Chapter 79 - 72: Am I About to Become a Dish?

Su Ling’er sat numbly inside the prisoner’s cart.

The cart was fashioned from jet-black wood, carved with Evil-Suppressing Divine Beasts, and looked exceptionally magnificent...

But no matter how magnificent the cage, it was still a cage.

She raised her bear paw, sniffing the primitive, wild scent on it.

She had become a bear. She had really, truly become a bear.

She suddenly recalled a scene she had witnessed at the Dining Pavilion when she first joined the sect.

The dining areas, strictly divided by rank; those most luxurious private rooms...

She had once assumed the ingredients served there were merely rare spiritual beasts.

But now that she thought about it, could it be...

...that they were fellow disciples who, like her, had been transformed by some wicked spell?

Braised Bear Paws, Honey-Glazed Bear Gall, Slow-Simmered Bear Bone Soup...

The names of one dish after another churned wildly in her mind.

’Is this my ultimate fate?’

’Paraded through the streets in this prisoner’s cart, only to be sent to the Dining Pavilion and served as a delicacy on my senior brothers’ and sisters’ plates?’

The moment she imagined being hacked to pieces by a chef, boiled over and over in a pot, and then served to those monsters...

Imagining them chewing and swallowing every piece of her—her flesh, her skin, every inch of her bones—until her very existence was utterly consumed...

The sharp pain deep in her soul was instantly suppressed by this even deeper terror.

’It’s over, it’s over!’

’I, Su Ling’er, an undercover agent from Qingxu Temple, haven’t even reached Foundation Establishment or ascended, and now I’m going to end up as a dish on someone’s plate!’

The prisoner’s cart carried her, moving forward at a steady pace.

Immediately after, streaks of light shot over from all corners of the sect. They "escorted" the cart from a respectful distance, gathering to spectate.

"Look, look! That’s the junior sister who suffered a cultivation deviation!"

"Tsk, tsk, even after a cultivation deviation transformed her into a bear, our junior sister is still such a... ravishing beauty!"

"Indeed! A peerless beauty! Such grace makes my heart ache with pity!"

Su Ling’er peered out through the bars. Dozens of senior brothers and sisters were standing on their flying swords, pointing at her while spouting the most ridiculously exaggerated praise.

"A beauty of this caliber, with that bearish... ahem, that celestial form, if she were to appear outside the Cultivation Realm, she would probably incite a bloody war among all the world’s Cultivators!"

"Exactly! I finally understand King Zhou!"

"If the Daji he fell in love with had even a fraction of our junior sister’s charm, the Shang Dynasty would have lasted another thousand years!"

"What are you talking about?! If King Zhou had first met a celestial bear with our junior sister’s magnificent physique, what would Daji even matter?"

"If I were King You of Zhou and I saw our junior sister’s brawny yet beautiful form, I’d have to fool the feudal lords eight hundred times to do her justice!"

"Our junior sister’s heroic figure makes my heart flutter! She is truly the number one beauty in the world, peerless in all of five thousand years of history!"

Listening to these lines that couldn’t possibly be faker, Su Ling’er was so angry her bear fur was about to stand on end.

’Are your eyes just decorations tied to the top of your heads?!’

’Who’s King Zhou?’

’Who’s King You of Zhou?’

’And who’s Daji?’

’And what’s this about a peerless beauty?’

’A beauty for the ages?’

’Which one of my bear hairs gave you the idea that this form is beautiful?!’

’Doesn’t your conscience hurt?!’

She now felt like a prisoner in a cage, being paraded through the streets for public humiliation.

Although those people weren’t throwing rotten eggs or spoiled vegetables at her, their deadpan delivery of utter nonsense made her feel even more ashamed than direct mockery would have!

’This is basically a public execution!’

"Eldest Brother..."

She spoke in a muffled, growling voice that drifted out from the cart, filled with grievance.

"Junior Sister, pay it no mind."

Lin Qingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, robes fluttering, looking every bit the enlightened master.

"Physical appearances are but illusions.

In the eyes of us Cultivators, your current form is no different from your usual one. Both are so...

...un, refreshingly refined and graceful."

"Really?"

Su Ling’er lifted her bear head. "Eldest Brother, can you look me in the eyes and say that again?"

But all she saw was her Eldest Brother turning his head to the side.

"Eldest Brother, look me in the eyes and say it again!"

"Why did you turn your head away?!"

Lin Qingfeng’s gaze drifted to the distant heavens. Watching the clouds drift and unfurl, he said profoundly:

"Not at all, Junior Sister.

Your brother was simply admiring how fine the weather is today.

But your Dao Heart, like my own, is dazzlingly brilliant.

You must believe me, how could your brother possibly lie to you?

True beauty comes from within; there is no need to confirm it with mortal eyes.

Look, aren’t all your senior brothers and sisters praising you?

No need to thank everyone. This is what we all should be doing."

"..."

Su Ling’er was left completely speechless.

’Thankful?’

’I’ll thank your ancestors for eight generations!’

’Someone from a righteous sect, please come and annihilate this demonic sect!’

’I feel like I’m going to die of sheer anger long before I ever get turned into an ingredient!’

The prisoner’s cart continued on its way, finally landing before a misty valley amidst the "admiration" and "praise" of the disciples.

The Spiritual Qi here was so dense it had almost materialized into a thin mist. Every breath carried a refreshing, sweet clarity.

A stone stele stood at the mouth of the valley.

[Spirit Vein Blessed Land]

’Not the Dining Pavilion?’

Su Ling’er was taken aback.

’Perhaps... this is the pre-processing area before the slaughter?’

’They marinate the "ingredient" with Spiritual Qi first to make the meat more tender and delicious?’

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, and her giant bear face filled with tragic resolve.

"Junior Sister, this is the Spirit Vein Blessed Land, which our sect only opens during the Golden Autumn Harvest Festival."

Lin Qingfeng’s voice pulled her back from her thoughts.

"The power of the Spirit Vein is most active here. You need only stand still, empty your mind, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi will pour into your body on its own, tempering your flesh, nurturing your soul, and healing your injuries."

"Just stand still?"

Su Ling’er was skeptical.

"Indeed."

With that, Lin Qingfeng undid the lock on the prisoner’s cart.

Su Ling’er cautiously took her place in this land dense with Spiritual Qi.

At first, she worried it was some kind of trap, but as time passed, pure Spiritual Qi did indeed surge into her body ceaselessly, forcibly activating the True Understanding of Ten Thousand Transformations Returning to the Origin.

Her soul, which had been torn by the Thousand Threads Seeking Karma Spell, slowly began to mend under the nourishment of the Spiritual Qi, and the pain gradually subsided.

Her large, clumsy bear body also began to shrink under the nourishment of the Spiritual Qi. The brown fur gradually receded, eventually revealing the red clothes she wore underneath.

’It’s really working!’

’But... what’s the deal with these clothes?’

’Why do my clothes disappear when I turn into a bear, only to automatically be on my body when I turn back?’

’What kind of wicked spell is this?’

’But... it looks like I’m not going to be made into a dish after all. Was I just overthinking things?’

However, just as her mind began to settle, a vast and mighty heavenly pressure suddenly descended!

Su Ling’er snapped her head up. On the highest platform in the sect, a blurry figure was expanding, growing larger at a speed visible to the naked eye!

A thousand feet, ten thousand feet, a hundred thousand feet!

Finally, the figure transformed into a gigantic dharma form, its head touching the heavens and its feet trampling the mountains!

The Law of Heaven and Earth!

’What’s going on???’

’Did something major really happen in the Guixi Sect?!’