“What are you all standing around for? Hurry to the warehouse and help move things and handle the ingredients!”
Seeing the first-year disciples stunned speechless by the ingredients and the immortal chefs, the senior sister wearing the dragon pattern armband gave orders.
“Yes, senior sister.”
Before the other girls could react, Shangguan Yun had already answered with a smile, then turned to the others and said, “Everyone, follow me.”
The group had no choice but to follow Shangguan Yun toward the inner hall of the main building. In the corridors, female disciples of the Spiritual Moon Sect hurried past, carrying wine jars, ingredients, fruits, and other items in their arms.
They followed Shangguan Yun to the warehouse area. What came into view were several enormous demonic beast corpses, the most conspicuous of which was a phoenix bird placed in the center of the side hall.
Its purple feathers were beautiful and moving, and even in death, the noble aura emanating from it was undiminished.
Besides that, there was a demon boar as huge as a small mountain, a strange snake with three different heads and 5 meters long, and also a whole crate of bear paws. The aura emitted by each ingredient made one’s heart tremble.
“Check if we have enough spare bowls and dishes! Hall No. 2 starts stewing first. Move the immortal wine to the area closest to the plaza and set it aside!”
Another teacher personally directed operations in the ingredient area.
“Send the bear paws over there! You all come here and help pluck the bird feathers!”
Seeing a large group of new disciples enter, the teacher immediately gave orders.
“Pluck feathers?”
No one expected that the first task as maids would be to pluck the phoenix bird’s feathers, but since the teacher had given the order, a few disciples rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
The moment they started, they realized the phoenix bird’s feathers were extraordinarily tough and very difficult to pull out. Shi Yuzhi gave a loud shout, veins bulging on her shoulders as she forcibly yanked out a purple feather.
“After all, this is a phoenix bird. Plucking feathers requires technique. Use hot water or fire to dilate the pores, or use massage to relax the muscles—either way makes it easier. Otherwise, you can only rely on physical arts to yank them out by force.”
Shangguan Yun said. She didn’t seem to use much strength, but she plucked feathers very quickly, pulling out nineteen in one go.
The other girls followed suit, and soon some discovered that the feathers were so hard they were impervious to water and fire, immune to blades and spears, and even magic tools found it difficult to cut them directly.
Looking at the clean sword wound on the bird’s brow, it was hard to imagine which powerhouse killed the phoenix bird with a single strike.
“As expected of a phoenix. Even a single feather is this indestructible.”
Bai Xuan complained. She had a petite figure and lacked strength, so she could only pluck bit by bit. As she exerted herself, her full chest rose and fell rhythmically.
“This isn’t a phoenix. It’s one of the five phoenix types, a sacred bird of the phoenix order and phoenix family—consider it a close relative of the phoenix. But this one should be a hybrid, and also force-bred for consumption.”
Yu Qiuyu introduced as she plucked feathers.
“Farmed, huh.”
Mu Yanxi looked at the 19-meter giant bird before her. She had heard before that this world farmed demonic beasts for food, but she never imagined even a sacred bird like this would end up on the dining table.
But thinking of the golden flood dragon in the main hall, which had been chopped into pieces, this phenomenon seemed normal.
Mu Yanxi was slowly getting used to it. Having decided to keep a low profile and not stand out this time, she lowered her head and silently plucked feathers.
“Pluck faster! Don’t leave a single feather, but don’t ruin them either. These feathers are still useful—collect them and they can sell for quite a few spirit stones!”
The teacher in charge of the warehouse urged again.
“These feathers can be sold for spirit stones?”
The nine girls suddenly had their minds buzzing. This bird seemed to have at least ten thousand feathers all over its body—how many spirit stones would that sell for?
“Don’t get any clever ideas. The teacher is watching. Besides, feathers from farmed spirit birds and sacred birds aren’t worth much.”
“If you collect them all to sell, you could indeed make a profit, but if you secretly take nine, they won’t be worth a single spirit stone.”
Shangguan Yun reminded them, and the girls immediately abandoned the thought.
Shangguan Yun was right. Mu Yanxi had seen the market prices for materials from these demonic beasts on the Dao web. The scraps were indeed cheap—snake bones sold by the catty for just a few spirit stones.
Moreover, Mu Yanxi estimated that these feathers weren’t for sale. Just like how the Spirit Snake Skin-Shedding Bone-Changing Art could use snake demon materials for assisted cultivation, the Fake Phoenix Art could also use phoenix bird materials for cultivation.
The feathers from this close relative phoenix were usable too. Most likely, they would be given to the disciples.
With a hundred disciples gathered around the phoenix bird plucking feathers, progress was fast.
Soon, most of the feathers were removed, and this once majestic sacred bird was turning into a featherless phoenix.
Except for the few long purple tail feathers behind its rear end—many disciples exhausted themselves trying but couldn’t pull them out.
“Don’t bother with the tail feathers. They’re one of the strongest beast materials on the phoenix bird—you can’t pull them out. Just pluck the rest. Oh, right—ten of you, go move that demon boar to Hall No. 5.”
The teacher said.
Soon, ten disciples eager to show off stepped forward. But when they tried to lift the demon boar, they found that the mountain-sized beast was extremely heavy. Even with all their strength, they could barely lift it.
“Get ten more people with strength to help.”
The teacher directed again. Including Wei Ling, Shi Yuzhi, and other strong female disciples, they barely managed to lift the giant demon boar and stagger out of the hall.
Then, the teacher, clearly short-handed, began to pull first-year disciples one after another:
“Send five disciples to move the half-millennium-old ginger to the sauce area… Go to Room No. 33 and ask why the three-headed black snake hasn’t been processed yet… Pull another five from the first years to move the soup pot to the Main Hall.”
When the feather plucking was almost done, the teacher started reassigning people more frequently. The remaining disciples were sufficient to finish the plucking, and Mu Yanxi and her group were called out:
“You ten, deliver that batch of black jade clams to the seafood area in the Main Hall.”
Mu Yanxi was among them. They walked over and saw several millstone-sized clams placed in water tanks, blowing bubbles.
One girl said, “Nine-hundred-year-old black jade clams can produce high-quality night pearls. It’s a bit wasteful to kill them all just for one feast.”
“These were all bought by Young Master Lin. He has money and can do whatever he wants. We just need to follow orders. Maybe we’ll even get some leftovers after the feast.”
Hai Lingxue said as she lifted a clam and walked out.
“Hey, how many spirit stones do you think Young Master Lin spent on a feast like this? Hundreds of thousands? Nine million?”
Lei Mulan asked as she carried a black jade clam on her shoulder.
“Probably more than that. The cost is at least ten million, maybe even twenty to thirty million spirit stones.”
Yu Qiuyu estimated before answering.
Mu Yanxi could only sigh at this. ‘So ridiculously rich.’
Though in her past life, she had been one of those enjoying feasts at the table.
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