Stranger Danger

Ye Qing was currently sitting inside a private guest room. He was enjoying the Hundred Flowers Restaurant’s song and dance and waiting for the Hundred Flowers Feast to begin.

The performers were a troupe of Strangers.

The one playing the music was a Music Tree. A Phenomenon-class Stranger that was shaped like a banyan, it was mild-natured and adored music. It could remember any music it heard just one time and replay them with unerring accuracy. Hence the name.

Right now, the Music Tree was playing a renowned music of Qi called the “The Romance of Butterfly and Flower”. It was an elegant, gentle, and touching tune that was on par with some of the greatest music out there.

The dancers were three Strangers known as Falling Flowers. A Falling Flower was a Hatred-class Stranger shaped like a young woman. They looked mostly human besides their arms, which were shaped like branches and covered in leaves. There were few things they liked more than dancing, and when they danced, flowers fell from the air, and petals flew everywhere. Hence the name.

The tune was wonderful, and the dance most relaxing. For a time, every customer was absorbed in the performance.

Suddenly, Ye Qing smelled the fragrance of food. It was rich, but not sickeningly sweet. In fact, it seemed to clear the sinuses and refreshed the mind.

“The Hundred Flowers Feast begins now. Please remain seated while the dishes are served…”

A voice that sounded as crisp as a yellow oriole spoke up. “The first dish is called the ‘Hibiscus Sheds Dew’...”

A bunch of little Strangers shaped like young girls filed out of the exits. There were hibiscus flowers on their heads, and they were all wearing little red coats. Each of them was carrying a plate with an unbloomed hibiscus flower, one that looked like it was freshly plucked too. The dews trembling on its petals looked both gorgeous and delicious.

One girl walked up to Ye Qing and held a plate of hibiscus flower in front of him. She said in a cute voice, “This is the ‘Hibiscus Sheds Dew’, customer. Please, enjoy…”

Ye Qing raised his chopsticks and complied. As soon as the utensil made contact with the hibiscus flower, the dew popped like a bubble and gave off steaming hot air. Behind the shroud of steam, the unbloomed hibiscus flower abruptly unfurled its petals and blasted Ye Qing’s face with a rich but refreshing scent.

When the hibiscus flower had fully bloomed, a transparent, crystalline ball that looked like a water droplet appeared at the center of the stamen. It smelled exceedingly fragrant.

Ye Qing picked up the ball and gingerly deposited it inside his mouth. As soon as it made contact with his tongue, it immediately melted and filled his mouth with an indescribable taste. It was sweet, fragrant, soft, silky, warm, nourishing… the blend of tastes were wonderful beyond anything he could have imagined.

“Incredible!”

A few breaths later, Ye Qing finally returned to reality and offered his heartfelt compliment.

“Hahaha… thank you for your praise, customer!”

The young girl giggled with obvious delight. Then, she hopped away with the plate.

Yes, the entire dish amounted to just one small bite. Then again, a hundred dishes were served during the Hundred Flowers Feast. Anything more than this, and the customer would probably be full in a couple dishes at most. It would be a complete waste of all the food that came after, wouldn’t it?

After the young girl was gone, a female attendant poured Ye Qing a glass of water so he might rinse his mouth. This was a rule. Here in the Hundred Flowers Restaurant, customers were required to rinse their mouth with mountain water so that the taste of the previous delicacy would not affect the taste of the new delicacy.

Ye Qing was just done rinsing his mouth when the melodious voice rang again.

“The second dish is called ‘Two Fishes Play With Lotus’...”

This time, a little Stranger about one meter tall stepped into his room. It had a white lotus body and a large lotus leaf on its head. A jade bowl was placed on top of its lotus leaf.

The jade bowl was holding a bowl of clear water and a single lotus flower. Beneath the lotus flower, a black fish and a white fish were chasing each other. It was quite the artistic scene. In fact, it looked a little too much like a painting than a delicacy.

“Please enjoy, customer…”

After waiting a few seconds and seeing no response from Ye Qing, the little Stranger urged, “Please, customer. It won’t taste as good if it is cold.”

