Xue Yao soon discovered that there was something odd about eating the marinated beef that the young man— or, Luo Qing— made.
She found this out when night came, and he went to sleep. That was when she slipped out of the room, without his notice, to the back of the little hut where she gathered all of her spiritual energy together to summon her true form.
As she estimated, she had two thousand years of spiritual energy. For every thousand years she had, she gained an extra tail, so she currently had three tails. In comparison to the nine glorious tails she had before, she didn't particularly like having only three, but it was better than only having one.
However, the one thing that threw her off when she calculated her amount of spiritual energy was that she didn't have only two thousand years— she had around two thousand and one-hundred years.
When she checked her spiritual energy in the woods, she only had a little more than two thousand. She hadn't cultivated at all either, so how did the number of years jump so quickly to one-hundred more?
Could it possibly be because she the marinated beef? Was that the reason for her sudden increase in spiritual energy?
Xue Yao wasn't certain. She never heard of the idea that eating a mortal's cooking would help her, but she would likely make certain of this theory the next day, where he had to make her some more food. Until then, she would have to strive to cultivate during the night while Luo Qing was sleeping so that he didn't detect anything.
With that thought in mind, Xue Yao sat down on the porch surrounding the house. Facing the water, she closed her eyes and began to cultivate, slowly drawing at the spiritual energy of the plants and living creatures in the environment around her.
It had been so long since she was last forced to resort to cultivate in this method, but having a fox as an original form meant that she didn't particularly have any other forms of cultivation besides absorbing the energy of others. She wasn't as privileged as the other deities and immortals who could just gain hundreds of years of spiritual energy at a time from just meditating for a few hours, leading for the difficulty of her cultivation method to cause her to become lazy in terms of cultivating for the past few decades. This was the reason for her stagnant improvement.
Xue Yao sighed a bit as she continued to absorb the spiritual energy of the dull plants and fish that lived in the pond. At this rate, she would likely only have one hundred more years before dawn came up. She would have to think of some other way to "steal" some more spiritual energy from other people. Humans always had more spiritual energy within them than these plants and tiny animals in the first place…
…
Just like Xue Yao predicted, when the morning came, she only had the slightest more increase in spiritual energy. By this time, she already leeched most of the spiritual energy of the plants and animals in the pond surrounding the house dry. The place that the young man lived with barely held anything of value, unlike the Celestial Heavens where a blade of grass could hold nearly a hundred years of energy.
Progress was undeniably slow.
She stretched out her stiff hind legs and slowly crept back into the hut and into the room that the young man slept in. It was still early in the morning— far too early that sun was barely even out yet— so he was obviously not awake.
Xue Yao stared at his face.
It would be rather easy to just sap away all of his spiritual energy as of right now. She didn't know how much he had, but as a human, he surely had a decent amount in comparison to the plants in the mortal realm who only had one to two years per plant.
She observed the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he slept peacefully, and she looked away.
It would be a waste to take away his spiritual energy. At most, all she would get would be twenty or so years if he was an average mortal. Besides, she still wanted to rely on him to test out her theory of whether or not his cooking helped her in gaining spiritual energy, so until she confirmed her suspicions, she should just leave him alone.
After her decision, Xue Yao walked a few steps to the corner of the room where her set of tan blankets piled up. She snuggled herself into them and fell asleep, waiting for the sun to rise.
…
The morning came along with a dish of egg fried rice.
That was what the young man chose to make himself for breakfast, and like dinner before, he scooped out a serving for Xue Yao, placing it on the wooden bowl she already ate in.
Xue Yao stared at the bowl of rice, her nose and whiskers twitching as she smelled the aroma. It didn't look quite as appealing as the marinated beef she had before, but the dish wasn't too shabby either. She never had any of this sort of fried rice in the heavens. Based on her observations of the mortal realm, however, she deducted that this dish must've been one of the most basic, popular ones.
Grains of rice were nestled in with fluffy scrambled eggs and topped with a bit of finely chopped scallion. They were not the pearly bead of rice that Xue Yao was used to, but rather long, thin grains that still glistened a little from the oil used to coat the rice and eggs.
Xue Yao watched while Luo Qing began eating his portion, then dipped her head down and took her first bite.
The eggs were perfectly made, neither too undercooked or overcooked. The texture was wonderfully fluffy, and each bite of egg trembled a little under her teeth. Surrounding the eggs were the rice grains that were steamed softly before mixed in and fried with the eggs. A few particles of the fried rice were coated with some of the pale yellow of the egg yolk, melting the taste of the bowl into an entire, cohesive piece.
The best part, nevertheless, wasn't the texture, but rather the seasoning. It was leaning towards the less seasoned side, but the entire meal wasn't overly bland either, suited for the simplicity of the morning. Each bite was still warm in her mouth, overwhelming her senses with the natural taste of eggs, rice, and the hints of scallion.
Xue Yao would've never had anything like what she was eating now in the Celestial Heavens. She didn't expect herself to enjoy something so mortal like such either. Yet there was something about the rice and eggs that came together to create something so simplistic yet delicious that she couldn't stop eating and couldn't believe it when she finished and licked the bowl clean.
She licked the area around her mouth and gave a loud whine. 'Mortal, you should serve me some more.'
She picked up the bowl with her mouth and hopped up to the short table and stool that Luo Qing was sitting at, setting the bowl down on the table and looking at him.
Luo Qing laughed upon seeing her. "Little Xue, how big is your appetite? I'm not even finished with my breakfast yet."
Xue Yao blinked. She pawed at his arm.
"I know that you like eating it… but I don't want you to get sick either… or overweight." He folded his arms together. "You'll have to wait until lunch, alright? You're such a small puppy that if you eat too much, you're really going to get sick."
Xue Yao yelped out loud. 'I don't care, human.'
Luo Qing gave her a look, and Xue Yao knew that it was pointless to argue with him more. He seemed to have his own self-proclaimed 'right' beliefs that he wouldn't break, even if it was something as simple as getting another serving.
She lifted the corners of her mouth and jumped off of the table, slipping quietly away from the room. Oh well. She hoped that she would get an extra serving for the sake of good food as well as getting more spiritual energy if she could, but she supposed that it didn't particularly work.
Now, while he was occupied with finishing his breakfast, she thought that it was likely a good time to check her spiritual energy to see if it gained or anything.
Xue Yao slipped behind the hut again, reaching her palm out to measure her spiritual energy. A new number came to her mind:
Two thousand and three-hundred years.
If Xue Yao wasn't a fox— if she could smile— she would've at this moment.
Her suspicions came true.