The Overlord of Puluo

At dusk, Nectarine, who was utterly exhausted, smelled the scent of food.

Nectarine looked over at Feng and Feng pulled two fruits from her pocket. ”Hungry? Eat these!”

However, Nectarine was not smelling the fruit at all. The aroma that drifted through the air was like the work of some master chef. The scent was so irresistible that saliva began to spill from the corners of her mouth.

”Xuetao[1], what’s wrong with you?” Feng wanted to wipe Nectarine’s mouth, but she then realized that her words were coming out slurred. She felt as though she was holding a reservoir of water in her cheeks.

It was an aroma no one could resist.

Hidden nearby, Meng Yuchun explained quietly to Li Banfeng, ”A Culinary Cultivator’s ability called Aroma.”

Li Banfeng had initially assumed that the cook was a Gourmandism Cultivator. He had never expected that there would be a Daoist path like Culinary Cultivation.

Nectarine could not hear Meng Yuchun, but she saw a man dressed as a chef approaching the edge of the plot with a food box in hand.

She knew a formidable opponent had arrived and that her chances of victory were slim. However, she was in the middle of activating the land, and as long as she could hold out a little longer, she would not give up without a fight.

The chef raised the food box slightly. ”Do not be afraid, ladies. You have clearly had a hard time with it, so I came to bring you something to eat.”

Nectarine licked her lips without realizing it. The aroma drifting from the box made her so ravenous that she could barely keep hold of her saber.

The chef opened the lid, revealing a roast chicken with crisp golden skin tinged red.

Nectarine and Feng stared at it without blinking. They could almost imagine the tender, crisp skin, coated in sauce and glistening with fat, already melting in their mouths.

Meng Yuchun continued, ”Another Culinary Cultivator ability and this one is called Feast for the Eyes.”

Carrying the food box, the chef stepped across the boundary line.

Nectarine swung her saber at him. The chef dodged aside and used the momentum of Nectarine’s swing to guide her saber through the roast chicken, slicing off a drumstick. In the same motion, he brought it to her mouth.

Nectarine hesitated for less than a second before opening her mouth and biting down.

She knew she was still in the middle of a fight. She also knew that the moment she ate his food, she would lose, and might even lose her life. Even so, she could not resist.

The moment Nectarine took a bite of the drumstick, she dropped her saber and sat down on the ground. She ate the chicken bite by bite and felt her fighting spirit completely gone.

”A Culinary Cultivator’s ability. Flavor.” Meng Yuchun took out a handkerchief and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, then did the same for Li Banfeng.

The aroma had even chased away much of Li Banfeng’s fatigue. He could not help marveling, ”Culinary Cultivators are incredible.”

Meng Yuchun nodded. ”He once told me about something he had done in the past. He infiltrated an enemy’s household and spent a day working there as their cook. Then he prepared an entire banquet and slaughtered the whole family.

”I did not believe him at the time, but after tasting his cooking for myself, I did. He told me that his enemy sat at the table and watched his family members collapse from the poison one after another, yet still could not stop eating. In the end, he ate until the poison killed him too. His cultivation level was not particularly high, but the story was more than enough to show what Culinary Cultivators were capable of.”

Nectarine kept devouring the chicken leg as though nothing else mattered. Feng rushed forward to stop her. ”Darling Nectarine, you cannot eat that! It must be poisoned. We need to leave right now. Stop eating, stop...”

Before she could finish, the chef carved off another leg and held it out to her.

Feng held out a little longer than Nectarine. She shoved the chicken leg away and struggled against the temptation.

Meng Yuchun said to Li Banfeng, ”You were right. This girl’s cultivation really is quite high. If she can resist even that much, she must be at least level three.”

Li Banfeng said nothing. He merely continued wiping the drool from his mouth with his handkerchief.

The chef was remarkably nimble. With a flick of his hand, the chicken leg seemed to vanish, only to reappear beside Feng’s lips. It was like he was performing a magic trick.

Feng pushed it away again, grabbed Nectarine, and tried to drag her away.

Nectarine refused to budge. She had already finished the chicken leg in her mouth, and somehow, another chicken wing had appeared in her hand.

The chef brought the chicken leg toward Feng once more. Feng immediately stopped breathing and darted aside.

”Homebound Heart and Thickset Body!” Meng Yuchun exclaimed when she recognized the ability. In normal circumstances, holding one’s breath would not have been enough to block the roast chicken’s aroma. Feng had used Homebound Heart and Thickset Body to forcibly isolate her body from the scent.

Anyone capable of using that ability had to be at least level six.

Li Banfeng nodded and thought to himself, It seemed I was not the only one with cheats.

The chef was startled as well. He was a level-seven roaming aberration, while Feng was at least level six. If her cultivation was any higher, it would be difficult to say which of them would walk away alive.

The chef split open the roast chicken, revealing a roasted pigeon inside its belly.

The roasted pigeon’s aroma was even more intoxicating. Feng retreated rapidly, trying to keep her distance from the chef. Yet the chef pursued her relentlessly and Feng had no way to fight back.

