บท 50: Delicious Food and Troublesome Wine
A group of five people stood in front of a three-story restaurant with dark green shingles fixated on the upturned roofs as it was supported by several green jade colored columns. Its wall was impeccably clean and white with several large green octagon shaped windows. Above them hung a large rectangular jade sign bordered in gold with "Jade Dragon Restaurant" written in green as they strolled towards the restaurant's arch shaped double doors.
Walking in, the restaurant's interior seemed rather standard compared to the exterior, popping out like a sore thumb at the split path. However, the inside of the restaurant was plain as day. Based on the layout, the dining for customers were on the second and third floor, while the ground floor consisted of the entrance and built staircases on both sides that lead up to the upper floors.
The door behind the reception desk lead to the kitchen, where a lofty scent of delicious cooked food lingered out from the cracks of the kitchen door. Thus, piquing the hunger of the group.
A young woman stood behind an ash-brown reception desk, looking up as she heard the sound of an audible creaking from the double doors opening. Soon, a professional and welcoming smile appeared on her face as the group walked towards her.
"Evening, Young Master Kiu Thao," greeted the female receptionist in a subtle yet delightful manner.
"I see you've brought one more person around this time. Third floor as always?"
"Yes, Long Chaoxing and thank you," answered Kiu Thao giving her a charming smile, his pearly white teeth peeking out from his lips.
"Alright, please follow me to the top floor," chirped Long Chaoxing, unfazed by Kiu Thao's charming smile.
Audibly sighing, Kiu Thao followed Long Chaoxing up the long curving staircase with the other three following behind him. Silver stopped for a few seconds, reaching the staircase to the third floor, sensing someone from downstairs, in the kitchen, inspecting him with their divine sense.
'Interesting . . .' thought Silver, pretending that he couldn't sense the other and continued to tread up the stairs along with the others ahead of him.
Upon reaching the third floor, a few scattered groups comfortably dining could be seen, laughing loudly and a few drunkenly sputtering nonsenses about their day. The group kept following Long Chaoxing to farthest back corner, where she seated them at a medium-size table with a window view. The table seemed as if it was recently cleaned up not too long ago as the table plates, cups, wine cups and chopsticks were already laid out for five people.
'This place seems plain but the service quick and excellent…' thought Silver as sat himself down on the seat closest to the window.
After seating the group, Long Chaoxing quickly left, using a mysterious movement skill. Silver blinked once, impressed by Long Chaoxing as he noticed she was close to reaching 'one with oneself' in her movement skill. To him, it seems this Jade Dragon Restaurant was truly not simple.
'This restaurant is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons,' thought Silver. After observing his surroundings, those of the third floor were of high status or hidden king's realm cultivators and Long Chaoxing was in the latter stage of the King's Realm. She was already at peak True King, half a step away in forming her Emperor Mark to step into the early stage of Mortal Emperor.
'This place is rather suspicious, so many strong individuals casually hiding their cultivations. No one has caused any commotions here with a stunning beauty like Long Chaoxing as a receptionist. Hopefully, there's no cliché scene popping out of nowhere..'
"Hello, I will be your waiter for this evening," announced a soft-spoken female voice.
"Ah, its Young Master Kiu Thao. I see you brought a new face this evening too."
"Hello, Long Li Mei," greeted Kiu Thao, showing the same charming smile he gave to Long Chaoxing.
"Beautiful as always, like the plum blossoms that bloom during the first dew of spring."
"Don't flatter me so much Young Master Kiu Thao, I may get scolded by my older sister again for being enticed by your sweet words," giggled Long Li Mei, bowing apologetically.
"Yes, I remember your sister berating me about it last month," smirked Kiu Thao, nodding his head in agreement.
"Alright, I'll order all your specialties, side dishes and your number one, Dragon's Breath Wine!"
"Oh, all five must be either extremely hungry or your new friend is quite the glutton despite his toned appearance," joked Long Li Mei, bowing again and turning around. She then headed downstairs to give Kiu Thao's orders to the cooks.
"Seems like you're very well known here," smiled Silver, staring directly at the playboy. He let out a slight chuckle at the fact Kiu Thao got rejected twice in less than ten minutes of coming into the restaurant.
"Yes, I've come here many times in the past decade or so. I'm actually a childhood friend of Long Chaoxing, so she's used to my charming looks and feeble flattery," chortled Kiu Thao while staring back at the smiling Silver.
"They have the best wine in the whole continent, it's quite strong and very beneficial for cultivators but the price is quite hefty. Usually I wouldn't order it but today is a good day for celebration for our Kiu Clan's new guest and for passing the Alchemy Division's exam. Take it as my treat!"
Silver smiled when he heard Kiu Thao's words, taking it into his heart.
Twenty minutes after the speech and having a friendly chat, Long Li Mei came out with a rolling cart filled with delectable dishes while holding a decent sized jar of wine. She quickly placed all the main dishes around it with the side dishes right after them, resembling a swirling galaxy from the variety of food in different blend of colors with ease. Soon, she uncorked the jar of wine, overwhelming their nostrils with the aromatic medicinal alcohol.
"I hope everyone has a great time enjoying their food and wine," chorused Long Li Mei, leaving with her now empty rolling cart.
