baiyuyi 26: Cultivators come in all kinds of flavors

<Previous Chapter] [Index] [Next Chapter>

Chapter 26: Cultivators come in all kinds of flavors

Oh geez…

After that, Yuan Chenglei felt like jumping at every dark corner or sudden noise, but he had already displayed such an embarrassing side of himself to Expert Jiayi, so he was reluctant to continue displaying it.

Catching sight of a western-style bakery, Yuan Chenglei tried to divert his attentions from the ghost they had left behind.

Let’s go choose cakes and pretend all of that just didn’t happen…

“Oh… Expert Jiayi, I wanted to buy my fellow disciple some pastries, so …”

Yuan Chenglei wasn’t presumptuous enough to assume that Expert Jiayi would want to wait for him as he went to buy cakes.

There was a bit of a line and all.

But at the same time, he didn’t want to make it seem like he was chasing Expert Jiayi away.

“Oh…”

Expert Jiayi looked at the bakery that Yuan Chenglei was gesturing to, and he had a bit of a conflicted look on his face.

“That reminds me, your question was about custard, wasn’t it?” Expert Jiayi asked.

“Y-yeah…”

Yuan Chenglei had actually forgotten all about it.

“Well, you’re right. Egg custard isn’t a common thing among cultivators. Even egg tarts are rare. There is a lot of impurities with using lard and oils in the pastry part, let alone the custard filling.”

Was it just Yuan Chenglei’s imagination that Expert Jiayi muttered, “Even though it’s delicious,” afterwards?

“Then… was it okay that I bought you the custard bing?” Yuan Chenglei asked apprehensively.

“Oh, it’s fine. There are definitely cultivators that refuse to eat things with impurities, but I don’t really understand that. In the first place, a cultivator’s need for food goes away the more you cultivate, so at my stage you’re mostly eating for the feeling, not the nutrients. And if you haven’t cultivated a body that can process the impurities, can you say that you’re cultivating in the correct way? Although, those are just my thoughts.”

This person would probably get along with Laoban, Yuan Chenglei thought.

Suddenly, Expert Jiayi flashed him a mischievous look.

“And by all that, I mean I’ll join you.”

Ah. This person wants cake too…

Well, it temporarily made him forget Yuan Chenglei’s embarrassing episode, so that was fine?

Yuan Chenglei sighed in relief.

With that, the two young(?) – well, one young man and one man that looked young joined the queue in the bakery.

As they got into the line, Expert Jiayi said, “Actually, that one custard bing was enough sweetness for me today, but I’ve found it difficult to go into a bakery like this before, so…”

“… Expert Jiayi, I can give you my cellphone number, and you can give me a call if you want pastries…”

Yuan Chenglei felt like he’d been meeting a lot of cultivators that break his impression of cultivation these days…

To think this amazing, adventuring cultivator … was too embarrassed to enter a western bakery by himself!

“Fufu, it’s fine, I’ll come along. I’m curious about what kind of things they have…”

Egg custard was probably recognizable enough for Expert Jiayi to try by himself, but maybe he was overwhelmed with all the western-style of sweets.

Either way, Yuan Chenglei thought he should probably help Expert Jiayi order something.

“Welcome~ What can I get for you?”

The girl behind the counter blushed when she saw Expert Jiayi standing in line behind Yuan Chenglei.

His looks really were outstanding, causing an insta-blush…

Thinking like that, Yuan Chenglei said, “My friend here doesn’t eat a lot of western sweets. He likes custard-style sweets, but is there something a little different that you can recommend him?”

“Custard-style… If Mister would like to stick to custard, then the fruit tart with the custard base would be good. If you want something a little different… hm… maybe I can suggest the choco-mousse cake? It’s not custard, but the texture is more like custard than the other cakes.”

Yuan Chenglei looked over his shoulder at Expert Jiayi, who was pondering deeply.

“Then… I will take the choco-mousse cake,” he said finally.

“Okay. And for the Mister over here?”

“I will take one of the fruit tart and one…” Laoban liked fruits, but what would Jing-mei like? After thinking for a brief second, Yuan Chenglei said, “Young girls tend to like strawberry shortcake, right?”

The girl behind the counter nodded.

“Yes, that one is very popular among schoolgirls. Then, one choco-mousse cake, one fruit tart, and one strawberry shortcake? Will that be for here or to go?”

“To go… ah, can you separate the choco-mousse from the others?”

“Of course, please wait a moment~.”

