Chapter Two

Yuan Jing Was pushing a wooden cart in the market, while Su and Yulong were silently sitting in that cart. Of course, the four bags of candies were placed in the cart as well. The cart itself wasn't too big, so Yuan Jing didn't struggle pushing it.

"Jing, where are we going next?" Su, who was sitting down comfortably looked at her brother with a curious expression.

"I'm just looking around for now. After walking for a bit, let's go home and drop all of this stuff off and then go get something proper to eat. When we are done eating, you will go home, got it?" The little girl nodded reluctantly, and her excitement died down. Yuan Jing sighed, but didn't try and console her. She had to get used to the fact that he wasn't going to be home for a long while. She could visit him any time, but couldn't stay with him at all times.

The two continued to explore and saw many things. They witnessed a play, played a few games, and then finally bought a few small things. Although the sun was still high up in the sky, Yuan Jing decided to go home for a bit..

"Alright, go and pick the room you want." In the courtyard, there were a total of five rooms. It was extravagant, but what else could he expect from his father?

His sister jumped off the cart and rushed into the house. Yunlong also floated off and flew into the house. Yuan Jing smiled helplessly as he placed the cart beside his home and picked the four bags up. Walking into the courtyard, he saw his sister standing in front of one of the rooms. "You want that one?" Of course, the one she picked was the best and biggest room.

"Yes, this one is mine. If you fight me for it, I'm going to tell mom and dad." She crossed her arms confidently, but Jing didn't say anything and just placed the bags of candy into the room.

"Go and hide your candies." He smiled at his sister before walking out of the room. When he came out, he saw Yunlong also floating in front of a room. He became somewhat speechless. "You want a room as well?"

The little snake nodded its head as it floated into the room and began to fly excitedly. Yuan Jing was speechless to say the least, but he didn't say anything further. 'I'll just have dad send someone to set the room up for him.'

Suddenly, he saw a bright blue light flash from one of the rooms. It was the room he picked. Entering it, he saw the blue pearl shining, so he quickly picked it up. "Jing, are you there?"

"Yes mom, I'm here." Of course, who else would contact him other than his mother?

"How is Su? Is she causing you any trouble? I will bring her home later tonight, so don't worry about that. How about Yunlong? How is he?"

"Everything is fine. I just came back from shopping with Su. I also already prepared for a trip back home, so you can rest assured." He spoke about what they did in the market, but avoided the topic of candies.

"Sounds great. Do you need anything right now? Your dad is right beside me, so he can send some important stuff if you need." His mother sounded very happy after hearing about his little city trip.

"I do need something. Can you send someone down to make Yunlong a room? This place doesn't seem to have a way for him to cultivate, so can you send someone to set it up?" He wasn't shy in asking for anything. Plus, he wasn't the type to believe that doing everything alone is the only way to grow. If he didn't get help from his parents when needed and tried everything himself, that would only waste his and others time. Atleast, that was his belief.

"Alright, I'll send a servant down right now." The second she spoke, a light flashed behind him and he saw an old woman appears. "I send one of the maids, so just tell her what you need. I will contact you later tonight. Love you."

The line quickly cut. Yuan Jing looked at the old maid who quickly fell to her knees. "Young master."

"Since you're here, help me complete some tasks. I need you to create a cultivation room for Yunlong. You know who that is, right?" He smiled lazily while speaking.

"Of course young master Jing. I will do this right now." She walked out and found where Yunlong was.

"Since she is handling this, I think I should go and get something to eat for now." He walked into Su's room and when he entered, he was surprised to see her sleeping on one of the candy bags. Shaking his head helplessly, he walked over and gently lifted her up. Moving the cover a side, he laid her on the fluffy bed and cover her with a thick blanket. Kissing her on the forehead, he walked out with a smile.

"Maid." He called out. The old woman flashed in front of him and got her knees.

"Young master." She spoke respectfully.

"Su is sleeping in this room so make sure no one disturbs her. I'm going out for now so look after her. If she wakes up, play with her, but if she starts crying, just bring her to me, alright?" The maid nodded her head and then disappeared when Jing waved his hand.

"Finally, time to get something to eat. Although mom made me food already, I really want to try what this place has to offer." He left the house once again and quickly rushed towards the market area once again. Most of the restaurants were around that area. As for his little sister, he wasn't too worried. The maid was able to handle it all, since she was an extremely powerful being. Probably stronger than anyone in the whole northern continent, or atleast ranked at the top.

He arrived at the market and began to look around. There were a few dozen restaurants, each with their own specialty. "Excuse me." He saw a middle aged man and a middle aged woman walking hand in hand and quickly approached them.

