On the Ark.

"Uh, well," the Iron-Eating Beast coughed twice and said, "that's roughly the idea."

Seeing that the Iron-Eating Beast couldn't keep up the pretense, Lin Ye had no choice but to step in and help her make up a story: "We used the Vajra Pestle."

"A vajra?" Master Bu's eyes lit up. "How did you do that?"

“It’s done with the Vajra pestle, uh…” Lin Ye held the Vajra pestle, hesitated for a moment, and made a finger-piercing motion, “like this, slowly poking it back in.”

"Poke?" Master Bu was even more confused, completely unable to understand why a word even more incomprehensible than "sew" would appear.

Lin Ye could only bite the bullet and explain, "Yes, the Vajra Pestle contains the magic power left by Immortal Fubo. Wouldn't Immortal Fubo's magic power be a piece of cake to deal with a small Nian beast? We couldn't beat the Nian beast at first, but it was Immortal Fubo's Vajra Pestle that helped us a lot. As soon as the Nian beast saw this stick... I mean, this Vajra Pestle, its arrogance immediately dissipated a lot, and it didn't even dare to touch it."

When he was halfway through his story, Nian looked at the Vajra Pestle curiously and even poked it with his finger, but naturally nothing happened.

"Anyway, we used this Vajra Pestle to block the Nian Beast's path and then forced it back to the sealing point," Lin Ye said. "Finally, we used these two sticks... I mean, the Vajra Pestle, to keep poking the Nian Beast. In the end, we successfully poked the Nian Beast back to the sealing point, and Master Fubo's seal was restarted, sealing the Nian Beast once again. I think this time it can probably be imprisoned for hundreds or thousands of years."

Like the Iron-Eating Beast, Lin Ye's description also gave Master Buxing a vivid picture. However, the picture he gave was somewhat different from that of the Iron-Eating Beast. Listening to the Iron-Eating Beast's description, Master Buxing felt like he was watching an exciting and stimulating blockbuster movie, while listening to Lin Ye's description, Master Buxing felt like he was on some rather private website... cough cough, Amitabha, anyway, it was a very lewd kind of thing.

Even so, Master Buxing believed it. He looked at the Vajra Pestle in Lin Ye's hand with great excitement and said, "So, when the Nian Beast goes out of control again thousands of years later, can we seal it back in the same way?!"

“Yes, yes.” Lin Ye nodded repeatedly. “You can also use the same method, with this stick… I mean this Vajra pestle, to push it back in and lock it up permanently.”

As Lin Ye said this, he felt a pang of guilt. It wasn't guilt for deceiving Master Buxing; after all, they had indeed helped Master Buxing and the temple resolve the most troublesome matter in centuries. His guilt stemmed from the fact that his description had inexplicably made Nian, who was standing beside him, appear inferior.

Hey, wait a minute.

Lin Ye suddenly realized that since Nian had already been taken out of Fubo Mountain, the Fubo Temple no longer had any purpose. If the Fubo Temple's previous defense was to suppress the real Nian beast, then what should they suppress in the future? Simply guarding something that didn't exist seemed too cruel; they needed to think of another way.

Regardless, Master Bu Xing and his disciple clearly believed the concocted story by the Iron-Eating Beast and Lin Ye, as did Grani, who was listening nearby. However, this flawed explanation still failed to convince one other person: Warfarin.

Looking at the cloth shop master who was completely fooled by Lin Ye, Warfarin couldn't help but shake her head. She thought to herself with disdain, "He's still too young." Then she turned her gaze to Nian and the cat in Lin Ye's hand.

Is Nian some random little girl who inexplicably appeared next to the seal? The Messiah, the God of Kalan, became a mere errand girl? Don't be ridiculous, do you think her intelligence is the same as those other children around her?

While Lin Ye and the Iron-Eating Beast were conning the Cloth Master, Warfarin quietly approached Nian.

"Little friend," Warfarin said with a friendly smile, "what's your name?"

Nian glanced at Warfarin but said nothing.

"Where are you from?" Warfarin asked again.

Nian remained silent, but his purple eyes were filled with vigilance.

Seeing this, Warfarin reached out and pinched the end of the year, saying with a smile, "I won't let go unless you tell me."

As she spoke, she squeezed it a little harder.

This time, Nian got angry, grabbed Warfarin's hand, and then bit down on it.

Warfarin, of course, didn't care. She thought, what could a little girl do to her? So she didn't flinch at all, and even said with a grin, "Bite me, it won't do you any good..."

Before she could finish speaking, Warfarin's expression suddenly changed.

Because she felt a sudden surge of intense heat rising from Nian's mouth, as hot as flames.

"Hmm?" Lin Ye frowned slightly. "Where is that burnt smell coming from?"

Chapter 539 The Nian Beast Loves to Eat Millet Peppers

Ten minutes later, Warfarin's arm was wrapped in thick bandages. This made Lin Ye, who was watching from the side, feel both amused and hesitant... Wait, why didn't he dare to laugh? Warfarin wasn't just anyone. With this thought in mind, Lin Ye stood next to Warfarin and chuckled rather rudely. Warfarin glared at him in annoyance.

