Duncan was a little dazzled by the extravagant spread the woman rolled out once space was cleared.
There was everything Duncan could think of when it came to food in the spread. There was meat, fruits, wine, and whatnot. And every single one of them contained dense spiritual energy. Just smelling them was enough for Duncan to feel ravenous hunger.
For Duncan, who hadn't eaten a proper meal in over three weeks, this much amount of food was both heaven-sent and a torture. As much as he itched to try them out, he held back allowing the duo to first start off.
The woman seemed to understand Duncan's hesitation and started off by eating a little of everything. The young man paid no attention to Duncan and started to eat in a refined manner as if he was at a banquet.
Duncan watched them eat for a while before taking a small bite out of the meat present on the spread. Dense spiritual energy washed through his body and Duncan almost felt full just by eating that small amount.
Duncan's eyes shrunk as he noticed this and his mind started working rapidly. While the woman's generous behavior seemed genuine at the first glance, Duncan soon realized the hidden danger present in the spread before him.
It didn't matter how much food was present before him. The thing that really mattered was what he could consume properly. And from the looks of it, it didn't look like Duncan could eat much of anything in the spread.
Just taking a small bite was enough to fill his body with spirit energy. If he ate too much, there is a huge chance that he might not live to see the sunrise. The woman was truly insidious to put come up with such a scheme in such an innocuous manner.
While both Shen Wulong and the woman shared their stuff with him, Duncan felt that this woman was the most dangerous of the two. Shen Wulong took Duncan's strength into consideration and gave him a wine that he could drink. But, this woman didn't care about Duncan's state one bit.
Duncan didn't know if this was a show of force or just a test for him, but he felt that he needed to be careful while dealing with the woman. When he looked up, the woman was smiling benignly at him. If he wasn't careful, this woman might make him believe that all this was construed in his imagination.
"Senior sister is really generous," Duncan smiled softly palming a spirit fruit. "Unfortunately, my strength is too weak to enjoy such generosity."
"At least you know your place now," the young man snorted from the side and went back to eating.
"I am afraid I do not have anything milder that might be palatable for junior brother. Forgive me, I didn't pack properly since I left in a hurry," the woman said in a charming manner that almost made Duncan let down his guard.
"No worries, senior sister. I am not accustomed to such rich meals. I am a coarse person, I prefer my smoked meat and blood wine," Duncan replied with a smile and took out a smoked leg, and started to munch.
If he was left to watch them eat this spread without partaking in it, he would really die of frustration. It was better to stick with his meat and watch them eat.
"So, senior sister wanted to ask me about someone?" Duncan prompted wanting to get this visit over with.
"Yes, we are tracking a deserter from our sect and were led to this place. Does junior brother perchance come across him?" the woman asked softly.
"I did come across a stranger last night," Duncan said as he realized they had already tracked their quarry to this place. It was probably Shen Wulong. And it would be better if he didn't hide much from this duo.
"Do you know his name?" the young man asked rudely causing the woman to shoot him a glance.
The young man grumbled and went back to eating.
"Indeed, the stranger left me his name while leaving. We discussed things about cultivation for much of the night and he left the next morning," Duncan told them frankly.
"What is the stranger's name?" the woman asked politely.
"Shen Wulong," Duncan stated and watched for their reaction.
While the woman didn't react much apart from the triumphant gleam that came into her eyes and the small upturn of her lips, the reaction of the young man was much more prominent.
The young man stopped eating and looked at Duncan eagerly as if he wanted to hear more. The change in him was way too prominent that even the woman noticed it and sent him a glance, causing him to go back to his food.
"I wonder if this Shen Wulong told you anything, junior brother," the woman asked casually causing alarm bells to ring in Duncan's head.
"Nothing much. Our strengths were too far apart. He wanted to share my meat, and in turn, shared his wine. We met as strangers in the wilderness and parted the same way. Apart from discussing cultivation, we didn't discuss much as we didn't have anything in common," Duncan said casually making sure that his tone was as normal as possible.
"Is that so? I wonder what you discussed about cultivation," the female asked with a small smile.
"Nothing much. I am entirely new to cultivation. So, Shen Wulong talked about the different levels of martial arts cultivation and how they are split up. I asked many doubts and he was gracious enough to clear them up," Duncan spoke the truth not hiding much.
"You should be glad you got a chance to discuss even that with Shen Wulong. Shen Wulong has another name. Martial Scholar. Most young geniuses would be willing to die to hear some pointers from him," the young man grumbled seeing Duncan talk about discussing cultivation with Shen Wulong as if it was a common thing.
"Oh, is that who you are after?" Duncan asked innocently.
Before the young man could retort, a single glance from the woman silenced him once more.
"It's none of your business," the young man mumbled dejectedly and went back to eating.
"Indeed, we are tracking Shen Wulong. He is a criminal and a deserter. If junior brother comes across him again, he must remain cautious. Did you get any idea where he was going next? Was there something that he let slip while speaking with you? It would be of great help to this sister if you could help her with this," the woman batted her eyelashes in a shy manner.
Duncan was almost won over by her actions. If he hadn't raised his guard up against her previously, he would have spilled the beans immediately seeing her batting eyelashes.
"Now that you mention it, I do remember Shen Wulong saying to me that his destination was a day away while he requested to rest his legs here at the beginning, senior sister. I am sorry that I didn't realize that bit of information would be useful to you sooner," Duncan said smiling warmly.
"Is that so? Which direction did he leave in?"
"That way," Duncan pointed to the opposite direction Shen Wulong had vanished towards, "I only caught a glimpse, he vanished before I could notice more. His strength was way higher than mine. I am sure senior sister would understand it."
"I see, thank you for your time, junior brother. I will have to leave now to catch the criminal before he does something terrible once more," the woman smiled amicably and started packing her spread.
The young man stood up and looked at Duncan haughtily before turning to look at the woman once more. The woman bid her farewell and they both started walking in the direction Duncan had pointed out.
Duncan watched them leave while munching on his smoked meat. He didn't feel guilty for pointing them in the wrong direction. After all, Shen Wulong had guided him in cultivation and even shared his wine with him. How can he rat out Shen Wulong to this woman?
He had long realized from her actions that this was the woman Shen Wulong had called as his former fiancé. When she entered the area, her eyes had zoned in on the spot where Shen Wulong had vomited blood at. That was the reason she took the exact spot that Shen Wulong had sat at.
Initially, he hadn't been sure. But, when she did her trick with the spread, Duncan realized who she was. From the way Shen Wulong had talked about his fiancé, he knew that she was really devious. The woman's actions only affirmed that fact.
That was the reason he wanted to get things over with her as soon as possible. Who knew if she would have poisoned something if he had given in and started eating? Trying to remain stoic in her presence and before the spread was a monumental task in itself. He didn't need to extend his torture further by remaining civil with her.
Shaking his head, Duncan looked at the spiritual fruit in his hand. The reason he had palmed this was to try out a sudden thought that had come to him while seeing them. He wanted to see if he could mix this with demonic beast blood as well.
Both the spirit fruit and the wine had an abundance of spiritual energy within them. It was worth a try in his opinion. If not, he wouldn't have lost much. He couldn't anyway eat this spirit fruit as it contained way too much spirit energy in it for him to digest.
"Let's hope this experiment works out. I suddenly feel very weak after running into strong cultivators like this again and again," Duncan shook his head and went back to munching on his smoked meat.
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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