"Yes?" The man looked at him with a smile.

"Umm, I'm a little new to this place, I was wondering if you can tell which one of the restaurants is the most popular or maybe just has the most options for foods?" He scratched the back of his head and asked smilingly.

The man nodded his head and thought for a moment before answering. "The most popular restaurant is probably the Royal Cultivation Cuisine. Not only is the food good, it actually helps people with their cultivation to a certain extent. Plus, it is backed by the royal family of the Trakodia Kingdom." He spoke a lot, but this gave Yuan Jing enough information to understand why the food would be popular. "Also, the food is extremely pricey, so… just in case it becomes difficult there, go to the Bow Ridge restaurant. It is much cheaper, plus it is also extremely popular." The man smiled at Yuan Jing and patiently helped him.

"Thank you. This is enough information." He smiled back and nodded his head before looking for both restaurants. Of course, his goal was to find the Royal Cultivation Cuisine. The food was not only good for him, but it was the most popular place, so he really wanted to try their food. 'Money isn't a problem for me.'

He walked around for awhile and finally found a large, beautiful building. It was made from a white pearly material, which although looked delicate, was extremely sturdy. There were a few guards in front of the entrance, who emitted an intimidating aura.

Slowly walking forward, he tried to enter, but was quickly stopped by the guards thick arms. "Pay the entry fee before entering." They looked at him with cold glares. Yuan Jing was a little confused, but nodded his head.

"How much?" Since it was a rule, he might as well pay it. Of course, he did think that they may be tricking him, but he honestly didn't care. He wanted to get by quickly, eat his food slowly, then leave. Causing problems would only give him a headache.

The guard on the left was the first to answer. "A single gold per person."

Passing over a shiny gold coin to the guard, he was finally let into the building. "Wow." He couldn't help but be a little surprised by the inside of the building. Unlike the outside, the inside was a lot more spacious, containing a multitude of floors. Plus, the materials used for the various floors was actually different. He could see red, blue, green, and so much more. It looked extremely expensive. 'Although it isn't comparable to the ones back at home, for a place like this, it is very impressive.' Looking around with bright eyes, he found a front counter where a man where fancy clothes stood calmly. He walked over quickly.

"Sir." The man behind the counter was calm and nodded towards Yuan Jing. Without saying anything further, he pulled out a book and showed it Yuan Jing. "The book contains all the floors, the prices for each seat, and the menu. Please, pick your floor and where you would like to be sat."

Noticing that the man wasn't speaking anymore, Jing looked through and found that there were a total of nine floors. Each floor had its own menu, but the higher the floor, the more options and the more expensive the food got. The most expensive item on the menu was worth a total of fifty gold, and it was on the highest floor, while the size of the item was smaller than his own fist.

"I want to go to the ninth floor, and give me this seat." He pointed at a private room on the ninth floor. The total price for the room was a full spirit coin. Extremely expensive.

"Are you sure?" This time, the man had an expression of astonishment. He didn't expect the young man in front of him to pick such an expensive place. "You will need to pay here first, so…"

Yuan Jing didn't need him to finish since he knew what he meant. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a shiny purple coin. It was a little smaller than a gold one, but it looked a lot more precious. He handed it to the man behind the counter. "Is this good enough?"

"O-of course. Come this way." This time, the man had a complete change in his tone. He was no longer indifferent, rather he was smiling and speaking warmly, as if talking to a family member.

He led Yuan Jing to a platform and with a wave of his hand, they disappeared and reached the ninth floor. This wasn't the power of the man, rather it was a mechanism of the building itself. "Sir, your room is this one." He pointed towards a large room. The outside had a black tinted glass, so no one could peer into the room. He opened the door and led Yuan Jing inside. "You can take your time to order, once you have made up your mind, just shatter this and someone will appear." He passed Yuan Jing a small green gem. It was covered by various markings.

"Alright." He sat down on the comfy sofa and didn't see the man out. He began to look at the menu. He already decided to order the most expensive item, just because he could. He also looked at the various wine selections, deserts, and other options. "All of these look pretty good. This Blazing Frost wine sounds cool, maybe a bottle would be nice. Also this Caramel and Fudge ice cream sounds nice too, plus it is a common item, so being in the menu means it tastes very good. Oh, what's this? Mysterious Mix? Interesting." He saw many items that looked extremely enticing, or just plain cool. Finally, after picking what he wanted, he shattered the gem.

Knock Knock

"Come in." A young woman walked into the room. She wore a black dress and her hair was gently laying on her back. She had a pretty face and a nice figure, of course Yuan Jing didn't care about any of this.