As Yuan Chenglei and Expert Jiayi waited for their cakes, Yuan Chenglei said,

“If you ask for their recommendation like that, you should be able to try a lot of things. Expert Jiayi is also very handsome, so the girls will be happy to help you out.”

“I see… hm? I’m considered very handsome? I thought I was pretty average, though.”

Yuan Chenglei felt slightly annoyed as Expert Jiayi tilted his head in bewilderment.

Geez, this is why pretty people are…!

“Expert … average looks for cultivators are worlds apart from the average looks for mortals.”

“… I feel like I still have a lot to learn about mortal culture, even though I was pretty confident in my knowledge…”

Well, Expert Jiayi did have the common sense to think that he might not be able to buy a 7rmb sweet with a credit card, so he could be considered pretty knowledgeable.

“I’m a guy who lived as a mortal before starting cultivation too late, so maybe my knowledge about mortal culture is abnormal compared to other cultivators,” Yuan Chenglei said.

“Oh, I see. No wonder you had such a reaction to seeing a ghost. Was that your first ghost?”

It wasn’t like Expert Jiayi was trying to make fun of him, but for some reason, Yuan Chenglei felt a bit mortified.

It’s a shame that the excitement of cake hadn’t erased the memory of Yuan Chenglei’s embarrassing moment out of Expert Jiayi’s mind!

Eventually, Yuan Chenglei had to bid Expert Jiayi goodbye.

With his shift coming up soon at the bookstore, he couldn’t afford to wander about any longer.

Actually, he had completely lost track of time while talking to Expert Jiayi, and it was only pure luck that he realized he had to get going before it was too late.

Laoban was a lenient boss, but it was ignoble to take advantage of that, and furthermore, it was against Yuan Chenglei’s principles.

As he hurried along, Yuan Chenglei mind was wandering towards Expert Jiayi.

“Dang, what the heck, he drew a preservation formula on the cake box and put it in his storage ring… haa… how envious, truly envious!”

Expert Jiayi might have a strange obsession with modern sweets, but other than that, he was living the life Yuan Chenglei was hoping to live once he became a cultivator.

Enigmatic yet with a grand reputation, living a carefree life and treasure hunting through hidden realms and old tombs, and even capable of casually preserving a cake he wasn’t going to eat right away before putting it away in a storage ring – that was the romance of cultivation!

As for the fact that he showed such a bad side of himself to someone he found himself looking up to … Yuan Chenglei sighed.

Even if he wanted to overcome his fear of ghosts, he really, really hated horror!

Just thinking that THAT was going to be something he would have to face from now on… skeletons would be better than those cursing, hungry ghosts!

Yuan Chenglei closed his eyes tightly and shuddered.

Dangit, why is it that the more you try to forget something, the more you remembered it!?

Sniff… he wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight…

Yuan Chenglei checked the time as he hurried along the street.

Fine, he was terrified out of his wits now that he was aware there were real ghosts hanging around, but that didn’t mean he could be late!

With his body strengthened so much he might be able to run at high speed back to the store in time, but Yuan Chenglei wasn’t confident the cakes would remain safe.

Anyway, he’d just make it if he didn’t miss the next bus-!

It was at the exact moment that he thought such a thing; Yuan Chenglei felt a surge of qi from one of the storefronts he’d just passed.

It felt a little … coercive.

But that store, it’s just a normal restaurant, right? There can’t be a cultivator chef that dared to compete with Chef Gaojie in this same town, right?

Yuan Chenglei’s feet skidded to a stop, but …

“No, I shouldn’t be too nosy. Even if I’ve been lucky so far, I can’t guarantee that all the cultivators I meet will be goodnatured.”

Saying so, Yuan Chenglei nodded to himself and turned to continue on his way, but …

The other passersby on the sidewalk had also stopped, looking towards the store with concern and trepidation.

They probably couldn’t sense qi, so the reason they stopped was for another reason.

If Yuan Chenglei only noticed the surge in qi before, now he heard the distinct sound of furniture and dishes breaking.

Wa! Wa! Wa!

What are you doing!? You’ll get the police called on you!

Yuan Chenglei’s good guy syndrome flared up as he dashed into the restaurant without another thought.

If he didn’t do anything, this was going to get a lot more complicated before the situation got resolved!

What if this no-sense cultivator killed a cop?! Oooh, this wasn’t good…

When Yuan Chenglei dashed into the restaurant, without getting distracted by the tasty scents, he scanned the scene quickly.

On the ground was a waitress, trembling and with tears in her eyes.

