Just before he placed it though, he felt the heat from beneath the dish and remembered that while it may not be hot for him, for her it would be burning and quickly put the plate on a cutting board so it might serve as a bit of protection.
When he placed it on her lap she felt around and tilted her head questiongly.
"It's to stave off the heat. You'd get burned otherwise." His voice carried as he took care to cook his own steak a little more, his own preference.
"..."
He didn't notice that, nor that she directly ate the scalding hot food without blowing on it as he was wholly focused on getting the meat to that point between charcoal and edible which he so adored.
She didn't make a sound and rather seemed to enjoy it.
Come morning, after a night of cultivation Shou Xin had managed to weaken the three Primeval Qi Beasts within his Inner Sea considerably, the more Primeval Qi he gathered which had undergone the small lightning punishments, the greater the overall purity became and the easier it was to absorb the Primeval Qi.
Noticing Feng Wuqing who had fallen asleep by the firepit, he smiled and made his way out of the cottage area.
The moment he was gone, she stood up.
"He didn't say goodbye." Her little face turned cold, "I'm not waiting for him today!"
"Ho…" Vienna sat on her shoulder, "He is a stupid disciple, through and through."
Feng Wuqing simply nodded though as she remembered his care to not burn her the prior night, she felt her face go a little red.
"He is the most gentle."
Vienna glanced at her and sighed a little in his head.
"My dear stupid disciple, you seem to have made something worse."
---
Throughout the morning, Shou Xin captured several Giant Rabbits, tying them together using their ears, he began his march back to the town.
After only a single day, the guards had vanished from the gates.
As he walked inside, countless eyes immediately turned to him.
"Shou Xin, Sea Spring's Executioner. Has returned." His voice carried on the wind entering the alleys and passing through the streets though not far, he didn't need it to go far.
Soon enough he arrived at the town center, the six Giant Rabbits would easily be enough food for more than a hundred people.
"Boss!" Yui Liu shouted as she approached at a brisk pace, almost a run, "We have many new members!"
He looked over them coldly, their footsteps slowing to a stop.
He tapped the the Sea Spring Sword upon the ground, "Stand straight."
Yui Liu and the other fifty who had been first here, knew his strength and did so knowing that the Giant Rabbits would not be escaping anywhere.
However the other hundred or so people did not care and continued forward pushed on by their ravenous hunger.
"Ignorance." Shou Xin raised his Sea Spring Sword and decapitated a woman who had tried to pass him and grab the Giant Rabbits, but this did not deter them much now that they had been incensed by the food, "Shou Clan. Move behind this line and kill anyone who passes without permission."
"Yes, Boss!" Yui Liu charged forward at once, her face extremely cold.
Those other fifty were similarly ruthless in their approach. Their share of the food was practically confirmed by Shou Xin's order's, yet now they wanted to steal?
"Die!" A melee broke out instantly.
Shou Xin walked forward and began decapitating person after person. It no longer took three or four swings, his Killing Intent like the adhesive and with his Mount having been hardened so much by the lightning, his Inner Strength had grown greatly.
Talentless Sword Art, First Form, Listless Slash.
---
Blood covered the city center, of the hundred ravenous people, only fifty surrounded, the others all lay brutalized.
Shou Xin's blade did not carry a single drop of blood.
"My word is your absolute." Shou Xin looked over them coldly his voice low yet resounding on the breeze, "You filthy creatures will now be made to watch."
His meaning was clear.
Loyalty is rewarded, disloyalty is punished.
The smell of food rose in the town center causing many to come and look, their mouths watering as they tried to come forward but word had long spread of the consequences of coming forward with bad thoughts.
"If you seek to join you may, but you will also have to give up all rights as a human being. If you can't, then don't come forward." Yui Liu who was feasting on the Giant Rabbit glanced out at those outside the town city.
A few stepped forward willing to sell their souls and Shou Xin didn't bat an eye telling them to join the rest in kneeling and watching.
