Chapter 53

For the first time since arriving here, Yi Heng returned to his room with a dark expression, not uttering a word.
Yet his little disciple didn’t notice and was still outside explaining the rules to the new resident.
Back in his room, Yi Heng’s eyes snapped open, dark and swirling with a faint, shimmering light. His gaze was somber, tinged with a hint of murderous intent seeping out.
For a moment, he had felt the urge to kill Meng Jin outright.
After all, he was a demonic cultivator. Though he had once walked the righteous path, after falling into demonic ways for so long, it was often difficult to control his bloodthirsty impulses.
He was deeply displeased. There should have been no outsiders here, why had Su Ling agreed to let someone else stay?
Especially when that person… clearly seemed to have ulterior motives toward her!
Yi Heng furrowed his brow deeply, his turbulent gaze fixed outside. Even through the bamboo door, he could still see the situation of those two.
This Meng Jin seemed a bit off.
But he couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly was wrong.
There was just a faint sense of strangeness, as if he shared some similarities with Su Ling. Yet, upon closer thought, Yi Heng dismissed the idea.
How could Meng Jin possibly resemble his little disciple?
He was so ugly, and the aura around him was particularly unpleasant.
Yi Heng closed his eyes briefly, but in that moment of shutting them, a wisp of black energy escaped. The teacup in the room seemed to be struck by something, suddenly shattering with a loud "bang, " Fragments of porcelain flew out, most of them embedding themselves into the bamboo.
A shard grazed his cheek. Yi Heng remained motionless, feeling the stinging pain on his face. A trail of blood appeared on his jade-like complexion, instantly adding a touch of eerie allure to his handsome features.
A few breaths later.
Yi Heng waved his sleeve, and the porcelain fragments gathered together under his force, eventually turning into a pile of powder that drifted out through the window.
Later, when Su Ling noticed one teacup was missing, she didn't find it strange at all and naturally added another one.
Yi Heng, who had been anxiously waiting for her to ask, nearly exploded with anger again!

With her innate spiritual body, Su Ling made rapid progress once she truly immersed herself in learning. Although she often studied for two or three days at a time, only emerging when she was too hungry to bear it.
She was a bit greedy, wanting to master the contents of alchemy and formation arts all at once, along with the various spells every cultivator must learn. This made her studies particularly strenuous.
However, because of this, Su Ling was almost constantly in a state of deep concentration. Once she immersed herself, the difficulty of her learning was significantly lower than that of others.
But some things couldn't be mastered just by wanting to learn them. In the path of alchemy, Su Ling's talent was not high. Even the most basic Qi-Nourishing Pills, which could be concocted with materials found in the mortal realm, repeatedly ended in failure for her.
Even following Yi Heng's steps exactly didn't work.
After several attempts, Su Ling realized she wasn't well-suited for alchemy and gave up on it, focusing most of her efforts on formation arts.
Gains and losses went hand in hand. In the path of formation arts, Su Ling progressed exceptionally smoothly. In a short time, she learned the Maze Formation and even dared to improve upon it, transforming the originally simple disorienting formation into one with a certain degree of offensive capability.
Thus, the formation around the bamboo house was replaced with the one she had developed. Anyone like Meng Jin who strayed into it would undoubtedly be left severely wounded.
However, with insufficient materials on hand, Yi Heng's teaching faced many limitations. Much of the knowledge remained theoretical.
Su Ling delighted in learning these things, but there were times when she grew tired.
Whenever that happened, she would request a half-hour break, then use her abilities to accelerate the growth of a large variety of fruits and vegetables, having Meng Jin prepare the meals.
Food infused with spiritual energy can be incredibly delicious even with simple cooking, let alone the fact that Su Ling had tasted so many delicacies that her descriptions alone could add another layer of flavor to the dishes.
For instance, at this moment, Su Ling had ripened the vegetables she planned to eat over the next few days. The leftover scraps would later be tossed to the hens.
Fed with spirit-infused food, the hens at home were much larger than ordinary mortal hens, each glossy and sleek, and even capable of flying.
Of course, they were also quite clever. Even when they flew, they never dared to venture beyond the courtyard. Su Ling thought they knew who their owner was, but in reality, as they watched their companions dwindle in number, the hens also longed to leave. However, every time they attempted to fly away, they felt a deathly gaze that sent chills down their necks, so they never truly dared to escape.
But within the courtyard, they often caused chaos, and this exercise kept the hens looking lively and spirited, likely making their meat quite tasty as well.
Su Ling’s gaze fell on the thigh of one of them, admiring its firm, plump leg
Meng Jin was already quite familiar with Su Ling. Seeing her eyes fixed on the hens, he asked, "Are we eating this today?"
Su Ling nodded decisively, "Yes!"
There was no need to be frugal, as there had originally been only five hens. One had been stewed for a chicken hotpot, and the remaining four were still diligently laying eggs. Then, some wild chickens from who-knows-where had sneaked in for the food, and after that, the hens secretly hid a few eggs.
