Chapter 49 The Secret to Prolonging Life and Enhancing Longevity

Since Master Jingci put it that way, Shakya politely accepted his hospitality.

Looking at the table full of dishes with a very even mix of meat and vegetables, she did not even know where to start.

Shion also picked up her chopsticks, picked up a piece of braised meat, and put it into her mouth.

"Wow! Delicious!"

This was not flattery. Shion was simply astonished. He was a monk, yet she never expected him to be so adept at making meat dishes.

Could he have been a chef before?

"Master Jingci, your meat is fantastic! You'd have no problem being a master chef!"

"I'll have some too..."

This was the first time Shakya had seen Shion react so strongly to a meal.

When they went to restaurants in the city before, Shion had never made such a fuss.

It was also the first time Shakya had ever tasted meat that melted in the mouth like this!

She could hardly believe it had only been stewed for an hour or two. Shakya usually cooked herself, and logically, achieving this texture and depth of flavor would require simmering from the previous evening until now.

"This... May I ask how the Master achieved this... in such a short time..."

"You two female lay Buddhists need not be surprised. This humble monk once traveled the world with his disciples for ascetic practice, and there were many times when I had to cook for myself."

Jingci still wore a calm and breezy expression on his face, choosing only to pick at the vegetarian dishes.

"Sometimes, merely begging for alms was not enough to guarantee a meal and a place to stay for the night, so working odd jobs in local restaurants happened quite often as well."

"Eh..." It seemed that the so-called ascetic practice was truly not easy; at least it sounded much harder than the training at Svarog.

"When crossing the wilderness, we would sometimes catch small animals for food."

Jingci said this as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world, but Shakya and Shion listened with rapt attention.

"You even had to go to such lengths... And monks eat meat?"

"No, I personally don't mind, but my disciples are different. Some of them are not followers of the Buddha..."

It seemed that the training Jingci conducted with his disciples was not entirely the wandering lifestyle of typical monks, but rather the kind of wondrous martial arts training meant for disciples.

"Nom, nom."

Listening to Master Jingci's explanation, Shakya and Shion feasted with gusto.

Especially Shakya; it seemed that good food could, to some extent, drive away bad moods. Because of her extreme depression over the past four or five days, she had barely eaten anything and felt no sense of hunger at all.

Rather than saying she wasn't hungry, the mere smell of food no longer appealed to her, and she suffered from stomach aches from time to time.

Human bodies would react this way under extreme emotional distress.

She had cooped up at home every day, unwilling to go out, only going downstairs to buy a steamed bun or two when she felt utterly starved.

Previously, her bodily reactions were caused by extreme mental turmoil, making her unable to feel hunger. But waking up from sleep today, she did not know what had happened, yet Shakya felt as though the binding ties on her entire body had been released.

Her appetite had also returned to normal.

Seeing Shakya eating with such relish, Shion was very happy, as Shakya's previous state had been far too worrying.

Shion cast a grateful smile toward Jingci.

However, Jingci seemed to have fallen back into his explanatory mode and did not notice Shion's gaze.

"Since Shakya has recovered her spirit, that is certainly something worth celebrating! Therefore, I have decided..."

Shion resolved to do something so that this meal would not pass entirely under Master Jingci's nagging.

"Oh?"

Jingci looked at Shion, who had stood up to get something from the coffee table, and temporarily paused his self-absorbed lecture. Seeming to realize he had started rambling again, he quietly took a couple of bites of rice.

Shion took a can of cocktail from the supermarket shopping bag and placed it on the table with a grin.

"Ho..."

Jingci watched as Shion produced what she had bought, having previously thought Shion had forgotten to drink it.

"A grand feast really needs to be paired with good wine, haha!"

Shion waved the flavored cocktail in front of Shakya's eyes.

"Ugh..."

Shakya waved her hands repeatedly. She had already had more than enough to drink over the past few days.

She would probably not touch alcohol for quite some time.

"So it turns out you were the one who corrupted Shakya..."

Jingci narrowed his eyes and looked at Shion.

"Hmph, you guys aren't drinking anyway, so I'll just have it myself."

Shion seemed to have loosened up in front of Jingci as well, although Shakya was still temporarily...

Laughter, long unheard, echoed within Shakya's room.

That evening, Shion had to return to the bureau to handle some matters after dinner, so she left early.

Fortunately, Shakya's condition had also been verified. Although she had endured a difficult time, she had not been completely broken.

This was a good thing, and Shion needed to report it to the Director.

Jingci intended to stay overnight at Shakya's place, as he wanted to tell her a few things.

"I didn't expect you to actually agree. This humble monk was wondering if the request might be too abrupt."

After dinner, having seen Shion off, Shakya and Jingci took a walk along the street to aid their digestion.

"Not at all, Master Jingci. Whatever you specifically wanted to tell me must be very important."

With a full stomach, Shakya's energy and spirits had improved somewhat.

The negative thoughts in her mind were no longer as overwhelming. While she couldn't say her mood had suddenly turned wonderfully bright, she could at least think normally.

"Thank you both—you and Ms. Shion—for coming to visit me today..."

The two walked to a small riverbank near the residential complex where Shakya lived, where a quiet pedestrian path ran along the riverside for residents to stroll.

"Shakya... this kind of emotional state must be very hard to endure."

"Mm..."

"Yet... situations like this might happen even more often in the future. What do you plan to do?"

Jingci tossed out this heavy topic.

"I... I don't know... at least for now..."

At the mention of this, Shakya lowered her head.

She leaned against the railing of the riverside path, gazing up at the moon hanging in the sky.

Director Qin had told him about her situation. Right now, she might simply be an ordinary young woman prone to confusion, rather than the battle-hardened warrior who had truly faced life and death, as the former Shakya once was.

He decided to talk about something else first.

"Your master, Mr. Shi, has already told me about your confusion."

"Eh?"

Jingci walked over to stand beside Shakya.

"Shi Silang is my disciple. Seeing you now, I am reminded of him when he was young."

Shakya turned her head in astonishment to look at Jingci.

"Wait, Mr. Shi is your disciple?! Then... does that mean you are my... But you clearly look so young!"

Jingci smiled.

"Young... If we are speaking solely of appearance, then indeed so."

A familiar golden electric arc flickered in Jingci's palm.

"By practicing the art of the life ripple, you can achieve this as well."

Shakya was somewhat bewildered.

"I know about that... Mr. Shi said it's a kind of life energy that can cause healing or destruction depending on the situation... Does it also prolong life?"

"That is correct. Do you know how old Mr. Shi is?"

"Asking an elder's age doesn't seem very polite."

Shakya was truly a good kid now. Jingci smiled.

"Take a guess?"

"Hmm... judging by his appearance, maybe close to 70?"

Shakya wasn't entirely sure. After all, Mr. Shi had the hair of a crane and the complexion of a child, and his physique felt extremely robust. Though there were some wrinkles on his face, he did not look frail or senile.

Compared to Director Qin, perhaps he was a dozen years older or so.

"This year, my disciple—Shi Silang—will celebrate his one hundredth birthday."

"Eh?"

Shakya could hardly believe her ears.

"O-One hundred years old?!"

The master who had been doing one-handed push-ups right in front of her just a short while ago was already a hundred years old!