Chương 384: Cheng Zhi's approval

Never in Long Feng's wildest dreams did he imagine all of these. From casually calling Xiao Hu his elder brother to all these, there didn't seem to be a choice for him. Not mentioning how unfathomably strong both of them seemed, especially for the scholarly youth who Long Feng couldn't even begin to predict at all. Long Feng was also curious as to how exactly they became brothers. One was extremely slender, looking as delicate as a scholar.

The other was the exact opposite, looking like the result of ten burly adults stacked upon each other. Also, the older one seemed to be decided by strength, considering what he deduced from their conversation. In short, the scholarly youth was the oldest, Xiao Hu was the younger one and Long Feng was… Well, there was no need to mention his place. With his strength, he was absolutely in no hurry to aim for any higher. He wouldn't mind fleeing back to his cave to resume his bland and boring cultivation…

at least, it would be more assuring than this situation which he found himself in. Unfortunately, he didn't know if he could still free himself. Within the spacious cave, the scholarly youth fixed a pot of tea, moving extremely delicately. Long Feng sat down on a small stool while Xiao Hu had no choice but to fold his huge figure and curl up on the floor. Any stool that could contain his weight would probably fill up half of the cave. As the youth prepared the tea, Long Feng looked around, noting the simple cave.

The youth had completely reconstructed the cave residence to suit his needs, turning this place into an empty room.

"Little Hu is too huge, so I had to clear out this entire space just to entertain him." The youth's gentle voice filtered through Long Feng's thoughts, bringing him back to his mind. He looked and saw that the youth had already settled the pot on the table and poured a cup for Long Feng. Xiao Hu also received a cup that was the size of a child's head.

"Hm." Long Feng nodded politely, not knowing what to say.

"Oh. Where are my manners. Call me Cheng Zhi. Or seeing as you're little Hu's younger brother, you can call me Elder brother Cheng." Cheng Zhi sat down comfortably while speaking.

"I'm Long Feng. It's a pleasure to meet you, Elder brother Cheng."

"Xiao Hu strong! Smash Puny Ren Ji and make him run away! Xiao Hu help little fellow!" Xiao Hu suddenly spoke, his thick voice causing the cave walls to tremble.

"Ah. I see. Have a beef with Ren Ji?" Cheng Zhi took a sip of tea and asked.

"It's nothing major, just some casual stuffs." Long Feng replied.

"Hm. Ren Ji can be quite troublesome. He is already approaching his second refinement stage." Long Feng didn't respond, instead taking note of his words. He had finally confirmed Ren Ji's actually cultivation.

"You must've trained your body a bit. You can ask little Hu for guidance if you wish to progress faster. There's no body temperer at his level in the inner peak." Cheng Zhi glanced at Xiao Hu and stated, causing the latter to grin proudly. Long Feng couldn't help but ask, "He tempers his body, right?" It was pretty obvious from Xiao Hu's bulky frame. Most importantly, Long Feng hadn't sensed a strand of energy when Xiao Hu had driven Ren Ji away, nor had he sensed anything when he attached Cheng Zhi earlier.

All he could sense was an overwhelming flood of force that could shake the earth. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"That's right. He has extremely low talent that borders on non-existent on the path of energy cultivation, but revealed a frightening talent while tempering his body." Cheng Zhi nodded, placing his cup down and glancing at Xiao Hu.

"He's extremely simple minded. He differentiates between good and bad easily, and doesn't understand the complexity of plots and human thoughts. He sees things the way a child would." He continued gently. Long Feng didn't speak, subtly agreeing with his words. Xiao Hu was extremely unique, unlike anyone Long Feng had ever met.

"Since he sees you as a brother, then I have no qualms accepting you the same way. As long as you don't have malicious thoughts, then you're welcome to join our little family." Cheng Zhi glanced at Long Feng with a pair of black pupils that lacked any emotion.

"But if you do, then you should stay away from him." He paused, then lowered his gaze and continued.

"If you walk out those doors right now, then I'll forget you ever stepped in here, and into Xiao Hu's life. Whatever your goal was, I will ignore them and you will stay far away from him." He uttered in a low voice that seemed to only resound in Long Feng's ears. Long Feng's expression couldn't help but tighten as his heart began to beat several times faster.

"If you stay, then you'll join us. Whatever your plans were, I don't care. We'll support you in everything and have your back, just as I expect you'll have ours. If you can't do that, then you're free to walk out right now." Long Feng met Cheng Zhi's gaze and sensed the genuineness behind his words. For a second, he was severely tempted to walk out. He never took this brotherhood thing seriously; in fact, he had used Xiao Hu to scare Ren Ji off, even though he didn't mean to do it.

