Yung wondered if this was Su Yafeng’s daily life. Being told to leave when she was an inconvenience, and ordered around at all other times doing whatever Su Nanya fancied at the moment.

Which was currently a portion of pork-like fiend meat.

Su Yafeng sliced an aged chunk of it into thin strips and brushed it with a lustrous red sauce, causing it to glisten. She then seared it on both sides with utter concentration, setting it sizzling and crackling until it turned a delectable golden brown.

As the fat around the edges lightly charred, it lent a smoky whisper to the meat's texture. Yung gulped; Nyanya pulled his face away.

Next, Su Yafeng sprinkled some mystery leaves onto the dish, and the army of bacon gave off actual harried screeches. As the dish was completed, the sweet and savoury aroma of the red sauce mingled with the smoky undertones of the seared meat, creating an intoxicating fragrance that tantalised Yung's taste buds despite his best efforts not to drool. Su Nanya found such lousy table manners unsightly.

“Eggs?” Asked the maid.

“I’ll have two,” Yung said.

“We shall feed you,” The vixen commanded with a cooing song.

In that timeless instant, as Su Nanya gracefully held up a piece of bacon with her chopsticks and tenderly guided it into Yung’s eager mouth, he conceded, and he confessed from the bottom of his heart - this exquisite flavour is worth crossing worlds for.

This wasn't merely food, but a delectable piece of culinary artistry, possessing a flavour profile that would make even the choosiest of epicures swoon. And miss maid had made it in mere minutes. Minutes! There she stood—grumpy and blank—unthanked by her mischievous mistress, without any knowledge of how her cooking had given Yung an idea that had the potential to change this world’s future forever.

Or so Yung daydreamed, as time did not move.

Su Nanya picked up another piece, and Yung gobbled it down.

This wasn't just about the taste; the sensory experience was intertwined with the profound spiritual one.

As he relished the meal, the qi unfurled, a potent wave coursing through his being. It gushed down Yung’s body, descending in a rush of heat, and effortlessly refined itself as it settled into his dantian. This unique intertwining of culinary and spiritual satisfaction rendered the meal an experience that transcended the ordinary, providing not only nourishment of the soul but also an elevation of spirit.

He licked his lips, then the chopsticks. His spirit was whole; he was complete. His flesh lay willing, and the food was there, inviting him in with its seductive aroma, as Su Nanya continued her girlfriendly duties with her vixenly adorable smirk.

Rich people food is incredible! Ah! This is the life… Will Nyanya slap me if I lick her fingers too?

“Kii! Kiki Kuuuu!”

Okay, next time, I’ll tell Miss Yafeng to make a grape smoothie.

“Kyu!”

And as he appreciated all his luck for this second chance at life, time flowed once more.

“You shall need to create many pairs of this communicator if you wish to truly propagate it far and wide. Oh, how adorable you are. Can you not gulp such luxurious delicacy down without crying?” Su Nanya teased, eyeing her maid with gestures she thought were hidden.

Yung split the yolk apart with his chopsticks. He actually felt a bit shy being fed like a baby after the initial blissful feelings had passed. But Su Nanya gently slapped that hand away. It was the same hand she'd wounded, so the vixen looked guilty momentarily. But with Yung's smile, she harrumphed and picked up the egg and put it in a bowl of rice.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Yung asked.

“For this matter, we shall oversee your deeds. No rebellions, understood?”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

“Have you heard of a transmission array token?”

Yung shook his head and opened his mouth. In came the rice, egg, and bacon. A divine formula of salty, savoury, and starchy goodness. Whatever that powder Su Yafeng had used, it was way better than MSG.

“We worry that you had to grow up in such illiteracy,” Said Su Nanya. “You have our sincerest regrets, oh servant dearest.”

"Thanks, I guess?"

"The object known as a transmission array token, my dearest most foolish boy, is a form of a 'Master' token. It, in its complex grace, can link together hundreds, thousands, or even millions of transmission tokens, with the exact number reliant upon its grade. In the third phase of the sect recruitments, such a token shall be utilised by the sects to display the selection tournaments throughout the Moon Valley trade city for the eyes of all to behold. In your participation, we expect nothing less than stellar conduct, worthy of our standing. Are we in understanding? Say ahh~n."

"Aaaahn, yum. Clear as glass." Yung said, gulping down. Su Nanya beamed. He refused the wine and had juice instead.

Leaving the city meant endless travels, and Yung did not feel comfortable travelling to one place than another just to gather cultivation resources. He… felt unsure.

“A transmission array token sounds like exactly what I’ll need.” He looked at Su Nanya while licking the yolk off his lips, then cheered himself up. “Nyanya! I need your help.”

“How decidedly audacious. We are not some cheap porter, nor your beast of burden.”

“M’lady. Language.”

“You don’t have one?” Yung’s said, trying to stop his maybe-girlfriend from firing her maid, “How about at least an instruction manual on how to refine one. Like these.” He pointed at the six spread out on the workbench.

“We do not feel the need to carry around rune and formation guides. Such labour is for the common class, for they are poor, and we are not.”

"I thought you were all-powerful?"

“We are!” Su Nanya said, putting a hand on her chest, “We simply have our priorities.”

Yung thought for a while, "Won't phase one be displayed like phase three?"

"Now, why would the Westmoon headsman use their only unit for such frivolous usage?"

