ARLQLCC chapter 6

 

Su Ji stayed in the kitchen to prepare hot water for his bath, while Chu Zhaoye, who had run back to the bedroom, stood on the windowsill and stared blankly out the window.

Perhaps because he had eaten too much at dinner, after standing on the windowsill for less than a quarter of an hour, he could already feel his meridians growing hot as they healed his internal injuries.

The speed was not particularly fast, but the effect was remarkable.

The injuries from the backlash of his failed attempt to break through to the Tribulation Transcendence realm were already extremely serious, but at this rate, Chu Zhaoye would probably recover his spiritual power and return to human form in less than a month.

It was not only his injuries. If his inner demon dissipated bit by bit during this repeated healing, then Chu Zhaoye’s cultivation realm might even rise another step.

In that case, Su Ji had truly helped him a great deal.

The black kitten blended into the night, with only his two amber eyes still clearly visible.

He turned his head to look at the brightly lit kitchen, and his thoughts gradually wandered—

These past two days, after eating and staying here for free, it seemed he had not helped Su Ji at all.

The other party had taken him in and cooked for him; treated his injuries and helped suppress his inner demon.

When Su Ji was cooking, Chu Zhaoye was lying on the bed. When Su Ji was cleaning up the dishes, Chu Zhaoye was lying on the table. And just now, the moment he heard about accompanying him during his bath, he had hurriedly run away…

This place was in the middle of nowhere, and even the house had been cleaned up by Su Ji himself, which meant he was all alone with no one to keep him company.

And as the only one who could accompany him, Chu Zhaoye had slipped away by himself after eating and drinking his fill.

That seemed a little too shameless.

Chu Zhaoye jumped from the window to the bed, then from the bed to the doorway. His stared at the kitchen not far away as a fierce battle raged in his heart.

It was just bathing, anyway. As long as he didn’t look, it would be fine.

And even if he did look, whatever Su Ji had, he had too. No big deal.

After a few words to convince himself, Chu Zhaoye swished his tail and quietly padded over to the kitchen door.

In the kitchen, Su Ji had already filled the bath barrel with hot water. His clothes were half undone, revealing his snow-white, rounded shoulders, and lower down, his slender back and narrow waist that looked as though they could be grasped in one hand.

Amid the swirling steam, there was a hazy and ambiguous atmosphere.

Chu Zhaoye froze on the spot.

The kitten had arrived silently, and Su Ji in the kitchen noticed nothing. His slender hands were already resting on his waistband. Just as he was about to pull it down, he heard a cat’s sharp cry from the doorway.

Su Ji was startled. He turned his head to look for the source of the sound and found the little furball at the kitchen door, covering his eyes.

“Ma Tuan?”

Su Ji immediately walked to the kitchen door, picked up the kitten from the floor, and held him in his arms. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

As his fur pressed against Su Ji’s skin, Chu Zhaoye was surrounded by the faint fragrance coming from Su Ji’s body. He moved one paw slightly away from his eyes, only to be dazzled by another flash of white.

Su Ji pulled away the paw that was covering his eyes and carefully examined those two eyes for a long while. In the end, he came to one conclusion: nothing was wrong with them.

“There’s nothing wrong. Why did you scream so loudly just now?”

Still nestled in his arms, Chu Zhaoye thought dizzily: During the day he only smelled like soapberry, so why is he so fragrant after taking off his clothes?

Seeing that he made no sound, Su Ji checked his whole body again. After confirming there were no wounds, he stood up and placed Chu Zhaoye on the stove.

“Did you come to keep me company while I bathe, Ma Tuan?”

Hearing the excitement in Su Ji’s voice, Chu Zhaoye nodded hazily.

Su Ji patted his little head. “Then stay here obediently. I’ll carry you back after I’m done washing.”

He turned and returned to the bath barrel to continue the unfinished task of taking off his clothes. Lying on the stove, Chu Zhaoye let his eyes wander everywhere except in the direction of the bath barrel.

As the king of a race, Chu Zhaoye had spent the past thousand years either cultivating or tempering himself in one battle after another. Even though they had entered a rare era of peace and there was little need for fighting anymore,

the scars on Chu Zhaoye’s body had never disappeared.

The subordinates who had fought alongside him through life and death naturally bore no shortage of scars either.