And he could sense that Xiao Hu's feelings were genuine. That left Long Feng feeling conflicted, and coupled with Cheng Zhi's words, he had the urge to walk away, remove himself from this farce while he still could. He didn't want to form a bond here… he wanted to become stronger. He was on a mission, to avenge the only true brother he had. But… some part of him didn't want to walk out. It had been a long time since he knew what it felt like to have true friends, brothers even.

If he left, then he would be admitting to the fact that he had ulterior motives. And to be honest, he did. He wasn't proud of it, but he wanted to keep using Xiao Hu to keep Ren Ji at bay untill he gained the strength to keep himself safe. But now? Sensing Long Feng's hesitation, Cheng Zhi lightly shook his head and pulled out a huge wine gourd from his void ring.

"The doors are there. You can leave once you're done drinking the tea." He proceeded to gulp down a mouthful of wine from the gourd. Long Feng stared at him with complicated emotions in his eyes, then he glanced at Xiao Hu who still had the same awkward smile on his face, and something changed. The hesitation in his eyes faded as he smiled brightly and extended his arm to grab the wine gourd from Cheng Zhi's hand.

"Leave? I still have to taste elder brother Cheng's cooking. Brother Xiao said your cooking skills were excellent." He proceeded to take a big sip of the wine, nearly choking as the wine rushed down his throat like a hot flame. His face instantly flushed red as he gasped.

'what a strong wine!' he thought. A few gulps of this and he could get drunk even with his cultivation! Cheng Zhi was obviously taken aback for a second before he laughed.

"You have very little tolerance for wine. That's not allowed for a man. As for my cooking skills, I'm merely so so. Little Hu simply hasn't tasted anything other than my cooking." Long Feng shook his head to clear the cloud in his mind due to the wine before placing the gourd down.

"I owe brother Xiao my life, and I certainly hold not a single bad thought. If brother Cheng is willing to accept me, then I'll be pleased to have your backs." He smiled. Cheng Zhi stared into his eyes briefly before smiling widely, seeing the sincerity in the latter's eyes.

"Hm. That's rich coming from you just yet." He laughed.

"If you wish to have our backs, then you'll need to get much stronger than this. Until then, you can find me whenever you need something." He smiled, then rose to his feet.

"Let's step out so I can prepare dinner." The trio rolled out of the cave as both Xiao Hu and Cheng Zhi began to work on the massive snake. Neither of them used even a bit of their strength, instead resorting to working exactly like mortals would. Long Feng stood aside and watched them silently for several minutes as an extremely strange feeling filled his heart. After watching for a few more minutes, he rolled his sleeves and joined them.

Xiao Hu butchered up the huge snake while Long Feng and Cheng Zhi both made the fire and prepared the meal together. While they worked, Cheng Zhi glanced at Long Feng with some surprise.

"You're quite experienced at this as well." He remarked. Long Feng grinned.

"I learned to cooked a bit while I was still in my clan. My skills are just passable." In a few hours, a fragrant aroma filled the air as different dishes were arranged openly outside the cave. Some were deep-fried, some were braised, some were steamed, roasted, and there was even snake soup mixed with some of the less harder bones.

"Isn't this a bit… too much?" Long Feng couldn't help but ask. He alone would need three days to finish all these different dishes. Cheng Zhi laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry. Little Hu has an appetite as large as his body." He assured. Once they were done with the cooking, they pulled the remainder of the huge snake into the cave before coming back out to eat. Cheng Zhi even brought along a few more gourds of wine similar to the one Long Feng drank. By the time they say down to eat, the night had replaced the day and the moon was already beginning to cast it's gentle light upon the world.

"Mmmm. This is soo good!" Xiao Hu poured entire plates into his mouth, moaning and exclaiming with every meal he ate. Long Feng was left speechless by Xiao Hu's appetite. He was barely finished with his first plate, but the latter had downed more than ten, and still counting.

"Hahahaha! I told you he ate a lot! That snake might only last us about a week with little Hu involved!" Cheng Zhi laughed.

"You two should come over everyday for dinner till it's finished." He threw a gourd of wine at Long Feng.

"Take a few more sips. Little Hu can drink dozens without feeling anything. You should at least be able to gulp down a single one!" Long Feng tried to deny but was forced to drink up the entire gourd of wine. When he drank the last sip, he directly sprawled himself on the ground, staring at the sky in a drunken daze.

"Hehehehe! Little fellow can't handle little wine! Xiao Hu finish ten wines, no drunk!" Xiao Hu roared with laugher as he cleared out whatever was left of the meals. After that, he laid his huge frame beside Long Feng and stared at the sky with him. By the side, Cheng Zhi watched them with a faint smile.

"I suppose there's no issue with having an addition." He sighed gently.