"Three more?" Leo chuckled, leaning back against a mossy tree trunk with his hands locked behind his head. "Hold your horses, Senior Sister. Special imports don't come cheap. One double cheeseburger costs ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Plus a five percent service fee for live table-side cooking in a hazardous environment."
Ling Yue didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second.
With a flick of her wrist, her spatial ring flashed with a cool blue light. A neatly stacked pile of fifty sparkling Low-Grade Spirit Stones materialized directly on the flat rock beside the cast-iron skillet.
"Here," Ling Yue said, her voice filled with an intense, unyielding resolve that she usually reserved for life-or-death sword duels. "Fifty stones. Keep the change. Cook."
Leo looked at the pile of glowing blue crystals, then back at the usually aloof, ice-cold goddess who was currently looking at him like a hungry kitten eyeing a bowl of cream.
"Damn, food service really is where the real money is," Leo muttered, shaking his head with a grin. "Alright, custom order coming right up."
For the next forty minutes, the quiet clearing in the Rear Mountains transformed into an open-air diner.
Sizzle, pop, flip.
The intoxicating aroma of seared spirit boar meat and melted cheese wafted through the bamboo forest. Ling Yue sat gracefully on her rock, eating with surprising speed while somehow maintaining a refined, elegant posture—though the tiny specks of sauce at the corner of her lips completely ruined the "mysterious ice queen" facade.
With each burger she consumed, the pure, unadulterated spiritual energy locked inside the cooked meat washed over her meridians like a warm spring tide.
BOOM.
A faint, crisp shockwave of icy Qi erupted from her body, blowing back the fallen leaves around her feet.
Ling Yue froze, her fourth burger halfway to her mouth. She stared down at her hands in utter disbelief.
"My... my bottleneck?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "The cold poison in my lower Dantian... it’s melting?"
For three years, Ling Yue had been stuck at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm (Stage 9). Her ice-attribute cultivation technique was powerful, but it left behind a stubborn, freezing sludge in her meridians that blocked her from forming a True Foundation.
Yet, the combination of the high-grade spirit beast meat, the heat of Chaos-infused cooking, and whatever wild, exotic spices Leo had used was actively dissolving the frozen blockages!
[PING!]
[Target Ling Yue consumed: Spiritual Double Cheeseburger x4!]
[Therapeutic Culinary Effect triggered: Meridian Thawing!]
[Target’s Cultivation Bottleneck weakened by 40%!]
Ling Yue looked up at Leo, her ice-blue eyes wide with a mixture of shock, awe, and something dangerous that looked suspiciously like reverence.
"Xiao Long..." she said softly, her tone entirely stripped of its former cold arrogance. "You... you didn't just make a meal. This is a medicinal feast. No—it's superior to medicinal feasts! There are no pill toxins, no bitter taste... just pure, harmonized energy."
"It's called comfort food, Senior Sister," Leo said, wiping down his skillet with a clean cloth before stowing it away in his inventory. "People fight better when they're fed properly. Now, if you're done licking your fingers, we should head back. I've got a lot of cultivation to finish before dinner."
Ling Yue stood up quickly, adjusting her icy-blue inner sect robes. She wiped her mouth with a delicate silk handkerchief, her face flushing slightly when she realized how unrefined she must have looked.
"I will accompany you," she said firmly, stepping up to walk alongside him. "If Elder Lu or anyone from the Enforcement Hall tries to harass you again today, they will have to go through my Frost-Lotus Sword."
Leo gave her a side-eye glance, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Look at that. One burger and I've hired the top inner sect bodyguard. Best investment I've made all week."
By the time the duo returned to the Xiao Clan's inner courtyard, the sun had climbed to its peak.
However, the peaceful atmosphere of the eastern residence was completely shattered.
Surrounding Leo’s wooden courtyard gate were nearly two dozen heavily armored guards wearing crimson and silver tabards—the emblem of the Sunfall Imperial Family. Standing at the front of the group was a handsome young man in luxurious silk robes, holding a jade folding fan.
It was First Prince Zhao Zhen's younger brother—Second Prince Zhao Tian.
Zhao Tian was nineteen years old, sitting at Body Refining Stage 8, and notorious throughout the capital for his arrogant, overbearing temper.
Standing right beside him, with his left arm wrapped tightly in medical bandages and a bitter, venomous sneer on his face, was Elder Lu.
"Your Highness, that is the boy!" Elder Lu hissed, pointing a trembling finger toward the path. "Xiao Long! He used a forbidden demonic treasure to injure me and steal clan property!"
Second Prince Zhao Tian snapped his jade fan shut with a sharp CLACK. He turned his arrogant gaze toward Leo, but the moment his eyes landed on Ling Yue walking right beside the boy, his expression darkened instantly.
"Fairy Ling Yue?" Zhao Tian called out, his eyebrows knitting together in annoyance. "Why are you walking with this waste? I came here specifically on my elder brother's orders to arrest him for treason against the Imperial Alliance!"
Ling Yue stepped forward immediately, her icy Qi flaring outwards with enough pressure to make the surrounding imperial guards stumble back a pace.
"Prince Zhao Tian," Ling Yue said coldly, her hand resting on her sword hilt. "Xiao Long is under my protection today. State your business and leave, or answer to my blade."