This was the first time Chu Zhaoye had seen a man so fair, with a waist so slender.

Was this reasonable?

But somehow, it seemed perfectly reasonable on Su Ji.

The sound of water splashing came from the bath barrel. Chu Zhaoye swallowed, buried his face in his paws, and curled himself into a ball.

With his vision blocked, his hearing became even more sensitive.

After more than ten minutes of water sloshing, Su Ji, now dressed and with his hair half-dry, came to stand before Chu Zhaoye while wiping his hair.

“Ma Tuan, did you fall asleep?”

Chu Zhaoye lowered his head and played dead.

“You can eat and sleep so well. You’re actually a little pig, aren’t you?”

Chu Zhaoye: “…”

Su Ji held Chu Zhaoye up with one hand and contentedly returned to the bedroom.

Chu Zhaoye kept his eyes closed and pretended to sleep, feeling himself being placed on the soft pillow.

Su Ji cast a spell to dry his hair. Recalling the idea he had after leaving the seed shop during the day, he sat on the bed, took out his remaining spirit stones from his storage artifact, and began counting them.

He had not spent too many spirit stones today, but when he counted what remained, it was obvious that it was far from enough to support the successful reopening of the cafeteria, but even a few more trips to the market would probably leave him with nothing.

Lying on the little pillow, Chu Zhaoye secretly opened his eyes and observed Su Ji’s movements. Seeing him sigh at the spirit stones, he was puzzled. Was he complaining that he had too many spirit stones or too few?

He climbed off the pillow and walked over to Su Ji, nudging him with his front paw.

Su Ji turned around. Seeing that he was awake, he picked him up and placed him on top of the spirit stones.

The tiny black kitten looked much larger lying on the white stones that glimmered with spiritual energy. With a puzzled expression, he meowed at Su Ji.

Su Ji tapped the top of his head and sighed. “Ma Tuan, we’re almost out of money. I only realized today how little savings I have.”

Chu Zhaoye was stunned. Only then did he realize that when Su Ji had said during the day that he could barely afford to keep him, he had not been implying that he ate too much, but literally couldn’t afford to support him.

Once he understood this, he recalled the scene of his little tantrum during the day. Instantly, he was so embarrassed he wanted to die. The whole cat was so mortified he nearly fainted.

Su Ji was still thinking about how to reopen the cafeteria successfully and did not notice the kitten wobbling around on the spirit stones. After thinking for a moment, Chu Zhaoye suddenly jumped onto Su Ji’s lap and meowed loudly.

“?” Su Ji looked puzzled. “What’s wrong? Hungry again?”

Chu Zhaoye: “…” He wasn’t that much of a pig.

As the food in his stomach was absorbed, his meridians gradually opened, and he could already feel spiritual energy circulating through them.

Chu Zhaoye felt reassured. In front of Su Ji, he waved his little paw. In the next moment, a pile of top-grade spirit stones rich in spiritual energy came clattering down out of thin air, directly burying the few spirit stones Su Ji had taken out and forming a huge pile.

Looking at Su Ji’s dumbfounded expression, Chu Zhaoye let out a proud meow.

The sudden appearance of spirit stones caught Su Ji completely off guard. He looked at the spirit stones, then at the kitten on his lap, and said in shock, “Ma Tuan, did you make these appear?”

Chu Zhaoye nodded his little head and meowed, signaling for Su Ji to put the spirit stones away.

Seeing that he did not move, Chu Zhaoye thought for a moment, and a flash of inspiration struck him.

Apparently, it wasn’t enough.

So he waved his paw again, and a second pile of spirit stones appeared on the bed.

Su Ji hurriedly stopped him. “That’s enough, that’s enough. Really, that’s enough.”

He had not seen clearly the first time, but now Su Ji could confirm it. The spirit stones had indeed been produced by Ma Tuan.

Although spirit pets had the word “spirit” in their name, their true nature belonged to the demon race. Unlike human cultivators, who used storage artifacts to carry items, the demon race had their own racial advantage.

They did not need storage artifacts to assist them. From birth, regardless of talent, they all possessed their own personal storage space.

The higher the cultivation level, the larger the storage space. A demon race member at the Mahayana or Tribulation Transcendence realm could even possess a personal space large enough to hold half a continent.

Therefore, although Su Ji was surprised that Ma Tuan had suddenly produced a pile of spirit stones, he did not find it strange.

