“Gathering mushrooms, gathering mushrooms, picking a little mushroom…”
An ancient nursery rhyme echoed through the dense forest, its melodious and cheerful voice clearly belonging to a lively and bright little girl.
However, if anyone saw the singer’s appearance, they would be greatly surprised.
The singer was a bald man, looking solemn and dignified, wearing clothes made of leaves. It was hard to imagine someone like him singing a children’s song.
Evesting Fairy squatted by theke, looking at the body, her eyes darting around.
“Although this kid Lu Yang isn’t ugly, he is a man. Since he’s not around, why not change to my original appearance?”
Once Evesting Fairy had the thought, she acted on it. Finally able toe out and y without anyone watching over her, she wanted to do things her way.
She pressed her two fingers together, brought them to her lips, and whispered something, causing a resonance with the world around her, making the surrounding space blur and distort.
When the space returned to normal, the figure squatting by theke was no longer the bald Lu Yang but a young girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old.The girl was innocent and charming, with big, twinkling eyes. Her long hair reached her waist, and she wore a light yellow dress, barefoot, looking like a youngdy who had sneaked out of her house, not even properly dressed.
“Hehe, I’m so cute.” Evesting Fairy, seeing her original appearance reflected in theke, smiled happily.
She sat by theke, barefoot, yfully kicking the water, creating ripples.
The ripples attracted small fish, who, thinking food had appeared, swam closer. Realizing it was just a human ying with water, they swam away in disappointment.
Although Evesting Fairy could conjure anything in Lu Yang’s mental space, those were all mental constructs and didn’t feel as real or fun as this. Even kicking water felt more enjoyable now.
Theke water was cool and refreshing, and her little feet soaking in it made her grin with delight.
She picked up a slightly long branch from thekeside, infused it with her immortal energy to make a fishing line, and tied it to the branch, creating a simple fishing rod.
“Heave ho.”
Without even using bait, she cast the line, embodying a carefree attitude.
The thread of immortal energy was thin, but it was still immortal energy, a power unique to immortals. It didn’t need bait; the line itself was the best bait.
Evesting Fairy halfy by theke, squinting her eyes. She used a technique that kept her perfectly clean despite the muddykeside.
If Lu Yang were here, he would recognize it as the Clean Clothes Spell he always wanted to learn. However, Evesting Fairy’s version was far more advanced than the one Lan Ting taught him, reaching the level of immortal arts, with virtually no energy consumption.
Soon, a big fish bit the line, firmly mping down on it.
The fish wanted to refine that strand of immortal energy, but the difference in their levels was too vast; it couldn’t do it.
“Got a bite?”
Evesting Fairy jumped up excitedly, her eyes sparkling. With a strong pull, she lifted a fathead fish out of the water.
“Oh dear, it’s a fathead fish. Not pretty, not tasty, and not nutritious.” Disappointed, Evesting Fairy shook her head, patted the fish’s face, signaled it to let go, and threw it back into theke.
“Reincarnate as a tastier animal next time,” she advised the fish, sparing its life. As a fish, it should repay this kindness.
The fathead fish,cking intelligence, didn’t understand what she was saying.
After the fathead fish left, various otherke creatures bit the line—fish, shrimp, crabs, shells, and other post-ancient era creatures Evesting Fairy didn’t recognize.
But that didn’t matter. With her extensive experience in cooking and life, she knew what was edible and what wasn’t after just one taste.
Soon, a pile ofke delicacies surrounded Evesting Fairy. Worried they might escape, she mixedke water with ck soil to make mud, fashioned it into a small enclosure, and penned the creatures in.
Suddenly, a dark shadow shot out from theke, covered in spikes, resembling a porcupine but with much shorter spines.
Thiske was several timesrger than the one controlled by the old turtle, and ordingly, its ruler’s strength was extraordinary.
The dark shadow was the master of theke, possessingte Golden Core stage cultivation. Countless humans and demonic beasts had been swallowed by it while drinking from theke.
Upon seeing Evesting Fairy, it was incredibly tempted. Although she looked like ate Foundation Establishment stage girl, it had an inexplicable feeling that devouring her would allow it to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.
At that point, it could expand its territory further and grow even stronger.
Lu Yang’s cultivation was at thete Foundation Establishment stage, and the bodhi tree avatar inherited eighty percent of his strength. This meant Evesting Fairy was also at thete Foundation Establishment stage now.
Evesting Fairy blinked once and was immediately swallowed by theke master.
Theke master wasn’t worried about Evesting Fairy attacking it from inside. Its stomach was filled with highly corrosive fluid; any attempts to attack from within would be neutralized by this fluid, posing no threat to it.
“Water-repelling… never mind, Fennel Fist.”
A soft punchnded on the stomach wall, and theke master felt its insides churning violently, as if a massive force was stirring its body.
“Wait, let me off…”
Before theke master could finish begging for mercy, the force of the Fennel Fist tore it into pieces.
Evesting Fairy held a piece of theke master’s flesh and swam back to the surface.
Initially, she nned to use the water-repelling technique to deal with theke master. But then she realized theke master was a creature she had never encountered before, and she was curious about its taste. Using the water-repelling technique would dry out theke master, making it less appetizing.
So, she decided on the spot to use the Fennel Fist.
The Fennel Fist regtes qi and aids digestion. When used on an opponent, it could nurture their body, but if the opponent was healthy, the Fennel Fist turned into a deadly weapon.
“Why doesn’t Lu Yang learn such a powerful fist technique? This wet feeling is ufortable, water-repelling technique.”
As she uttered the words “water-repelling technique,” the water on and around her quickly dissipated, and an invisible force lifted her up.
Standing on theke’s surface, holding a piece of theke master’s flesh, she hummed a tune as she returned to thekeside, feeling at ease.
“I wonder how theke master tastes.”
Her intuition as an immortal chef told her that theke master should taste quite good.
“But there’s no pot.”
Evesting Fairy scratched her head, noticing that there weren’t any proper cooking utensils nearby.
Then she saw the lotus leaves on theke and her eyes lit up. “Got it! I can wrap it in lotus leaves, cover it with mud, and roast it over a fire.”
Without any seasoning, she used nearby nts that resembled spices as substitutes.
“Evesting True Fire.” She exhaled a me, a fire unknown to the world and independent of the 108 known True Fires.
Evesting True Fire was gentle, heating the food from the inside out, soon releasing a fresh aroma.
Just as Evesting Fairy was about to start eating, a gentle voice sounded behind her.
“Little girl, what are you doing here alone? It’s dangerous.”
Evesting Fairy turned around, her face showing a naive and confused expression. There were a few spots of mud on her cheeks, sttered while making the “Beggar’s fish.” (TL Note: Beggar’s fish doesn’t exist but the method used here is the same method used for Beggar’s Chicken which is famous in Huangzhou /2013/02/chinese-recipe-beggars-chicken.html)
Behind her stood four people, all at the Golden Core stage. Whether it was a trick of her mind or not, Evesting Fairy felt their initial smiles were insincere, quickly reced by kind and friendly expressions.
“Little girl, where are your family members?”
(End of the chapter)