Chapter 43: Inviting Guests

  As the two stepped out of Baibao Hall, it was already early evening with lanterns lit up, and there were more people on the street. Liu Kai explained that many monks who had gone out returned to the city, and it was also dinner time. Most monks only knew how to cultivate but not cook, so all the restaurants in the city were thriving, and this moment was also when there were many people around.

  At this time, looking at the lights in front of each shop door, you can see the strength of each family. Like Baibao Hall, such a big merchant, the door is almost all illuminated with soft light emitted by monochromatic gemstones, and the slightly inferior ones are multicolored gemstones, which are also very beautiful, while the worst shops use ordinary lanterns like ordinary people. However, regardless of their strength, each shop is now bustling with people coming and going, showing the most prosperous side of Yaoguang City.

  After walking a few steps, Lin Feng saw a wine shop in front of a house illuminated by soft white light emitted from gemstones of the same color. Three to five groups of male and female cultivators were coming and going at the door, bustling with excitement. He said, "This place looks good, so many people are here, the food must be delicious."

  Liu Kai glanced at Lin Feng and drew out his voice, saying: "The food isn't bad, it's very good, but without a few hundred spirit stones, getting in is easy, wanting to come out is hard." After finishing speaking, he didn't bother with Lin Feng again and continued walking forward.

  "Hundreds of spirit stones? A meal costs hundreds of spirit stones, how can there be so many people?" Lin Feng immediately understood Liu Kai's meaning, this place was not somewhere a small poor cultivator could afford to spend money, even if he had some savings now.

  "If you knew that the ingredients used inside were all spiritual medicine, spiritual grains and demon beast bones, you wouldn't be surprised why the dishes are so expensive. As for the crowd, whether in the mortal world or the cultivation world, there are always some people who possess enormous wealth beyond our imagination, for them, a few hundred spirit stones are nothing to sneeze at. Take a closer look, how many of those going in and out are loose cultivators? And how many are Qi Refining stage cultivators?" Liu Kai said with an air of nonchalance as he walked, seemingly unimpressed.

  Lin Feng took a closer look and indeed, most of the people entering and exiting were at a level that he couldn't discern their cultivation. They were probably all high-level Foundation Establishment cultivators. Occasionally, one or two Qi Refining cultivators would appear, either dressed in bright clothes and riding horses, or accompanied by Foundation Establishment cultivators. Their aura clearly indicated that they were quite impressive.

  "What shall we eat?" Although the words were out of his mouth, Lin Feng already roughly knew that those restaurants with lanterns at the door were probably their destination.

  As expected, Liu Kai pointed to a small alley not far away: "Of course, it's the food of ordinary people. If you want to invite me to eat some spiritual rice and drink some spiritual wine, I won't refuse, but you have to prepare yourself mentally. As long as you use ingredients with spiritual energy, even the worst ones will cost a few spiritual stones per dish. How about it, Brother Lin? Are you planning to treat me to a good meal?

  As the two became more familiar, Liu Kai also showed his true nature. His somewhat lewd expression made Lin Feng feel a chill in his heart. For the sake of good food, Lin Feng immediately changed to "Lin Brothers". However, from the beginning, Lin Feng had said that he would treat himself today and couldn't oppose it. After thinking about it, he felt that spending tens of spirit stones on a meal was still bearable, and he also wanted to see what made the spiritual material's dishes different from ordinary food. So, he readily said: "Although several tens of spirit stones are a bit expensive, being able to satisfy my appetite is worth it. Please lead the way, Liu brother."

  "Lin brothers, you really took it seriously? I was just casually saying that a few dozen spirit stones for a meal is nothing to the wealthy, but for us scattered cultivators, that's a month's worth of cultivation expenses, not worth it."

  "Liu, I'm not kidding, it's not because of your squeeze, but I really want to try the delicious food made from this spiritual material. However, let's set a limit, within 50 spiritual stones, if more, I won't be able to afford it."

  "Haha, really? Now I'm in luck! Don't be modest, brother, I've been in this Radiant City for several years now, and I've only seen but never tasted the spiritual food. No way, too poor! The spiritual stones for cultivation aren't even enough, who dares to waste them?! But who would have thought that I'd meet a rich brother like you? From now on, I'm counting on you!" Liu Kai looked at Lin Feng with a serious expression, confirming that he was indeed willing to spend dozens of spiritual stones to treat him to dinner. Suddenly, he became extremely excited.

  Liu Kai couldn't figure out Lin Feng's background, and today he saw him asking questions left and right. At first, he thought he was lucky to have met a rich kid. Later, seeing that Lin Feng only asked but didn't buy anything, and the things he asked seemed somewhat childish, Liu Kai concluded that Lin Feng was also a poor rookie like himself who had just entered the Cultivation Realm, and his idea of clinging to the rich had faded a lot.

  At this time, Lin Feng very confidently expressed that he would spend tens of spirit stones to treat himself to a meal. He immediately overturned his previous judgment about Lin Feng, of course, only half of it was overturned, and being poor was not necessarily the case, but being a rookie was certain. But this half was enough to make him extremely excited, hadn't he even changed the way he addressed people? Although there were reasons for the two people to be more familiar with each other, the power of money could not be ignored.

