Beast Tamer Ascension

Chapter 28: The Sky is Falling

Elder Yu flicked the cartridge, and the Pine Leaf Mouse let out a heart-wrenching scream.  

Its ammunition!  

The one it had hoarded for so long!  

Lin Jing also rubbed his forehead, thinking to himself that in the future, things shouldn't be left lying around... a super-miniature storage bag would be nice.  

The one fortunate thing was that Elder Yu had triggered the mechanism in the sky. Although its powerful force left the surroundings in disarray, at least... the courtyard was still intact, and the house wasn't blown up.  

However, from a different perspective, if the house had been blown up, perhaps they could have upgraded to a better cave residence.  

With this thought, Lin Jing couldn't help but sigh.  

"What is this thing!" Elder Yu jumped in shock.  

"Elder Yu," Lin Jing said after a moment of silence, "why did you press it?"  

"Haha," Elder Yu chuckled awkwardly. He hadn't expected this situation.  

Who would have thought that you two, new disciples, would come up with something like this with your new spirit weapons?  

"You must have noticed that the mechanism bamboo gun is very simple in design. It uses some basic structure and, due to the nature of the materials—spirit bamboo—it accumulates water vapor and fires high-speed water flows, which can cause an explosion. The real power lies in the spirit bean bombs inside the magazine."  

Lin Jing continued, "Elder, these mutated spirit bean bombs are all we have left. We were planning to use them for the inner sect assessment..."  

"I'll compensate you," Elder Yu quickly understood the situation. The real power lay in those spirit beans. The bamboo gun itself was not particularly complicated; it was just a simple mechanism that combined mutated spirit bamboo and mutated spirit beans!  

That said... with these things, if there are enough of those explosion-prone spirit beans, even a mortal could deal a blow to a low-level cultivator.  

This must be what Elder Mo meant by... rare beast abilities. Elder Yu thought to himself, realizing the true power of the rare beasts. Even simple materials like spirit bamboo, without needing intricate array patterns, could provide the same effect as water arrow techniques.  

"Elder, you are too kind. Those spirit bean bombs are just improved ordinary spirit beans. They aren't worth much. We can make more. We are already very grateful for your guidance in mechanism techniques," Lin Jing said.  

The Pine Leaf Mouse was stunned. No compensation?  

"I can't let you suffer. Here's the deal. I see that your mechanical beast is almost ready. Take this ahead of time. The inner sect assessment is coming up, so you should hurry and make improvements," Elder Yu thought for a moment and tossed a token to them.  

"This is my elder token. With it, you can dine for free at the outer sect cafeteria. Additionally, with this token, you can enter the inner peak as outer sect disciples."  

After finishing, he waved his sleeve and said, "It seems some disciples were drawn by the noise just now. I'll go disperse them. You can continue your cultivation."  

"Thank you, Elder Yu." Lin Jing saw off Elder Yu, then tossed the token to the Pine Leaf Mouse. "Just some spirit beans. Elder Yu is a Gold Core Elder; how could he let us suffer? Let's go to the cafeteria and have a good meal!"  

The Pine Leaf Mouse wiped away a tear. Humans sure have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. Though, it had to admit, a lot of the spirit beans it had hoarded were now gone!  

...  

Outer Sect, Cafeteria!  

It was said that even the most ordinary food here was made with spirit rice and steamed with spirit spring water.  

After receiving the elder's token, Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse quickly tidied up before rushing toward the cafeteria like starving ghosts.  

"Lin Jing, Senior Brother?" As Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse sat in a corner of the cafeteria, many outer sect disciples recognized them. One of the labor disciples, who worked to earn spirit stones, approached them eagerly, as if seeing an idol.  

"Senior Brother Lin Jing, I don't know what you'd like to eat, but here is today's menu." The labor disciple eagerly pointed to the menu on the wall.  

"We have 'In the Sky, Willing to Be the Winged Bird', 'Green Wild Fairy', 'Wealthy Waistband'..."  

"Junior Brother, could you speak in terms we can understand?" Lin Jing politely interrupted.  

"Ah, yes! We have roasted wood-scented pigeon, stir-fried fresh spirit mushrooms, caramelized cashews..."  

"Alright." Lin Jing's heart fluttered. This sounded much better than tree leaf fried rice. "I'll have one of everything on the menu for today."  

"Ah?" The labor disciple kindly reminded him, "Senior Brother, these dishes contain a lot of spiritual energy. For example, the 'In the Sky, Willing to Be the Winged Bird' dish uses fragrant spirit wood and fire control techniques to lock in the nutrients of the cloud pigeon... Even a mid-stage Qi Cultivator would be full after eating one."  

"With so many dishes, it might be hard to digest and absorb, and they're not cheap either."  

"No problem. Do we look normal to you?" Lin Jing smiled faintly. The labor disciple seemed to understand and nodded before running to notify the kitchen.  

Soon, the dishes were served. The Pine Leaf Mouse pulled a golden spirit rice grain out of Lin Jing's pocket, then split it in half with one claw, giving half to Lin Jing and keeping the other half for itself. This way, they wouldn't appear too greedy and end up stealing food from others.  

"Gulp." They each ate half a golden spirit rice grain, accompanied by a cup of spirit tea.  

...  

One Hour Later.  

Mechanized Workshop.  

"Elder Yu, bad news!" A crane flew in again, the scene all too familiar.  

"What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?" Elder Yu walked out and looked at the crane.  

"Outer sect disciples Lin Jing and Pine Leaf Mouse were in the cafeteria, and they used your elder token to get free food!"  

"What's the big deal? The token is for them," Elder Yu replied. "Lin Jing has a special physique, so his demand for food and resources is high. The inner sect assessment is approaching, and I gave them a small favor. What's wrong with that? If anyone has something to say, let them try to defeat the mechanized bamboo dragon!"  

The crane replied, "Elder, no outer sect disciple has an opinion. Not many know about this. It's just that the head chef, who’s a bit pampered, and his fire spirit sparrow got exhausted. Lin Jing and the others ate so much that, by the end of the day, there wasn’t a single bit of leftover food. Usually, there’s plenty left."  @@novelbin@@

"I heard... Lin Jing even ate the meat bones..."  

"The leftover food was meant for those special spirit beasts that joined the sect just for 'free food and lodging'... Once they see there's no food left, they might complain."  

"The worst part is... they ate so much, and with your token, they didn't pay a single spirit stone."  

"If they keep eating like this, the cafeteria’s budget will definitely be affected! You'll have to cover the costs yourself, Elder!"  

Elder Yu froze when he heard this.  

What?  

"Oh no, I've been tricked." Elder Yu's face darkened. How could he be so naive? With Lin Jing's longevity body, of course, he wouldn’t let them suffer! The sky is falling.  

"Elder, what should we do?" the Tianyu Crane asked.  

"What else can we do? Let them eat!" Elder Yu gritted his teeth. "Once they enter the inner sect... they won’t come back to the outer sect cafeteria for free food! I'll hurry up and push for the inner sect advancement assessment to happen as soon as possible!"