Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Mo Yuming's thoughts raced, and he instantly thought of many things. He felt that the most urgent thing was to calm down and figure out the situation.

This little man seemed quirky and mischievous, but he appeared to be quite guileless and meant him no harm. So he began to inquire about him:

"Who is your master? How long has he been creating this secret realm? Why did he build this secret realm here? What is his purpose?"

"You wouldn't know who my master is, even if I told you. He created this secret realm space naturally for his own residence."

This is his cave dwelling, and also one of his most important treasures from his lifetime.

The dwarfs were completely open and answered every question.

"Has your master passed away? Then why don't you leave?"

"I have lived here since I became conscious, and I have never left. If I leave here, I don't know where I would go."

Here are countless rare and precious medicinal herbs, as well as sweet, ancient nectar for me to drink.

How could such delicious delicacies be produced in a barren land with poor mountains and bad waters?

Furthermore, the outside world is rife with deceit, treachery, and bloodlust, creating chaos and danger where one could easily lose their life.

"Where else can you find such tranquility?"

The little dwarf said with a somewhat melancholy expression.

"You've never even left this place, so how do you know anything about the outside world? And how can you assert that the outside world is inferior to this place?"

Mo Yuming questioned.

"I have heard my master describe the wickedness of the world."

My master was constantly hunted while he was alive, and he was always on the run. I could feel his hardship; he died because he was injured and never fully recovered.

The petty man retorted vehemently.

"Although the outside world is not as rich in spiritual energy as this place, it is vast and boundless."

Rivers and lakes are scattered throughout the area, mountains and rivers are majestic, flowers, trees and shrubs are vying for beauty, and birds and animals are numerous and diverse, creating a vibrant and lively landscape.

Human cities are even more prosperous and vibrant, with a wide variety of delicious foods available.

Although there are struggles and enemies, there are more family and friends, love and affection, laughter and joy, and thrills and excitement... Life is full of emotions and desires, so shouldn't we experience it all?

What's the point of living like this in this tiny place, all alone and helpless? What difference is there between us and the dead?

Mo Yuming said earnestly.

Mo Yuming started to bluff, guessing that this villain must have another way to leave this secret realm, and he had to find a way to get some useful information out of him.

Mo Yuming wasn't actually worried about not being able to get out, because if he hadn't left by the appointed time, Xinlan and the others would definitely come in to look for him.

Xinlan's grandmother might hesitate to come in, but Xinlan will definitely come in.

However, if the exit of that teleportation array is never fixed, then things will get a bit complicated.

If Xinlan doesn't notice him after entering and wanders around aimlessly, the situation will be even worse.

This little dwarf has survived in the secret realm for so long; even if there really is no other way out, he must know the pattern of how the teleportation array entrance appears.

Once the pattern is understood, Xinlan can be found immediately upon entering, and then left calmly before the formation closes.

"This……"

The villain was speechless for a moment and was successfully fooled by Mo Yuming.

Although this guy has lived for countless years, he has always been trapped in this small space and has never had any contact with the outside world. His mind is as simple as a blank sheet of paper.

Even if someone came in and chatted with him for a bit, those people were all people who had lost all will to live and were about to die, so naturally they would talk about mostly pessimistic and uninteresting things.

The fragmented information that this petty person indirectly obtained from these people was naturally very one-sided and pale.

Now that I have a new understanding of the outside world, my curiosity has naturally been ignited.

"Look, in this small space, apart from these flowers and plants, there isn't even a single tree, let alone any rocks or streams."

There were no beautiful butterflies or nimble birds that could be seen everywhere outside; everything was so monotonous and there was no fun at all.

Your master didn't even build a decent house; that's far too careless.

Mo Yuming continued his persuasion.

"Previously, there were pavilions and towers, as well as artificial hills and gardens in the space. However, after the owner was seriously injured, he demolished all those pavilions and towers and rebuilt this medicinal garden in order to cultivate spiritual medicines to heal his injuries and illnesses."

This herb garden contains 10,008 kinds of spiritual herbs, with dozens of plants of each kind, totaling hundreds of thousands of spiritual herbs within the space.

Mo Yuming's deception worked.

Although the villain pretended to be calm on the surface, how could his clumsy acting skills fool Mo Yuming?

His undisguised curiosity had already betrayed his inner thoughts.

