Mo Xie would casually visit one or two caves, luckily, he had a lot of preserved meat to eat, there are no beasts anywhere, and it would really be a bother to search for one when he couldn't feel any presence for a few kilometers away.
He's been trying to find a clue for an hour, getting no results at all, he decided to stop.
As he brought out the meat and prepared a fireplace, the lady spoke.
"Umm, please let me cook, the least I could do is this."
Mo Xie looked at the lady for a while before nodding his head: "Sure."
As he spoke of this, he placed down a chunk of meat, almost half the size of an elephant: "Here, you can use this."
"Thank you." The lady spoke calmly, she looked at Mo Xie and asked some more: "Um, can I have some sort of cutting tools and something to cook with?"
Mo Xie didn't ponder even for a second before taking out three different sized daggers and a cauldron,
The lady bows her head: "Thank you." and immediately left with the cauldron and the daggers.
She then started dismembering the meat into five parts, next is fillet the meat to portions.
Mo Xie couldn't help but internally applaud the lady with her great cutting techniques.
She would sometimes close her eyes for a few seconds before continuing her work, Mo Xie merely thought that she's visualizing her action before doing it.
But what he thought is wrong though...
Two people watching the scene silently couldn't help but lament at the sight. The old man sighs with grief: "Is it... is it really alright to use her power to cook..."
The other one, the lady already has her right palm on her forehead: "This... this brat!"
She couldn't help but scream, but as she did, the two of them immediately vanished.
Mo Xie gazed at the sky: "Was I imagining things?"
Hearing his words, the lady had sweat on her forehead before calming herself, closing her eyes again before continuing to prepare the food.
Mo Xie with nothing to do started to fiddle with his storage ring, he started to look for something to do again.
The lady smiled, glaring at the sky for a short bit before continuing her work, she started to go from here to there, taking a few vegetation from the ground, it would seem random at first, but Mo Xie would sometimes seem that the lady would closer her eyes before deciding whether to pick it up or not.
Mo Xie didn't pay any attention to it, but since the person is scurrying for vegetations, Mo Xie decided to use some of the ones he has no use for.
"You can use these too if you can make something out of them."
A total of twelve immortal grade herbs and more than a hundred mortal herbs.
Seeing this, the lady smiled, she started to rummage through it and picked five immortal grade herbs and twenty pieces of mortal herbs. Mo Xie couldn't help but look at the lady cluelessly, and with the number of things she's putting into the cauldron, it's definitely going to be completely full.
With the rest of the herbs being useless, Mo Xie stored it again, but immediately, a strong smell assaulted his nose.
He looked at the cauldron: "Nice smell."
The lady smiled: "Well, before I was dragged here, I'm a royal cook, sadly, after I got some minor burn, I was kicked out of the royal palace..."
She stopped there, feeling a little embarrassed.
Mo Xie looked at the lady; 'That's a minor burn?'
But he didn't pursue the topic further, he sighed; 'If I opened up all of her meridians, she'll definitely be able to make a full recovery.'
Noticing Mo Xie's intention, the lady immediately spoke: "Well, I'm fine with how things are, I was quite the headache before I was injured, so, I'm thinking this is karma serving itself to me."
As she spoke of this, she heard a voice inside her head; 'You still are, even much worst than before!' The voice stopped for a while before it continued; 'we're only staying in this place for another hundred days, we'll need to go home after that.'
The lady smiled, she sighs at Mo Xie: "Well, I just hope to live for a few more days, after today... I'll stay here. You can leave me here alone."
"After down, I think, I want to enter a long sleep, I've already suffered so much, I can't really bare it mentally."
Hearing this, Mo Xie frowns but replied casually: "Okay."
It is not his job to relieve others off of their mental trauma, and it will take time to do so too, and the lady's clear eyes tell him a story, a satisfied light can be seen from her eyes; 'It's like she already had things planned out...'
He couldn't help but feel that all of this is merely a play, but he had nothing to note about or anything to worry for, especially when the lady was merely tagging along, not saying anything, and there's not a single misdeed could be felt... It's like, it's like a child playing to pass its time!
Mo Xie noticed it, she looked at the lady, and couldn't help but feel that this is all to relieve a boredom side: "Since you've made up your mind, I wouldn't stop you..."
"Your name, what is it?" Mo Xie asked.
The lady smiled, she bowed her head at Mo Xie before replying: "I am Zhiruo, you can just call me Ruo'er."
She fixed her stance, used her finger to taste the food before smiling at Mo Xie: "It's already done."
Mo Xie nods his head, he took out two wooden bowls and started to eat, the lady did the same.
It was fairly quiet, after an hour, Mo Xie decided to leave: "Well, I'll be going, how about you?"
Zhiruo smiled: "I'll stay here, you go on then." She looked at the cauldron: "What about this?"
Mo Xie pondered for a while, later, he took out another cauldron and stored half of it: "You can keep it."
As he spoke of this, he immediately flew away.
Zhiruo looked at his departing back, soon as Mo Xie's figure is nowhere to be seen, she couldn't help but heave a huge breath, removing the lumped skins from her face, she spoke: "Wao, that was harder than I thought!"
Her beautiful face showed, green eyes void of any impurities, like looking into her eyes would actually make anyone fall in love, like a black hole continuously distraction one's attention.
She immediately put her veil, decreasing her features drastically and smiled cheerfully.
As she spoke, two figures appeared beside her: "You've violated your grandma's words, killed seven of my treasured beasts, and even used your cloaking charm to disguise as that, I will be watching your punishment when you return, extremely cheerful too."
Zhiruo smiled: "I don't care." As she spoke, she looked at the cauldron, waved her hand: "I've spent some time with him, talked with him, and even had this precious treasure, I'm completely satisfied."
She looked at the afternoon skies: "Well, fifty years... I wonder if I can wait that long..."
The old man couldn't help but be worried: "Please, please don't do anything rash, we're seriously going to be punished."
Zhiruo smiled: "I won't, I'll try my best."
She then glanced at the lady: "Aunty, how was it?"
The lady with an hourglass figure chuckles: "You know, you'll definitely be a great wife if your personality is like that, I bet, he'll definitely fall for you if you continue like that."
Hearing her praise and the words: "Really?" Zhiruo asked expectantly.
The lady chuckles: "Surely, I doubt he'll not fall for it."
Zhiruo smiled brightly: "Then... Then, but... will I even be somehow become like that?"
The lady smirked, like a plan brewing in her mind: "Well, it comes with time, you know, learning manners is great, but learning it wholeheartedly for the one you love is definitely going to reach something!"
Zhiruo pondered for a bit before nodding her head: "Then, I think I will learn diligently now."
The lady smiled: "Good."
Zhiruo smiled contently but then, she looked at the lady: "Aunty, why so serious? I was just kidding, you think I don't know what your plan is?"
As she spoke, her tongue came can be seen as she vanished completely.
The lady looked at the place where Zhiruo was a few seconds ago, only a few seconds, veins started to appear all over her body: "Zhi... Ru... o...."
The old man sighed, he chuckles: "So, you've been played again."
As the old man spoke, the two of them also vanished.
Meanwhile, a few miles away, Zhiruo couldn't help but smile: "Maybe... just maybe...."
Her face blushing red, she's looking at her storage ring, where a single item is in the middle of the vast space, a cauldron with a cooked meal inside. As she saw it, she couldn't help but giggle softly.