Duncan bid farewell to the guard at the entrance of the mess hall and entered inside. The mess hall was unusually crowded inside. During the few times Duncan had come to the mess hall, the place hadn't been bustling like it was now.
Seeing the scene, Duncan was a little curious about why it was so. Before he could ask someone the details, a loud rumble came from his stomach reminding him about his hunger.
Scratching his head sheepishly, Duncan made his way to the food counter and started piling up food on his plate. He got some curious and irritated looks from his fellow disciples who were inside the mess hall. But, none of them stopped him from putting food on his plate.
After piling up a lot of food on his plate, much to the awe and disgust of the people around him, Duncan ran into a small problem. With the mess hall bustling, there was no place for him to sit and eat. Few of the disciples were even waiting for others to vacate their spots.
Duncan searched for a spot in the back seeing the front being too full and finally found a small table at the end in which only one bulky guy was sitting. Duncan made his way over there and sat in the opposite seat, before starting to wolf down his food hungrily.
As Duncan's whole being was concentrated on satisfying his hunger, he didn't notice how the entire mess hall turned silent the moment he sat in the seat. The other disciples in the mess hall had disbelieving looks on their faces.
"Who is that idiot? He dares to sit across Chen Wangjie?" one of the disciples whispered in both fear and awe.
"I haven't seen him here before. He must be a new one. If not, he wouldn't have dared to sit across Chen Wangjie," another disciple near him muttered.
"Then he is a goner," the first disciple said pitying Duncan. "The last time someone dared to disturb Foodie Chen while eating, Chen Wangjie beat them up until they were bleeding from all orifices."
"It's a pity," the second disciple muttered mockingly. "But, it serves him right though. Didn't he even stop to think why no one took that seat?"
"Looks like this newbie is a little dense. There will be a good show to watch," the first one said as if he couldn't wait to see Chen Wangjie beat up Duncan.
Meanwhile, Duncan was oblivious to all these noises. He was eating as if this was his last meal. He had been fighting, running, and hunting non-stop for the last week and it had taken its toll on his body.
Even though his body was sturdier than a typical low-level cultivator, he hadn't cultivated to the level where he didn't need to consume food. So, after being hungry for one week, Duncan had lost himself to the food completely.
If he had been a little self-aware, he would have noticed that the person in front of him had stopped eating and was looking at Duncan with anger in his eyes. The person's nose started twitching as the unbearable stench on Duncan's body started to irritate him.
Chen Wangjie, or commonly known as Foodie Chen, was at the seventh sea of the Spirit Sea realm. In the outer court, he was a well-known existence. It was not because of his martial prowess. It was because of his infamy in the mess hall.
Any disturbance during his meals will cause Foodie Chen to flip out. He was usually an amiable person who always had a smile on his face. But, if someone disturbed him while eating, he would turn into a raging monster.
The strange thing about Foodie Chen is that when he is enraged, he could even battle with practitioners above the Spirit Sea realm. This made him a veritable terror in the mess hall.
Foodie Chen only cared about two things. Eating and hunting beasts to eat. He never cared about the status of someone else. As long as no one disturbed him while eating, he wouldn't mind if they even spit on him. But, disturbing him while eating was his reverse scale.
This was a truth learned by the other disciples who were in the outer court and inner court after several painful lessons. Duncan, who didn't know all this, was currently doing the one thing that Foodie Chen hated – disturbing him while eating.
"He he he… This junior brother looks really hungry," Foodie Chen chuckled as he eyed Duncan malevolently.
Hearing Foodie Chen's words, the people at the nearby table started quickly vacating the nearby spots. This was yet another lesson that the disciples had learned from painful encounters.
When Foodie Chen flipped out, he would smash people away. If that occurred, it wouldn't be a big issue as this was a demonic sect originally. So, people were naturally used to seeing people fight for even the tiniest reasons.
