Chapter: Barney's Scheme
After tasting the braised bear paw, Barney and the others praised its taste.
After eating and drinking, Barney called Cheng Yu to take a walk in the woods outside the manor.
"My friend Cheng Yu, the braised bear paw you made tastes very good, but I personally think there's something missing."
"What's missing?"
Cheng Yu had max-level cooking skill. He couldn't satisfy Barney's appetite in the food desert of Celsis Continent.
Barney smiled. "It's missing a bit of the taste of youth, you know."
"Oh, I remember now."
Speaking of the taste of youth, Cheng Yu instantly realized this old guy Barney's taste was different.
The taste of youth Barney mentioned was actually the taste of the Original Nine-Turn Large Intestine.
"The Original Nine-Turn Large Intestine tastes too strong. Let's go deep into the woods to make it."
Cheng Yu didn't want to make the Original Nine-Turn Large Intestine in the manor—it would stink up his manor.
The two walked into the depths of the woods.
As they walked, Barney asked, "Do you know what flower the vampires like most?"
"I don't know."
Cheng Yu shook his head, not understanding why Barney suddenly asked him this.
"Let me tell you about the origin of the vampires."
Barney said calmly, "During the ancient war of gods, a powerful god fell from the sky. His blood gathered into a lake. After a long time, the god's blood in the lake gave birth to intelligence and turned into human form. That was the original ancestor of the vampires."
"So, god's blood flows in the vampires' bodies?"
It was the first time Cheng Yu learned about the origin of the vampire race.
Though the vampires were recorded in The Encyclopedia of Plants and Animals on the Celsis Continent, it only briefly introduced the habits and appearance characteristics of the vampires.
"After countless generations of dilution, the blood of this generation of Blood Clan has become extremely thin."
Barney explained, "The blood of the fallen god gave birth to the Blood Clan, and his body sank into the depths of the earth. The place where the god's body sank evolved into a strange restricted area. The soil around the restricted area was affected by the power of the gods—a plant called Ailing Flower grew."
"Maybe because of the same origin, the Blood Clan likes Ailing Flower very much."
Cheng Yu was a bit confused. "So, why are you telling me this?"
"I'll help you find Ailing Flower, and you go take down the Blood Queen."
Barney's rough old face was a bit wretched.
His expression changed. Cheng Yu immediately reacted. "You... you—do you know the girl I brought back is Blood Queen Aphra?!"
"Haha~ If I don't even know what the opponent looks like, what kind of commander am I?"
Barney's tone was a bit disdainful.
Know yourself and know the enemy, and you'll win every battle.
There were spies planted by the Northern Fortress in the demon clan. Barney had obtained information about Aphra, including Aphra's appearance and personality.
The moment Cheng Yu brought Aphra back, Barney recognized her.
At that time, Barney was thinking, This guy is awesome—brought Aphra back.
"You know she's the Blood Queen. Why didn't you let your people attack her?" Cheng Yu looked puzzled.
Barney was a bit helpless. "Aphra is very strong. Abel and the others may not be able to take her down even if they join forces."
If he was absolutely sure, Barney would definitely let his men eliminate Aphra.
But Barney had learned about Aphra's strength from that intelligence.
Among the twelve core cadres under the Demon King, Aphra's strength was at an upper-middle level.
If the army of the Northern Fortress was summoned to forcibly besiege Aphra, though Aphra could be eliminated, it would inevitably cause great casualties.
So Barney thought of a better way.
He smiled and patted Cheng Yu on the shoulder. "Young friend Cheng Yu, do you want a wife?"
"What do you want to do?" Cheng Yu stared at Barney's obscene smile.
"Take Aphra as your wife. That way we won't have any casualties, the demon clan will lose a lot of fighting power, and we can win without bloodshed."
Barney's calculations were working.
Cheng Yu was unconvinced. "No way. Why do you think I can take Aphra as my wife?"
Barney glanced at Cheng Yu meaningfully. "First, women like handsome guys. You're very handsome—just like me when I was young. Second, you can bring Aphra back to your manor, which means she likes you."
According to the intelligence, Aphra wasn't a war faction. Her personality was lazy. Unlike war faction demon clan, she wasn't warlike and bloodthirsty. So Barney came up with the idea of letting Cheng Yu pursue Aphra.
"Yamete! The other party is a fierce demon. I'm a weak chef. It's too dangerous!"
