AMSSO-Chapter 96: Bitter, But Useful

Ke Chongbo’s expression twisted painfully. He grimaced, baring his teeth, clearly wounded by the experience.

He looked down and saw the leaves floating on the surface, then gasped. “This is tea?! Shit! Where did you buy these tea leaves? You got scammed, didn’t you?!”

This tea was so bitter it made him doubt his life!

“You must’ve been cheated! Where’s the shop? I’ll help you get a refund! This is bullying!”

Ke Chongbo muttered indignantly, then noticed the atmosphere had gone strangely silent.

When he looked up, everyone’s expressions were rather odd.

Mu Shiyue said expressionlessly, “I roasted the tea leaves myself.”

“Pfft!”

Ke Chongbo spat again in shock, “Sect Master Mu, you roasted them yourself?!”

He was terrified and quickly looked toward the others.

They gave him sympathetic looks and nodded cautiously.

Ke Chongbo’s scalp went numb.

Damn it! Did they have to set him up like that?!

He really hadn’t known the tea was personally roasted by Mu Shiyue herself!

Thinking back to all the complaints he’d just blurted out, Ke Chongbo wanted to cry.

These past few days, he’d been staying at his sect with his parents, dealing with the aftermath of his attempted assassination.

They’d finally handled everything, punished the offenders, and allowed him to visit Wanxuan Sect.

His mother had even told him to stay here for a while to see if he could learn something.

He had brought plenty of gifts too, as a gesture of gratitude for when they had saved him before.

Who knew, the moment he arrived, he’d directly offended Mu Shiyue!

Remembering all the complaints he’d spewed, Ke Chongbo wanted to die.

“S-Sect Master Mu, T-This…I… I…” he forced out a stiff smile, at a complete loss for words.

He glanced helplessly at the others, and was stunned to see that every single one of them was holding a bowl. Inside each bowl was that same tea that had nearly killed his taste buds.

But the key point was!

—No one had drunk theirs!

So they had set him up?!

Ke Chongbo’s face went green.

Is this how Wanxuan Sect welcome guests?!

In his fluster, he suddenly felt his spiritual energy stir.

“Hm?”

He froze, smacked his lips, and narrowed his eyes in confusion, beginning to circulate his spiritual power.

He sensed a blockage in his meridians loosen ever so slightly, and he blinked in disbelief.

Looking down at the bowl in his hand, his eyes suddenly widened.

Then he raised it, and downed the entire thing in one gulp!

“Wait!”

“Fellow Daoist Ke!”

“There’s no need!”

Everyone shouted at once, startled by his sudden action.

This tea was that bitter and undrinkable, there was no need to torture himself!

Even Mu Shiyue was surprised.

This kid was not bad! Using such a method just to appease her anger!

Seeing his face full of determination, Mu Shiyue’s irritation melted away.

Forget it, no need to make things harder for a little kid.

She had never roasted tea before anyway, she’d only seen one or two videos online, and only skimmed through them.

Besides, she loved to freestyle when cooking. Whatever the end result turned out to be was up to fate.

Her friends in her first life used to tease her for always creating dark cuisine. Eating her cooking was like opening a blind box, one never knew what surprise awaited.

Looks like this blind box didn’t turn out too well.

Thinking of that, she decided not to make her disciples suffer further. If they actually got sick from drinking it, that would be bad.

After all, they were her disciples, she should cherish them.

“All right, if you don’t want to drink it, don’t. Just dump it,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.

“You can’t dump it!”

Before any disciple could react, Ke Chongbo shouted.

He was flushed with excitement, eyes shining brightly, “You can’t dump it!”

Everyone stared at his reaction, startled.

He didn’t get sick from drinking the tea, right?

Under their confused gazes, Ke Chongbo suddenly rushed toward Mu Shiyue, “Sect Master Mu! Your tea is incredible!”

He moved so suddenly that Mu Shiyue nearly kicked him across the courtyard.

Luckily, she held herself back and sidestepped. Otherwise, Ke Chongbo would’ve been missing a few ribs.

Ke Chongbo, unaware of how close he’d come to death, shouted excitedly, “Sect Master Mu, this tea is amazing! The spiritual energy is overflowing! The blocked area in my meridians just opened up!”

He waved his arms wildly, nearly bouncing with joy, “My spiritual power even increased a little!”

Though it was only a small increase, it’s more effective than half a day of cultivation!

Everyone was dumbfounded, “You’re not joking?”

“I’m not joking!” Ke Chongbo shook his head repeatedly, face serious, eyes glowing. “It’s true! This tea is amazing! It’s even better than the spiritual teas I’ve had before!”

“You just said it tasted awful,” Meng Fanzé blurted out.

To their surprise, Ke Chongbo nodded immediately, “Yeah, it is awful, really bitter!”

Everyone looked shocked, only to hear him add, “But the spiritual energy inside is incredible! Even better than century-old spiritual teas I’ve drunk before!”

That made everyone suck in a sharp breath, “Seriously?!”

Better than hundred-year spiritual tea leaves? Wasn’t that too exaggerated?!

Ke Chongbo gestured animatedly, full of energy, “It’s true, absolutely true!”

As the son of two elders from Changtian Sect, Ke Chongbo had access to plenty of fine things.

He’d had his fair share of spiritual teas.

But even the ones supposedly roasted by tea masters didn’t have spiritual energy as rich as this one!

Tea leaves did contain abundant spiritual energy, but it’s hard to fully draw it out.

If handled incorrectly, even hundred-year-old tea leaves could end up less effective than a ten-year-old one.

Yet the tea leaves Mu Shiyue roasted was brimming with spiritual energy, and it was especially easy to absorb!

That was unbelievable!

“The other spiritual teas I’ve had had spiritual energy, but it either dissipated quickly or was hard to absorb! But this cup…bowl of tea’s energy is dense and easily absorbed! I can feel my cultivation rising already!”

As Ke Chongbo gushed in excitement, everyone stood stunned.

Could that really be true?!

Meng Fanzé reacted the fastest. He immediately raised his bowl and poured it down his throat.

“Ugh!”

The moment it entered his mouth, his expression contorted.

If he hadn’t clenched his jaw, he might’ve spat it right back out.

When he finally swallowed it, his face twisted in agony, baring his teeth so much that the others winced just watching.

Was it really that bad?

But then Meng Fanzé’s eyes brightened, “It’s true! There’s so much spiritual energy!”

“Really?!”

At that, the rest couldn’t hold back, they all took their bowls and gulped theirs down in one go.

Of course, their reactions were exactly the same, barely keeping themselves from vomiting.

Heavens, it’s really bitter!

If they hadn’t seen Mu Shiyue roast it with their own eyes, they would’ve thought she’d dumped coptis in there!

Bitter!

Too bitter!

More bitter than life itself!

Their eyes nearly watered from the bitterness.

But soon after, they all gasped in excitement, “The spiritual energy is really being absorbed!!”