ARLQLCC chapter 40

After being flicked once, Chu Zhaoye calmed down. He obediently stood behind Su Ji with his head lowered, still tugging at Su Ji’s clothes and swaying slightly.

Su Ji glanced down. That long, strong hand stiffened for a moment, then slowly withdrew.

Pulling Chu Zhaoye forward, Su Ji introduced, “He’s Ma Tuan. He transformed today.”

“Cough.”

“Pfft.”

“Ah????”

Three voices rang out at the same time. The three people in the room all showed drastically different expressions.

The one choking on saliva and coughing violently was Yan Shao. After that gaze disappeared, he had slipped over to Yue He’s side. Just as he nervously swallowed, he heard this earth-shattering introduction and nearly choked to death.

The one who couldn’t hold back laughter was Tu Yan. His lower face, exposed beneath the mask, twisted into a highly distorted expression. After letting out a “pfft,” he started biting his lip to suppress laughter, one hand secretly pinching his thigh under his clothes.

The one who exclaimed in shock was Yue He. Since she had only been glanced at once, her psychological pressure wasn’t as heavy as Yan Shao’s. Among the three, she was the one who liked cute animals the most, and she couldn’t accept that such a small, round kitten had suddenly turned into a man who looked like he could punch down the courtyard camphor tree.

No matter their reactions, they all expressed one word: absurd.

Yue He was curious and wanted to get closer, but didn’t dare. The human-form Ma Tuan was too intimidating.

Su Ji awkwardly smiled. “Since everyone knows now, I’ll start cooking. Anyone want to order something?”

Although they were shocked, they still had to eat. The group quickly shifted their attention.

Yun Xicheng and the others didn’t order anything—they would eat whatever Su Ji made. Everything was good anyway. But Tu Yan was different. He ate a lot and even brought his own ingredients. After following Su Ji into the kitchen, he pulled out a rack of ribs and a type of meat Su Ji had never seen before.

That meat came from a spirit beast of the demon race that could not take human form. It was called the Zeta Beast. It spent its life absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, but due to its innate limitations, it could never transform. Half of the absorbed energy merged into its flesh, and the other half condensed into a core, similar in effect to the deep-sea fish from the Boundless Sea.

With Tu Yan’s ingredients, Su Ji planned to add sweet-and-sour pork tenderloin and cold shrimp salad to balance the richness.

Yun Xicheng and the others originally wanted to help, but Tu Yan stopped them outside, saying they had helped at noon, so dinner would be handled by him and Chu Zhaoye.

With the Demon Venerable speaking, no one objected. They sat in the courtyard eating sunflower seeds and chatting, waiting for the meal.

Only the three of them remained in the kitchen. When Tu Yan entered, Chu Zhaoye was already enthusiastically helping Su Ji prepare ingredients, his entire back radiating excitement.

Tu Yan couldn’t bear to look at it.

He went to another cutting board and began processing the Zeta Beast meat.

The meat was tender and suitable for both soup and stir-fry. Su Ji assigned half for stir-fried meat with green peppers, and half for braised meat.

Chu Zhaoye rolled up his sleeves and chopped ribs—some for soup, some for garlic ribs.

With so many ingredients, Su Ji first prepared the sweet-and-sour pork and cold shrimp salad.

While waiting for the meat to marinate, he quickly finished the shrimp dish and set it aside.

He turned back and glanced at the two beings in the kitchen—each of them capable of shaking the continent by stomping their foot—now quietly chopping meat and ribs.

The one slicing meat was even being supervised by the one chopping ribs, resulting in perfectly uniform cuts, as if measured with a ruler.

Amused, Su Ji picked up a shrimp and walked over. Under Chu Zhaoye’s steady gaze, he lifted the cat mask and fed him a shrimp.

“Try the taste.”

The shrimp was tender and fragrant.

Su Ji smiled gently, eyes curved like the moon, holding chopsticks as he asked if it was good.

Chu Zhaoye licked his upper teeth. His heart felt as though it skipped two rapid beats, and his whole body grew warm.

