Chapter 646: Tea as Analogy

Meng Qi hid his smile and asked, “Are these all for me?”

“Yes.” Ruan Yushu nodded as she looked down at the table of dishes. “The thick soup of monster crab is best served at moderate temperatures, and you should eat Chicken’s feet after eating the dim sum as the sweetness complements its taste best… They are the best dishes, you must treat them well.”

Her tone was complex as if she was a child giving her favorite toy away to her best friend. The feeling of gratitude, the joy of sharing and the slight unwillingness all co-existed. She was afraid that Meng Qi would be unable to appreciate and waste her collection of food, hence reminding him.

Listening to Ruan Yushu’s crisp voice, Meng Qi grimaced as he sat down and picked up the wooden chopsticks.

Rumble. A faint suspicious sound came from Ruan Yushu’s stomach, prompting her to turn her head away in shame.

Meng Qi pretended to have not noticed and picked up a piece of Sea Date Cake before taking a slight bite. It was indeed delicious, with its fragrance and sweetness passing through his entire body. He then followed Ruan Yushu’s advice and picked up a piece of Chicken’s Feet. Its bone was crispy and its skin was rubbery and chewy. The sour taste stood out from the sweetness of the cake and a strange fragrance seemed to have come out. It was so delicious that he wanted to swallow the feet whole.

After tasting these two dishes, Meng Qi was delighted and complimented them. He looked at Ruan Yushu and saw her smile with a little pride, however, she was still looking at the stone table.

“Let’s eat together,” Meng Qi suddenly said, smiling.

Ruan Yushu turned her head suddenly, still staring at the last piece of the Sea Date Cake, shaking her head. “No, these are for you.”

She did not deliberately include any word of gratitude.

Meng Qi laughed. “You should know that I love sharing food. If I eat them alone, they will be dull and tasteless.”

“Alright.” Ruan Yushu stopped refusing and sat down fast, picking up a pair of wooden chopsticks as well.

The Lady’s Pavilion became quiet, only with the calm sounds of mouths moving and swallowing. For a true foodie, to speak now would be an insult to the food.

After a while, the dishes had all been consumed and Meng Qi was in a wonderful mood.

Ruan Yushu put down her chopsticks and breathed out deeply as if she was still enjoying the aftertaste. Suddenly, she looked at Meng Qi and asked, “Where are you going next?”

The question was ambiguous but Meng Qi understood her intention. “Nine Villages World!”

He had told his friends that he intended to return to Nine Villages after stabilizing in the first layer of Celestial Ladder and eliminating the Evil Spirit of Zhen Wu using Devil-rinsing Flag. Jiang Zhiwei and the rest all promised to attempt to obtain Reincarnation Charms from their missions to aid Meng Qi. Since Ruan Yushu saw Meng Qi crossing the Celestial Ladder four months before his plan, she thus asked curiously.

“The road ahead is difficult and dangerous. But I must try if I want to improve.” Meng Qi relayed his message into Ruan Yushu’s mind. He was ambiguous too as it didn’t hurt to be careful within the Mansion of Ruan Clan.

Ruan Yushu understood his words. He meant that he must be prepared for the dangerous Journey to the West and that there will be huge benefits to be reaped once he completed the entire Zhen Wu mission.

The first Journey to the West was a Death Task itself. Zhang Yuanshan, Fu Zhenzhen, Ge Huai’en, and Luo Shengyi had all died miserably, leaving Meng Qi and Ruan Yushu with emotional trauma. Thus, they intended to be more cautious in their next trip to that world.

“I’m sorry that I can’t accompany you.” Ruan Yushu was a bit disconsolate as she hadn’t obtained Reincarnation Charm yet. “Otherwise, I would have been able to aid you using many of my music.”

Even though she had entered the Exterior realm, she still had a big gap in ability compared to Meng Qi. However, Ruan Yushu’s supportive abilities could already be used to improve Meng Qi’s strength and to help him recover.

