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Bai Tang has always had a question: Can there really be great harmony in the world? The ending of Baolian Lantern shows a new order where humans, immortals, and demons live happily together. But can humans and demons truly coexist peacefully? Isn't the demonic energy harmful to humans? Moreover, among the demons, some engage in cultivation that requires consuming human essence, while others are outright man-eaters. Can we really trust them to enter the human realm? And what about those immortals who fall in love with mortals? What happens decades later? Immortals can live forever and return to their realms, while mortals age and die within just a few decades. Can those immortals truly accept such an ending? If they cannot, naturally their husbands, wives, sons, and daughters would all become immortals too. Wouldn't that lead to an overcrowded realm? Wouldn't this world descend into chaos?
Bai Tang does not see anything wrong with the old order; there should be a distinction between immortals and mortals. Each identity must adhere to its own rules, and anyone who breaks these rules should be punished. The self-righteousness of Agarwood and his group also displeases Bai Tang. Especially Agarwood himself—anyone who opposes him is deemed a villain. What kind of thinking is that? Clearly, he lacks proper upbringing.
The battle raged on without a clear victor (in reality, Yang Jian was holding back significantly). Bai Tang watched with great interest as Yang Jian sent Aochun flying with a single strike. Secretly, Bai Tang used a skill to inflict a negative status on Aochun. This status would last permanently unless Bai Tang decided to lift it; otherwise, Aochun would remain weak and his spells would be affected as well. Let's see how he manages to mix with Agarwood now. It would be better for him to cultivate peacefully in the East Sea until Wild Lilac masters her spells; then they could meet again, allowing Aochun to fall in love at first sight and fulfill this pair's romance.
After half an hour of fighting, under Yang Jian's leniency, Agarwood and his group managed to seize the Baolian Lantern. Aochun dragged his heavy limbs along with them, believing he had sustained serious injuries without realizing that this would become his permanent state.
Yang Jian sensed someone watching him. Using his third eye for scanning, he found only ordinary people below—nothing unusual—and thought he was being overly suspicious. He returned home to contemplate how to implement his next plan.
Bai Tang gazed despondently at Yang Jian as he flew away and turned back from Guankou. Yang Jian's looks were Bai Tang's favorite; when she watched the television series back then, she felt quite pained for him. Now seeing him in person left her sighing deeply. The little good impression she once had faded after encountering Aoxinchin, Xun Huan, and Agarwood due to their differing attitudes. Nevertheless, he remained one of her youthful idols, leaving her feeling somewhat melancholic now!
Five days later, Bai Tang received news that Xun Huan had left the world of Baolian Lantern. Upon returning home, her first task was to search for Li Garden within the Red Mansion World. To her surprise, Li Garden indeed existed; the Li Family was a scholarly lineage with five Jinshi among three generations from its grandfather to the current head of the family. The head of the family, Li Pingyuan, was even a top scholar. It seemed she had found the right person! After some consideration, Bai Tang decided to send Xun Huan to the Li Family for nurturing and see if they might produce a Li Feidao in the future.
Bai Tang first went to the Flower Family to deliver Hua Man Lou's letter to his parents. They were overjoyed that their son could take an immortal as his master. As for whether their son could help them once he became an immortal, they thought it didn't matter; life is only a few decades long anyway. Why draw attention from others (especially the royal family) by being different? They believed that with their immortal relatives' status, they would surely have good fortune in their next lives.
The sixth son of the Flower Family joked: "Seven Children has always loved tending to flowers and plants. Now he's finally fulfilled his wish; I wonder if he'll manage all the flowers and plants from now on?"
"Very likely!" Bai Tang's eyes lit up as she nodded in agreement. In the Baolian Lantern World where Floral Fairies exist, Hua Man Lou couldn't attain an immortal position; however, since this world has no immortals, once Hua Man Lou returns, all flowers would surely bow down before him. His position as the master of flowers would be secured along with an existing Tai Xu Immortal Realm as his celestial palace.
After delivering the letter, it was time to meet Lu Feng and Hua Man Lou's friends. Lu Feng had many acquaintances but only a few trusted confidants. Bai Tang invited Sikong Zhaixing, Ximen Chui Xue, Boss Zhu Ting, and Ye Gucheng together; however, Zhang Yingfeng learned about it and shamelessly followed Ye Gucheng to Bai Family Manor. Bai Tang couldn't possibly kick him out and had no choice but to invite him inside; someone was grinning from ear to ear.
Bai Tang thought these people were tight-lipped and thus shared everything about Lu Feng and Hua Man Lou's situation with them. As a result, aside from Boss Zhu Ting who showed no interest in the world beyond, the other four expressed great enthusiasm. Ximen Chui Xue and Ye Gucheng were eager about pursuing stronger swordsmanship in that world; Sikong Zhaixing envied Bai Tang and others for having sneaked into Peach Garden to steal Peaches of Immortality; as for Zhang Yingfeng's thoughts... well...
