A man would immediately propose marriage! A woman would go get the certificate on the spot!'
Anyone who could resist was either one of those problematic "Five Hundred Thousand" types, or a foreigner.
Dan Feng watched with his own eyes as Jingliu's originally icy gaze gradually softened with warmth.
Dan Feng, "..."
He let out a breath of relief, silently impressed, this Yingxing guy really had something to him.
For a moment, he couldn't help but doubt, maybe Baiheng really didn't understand gift-giving?
Seeing the danger of the Swordmaster suddenly lashing out pass, Dan Feng couldn't help but feel… a little gossipy.
He asked, unable to resist, "Was it that person just now? The one you mentioned, the junior who's never been to the battlefield?"
Jingliu nodded.
Dan Feng thought, 'As expected, it was that person.'
As a friend, he knew each of their temperaments well.
Yingxing… pure "to hell with it," clashing head-on with anyone he didn't get along with.
Jingliu, cold outside, warm inside, not like Baiheng or Jing Yuan.
Baiheng and Jing Yuan were cheerful, with friends everywhere, but they always drew the line perfectly, never bringing strangers to gatherings.
But just now, when that Diviner named Zero walked in, Jingliu had frozen for a moment. On her face was… a faint awkwardness only familiar friends could detect.
That made Dan Feng recall Jingliu on the battlefield.
Back then, she kept her face cold, intimidating many idle soldiers into silence.
Dan Feng, alarmed, had quickly found an excuse to lead her into another empty tent.
Jingliu had spoken then with a tone… she had never used before.
She asked, "When giving a gift, what should one give?"
It was like seeing a hardened iron-blooded man, shoulders wide as a double-door refrigerator, running over with a grave and fierce look, and you thought it must be some life-or-death emergency, only for him to softly ask, "How do you embroider?"
Dan Feng was first stunned, then asked, "What are the other person's hobbies?"
Jingliu stayed silent.
Seeing that, Dan Feng asked again, "What kind of person is he?"
Once more, Jingliu was silent. Just as Dan Feng was about to change tack and ask a different question, she finally spoke.
She said, "He is… a very good person."
Dan Feng thought, using Yuzhao's current trendy phrase, this was basically, "One sentence from you is better than a thousand sentences."
"Then… give something he's never seen before…"
Dan Feng racked his brains. He was a Dragon Lord, what did he know about giving gifts? Most of these matters were handled by people in his clan.
Suddenly, he recalled something he'd heard when healing soldiers.
"For example, I heard about one Cloud Cavalry soldier who planned to give his lover a dead Abundance Aberration."
Jingliu said nothing, staring at him, then suddenly added coldly, "He is not my lover."
Dan Feng, "..."
Wasn't this basically a case of "there's no silver buried here"? He was just giving an example, he hadn't even asked about her relationship with that person.
As if afraid he wouldn't believe her, Jingliu repeated firmly, "He is not my lover, only a junior I know."
Dan Feng glanced at Jingliu, who was unknowingly radiating killing intent, and could only nod.
Jingliu seemed thoughtful, "He's in the Divination Commission, never been on the battlefield. Abundance Aberrations… would count as something rare."
Dan Feng felt something was off. He'd only given an example, was this gift really reliable? He wasn't sure. So he suggested she go and ask Baiheng instead.
Jingliu nodded, turned, and walked out of the tent, only to bump right into Yingxing from logistics…
As for what gift Jingliu ended up giving, and whom she asked for advice, Dan Feng knew nothing.
Today, at last, he finally learned the truth.
Jingliu never went to Baiheng at all. Instead, she ran straight into Yingxing, who was just as clueless about gifts as Dan Feng.
And Yingxing saw nothing wrong at all, still racking his brain to give her ideas.
"How did you handle the Aberrations?"
Seeing Jingliu's expression, Yingxing knew she hadn't put in much effort. So he spoke with earnest weight, "You're giving someone a gift, why not put some thought into it? Why not make it in a shape Xianzhou people like?"
Jingliu listened carefully. She asked, "How about chopping the limbs into pieces?"
Yingxing, "If you chop it up, can you still tell what it was? And if the whole delivery box is just blood… would the courier even accept it?"
Jingliu nodded with realization, "Then when freshly slain, freeze the limbs with ice."
Yingxing gave a look of "ah, the child can be taught," nodded, and said with relief, "That way you can even keep it at home as a decoration!"
A server just passing by to refill sour plum soup had their pupils shake in shock, and they slowly backed away, looking like they desperately wanted to run and report this to the Cloud Cavalry.
Dan Feng, "..."
The Dragon Lord forced out a polite yet awkward smile, wanting to explain the situation to the server, but the person bolted faster than a rabbit, vanishing in a blink.
Yingxing shook his head, "What does Baiheng know? No one understands gift-giving better than me."
Dan Feng closed his eyes, "…Right, no one understands gift-giving better than you."
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