Gabriel collected the rewards of the quest.
[ + 10 Stat Points ]
[ + 10 Shop Points ]
He stretched. He felt as if his whole body was burning with energy.
" Did you find anything ? " Xie Ling asked, having come back.
Gabriel just nodded, putting down the manual.
" Yeah, you ? "
" I finally found a movement technique that suit me perfectly ! It's a unorthodox technique named Ghost Steps. Despite the name it's not really about being invisible as a ghost but more of a hallucination-inducing technique. " Xie Ling started rambling about his finding.
They both started leaving the library.
" Uhm… You can tell me to fuck off if it's too much, but do you want to eat dinner together ? " Xie Ling asked.
What ? Gabriel thought martial artist didn't have to eat because of their cultivation.
" I thought martial artist didn't eat ? "
Xie Ling gave Gabriel a weird look.
" I mean, I guess if they are above the Nascent Soul stage. But I don't think that's the case for anyone here except maybe a few lords, elders and the sect leader . " Xie Ling explained.
Oh. Gabriel's cover as a martial artist was getting worst and worst.
" Ah. Sorry, I just… forgot. " Gabriel excused himself lamely.
Forgot that he needed to eat, Gabriel thought, what kind of shitty lie was that ? Thankfully, Xie Ling didn't call off his lie. Gabriel followed Xie Ling but he had no idea where they were going to eat.
Xie Ling went to his room to take a few bag of spices before going to the kitchen.
" You cook ? " Gabriel asked.
Gabriel himself had never cooked anything in his life. When he was a human, his palate was far from refined, so anything he managed to get his hand on was eaten raw. He rarely ate cooked food, and when he did he hadn't really liked it. His face scrunched up, remembering the still burning pigeon a maid had once taken pleasure in force feeding it to him.
But he guessed if it was Xie Ling that cooked it he could pretend to like it.
The brunette started heating up a pan. He took out a piece of meat from the pantry. He started cutting and cooking the meat like an expert. While it was cooking, he started preparing the sauce, putting spices after spices. It was far from ready, yet it already smelled heavenly. Damn, thought Gabriel, was this guy actually a professional chief.
His mouth was watering. He looked at Xie Ling who was standing to the side, chopping vegetables. Discreetly, he sneaked a piece of meat into his mouth. It melted into his mouth, a perfect combination of sweet and salty. The spices burned his tongue in a much more enjoyable way than a burning pigeon. This man was surely a magician.
" Is it any good ? " Xie Ling had caught him and was smiling.
" It's great." Gabriel sighed contentedly.
He continued munching on the food, far from guilty. Xie Ling gave a small laugh and continued cooking while giving Gabriel different ingredients for him to taste.
Gabriel was sitting on the counter beside the pan.
" Why isn't there anyone else ? Do they eat somewhere else ? " Gabriel asked, looking around the kitchen while munching on carrots.
" Only Lord Zhou's disciples and a few inner disciples acting as servants have access to Lord Zhou's palace, including the kitchen. The inner disciples in charge of cooking must have already served the food. "
" Really ? I didn't see a dinning room though. "
" Hm ? Ah, no. I meant serving the food directly to our rooms. " Xie Ling's brows furrowed as he shook the pan.
" So we could have just gone to our room and eat ? " Gabriel asked with incomprehension.
Xie Ling's ears went red, and his eyes pointedly avoided Gabriel's stare.
" I mean, I guess. But, I just really wanted to cook something. And you know, I thought might as well cook for two… " Xie Ling started justifying himself.
" Yeah, besides I'm sure your cooking must be better than anyone else's. " He complimented, staring longingly at the food.
" Thanks ! You can ask me anytime if you want me to cook something for you. I actually really like cooking. " Xie Ling said.
Gabriel couldn't see Xie Ling's expression since his face was hidden by his long dark hair, but his tone seemed genuine.
" 'Kay. "
Xie Ling stopped the fire and served both of them a plate. Gabriel started eating with difficulty with the chopsticks. Xie Ling smiled with amusement at his failed attempt.
