Chapter 152: Has the Qingyun Sect become too poor to afford a meal?

The array was activated for only a single instant.

When Lu Ren realized he could no longer stop the teleportation, he felt no nervousness at all; instead, infinite interest welled up within him.

Interesting...

It had been a long time since he had encountered an array with an activation speed so fast that even he could not react in time.

The Teleportation Array had only lit up for a moment.

But after the brief, blinding light, Lu Ren keenly sensed Demon Qi overflowing.

With lightning speed, he crushed a talisman to conceal his aura, then opened his eyes and patiently observed his surroundings.

Somewhat unexpectedly...

This was a city.

A city of mortals.

Hundreds of residents were in the city, coming and going on the streets, walking and stopping.

Peddlers carried their poles and hawked their wares, or stood by the roadside calling out to customers.

The business at the restaurant seemed quite good.

The yellow dog and the beggar in the corner also looked extremely realistic.

... Hm?

Wait.

Lu Ren suddenly noticed something wrong.

A beggar? That beggar was dressed in rags, holding a broken bowl in his hands, with a dog-beating stick placed beside him, and a yellow dog, beaten until its face was swollen and bruised, lying pitifully at the beggar's feet.

It whined at everyone who passed by.

The whimpering sounded extremely aggrieved.

The beggar also joined in the whining.

"Have some mercy, kind sirs..."

"I haven't eaten in three days."

"Spare some silver..."

"Have some mercy, this old beggar will starve to death if he doesn't eat soon."

A pair of black boots embroidered with flowing cloud patterns landed in front of the head-bowed beggar, causing his body to stiffen instantly; he couldn't help but slowly lift his head to look at the person standing against the light, and two soybean-sized tears were immediately squeezed out of his small eyes.

"Lu Ren!"

The beggar let out a howl.

He wiped away his tears with genuine emotion and was about to throw himself at Lu Ren.

The next second.

Lu Ren dodged away with some disgust.

He frowned slightly, "... Why are you here?... Begging?"

Has the Qingyun Sect fallen to such a state?

Previously, Qingchengzi only liked to dress up as a beggar, but now, he was actually begging for real.

That's right.

If people from the Qingyun Sect were here, their jaws would drop.

Good heavens!

This is their Sect Master Uncle!

Qingchengzi! Now...

The soot-covered Qingchengzi shook his head in a somewhat disheveled manner, wiped the black ash from his face, and let out a breath.

He sighed heavily.

"... The Lu Family Head truly does not know!"

"But, how did you come here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, his stomach let out a rumble.

Qingchengzi's expression was somewhat awkward, even ashamed.

A rare sight.

Lu Ren tried his best to see if he could spot any redness on that old face! Qingchengzi said weakly: "... Although this old man would very much like to explain everything to the Lu Family Head, I wonder if the Lu Family Head could treat this old man to something to eat first?"

"To tell you the truth, this old man really hasn't eaten for three days!"

Eating...

Lu Ren was thoughtful.

Even if his cultivation realm were suppressed, Qingchengzi had long since reached the stage of fasting.

The word "eating" could never possibly be uttered by someone from the Qingyun Sect.

Could it be that there is something strange about this place? Lu Ren looked at Qingchengzi, who seemed to be looking at him sincerely, and suddenly smiled.

"Very well."

"But for this meal, Elder Qingchengzi, you must explain everything to me properly afterward."

There is something strange. But he had never been afraid of the strange.

Qingchengzi did not expect this Lu Family Head to take the bait so quickly, and he nodded repeatedly.

"Naturally, naturally!"

"Rest assured, if this old beggar eats your food, I will certainly tell you everything in detail."

Qingchengzi scrambled up from the ground with a swoosh and tucked his broken bowl into his waistband.

"Let's go, let's go." He was extremely enthusiastic, pointing his finger at the restaurant nearby.

"If the Lu Family Head is willing, why don't we go eat here?"

Lu Ren nodded.

He did not mind.

On the contrary, he wanted to see what kind of tricks Qingchengzi was hiding up his sleeve.

Qingchengzi chuckled, wiped his own face, picked up the yellow dog beside him, and patted the yellow dog's head.

The yellow dog immediately displayed an expression of daring to be angry but not daring to speak.

Qingchengzi said leisurely: "You, oh you, you should be grateful that you met a kind person; otherwise, this old beggar would have had to wrong his own stomach and stew you into a soup to eat."

The yellow dog let out a long string of whimpers; it seemed to have intelligence, yet it could not speak human words.

It was truly somewhat strange.

Qingchengzi, however, did not intend to explain to Lu Ren here, but instead, in high spirits, took the lead to guide the way, lifting his legs to walk toward the restaurant nearby.

At the entrance of the restaurant stood a waiter welcoming guests.

As soon as the waiter saw this beggar wanting to enter their restaurant, he immediately moved to block him.

He glared with furrowed brows, looking quite unfriendly.

... It was quite lifelike.

Lu Ren thought to himself.

Although this waiter acted extremely realistically, he could tell at a glance that these were not humans.

They were more like some kind of mechanism, puppets, or similar things.

Before the waiter could speak, Qingchengzi pointed at Lu Ren and said loudly: "Hey, hey, hey! Don't stop me! I have someone treating me to a meal this time!"

"You wouldn't refuse to do business, would you?"

The waiter looked at Qingchengzi suspiciously, then looked at Lu Ren behind him, and finally cleared the way.

But he still sneered.

"Fine."

He draped the white cloth over his shoulder, "Then go ahead and eat; as long as you pay, you can eat anything in our restaurant!"

Qingchengzi did not hesitate and turned directly to pull Lu Ren, "Hurry, hurry! Finally, this old beggar can eat a full meal!"

Lu Ren avoided Qingchengzi's hand without a trace.

Qingchengzi did not feel embarrassed either; he walked forward on his own, sat down in a good spot by the window, and beckoned the waiter over to order food.

"This, this, this, this..."

Qingchengzi said in one breath, shamelessly, "Don't want any of these!"

"Give me one of everything else!"

Lu Ren just watched his performance quietly.

After the waiter took the menu and went down, Qingchengzi rubbed his belly embarrassedly and smiled at Lu Ren.

He smiled with a chuckle, looking extremely sleazy.

"Lu Family Head, please forgive me! I haven't had a full meal in too long!"

Lu Ren raised his hand casually to indicate that he did not mind.

The food was served very quickly.

Although Lu Ren was not hungry, he followed suit and ate a few bites.

As soon as the food entered his mouth, he discovered something peculiar.

These dishes...

Were all extremely pure Spirit Power.

The moment they entered his mouth, they transformed into Spirit Power to replenish his body, flowing entirely into his internal organs and washing away the impurities of the body.

It was indeed quite good.

But this kind of food should not have been enough to make Qingchengzi this excited.

Very quickly.

Qingchengzi swept everything on the table clean, clutched his belly—which looked like he was ten months pregnant—burped one after another, and barely managed to stretch out a finger to point at Lu Ren.

His hair was dirty and matted, he slumped on the chair, and his rough voice laughed lowly and chaotically.

"Lu Family Head, it's time for you to pay for this meal!"

The waiter nearby also took the opportunity to bring the bill to Lu Ren with a face full of smiles.

"This guest, please!"

(End of this chapter)