Chapter 20: The Scarlet Cloud's Fragrance

  Back at the Cloud Pavilion, Song Doudou came to greet him early on, "Qingkuang, you're back. Here, for you. A girl's face can't be scarred, it's so ugly."

  She took over a small bottle of wound medicine, and Zhan Light Crazy felt a little moved in her heart. Originally, she was not someone who easily paid out emotions, and there were only a few people who truly got her recognition. However, for those who treated her with sincerity, she would never be stingy with her emotions.

  "Thank you."

  "Thanks for what? If it wasn't for you saving us back then, we wouldn't be sitting here chatting with you like this now!" Song Duoduo pouted.

  "Yes, lightly arrogant, you don't have to say these unpleasant words." Chen Duo and the others also said disapprovingly.

  Zhan Qing nodded slightly, "Alright, I won't mention it again." But these feelings she would keep in her heart.

  "That's right!" she said with a good sisterly appearance, putting her arm around her shoulder, causing Xiao Piao to be dissatisfied, that was its territory!

  "I'll make some delicious food for you all, and let you taste my culinary skills."

  Upon hearing this, Glutton's eyes lit up instantly and its tail started wagging excitedly. The others, seeing its reaction, also looked forward to it, thinking that if it could move the gluttonous Glutton, the craftsmanship must be good!

  "Gluttony, if you want to eat something delicious, go catch a curved horned beast and bring it back. That's yours, solve it yourself." Gluttony didn't mind being the younger brother at all, running errands and hunting, he went off excitedly, a black shadow flashed by, and disappeared without a trace.

  Considering there were six people, the time was too short and the demand was too high, so they decided to have hot pot instead! Simple and time-saving. While the glutton was "taking meat", she washed and chopped various vegetables, plated them, and then made the sauce. Since there was no ready-made hot pot seasoning here, she first poured oil into the pot, heated it up, added old ginger, scallions, garlic, and Sichuan pepper to stir-fry, then poured in high broth. After boiling, she added some salt and other seasonings. At this time, the glutton had already dragged back a crooked horned beast and a snout-nosed pig, because it only had one mouth and was still small, so it could only hold one at a time, dragging it forward for a while before switching to another. The diligent appearance made several big men feel uneasy, so they helped bring the two beasts in, skinned and cleaned them.

  The five of them thought that War Light Crazy was just strong and had good cultivation, but they didn't expect her knife skills to be not bad either. They only saw a flash of cold light, and with a few swift cuts, the meat slices were separated and neatly arranged on the plate. At this time, the pot had already started boiling.

  A war lightly crazy person gave a small bowl of sauce and chili powder, then made a demonstration. Several people thought it was very interesting and learned from her, doing it themselves, having enough food and clothing. Only the gluttonous raccoon dog scratched its ears and cheeks, who let it not know how to use chopsticks.

  The sliced meat that had been sautéed was dipped in the sauce and blown cool, then fed into the glutton's mouth. The little glutton swallowed it hastily, indicating that it wanted more.

  For a while, everyone was eating hot and lively, their bellies were round, it wasn't easy to see them off, the gluttons were also basking in the sun with their swollen stomachs, the war lightly flashed into the space, today is a bit late, I don't know if Yu'er has been waiting anxiously.

  As expected, as soon as she appeared, before she even called out to him, her precious son came to her for the first time on his own initiative, his dark eyes fixed on her as he waited for her to feed him the fruit of life, and then obediently sank back down.

  She didn't rush to go out, but instead enjoyed the leisure time. She carefully calculated that she had been here for more than a year and was already 14 years old. The other day, she just passed her birthday, now she has real power. Although compared to the true strong, she is still an ant-like existence, but she will work hard to become the strongest. After all, she still has a son to protect. Thinking of her son, her heart was soft again.

  On the second day, as soon as he walked out of the Cloud Pavilion, a young man was already waiting outside.

  "Hello, you must be Zhan Qingkuang! I'm Shang Qi, 20 years old this year, you can call me Gege Qi." Looking at his baby face, Zhan Qingkuang chose to ignore what he just said.

  "What's wrong?"

  Shang Qi was slightly startled, but at his young age, he didn't show any displeasure. Instead, he remained very curious.

  "It's like this, you should have gone to Elite Academy today, but suddenly there was a task, the elder asked me to take you over."

  "Let's go!"

  All the way, Shang Qi stopped talking countless times, looking like she was very cold and distant. Yesterday, they found out that a five-star Grandmaster from their elite school had defeated two Spirit Kings in a row, which shocked them. When they heard that she had also advanced to Spirit King, they were even more excited. They all couldn't wait to see this girl who was said to be extraordinary, but unexpectedly, when they met her today, she was completely different from what he had imagined.

  Just as he was about to speak up, Lingzun's words made him miss the opportunity, because they had arrived at the Elder Hall.

  "Oh dear! The young master has arrived! Come in, come in! That little scamp Shang Qi is really something, how can he be so slow?" Elder Ling chuckled warmly.

  He unexpectedly responded indifferently to such enthusiasm and asked coldly: "What's up?"