These supports are important to Meng Qi. However, considering that Ruan Yushu just had her breakthrough, she needed to familiarize herself with more music pieces and it would be difficult to complete her practices before leaving this world as they could not exchange for more time now. Thus, he laughed and comforted her, “It’d be fine. I have a divine weapon with me. No one will be able to stop me.”

As he spoke, many thoughts rushed through his mind. His friends were all too reliant on the Dominator where Reincarnation Charms are difficult to be obtained. A chain mission also meant that their strength would not concentrated. However, similar objects and experiences could be easily obtained in the Immortals. Even if many objects were rare too, it would be better than to exchange them with the Dominator.

“Should I introduce them to The Immortals?”

Meng Qi frowned. After joining The Immortals and experiencing many events with them, he didn’t reject the organization anymore and even supported it now. Although there were many from the heterodox path, the members were merely making use of each other and they could be beneficial for personal gain, which did not go against his principles.

The sole problem lied in the fact that Ruan Yushu, Jiang Zhiwei and Qi Zhengyan came from aristocratic families and large sects and as such naturally resisted joining any secret organizations. Thus, he would need to find out more about their willingness. If they still resisted the idea, he could become their Purchasing Agent instead!

“Well, I should ask the Primogenitor someday.” Meng Qi mumbled to himself before turning his attention back to Ruan Yushu.

Ruan Yushu kept her cool and said coldly, “I will attempt to learn the Blue Sky Heavenly Tune first as it can improve the recovery of injuries…”

“Followed by Torrent Recipe, which can regenerate one’s strength when exhausted…”

“There is still Broken Formation Music, which can unleash one’s potential and increase strength…”

“… I’d be useful after I have learned all these music…”

Her crisp voice lacked strong emotions, and she wasn’t deliberately showing off too. Her gentle speech made everyone calm and composed.

Meng Qi, too, was affected and listened to her with a lingering smile.

While listening, the sound of water flowing seemed like a piece of music to Meng Qi. The moon shone brightly on a starless sky as a light breeze brushed their faces.

The next day, Meng Qi climbed the Western Hills again to visit Wang Siyuan.

After the dispute over Zither of Limbo, Wang Siyuan had relayed him a message for a talk in the Buddhist temple of Western Hill. Meng Qi was unclear what the matter was.

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“What a mysterious man.” Meng Qi curled his mouth and stepped into the Buddhist temple.

Wang Siyuan sat underneath the Bodhi tree, with a chess board in front of him. He had a black piece in his hand and was staring intensely at the set-up, refusing to put the piece down.

“Erm. Will there be a set-up that is difficult for Trickster Wang?” Meng Qi sat opposite to the man and glanced at the set-up. He realized that there were few black pieces remaining, and there seemed to be no chance of a comeback.

“A total loss…” Meng Qi pondered no further and coughed to catch Wang Siyuan’s attention.

Wang Siyuan raised his head and drew back his hand, still caressing the piece with his thumb and index finger. He spoke to Meng Qi with a face that was still as pale as ever. “Killing Blade broke two arms using three moves, terrifying Six-apex Devil into escaping. That’s already a huge news in the Langya region. All were anticipating you to enter the Terrestrial Rankings. If not for the broken divine weapon, you would have been able to enter it now given its strength. If we omit the strength of your weapon and compare you entirely based on strength, you still can be compared to, or perhaps even stronger than, Six-apex Devil of the Black List. To be able to do this with only the realm of fourth-fold Heaven demonstrates your ability as a man who had suffered four Heaven’s Punishments.”

Meng Qi loved to hear praises, but those words seemed inappropriate for the situation. He thus replied, “That should not be something that Master Wang is concerned about.”

He wanted him to get straight to the point!

Wang Siyuan coughed twice. “Overlord was also like that in medieval times. He often won against those of the same realm, even destroying those much stronger than him. He had the chance to rule the world, but he still died at his prime age.”

“Wasn’t that a result of your Wang family…” Meng Qi lamented silently. Given Wang family’s knowledge of Overlord, they must have had noticed his impartation.

“Is he using the Overlord’s story to warn me?” Meng Qi narrowed his eyes.