The thing that made Foodie Chen a terror was the fact that when he flips out and sends people flying, if the nearby people didn't protect their food and let it spill or go waste, they would be done for as well.
The one thing Foodie Chen abhorred was wasting food. If the bystanders couldn't protect their food, they would also be in for a beating from Foodie Chen. He would beat them up for not protecting their food.
This created a huge headache for anyone who was in the vicinity when he flips out. With Foodie Chen being unusually strong when he gets angered, it would be hard for outer court disciples or servant disciples to fight him.
Anyone who broke through the Spirit Sea realm would already have moved to the inner court and inner court disciples rarely came to eat in the mess hall. Once an inner court disciple did even come to mess with Foodie Chen, but he ended up getting thrashed black and blue for disturbing Foodie Chen while eating.
From then on, no one in the outer court dared to disturb Foodie Chen while eating.
Duncan swallowed a large mouthful and looked up at the person sitting in front of him.
"Yes Senior Brother, I haven't eaten for a week. I am very hungry," Duncan said chewing his food and gulping it down.
"I see…" Foodie Chen's eyes softened a bit.
Just then, Duncan's eyes landed on the wine pot beside Foodie Chen. The moment his eyes landed on it, Duncan couldn't help but salivate. Just not eating for a week had already eroded most of Duncan's awareness, but seeing a wine pot after three long weeks completely destroyed any reservations or cautiousness he might have in his heart.
"Senior Brother, I haven't brought my wine with me. I need some to wash down my food. I will thank you in advance," Duncan said hurriedly and grabbed the wine pot before Foodie Chen could even react.
In the split moment Foodie Chen looked towards his vanished wine pot, Duncan was already guzzling down the wine hurriedly. Foodie Chen's eyes froze as he realized what had happened and he looked at Duncan with a disbelieving expression on his face, only to see Duncan lowering the wine pot with a satisfied expression on his face.
The moment the surrounding disciples saw this, they immediately started vacating the mess hall. They knew that Foodie Chen would never tolerate someone stealing food from him. It was another one of his taboos. And Duncan had just violated that as well.
"Hmmm…. Ah… That hit the spot! This is a great wine brother," Duncan said relaxing entirely.
The moment the wine hit his tongue, the pent-up tension in Duncan's body vanished completely. His mind relaxed and he felt a comfortable feeling enveloping him.
He felt as if he was truly once more in the embrace of his lost lover. Drinking wine was something Duncan never got tired of. Even when struggling to live in Starmist City in his initial days, Duncan never went without wine.
In fact, he worked extra hard so that he could sample every variety of wine he could in the city. Such was his passion and desire for wine. So, going without wine for three weeks has been a huge torment for Duncan.
The moment he saw the wine pot beside Foodie Chen, Duncan lost control of his actions. The words he uttered were perfunctory things he used to tell while scamming wine from other patrons in his town. They just came out of his mouth before his brain could even engage.
By the time Foodie Chen reacted, his hands, which had had countless practices in grabbing wine pots had acted automatically. Only when he had a mouthful of wine in his body did Duncan's brain once more engage.
Before he could even think further, a heavy fist landed on Duncan's face. Duncan felt as if he was being attacked by a savage beast at that time. He had no time to react as he was sent flying back across tables.
"Bastard!!! How dare you steal my wine!!!"
An angry roar echoed across the mess hall. Even before that angry roar came or Duncan was sent flying by Foodie Chen's fist, the disciples present in the mess hall had made their escape. When they heard Foodie Chen's angry roar, they knew that they had made the right decision.
The only people remaining in the mess hall were the servant disciples who were serving food, Duncan, and Foodie Chen.
Just as he angrily got up from his spot, Foodie Chen's eyes froze looking down on the table. His eyes couldn't help but twitch seeing that the wine pot was not on the table or near it.
"You shameless bastard!!! Put down my wine!!!"
Foodie Chen's angry roar shook the hearts of the disciples outside.
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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