  "Depend on whose fart, I still don't know who to depend on. Spending tens of dollars on a meal is just for today, there won't be a second time. I'm also a poor devil." The relationship became much closer, and the tone of speech naturally changed as well. Lin Feng and Liu Kai quickly walked towards a mid-range restaurant, laughing and saying...

  "Are you poor? I'm even poorer than you! Now I'm just a step away from being a pair of underwear."

  "You think your underwear is a treasure or something, but you can't just be one if nobody wants you!"

  "Hmm... brother, I really didn't expect it, your mouth is really merciless! Alright, I won't argue with you anymore. Let's just go to this one. Drunken Guest Fragrance, look at how many people are here, the taste must be good, and the atmosphere isn't bad either."

  As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the wine tower. Inside, it wasn't as boisterous as a commoner's tavern, but there were quite a few people, and the atmosphere was lively with people coming and going. Before the two even stepped inside, beautiful maidservants had already come to greet them, pulling and leading them in. Since they had originally come to eat, they naturally went along with it, following the maid to sit down at a table by the window.

  It's clear that the peak hours for receiving guests have passed, and there are now more customers leaving than entering. However, the diligent waiter is still full of energy, quickly arranging the bowls and chopsticks before pouring tea and handing over the menu to ask: "What would you two sirs like to order?"

  The service attitude is very good. The two little Taoist priests in the third or fourth level of Qi refining became immortal masters at once, without any awkward feeling, and it makes people feel comfortable when listening to them.

  The menu has several pages, with many varieties, but they are clearly categorized into meat dishes, vegetarian dishes, stewed dishes and soups, wines and drinks. They are all listed from lowest to highest price. Even the rice is listed in a long row, making it easy to see at a glance. Liu Kai was right, the cheapest dish here costs around 4-5 ling stones, and the most expensive one is only around 20-30 ling stones per dish. Generally, two people can eat three or four dishes here, which won't cost too much.

  "You order, just pick whatever you want to eat." After looking at the prices on the menu, Lin Feng also had an idea of how much it would cost. For two people, ordering four dishes would be enough, and even if they ordered one dish that was over twenty spirit stones, it wouldn't exceed fifty spirit stones. So he very generously let Liu Kai order whatever he wanted.

  "Get a ten-year-old Liangban Erjingtou and a ten-year-old wild celery shredded meat." Liu Kai didn't push it back and forth, took the menu, ordered one dish with meat and one without, and then handed the menu to Lin Feng, indicating that he should order.

  Lin Feng took the menu and looked at it. There were three types of cool-dressed Fuling, ten years old, twenty years old, and thirty years old, which required four Ling stones, ten Ling stones, and twenty Ling stones respectively. Before Lin Feng studied alchemy, he had read through the Spiritual Plants Compendium, and then followed Yang Ze to study for five years, so he was familiar with most spiritual plants. He naturally knew that the Fuling on the menu was not the ordinary Fuling used as medicine by ordinary people, although their names were often interchangeable, but the quality was absolutely different.

  The Fu Ling in the Xiuzhen world is actually a spiritual medicine for alchemy, which is often used in nourishing dan medicines because it has no cold or hot properties. A 20-year-old Fu Ling is a first-class spiritual medicine, and a 30-year-old one is considered to be of better quality among the first-class ones. Once it reaches 50 years old, it becomes a second-class spiritual medicine, with much higher value.

  Looking at the menu, this dish is actually selling Lingzhi. In terms of alchemy, a ten-year-old Lingzhi is considered immature and has no value. However, when used as an ingredient, it doesn't have these strict requirements, and it must contain spiritual energy. Selling it for four spirit stones per serving isn't expensive either.

  Wild celery chopped meat is also a spiritual medicine, the meat is ordinary wild beast meat, but the ten-year-old wild celery is a first-class spiritual medicine, often used in nourishing dan medicine, and it should have a nourishing effect when used as an ingredient.

  As he looked down the menu, Lin Feng also gained a general understanding of the dishes. Most of the dishes here used single spiritual herbs or demon beasts' meat in combination with ordinary ingredients, so they generally cost several to tens of spirit stones per dish. Just looking at the materials, the cost was already very high, no wonder they were sold for such a high price.

  Those dishes that cost dozens of spirit stones each naturally used more spiritual medicine and demon beast meat. The two dishes Liu Kai ordered were the lowest consumption, from which Lin Feng also saw that Liu Kai was a relatively honest person and did not take this opportunity to slaughter him like a fat pig. However, since it was an invitation, and his hands were quite abundant, Lin Feng was not a stingy person either, so he generously ordered a hundred-year-old ginseng stewed chicken with a dish of orchid and bamboo shoots in clear broth, plus a pot of spiritual wine. This way, the total cost of this banquet had already far exceeded fifty spirit stones, but Lin Feng didn't care.

  Liu Kai was excited and a little embarrassed, repeatedly pushing away the dish, saying it was his first time eating something so expensive, he couldn't help but be excited, but letting Lin Feng spend so much money made him feel a bit awkward. Fortunately, both of them were young people, under Lin Feng's jokingly stern persuasion, Liu Kai reluctantly stopped making a fuss.