"Ah, someone on the island has broken through!"
"I saw clearly, it's a young man and a young woman!"
"Aren't they Cheng Xiaofan's disciples? The man is called Long Xingyun, and the woman is called Jiang Xueyan. They both came from the north!"
"As expected, proximity breeds favor. Those related to Cheng Xiaofan have broken through so quickly!"
"Perhaps Cheng Xiaofan fed them Ang Ding Dragon Fish daily, absorbing too much dragon qi, which led to their breakthrough!"
"We who lack such connections can only rely on luck to catch Ang Ding Dragon Fish and increase the dragon qi in our bodies!"
"This anomaly in Nanshan Lake might lead to a surge of mutated fish. Everyone, don't lose heart. If we work hard, heaven will surely favor us!"
The people along the banks of Nanshan Lake, upon discovering Long Xingyun and Jiang Xueyan's breakthroughs, were filled with envy and jealousy, murmuring all sorts of things.
Cheng Xiaofan was the local bully of the Zhuxi Village area. He had a divine eagle in the sky, a demonic dog on the ground, and dragon fish in the water. Relying on these three beasts, he controlled all the resources of Nanshan Lake.
When you are under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head.
If you want to eat fish from Nanshan Lake and obtain dragon qi from them, you must pass through Cheng Xiaofan. Even knowing you'll be fleeced, you have to swallow your pride.
What else could be done? The Earth was experiencing a spiritual energy famine, and natural treasures were rarely seen. Difficult as it was to find dragon qi that could help ancient martial arts cultivators break through, who wouldn't want to possess it!
Cheng Xiaofan's keen senses, no matter how far away, allowed him to hear every word spoken by those he focused on, without missing a single one.
This was the heaven-defying ability of a Shennong descendant.
Heh heh!
It seemed Long Xingyun and Jiang Xueyan's breakthroughs had made many people's eyes turn red with envy!
This was indeed a good thing. He could extort more from these cultivators.
"Master, we're back!" At this moment, Long Xingyun and Jiang Xueyan returned, their clothes tattered and their faces covered in dirt, having just ascended.
As soon as they entered the house, they thumped to the ground and knelt. "Master above, please accept your disciples' bow!"
"Go, go, you two, quickly go to the bathroom to clean yourselves up and put on clean clothes before you speak!" Cheng Xiaofan was overwhelmed by the peculiar smell emanating from them, hastily covering his nose and stepping back a few paces, saying with a hint of disgust.
"Yes, yes, Master, we'll go clean up right away!" They also knew their scent was unpleasant, so they quickly got up from the ground and ran towards the bathroom.
Long Xingyun and Jiang Xueyan had just ascended and were brimming with energy, with nowhere to exert it. It was estimated that once these two entered the bathroom, a battle was inevitable.
While they were occupied, Cheng Xiaofan dialed his goddess's number.
"Yiling, have you and Shen Ruobing returned yet?" he asked into his phone.
Bai Yiling smiled and replied, "We returned a while ago. We're at the village office now. She's taken out her ancestral secret manual, and we're looking at the wedding bed patterns together!"
Cheng Xiaofan said, "I won't be back for dinner tonight. Please tell my mom for me that I have something to handle here on the island."
"Okay, I understand!" Bai Yiling replied.
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Xiaofan took out some Ang Ding Dragon Fish from his spatial storage, slaughtered them, and prepared to stew them into soup to entertain Long Xingyun and Jiang Xueyan.
These Ang Ding Dragon Fish were caught by Cheng Xiaofan in Nanshan Lake yesterday.
As a master, personally cooking for his disciples was something Cheng Xiaofan would never do under normal circumstances.
But now, Cheng Xiaofan was overflowing with affection.
He loved his disciples dearly!
These two had just ascended, and the newly formed power within them was still unstable. He needed to prepare something rare to nourish them.
These Ang Ding Dragon Fish had been nourished by the extremely strong spiritual energy in his spatial pond. Compared to the Ang Ding Dragon Fish in Nanshan Lake, the difference was like night and day.
He had initially intended to invite his goddess to taste them together, but remembering he had to meet Elder Mo that evening, which would likely involve a fierce battle, he abandoned the idea.
Judging by the poison Elder Mo had inflicted on Long Xingyun, that old man was no ordinary person.
Cheng Xiaofan worried that if he invited Bai Yiling and then ended up fighting Elder Mo, and something went wrong, she would be left standing there, anxious and helpless.
The guardhouse already had cooking stoves and utensils readily available.
He had just finished stewing a pot of Ang Ding Dragon Fish soup when the sounds from the bathroom grew increasingly noisy.
The noise was unbearable, bordering on corrupting the master's Dao heart. Cheng Xiaofan wished he could immediately rush over, kick open the bathroom door, and give the pair a good thrashing.
Couldn't they wait until evening?
Disturbing their master's Dao heart in broad daylight, were they intentionally asking for a beating?
Cheng Xiaofan had planned to cook a few more dishes, but his ears were constantly being assaulted.
Never mind. These two would surely be occupied for some time. He might as well go into his spatial storage and cook a few dishes there.
After all, Cheng Xiaofan had planted many vegetables in his spatial storage for times when he needed to survive in the wild and cook something quickly.
Upon entering his spatial storage, Cheng Xiaofan didn't need to lift a finger. With a mere thought, he could harness the spiritual energy of the space to create the world's most exquisite cuisine.
With a flash, Cheng Xiaofan entered the spatial storage, carrying several plates.
Besides various vegetables, his spatial storage also contained wild boar meat and drunken chicken.
Cheng Xiaofan then sat cross-legged on the ground, placing the plates before him. With a thought, the spiritual energy in his spatial storage formed a vortex around him, rotating rhythmically.
The chili peppers, string beans, and other vegetables planted on the ground detached from their stems and vanished into the vortex.
In no time, the plates on the ground also floated up and entered the vortex.
Subsequently, wisps of fragrance wafted out from the vortex.
Next, several perfectly flawless dishes, rich in color, aroma, and taste, flew out of the vortex and appeared before Cheng Xiaofan.
"So fragrant!"
This was Cheng Xiaofan's first time cooking in his spatial storage.
And it was incredibly successful.
Cheng Xiaofan picked up a piece of wild boar meat, put it in his mouth, and after a couple of chews, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, it's so delicious!"
"Dishes like this should be served at heavenly banquets for the gods to consume. How could they be before me?"
"Today, that pair of scoundrels got lucky!"
After sampling the delicacies from each plate, Cheng Xiaofan nodded and gave himself a big thumbs-up.
He thought to himself that back in prehistoric times, Shennong must have been a master chef!
He should contact Liu Tingshu sometime and ask him to register him for a national culinary competition when one was held.
If you have talent, you should showcase it to the world!
Thinking this, he felt he was getting a bit carried away.
Why should he participate in a culinary competition? Being able to make such delicious food, wouldn't it be more satisfying to quietly serve it to his parents and his beloved Bai Yiling?
This was truly, genuinely, cuisine from another world!
Not long after Cheng Xiaofan emerged from his spatial storage with the dishes, Long Xingyun and Jiang Xueyan finally came out of the bathroom.
"Ah, how fragrant!"
"Why are the dishes on this table so fragrant?"
The two approached the table and stared at the dishes, their eyes almost popping out. They completely ignored Cheng Xiaofan, who was sitting there as if he were invisible.