"Laugh at your head."

Lin Ye suppressed a laugh and said, "You're always jumping on the edge of courting death. Well, now you've really succeeded in courting death, haven't you? Speaking of which, aren't you a medical operator? Couldn't you have treated yourself? Why did you have to wrap yourself in bandages?"

"This is already the result of using Originium Arts to heal me, okay!" Warfarin said. "Otherwise, my hand would be gone!"

"Is it really that serious?" Lin Ye glanced back at Nian, who was standing not far from him. "She just bit you, didn't she?"

"If it were just one bite, would I be like this?" Warfarin said through gritted teeth. "She almost ruined this hand! Thanks to her, this is the first time in all my years that I've smelled anything like barbecue on myself. Now I can understand those of my kind who were captured and burned alive a hundred years ago!"

Warfarin's words made Lin Ye want to laugh even more.

"Don't laugh so shamelessly." Warfarin glanced at Lin Ye. "She's the Nian beast, isn't she?"

"Hmm? Did you guess it?"

"You can't even guess this? Do you think I'm brain-dead?" Warfarin said irritably. "What exactly happened? You'd better tell me clearly."

Lin Ye nodded. From the beginning, he hadn't intended to hide it from Warfarin. He had originally planned to tell her privately when the opportunity arose, but Warfarin had acted first and almost turned into a roasted blood demon. Now that Warfarin had asked, Lin Ye simply told her the general outline of what had happened. Even Warfarin showed surprise upon learning that Messiah had transformed into a cat after exhausting her divine power, and that the Nian beast had become Nian.

"The world is so big, there are all sorts of wonders," Warfarin couldn't help but exclaim. "I thought I had seen everything in all my years of life, but this is something I have never seen before."

“That’s normal,” Lin Ye said. “Although you seem to have lived quite a long time, compared to those two, you’re just a clueless little kid.”

Warfarin glared at Lin Ye fiercely: "You have no right to say that to me!"

Lin Ye shrugged, not bothering to argue with Warfarin. He was quite pleased to see Warfarin looking so humiliated.

But Warfarin had no time to care about Lin Ye's thoughts. When she learned that Nian was the Nian beast, her restless heart... no, her extremely inquisitive heart became restless again.

"It really is the Nian beast." Warfarin looked at Nian sitting not far away and said softly, "I've never studied a creature of this level before."

Lin Ye sensed something was wrong from Warfarin's tone and quickly said, "What else do you want to do? Didn't you get enough of a beating just now?"

“That was my own fault, what does it have to do with her?” Warfarin said righteously.

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly, thinking to himself, "I didn't realize you were so self-aware."

"Such power is contained in such a small body. It's no wonder it's a legendary beast." Warfarin seemed to be talking to Lin Ye, but also to herself. "This is when she is at her weakest. I really want to know how powerful she must be in her complete form."

Lin Ye couldn't stand it anymore and immediately warned, "You'd better not get any weird ideas. If she gets out of control, we don't have any way to suppress her right now."

"Don't worry," Warfarin shrugged. "I value my life more than my research, especially after learning about all the things in this world I don't understand. I'll still do the research, but I'll definitely be much more careful. As for you..."

Lin Ye asked, puzzled, "What's wrong with me?"

"You're in charge of taking care of her now, right?" Warfarin looked up at Lin Ye. "Then you must be careful. This little beast clearly doesn't know how to control the powerful force within her. She's even more dangerous than Ifrit. Even I've been reduced to this state, so don't worry about you. Before the God of Kalan recovers, you'd better not provoke her too much. Stay calm."

“I know that.”

“Even if I know it, I have to emphasize it again,” Warfarin said. “She is really dangerous, much more dangerous than she appears.”

Warfarin's warning made Lin Ye turn around and look at Nian, who was sitting obediently to the side, gently wagging her tail.

"Probably," Lin Ye said.

After dealing with Warfarin, Lin Ye returned to Nian's side. Nian looked up at him, her beautiful eyes filled with a hint of unease.

Lin Ye said, "You can't do that again next time."

Nian clearly knew what Lin Ye was talking about, so she lowered her head and flicked her tail: "She grabbed my tail first."

“Even so, you can’t… um.” Lin Ye thought for a moment, feeling that this way of speaking was somewhat like repaying evil with kindness, which wasn’t a good approach, so he changed his words, “She won’t do that again, so you can’t do that either. Or at least, you can’t go that far, understand?”

Nian was a little confused, unsure if she understood. But there was nothing she could do; after all, she had the mind of a child of only a few years old, completely unaware of the consequences, and understanding the general idea was already quite good. But ordinary children of a few years old obviously didn't have her destructive power; just one bite almost turned Warfarin, who had lived for hundreds of years, into a roasted bat—truly unbelievable.

"I'm so hungry," Nian said pitifully.

Before Lin Ye could speak, Grani rushed over in a flurry.

"Here it comes, here it comes, the food is here," Grani said. "Master Cloth Shop gave me a kind of pastry called 'mantou' in the kitchen, saying it's very filling. Here, have some."