"Is it too late to cultivate herbs after they've been injured? These medicinal herbs clearly require a very long time to mature. Didn't your master consider searching for mature herbs to treat the illness?"

Mo Yuming asked.

"The master is a famous alchemy master, so he naturally knows how to collect mature herbs to treat his injuries and illnesses. But these precious herbs are not easy to find, and even if they are found, there are great risks involved in picking them."

Therefore, the owner had to settle for second best. Although it was somewhat unfortunate, at least there was no need to search and fight everywhere.

The petty man argued.

"That seems to make some sense, but it still lost to time."

"The master naturally understood this principle, which is why he disposed of all the unnecessary things in this secret realm and then spent a great deal of effort to modify it, speeding up the passage of time within it."

In this secret realm, you won't feel anything, but once you return to the outside world, you'll discover that three years in this secret realm is equivalent to less than a year in the outside world.

If it weren't for the unexpected incident where their trail was discovered by their enemies, and after a fierce battle, they were severely injured again, worsening their injuries and ultimately failing to wait for the medicinal herbs to mature, otherwise, Master could have waited for these herbs to ripen..."

"Your master is really unlucky!"

Mo Yuming sighed. From the little man's description, it was clear that his master was an exceptionally talented person, not only proficient in alchemy but also a master of array formations and weapon crafting.

The ability to create such an independent space that can alter the speed of spacetime is something that is beyond the capabilities of ordinary people.

"We've been talking for so long, our mouths are dry. Does anyone know where there's a spring in this secret realm where we can drink water?"

Mo Yuming suddenly realized that although he had brought a lot of food, he hadn't brought any water. This wasn't entirely Mo Yuming's fault for being careless, since there were sweet springs everywhere in the canyon, so there was no need to stock up.

But I never expected to be trapped in this small space. If I don't have water to drink, I'll be in big trouble.

"If there's no spring water, you can drink this sweet dew if you're thirsty!"

The little man handed the gourd in his hand to Mo Yuming.

"Sweet nectar? Is it delicious?"

Mo Yuming didn't stand on ceremony and took the gourd to drink.

"Wow!"

Mo Yuming couldn't help but exclaim, "This is so delicious!" A sip of the nectar went down his throat, and the cool and sweet feeling immediately filled every pore, even making his eyes feel much brighter.

However, the next second, Mo Yuming felt a warm current flow down his throat and directly into his dantian, and the feeling he had when he ate the maple leaf fruit came back to him.

Mo Yuming quickly returned the gourd to the dwarf and sat down to meditate.

"what's wrong?"

The little man asked in confusion.

After a long while, when Mo Yuming stood up, the dwarf couldn't wait to ask.

Clearly, he was completely unaware of Mo Yuming's embarrassment and didn't know why Mo Yuming had suddenly started meditating.

In his mind, this nectar was just a sweet dew, and the spiritual power contained in it was insignificant to him, so he didn't take it seriously at all.

Therefore, he was very curious about Mo Yuming's strange behavior.

"It's nothing, I just regulated my internal spiritual energy. This nectar tastes wonderful!"

Mo Yuming naturally didn't want to explain and quickly changed the subject.

"Of course, this nectar is made up of the dew from the leaves of more than 180 kinds of medicinal herbs."

These 180-plus medicinal herbs are all tens of thousands of years old, and they all have a fragrant and sweet taste.

These dewdrops condense on their leaves, naturally absorbing their medicinal properties.

Regularly drinking this nectar can prolong life, whiten and beautify the skin, and of course, it can also cure diseases and improve health.

The little man said smugly.

"Collecting these drops of dew must have taken a lot of effort, right?"

Mo Yuming observed how the dwarfs collected dewdrops, gathering the tiny droplet from the leaf tip into a gourd. It required not only meticulousness but also immense patience.

Each drop of dew gathers into a gourd of sweet dew, requiring the collection of dew from the tips of at least tens of thousands of leaves. That must have taken an immense amount of effort.

“I collect dew every day, and there’s nothing else to do.”

"All right……"

Mo Yuming really couldn't think of a way to express himself.

"I have some braised meat here, would you like some?"

Mo Yuming took out a piece of braised meat from his storage bag, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and placed a fresh medicinal herb leaf on top.

"What is braised meat? This smell is so strange, completely different from the floral scent of the elixir. Can this be eaten?"