“…Good,” he said.

“That’s good.” Su Ji shook the chopsticks. “You’ll use these to eat later.”

Chu Zhaoye nodded, eyes lingering on Su Ji’s jade-like profile.

Just as he was about to say something, Tu Yan interrupted from the side, “What about me? I want to try too!”

Chu Zhaoye shot him a cold glance.

Tu Yan’s smile froze. “I-I meant I want to try picking one myself!”

Seeing how greedy Tu Yan was, Su Ji reminded him, “Only one.”

Tu Yan obediently ate one and immediately returned to chopping meat.

The kitchen filled with chopping sounds again.

The meat was soon ready. Su Ji began frying it—coating in starch, deep-frying once, then twice.

Then came the soul of sweet-and-sour pork: the sauce.

Tomato sauce, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, starch, and water—mixed and stirred.

The thick, sweet-and-sour aroma filled the air.

A good sauce determined the success of the dish.

Oil in the pan, sauce added and reduced, then the fried meat tossed in. Each piece became evenly coated in a glossy sauce.

It was done.

Behind him, the two men stared at the dish as if their faces were screaming “feed me.”

Su Ji handed them the ingredients they had cut. “Try it. Only one bite.”

Tu Yan immediately ate it like someone who had starved for centuries.

Sour and sweet, crispy outside and tender inside—it was so good he almost drooled.

After tasting the appetizers, Tu Yan ran out of the kitchen to escape temptation.

Chu Zhaoye stayed. He didn’t want to leave.

Whenever Su Ji cooked, he stayed by his side. Even if he couldn’t curl up in his chest now, standing and watching was enough.

Su Ji didn’t chase him away either. He was used to it.

While marinating ribs, Su Ji asked, “You said this afternoon that you needed two more days to recover human form, but you suddenly changed back. Was it related to your inner demon?”

Chu Zhaoye leaned closer from behind, pretending to watch cooking while his eyes drifted to the exposed white neck nearby.

“My inner demon is completely gone. Thank you.”

His breath brushed Su Ji’s neck. It tickled.

Su Ji turned his head, and Chu Zhaoye immediately retreated to a safe distance.

“You don’t need to thank me. If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t even know I had that ability.”

“But now you do,” Chu Zhaoye said. “So I still have to thank you.”

“Fine,” Su Ji said, turning back to cooking. “So how did you transform early?”

“In the afternoon,” Chu Zhaoye said, “remember that fish Tu Yan took out? You used the most spiritually rich part of it to make soup for me.”

Su Ji paused. “That piece of meat?”

Chu Zhaoye nodded. “That fish comes from the Boundless Sea of the demon race. Its spiritual energy is stored directly in its flesh. The one Tu Yan hunted was especially old. Combined with your ability, the energy doubled after cooking, so I recovered early.”

Su Ji let out a long “oh,” then turned back teasingly. “No wonder you fell asleep so quickly after getting into bed at noon. So you weren’t just growing.”

Chu Zhaoye: “……”

This is definitely revenge.

—

After another delicious dinner, Tu Yan and Yue He left with full stomachs. Then Su Ji faced a new problem: where should Chu Zhaoye sleep tonight?

He was no longer a small kitten. If they slept on the same bed, it would be like earlier in the afternoon—he would end up half-hugging him just to fit.

But giving him a separate room wasn’t possible either. All rooms were full due to the tournament, and his identity was special.

In the end, Su Ji asked Yun Xicheng for another bed.

Yun Xicheng confidently said there were single beds available.

A disciple returned from storage… carrying a much larger bed.

“There are no single beds left. Only this double bed.”

Everyone: “……”

They had no choice but to use it.

The bed was moved in. It was indeed wide enough for two people, though the room became quite cramped.

Everything was set up: sheets, pillows, a large blanket.

Looking at the bed, Su Ji fell silent.

Chu Zhaoye walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

Su Ji followed, glancing at his side profile.

The mask hid everything, but Su Ji somehow felt Chu Zhaoye was smiling beneath it.

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