This time, Ye Qing nodded and accepted a spoon from the female attendant. Right as the spoon made contact with the clear water, the ripples scattered the lotus and the two fishes, and the colors—red, white, cyan and black—mingled together and transformed into porridge.

Oh, it’s porridge? Ye Qing thought to himself and scooped a spoonful. In fact, there was just enough porridge to fill up the spoon. Then, he ate it.

As soon as the porridge entered his mouth, he felt as if a pair of fishes were playing inside his mouth. The clash between the sweet scent of the lotus flower, the faint bitterness of the lotus seed and other tastes were beyond fascinating to say the least.

If there was one criticism he would like to offer, it was that there was only enough for one spoonful.

“The third dish is called ‘Bright Moon Reflects Cassia’…”

“The fourth dish is called ‘Heroes Shed No Tears’...”

“The fifth dish is called ‘Bright Peach Welcomes Spring’...”

“The sixth dish is called ‘White Snow Falls’...”

……

And so Ye Qing experienced all kinds of delicacies that were beautiful in appearance and even better in terms of taste.

“Bright Moon Reflects Cassia” was a dish that fashioned a cassia flower as a tree, and tangyuan as a moon. It looked like a moon hanging on a cassia tree.

“Heroes Shed No Tears” was a dish that fashioned cotton as blood, and noodles as swords. It resembled a band of heroes in the midst of cutting down evil and shedding blood instead of tears.

“Bright Peach Welcomes Spring” was a dish that fashioned a peach blossom as a branch, and a cake as a bird. It looked like a bird taking off from the branch to announce the coming of spring.

So on and so forth.

Every time Ye Qing thought there was no way the Hundred Flowers Feast could surprise him anymore, they would surpass his expectations and imagination.

He could only say that the Hundred Flowers Feast more than deserved their reputation.

This was just the inferior grade Hundred Flowers Feast too. He could scarcely imagine how stunning the superior grade Hundred Flowers Feast, the grand feast that served all sorts of Strangers, would be.

One thing for certain, with every delicacy Ye Qing fit into his mouth, his desire to book a table and drag Feng Qingyou to a superior grade Hundred Flowers Feast one day grew.

Buzz…

Ye Qing was fully absorbed in the wonders of the Hundred Flowers Feast when suddenly, a buzzing noise spread across the entire Hundred Flowers Island.

At the same time, the gigantic silhouette of a banyan appeared in the sky.

The silhouette was unbelievably thick and huge. The canopy alone seemed big enough to cover the entire island. It was giving off waves of green light as well.

“What’s going on? Isn’t that the Hundred Flowers Island’s Great Green Banyan Array?”

“Who triggered the Great Green Banyan Array? Is it an attack?!”

“An attack? Is it an invasion by another island lord?”

“It doesn’t have to be a human attack, does it? It could be a Stranger.”

……

Countless people were watching and talking about the gigantic banyan silhouette in the sky.

The Great Green Banyan Array was a great array installed by the island lord of the Hundred Flowers Island using a thousand-year-old green banyan as the core. Its main function was protecting the island from Stranger or human attacks.

Since the Great Green Banyan Array was activated, it meant that something big was about to happen.

As expected, not even a few seconds after the array activated, a loud explosion shook both heaven and earth. The gigantic green banyan also shook violently and grew a tad transparent after the impact.

“Who dares to attack Hundred Flowers Island?!”

It was at this moment several silhouettes appeared in the sky, and the speaker was a woman wearing a thin veil.

Although her face was covered, she boasted an hourglass figure and a regal bearing. It did not take much effort to imagine that she was a beauty of the ages.

Clearly, she was the one they called Lady Hundred Flowers, island lord of the Hundred Flowers Island.

Lady Hundred Flowers had just finished talking when a seductive voice responded, “It’s only been a few days, Sister Hundred Flowers. Have you forgotten me already?”

If Lady Hundred Flowers’ voice was bright, cool, and clear, then the responder’s voice was bewitching and sexy.

In fact, many people were hopelessly captivated by her voice as soon as they heard it.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!