What do you need money for? As long as you have a sword, that's enough; what do you need fame for? As long as you have a sword, that's enough; what do you need a wife for? As long as you have a sword, that's enough.

Or rather, the sword is their wife.

—Her wife is just too beautiful! Star Mark baby, don’t worry, Mom will definitely buy you the prettiest clothes and make you the most beautiful kid in the whole sect!

Grace Carter made a solemn vow, stepping onto the sword not very skillfully. With a faint sword hum, she soared into the sky on spiritual energy.

The setting sun was completely devoured by the night, leaving only a luminous moon in the sky. Wispy clouds, like cotton soaked in ink, drifted gently across the dark dome, unable to hide the bright moonlight.

Grace Carter looked down, her eyes dropping, and couldn’t help but be speechless.

The Xuanxu Sword Sect where she was belonged was built within the Kunwu mountain range, ranked among the seven great blessed lands rich in spiritual energy. As the saying goes, “The essence is mysterious, palaces stand amid pure scenery; the hidden spirit condenses, opening caves in famous mountains.”

The central Taixuan Main Peak rose straight from the ground, with Lingxiao, Kaiyang, Yuheng, and Tianhe as four subsidiary peaks nearby. The other small peaks were stacked with steep cliffs and lush greenery.

Between the towering peaks, the scenery varied; distant winds and mists intertwined, white fog in the mountains gathered and dispersed, like light gauze veiling the landscape. Bathed in the silvery moonlight, it appeared even more ethereal and lively.

Looking closely, one could see buildings scattered like stars. The Sword Casting Platform, Sword Array, Star Gazing Platform, and Academy were all brightly lit, with stone stairways and sky ladders connecting them. Riding her sword from afar, it truly felt like an otherworldly fairyland.

It really was a most beautiful scene.

So Grace Carter swore, she absolutely wasn’t trying to make her stomach growl on purpose.

When her empty stomach grumbled for the third time, Grace Carter finally arrived at the dining hall.

The original owner, in order to pick a fight with Henry Clark, had actually missed the sect’s scheduled dinner time. Grace Carter thought, a bit shamefully, that this was clearly hurting herself more than the enemy—what’s more important than eating, anyway?

The dining hall’s supplies were as empty as her stomach. Maybe because the cook felt sorry for the little girl, the female cultivator took a skinned dead goose out of the kitchen cabinet.

Then, with a twist of both hands, she split the goose in half right down the middle and handed one portion to Grace Carter.

A true dismembered crispy goose.

But why are your movements so practiced?!

“Since the start of this month, you’re already the seventh disciple to come asking for food. Supplies are running low, little friend, so eat sparingly.”

The female cultivator tore the goose and closed the cabinet in one smooth motion, speaking in a very practiced tone: “There’s still hope in life, don’t ever give up just because you’re short on money for a while. As long as you’re alive, all those external things will come eventually.”

Grace Carter: ?

Wait, did you misunderstand something? And why is she the seventh one to come begging for food—does everyone in this sect have a habit of being late for dinner? And what does this have to do with money? Surely no one here actually can’t afford to eat, right? Right?

Full of confusion, Grace Carter asked offhandedly, “The seventh?”

The female cultivator sighed, “There used to be even more. Don’t you know what our sect is like, little friend?” ...She really didn’t know!

In the end, the female cultivator never explained clearly, so Grace Carter carried the goose back to her little courtyard, still completely baffled.

Unexpectedly, the original owner’s room was actually very neat and tidy, with none of the blinding gold, silver, or bronze wares she’d imagined.

Naturally, there was no cooking stove here, and she couldn’t find any firewood for roasting either. Grace Carter looked around the room in distress, and her gaze finally landed on the alchemy furnace in the corner.

Isn’t this just perfect!

The alchemy furnace was powered by spiritual energy, so it didn’t need firewood to ignite. Plus, its shape was quite similar to a pressure cooker—couldn’t be more suitable for roasting goose. She really was a clever little fox.

—Of course, all of the above was extremely dangerous. Pressure cooker? Clever fox? All nonsense.

If the ancestors of the Xuanxu Sect knew someone was using the furnace to roast goose, they might descend from the immortal realm in anger, even more determined than the Seven Fairies looking for Dong Yong.

She put the goose into the alchemy furnace and used spiritual energy to light the fire. While waiting for the meat to cook, Grace Carter thought with a touch of dark humor:

She was the seventh to get goose from the kitchen, so by order, she was definitely “Goose Taster No. 7.” Wow, that felt pretty good.

Goose Tasting Fairy didn’t sound bad either.

The only thing she couldn’t figure out was... what did the female cultivator’s words really mean?

She didn’t have time to come up with an answer.

What came before the answer was a deafening, extremely close explosion.

A scorching wave of heat rushed at her. Fortunately, Grace Carter still had some self-defense instincts left in her body and immediately formed a hand seal to shield herself. Although she was forced back a few steps by the heat, she wasn’t seriously hurt.

Ash and dust floated before her eyes. Through the blurry vision, she could barely make out the state of the room.

The desk had lost two legs in the blast and lay collapsed to one side, its spirit broken; the once-white walls looked like they’d just returned from a vacation in Africa, now completely blackened; as for the furnace she’d used to roast the goose—

The alchemy furnace, unable to bear the humiliation, had sacrificed itself, heroically exploding to defend its dignity as a furnace.

All she did was roast a goose—was that really necessary?

Her hunger kept poking at her nerves, so Grace Carter couldn’t care about anything else and held her breath as she stepped forward.