"Sir." She walked forward with a piece of paper in her hand.

"Alright, can you get me one of this, also a bottle of this, and this…" He listed over twenty items. The girl was astonished to say the least. Even the most hungry customer could at most eat one or two of the meals. This young man ordered a full twenty.

Listing everything down, she walked out of the room in shock. 'This young man is such a foodie. Wait, even a foodie is an understatement, he is just a monster.' After a minute she calmed down and entered a large kitchen. There were tens of people running back and forth. "Sir, this is the order for a young man on the ninth floor." She passed the paper to an old man in white.

"W-what? So much? Are you sure this is for just one man?" The old man was shocked when he saw the list. He looked at the girl seriously, but the latter smiled bitterly.

"Sir, this is all for that one young man. He ordered it." She didn't know how else to explain it. A full twenty, no normal person could eat that. Even an abnormal person couldn't eat that much.

Taking a deep breath, the old man nodded his head. "Go back and get the payment for now. I will start making the meal for him." He turned around and ran to the kitchen. The young woman could hear him screaming at the others and so she left.

'A total of two spirit coins and five gold coins. This meal is more than the amount of money I will ever earn from this place.' She sighed as she looked at the amount she needed to retrieve from Yuan Jing. 'Maybe this is how life is. Some people are just better off than others.'

If she knew that the amount Yuan Jing spent wasn't even one percent of what he had, who knew how she would feel.

"I'm so excited." He sat in his seat with a dazed expression. Even a bit of drool was falling from his mouth.

Knock Knock

"Is it here already?" He quickly got up from his seat. "Come in."

The same young woman entered the shop. He saw that she wasn't holding any of his food and that there was no one around her that was bringing in the food, so he felt a little disappointed and sat down in dejection.

"Sir, we just need you to pay the bill for the food first." SHe handed him a piece of paper which showed his total. He looked at at and nodded his head lazily. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out three spirit coins.

"Here, just keep the rest as a tip or something." He was too lazy to pay the exact so he 'rounded' the amount. If other young masters knew how he was spending his money, they would only use one term to describe him; wastrel.

"S-sir?" She looked at the young man in astonishment. Although she did get tips sometimes, but the amount was usually in the form of silver, or very rarely a single gold coin. Right now, she got a total of ninety five gold as a tip! That was almost a full spirit coin! "Sir, this is too much, Here, I will get change for you…"

"Don't bother, it will only take up room. Keep it, I don't really care." He spoke lazily and just leaned back into his seat.

The young woman was speechless with his reasoning, but didn't dare to say anything else. Bowing in gratitude, she quickly walked out of the room. She headed to the front counter on the first floor and paid the amount before taking whatever she got as a tip.

"Zhu Shui!" Suddenly, she heard a deep growl come from behind.

She turned around in panic and saw a man walking towards her. He was the same man who took Yuan Jing to his room. "Boss!" She quickly walked forward .

"What are you doing?" He looked at her with a glare. "You work here and we pay you well, how dare you steal from us?!"

He was almost yelling at this point. Luckily, no one was around to see him like this. "B-boss, I'm not stealing, t-this is a tip I got from a customer." She panicked a little and tried to explain herself.

The man raised an eyebrow, but his expression only got colder. "Tip? You think the amount you have in your hand is a tip? Do you take me for a fool? Who the hell gives such a large tip?"

"Boss, I'm telling the truth, this is a tip I got from a young man on the ninth floor." She continued explaining herself. "If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself." A bit of anger appeared on her face. Although she wasn't paid a lot, but that didn't mean she was going to steal. Why would she ever bite the hand of the person who fed her? She wasn't such a bastard.

"Young man?" He suddenly perked up his ears. "Does this young man have purple eyes? Is he the one in the private Earth room?"

The young woman, Zhu Shui, nodded her head. "That's the one."

The man became quiet for a moment and began to think. 'This young man seems to be new to this place since this is the first time I have ever seen him. Plus, his origins are probably not small, looking at how much money he is able to pull out and also because of his weird color eyes. But, I haven't ever heard of anyone that meets his description. No one from the royal family, nor the major clans in the central city meet his description.' He couldn't put his finger on it. "Take me to him. I want to make sure what you said it the truth." Even though he believed her to a certain extent, the amount was still very high, so he couldn't just take her word for it.

Zhu Shui sighed and nodded her head. 'Since I got such a good tip, plus this amount is more than enough to last me a few years, I might as well quit now. Still, I'm just going to serve that young man his food and then I will quit.'

Both of them walked to the platform and quickly disappeared. They reappeared on the ninth floor. Zhu Shui led him to Yuan Jing's room and quickly knocked.

