A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 168 Getting a Free Meal at Old Deng's Place and Advancing
Erii actually has a very good appetite. As long as she doesn't eat medical meals prepared by doctors, her food intake is at least three times that of an average person.

I ordered a double tonkotsu ramen, and added a soft-boiled egg, seasoned seaweed, fish cake, and red chili peppers, making it a truly luxurious dish.

Well, Xu Lie, trying to save himself trouble, gave Uesugi Yue a "V" sign: "Boss, give me the same one."

"Okay, please have a seat." Uesugi Yue, unaware of the two's identities, assumed they were a young couple on a date and busied himself with a smile.

I only glanced at Erii occasionally and found her quite pleasing to the eye, and I had a very good first impression of her.

When she saw Xu Lie's clone next to Erii, she had no objections and simply sighed in her heart how wonderful youth is.

Xu Lie led Erii to a wooden table and chairs set up on the street, and thoughtfully wiped Erii's face with a tissue before they sat down opposite each other.

Soon, Uesugi Kotsushi brought over two glasses of ice water: "Please enjoy, the noodles are cooking and will be ready soon."

Erii looked at the food cart, sniffing the fragrance wafting over. Her delicate nose twitched slightly, making her look incredibly cute: "It smells so good."

Uesugi, who was walking back, was very happy and straightened his back a bit more, thinking that he would give the young couple a 20% discount.

As Erii recounted her favorite fish of the day, two large bowls of fragrant ramen were served, and the two of them devoured the food with gusto, their mouths greasy with oil.

After Xu Lie finished his soup and was about to pay the bill, he reached into his pocket and looked at Erii with guilt: "I'm out of money. Do you have any money on you?"

Do I need to pay for a meal at Old Deng's?
Erii, like a kitten that has just finished drinking goat's milk, was still sticking out her tongue to scrape the oil stains from the corner of her lips. Upon hearing this, she froze, and even subconsciously continued to scrape the oil with her tongue.

They're so adorable!

Unlike before, Erii has now learned a lot and knows that in the outside world, you have to pay for everything, including food, drinks, and entertainment.

We can't live like we do at home, where we don't have to spend any money.

Before meeting Xu Lie, Erii never took any money with her when she ran away from home.

After meeting Xu Lie, Xu Lie would consider everything, so Erii would no longer carry money.

Now that Erii heard that Xu Lie didn't bring any money, she felt a little guilty.

Yes, with Xu Jun around, she doesn't need to worry about being killed by Ultraman. But Xu Jun sometimes makes small mistakes, like not bringing money. Next time, she'll have to ask her brother for some money.

Erii didn't blame Xu Lie. Instead, she blamed herself for only taking and never thinking about giving back to Xu Lie, which was wrong.

Erii gently turned her head and looked at the gift Xu Lie had given her—a dolphin plush toy sold at the aquarium—on the wooden chair next to her.

She shook her head slightly again, "No, no, this is a gift from Xu Jun."

He simply pulled out his portable game console: "Xu Jun, can I use this to pay off the debt?"

Xu Lie's clone was completely taken aback by Erii's choice. He waved his hand reassuringly, indicating that Erii should put it away: "That was a gift from your brother, it's not appropriate."

“I think the boss is easy to talk to. Maybe Erii, if you perform a few magic tricks, the boss will agree to settle the debt.”

Erii thought for a moment and decided to listen to Xu Lie. She got up and walked towards Uesugi Kotsugi.

Uesugi Yue remained inside the stall, his royal-level hybrid physique granting him excellent hearing. He proactively lifted the curtain and stepped out, pretending not to have heard anything: "What's wrong?"

"Hello, boss." Erii politely explained the reason.

Uesugi gave Xu Lie a reproachful look; these young people nowadays are really unreliable. But faced with Erii, such a polite and kind girl, Uesugi readily agreed and sat down to see what kind of magic tricks this young girl could perform.

For some reason, the more Uesugi looked at Erii, the more familiar he felt with her.

Erii bowed thirty degrees to express her gratitude, and with a wave of her hands, a white dove and a black crow flew out from the shrine maiden's sleeves.

Erii flew away with a 'fluttering' sound, leaving Uesugi Kotsugu with his mouth agape. No, even with his royal-level half-blood eyesight, he couldn't see Erii's technique clearly at all!

That's impossible! He can easily see through the performances of so-called magic masters, but now he can't even see through the performance of a little girl?
During this period, Erii had Genjiro perform her magic tricks almost every week, gathering hundreds of mixed-race people to watch her show. Her performances were now effortless and masterful.

Whatever comes to mind, it becomes reality. In a moment, the tabletop is frozen, two chopsticks are placed upside down in a bowl, and figure skating begins.
Then he lit a fire with his finger, directing the rising black smoke to the sides of the black and white birds.

Uesugi was dumbfounded. At first, he thought that the young couple were well-hidden mixed-race individuals, and that this was the power of words.

Later, something became increasingly strange. Whose words of power could control both ice and fire? Surely this little girl's words of power couldn't be the legendary Nine-Headed Serpent, could they?

Is that just pure magic trick? Is this old actor too blind to see through it?
Uesugi blinked hard, finally concluding that he was really old, but after the initial shock, he clapped vigorously: "Great, so beautiful, amazing, young lady."

Erii's surprise was no less than that of Uesugi Kotsugu, who was opposite her.

Just now, she could clearly feel that the Trickster's potion in her body had been completely digested.

Although the magic master has digested a large part of it thanks to his brother Yuan Zhisheng's repeated calls, he is only one step away from fully digesting it.

But Erii still keenly sensed that something was wrong with the ramen chef.

If you were just performing a magic trick on an ordinary person, they wouldn't be able to digest that much potion. The final kick is something an ordinary person can't help digest.

Uesugi Kotsugu, unaware of Erii's inner thoughts, got up with satisfaction to clear the dishes: "Alright, the performance was excellent, this time the meal is on the house."

"Young man, next time you ask a girl out, you'd better be more prepared."

"Yes, you're right, I'll remember that." Xu Lie's clone tried hard to suppress a laugh.

I'm really curious to see what kind of interesting expression Uesugi will have when he finds out the truth.

Just thinking about it for a moment makes me want to laugh, and it's so hard to hold it in.

Erii wanted to voice her doubts, but felt that the ramen chef would overhear, so she simply took out her notebook and quickly wrote down her doubts before handing it to Xu Lie.

"Don't worry." Xu Lie gave her a reassuring look, then led Erii away from the street before congratulating her, "That ramen chef isn't a bad person; I can tell."

"Congratulations Erii on mastering the magic master. Once you get the materials, you can successfully advance to Sequence 7 Astrologer."

"It just so happens that this time, you and Lady Moon are going to a completely unfamiliar place to carry out a mission."

"Astrologists who possess astrological knowledge have a huge advantage in this area; they can use astrology to solve any problem that requires investigation or tracking."

"But remember, divination is not a panacea, and neither is astrology."

"Mmm." Erii cheered again after hearing that she didn't need to worry about the ramen chef. She hugged her notebook and dolphin plushie and nodded repeatedly. "I know."

“Mr. Baita, who was also at several gatherings before, told me this, and I will never forget it.”

(End of this chapter)