Naturally, a few kneeling went mad and tried to make a dash for the food, but they were promptly made into examples.
Shou Xin cut off their feet and hands before blinding them.
The crowd recoiled in horror.
To kill is a cold thing, but to make life a hell beyond death is evil.
Seeing the fate of the last woman, they looked to Shou Xin with terror in their eyes.
He sat on the dying woman's back as he ate his food without interruption.
'Inspire terror in them, it will force them to think twice about everything they do. Now…'
"If you should find evidence of someone seeking to betray us, speak out and you will be rewarded as well as your families, though, if even a single traitor is let go… all of you will suffer." Shou Xin's threats did not sound empty as his killing intent backed him up.
Seeing their gazes turn shifty as they looked at one another, he felt he'd completed his job.
'If they were more united, this might have been difficult. Separate and isolate them. Then have them turn on one another creating a good spy force with no extra labour. One cannot stage a coup if they can't even speak of it, after all.' He looked over them coldy, 'Such is the vile nature of humans, was it?'
He thought of his instructor who had taught him these techniques, she would always say, "Humans are beings which can be moved which is their fatal weakness. They are vile because they can be moved."
He shook his head, 'It is not always a weakness as a broken blade in the hand of a farmer may become a symbol whilst for a noble it would be a disgrace. Living is far too complex and because they didn't understand that, they were all killed.'
Once the food had been finished and all to be said had been said, Shou Xin headed back to the Shou Pavilion and looked around.
He naturally knew the entire town by heart as he had lived their his whole life.
'This will make for a good center of power.' He thought as he looked at the destroyed homes around, 'Free materials.'
"Tear down the homes in a three hundred meter radius around the pavilion. That will be our clan's land. If anyone has a problem, make an example out of them."
"Yes, Boss!" The hundred followers replied in unison not daring to stop their motionless standing, that was until Shou Xin tapped the Sea Spring Sword upon the ground.
Immediately they began to move, Shou Xin entered the pavilion and soon reached the top floor leaving through the window only when night had begun to fall.
The Primeval Qi he had absorbed from the fifty or so dead during the day surged within his Inner Sea and so he had no choice but to hide away to control it.
Unlike the Beast Qi, the Primeval Qi of humans was different.
There was less, but it was far more pure.
Yet, it was no match for Shou Xin who had now gone through many tribulations of his soul and foundation.
Throughout the day he'd managed to completely finish off the Primeval Qi of the human's he'd killed.
After absorbing it all, he knew that it was nearing the time to break the first chain because he could sense it.
Deep within his Inner Sea he could sense the chain like a plug which needed to be broken.
He naturally knew what lay beneath the First Chain as he had read about it in the many books within the Shou Clan Library before it was all destroyed.
Beneath the Inner Sea is the Qi Furnace which devours the Wild Qi gathered from the world and turns it into one's own Qi, however it could only be unlocked at Law Refinement.
The rate at which one could refine qi is directly linked to ones Primeval Qi, as the more powerful the foundation, the easier it will be to steal the wild qi from the earth.
As he was about to go deeper into thought, his thoughts were stopped as he had bumped into something.
Returning to the world he realized the person he bumped into was Feng Wuqing who was waiting for him.
"Ah, sorry," He checked her to make sure she was okay by doing a once-over with his eyes and then spoke, "I-, huh?"
He looked down at his hand and realized… he was so focused on his own dealings he forgot to save some for her.
"Come, the food is already getting cold." Feng Wuqing brought him over to the fire pit where the meat had become almost charcoal.
He said nothing as the food went down his throat.
"Is it good-"
"Magnificent." He swiftly replied.
"...Is that so?"
---
"I'm going on patrol and to train."
With enough food from the Giant Rabbits to last a few months, Shou Xin could no longer use the excuse of going out hunting.
"Mm."
With no rebuttal or good reason to deny it, Feng Wuqing simply 'saw' him off.