Cheng Yu had originally planned to improve his favorability with Aphra and gain skills from her.
He pretended to be scared so he could ask Barney for a high price later.
Barney looked at Cheng Yu speechlessly. "Don't pretend, Cheng Yu. Your fighting power at the Northern Fortress is at least ranked in the top 100. A weak chef? You think I believe that?"
"You know all this?"
Cheng Yu was surprised the old man Barney had investigated his strength.
"Though I'm not strong, I still have a wide range of intelligence channels."
Barney was confident. "Your underwear is red with a yellow chicken pattern on it, right?"
"This is... I suspect you have improper thoughts about me," Cheng Yu complained.
"Ahem~ Getting off topic."
Barney changed the subject. "Don't worry. I won't let you suffer any loss. If you can take down Aphra, I'll ask His Majesty the King to grant you a title and fiefdom."
When the Northern Fortress was fighting the demons before, Barney's biggest headache was Aphra's Bloody Domain—so large it covered the entire battlefield. Soldiers in the Bloody Domain continuously lost blood and couldn't fight at all.
If Cheng Yu captured Aphra, it would be considered solving his biggest worry.
"You old man, in this case, I'll reluctantly agree."
With both the fiefdom and title, Cheng Yu was ecstatic.
I already have two wives. Don't mind having another one.
It's reasonable to have more wives after traveling through time.
"Intelligence shows Aphra likes to listen to stories. You can tell her some interesting stories. I'll send someone to find Ailing Flower to help you play assist," Barney smiled.
"I need some time."
Cheng Yu's favorability with Aphra was now five points. The relationship needed to be cultivated slowly.
"Young friend Cheng Yu is handsome and promising. There'll be no problem," Barney praised.
"I'll try my best."
The two were deep in the woods.
Cheng Yu took out pots and pans and made a plate of Original Nine-Turn Large Intestine for Barney.
"Ah~ This taste touches the soul~"
Barney ate the Original Nine-Turn Large Intestine, closed his eyes, and looked like he was enjoying it.
After eating the Original Nine-Turn Large Intestine, Barney was satisfied and returned to the manor with Cheng Yu.
Mina had a keen sense of smell. As soon as they returned to the manor, Mina came to Cheng Yu and sniffed, frowning. "Cheng Yu, did you fall into a pit?"
"You fell into a pit!"
Cheng Yu ignored Mina and said to Barney, "Braised bear paws for fifty gold coins, and your youth taste—I'll charge you five gold coins extra. Fifty-five gold coins total."
Barney and several generals under him took a few gold coins each and collected fifty-five gold coins to pay Cheng Yu.
"Friend Cheng Yu, that matter depends on you."
Barney led his men out of the manor.
"Mina, has the ice cellar been dug?" Cheng Yu asked Mina.
"It's done!"
"Go get a few buckets. I'm going to make another ice cellar."
"Okay!"
Cheng Yu came to the back of the manor. During the days he was in Black Stone City, Mina had dug a new ice cellar next to the original one—about the same size as the original.
After a while, Mina came to the ice cellar with two buckets of water.
Cheng Yu took out his magic staff and used first-tier magic: Low-Level Freezing Technique—froze the water in the bucket into ice cubes and stacked them in the ice cellar.
Mina continued to fetch water from the well and sent it to the ice cellar.
Cheng Yu used Low-Level Freezing Technique to freeze the water into ice cubes and stack them neatly to form a closed low-temperature environment.
After the efforts of the two, the new ice cellar was formed.
There were too many things in the system warehouse. The messy and unimportant things were put in the ice cellar.
Cheng Yu took out the bear paws, large intestines, and other ingredients in the system and put them in the ice cellar.
The Black Claw Red Dragon was too big. If put directly, the ice cellar couldn't fit it. It had to be disassembled first.
Coming out of the ice cellar, Cheng Yu took out the body of the Black Claw Red Dragon—over fifty meters long and nearly ten meters high. The dragon claws were black, covered with fiery red scales.
"Wow, dragon clan!"
Mina was shocked. "Cheng Yu, did you kill it?"
"Of course."
"The bravest warriors of our Silver Wolf Clan couldn't kill such a big red dragon. You're so powerful!"
Mina looked at Cheng Yu with admiration in her eyes.
Cheng Yu hugged Mina's waist. "I'm your master. How can I subdue you, a troublesome little goblin, if I'm not powerful?"
Mina rubbed affectionately in Cheng Yu's arms.