Zhao Tian’s face turned ugly. "Protection?! Fairy Ling, he crippled an elder and insulted the Imperial Sunfall Treaty! My brother, the Crown Prince, explicitly demanded his head!"
While the tension reached a boiling point, Leo casually strolled past Ling Yue, holding his wooden basket under one arm and yawning loudly.
"Man, you royal guys really love making noise during nap time," Leo said, stopping five paces away from the Second Prince.
"Impudent brat!" Zhao Tian snapped, pointing his fan at Leo's face. "You dare speak to royalty in such a manner?! Knee—"
CLANG!
Before Zhao Tian could finish his sentence, Leo reached into his robe, pulled out a thick, heavy ingot of solid silver, and casually tossed it onto the dirt right at Zhao Tian’s feet.
The silver ingot hit the dirt with a loud, dull THUD.
Everyone froze. The imperial guards blinked. Elder Lu gaped. Even Zhao Tian stared down at the piece of metal in sheer confusion.
"What... what is the meaning of this?!" Zhao Tian barked.
Leo rested his hands on his hips, giving the Second Prince a look reserved entirely for slow-witted toddlers.
"That's twenty ounces of pure silver," Leo said calmly. "Consider it advance payment for the property damage I'm about to do to your face."
[SYSTEM WARNING]
Target: Second Prince Zhao Tian (Body Refining Stage 8)
Host Status: Body Refining Stage 6 (Chaos Qi: 1800/2600)
Recommended Action: Execute [Detroit Special: Two-Piece & A Biscuit].
"You—YOU DARE?!" Zhao Tian roared, his face flushing crimson with absolute fury. "Guards! Break his legs and tear out his tongue!"
Four heavy Stage 6 guards lunged forward simultaneously, their spear tips gleaming with lethal red aura.
"Too slow," Leo muttered.
SWOOSH!
Leo didn't draw a weapon. He didn't execute a complex martial stance.
Using the raw, explosive propulsion of his Primitive Chaos Technique, he vanished from his spot, leaving behind a faint burst of golden static in the air.
CRACK! CRACK!
Two loud snaps echoed through the courtyard as Leo reappeared directly inside the guards' formation. His fists, wrapped in dense, dark-golden Chaos Qi, struck two guards squarely in their chest plates. The reinforced steel armor shattered like cheap porcelain, sending both men flying backward into the stone wall of the courtyard.
Without pausing for a single beat, Leo spun on his heel, grabbed the remaining two spear shafts with his bare hands, and snapped them in half like dry twigs.
THWACK!
He used the broken wooden ends to double-slap both guards across their helmets, knocking them unconscious instantly.
Four Stage 6 imperial guards down in less than three seconds.
Zhao Tian steeled his nerve, his eyes wide with disbelief, as Leo casually stepped over the fallen guards and stopped right in front of him.
"You... you can't touch me!" Zhao Tian stuttered, stepping back while raising his hands to form a defensive Qi barrier. "I am the Second Prince of the Sunfall Empire! If you lay a hand on me, my brother will mobilize thirty thousand troops and raze this clan to—"
Leo didn't let him finish.
His right hand shot forward like a hydraulic piston, bypassing the prince's rushed Qi barrier effortlessly, and locked around Zhao Tian’s throat like a vice made of titanium.
LIFT.
Leo effortlessly raised the nineteen-year-old prince off his feet with one arm, dangling him four feet in the air. Zhao Tian gasped for air, his legs kicking frantically as his hands clawed uselessly at Leo’s iron grip.
"Listen to me very carefully, Prince," Leo said, his dark eyes glowing with a faint, terrifying golden light as he leaned in close. "I don't give a damn about your thirty thousand troops. I don't give a damn about your crown prince brother. And if you ever show up at my gate screaming like a toddler again..."
Leo leaned in closer, whispering into the prince's ear with a cold, friendly smile.
"...I'll turn your royal palace into a pop-up burger joint and force your ancestors' spirits to work the night shift."
[PING!]
[Provocation Multiplier Triggered by [Sarcastic Glare]!]
[Second Prince Zhao Tian: Psychological Trauma Inflicted!]
[System Points Earned: +300 SP!]
Leo swung his arm and threw Zhao Tian sideways like a sack of laundry. The prince tumbled across the gravel, crashing headfirst into Elder Lu’s legs and sending both of them rolling into a heap of mud outside the gate.
"Cough! Cough! Retreat! RETREAT!" Zhao Tian screamed in terror, scrambling backward on his hands and knees, completely terrified by the sheer, ungodly aura radiating off the boy.
Elder Lu didn't need to be told twice. He scooped up the prince and fled down the mountain path as fast as his bandaged body could carry him, leaving behind their weapons, armor, and dignity.
Leo dusted off his hands, picked up the silver ingot he’d thrown on the ground earlier, and wiped off the dirt against his sleeve.
"Free silver," Leo smirked, slipping it back into his pocket. "Always pick up your change."
Behind him, Ling Yue stood completely still, watching the back of the black-robed boy. A soft, breathless laugh—something she hadn't uttered in years—escaped her lips.
"You really are an unkillable bastard, aren't you?" Ling Yue said, a faint, rare smile breaking through her icy face.
Leo turned around, winking at her. "Hey, title's equipped for a reason, Senior Sister. Now, who wants to help me reach Stage 7 before sunset?"
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