  "What? Didn't Shang Qi tell you?" After saying that, she glared at him fiercely. Shang Qi looked down with a wronged expression, wanting to speak up.

  "Alright, let's not talk about that for now. I'll introduce you to these people and you can get to know them. They're all from the Elite Academy, and you'll be studying with them from now on. This is Hao Ren, he's a good person just like his name suggests, he's a four-star Spirit King of the Wind element. That one is Yu Mei Ren, isn't she beautiful? She's a three-star Spirit King of the Ice element. And this guy, his name is Mu Tou, and as you can see, he's a bit dull-headed, also a three-star Spirit King, but of the Earth element. The one who brought you here, Shang Qi, is from the Wood element, and relatively speaking, he's the weakest, only a two-star Spirit King."

  "Old man!" Shang Qi's dissatisfied shout, what made him the weakest, he was a strong and proud man, where was he weak? Where exactly was he weak?

  While others were curious about her from the moment she entered, perhaps because they were also women, except for that beautiful woman who seemed a bit unusual, the rest of them didn't have any malicious intentions.

  However, they didn't have malicious intentions and weren't representative of Warlight's usual patience. "One last time, what is it?" She disliked wasting time.

  "Cough, that is, lightly arrogant! It's like this, the students of the college will be assigned tasks, you know?!" Seeing her nod, Líng Cháng Lǎo continued to say, "Although they all have tasks, the level and danger are also different, so the students sent out are also different. Now, there is a task that needs you to do, which is to find the Red Cloud Fragrant Fruit. The Red Cloud Fragrant Fruit is in the Forest of No Return, and what is called the Forest of No Return is very suitable for monsters to live and practice. The monsters there are stronger and more dangerous. The Red Cloud Fragrant Fruit is hidden there, your task is to pick it back." Líng Cháng Lǎo instructed with a serious face.

  "What's the use of picking red cloud fragrant fruit?" She didn't want to lose her life for no reason.

  "The Chi Yun Xiang fruit has great medicinal value, many alchemists like to use it to refine medicine, can enhance the stability of the elixir, and upgrade the quality of the elixir by one level. However, the Chi Yun Xiang fruit is extremely rare, and the places where it grows are all extremely dangerous. The Academy sent you to find it because we need to accumulate points for the upcoming Academy Ranking Competition."

  Zhen Qingcang asked after Ling Changlao finished explaining, "What does the Chi Yun Xiang Guo have to do with the Academy Ranking Tournament?"

  "Of course, it's related. Every year, there are ranking matches between colleges, where each college decides its ranking through various competitions. In addition to the fixed 50 participants, there are also extra quotas that can be obtained by completing tasks. The more people we have participating in the competition, the higher our chances of winning. This time, the task assigned to our Yunshu College is the Red Cloud Fruit, but we don't know about other colleges. To avoid malicious competition, each college has a different task."

  Having heard this, Zhan Qingxuan understood, but for the sake of the academy's honor, should he go or not?

  Ling Lao Lao indeed lived up to her reputation as a shrewd person. Seeing her hesitant expression, she prescribed a strong medicine. "This life is not going back to the forest, that's a great place for trials, many people who come out of there become very powerful. Ah, you're young and afraid, it's normal. Ah~ I'm old now, otherwise, if I were to go again, my strength would probably increase too!"

  Zhan Qingcang didn't mind Ling Changlao's provocative words, indeed, she needed actual combat to quickly improve herself.

  "I'm going!"

  "Really? Great, I've been waiting for you to say that. Don't worry, those four are with you, I've already talked to them. Considering your age and it being your first mission, they'll take care of you. You can set off this afternoon!" Elder Ling was so excited that he completely forgot he had misspoken, only realizing it when Zhan Qingchen stared at him, making him awkwardly laugh.

  "Cough, that's the situation now. You all go back and pack your things! Bring all the medicine for injuries, I'm waiting for your good news. Alright, off you go! Don't loiter in front of my old man's face, it annoys me." After finishing speaking, Ling Changlao looked at them with a straight and majestic gaze, but his wavering eyes betrayed him.

  Got what he wanted to know, Zhan Qing turned around and walked away, leaving the other four people behind, and warned them again.

  Back in the Cloud Pavilion, War Light Crazy woke up the drooling Gluttony with a mouthful of saliva, looking at its dazed sleepy eyes, and poked it with one finger, "Gluttony, don't sleep anymore, we have things to do."

  "Master, I'm so sleepy..." The soft and fluffy voice was very cute.

  "We're going to the Forest of No Return now, hurry up and pack some snacks, we might not be able to eat for a long time. I'll buy you more later."

  Upon hearing about buying snacks, I'm immediately energized. "Really? Quick, quick, sweet osmanthus cake is here!" Indeed, nothing can change the nature of a foodie.

  Zhan Qingcang also put all the food and daily necessities in the storage space ring, after all, there were outsiders present, she couldn't enter the life space. Moreover, others wouldn't have a storage space ring to store things, thinking of Ling Changlao's words to let someone take care of her, she couldn't help but frown secretly, who knows who will take care of whom in the end!