Grani handed the steamed bun to Nian, who took it, still looking somewhat bewildered.

This made Lin Ye, who was watching from the side, think to himself, "Feeding the Nian beast steamed buns, this kind of behavior is really something else."

Nian took a bite of the steamed bun, swallowed it, shook his head, and said, "It has no taste."

“Steamed buns don’t have any flavor to begin with,” Grani said, scratching his head. “The chili sauce you mentioned, Master Bu said there isn’t any. They just planted some small red chilies in the back, like this, and they said it’s very spicy, there’s no way to make it…”

As soon as Grani took out a few small chili peppers, Nian's eyes lit up. He immediately snatched the peppers from Grani's hand, stuffed them into his mouth, and chewed them with relish.

Lin Ye and Grani, who were standing to the side, were both dumbfounded.

Chapter 540 What can be done with the temperature in the mouth?

Lin Ye originally thought that Nian's previous comment about wanting to eat chili sauce was just a joke, but he never expected that Nian would actually grab a handful of small red chilies and eat them. He knew very well how spicy small red chilies were; they were the kind that if you chopped them up and put them in a dish, you would accidentally eat one or two and be so spicy that your nose and eyes would run down your face and you would question your existence.

But the year just passed by, raw and unprocessed.

During this time, Lin Ye kept staring at Nian's face, wanting to see how she would react, and even prepared to get some water. However, Nian did not show the miserable expression he had imagined after being burned by the spiciness. Instead, she showed a rather satisfied expression, which left Lin Ye and Grani somewhat dumbfounded.

Lin Ye couldn't help but ask, "Don't you think it's spicy?"

"Spicy?" Nian tilted her head slightly, looking somewhat puzzled. "Why is it spicy?"

Hmm… This tone reminded Lin Ye of his college classmate from the “Land of Abundance” in his previous life. His behavior while eating sesame oil hot pot made Lin Ye think that people from the “Land of Abundance” drank chili sauce or spicy hot pot as a beverage. But even that classmate didn’t do something as astonishing as Xiang Nian, eating millet peppers raw.

After eating the whole chili pepper, Nian's mood improved considerably, even its tail wagged more frequently. Perhaps it was because it had been sealed away for so many years without being able to touch chili peppers, driving it almost crazy with pent-up desire.

"You actually ate it!" Grani exclaimed in amazement, then gave Nian a thumbs up. "You can really eat so much chili! No wonder you're from Yan!"

Nian tilted his head, clearly unaware of what the Yan people were referring to.

"But eating only chili peppers won't do, right? If you don't want steamed buns, I have something else here." The kind-hearted Grani found her backpack and rummaged through it. "Let me see. Hey, I've got it! Do you want this?"

Grani pulled a packaged sausage out of his backpack.

Lin Ye was somewhat surprised: "You still have this with you?"

“Grilled sausages are a favorite among Victorians,” Grani said with a touch of pride. “For Victorians, a grilled sausage, a fried egg, and a cup of coffee make for the perfect afternoon tea.”

“But this is just a regular sausage,” Lin Ye said. “It’s not a grilled sausage.”

“Grilled sausages don’t last that long. We’ve been on the ship for almost half a month now. Regular sausages would have gone bad long ago.” Grani tore open the packaging and said, “These sausages will have to do for now. But if you want to eat grilled sausages, you can just grill them over a fire. It’s not troublesome at all, it’s very simple. I just don’t know how to do it.”

Lin Ye thought to himself, "You can still say so much? You really are something else."

After Grani tore open the packaging, Nian noticed the sausage. Whether she was genuinely interested or just too hungry, Nian's nose twitched slightly, then she showed an expectant expression, almost like a little animal eager to be fed... well, from a certain perspective, she did seem like a little animal waiting to be fed, rather than like...

"Here you go." Grani handed Nian a sausage that had already been torn in half. She thought Nian would take it with her hand, but to her surprise, Nian opened her mouth and took a bite, which made her pause for a moment. "You're not going to eat it in one bite, are you? This sausage is quite big."

Of course, Nian couldn't possibly eat the sausage in one bite, unless she was in her Nian beast form last night, in which case she could eat many sausages in one go. But in her little girl form, no matter how hard she tried, she could only bite off a quarter of it, and then there was nothing she could do. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the sausage any further.

Grani didn't know why Nian was so dazed; saliva was even drooling from the corners of his mouth, and he didn't even bite it off. She could only remind him, "Stop stuffing it in, stop stuffing it in, just bite it off."

Only then did he belatedly exert his strength and bite the sausage in half.

Lin Ye, who was watching from the side, felt that there was a strange sense of evil about the scene, but he didn't know if it was just his imagination.

“Wow, you’re being too greedy. Nobody’s going to take it from you, so eat it little by little.” As a Victoria RCMP officer, Grani felt it was her duty to educate the child, so she said, “You can’t eat like that… Hmm? Where’s that barbecue smell coming from?”

Grani sniffed, looked around, and finally focused his attention on the sausage in his hand, his eyes widening immediately.