Chapter 996: A gangster and a witch
‘Two more days of having to be wheeled around like this…can’t say I dislike it or not,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he had a zako push him towards the kitchens. Technically he was also talking to the zako pushing, but the zako pushing could only response with primal emotions like an unusually smart puppy or a toddler. Which is why Zhen Liu could get the vague feeling that the zako just enjoyed being around Zhen Liu.
‘Wonder if Zhen Feng figured out any…is that great Grandauntie Xun Tian being accompanied by someone who appears to be an incredibly curvaceous witch dressed in white?”
From the zakos, Zhen Liu felt a vague feeling that he could interpret as…”yeah”.
‘Huh… not dealing with this today, about face. We’re going out for lunch.’
[Noo…dles?]
‘Holy shit, your first word…and yeah, noodles sound good.’
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‘Perfect.’
Seeing what she wanted to see, Zhen Xun Tian looked behind herself to call in her friend. <
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Clack, clack
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Accompanying the Zhen Clan matriarch, and entering a few steps behind, was a woman that none of the people present in the kitchen has ever met or seen before.
At a glance, she was bespectacled woman that appeared older than the matriarch and had a more mature grace and build on top of that. With long white hair and an outfit consisting of blue and white alchemical robes, the woman appeared more or less like an ice fairy that would be mentioned in the stories that Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng grew up with.
Granted, the moment this mysterious woman opened her mouth, all notions of that thought died with it.
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Having been to the Pearl Scale Empire and seeing the main clan’s elaborate island estate, the Zhen Clan scions knew that their little slice of home on the frontier wasn’t exactly the fanciest. However, as Zhen Clan scions, they didn’t appreciate when other people pointed it out so bluntly.
Especially when they appeared to be guests of the main clan’s matriarch.
Thankfully, the matriarch went to bat for the scions…and they learned why the matriarch was friends with this woman.
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“What the fuck?”
After this bickering went on for a couple more moments, Zhen Xun Tian eventually got to the meat of the matter and actually introduced the rude, and apparently incredibly important, woman.
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“What the fuck…,” Zhen Xing muttered under his breath.
It’s often been said that men fantasize about being manhandled by a beautiful woman, Zhen Xing wasn’t one of those type of men and was starting to realize that it was only a fantasy for a reason. Then again, that could be because Pai Long didn’t treat him as harshly.
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“Hold up,” Zhen Feng interjected. “You actually got Zhen Liu to give you some of that crazy cursed flame to cultivate with? Are you insane?!”
“Hey, I didn’t know it would cause my cultivator haywire. How was I supposed to.”
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Nun Hua went silent after shushing everyone as she looked over Zhen Xing two more times with aether enhanced eyes.
Normally, treating something like [Ghost Flame Fever] required a mid tiered pill known as the [Mourning Ice Pill], and it would simply snuff out the infecting [Ghost Flame], leaving the consumer slightly weakened for about a week. Otherwise, if left unchecked, the [Ghost Flame] would go out of control and cause the former owner to turn into a burning wraith. This was especially in the case of those below the Aether Grandmaster tier, with those sorry saps lasting about three days before turning into one.
Despite that piece of common knowledge though, Zhen Xing appeared to be completely fine. In Nun Hua’s eyes, the [Ghost Flame] inside of him had not only been burning inside him for five days without any issues, but was in the process of being assimilated as well.
This was weird and new territory for the Imperial Alchemist and she needed answers right the fuck now.
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Fweet!
Before Zhen Xing could even have a chance to answer, Zhen Xun Tian whistled to get both his and Nun Hua’s attention.
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Realizing that she went a bit off the deep end, Nun Hua proceeded to release Xing’s face before doing as Zhen Xun Tian instructed.
Once she did, Nun Hua’s eyes grew to be as wide as saucer plates.
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Immediately, she could tell that all the ingredients used were cheap, 1st tier aether plants that most newbie and low tier alchemists used to make the most basic of elixirs and powders.
In complete defiance of this though, this simple dish was radiating the same energy as a 3rd tier aether pill, which was borderline impossible to achieve through traditional alchemy.
The only way to achieve such results in traditional alchemy was to use extraordinary types of aether flames or aether ice, like her own [Cerulean Phoenix Flame] or [Emerald Soul Ice]. So the fact that there was someome here able to replicate that feat with [Gourmand Alchemy] was positively shocking. In this moment, Nun Hua made it a note to interrogate Zhen Xun Tian about everything she knows about this mysterious branch clan of hers.
Evidently, this sudden change in behavior from haughty ice witch to obsessed researcher threw the branch clan members for a loop. Then again, the Zhen Clan has been getting exposed to more and more weirdos as of late.
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Placing the plate of food down, Nun Hua redirected her focus towards Zhen Feng with a surprisingly intense look in her eyes. The kind of look that Zhen Feng had only seen in wild beasts the moment they found their prey.
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Evidently, Zhen Feng was just like every other guy in the Zhen Clan.