“No, I meant if the Youjin clan had one. I could—”

"A useless endeavour. Transmission array tokens are military artefacts in their essence. Only the apex clan in each village area possess them. Letting their subordinate clans freely organise such large-scale communications would be as foolish as giving the rebels the key to the kingdom."

Makes sense. Yung shook his head. It looks like I might face severe blowback if I want to make a public-use message board. With anonymity at that…

“What about the sects?” Yung asked.

"We suppose they do own such trifles. Perchance they have the manual too? For certain our martial nephew's Twilight blood palace does. And all other great sects. Though unless we put in a good word, why would they ever grant you a—”

“Nyanya! I need your help.”

“Unhand me, barbarian!”

"I will clean up." Su Yafeng muttered, then with a swipe of her hand, the cooking and dining utensils disappeared. "I cleaned up."

“Maid. We will once more stay with our servant for the night.” Su Nanya handed Su Yafeng the pingtian grade sound transmission token she had shown Yung earlier. “If mother dearest does summon our divine presence, say we are busy.”

“Why can’t you say it?” The expressionless maid growled. She actually growled!

“We are busy!” Su Nanya dismissed her with a wave of her hand.

“I can’t.” Su Yafeng said, then walked out.

“Such disrespect! Maid. Maid, are you there?” The vixen was taken aback, then stared at the vanishing figure, shocked.

Yung was amazed.

So Miss Yafeng doesn’t take all her slave driving lying down.

“The gall of that maid.” Su Nanya bristled, her tail puffing up.

"She cares for you," Yung said.

"We are aware," Su Nanya still pouted, "She is our cousin, after all." The vixen then looked at the transmission token with a complicated face. "Mother is annoying. She wishes for me to make peace with that traitorous, thin-skinned, infidel-fathered, whale-bedding—”

“Whoa, let’s keep it at that.” Whale bedding?

Yung remembered. Su Nanya had once said that her parents were absent during her childhood, or something along that line. He hadn’t asked for detail. And figured today wouldn’t be a good time.

“Are you not going to create this mystery token of yours? We await your failure.” The vixen put the pingtian grade jade slip away, resting her head on Yung’s shoulder.

“I’ll have you know, the goddess of the fates blessed me with luck once!”

“We are pleased with your flattery. Do continue.”

It’s not you though, Yung mused, then frowned. I’m being rude here, aren’t I? I can’t disparage Nanya over Moira like that. Both… are important. For different reasons.

He followed the vixen's mandate, and worked with the jades again while his mouth spouted a machine gun of sincere yet generic flattery. After that show Wang Lihou and the Elders put on, he'd felt awfully inadequate as a refiner slash jade carver.

But it was fine as long as he created the first prototype and hashed out the rune array formations, or ‘code’ in this case.

“Ah,” his hand slipped, and the jade carving blade made a cut where it shouldn’t have. Yung threw the ruined void jade in the trash.

The array is too tight here. Yung consulted his notes, and tinkered with the design.

“Have we told you that your talents do not lie with formations, oh foolish servant?”

“You said it laid with my tongue,” Yung spoke while starting the process from the beginning with a new void jade. His fingers moved carefully, and the steady stream of xinqi etched the jade with minute precision. He had been using his xinqi all day, but with the constant stream of worship and sneaky snuggles of cultivation, his battery was still good to go.

“You must really like my eloquent words, heh?” Yung joked absentmindedly. But suddenly, Su Nanya grabbed him by his chin and turned his head towards her. “What—?Mmppf.”

Smooch!

“Wow!” Yung said, exhaling with a pop.

“We admit, your talents with your tongue are sublime.” There was a cheeky glint in the vixen’s eyes. “How are our lips?”

“Succulent.” Yung’s said as his heart raced.

"Do not ignore us for longer than our heart can bear," Su Nanya looked down, tracing Yung's palm with hers, "We can divine yaoren emotions, servant dearest, and we know you can too."

So she does. She is all-knowledgeable. Yung dropped the jade carving blade and put his tools away alongside the spirit stones and void jades. He’d failed more than ten times today.

“How amazing our similarities, is it not? Shall you be a dear and admit your previous wrongs? How your dirty mouth so unceremoniously claimed to that Chao insect that you shall not pursue us, for some esoteric emotional dissimilarity stops you so. How impudent, how utterly unforgivable.”

This was going to be a long process. Both the communicator, and Nyanya.

It’s fine. I like trial and error.

Yung took Su Nanya’s hand and walked to the window. It was dark outside, with infinite stars dotting the night sky. The wind was cool, carrying the smell of dinner from the restaurant downstairs.

“Tomorrow, can you accompany me to Silky’s shrine?” He asked with a beating heart.

“Is it this ‘date’ event you keep persisting upon us? This activity that ‘girlfriends’ bestow upon their jingqi cultivation partners?” The vixen asked with a tile of her head.

“I wish, maybe later. I hear the night bazaar during the sect recruitments is quite a sight.” Yung said, “But no. It’s something else.”

“Pray tell?”

“It’s my parents’ death anniversary. My family grave is there.”

Yung couldn’t miss it even if there were voidfiends around.

Su Nanya didn’t hesitate, “We shall console you. Come.”

They hugged. Nothing more, but it did more for Yung than any other touch ever could.

The night passed, and after a dreamless sleep, Yung woke up snuggling a small golden fox.