70: Chapter 70 Nothing, no matter how precious, is more important than you, Senior Sister.

The night was like ink, with stars dotting the space between.

When Zhao Ruoan returned to the small courtyard of Qinghan Peak, the moon was already hanging high in mid-air.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and instantly caught sight of a graceful figure sitting by the stone table.

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling was resting her cheek on one hand, blankly staring at the moon in the sky out of boredom, while an exquisite food box was placed on the stone table in front of her.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, she turned her head back.

"Junior Brother, why are you only just returning!"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling stood up, ran over to him in a few steps, her tone carrying a hint of coquetting.

"I was almost starving into a streak of lightning!"

Hearing this, Zhao Ruoan couldn't help but chuckle.

"Why did Senior Sister come over?"

"Humph, I'm here to check on you!"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling crinkled her cute nose, pulled him over to the stone table, and made him sit down.

"I ate so many good things from you during the day and felt bad about it, so I went back to make you some dinner, but it turned out there wasn't even a shadow of you."

She opened the food box, and an alluring fragrance immediately permeated the air.

Several Spirit Meals, complete in color, aroma, and taste, were emitting warm Spiritual Qi.

"Quickly try it. This is a dish I recently researched!"

"Many thanks, Senior Sister."

Zhao Ruoan picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of Spirit Beast meat, and put it into his mouth. The meat was tender, rich in Spiritual Qi, and the cooking heat was just right.

"Delicious."

Receiving the praise, the corners of Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling's lips curled up unconsciously.

The two maidservants beside them had already prepared the bowls and chopsticks, quietly standing to the side.

"Right, I heard from them that you ran off to Tianhuo Peak?"

While picking food for Zhao Ruoan, Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling asked curiously.

"What did you go to that smoky place for? Could it be that you want to change professions and become a blacksmith?"

Zhao Ruoan swallowed the food in his mouth and put down his chopsticks.

"I went to prepare a return gift for Senior Sister."

"A return gift?"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling was slightly stunned.

"What return gift?"

With a flip of Zhao Ruoan's wrist, a brand-new set of cookware appeared on the stone table.

It was a set of cyan-gold cookware through and through, including a wok, a kitchen knife, a spatula, and a soup ladle.

Under the moonlight, faint treasured light flowed across the surface of the cookware, with starlight-like points of light faintly twinkling within, and an extremely pure spiritual power fluctuation radiated outward.

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling didn't pay much attention at first, but when she sensed that fluctuation of spiritual power, her action of picking up food froze mid-air.

Clatter.

The jade chopsticks in her hand fell onto the stone table.

As a Spirit Chef with extremely high demands for cookware, she only needed to perceive it slightly to know what this set of cookware meant.

"This... This is..."

Her voice was somewhat dry as she reached out, her fingertips trembling as they caressed the cyan-gold kitchen knife.

Starting cold to the touch, a warm spiritual power surged into her body along her fingertips, seemingly resonating with her Bloodline.

"A Spiritual Artifact?"

She murmured to herself, then suddenly shook her head violently.

"That's not right! This purity of spiritual power, this material... It's a top-grade Spiritual Artifact!"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling's voice suddenly rose sharply, her face full of disbelief.

A complete set of top-grade Spiritual Artifact cookware!

The value of this item was enough to drive countless Spirit Chef families crazy over it!

Even in her Mo family, they couldn't find a set of cookware of such a high grade!

She abruptly turned toward Zhao Ruoan and grabbed his arm.

"Junior Brother, how long have you... how long have you been studying Artifact Refining?"

Her voice was somewhat shrill due to excitement.

Zhao Ruoan was startled by her reaction.

"Not for long."

He thought about it and answered earnestly.

"Counting today, it should be... a little over two months."

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling was somewhat dazed.

In a little over two months, he refined a complete set of top-grade Spiritual Artifacts?

What kind of concept was this?

Thinking of herself, Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling, who proclaimed herself a Genius of the culinary Dao, smelling aromas at age three, flipping the wok at age five, and immersed in the culinary Dao for over a decade, only to achieve what she had today.

Yet her own Junior Brother had merely played around with Artifact Refining for two months and reached a height that countless Artifact Refiners could never hope to attain in a lifetime.

This... Was this even letting people live?

Could the gap between people really be this huge?

She suddenly felt that the talent she was so proud of was practically a joke in front of her Junior Brother.

"Senior Sister? Senior Sister, are you alright?"

Zhao Ruoan's voice pulled her back from self-doubt.

"I'm... I'm fine."

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling took a deep breath, forcefully calming her surging emotions.

She looked back at that set of cookware, her expression turning incomparably solemn.

"Junior Brother, this gift is too precious. I cannot accept it."

A set of top-grade Spiritual Artifacts had an immeasurable value; this was no longer an ordinary return gift, but a favor as vast as the heavens.

"Senior Sister should just take it."

Zhao Ruoan pushed that set of cookware in front of her.

"It's useless for me to keep it anyway. I surely can't use it to fight people."

"No!"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling's attitude was resolute.

"This is absolutely not okay. Take it back, or else I..."

"Senior Sister."

Zhao Ruoan interrupted her words.

He looked at Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling, his tone gentle yet refusing to allow refusal.

"No matter how precious an item is, it cannot compare to how important you are, Senior Sister."

Boom!

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling's brain buzzed with a loud hum.

Her entire person froze.

Under the moonlight, the youth's handsome face, sincere expression, and those gentle words stirred up towering waves in her heart.

He... What did he mean by this?

Cannot compare to how important you are, Senior Sister...

This is...

Is he confessing his feelings to me?!

A rush of heat surged straight from her neck to her crown, and Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling's cheeks turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, resembling a fully ripened apple.

"You... You you you... What nonsense are you spouting!"

She was incoherent, her heartbeat so fast it felt like it was about to jump out of her throat.

She instinctively wanted to step back, only to find her legs turning somewhat weak.

Seeing her appearance, Zhao Ruoan was somewhat confused.

He was merely expressing some fellow-disciple affection, so why was Senior Sister reacting so intensely?

However, his emotional intelligence was not low, and he quickly reacted.

"Senior Sister, what are you thinking about?"

He explained with some amusement.

"I mean that everyone on Qinghan Peak is of one mind, and Revered Master and Senior Sisters all treat me like family. This kind of affection cannot be exchanged for any Magic Treasure."

"Ah?"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling was stunned.

So... So this was what he meant.

Was it her thinking too much?

The panic and shyness in her mind instantly faded, replaced by an even more intense awkwardness.

Heavens!

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling, what kind of messy things were you thinking about!

She wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"Oh... Oh! That's right, fellow-disciple affection is the most important, the most important!"

She dryly echoed, her hands not knowing where to put themselves.

Seeing her at-a-loss and cute appearance, Zhao Ruoan found it quite funny in his heart.

He deliberately leaned in a little closer.

"Senior Sister."

"Ah? What... What are you doing?"

Third Senior Sister Mo Hongling was startled by her sudden proximity, her body instinctively leaning back.

"Your face was so red just now, what did you think of?"

Zhao Ruoan asked softly.