When Su Ling emerged from her seclusion, she found over a dozen fluffy chicks in the courtyard.
This sudden increase added to Su Ling’s burden of raising them. If she hadn’t advanced to the third level of Qi Refining, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford it.
Meng Jin nodded in agreement, "Alright, I’ll slaughter them. How do you want them cooked?"
Su Ling thought for a moment, counting on her fingers, "Kill two. We’ll make Kung Pao chicken, spicy diced chicken, two large chicken cutlets, and use the rest for soup."
The dishes sounded delicious. Meng Jin hadn’t made them before, but they didn’t seem too difficult. He glanced at the plump hens and said, "Tell me how to prepare them."
The hens: "!!!"
Today, two were going to be killed!
This time, they truly felt their lives were threatened. Flapping their wings in panic, they tried to flee. But with just a glance from Su Ling, an invisible barrier blocked them, and two of them let out a final "cluck, " before meeting their end.
Having dealt with them, Su Ling turned to Meng Jin with a cheerful smile, "I’ll leave the rest to you."
Meng Jin responded with a reserved smile, flicked his wide sleeves, and bowed slightly. He still looked like the fair-faced young scholar from before, though his demeanor had grown a bit more rugged. Tucking his sleeves, he carried the two chickens to the kitchen.
Su Ling, who no longer needed to do manual labor, wasn’t wearing practical narrow sleeves but rather more ethereal wide sleeves. Seeing him enter the kitchen, she lifted her skirt and followed, "I’ll explain it to you as we go. Make sure to remember, alright?"
"Of course, my memory is fairly decent," Meng Jin replied with a smile.
Yi Heng leaned against the headboard, one long leg bent, idly toying with a simple ceramic teacup. His dark pupils were gloomy, faintly emitting traces of black energy.
The clear, lively voices of the young man and woman outside continuously drifted into his ears, further irritating his already volatile mood.
This had been happening for days.
Since Meng Jin arrived here, the two of them had been exchanging culinary tips almost every day.
Yi Heng had once tried to help, but before he could even approach, his little disciple stopped him, not wanting him to do any work because he was an elder.
It infuriated Yi Heng so much that he nearly couldn't hold back from unleashing his killing intent on the spot.
Later, whenever he looked at Meng Jin, he found him particularly irritating.
But he didn't want to take action in front of Su Ling.
After holding back repeatedly, Yi Heng still rose gracefully from the bed, opened the door, and went outside. There, he saw Su Ling leaning against the kitchen door, watching the young man by the well and speaking to him with a cheerful smile.
Even though his eyes were closed, he still felt a sharp sting in them.
"Come here," Yi Heng called out.
Su Ling immediately reacted and hurried over, her voice as crisp and pleasant as ever: "Master, what's wrong?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the two dogs, who had been perfectly calm, suddenly had their eyes turn blood-red for some reason. With low growls, "Grrr, " they lunged at Meng Jin.
Meng Jin's face paled in terror. He quickly threw down the chicken in his hands and turned to run.
For a moment, a chase scene unfolded in the courtyard with one man and two dogs. Even Granny Li was stunned, forgetting what she had been doing.
Su Ling was dumbfounded. After a moment of shock, she quickly formed hand seals, and her spiritual power transformed into ropes that bound the two dogs. Seeing that they could no longer move, she weakly lowered her hands, wiped the sweat from her brow, and said, "Why did they suddenly go mad? Meng Jin, did you provoke them?"
The frail scholar Meng Jin had already collapsed on the ground. Hearing this, he struggled to his feet on shaky legs and said with an aggrieved expression, "No, I haven't. Since I arrived here, I've always kept to myself, just hoping to enjoy some good food. How would I dare provoke anyone?"
Su Ling frowned slightly.
The two dogs were still glaring fiercely at Meng Jin, baring their teeth as if ready to pounce at any moment: "Woof! Woof! Woof!!!"
Yi Heng pressed his lips together, suppressing the rising urge to kill. Looking at the girl's troubled expression, he said softly, "These two dogs were always well-behaved before. Why did they suddenly become like this?"
He 'glanced' meaningfully at Meng Jin.
Su Ling completely missed the implication and shook her head straightforwardly, frowning as she used her spiritual power to soothe the agitated dogs, but it had no effect. She said gravely, "If these two dogs don't behave, we can't keep them anymore."
She liked dogs quite a bit, but human lives were more important. If the dogs really had some kind of madness, then naturally, they would have to be sent away.
Yi Heng's unspoken words were all stifled by her statement.
His lips pressed even tighter, turning pale, carrying a sense of bleakness and a shadow of gloom.
Has it only been this long, and she already values this Meng Jin so much?
Yi Heng’s fingers twitched slightly, and two black threads emerged from the snarling dogs, dissipating into the air.
The two previously frenzied mutts let out a low whimper, the crimson in their eyes fading as they exchanged confused glances. Realizing they had been restrained, they immediately turned pitiful eyes toward Su Ling: "Woof, woof, woof~"