"We'll lock arms and swear brotherhood, all of us!" decided Silver, touched by their pure and thoughtful sincerity. Inwardly, he was struggling to hide his intention to try the wine. Oddly enough, the wine mildly exuded chaos qi, lightly inciting the chaos qi inside him so his curiosity was piqued by this sudden change of events.
"Yes!" exclaimed Kiu Thao, the other three silently nodding in agreement.
All five got up, after pouring wine in their cup, locking each other arms and taking a large gulp of wine in jubilation. Afterwards, they sat back down full of content with the powerful and flavorful wine. Not long after, with bright smiles, their face showed a tinge of drunken red. Although they were cultivators, it was best to enjoy such wonderful wine to the fullest.
"This is amazing wine," chuckled Silver happily savoring the wine.
"Let's eat everyone, we can't be too drunk to not appreciate the flavors of each dish!"
"True, true! Let's start with the Black Tail Fish," answered Kiu Thao, smiling wide with bright red cheeks contrasting his light skinned complexion.
"It has a light yet refreshing spring flavor, lightly roasted over a fire. You cannot even taste the fishiness, like other so-called high-class restaurants. It's prepared using the finest ingredients starting with slicing the Black Tailed Fish with fine shavings of a three-thousand-year-old white ginseng root on top. Then it's wrapped in Green Lotus Leaves to be steamed in Spiritual Spring Water and finally lightly roasted over an open fire."
Once Kiu Thao finished explaining, Silver picked up a piece of fish meat with his chopsticks, putting it into mouth and started chewing. The season of spring gushed into his mouth, revealing an image of him watching the Black Tail Fishes swimming in a breathtaking clear lake. It was as if he could feel the spring breeze caressing his long, raven-black hair, gazing up at the drifting clouds while a group of fishes swam under the rays of the warm sun in the clear and beautiful lake.
"The art of cooking has long surpassed, One With Oneself, reaching the next realm, Spiritual Illusions," muttered Silver as he kept picking up more fish meat to eat.
Spiritual Illusions could only be reached by those who have perfected the arts of painting, cooking, poetry and/or music. Very rarely can an individual attain the legendary Divine Realism, the essence of their work coming to life for a moment.
Then, he continued to try the other dishes. The speed of how much Silver grabbed pieces of different dishes and eat it could be compared to the speed of a turtle walking on land yet somehow, they couldn't catch up to it.
To the four, the way Silver ate appeared astoundingly slow, yet the food was diminishing at a rapid pace. Feeling like they wouldn't have enough food, they began trying to grab as much as they could before Silver could clean out the whole table in one sitting.
It seems Long Li Mei light-hearted joke became a jinx instead as it became a competition on who can grab more food than Silver before he ate it all.
**CRASH
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" screamed a young man across the room, in a drunken and angry stupor. He was pointing his finger at a calm grey-haired old man seemingly unfazed as he continued to sip his wine in enjoyment.
All five instantly stopped eating, distracted by the broken table that was thrown across the room. His shrill screaming alerted the others as they watched young man yell at the composed elder. Many turned their heads to watch how the intriguing scene play out. Silver stared at the old man sitting afar, who looked up at the drunk young man, unfazed by his broken table while holding an uncorked wine jar.
'Such an unlucky fellow . . . stuck at the peak of Null Origin while drunk and berating a person in the late stage of Exalted Emperor,' thought Silver, inwardly laughing. Ignoring the scene, he picked up his chopsticks and began eating again as the other four were still distracted by the commotion.
"No, but I prefer that you don't try to grab my Dragon's Breath Wine from me," replied the old man in a cool and relaxing tone.
"I paid a lot of money for just a small jug, so please calm down. If you asked nicely earlier, I wouldn't mind giving you a cup to try."
"I, WANG LEI OF THE WANG CLAN, CAN TAKE WHATEVER AND FROM WHOMEVER I WANT!" screamed Wang Lei clearly aggravated by the old man's calm demeanor.
Without much care for Wang Lei, the old man took another swig from his jar of alcohol.
"WITHOUT THE WANG CLAN'S RULING, BLUE DREAM CITY WOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED, SILENTLY WASHING AWAY IN THE TIDES OF HISTORY! WITHOUT US, YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE DRINKING SUCH PRECIOUS WINE!"
After furiously screaming, Wang Lei threw a punch, intent on killing the old man.
The old man dodged the clumsy fist, then lifted his foot up, tripping the drunk Wang Lei flat on his face in one motion. Wang Lei's face smashed against the wooden floors with a loud thud. Soon, a group of 5 mid to late stage Spirit King's and one early stage True King broke through one of the windows, one after another. They quickly surrounded the old man with cold, vicious expressions.
"I'll make you regret going against my Wang Clan," hissed Wang Lei, his nose bleeding after falling face flat against the wooden floor. Wang Lei was too drunk to use his qi to protect his face, which ended with an easily avoidable injury.
One could easily tell he was close to exploding like an active volcano.
Although what he ordered was a tier weaker than the Dragon's Breath Wine, it was still strong enough to knock him off his arse and get incredibly drunk after three cups.
"WHAT ARE YOU STANDING THERE FOR? GET HIM!!!"
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