Chapter 2820 — Dan-Fire Barbecue

"Oink, oink!" The Heavenly Thunder Pig was drooling.

Wei Zhao had no choice but to roll up his trouser legs and wade to the edge of the pond. Once there, however, he found that the pond truly held a great many fish. Perhaps because no spirit beasts or people had come here for years on end, the pond was simply overrun with them, and every one was plump and fat. Wei Zhao reached out and scooped a few times at random, and came up with several large fish.

Wei Zhao tossed the fish onto the bank, felt around for a few more, and only then climbed ashore. Carrying them along with the Heavenly Thunder Pig, he went back to where they had first been, and saw Tian Chan sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed in cultivation.

Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback, then recalled Tian Chan's attributes—she too was a cultivator of the five attributes, so it was only natural that she could cultivate using the qi of the Five Baleful. To Wei Zhao, however, the qi of the Five Baleful was of little use; though the baleful qi here was exceedingly pure, it was still not as pure as the true qi energy within the jade pendant's space. Cultivating here would do no more for Wei Zhao than allow him to cultivate normally.

"Tian Chan, do you want some fish?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Ah, you're back?" Tian Chan hastily roused herself from her cultivation. She realized that she had been far too absorbed in her training. Back at the sect it had not mattered—no one there could do her harm—so she had cultivated without the slightest vigilance. But here, had Wei Zhao meant her ill a moment ago, she would truly have fallen prey.

Then again, Tian Chan reflected, if Wei Zhao really did mean her harm, why would he have saved her? He could simply have finished her off with one more palm strike back then, and she would have been dead on the spot. Why wait until now?

So Tian Chan decided she had been overthinking; there was no need to guard against Wei Zhao.

"Mm, I only found fish here. I'm going to roast them—will you eat?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Of course I will!" Tian Chan wore a look of anticipation. "It's been so long since I've had any!"

"Ha ha." Wei Zhao laughed. "If you want to eat, come and help. There's no dry firewood here."

"Help?" Tian Chan was slightly startled. "How do I help?"

"You're a five-attribute cultivator, so you must be an alchemist too, aren't you? Condense some dan-fire and roast the fish." As he spoke, Wei Zhao laid the fish out in a row on the ground, then condensed a stream of dan-fire and began to roast them.

"So... this works too?" Tian Chan found it rather novel. Back at the sect, she had never so much as cooked a meal herself, let alone roasted fish with dan-fire, so she had never known that dan-fire could be used for barbecue.

"Ha ha, one look and I can tell you're a lady of good breeding—naturally different from loose cultivators like us. Under harsh conditions, we have to create our own conditions." Wei Zhao laughed.

"Yes, thanks to meeting you. Otherwise, this time I'm afraid I would have been buried beneath this cliff." Tian Chan spoke with feeling.

According to the words of Ancestor Xuanchen, she should have faced no danger coming here, but who could have foreseen that the Five Baleful Dragon would return to its cave so soon, putting her through such a harrowing ordeal? Had Wei Zhao not healed her injuries, she could have had a hundred Great Return Pills and still never have gotten one into her mouth.

Following Wei Zhao's example, Tian Chan also condensed dan-fire to roast the fish. With the two of them working together, progress was naturally much faster, and in the blink of an eye the roasting fish began to give off a savory aroma.

Tian Chan really was a little hungry. Once the fish were done, she could not wait to snatch one up and bite off a huge mouthful, then felt it was perhaps not ladylike enough. Her face flushed, she lowered her head and began to eat the fish in small bites, though she was still a little unused to it.

"If you're hungry, just take big bites. It's only the two of us here—no need to fuss so much over manners and the like," Wei Zhao said.

Though Tian Chan heard Wei Zhao's words, she nonetheless went on eating the roasted fish very demurely.

Wei Zhao smiled and said no more. He picked up a roasted fish and tossed it to the Heavenly Thunder Pig. As for himself, having just broken through to the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art at great perfection, he felt no particular hunger.

The Heavenly Thunder Pig caught the roasted fish and devoured it in great bites.

There were six roasted fish in all. The Heavenly Thunder Pig ate two, and the remaining four all went into Tian Chan's belly. Only after she had finished did Tian Chan realize that she had eaten six roasted fish herself, which left her somewhat embarrassed.

"It's fine—we're all cultivators, after all. Eating a bit more doesn't matter," Wei Zhao laughed.

Wei Zhao would have done better to say nothing; the moment he spoke, Tian Chan grew even more embarrassed. She shot him a glare. "Say one more word and I'll kick you!"

"Ha ha." Wei Zhao chuckled, finding the beauty before him rather adorable. Though she was an expert at the peak of the late celestial stage, her mind was somewhat innocent and simple. She did not look old at all, did she?

Wei Zhao knew that experts at the celestial stage could preserve their looks forever. Though they could not live eternally, they could maintain the appearance they had when they broke through to the celestial stage right up until death. And though Tian Chan looked to be seventeen or eighteen, in truth she might well be forty or fifty.

Judging by her reactions just now, though, she was probably not old.

"How old are you this year?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Nineteen. And you?" Tian Chan had been feeling awkward, and since Wei Zhao had changed the subject, she was glad enough to answer.

"Oh, I'm just one year older than you." Wei Zhao said. "But you're so young, and already an expert at the peak of the late celestial stage—that's truly rare. It seems your sect's strength is really not to be underestimated!"

"It's all right, I suppose..." Tian Chan seemed unwilling to say much about her sect, and did not answer Wei Zhao directly.

Seeing that Tian Chan was reluctant to say more, Wei Zhao stopped asking. The only topics between the two of them were probably their respective sects, their cultivation methods, and their martial techniques, but all of these were secrets. If Tian Chan would not speak of them, Wei Zhao could not ask, and as for ordinary small talk, he truly did not know what to say—after all, the two of them were not well acquainted and knew little of each other.

Wei Zhao lifted his head and gazed at the sheer cliff towering thousands of feet above, pondering in his heart how to leave this place. Staying here forever was no solution in the end. Although Wei Zhao felt the qi of the Five Baleful should have no effect on him, he could hardly spend his whole life living here, could he?

True, living here with a beauty like Tian Chan was something many would envy, but Wei Zhao still had more important things to do.

"There are no footholds on this cliff face, but when you jump, couldn't you strike the rock with your hands and feet to knock out a hollow to serve as a foothold?" Wei Zhao asked after carefully studying the sheer cliff.

"The Five Baleful Mountains are incomparably hard. Striking them with bare hands could never knock out a hollow," Tian Chan said with a shake of her head.