It was a little after sunset and the Thousand Flavors Restaurant was bustling with activity as always. By the time Yang Qing arrived, almost all the tables were taken, his favorite spot notwithstanding. There were a few young outer core court judges who had already made themselves comfortable at the table as they enthusiastically exchanged laughs and conversation over an array of flavorful dishes and wine.

"Maybe I should just have it to go. Dai, Qingge, and Huifeng are not here too.." Yang Qing thought to himself as he surveyed the floor for any familiar figures.

The Thousands Flavor Restaurant had four floors, but Yang Qing, Dai Chen, and their group of judges had made it a habit to eat on the ground floor since their days as students, which was mostly at Yang Qing's insistence as he liked to see the kitchen and be drowned in the tantalizing aromas of the dishes, and when they struck a deep friendship with Jiang Fu, it made sense for them to continue sitting in the ground floor which was adjacent to the kitchen to make it easier to have conversations with him during his breaks.

It, therefore, became a habit for them to always eat on the ground floor, and if there wasn't space, they'd take the dishes and eat in their abodes, or visit each other's abodes and have the meals there. Yang Qing on not seeing them made his way to the counter to make his order and leave for his abode.Some part of him was even glad that the seats were all full and Dai Chen and the rest were missing as it gave him an excuse to head straight for his abode. He was antsy about going back to his abode. He had spent almost an entire month without stepping a foot in there which was the longest he had ever spent away from his abode if he didn't count the time he was at the tribulation mountain.

There was a longing within him to head back like that of a bird returning to its nest, and some part of him was afraid the celestial nesting weaver would get rebellious ideas with his longstanding absence.

The last time he was away for his breakthrough to the palace realm when he came back, he had found the celestial nesting weaver had messed with the protective arrays and locked him out of his abode, and when he finally got in, he found signs of his treasure vault being tampered with and a few treasures missing which the greedy celestial nesting claimed to have no clue who took them, laying the blame on Ellie. While Ellie was a thieving bird herself, she never had any interest in things outside of food, she cared little for natural treasures if they were not in food form, the only one who did was the celestial nesting weaver that had the appetite that would put even the greediest dragon to shame.

Luckily for Yang Qing, he had known the celestial nesting weaver ever since it was a chick, and even as a freshly hatched chick, the first thing it did was try to rob him of his spiritual ring and it has continued that habit growing it in sophistication. Yang Qing did try to beat it up back then to straighten it up but even as a young chick, its puffy feathers were sturdy even against the attacks of a core formation expert, and then its talents as a mythical creature came to bear, and in two years it reached the palace realm, and after growing around Yang Qing there was one thing it learned from him, how to be vindictive, and repaying it with interest.

Yang Qing suffered a few righteous beatings for some time before he compromised with the bird and he only stopped when he could hold his own and force a bitter draw with the bird. Realizing its unhinged greedy nature, he created dummy treasure vaults all around his courtyard, losing countless spirit stones and merit stones in the process all to hide his true vault. He wasn't sure how long it would be before it finally sniffed out his true vault and took him for all his worth, and knowing it, it would definitely gloat after, even at the risk of a beating.

He could not afford to leave it alone unsupervised for long periods of time, Yang Qing had already noticed signs of tampering in some of his vaults, and knowing how devious the bird was, maybe it had left those signs intentionally to lull him into a false sense of security that it had not found the true vault. If Yang Qing were in its shoes, that was what he would have done, and if he thought about it, he was sure that the thieving bird thought about it too.

Who knew how much inroads it had made during the period he was at the Deer Mountain Range?

With a sense of urgency, Yang Qing quickly asked what was readily available, and ordered a few dishes of what was available, hastily making the payments immediately after. With all the dishes stored instantly stored in his storage ring, Yang Qing exited the restaurant only to stumble upon two familiar figures once he was outside the restaurant.

"Dai, Qingge.." Yang Qing excitedly said when he saw them.

"Qing.. Where have you been? We heard you were back and had gone to see you at your abode, but Ma Yuan told us you hadn't been there in a few days...Where were you? How was the range?" asked Dai Chen with a cheery smile.

"Nice to see you're okay, Qing.." Zhang Qingge softly said her voice almost disappearing in the end when she noticed a few cultivators staring at her which triggered her shy reflexes.

"How about we take this to my abode?" Yang Qing suggested when he saw Zhang Qingge slowly clench her fist with a mixed look of slightly flustered and slightly enraged with the source of her change being three cultivators who looked to have come from the same sect, staring lasciviously at her. They thought they had hidden it well, but Zhang Qingge was highly sensitive to those looks even when done a few hundred meters away she would still be able to pinpoint it, and if it continued... well she was not called the berserker for nothing or the damages princess.

To save Zhang Qingge from having to pay more fines for having pummelled a few cultivators half to death, deservedly so, Yang Qing and Dai Chen nodded to each other as they hurriedly grabbed Zhang Qingge by her arms and sped from the location.

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