Hey! You haven't paid yet!

Xia Wuji glanced at him, then suddenly burst into a chuckle.

"Is Brother Ji joking? If my Dragon Kingdom were to also set up this formation, and Ji Huo were to activate it in the future, wouldn't my Dragon Kingdom fall completely under his control?"

Ji Junhong smiled. "According to our blueprint, the Dragon Kingdom and Daqi are bound to unite in the future. If the two of them bear offspring, unifying the two nations will be a matter of course. What difference does it make whether we set up the formation now or later?"

Xia Wuji went back to shoveling food into his mouth at a furious pace. Then he scooped up a bowl, ladled hot pot broth directly over his rice—a rather heavy-flavored combination—and said nothing more.

Ji Junhong smiled again, "Besides, Brother Xia could simply construct the temples without telling the citizens what they are for, and without needing to collect the power of faith. Just prepare them in advance."

"If trouble truly arises in the future, collecting it then will not be too late. Moreover, with the formation guarding the Dragon Kingdom at that time, we will not be entirely devoid of the power to strike back."

Xia Wuji looked at Ji Junhong with a half-smile. "I understand the reasoning. However, if we truly accept this formation map, the Dragon Kingdom will be bound to the same boat as Daqi. Furthermore, Ji Huo would become a... guardian deity positioned above the emperors of both nations."

"Do you take me for a fool who would hand the Dragon Kingdom over to that kid Ji Huo?"

Ji Junhong took a sip of wine and said slowly, "The enemies of our two nations have never been each other."

"Heh!"

Xia Wuji chuckled, reached out to take the formation map, tucked it carefully into his robes, and smiled. "Your judgment of people is truly accurate. I am indeed such a fool."

Ji Junhong smiled. "I do not do things without certainty. Besides, even if you do not trust me, surely you trust your future brother-in-law?"

"That kid is not my brother-in-law yet!" Xia Wuji retorted irritably.

Then he paused, his expression turning somewhat peculiar as he muttered, "Tell me, if I also follow your Daqi's approach and commission a statue of Ji Huo, generating momentum is easy enough—I can just say he is my sister's prospective husband... But what should I do if my sister finds out? Even if I have the sculptors carve the statue to be a bit uglier, I'm afraid my sister will recognize him at a single glance."

Ji Junhong blinked. That indeed posed a problem. If Lady Xia were to discover that her brother had already sold her out, given her temperament, she would likely tear her own brother limb from limb.

"How about... we use a veil to cover the statue's face first?" Ji Junhong suggested thoughtfully.

Xia Wuji pondered this for a moment, then shook his feet and nodded. "That seems to be the only way for now."

With that, he resumed devouring his food.

He had already eaten three bowls of wild vegetables, yet his appetite remained robust, his speed unabated. In the blink of an eye, the fourth bowl of wild vegetables was nearly finished.

The best part of this street-side hot pot wasn't the various meats, but the assortment of vegetables and wild greens picked from the mountains, possessing an utterly sublime flavor.

Finding it amusing and realizing he was nearly full since he hadn't eaten much, Ji Junhong smiled and said,

"One of these days, I'll have Huizi cook a few dishes and secretly bring them over for you. Huizi's cooking is quite remarkable, easily rivaling those of upscale restaurants."

Xia Wuji's movements halted. With his mouth stuffed to the brim, he cast a resentful gaze and said,

"Your younger brother can cook too?"

Ji Junhong answered proudly, "Of course."

Recalling for a moment, he seemed to never have seen Xia Ningshang cook, so he asked, "What about Lady Xia? How are her culinary skills?"

Xia Wuji had still been chewing his food, but upon hearing this, he seemed to recall something. Terror flashed in his eyes, a violent spasm gripped his stomach, and a surge of nausea welled straight up from his gut.

Yet, reluctant to part with the food in his mouth, he clamped both hands tightly over his lips, refusing to spit it out, turning his face bright red from holding it in.

Ji Junhong: "..."

He silently took a sip of wine, suddenly feeling that he shouldn't have brought up the topic.

"Big Brother, why are you here?"