"Come in." She heard his voice and opened the door. When she entered, she saw that he was standing up and his eyes were glowing brightly, but the second he saw her, his eyes dimmed and he became dejected. Of course, she knew that he was waiting for the food.

"Sorry, the food will be ready soon. My boss just wanted to ask you something." She quickly explained when she saw his expression become dejected.

Yuan Jing looked at the man entering and noticed that it was the same person on the first floor counter. "You?" He wasn't necessarily shocked, just a little surprised.

"Hello." He spoke with a smile as he already met the young man before. "I just have a quick question, did you happen to give this young lady a tip of ninety five gold?"

"Is that the issue?" Yuan Jing couldn't help but laugh bitterly. "Yes, I gave her the tip. What's wrong? Are tips not allowed?"

"No no, that's not the issue. It is quite alright, I was just making sure." The man quickly shook his head and smile politely. Although he was the boss of the building, he was just the boss of the building in that specific city. There were many chains for the restaurant, so he couldn't be considered a big shot.

"Is that all?" Yuan Jing asked with a little impatience. He had been waiting for his food for a while now, so people coming to disturb over such little matters was starting to irritate him.

The man nodded his head bitterly. "I apologize for wasting your time like that, let me give you our most expensive item on the house. How about it?"

Yuan Jing waved his hand. "No need, I already ordered enough. If I want more, I will just order it myself." He honestly didn't need such a small favor. He didn't care for it. Plus, he had already ordered a bunch of food, so he didn't want any more, atleast not now.

"Alright, if you need anything else, just call for this lady. She will stay outside and tend to your needs." The man then dragged Zhu Shui out.

Seeing them finally leave, Yuan Jing sighed and leaned back. A small tear fell down his cheek as he stared at the ceiling. 'Where is my food?'

Outside of his room, Zhu Shui looked at her boss who was giving her different instructions. "Zhu Shui, I feel this young man might be some young master of a clan or something. I'm not sure, but his presence is very different from normal people, plus he has way too much money to flaunt. I want you to tend to his every need. If he wants water, get it. If he wants more food, get it and just place the bill on the house. Alright?"

"Sure. Also, I want to talk to you about something important after this, is that alright?" The man nodded his head and then walked away. Zhu Shui stood in front of the room calmly.

"Excuse me." She heard his voice and quickly went into the room. She saw that he was sitting gloomily.

"Yes? Is everything alright?" She saw his expression and couldn't help but want to laugh, but she held it in.

"Can you go and check how long they are going to take? I'm starving and haven't eaten yet, so if they could hurry up a little that would be great." Yuan Jing had been waiting long enough and he felt as hungry as a starving lion. He was actually at the point of just waiting to get up and go home. He could just eat his mom's dish.

"I apologize for the wait, but the amount ordered is quite high, so they are probably trying to get everything done at once. I can go ask them how long they will take if you would like." She smiled sweetly as she spoke.

"That would be good. If they are still taking some time, just bring me whatever they have done so far." She nodded her head and quickly left the room. She ran a little towards the kitchen.

"Zhu Shui? Is there a new order?" The same old man was behind one of the furnaces, making food as quickly as he could.

"No, that young man with the twenty dishes is getting a little tired of waiting. He was wondering how long it would take to make the dishes." She smiled bitterly. She knew that making so much wasn't easy, plus the dishes was in so much variety that is would be hard to be any faster.

The old man sighed a little. "It will ten more minutes to get everything done. Only two of us are working on his dish after all. Everyone else is getting the dishes for the other customers. Here, just take what we have so far. We got twelve of them done." He passed her two large trays which she balanced on her arms professionally. "As fot eh rest, don't worry about them, we will send them ourselves. After all, we also want to see which young man is eating all of this himself."

Laughing loudly, the old man got back to work. Zhu Shui also smiled and carefully walked towards a platform that took her all the way back to the ninth floor in an instant.

Knock Knock

"Sir, I have your dish--" Just before she could finish, the door swung open and she saw the man looking at her like a hungry tiger. She couldn't help but be shocked and even a little embarrassed. Although he was focusing on the dishes, the way he was looking at the food was just too… weird.

"Quickly, put them on the table." Yuan Jing excitedly lead her into the room and helped her put the trays down. He then sat down and looked at the variety of food with a smile. "The rest?" He noticed that a few were missing so he looked at Zhu Shui and asked with confusion.

"The kitchen said it would take them at most ten minutes to get those ready. I apologize for the wait." She was speechless. How could he even remember the other dishes with so much in front of him?