“Before Divination Saint, despite not having the family maxim of ‘leaving opportunities for others’, Wang Family was not arrogant and could still endure through difficulties. Or else, it’d not be able to survive calamities such as the Demonic Chaos and had impartation all the way until Overlord appeared.” Wang Siyuan started another topic which made Meng Qi confused. “Why is he saying this?”

“Did you know that Divination Saint died in the hands of Ananda?”

Wang Siyuan coughed twice again and changed topic once more. “Autumn has a cooling weather. Let’s have a cup of tea.”

The servant girls behind him placed a tray in front of him with both hands. There were numerous tiny bottles on the tray together with the tea set.

“Tea of the Hidden Dragon.” Wang Siyuan introduced as he placed a few tea leaves into the pot.

“Iron scented tea… Dragon Tiger Peak… Snow Bud… Bamboo Jun…” Wang Siyuan took out different tea leaves from the bottles and put all of them into the pot. All the tea leaves were famous.

Meng Qi was confused. “Wouldn’t the taste of these different tea leaves be conflicting? Can Trickster Wang regulate harmony from them?”

He poured hot water into the pot and a deep fragrance emerged. Wang Siyuan poured a cup of the tea for Meng Qi. It was light yellow in color.

Meng Qi tasted it but he almost vomited the tea out. “What kind of lousy tea is this? It’s like sewage water!”

Wang Siyuan grimaced. “They are all famous tea. But if we mix them together, they taste horrible.”

Meng Qi suddenly understood. Wang Siyuan was referring to the fact that he had obtained parts of many top-tier impartations. His methods were chaotic and messy and will eventually end up like this cup of tea.

He practiced the Eight Nine Mysteries and I welcome and encompass change, supplemented by Heavenly Golden Scripture. The other techniques were merely “used” but didn’t represent his “identity”. The analogy was not appropriate.

Wang Siyuan seemed to have understood Meng Qi’s thoughts and coughed. “It is not about the techniques, but their relationships. Perhaps you had noticed something as well and tried to balance them. However, if you cannot deduce and classify future techniques, you will sink deeper into oblivion. Today, you can eliminate all those in the same rank as youbut tomorrow, you will die like nothing, just like this cup of tea.”

Meng Qi’s tone became solemn as his worries were exposed. “How can I deduce clearly?”

Combined with what Wang Siyuan had said earlier, one could guess that there was more to the death of Overlord.

“They are too different for you to deduce clearly. However, you have four divine punishments, which differ you from the paths of those before you. As long as you follow your own path, you can definitely find many clues. Furthermore, you will experience many secret techniques and challenges in the future.” Wang Siyuan was drenched with sweat as he had difficulties speaking this sentence. It was as if he was choosing his words very carefully.

He coughed blood and his lips turned red. “If you still had the chance to realize Extinctive Blade of the Overlord, you must definitely master ‘Let Bygones be Bygones’. The rest is unimportant.”

“This technique can only be learned from Extinctive Blade of the Overlord. If you learn it from somewhere else, no matter how reliable, it would definitely be false!”

“Definitely false?” Meng Qi suddenly thought of the Dominator.

“Would it be false there too?”

Wang Siyuan took a light breath and calmed down. His expression became more crazed as he explained, “It is not because I am stronger than you that I know so much more. Wang Family has experienced and discovered much throughout the ages. It just happened to be that I was the man who could ‘see’ them.”

“Alright. That’d be all.”

Meng Qi’s face was a mixture of emotions as he stood up slowly. “Why did you have to teach these to me?”

“Is Master Wang just doing a good deed? Or is this part of his set-up?”

The chess piece in Wang Siyuan’s hand suddenly dropped onto the chessboard, causing the other chess pieces to tumble.

His face hid in the shadow of Bodhi tree as he spoke with an erratic tone.

“Helping you is helping myself.”

When Meng Qi glanced at the chessboard once more, he suddenly noticed that the destroyed set-up had a new atmosphere to it! The pieces were all over the place, but there was a chance for the black pieces now!