Next to her was a chair that had been clearly thrown in her direction, its legs splintered from the impact.

As for the ones who threw it…

It didn’t take long before he saw the culprits of the disturbance.

Cultivators might appear younger than their age, but that shouldn’t be in effect until after they went through puberty, right?

If that’s the case, then these children… are really children!

There were three rascals, none of which could be over the age of eight, sitting at a table.

The leader of the troupe appeared to be a little girl, but she had all the temper of a Big Miss as she threw a teacup at the waitress’ forehead!

Aaaah!

A normal person will die if hit in a poor spot with that much force!

Yuan Chenglei leapt forward and snatched the cup out of the air.

His abilities weren’t good enough so the waitress got covered in the hot tea that spilled out, but he was able to keep the cup itself from hitting her.

The waitress was unable to notice that someone had snatched the cup, so, a little after the fact, she screamed and threw her arms up to protect herself.

“Aah…”

Trembling, she looked up and noticed that Yuan Chenglei had grabbed the teacup.

She scrambled up in a panic and put Yuan Chenglei between herself and the children, cowering behind him.

The waitress couldn’t be blamed; the little girl was releasing genuine bloodlust at her, and for a mortal woman unused to violence and aggression, it was enough to cause her terror to overwhelm her ability to think.

What had she done to deserve this today?

All she had done was ask if the children had enough money and if their mommy or daddy was going to come along soon, so why did she suddenly feel like her life was in danger?

And furthermore, the children even threw a chair at her!

If she hadn’t exerted every athletic ability she would ever have in her entire life, she wouldn’t have been able to dodge it!

Even so, she had twisted her ankle in her one and only miraculous dodge and was unable to run away from the cup that was thrown!

When a savior appeared, how could she not hide behind him, praying that he would be able to save her from this calamity?

Yuan Chenglei’s normally carefree face became stern as he looked at the children.

Judging by their qi, well, since he was inexperienced in such matters, Yuan Chenglei could only tell that their accumulated qi was lower than his.

Even if they were actual cultivators, they could only be First Stage at the highest. The youngest was most definitely still building his foundations and, like Yuan Chenglei, definitely hadn’t opened his first acupoint.

If that was the case, Yuan Chenglei decided that he could adopt the demeanor of a Second Stage cultivator in order to smooth this situation over.

Although, if it came to blows, his true abilities might be discovered.

More importantly, Yuan Chenglei didn’t know if he could bring himself to hit such small children … spank them until they cried, maybe, but actually strike with the intent to kill them?

The youngest had to be no older than 5!

“Little Friends, what are you doing? Isn’t it against your morals to attack innocent people?”

Yuan Chenglei glowered at these children.

He wasn’t even this mad when his little cousins had trashed his expensive running shoes, so it can’t be helped that his voice carried a deep, threatening tone.

However, despite being faced with a cultivator with much more qi than them, the children didn’t cower.

“How dare you lecture me! Do you know who I am?! I’m the young genius from the Mount Hua Sword Sect! After knowing that, do you dare stand up to me?!”

This little girl didn’t just act like a Big Miss, being a Big Miss was embedded in her bones.

This kind of child… Yuan Chenglei had to control himself to keep the look of contempt off his face.

A child who hadn’t seen the world was attempting to kill people for displeasing her – although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, Yuan Chenglei didn’t doubt that he had more or less guessed the correct situation.

“And? So what? I’m asking you again; do you think that harming innocent people is a righteous act?”

The little girl was shocked into silence.

Did this Big Brother not know about the Mount Hua Sword Sect?

Usually all cultivators of the lower stages would shake in terror once she revealed who they belonged to!

Unfortunately for the little girl, not only was Yuan Chenglei too used to scolding young children and ignoring their bluffs, thanks to his mischievous younger cousins, he really didn’t know who the Mount Hua Sword Sect was!

Not only that, but after talking with Expert Jiayi, Yuan Chenglei was feeling reassured about his position as the disciple of one of the two bigshots in this city.

Even if they were a godly sect, for the Mount Hua Sword Sect to be causing trouble in J City; did they not care about their face?

Of course that can’t be the answer! If they were a major sect, causing trouble over minor things would be beneath them, so these children were just misbehaving and hoping to get away with it. It was likely that their sect didn’t even know they were here.

Lucky for them it was this understanding Chenglei who found them out, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to explain it away!

---

<Previous Chapter] [Index] [Next Chapter>

---

<a/n:(1/2)>