Chapter 026: The Three Young Men

Qingjin gently rubbed his little sister’s head, his face filled with indulgence and helplessness. “Xiaohu’er, stop reading those little storybooks. Try reading something proper. Stories like ‘I Was Reborn as an Ancient God’ are all nonsense, pure fantasy. Our people have never been reborn as ancient gods; only evil gods can be reborn. You wouldn’t want the Dao Court to arrest you and force me to ransom you out, would you?”

“I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to ransom me out,” Qinghu replied, exasperated. “If the Dao Court catches me, how could anyone possibly buy me back? We’re talking about true gods, after all!”

“Don’t be silly. You’ve really been poisoned by those storybooks. From now on, you must read them less,” Qingjin sighed, already planning to find and destroy all the little storybooks Qinghu had hidden, and to make her read serious texts instead.

Their group finally reached the lakeshore. A thousand steps ahead sprawled a vast, deep-water lake, its emerald surface mysterious and foreboding. Far off, white mist rolled and churned, as if something terrifying lurked within it.

Without realizing it, Qingjin led Qinghu to the water’s edge. He looked over the lake, dipped his hand in, testing the water, then said, “This is a cold-water lake. Even in summer, the water temperature is very low. If a person swims here for long, they’ll become numb and frozen. It’s a dangerous lake.”

“Not only is the water cold, but when I was in Meishan County, I studied records about this lake. At its bottom, there’s a massive outlet connected to a powerful underground river. That river links to many water veins and forbidden places throughout the Eastern Wastelands, making it easy for high-level aquatic beasts to travel. That’s why this lake is so dangerous,” Zhou Ji sighed.

All the information he had about the Serpent Domain was gathered just before he arrived. He almost gave up on following Qingjin here.

“There’s a lot of beastly aura in the lake even now,” Ning Qi observed, standing at the shore and gazing into the deep water.

“Zhen’er, have you ever been attacked by beasts while living here?” Qingjin asked, tilting his head.

“Don’t call me Zhen’er. Please call me Fourth Brother or Qingzhen,” Qingzhen muttered.

“Zhen’er?” Qingjin repeated.

“Of course. When we first arrived, a savage bird carried off one of the children. After that, we guarded against the birds fiercely and haven’t lost anyone since,” Qingzhen rolled his eyes at his elder brother.

“What about the lake? Have any beasts come ashore?” Qingjin asked seriously.

“All the time. Every day,” Qingzhen replied.

“Every day? Yet none of you have any injuries, and you all look so healthy?” Qingjin was puzzled.

“If they didn’t come ashore, what would we eat?” Qingzhen retorted, exasperated.

“What do you mean?” Qingjin pressed.

“They come ashore themselves, and we drag them away and eat them,” Qingzhen felt his brother must have grown foolish during his travels. His words were clear enough, after all.

“Are you dreaming? Fierce beasts willingly jump ashore for you to eat?” Qingjin laughed.

“They really do. We’ve been eating beast meat every day lately,” Qingzhen replied earnestly.

“Is that right, Uncle Zhao?” Qingjin asked, still bewildered.

Uncle Zhao nodded, finding the situation odd as well, but it was true—they ate beast meat every day.

The three were dumbfounded. What was going on?

“Why don’t you, Young Master, bring your two companions for a meal first, then we can talk in detail?” Uncle Zhao suggested.

“Uncle Zhao, just call me by name. We haven’t had lunch since we arrived, so thank you for arranging it.”

“You’re too polite, Qingjin,” Uncle Zhao replied with a smile.

When the dishes arrived, Ning Qi and Zhou Ji, visiting the domain for the first time, nearly burst out laughing. The plates were so huge the table nearly couldn’t hold them. It was certainly generous: a steamed giant grass carp, at least ten pounds; a massive platter of stir-fried potato strips—though why were the potatoes black? And several platters of what looked like clam meat, but with blue threads running through them?

“Qingjin, your family’s dishes are unique—and the portions are enormous!” Zhou Ji joked, “The whole table is piled high, even stacking plates. But why does the meat have blue threads?”

Qingjin was equally puzzled. He picked up a piece of the blue-threaded meat with his chopsticks and tasted it. His expression changed dramatically, and he quickly grabbed another large piece.

Ning Qi watched Qingjin curiously, then followed his lead and took a piece himself. His expression changed as well, and he swiftly began devouring the food.

Zhou Ji, confused, picked up his chopsticks—and then...

The three of them swept through every dish on the table in a frenzy.

They hadn’t even finished digesting before they rushed to the outhouse.

When they finally regrouped, more than half an hour had passed, and all traces of the smell were gone. The three young men looked radiant, as if their appearances had been enhanced by a whole shade.

They exchanged glances, each silently confirming their suspicions.

Uncle Zhao and Qingzhen had arrived as well.

“Where’s Hu’er?” Qingjin asked, now in a fresh, snug outfit—clearly prepared by his sister. Since she was seven or eight, Qinghu had sewn clothes for the family to help their mother save money. Aside from store-bought garments, all of Qingjin’s clothes were made by Qinghu.

“She’s taking a nap,” Qingzhen replied.

“As long as she’s not running around.”

“How could she? Where is there to run in this place?” Qingzhen scoffed inwardly, thinking he was just afraid she’d let something slip by accident, especially since his brother wasn’t the only one present.

“So what exactly did we eat for lunch?” Qingjin asked.

“One giant grass carp, clam meat from ten river clams, and stir-fried black potatoes,” Qingzhen replied with a mischievous grin.

Qingjin couldn’t help twitching his lips. “A giant grass carp?”

Qingzhen nodded, “Yes.”

“A ninth-tier beast grass carp,” Ning Qi said, unable to hold back a laugh.

“Huh?” Qingzhen feigned ignorance.

“Stir-fried black potatoes?” Qingjin pressed.

“Right,” Qingzhen nodded again.

“They taste better than regular potatoes, don’t they?” Qingjin asked.

“They’re alright,” Qingzhen grinned.

“Jiangyuan fruit, right? Ninth-tier spiritual treasure,” Zhou Ji burst out laughing. “I’m a physician—I could tell as soon as I tasted it.”

“Huh? Jiangyuan fruit?” Qingzhen feigned surprise, but it was so obviously fake that everyone saw through it.

Even Uncle Zhao covered half his face, unable to bear watching.

“And the clam meat with blue threads—that was Blue Beauty Clam, wasn’t it?”

“How did you know, big brother?” Qingzhen was genuinely shocked. He thought no one would recognize it.

“We ate it together once. But last time, the Blue Beauty Clam we ate had been specially processed, so there were no blue threads. That’s why we didn’t recognize it at first, but remembered later,” Zhou Ji laughed.

“You need to soak clam meat in medicinal broth?” Qingzhen asked, confused.

“They say it brings out the clam’s ultimate effects, and actually reduces the amount needed. Each person only got a sixth of the clam meat,” Qingjin explained.

“Big brother, you just ate three platters—at least five or six clams’ worth,” Qingzhen murmured.

Qingjin coughed awkwardly. How could his foolish brother be so tactless?