“Sun Quan, what are you doing?”

Sun Wu stared at the peak’s small flag in his eldest disciple’s hand. For some reason, the youth was steaming it over a pile of fragrant herbal chicken.

Sun Quan was previously a servant named Lin Quan. Now that he had joined the sect, he took on the peak name of ‘Sun’ and was renamed Sun Quan. Although he was the first and eldest disciple of the peak, he still did all the chores and managed all the finances. Sun Wu lived an easy life playing mah-jong every day.

“The immortal peak disciple try-outs will be held this afternoon,” said Sun Quan briskly, rolling the flag up and down over the fragrant steamed chicken and herbs. “We’ll need to promote our peak to the newcomers.”

“I know, but how will doing this help?” asked Sun Wu, mystified. Sun Quan put down the flag and sighed at him.

“Master, right now our peak is new, correct?”

“Yes,” said Sun Wu, nodding.

“Do we have money?”

“No,” said Sun Wu, grinning sheepishly.

“Do we have any history of martial art achievements?”

“No,” said Sun Wu, still grinning sheepishly. “Actually, although I rank third in the peak, I haven’t officially won anything since I couldn’t afford the fees to join anything, hahaha…”

“And what are new cultivators saying about our peak?” asked Sun Quan, crossing his arms.

“Don’t join it…”

“See, that’s why we need to change our strategy a little bit,” said Sun Quan, unfolding the flag and continuing the process of steaming it. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Once I’m done, come down the mountain with me and we’ll try it out.”

That mid-morning itself, Sun Wu flew down the mountain with his disciple. They went to Plum Blossom City and set up a table there. Sun Quan had left the flag behind in the kitchen and had brought the steamed chicken and a table in the dimension pouch owned by Sun Wu. When the table was set, he took out the chicken and arranged it there.

Attracted by the smell, several people came over.

“It smells so good,” said a young cultivator, who was visiting the city that morning before ascending the mountains. “Esteemed seniors, what is this?”

“Herbal chicken,” replied Sun Quan, waving a hand over the dish to make the delicious scent spread around. “Made in the kitchen of our peak.”

“Ah, I see,” said the cultivator, peering at the chicken. “You must be one of the peaks promoting today before the try-outs. May I know what the qualities of your peak are?”

Sun Quan answered with a straight face. “We have a restaurant.”

“Eh?” Sun Wu’s eyes grew round like an owl. (⊙v⊙) “We do?”

“……” The crowd stared at each other, speechless.

~*~

“Brother, we can’t go on like this…”

A stout youth slumped against the side of a building, looking almost dead. With him was another youth, a tall cultivator with a straight back. His mouth was surly and his eyes were unfriendly, but his stomach was growling loudly.

“You shouldn’t have started all those fights,” admonished the first youth, sitting up unhappily. “Our teacher sent us to this city yesterday so that we could be comfortably adjusted before the try-outs, but after paying for all the damages you caused during breakfast, we can’t even have lunch. I didn’t even get to eat any breakfast before we were thrown out. Hong Ying, little brother, why are you so violent all the time?”

Hong Ying crossed his arms and straightened his lips.

“They started it first.”

The youth sighed in reply.

In all honesty, the few days before the disciple try-outs were filled with horseplay and mockery. Young and budding cultivators came from all over the continent to join the immortal mountains, so there was a lot of rivalry going on. These try-outs were only held either once or once every few years, so everyone was scrambling to get to the top and enter the sect.

The sect itself was large, containing a number of different peaks. Each disciple needed to go through a few hurdles before they were able to choose a peak to join. Once they were part of the peak as a disciple, they would be given the chance to adopt the peak’s name and be automatically accepted as part of the sect.

“Hong Ying, we need to get into the sect together,” said the stout youth, pulling himself up. “Our teacher already said so. By entering the sect, we’ll be able to raise our teacher’s name and help him get more students. We need to do this, or the way of our sword will die!”

Hong Ying and the youth were both the last students of their teacher. They had been sent outside to see the world and join the immortal mountains. Although Hong Ying was a genius at cultivation and martial arts and had won several tournaments, placing him at the top of seeded young prodigies, nobody would join his sword school.

This was because Hong Ying was infamous for his violent temper. His teacher had tried in vain to correct his behaviour, but it never worked out. If he could just enter the sect and become someone else’s problem, perhaps the old man could breathe in peace…

Hong Ying walked out to the main marketplace with the stout youth. Suddenly, his nose caught a delicious scent.

His eyebrows twitched and his stomach rumbled like thunder.

Herbal chicken! As quick as lightning, Hong Ying flew towards the smell. It was just too delicious to resist!

The marketplace was crowded, so the youth ended up blowing everyone in his path away with the immense pressure of his aura. Even though he hadn’t had breakfast and lunch, he was still the strongest fighter around. Hong Ying’s eyes narrowed as he came across two cultivators, the younger one of the two slipping something into a bag.

“You,” he demanded. “Where’s the chicken? How much?”