The only thing he found a little puzzling was that Ma Tuan was clearly still just a child. When he first saw him, he had looked like he had gone hungry for a long time, yet he turned out to be so rich.

The amount of spirit stones he had casually produced with one wave of his paw was more than Su Ji could earn even after accepting top-level missions at the Chenxin Sect for ten years or more.

While he was thinking, Chu Zhaoye had already nudged him several times. Helplessly, Su Ji put all the spirit stones on the bed into his storage artifact.

He cupped the kitten’s round face in both hands and sighed, “I never thought our Ma Tuan was such a rich little kitty.”

Chu Zhaoye was extremely proud. He raised his paw to give him another pile, but Su Ji quickly caught the lifted paw in his hand. “That’s enough, that’s enough. No need to make any more. This is already plenty.”

The kitten stopped throwing money around and lay back down on his lap to lick his fur.

With two large piles of top-grade spirit stones added to it, the storage artifact suddenly felt rather heavy. It was the first time Su Ji had ever felt his money pouch so full.

Ma Tuan’s trust also moved him deeply. After all, although he possessed so many spirit stones, he was still only a tiny kitten. If he encountered someone with malicious intentions, they might very well choose to kill him and seize his wealth.

Although the demon race possessed personal storage spaces, if they were killed by a cultivator with a higher cultivation level, that cultivator could use spiritual sense to locate the storage space and take the treasures inside.

And yet, the moment Ma Tuan heard that he had no money, he had immediately revealed that he was rich, without the slightest concern that Su Ji might harm him.

It seemed he had not raised this cub in vain. The little one already knew how to support his old father.

Feeling gratified, Su Ji picked up the kitten and kissed him several times.

Chu Zhaoye had been licking his fur when he was suddenly picked up.

After Su Ji’s frequent hugs over the past two days, he had more or less become used to Su Ji’s scent, but that did not mean he could get used to Su Ji kissing him!!!

Chu Zhaoye was kissed until he felt dizzy. In a daze, he thought that the number of times he had blushed over these two days probably surpassed the total from the past several thousand years.

With the funding issue resolved, one of Su Ji’s worries had been set aside. He spread out the blanket and covered himself. Before closing his eyes, he said goodnight to Chu Zhaoye.

Chu Zhaoye meowed in response and lay on his little pillow, staring blankly at Su Ji’s long eyelashes.

After watching for only a few minutes, his cub body sent him drowsy signals. His vision grew increasingly blurry. Before he completely fell asleep, he was still hazily thinking:

Next time, he had to tell Su Ji to kiss him less. Too many kisses could make a cat dizzy.

Early the next morning, a light rain began to fall. Threads of rain drifted through the propped-open window into the bedroom and landed on Su Ji’s face, waking him up.

Once awake, Su Ji had no intention of going back to sleep. He closed the window, glanced at the still-sleeping kitten, and turned to go out and prepare breakfast.

Yesterday, Chu Zhaoye had ordered quite a few fish. One type had especially tender flesh. After removing the large bones connected to the fish skeleton, there were no small bones left, making it perfect for fish fillet congee.

Su Ji cleaned the whole fish thoroughly and sliced the flesh into evenly sized pieces, arranging them on a plate to one side for later use.

There was no need to throw away the removed fish bones. He chopped them into several sections and put them into a pot with oil at just the right temperature, adding cooking wine and ginger and stir-frying them evenly.

A fragrance gradually began to spread. The fish bones were fried to a beautiful golden color. Su Ji added a ladle of clean water, covered the pot, and let the fish soup simmer.

The fish slices set aside were mixed evenly with an appropriate amount of marinade, then drizzled with a little oil and left to rest.

Su Ji washed his hands clean and lifted the lid of the soup pot.

As the lid was opened, steam billowed out, and along with the steam came the fresh, fragrant, and slightly sweet aroma of fish soup.

The entire pot of fish soup had turned milky white. Su Ji scooped up a spoonful and tasted it. After confirming the seasoning was just right, he removed the bones from the pot, added a little pepper to enhance the aroma, and poured in the rice he had soaked in advance.

It would still take some time for the rice to soften. Taking advantage of this, Su Ji placed the fish fry he had bought yesterday into the pond.