The little man looked curiously at the fleshy pieces on the leaves and kept sniffing them with his tiny nose.

"Braised meat is naturally meant to be eaten. This is made from the thigh meat of brown-necked chickens. It tastes amazing and is a rare delicacy!"

Mo Yuming picked up a piece, threw it into his mouth, and chewed it heartily.

What is a brown-necked chicken? Can its legs be used as food?

Seeing Mo Yuming eating with relish, the little dwarf couldn't help but swallow hard, but still didn't dare to try.

This braised meat was so different from the medicinal herbs he had ever seen before; he had never seen anything like it before, and it felt strange.

"The brown-necked pheasant is a type of wild bird with delicious meat; all the skin and meat are edible, but the leg meat is the best..."

Mo Yuming introduced it with great seriousness.

"Why are you killing brown-necked chickens to eat? Isn't that cruel?"

The dwarf's gaze shifted, and he subconsciously distanced himself from Mo Yuming.

"Cruel? The brown-necked pheasant is just a type of wild bird. We hunt it only to obtain food, not to kill it indiscriminately."

This is the law of nature, a necessity for life. You still need to drink the nectar and eat the fruit of the elixir, don't you?

Mo Yuming never expected this villain to be so stubborn.

“Dew is just water droplets that condense on leaves, and elixirs are plants that grow in the soil, unlike animals! They have no life consciousness.”

The petty man argued.

"How is it different? Plants and animals are both living things, both living beings. You are not a magic medicine, how do you know it has no consciousness, how do you know it is willing to be eaten by you?"

Didn't you see the sap oozing from the wounds of the picked leaves? Isn't that sap the lifeblood of the elixir?

"I……"

"All living things in this world have their own value. For a creature to survive, it must obtain energy."

Plants need to absorb water and nutrients to grow, and animals need to eat to survive; this food could be plants or other animals. Only in this way can all things in the world reproduce and thrive.

Furthermore, the brown-necked chicken eats hundreds or even thousands of small insects every day to survive. Aren't those small insects also lives? And we can kill a brown-necked chicken and eat it for several days.

According to your logic, wouldn't the brown-necked pheasant be many times more cruel than us? Since it eats insects to survive, why can't we eat it to survive?

Mo Yuming retorted sharply.

"Furthermore, these medicinal herbs, like other plants, take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit, living without strife with the world."

Just because its fruit or roots are good for your growth, you have to eat it. Isn't that cruel?

Mo Yuming continued to defend himself at length.

The little man's expression changed several times, and finally, like a defeated rooster, he hung his head dejectedly and said:

"What you said seems to make sense! But..."

"Don't blame yourself too much. This is necessary for survival as a living being. We are just trying to survive, not indiscriminately killing innocent people or committing intentional slaughter. This is the law of nature."

We'll just do what we're supposed to do! Come and try this braised meat; you can't find it in this hidden realm!

Mo Yuming handed the leaf with the meat slices to the little man, encouraging him to try it boldly.

That look in his eyes, that expression, was like a lecherous demon luring an innocent young girl into a trap—utterly treacherous.

Finally, under Mo Yuming's unbridled temptation, the little man stretched out his ridiculously long index finger, poked a piece of braised meat with his nail, and put it into his mouth with some doubt, carefully tasting it.

"Smells good! Mmm...delicious! So delicious!...Mmm..."

As soon as the little demon put the braised meat in its mouth and chewed, the unique aroma of the braised meat immediately filled every taste cell of the little demon, and an unprecedented deliciousness immediately conquered this little demon.

So before he had even finished swallowing the first piece of braised meat, he couldn't wait to pick up the second piece with his fingertips and stuff it into his mouth, eating it heartily while praising it indistinctly.

This was exactly the effect Mo Yuming wanted. Seeing the braised meat on the leaves rapidly diminishing, he pretended to grab two pieces and stuff them into his mouth, saying as he ate:

"This is the dry rations I prepared. I didn't bring much; it's only enough for me to eat for a few days. You mainly eat the fruits of nectar and spiritual herbs, so just try them occasionally. We can't leave here anyway, so I want to save them for a few more days."

Having just whetted his appetite, the little dwarf couldn't bear the thought of food running out and shamelessly begged Mo Yuming:

"Let me try some more. It's okay, there are plenty of medicinal herbs and fruits here. Whatever you want to eat, I'll get it for you right away. I promise you won't go hungry."