The luck of the four individuals was quite good; after arriving in the Baolian Lantern World, they successively encountered deities willing to take them as disciples: Ximen Chui Xue met Lu Zu, and Lu Dongbin's flying sword cut down the Yellow Dragon, showcasing extraordinary swordsmanship, which made Ximen Chui Xue very happy to become his disciple. Ye Gucheng's master, the Three Mountains Deity Bingling Gong, although wielding two large hammers as weapons, also possessed remarkable sword skills. After accepting Ye Gucheng as a disciple, he bestowed the Treasure Mo Ye Sword upon him. Sikong Zhaixing was taken as a disciple by Zhu Bajie, who had no moral integrity left. The two discussed that once Sikong Zhaixing completed his training, they would go together to Wuzhuang Temple to steal Ginseng Fruit. Zhang Yingfeng's master made Bai Tang stifle a laugh; it turned out to be the Food God of the court. Bai Tang could not imagine Young Master Zhang cooking with an iron pot and spatula.
This Food God was neither a deity from the beginning of chaos nor someone with connections on the Investiture of the Gods; he had no relations whatsoever and was purely elevated to the status of Food God due to his exceptional culinary skills. Before becoming a deity, he was a poor child from a family at the foot of Songshan Mountain, with only an elderly mother from the Nie Clan. The Nie Clan's matriarch lost her husband in middle age and raised her son alone, refraining from meat and adopting a vegetarian diet to set an example. At that time, due to floods causing disaster, the elderly matriarch could not endure hardship and labor, and she fell ill with dampness-related ailments, suffering from both internal and external afflictions that led to severe illness. Finding a place for medical treatment was not easy; the Nie Clan's condition worsened day by day. As her time drew near, she suddenly became somewhat lucid and requested something to eat. The Food God was overjoyed and hurriedly asked his mother what she wanted. The Nie matriarch rejected this and that but insisted on eating field snails. This was because after the flood, a large field snail had mysteriously appeared in their home. The Food God found this snail strange and kept it in clean water; his mother had seen it before and wanted to taste this new delicacy.
The Food God realized that his mother was confused due to her illness; otherwise, how could she, who had been vegetarian for years, suddenly crave meat? If she ate it and later regretted it, it would lead to further complications. For someone who had been vegetarian for so long to suddenly eat meat was indeed a grave sin. Thus, he devised a plan: he went outside and found several empty snail shells, washed them thoroughly with boiling water until there was no smell left. He then mashed wheat gluten and tofu into a paste resembling snail meat and filled the shells with it to deceive his mother into thinking she was eating real snails. He only cooked the shells for her to taste. The Nie matriarch happily ate several without realizing they were artificial imitations. After eating them, her time came; she passed away peacefully.
The Food God mourned deeply for his mother. One day while looking at the snails in the water, he remembered how much his mother loved them before she died and felt immense sorrow; he released the snails back into the water.
Due to his mother's illness, the Food God spent all their savings and sold their land; now he could only do odd jobs in the village to scrape together meals, living in great hardship. One day, when returning home, he saw cooking smoke rising from his house in the distance and felt suspicious. He hurried back to check and found rice cooked and tea boiling, waiting for him to enjoy. However, when he looked for whoever was cooking, there was no one in sight, which puzzled him even more. Just then feeling hungry, he didn't care about anything else and sat down to enjoy the delicious meal; he found it tastier than anything he had eaten in over twenty years. From then on, whenever he returned home from work, he would find incredibly delicious meals waiting for him at home while all doors and windows were securely locked with no signs of being disturbed.
After half a month of this routine, the Food God decided to hide at home until he finally caught the person cooking for him.
The cook turned out to be none other than the snail spirit he had released earlier; she came back to repay her kindness. The Snail Girl transformed into a stunning beauty who wished to offer herself in gratitude. However, being an upright man, the Food God did not want to take advantage of her gratitude; instead, he asked her to teach him her cooking skills so that he could open a food stall and run a business.
The Snail Girl had no reason to refuse; she thought she would have to delay her cultivation for decades by falling into worldly affairs but never expected her benefactor would be so understanding. She not only earnestly taught him how to cook but also shared with him a cultivation method she learned from a Taoist priest. The Food God excelled at both cooking and cultivation; soon his culinary skills surpassed those of the Snail Girl. With nothing left to teach him, she returned to the water to continue her cultivation, concluding their karmic connection.
While cultivating and researching culinary arts simultaneously, the Food God reached an extraordinary level in both fields and eventually ascended during daylight hours to become the court's Food God. Besides studying recipes during his free time, he enjoyed traveling across regions searching for quality ingredients. This time he was brought down by Zhu Bajie; being fond of food himself, Zhu Bajie naturally clung tightly to the Food God. On this occasion, Zhu Bajie discovered a new ingredient in the mortal realm and immediately informed the Food God; they both descended together for taste testing. For some unknown reason, the Food God took a liking to Zhang Yingfeng and believed Zhang Yingfeng could inherit all his culinary skills despite knowing that Zhang Yingfeng could only roast meat but couldn't even cook porridge. The Food God wasn't worried about making a mistake or having regrets later on (to be continued).
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