Mu Jinyu arrived at Number One Villa in Donghui Mansion and followed Liu Mei into the back garden, where he saw Xiang Mantang roasting some chickens skewered on iron sticks.
"Is this roast chicken? Why does it look a bit odd?"
Mu Jinyu walked over, his nostrils quivered lightly a few times, sniffing the fragrant aroma that made his mouth water.
"It's not roast chicken, it's roast dove," Xiang Mantang said as he gently rotated the iron skewers, dabbing a seasoning-laden brush on the roast dove to give it a glossy golden brown appearance.
"Roast dove? This big? What kind of dove is this?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Jinyu took a closer look at the roast dove on the grill, noticing from its beak, claws, and wings that it was indeed not a chicken.
However, it didn't look like a hen either, more like a bird of prey such as a hawk or a falcon.
"This is a Spirit Bird, naturally larger. You probably haven't tasted it on Yinlong Mountain. I've only had it once or twice myself. Today, you can give it a try. I guarantee you'll want to swallow your fingers along with it," Xiang Mantang said without specifically telling Mu Jinyu that the Spirit Dove belonged to Shen Cangsheng, pretending it was just naturally hunted.
"Alright, then I must give it a try."
At his words, Mu Jinyu licked his lips, feeling hungry again.
Although he had just eaten with Mei Yinxue, he felt that he could still eat more.
Mu Jinyu wasn't in a hurry to discuss serious matters with Xiang Mantang. Instead, he sat beside him, helping to roast the dove, applying more sauce to cook it.
Suddenly, after about ten minutes.
"There, give it a try."
Xiang Mantang took the roast dove off the grill. Unconcerned about the heat, he tore off a juicy, tender leg and a wing from the dove and handed them to Mu Jinyu.
Another leg and wing were handed to Liu Mei, who was standing beside them.
Then, he held up the rest of the roast dove and began to savor it hungrily.
"Wow, aren't you stingy, giving me just a leg and a wing?"
As Mu Jinyu took the roast dove leg, he saw Xiang Mantang's actions, widened his eyes, and exclaimed exaggeratedly.
"It's too delicious to resist," Xiang Mantang replied, stopping his biting, looking up at Mu Jinyu with his mouth still smeared with plenty of grease and sauce, and spoke while chewing.
"I was actually planning to give the roast legs and wings to Liu Mei. Seeing you come by, I just split half with you. Be content with just a taste," Xiang Mantang added.
Mu Jinyu immediately retorted, "So, the roast leg and wing in my hands were snatched from Sister Mei? Ah-Xiang, you're really shameless! You don't part with your own portion but diverge someone else's to me."
With that, Mu Jinyu shook his head in disappointment, then passed the roast dove leg and wing to a chuckling Liu Mei, saying, "Here, Sister Mei, back to you."
Although Mu Jinyu found the roast dove extremely tempting, making him drool, he thought better of it if it was snatched from someone else. He had just eaten, after all, and wasn't starving.
"Young Master Mu, please don't be polite. Commander Xiang is just joking with you. I can't eat too much of the Spirit Dove's meat anyway. I was only going to eat this little bit," Liu Mei hurriedly said with a smile.
"Oh, is that so? Then I'll try it as well."
Mu Jinyu knew that some Spirit Beasts' meat shouldn't be consumed too much by ordinary people as they couldn't handle the potency, similar to the Hundred-year-old ginseng and Thousand-year Ginseng. A small piece could be nourishing and even save lives in critical times, but eating an entire Thousand-year Ginseng like a radish might . . . well, likely lead to bursting on the spot!
So, hearing Liu Mei say this, Mu Jinyu couldn't very well stuff the roast dove leg into her mouth forcefully, could he?
I could only taste it myself then, to see just how nourishing the Spirit Dove is.
While Mu Jinyu and Liu Mei were chatting, Xiang Mantang had already devoured the whole roast dove, discarded the skeleton, and was now staring greedily at the roast dove leg in Mu Jinyu's hand, his eyes shimmering.
Upon noticing this, Mu Jinyu glared at him, hurriedly took several savage bites from the dove leg—are you still thinking about it?
Hmm? The taste was really quite good, the meat was fresh, tender, and smooth, seasoned with Xiang Mantang's special spices and sauce. As soon as it entered his mouth, the rich and fragrant aroma of the roasted meat exploded on his taste buds, filling his entire mouth.
Of course, what was more important was that after swallowing the roast dove meat, Mu Jinyu immediately felt traces of spiritual energy flowing within his body.
The effect was surprisingly not inferior to the Thousand-year Ginseng he had once received from Mei Yinxue, only slightly less potent, equivalent to about eight hundred years of Wild mountain ginseng.
Mu Jinyu's eyes lit up, and he immediately began to relish the leg and wing in his hands.
It was gone in no time.
Afterward, he discarded the bones in his hand, licked the oil and sauce at the corners of his mouth, his expression somewhat reluctant to end.
"Tsk tsk, no wonder you, Ah-Xiang, are so stingy!"
Mu Jinyu pulled out a few tissues to wipe his hands, and complained to Xiang Mantang.
"Sigh, if it were a bit less delicious, like the taste of that internal Healing Medicine you give me, of course I wouldn't mind being more generous, giving it all to you wouldn't be impossible."
Xiang Mantang said languidly.
Mu Jinyu had given Xiang Mantang many Healing Medicines, among them, the ones applied externally naturally made him suffer excruciating pain, while the ones taken orally were both bitter and numbing, worse than any traditional Chinese medicine broth.
Every time it was unavoidable to take this Healing Medicine, Xiang Mantang felt utterly desperate, having nearly vomited after ingesting it.
"Haha..." Mu Jinyu responded with a laugh, shifting the conversation, "Where can I buy this roast dove? I'd like to buy a few."
Xiang Mantang shook his head, "You can't buy it, this kind of Spirit Bird is only available in Kunlun Ruins, not in the outside world. This roasted dove was sent by a fool, probably won't be so lucky to taste this wild flavor again."
Luckily, Shen Cangsheng wasn't present at the scene; otherwise, hearing Xiang Mantang's words, he might have died of rage.
Damn it, roasting his Spirit Dove, hindering him from contacting his sect in Kunlun Ruins, and still calling him a fool, this is truly unreasonable!
However, at this moment, Shen Cangsheng was unaware that his Spirit Dove had nobly sacrificed itself, now sitting inside the digestive temple of Jinyu Mansion. He was still naively waiting for his sect's uncle to receive the message and come to avenge him.
It would probably take some time before he realized the Spirit Dove had been sacrificed.
"I see? Looks like I'll need to visit Kunlun Ruins when I have the chance, see if I can hunt some birds to taste."
Upon hearing this, Mu Jinyu felt slightly disappointed.
"By the way, elder brother, did you come to find me for something?"
At this point, Xiang Mantang, who initially intended to cook selectively, recalled his original purpose. Curious because Mu Jinyu had suddenly come over, sharing his leg and wing, he asked.
"Well, there is something I need your help with, it's like this..."
Remembering the serious matter, Mu Jinyu straightened his face, no longer joking around, and began explaining to Xiang Mantang with gestures.
After listening to Mu Jinyu's words, Xiang Mantang raised an eyebrow and said, "The Spring of Life, Thousand-year-old flood dragon? Interesting, do you want your junior brother to go with you?"
"No need, I guess you're quite busy, it's a small matter so I won't trouble you," Mu Jinyu shook his head.
Xiang Mantang gave Mu Jinyu a skeptical look, "Are you afraid I'll compete with you for the snake meat?"