This was the weakness of Homebound Cultivators. Once they were far from their homes, their combat strength dropped sharply. Most of their abilities, including Golden House of Hidden Beauty and Deep Court Domain, could no longer be used, leaving them with little power to resist an opponent of a similar level.

The chicken leg hovered right before Feng’s lips, close enough for the grease to brush against them. Ridiculous as the scene appeared, it was a killing move the chef had spent decades perfecting.

With no other choice, Feng used An Arrow Bound for Home.

She knew her home was nowhere nearby and that there was no chance of making it back. She was only using the ability to increase her speed and escape the chef’s pursuit.

After running for a while, she succeeded.

The chef stopped chasing after her. He went back to Nectarine and handed her the chicken leg, along with the entire roast chicken. Nectarine clutched the roast chicken and tore into it like she didn’t care about anything else.

The chef smiled. ”Slow down. There is a quail[2] inside, so watch out for the bones.”

Feng froze. Only then did she realize that Nectarine was still within the boundary of the plot while she had already crossed the boundary and stepped beyond the plot of land.

She hurried to go back, but the chef warned her, ”Under the rules of land activation, once you leave the plot, you cannot return until the process is over.”

The chef was telling the truth. The same rule applied wherever land was activated.

Feng called out loudly, ”Nectarine, let us go! You only came here to activate this land for my sake, did you not? Now that I cannot get back inside, what is the point of continuing?”

While Nectarine was biting the chicken, she looked up at Feng. She desperately wanted to follow her, but she simply couldn’t stop eating. She couldn’t even manage to walk while eating. She couldn’t even bother saying a single word to Feng. She just wanted to sit there and finish the chicken.

The chef answered for her. ”Miss Feng, that is not quite right. Nectarine did come here to activate this land for your sake. Once she has activated the land, she will be able to protect you within this plot in the future. You should be helping her stay until the end, so why are you insisting that she leave? Could it be that you do not want her to activate this land for you? That you do not want her protection? Then again, with cultivation as high as yours, perhaps you really have no need for her protection. That is precisely what puzzles me. Why are you so determined to take her away?”

”That is none of your business. I will not let Nectarine be taken advantage of!” Feng ignored the chef and tried to force her way back into the plot.

This time, Meng Yuchun had no reason to hold back.

Feng was no longer participating in the land activation, yet she was still trying to enter the plot. She was clearly breaking the rules.

Meng Yuchun charged forward, seized Feng, and carried her high into the air before slamming her heavily into the ground.

Meng Yuchun remained invisible throughout the entire attack. Feng struggled for a long time but could not get back to her feet.

Nectarine’s eyes turned red. She wanted to help Feng, but her body was no longer under her control.

Meng Yuchun’s voice rang out from the air above. It was both deep and shrill, making it impossible to identify the voice, or even tell whether it belonged to a man or a woman.

”Why have you come into my territory? Who sent you here?”

Feng remained silent.

The chef stepped forward and opened the lower compartment of his food box. Inside lay a braised duck.

The moment Nectarine caught its aroma, she nearly put down the roast chicken. It smelled far too good!

The chef warned her, ”She crossed the boundary line, so strictly speaking, your land activation should already have failed. However, the boundary line around the plot is still glowing, which means the plot has taken pity on you. You better treasure this opportunity.”

The plot has taken pity on Nectarine? What does that even mean? Li Banfeng thought. He couldn’t understand.

Meng Yuchun explained, ”Feng never contributed anything to Nectarine’s land activation. Instead, she caused trouble for her at every turn. The plot saw this clearly and never regarded Feng as one of the people activating the land. The rules might technically have been broken, but the plot chose to show Nectarine mercy.”

”The plot chose to show mercy?” The more Li Banfeng heard, the more confused he became.

Meng Yuchun did not explain. This was not something Li Banfeng was supposed to know in the first place.

The chef tore off a piece of duck and held it to Feng’s lips. She tried to struggle, but Meng Yuchun planted a foot on her and pinned her firmly to the ground.

The Cook Monster forced the meat into Feng’s mouth. She tried to spit it out, but found herself unable to do so. The braised duck was simply too delicious.

The crisp skin, tender meat, and even the bones melted in her mouth, dissolving into a rich oil that was not the least bit greasy as it slowly slipped down her throat.

The chef tore off a duck leg and said, ”Miss, I suggest you tell us the truth. What exactly did you come here for? If you refuse to talk, I will keep feeding you this duck. Another half a duck, and you will be dead.”

With that, he tore off another piece of meat and stuffed it into Feng’s mouth.

A sharp pain tore through her stomach, yet she still could not stop herself from swallowing.

Feeling absolutely terrified, Feng finally confessed, ”I will tell you! I will! It was Xia! She told me to come! Xia told me to come!”

Nectarine continued eating the roast chicken as she stared blankly at Feng.

Xia told her to come? Li Banfeng thought. I thought she came here to hide from Xia? What exactly is going on?

The chef tore off another piece of duck. ”You better explain more details.”

Feng shook her head repeatedly, signaling for him not to bring the meat any closer. She stopped resisting and revealed the entire story. ”One day, Xia told me that she had found a promising place through divination. The land deity there was already dead, but the land deity’s contract was still hidden in the land. As long as we could find the place and obtain the land deity’s contract, Xia could become the new land deity. Then, this entire territory would be our home and I would get a cultivation boost!”