Ji Huo's voice suddenly rang out from behind Xia Wuji. He had arrived so stealthily that neither Xia Wuji nor Ji Junhong had noticed him.

Hearing this, Xia Wuji gave a start, and the wave of nausea finally overwhelmed him. With a sound of "poof," the food in his mouth and everything in his stomach erupted outward.

A slurry of earthy yellow mixed with green and meaty fluids spewed wildly, shooting out over a meter high like a water fountain!

Ji Junhong was well-prepared; channeling his true Qi, he enveloped all the liquid, rapidly directing it toward the slop bucket outside the door.

The hot pot dishes on the table remained completely untouched by the splatter, yet the restaurant patrons could clearly witness those thick arcs of fluid flying through the air, along with Xia Wuji continuously spraying like a broken water pipe...

"Blech!"

"Blech!"

"Blech!"

In an instant, several people vomited on the spot, plunging the entire restaurant into utter chaos.

The other patrons, upon seeing this, didn't utter a word as they expertly bolted toward the exit, moving at a terrifying speed.

"Hey! Hey! Pay your bills! You haven't paid your bills yet!" the waiter shouted frantically, chasing after them, but the customers had long since vanished without a trace.

Ji Huo looked on in bewilderment. The people his Big Brother associated with were truly extraordinary characters; he could pull off such a grand spectacle just by spitting out his food, proving he was no ordinary person.

Remarkable, truly remarkable.

Calmly, Ji Junhong withdrew a nugget of gold from his robe and casually placed it on the table.

"Waiter, I'll cover their tab."

"Oh! Thank you, sir! May fortune smile upon you!" Before the waiter could rush over, the proprietor hurried across, snatched the gold ingot, bit down hard on it, and beamed with delight. "Sir, shall I have the kitchen prepare a fresh table for you?"

"No need." Ji Junhong smiled, glanced at Xia Wuji—who was staring at the hot pot with a bitter expression—and chuckled, "Brother Long, shall we take a stroll outside and look for something else to eat?"

Hearing this, Xia Wuji nodded. "Sounds good."

Only then did he stand up, towering over Ji Huo with a gloomy and thoroughly unkind gaze.

"Uh, well, I just called out casually." Unsure of what he had done wrong, Ji Huo felt a sudden wave of panic in his heart.

"Kid! You're something else! Really something else!" Xia Wuji reached out and heavily patted Ji Huo's shoulder, speaking through clenched teeth.

The resentment in his tone and the brute force of his gesture carried a heavy burden of personal grievance.

Ji Junhong smiled. "Huizi, this is Brother Long. You can address him as Brother Long; he is my dearest and most trusted friend."

"Hello, Brother Long," Ji Huo obediently greeted. For some reason, he always felt that this Brother Long looked somewhat familiar, intensifying his inexplicable sense of guilt.

"Hmph!" Xia Wuji upturned his nose, thrust out his lower lip, and plastered a look of absolute disdain across his face.

*Wait, did I owe you money? Or a huge sum of money? What's with that look...* Ji Huo muttered inwardly.

Ji Junhong looked at Ji Huo and pointed at the bridge of his nose. "Huizi, what happened to you there?"

"Hahahahaha!" Ji Huo awkwardly wiped away the remaining nosebleed and muttered offhandedly, "I wasn't watching where I was going when I came out, walked right into the door."

He had only "Elemental Codex" to blame; he was naturally direction-challenged and easily lost his bearings if he ventured slightly off the beaten path. Drilling underground had left him completely disoriented, unable to recognize any paths. Even when he periodically surfaced to take a peek, he remained utterly clueless about his location.

"Well, I won't disturb the two of you any longer. I'll be taking off first." Sensing that Brother Long's gaze toward him was growing increasingly hostile, Ji Huo decided not to linger and bolted straight out, intending to find food elsewhere.

Once Ji Huo departed, the haughty scowl on Xia Wuji's face softened considerably as he remarked,

"He has reached the Grandmaster realm."

Ji Junhong could not suppress the upward curl of his lips as he smiled.

"He is my younger brother, after all. Cuts from the same cloth."