Wait a minute, where is my master?

"Brother Jin, why aren't you eating?"

The chefs of Wutong Building in Qingyun might not be on par with Chef Jiang but their culinary skills are still pretty good."

The Old Dean asked cheerfully, then picked up a piece of kidney from an unknown animal and skillfully tossed it into his mouth.

After chewing a few times and swallowing, he continued, "Brother Jin, this is a kidney from a Nascent Soul Realm Sheep Demon, very nourishing, give it a try."

As he spoke, he used the serving chopsticks to put a piece of kidney into the bowl in front of the young Taoist.

Meanwhile, Qingyun pretended not to hear, keeping his eyes on his nose, his nose on his mouth, and his mouth on his heart, acting as if he hadn't heard the Ancestor from one of the Four Great Immortal Sects recommending sheep kidneys!

Lan Junyan didn't pay attention to these things either; while she occasionally picked at her food, she couldn't help but glance at Jin Xu from the corner of her eye, still curious about why he had looked at her that one time.

"Cough, Brother... Brother Yan, it's not that I find the food unpalatable."

Saying this, Jin Xu sneakily glanced at Yu Yaoer who was fighting with Little White over food.

He thought to himself that once you've tasted Little Yu's cooking, nothing else in the world could truly count as delicious.

He then continued, "I just feel that, while we're eating, having Brother Jiang's daughter placed in the middle of the table is somewhat strange..."

On the large golden silk wood round table, aside from a range of dishes, there was also a small ice coffin emitting a faint chill at the center.

"Hehe, it's not strange at all, Young Taoist; you guys go ahead and eat, we'll perform the protective rite for Nan Er afterward."

Before the Old Dean could say anything, Chef Jiang chimed in proactively.

He had placed his daughter's ice coffin on the table himself, to facilitate the protective rite that would follow shortly.

The Seven-Orifice Exquisite Heart Fruit had descended from the heavens, and finally, his daughter had hope for a cure.

And among the four people performing the protective rite during ingestion of the Spirit Fruit, the least proficient was the top scholar of Qingmu Academy; what could he, Jiang Xiulan, possibly be dissatisfied with?

He wouldn't even mind being served at the table himself, let alone administering the Spirit Fruit there.

"..."

The young Taoist really wanted to say that wasn't what he meant; he felt like he was resembling the folks back home in Guangdong at this moment.

But obviously, he couldn't share this thought with the others at the table; even if he did, they probably wouldn't understand.

So, in the end, countless words condensed into two.

"Fine then."

An hour later.

Everyone had eaten their fill and stood around the table.

Little White, still wanting to eat, was seized by the throat of destiny by Jin Xu, who then handed him over to Yu Yaoer.

"Brother Jiang, open the coffin."

Jin Xu said, taking out a box containing the Spirit Fruit from his storage magical item.

After he left the Secret Realm, he had intended to give the item directly to Jiang Xiulan, but the latter refused to accept it, saying that since the young Taoist wasn't in a hurry to leave, he might as well keep it.

Safe.

So Jin Xu put the item back into his storage magical item.

Upon hearing the young Taoist's call, Chef Jiang placed his hands on the coffin lid, trembling slightly as he slowly shoved the lid open.

A gust of cold air rose from the coffin, and after it dissipated, a little girl with a frosty complexion, as delicately beautiful as a porcelain doll, appeared before everyone.

"Wow, she hasn't changed a bit, still so cute."

Little White, who had wriggled free from Yu Yaoer's grasp, moved closer out of curiosity to take a peek.

Then, before his temple master could choke her, she swiftly returned to the hold of Little Fish Demon.

Her movements were exceptionally smooth.

Jin Xu didn't pay any attention to the Husky; he believed that his demon pet's behavior, though odd at times, would still distinguish between what was important at crucial moments.

He slowly opened the jade box he was holding; a fruit with seven orifices, crystal-clear, pulsating like a heart, lay quietly within.

"Young Taoist..."

Upon seeing the Spirit Fruit, Jiang Xiulan's voice trembled slightly as he called out.

His naturally coarse voice sounded even more distorted under these circumstances; it was as if a broken gong, after being drenched in rain for seven days and becoming rusty, had been stepped on three times by an elephant.

