"Wai…wait, this one is a layer. The eggs of this bird are delicious to the point of being heavenly so killing the whole chicken for only a day's worth of meat would be pretty stupid. How about choosing another one?"
The eggs of a phoenix were the embodiment of the purest life energy. The Vermillion Bird had the eternal flame of life that not only allowed the Vermillion Bird to be immortal but also allowed it to undergo nirvanic rebirth. The Black Phoenix also had the ability to reincarnate through self-immolation so its eggs were full of vitality and life energy that could be used to extend the life span of anyone. Even those who did not cultivate could also make use of the eggs to increase their lifespan by several folds. Given the effect that these eggs had, even if they weren't delicious, they would still be eaten with relish by anyone familiar with their characteristics.
Black Phoenix that had almost fainted at the thought of its own pitiful end had regained its senses. It was happy that Zhang Jian had agreed to avoid killing it. No matter how arrogant it had acted before, it was not sure that it could beat Zhang Jian at all given the oppressive strength that it could sense from him.
"Go ahead. The others are not as important as this one. You can choose anyone out of them for today's lunch."
Zhang Jian was happy that Wu Ming had agreed to kill some of them and started to look for the most suitable one for the stew that he intended to make.
Some phoenixes protested with loud chirping that looked to Zhang Jian as if they were all very excited at the prospect of being selected to be butchered. They screamed and called out to their leader for help which was obviously ignored by the Black Phoenix.
"I am sorry but there is nothing I can do. I have already submitted to the humans and cannot go back on my word even for you all who have followed me through thick and thin."
Zhang Jian pointed towards one of the birds that looked very bulky but had a lower cultivation level and Wu Ming went ahead and caught a hold of it.
The one squeezed by Wu Ming's hands wasn't sapiential enough to cultivate. The remaining individuals of its species were even unable to communicate with it. Only individuals with enough human-like intelligence could learn to cultivate; the lower ones were the majority, after all.
He took it inside the hut and very quickly it was stripped of its shiny and fiery feathers. Its panicked screams could be heard outside in the fields where the rest of the subordinates were busy looking at their leader with indignation and grievance who was himself helpless in the events that had happened earlier.
Black Phoenix realized that individuals who wouldn't cultivate in this hut would become the daintiness of this master's plate. He stared at the remaining subordinates who still did not know fear and made up his mind to make them cultivation as soon as possible.
Zhang Jian who had known that Wu Ming had been preparing the pheasant to be cooked, went inside the hut after giving it time to bleed out. He used the bird meat to cook a delicious phoenix stew to nourish Wang Yan's body that had been constantly growing thinner with the passage of time.
Wang Yan who had been working on her cultivation all day in the field had only just returned when she saw Zhang Jian standing near the kitchen counter and the dressed carcass of the bird neatly lying on the chopping board.
Zhang Jian was busy cutting the bird into small thumb sized pieces to be used in the stew when Wang Yan arrived behind him.
"This looks special. Are we expecting some guests? What's the occasion?" Wang Yan asked curiously.
Zhang Jian gave a smile that made Wang Yan feel a sense of ease and peacefulness.
"No, no occasion; this is for you actually. Considering that you have been working so hard lately in order to learn my cultivation techniques, I have decided to reward you. I can assure you that this meal will definitely be the best one you have had yet. So, look forward to it."
"Aaaahhhh…!" Wang Yan gave an excited shout thinking that Zhang Jian had finally acknowledged her hard work and had decided to reward her for her exceptionally fast pace of cultivation considering that she had crossed several stages in a matter of months.
She uncontrollably moved towards Zhang Jian and in her excitement wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked him on his cheek, perfectly oblivious to the dumbfounded and shocked look on his face.
Zhang Jian was so embarrassed that even the tip of his nose and his earlobes had turned blood red. He looked away from her in order to hide his embarrassment and asked her to go wash up before lunch.
As soon as she left to take a bath, Zhang Jian let out a heavy sigh in order to calm himself down and continued to work on his stew.
As Zhang Jian worked on the stew, Wu Ming helped him out by arranging the dishes on the table.
The stew was ready soon and was brought to the table by Zhang Jian. He then brought along some side dishes that mostly contained meat and some vegetables. When the food was ready, he asked Wu Ming to call out Wang Yan as he was too embarrassed to call her out himself after what had happened earlier.
Due to what had happened earlier, Zhang Jian was too embarrassed to eat alone with Wang Yan and therefore invited Wu Ming to eat with them even though the bird stew had been exclusively prepared for Wang Yan in the hopes that she might plump up.
"Why don't you sit and eat together with us?"
"Maybe next time, I already ate on my way here since I couldn't wait to reach home before cooking up the bird. Also, I am a little tired after my hunting trip."
Wu Ming rejected since he had already seen what had happened earlier and did not want to overstay his welcome. He thought he would become the unwanted party between the two of them if he chose to stay. In his opinion Zhang Jian was only asking him to stay out of courtesy.
Moreover, Wu Ming did have something that he had wanted to do at his thatched hut and he couldn't wait to get back to his hut. He did not even feel bad missing out on the Phoenix stew made personally by Zhang Jian since he knew that as long as he was living with Zhang Jian there would be many more chances to do so in the future.
Wu Ming had taken on a little project for himself along the way he was coming back to the hut from his hunting trip. He had picked up the fishbone of the Black Fish King form the roadside and had started to nourish it with his spiritual qi in order to convert it into his own weapon. He had known that the innate runes on the fishbone would be beneficial to him if he turned into his weapon; it might even help him learn the defining techniques of the Black Fish King through the runes on its skeleton.
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Ge Kai had gathered a horde of demonic beasts which could practically lay waste to the whole earth if they intended to if they were not deterred by the presence of the Immortal Cultivators from the Immortal World.
Immortal World always kept a very close watch on earth for any demons that might have crossed over through the gaps in their security.
Each location that could be used by the Demon World to infiltrate into the buffer zone was strictly guarded by the cultivators designated for guard duty by the higher ups of the Immortal World. Several sects had been established specifically for this purpose on those locations.
With the help of the major sects several such sects were established. These sects would guard the entry points and places with spatial fluctuations in return for cultivation resources from the Immortal World.
Some of the sects that were backed by the Immortal World ended up being the major powers on earth although they couldn't even be counted amongst third-rate sects in the Immortal World.
Ge Kai had already found his helpers but it was quite another problem to bring them to earth without alerting any of the big fish from the Immortal World. He knew that if that happened, the huge force of elders that he had brought would be eliminated in a blink.
The guardian sects would usually not bother with the small fries from the Demon World since they couldn't raise large enough waves in the Immortal World or earth. That was the reason that lower demons like the World-Serpent could easily crossover from the Demon World into the earth for reconnaissance and for carrying out minor tasks.