After sealing the waitress's cultivation, Caiyi grabbed Tian Yi with one hand and Meng Xiang in the other and escaped through the open balcony, running away before the other workers arrived.
And after escaping like criminals, the three walked around the city with empty stomachs. "Sister Caiyi, I would like to try some of that." Tian Yi pointed to a food stand that sold chicken-on-stick and steamed buns.
"Uhhh… you want to eat street food? Do you want a stomach?" Caiyi shook her head.
"But it smells so good… I have never smelled anything like this before." Tian Yi said, his mouth getting watery.
"Have you never eaten anything good in your life? Are you really a cultivator?"
As the son of the Celestial Emperor, it was obvious that all the food he had eaten at home were of the highest quality possible, but Caiyi didn't know that.
And despite looking down on street food because of sanitation reasons, Caiyi still brought them food from these food stands.
Tian Yi's eyes sparkled as he held chicken-on-stick on one hand and a steamed bun on the other. Meng Xiang, too, was drooling at the smell of the food, her gaze literally filled with nothing but the food in her grasp.
As they walked and ate, Caiyi's gaze would often look at Tian Yi with curiosity, suspicion, even.
"Say, Shuyi; where did you learn that cultivation technique?" she asked him. "To be able to seal one's cultivation with a mere gaze; I have never seen such a profound technique before."
"I… learned it from this scroll I found stuck in the bottom of a river…" He made up a random story.
"Is that so? Then what about the cultivation technique you used to hide your cultivation? Where did you learn that from?"
"That's my Spirit Body's ability." Tian Yi said casually.
"Huh?" Caiyi stopped walking with wide eyes. "What did you just say?" she asked him.
"Hm? That it's my Spirit Body's ability?" he repeated.
"Y-You have a Spirit Body?!?!" Caiyi cried out in a low voice, clearly shocked to the core.
A Spirit Body is a special body that can only be obtained through birth with a 1 in 1,000,000 chance— a heaven-defying body. Cultivators with a Spirit Body are mostly if not all geniuses in their own way. Some Spirit Body owners may be able to cultivate faster than others while others may have complete resistance to a certain element.
"Yes, I have a Spirit Body," he repeated almost as if it was nothing special.
"....." Caiyi was speechless. She has seen and heard of many cultivators with Spirit Bodies. Some were able to touch even the hottest of fire without getting injured while some cannot be frozen even if they sleep naked in below zero temperatures. Some were blessed with a cultivation Spirit Body and allowed them to cultivate easier than others. But a Spirit Body that hides his cultivation? What kind of useless yet godly Spirit Body was that? Too bad he was only at the Mortal Spirit stage, the lowest stage in cultivation, rendering that ability pointless.
After walking around the city for another hour jumping from one food stand to another, Meng Xiang was finally full.
"You sure can eat a lot for someone your size…" Caiyi looked at her with awe in her eyes. "Where do they even go?"
"Umm…" Not knowing how to answer her, Meng Xiang lowered her head with a slightly red face.
"It is getting late… Meng Xiang, where do you live? What about your parents? I will take you home," said Tian Yi, who still has ignorant of her situation.
Caiyi looked at him with disbelief. To say such things to a homeless child… how cold-hearted!
Meng Xiang stopped walking, her head still lowered. "My parents have been dead since last year… I have no home so I live in the streets…" she said in a mosquito-like voice.
Tian Yi's eyes widened at her words, speechless.
Meng Xiang lifted her head to show the tears in her eyes. "Big Brother, will you be leaving Meng Xiang?" she asked in a sobbing voice.
Although they have only been together for a few hours, she felt genuine warm whenever she was by his side. His stories about His Highness, the way he looked at her as if she was human and not some dirty trash on the sidewalk, and the way he smiled at her; she loved every moment of it.
"C-Can Meng Xiang stay with Big Brother? Meng Xiang will do anything! Meng Xiang will not ask for food or anything else!" she pleaded with tears streaming down both her cheeks, attracting the gaze of passing pedestrians.
Tian Yi opened his mouth, but no words came out. He really didn't know what to do or say in a situation like this.
He turned to look at Caiyi for help, who merely shrugged her shoulders at him, her gaze silently telling him— 'You picked her up, so she's your responsibility now.'
Tian Yi returned his gaze to the sobbing Meng Xiang. "In short, you just want to follow me?" he asked her to which she violently nodded.
Tian Yi closed his eyes for a moment.
After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and looked at Meng Xiang with gentleness in his gaze. His hands reached for her head and gently patted her soft hair, something his mother would do whenever he went to her crying about his father being too ruthless or strict.
"If you don't mind a rough and long journey, then by all means, please follow me. It has always been a dream of mine to wander the world with companions." He smiled at her.
Meng Xiang's eyes widened in shock. Is he really going to allow her to follow him? Is she dreaming? What if this was all just a dream and she was actually still sleeping in some dark alley? If this was really just a dream, then she'd rather never wake up from this dream— this perfect dream.
Hearing that Tian Yi was willing to accept her, the tears on her face did not slow down and instead, quickened. She was happy, ecstatic, even. "Waaaaaah!" she bawled her eyes out and spread her small arms wide open to hug Tian Yi with both her body and face, smearing the snot on her face all over his white robe.
Caiyi stood by the side with wide eyes. 'You really do have talent in courting little girls, Shuyi…' she said inwardly.