"Brother Jiang, rest assured."

Jin Xu's mood at this point was quite calm.

He used his golden spiritual power to lift the Benevolent Heart Fruit, slowly bringing it above the ice coffin, and then glanced at Little Black, quietly curled up in the palm of his hand.

Before obtaining the Insect Queen, the little Taoist had planned to wait for Jiang Xiulan's daughter to consume the Benevolent Heart Fruit, observe with his Spiritual Eyes, and then take the opportunity to perform the "Body Purification Skill."

But now, with Little Black, things were much simpler.

The Gu worms inside Chef Jiang's daughter's body were now all under control. If it weren't for the fact that her original heart had been replaced by Gu worms, Little Black could even issue a command to directly kill all the other Gu worms inside her body.

The little Taoist controlled the Spirit Fruit to gently descend, stopping just above the ice-frosted lips of the little girl.

He condensed spiritual power into a needle and gently pricked the skin of the Seven-orifice Exquisite Heart Fruit from below. A transparent liquid, like droplets of rain, trickled out from inside the fruit and poured onto the mouth of the little girl.

After the liquid poured onto her lips, it disappeared instantly without a trace.

Jin Xu stimulated his Spiritual Eyes, cautiously observing the changes within the little girl's body. As the liquid continued to drip, a crystal-like Linglong Heart was slowly growing in the position of her heart.

An incense stick's time passed.

The skin of the Seven-Orifice Exquisite Fruit shriveled up, and the liquid had been completely drained.

The little Taoist activated his spiritual power and moved the fruit skin out of the ice coffin.

Within Jiang Xiulan's daughter's chest, a Seven-orifice Exquisite Heart was slowly but powerfully beating.

As for the original Gu worms inside her, they had gone to their designated place under the manipulation of Little Black.

"Little Taoist, is... is it a success?"

During the time of an incense stick, despite knowing that nothing could go wrong, Chef Jiang's heart had been in his throat the whole time.

Now, seeing Jin Xu seemingly complete the procedure, he dared to ask.

The little Taoist glanced at the newly grown heart of the little girl with his Spiritual Eyes and nodded gently to Jiang Xiulan.

"Brother Jiang, you can rest assured, your beloved daughter's heart has been regrown, and there's no abnormality within her body. If you're still not at ease, I can use the 'Body Purification Skill' in a moment to further consolidate it for her."

Hearing Jin Xu's affirmative answer, Jiang Xiulan laughed heartily with a wide-open mouth, but as he laughed, tears began to roll down from his eyes.

"Hahaha, Nan Er, it's been twenty years. Your dad has finally not failed your mother's entrustment, and at last, you have been brought back to life! Hahaha!"

By the end of his laughter, Chef Jiang's voice had changed.

He wiped the large teardrops from his face and suddenly gave Jin Xu a deep bow!

"Little Taoist, I, old Jiang, am a crude man and don't know how to express my gratitude well. If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know, and I will go through fire and water for you."

"Brother Jiang, you should focus on taking good care of your daughter. There's no need to go through fire and water, but you can certainly cook more often. Besides, without my Spirit Fruit, you could also have exchanged for it from the White Emperor Pavilion, it would just have been a bit more troublesome."

The little Taoist saw Jiang Xiulan bowing and hurriedly used his spiritual power to lift him up, while also teasing him.

Chef Jiang heard this and said no more, turning his gaze toward his daughter in the ice coffin.

What matters is not how you say thanks, but how you show it.

Another half a cup of tea's time passed.

The little girl had still not awakened.

Anxious expressions began to appear on Chef Jiang's face, and Jin Xu was also somewhat perplexed, examining the little girl once again with his Spiritual Eyes.

He found no problems.

But why hadn't she woken up?

The group began discussing aloud, and the three from Qingmu Academy also started to check where the problem might lie.

Just when everyone was puzzled and at a loss,

Little White broke free from Yu Yaoer's "restraints" and said,

"Temple master, this little girl isn't waking up.

Could it be because she is still frozen inside the ice coffin?"

Everyone: "?!!!"