Li Chunfeng arrived in the town dressed in a blue robe. Pedestrians bustled back and forth, and the sounds of hawking, casual greetings, and crying infants filled the air—a lively scene he had not witnessed in a long time.
In the past, he would often sneak off to the market. Although as the young master of a Noble Family, he lacked for nothing in the eyes of others, for him, the bustling warmth of mortal life was what best soothed his heart.
"Sigh, have you heard? A demon beast is about to emerge from the Fenghua Sect's fishpond."
"Really?"
"Even the elders of the Fenghua Sect have been alerted. Could this possibly be fake?"
"Then we definitely have to follow and see if we can pick up any treasures."
"I don't dare go. You don't know this, but every single fish in that pond died completely."
"Is that so... Then we'd better not go..."
A few minor cultivators discussed the matter among themselves, yet in their hearts they were itching to go and scavenge for scraps. However, lacking sufficient cultivation, they walked on their own two feet into a tavern.
Having overheard these words, Li Chunfeng frowned slightly. After thinking carefully for a moment, he finally connected this incident to himself.
"How ridiculous. It was just a few of your fish that rotted to death. Where would a demon beast come from? Complete nonsense." Li Chunfeng muttered to himself with relish.
Afterward, he too stepped into that tavern, knowing full well that half the intelligence in this world was born in places like this.
Having been out of touch with worldly affairs for so long, he also wanted to know what major events had occurred across the Mutian Continent over the past seven years.
He casually found a seat and ordered some food. A table, a chair, a person, a pair of ears, and a mouth—that was all he needed.
He heard the table opposite him: three plain-looking people were discussing a woman they had just encountered. Big eyes met small eyes, small eyes narrowed, and the three of them exchanged knowing, wicked grins.
Listening to their conversation, Li Chunfeng could not help blushing and quickly took a gulp of cold water to cool the heat.
The table behind him was even more unhinged, boasting so wildly that even cattle would feel ashamed of themselves. Five braggarts had managed to blow a mere Third Realm Illusion Power cultivation level all the way up to the level of a Saintly Sovereign expert.
The table to his left was rather boorish: two burly men were drinking large gulps of liquor, eating large chunks of meat, and shouting out drinking games with tireless enthusiasm.
Li Chunfeng suddenly felt a headache coming on. This was worlds apart from what he had imagined.
"Could it be that I came at the wrong time?" He could not help doubting himself.
"Ah, I might as well honestly eat a mortal delicacy."
For the first two years of the past seven years, he had survived on the food stored in the Xuanqing Bottle—food gifted by his elders during ordinary times that was simply too much to finish and had been stashed away.
After that, he had made do by eating wild grass growing beneath thorny thickets, because lacking cultivation, his stomach demanded three meals a day without fail.
Later, once his cultivation had recovered and Ling Yun infused his body, he barely managed to get by with one meal every three days.
"So fragrant..." Li Chunfeng praised endlessly as he ate.
In just a short while, he had single-handedly consumed enough food for more than ten people, and only then did he feel slightly full.
The surrounding people cast strange looks his way, strongly suspecting that this fellow was a starved ghost reincarnated.
"Hehe, just growing, I'm just growing..." Li Chunfeng replied, his mouth full of rice crumbs.
As anyone could tell, he was already well into his twenties—what growing was there left to do?
Embarrassed to keep eating, Li Chunfeng figured that if he continued, these people would probably start spreading rumors that he was a demon beast.
He put down his bowl and chopsticks, took a sip of tea, and let out a burp. Only, the smell of this burp was somewhat peculiar, causing the surrounding people to frown involuntarily.
"Senior Brother, were those two from the Wasteland teahouse really killed?"
"Could that be false? Their corpses are still laid out right there!"
"Who killed them? Has it been figured out?"