" Eating with your hand would be less messy at this point. " Xie Ling teased.
Gabriel stared in Xie Ling's eyes and pointedly stabbed a piece of vegetable with the chopsticks before putting it in his mouth. Gabriel continued using the chopsticks to stab rather than pick up the food, finishing his meal this way. Xie Ling smiled, amused.
Xie Ling looked out the window. Gabriel followed his stare. It was already dark outside.
" I'm going to go to my room. " Gabriel stood up. " Want to spar tomorrow ? " He proposed.
Xie Ling lit up and nodded.
" Always ! I really love fighting. Like everyone else here I guess since we're all martial artist. Although you do seem a bit less enthusiastic about fights. " Xie Ling said, referring to Gabriel's cowardly attitude during the test. " Not that it's a bad thing ! It was just an observation, it really isn't meant as an insult ! " Xie Ling rushed to explain, realizing how his words could be interpreted.
" Don't worry about it. " Gabriel said, he really didn't care.
They left together since their rooms were right next to each other anyway. Gabriel waved goodbye and went back to his room. As he left Xie Ling, a screen popped up.
[ + 10 Stat Points ]
[ + 10 Shop Points ]
Hm ? Why had he gotten a reward all of sudden ? He tilted his head before remembering. Right, he had a quest to spend time with Xie Ling because he had a complimentary bloodline. He wondered what Xie Ling's bloodline could be.
[ Quest
Stick close to an individual with a complementary bloodline for a week. ]
Ah ? The same quest again ? He was pretty sure he would have stuck close to Xie Ling either way. Well, if they wanted to give him free rewards, he wasn't going to complain. He looked at the new angelic skill he got earlier in the library.
[ Judgement ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Description
Deal a small amount of damage proportional to the target's immoral actions. Cannot be dodged ]
Damn. It was a pretty good skill. Next, he opened the tournament quest.
[ Quest
Win the Tournament of the Three Major Sects
Time Limit 7 Days
Punishment Death ]
He knew logically that he still had the time, he was already stronger than most disciples who would participate in the tournament. But just seeing the time limit go down by a single day with 'Death' written right below made his heart skip a beat. Wait, he forgot to take into account how long the tournament would last. The tournament should just be one on one fights, there was no way they could organize enough duel to determine the winner in a day.
Gabriel's first reflex was to barge in Xie Ling's room to ask him. He stopped himself. Xie Ling was probably sleeping, or at the very least trying to sleep.
Instead he roamed the palace in search of someone. But nobody seemed to be awake in the palace, so he eventually went out near the living space of the inner and outer disciples. Sure enough the lights of the outer buildings were still on.
Too lazy to search for the door, Gabriel directly climbed through the window. Some girl was scrubbing the floor hard while muttering under her breath. Gabriel approached her from behind and poked her to get her attention. She jumped back, protecting her head with her hands.
" I'm sorry ancestors, I didn't mean it ! " She started yelling nonsense. " I'm sorry. Forgive me. "
She knelt down while repeatedly bowing her head. Gabriel stared at her in incomprehension. She raised her eyes and finally realized Gabriel wasn't whoever she was apologizing.
" Hey. Do you know when the tournament starts ? " Gabriel got straight to business.
" Wh-what ? You can't just barge in here and- and- " She waved angrily at him.
Her eyes looked him over, more particularly at his robes. She stopped dead in her track. She went silent. She still hadn't answered Gabriel.
" So when's the tournament ? " Gabriel asked again.
" Oh. Uhm… in four days. "
" And it lasts three days ? " Gabriel made sure the timeline was lining up with the quest's time limit.
She nodded awkwardly, her face tense.
Gabriel nodded too before jumping back out the window. What a strange girl, he thought, walking back to the palace. He could go back to his room with a new peace of mind. He took off his clothes and removed the bandages binding his wings. He stopped Shape Shifting, his wings returning to their normal size.
[ Shape Shifting ( lvl 2 ) ]
He stretched out his wings, unwinding. Gabriel yawned and went under the blanket. He finally fell asleep.