When he bought the fish fry, the shop owner had included a small magical artifact that could keep the fish alive inside for three days. However, the artifact was single-use and would become useless once the fish were taken out, but it was cheap and fairly practical.

As soon as the fish fry entered the water, they scattered and swam away. The pond was large enough that they should live there quite comfortably.

Now that he had funds, Su Ji planned to make another trip to the cultivation market. Since that seed shop could cooperate with so many sects, the ingredients they used must be very fresh and clean. If Su Ji wanted to reopen the cafeteria, he could cooperate with that shop.

There was another task for this trip to the market: selecting some young spirit beasts to bring back and raise.

Before going to the market, Su Ji planned to first clean up the cafeteria and the area for raising spirit beasts.

If they wanted to reconnect the teleortation formation linking Linggu Mountain and the seed shop, the shop owner would probably bring people to inspect it. Su Ji would not need to repair it himself, which would save him some effort.

Cleaning the rooms was not as troublesome as farming, so he could start after breakfast.

The congee should be almost done. Su Ji strolled leisurely back to the kitchen. Along the way, he could still hear Ma Tuan’s purring. Before entering the kitchen, he called toward the room, “Ma Tuan, it’s about time to get up! Breakfast is almost ready!”

In the bedroom, Chu Zhaoye sleepily climbed off his little pillow. Still groggy, he got out of bed. Drawn by the fragrance coming from the kitchen, he followed the scent step by step into the kitchen.

Su Ji had already added the marinated fish slices to the pot. After simmering for a few more minutes until the fish slices were cooked, it would be ready to serve.

After those few steps, Chu Zhaoye was mostly awake. Familiar with the routine, he jumped onto the table and let out a huge yawn.

Su Ji walked over to him. “Ah,” he said. “Ma Tuan, open your mouth. Time to clean your teeth.”

Chu Zhaoye cooperatively opened his mouth wide.

After a small cleaning spell, the whole cat looked fresh and clean.

The fish fillet congee was ready. Its fragrance filled the entire kitchen. As he ate the steaming hot congee that Su Ji served him, Chu Zhaoye felt that the previous several thousand years of his life had been wasted.

The demon race chefs always liked to focus on rare delicacies, while Su Ji preferred home-style dishes, yet the taste was not inferior in the slightest.

Not to mention that he had such an incredible ability enhancing his cooking. If others knew about it, people would probably fight over his dishes, and each one would be worth a thousand gold. Only an adorable little kitten like him could eat different dishes made by Su Ji every day.

Happiness!

Too much happiness!

Chu Zhaoye ate until his mouth was full of lingering fragrance. Su Ji blew on the hot congee in his bowl and said to the kitten while eating, “Ma Tuan, I’m planning to reopen the little cafeteria here. Once it starts making money, we won’t have to worry about spending money anymore.”

Hearing this, Chu Zhaoye looked up and patted his chest in confusion, indicating that he had money and there was no need to work so hard to earn it.

Su Ji understood and fondly rubbed his head. “Didn’t you already give me the startup funds? Besides, there’s no reason to keep using your money. You just need to relax and be a little silly cat.”

Chu Zhaoye bared his teeth. I’m not silly!

Su Ji said affectionately, “Alright, little glutton cat. Eat up. I still need to clean the house later.”

The meal was delicious. As usual, while Su Ji cleaned up the cafeteria, Chu Zhaoye acted as the supervisor.

He also wanted to help, but a cub’s body was simply too weak. The small amount of spiritual power he had recovered last night was enough to open his personal storage space, but not enough to help with cleaning.

Su Ji worked with great energy. Having done this once before, he was much more familiar with the process. In less than an hour, the entire cafeteria looked completely renewed. Only some tables and chairs were too old. Su Ji planned to buy a full set of furniture in a matching style to redecorate the cafeteria’s interior.

When the dining environment was pleasant, the food somehow tasted even better.

On his second trip to the market, Su Ji skillfully bought the furniture and young spirit beasts he needed, then headed to the seed shop to discuss cafeteria cooperation with the shopkeeper.

As soon as he entered the shop, the shopkeeper recognized him and warmly greeted him. Carrying Chu Zhaoye, Su Ji went to the counter and got straight to the point.

“Shopkeeper, is your shop still accepting cafeteria partnerships?”

 

---

You can read the full completed story here with instant full access. ✨