Nectarine stared at Feng in shock as she continued eating the roast chicken. She seemed to be saying something, but her words came out muffled.

The chef knew what she was trying to say. Most people could barely speak clearly while eating his food. He turned to Feng. ”Miss Nectarine wants to know why you lied to her.”

”I did not mean to lie to you,” Feng told Nectarine. ”I was only afraid you would be afraid. If Xia became the Land Deity, it would benefit both of us. How could I ever bear to let you suffer a loss?”

The chef fell silent for a moment, then smiled. ”Miss Feng, you make that sound remarkably convincing. Someone more gullible might actually believe you. Unfortunately, I am not so easily fooled. Perhaps I have simply lived too long. Unless I am mistaken, you and Xia did not stage all of this to trick Miss Nectarine. You were trying to trick your own dwelling, were you not?”

Feng grew flustered. ”Why... why would I deceive my dwelling?”

The chef smiled. ”Homebound Cultivators are different. A dwelling, its dwelling spirit, and its Homebound Cultivator must all come together to form a complete Daoist path. If a Homebound Cultivator conspires with the dwelling spirit to leave home, that means they are abandoning the dwelling. Naturally, the dwelling will fight desperately to stop them.

”But if the Homebound Cultivator and the dwelling spirit turn against each other, even going so far as to stage a convincing conflict, the dwelling may choose to let them part on good terms. You and the dwelling spirit put on quite a convincing performance. I heard that the dwelling was even injured while trying to protect you.

”Under those circumstances, the dwelling would naturally want you to flee for your life. And if it had a mild temperament, it would not force the dwelling spirit to stay either. Is that not how it works?”

Feng didn’t say anything. Meng Yuchun said to Li Banfeng, ”The Cook Monster is right. If a Homebound Cultivator and a dwelling spirit have truly fallen out, or even tried to kill each other, a mild-tempered dwelling may choose to let them part amicably.”

Li Banfeng nodded.

And so, the bamboo dwelling had not been too weak. It had simply been gentle by nature.

Nectarine continued eating the roast chicken, her eyes gradually reddening as she tried to speak through a mouthful of food.

The chef translated for her. ”Miss Nectarine wants to know why you continued lying to her even after you had escaped the dwelling.”

Feng said to Nectarine, ”Because I could not bear to leave you and I cannot live without you!”

The chef shook his head and sighed. ”Miss Feng, you may look honest, but there is very little honesty in the way you speak.”

”Everything I said was true!” Feng shouted.

”True, perhaps, but not in the way you are trying to make it sound. You really cannot bear to leave her, and you really cannot live without her, but do not make it sound like love. You might have some high cultivation level, but as a Homebound Cultivator, you have little experience of the outside world. The moment you travel far from home, you need someone to look after you. Otherwise, even an ordinary human trafficker might be able to abduct you. That is why you have to stay with Miss Nectarine, who has experience roaming the jianghu. You are hopeless at scheming against outsiders, but when it comes to deceiving your own people, you are remarkably skilled.”

Feng shook her head repeatedly. ”I never lied to you. Don’t believe him.”

”You still refuse to admit it?” The chef smiled. ”Then let me lay out the whole thing for you. You and Xia managed to deceive the dwelling and fled all the way here because you were searching for this territory, where the land deity was supposedly dead. You insisted that Nectarine activate the land here because you wanted her to test the waters for Xia and see if a land deity still exist here.”

Nectarine recalled what had happened in the tent the night before. Feng had kept muttering, ”There is one here. I am not lying. There really is one here...”[3]

When Nectarine woke up, Feng claimed she had been talking about a snake. But was she really talking about snake then? No! She had been talking to Xia! She had been telling Xia that there really was a land deity here!

Xia had been following them all this time!

With her eyes fixed on Feng, Nectarine continued eating the roasted chicken.

Feng no longer dared to meet her gaze. Every conclusion the chef had drawn was exactly right.

The chef continued, ”Once you confirmed that there really was a land deity here, Miss Nectarine genuinely wanted to activate the land, so you began sabotaging her. You did not want her to activate the land because you did not want her to stay here. You wanted her to keep following you, protecting you from every hardship and danger, and keeping you company at night. Is that not the truth?”

Feng did not say a thing while tears began rolling down Nectarine’s cheeks.

The chef then asked, ”How did you know that something had happened to the land deity here?”

Feng said, ”Xia did a divination calculation.”

The chef tore off another piece of duck meat. ”Tell me the truth, or this really will cost you your life.”

Li Banfeng listened carefully from the side. He had repeatedly instructed the Cook Monster that they had to get a clear answer to this question.

The matter was far too serious. Li Banfeng had to figure out how Xia got this information.

Author’s Note:

PS: This Cook Monster is really very capable. Not only can he get through to someone emotionally, but he can also satisfy their appetite.

1. This is Nectarine’s real name. ☜

2. Raw says pigeon but this is inconsistent with the next chapter ☜

3. Mentioned in chapter 373 ☜