"Ah, that's no problem. It will take me awhile to eat this, so waiting for the others is no problem." He then refocused on the dishes and his eyes narrowed like swords as he began to decide which he should try first. Because of his intense focus, he didn't notice the young woman leave his room. "Let me try this dish first." He picked up a bread which was filled with who knows what. It was a little large, taking up a quarter of one of the trays.

Opening his mouth widely, he took a big bite, and just as he was about to savour the taste, a bright light flashed beside him.

'Mom? But I just started eating!' Although he left the blue pearl back at home, if he didn't answer for too long, it would automatically find him. Picking it up and looked at it helplessly as his mouth kept chewing the food. "Hewooo?"

"Jing? Why did it take you so long? Also, why do you sound like that?" His mother was on the other side. She was calm, but of course he could hear a bit of irritation in her tone.

"Mom, I'm eating. I'm in a restaurant so I left the pearl back at home." He took another bite of the delicious bread as he continued talking. "Whatssup though?"

"I was calling to see how Su is. Where is she anyways?"

"Su is sleeping back at home. The maid is working on Yunlongs room, so I told her to take care of her, and if anything happens, she will bring Su to m---" Before he could finish, another light flashed in front of him.

"Jing!" He heard a tearful voice come from the light and he felt a headache appear.

"Su?" He saw the old maid appear with Su who was bawling her eyes out. "When did you wake up?"

Yuan Su quickly rushed over to Jing and began to pound his chest. "Why did you go off without me? I thought the both of us were going to the restaurant together? I'm going to tell mom!"

"Su, honey, what's wrong?" Suddenly, his mother's voice came from the pearl.

"Mom?" Su looked at the pearl, and then suddenly, her eyes became even more tearful as she began to complain. "Mom, Jing left me home alone. I was alone on a big bed, I didn't know where he was. Also, he said I was going to come to the restaurant too, but he came alone."

Jing felt a little speechless. "Su, you fell asleep, what did you want me to do?"

"Jing, what are you doing? How could you leave your sister alone like that? So you go to a new place and you forget that you're her older brother? I think this place is a bad influence on you. Stay right there, I'm coming to pick you up!"

"Hurry mom, Jing is becoming bad. I agree, let's take him home." She crossed her arms and pouted, until she say the food on the table. "Wow, food!"

Without waiting for anything else, she began to dig in. Jing watched all of this with dead eyes. 'Why me, I haven't done anything wrong.'

"Ouch!" He suddenly felt a numbing pain coming from his left ear. Turning his head, hi face went completely pale. "M-mom?! You actually came down?!" He couldn't help but feel shocked. 'What the hell, why did she come down? I thought she was worried about dad!'

"Jing, you brat. You're coming home. Also, why can't I come down? I just told your dad Su was calling me and so he let me come down. Hmph!" She snorted a little, while looking at him with a glare.

"Forget it, I'm not coming home. I'm already here, so no. If you actually take me home, I'm gonna tell dad you forced me back, then we will see… Ouch ouch, ok ok, I won't say anything." His face went pale as the pain coming from his ear increased. "But still mom, I'm not coming back. I just got here. I want to cultivate and grow stronger here, just like dad. So, please."

"Alright, but this is your last warning. If you start acting like a new person, I'm going to take you home whether you like it or not." She then looked at all of the food. "So, this is the food of mortals? Let me try some too. Su, come here to mommy." She sat down beside Jing and placed Su on her lap. The little girl happily ate different meals with her mom. "Oh, not bad. Maid, go and order more of this ice cream thing. It's quite tasty."

"No need. Maid, just head home and complete the room." The maid nodded her head before disappearing.

"Why did you send her off? Are you going to order it yourself?" His mom looked at him curiously, while stuffing her face with the Caramel and Fudge ice cream.

'I didn't even get a chance to taste it.' he cried internally as he thought about it. "No, there is someone outside who works here. She will get take the order for us. Excuse me." He looked at the door and yelled out.

The door opened and the young woman, Zhu Shui walked in. When she entered the room, her face couldn't help but fill with shock and astonishment. 'Where the heck did these people come from? I was just outside, and that is the only entry! Also, these two people, the little girl is so cute, while this woman, holy crap she is the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life.' Although she tried to calm herself down, she just couldn't. "S-sir? T-these people…"

"This is my little sister and my mom." He smiled bitterly as he spoke. "Anyways, I called you in because since my mom and sister are here, can you have the kitchen prepare another two batches of the order I just made? Also, can you get me like five servings of this ice cream?"

Zhu Shui looked at him and her mouth couldn't help but widen. 'T-this freak!'