The farewell party officially began.
The three mysterious dishes finally revealed their secrets.
More than a dozen golden lights rose one after another amidst everyone's astonished gazes.
At this, let alone the uncle and those people, even Chisa and the others were startled.
After all, dishes glowing had never happened before.
The first one, without a doubt, was Mystical Mapo Tofu. As Liu Ming's first special dish, its importance was self-evident.
The second was Phoenix Crystal, a simple yet magnificent dish, very suitable for this farewell party. Liu Ming felt it perfectly represented Xiao Lingyin, with her simple clothes and pure heart.
The third was the Reincarnation Spring roll. It didn't have the vibrant colors of Mystical Mapo Tofu, nor the noble and magnificent appearance of Phoenix Crystal; it only had a simple exterior.
However, no one underestimated it.
Being able to be placed alongside the other two dishes suggested its extraordinary nature.
Liu Ming chose the Reincarnation Spring roll not only because top-quality sea bream could be found at sea.
More importantly, it was a dish suitable for all ages, making it very appropriate for this occasion.
"I'll dig in."
Sounds of people starting to eat began to rise.
Faced with delicious food, everyone disregarded politeness.
However, Liu Ming seemed to have forgotten a very important matter.
That was the issue of clothes bursting.
It wasn't until he heard someone exclaim that he realized it.
Fortunately, those who acted quickly were all men, so no embarrassing situation occurred.
Helplessly, Liu Ming had to ask all the women to go upstairs and find an empty room to dine.
As a result, the two members of the diving club immediately became excited. Without women, could they drink to their heart's content?
Seeing their expectant gazes, Liu Ming did not refuse this time, nodding in helpless agreement.
Jiro immediately cheered, ran to the wine cabinet, and brought out a pile of alcoholic beverages.
"Hahaha, there's wine, why didn't you bring it out earlier?" The uncle laughed happily. As men of the sea, how could a banquet be without wine?
Yuta's face, however, changed drastically. His recent embarrassing past kept replaying in his mind.
"Hahaha, Liu Ming has agreed, Yuta-kun, you can't think of running away alone, can you?" Shinji transformed into a devil and dragged Yuta back when he tried to escape.
Liu Ming was no longer interested in the following scene. He took an empty plate, filled it with some food, and went to the viewing platform alone.
He planned to enjoy the delicious food while watching the sea.
However, after he went out, he found that there were already guests there.
It was the fake mountain god, Iko.
"I didn't expect you to be here, and you even stole a lot of food. You truly are a repeat offender." Liu Ming didn't really mind; he only said that to tease it.
"Hmph, these are just offerings." Iko, of course, wouldn't admit it, happily enjoying the food.
It had never eaten such delicious offerings before; it felt like it had lived in vain all these years.
Liu Ming smiled and began to eat himself.
After a couple of bites, he seemed to remember something and stopped.
"Isn't it delicious?" Liu Ming suddenly asked.
"Ah~ it's indeed delicious, even better than anything I've eaten before." Iko wagged its tail happily.
"Do you want to eat it every day?" Liu Ming asked temptingly.
"Of course, I do, but are you that kind?" Iko looked at Liu Ming suspiciously. "What are your intentions?"
"You've been here for so long, you must have a lot of collections. Take some out as payment for the food."
Liu Ming had just remembered his cheat. These days had been too leisurely, making him almost forget about his cheat.
"My offerings were all food, and I've eaten them all. There's nothing left." Iko tilted its head, thought for a moment, then said helplessly.
It didn't hide anything; anyway, it would be living with Liu Ming and the others from now on. If there really were treasures, it would definitely bring them out to build good relations.
Otherwise, if it wasn't there and others discovered them, wouldn't it be even worse, losing both money and possessions?
"Don't you have anything good at all?" Liu Ming asked with a suspicious tone. Iko had been a mountain god for so long; how could it not have any collections?
"I do have some, but they're all junk. I don't think you'd be interested." Iko raised its head and said.
"We'll only know after seeing them. Take me to see them tonight." Liu Ming's eyes immediately lit up.
"Alright." Iko didn't mind; they were just some broken trinkets, and it didn't care about them.
The farewell party lasted until evening.
When they parted, everyone held Xiao Lingyin and said reluctant goodbyes, making Xiao Lingyin's eyes red.
"I'll handle the transfer as soon as possible. I'm entrusting Xiao Lingyin to you from now on." The teacher gripped Liu Ming's hand, speaking solemnly.
"Don't worry. When I have time, I'll bring her back to visit. The scenery here is truly beautiful; it's a great place for a vacation."
"Then I look forward to our next meeting."
Liu Ming held Xiao Lingyin's hand and watched everyone leave.
Xiao Lingyin would stay here to sleep tonight. This way, Liu Ming could take her to various departments to handle the procedures tomorrow.
He reached out and placed his hand on Xiao Lingyin's head, saying gently, "Don't you have their phone numbers? You can call them anytime."
"Yes, I will," Xiao Lingyin nodded heavily.
After a day of revelry, many people were tired and had already fallen asleep early.
In the middle of the night, Liu Ming, Tohru, and Iko secretly left the shop.
Midway, Kanna and Elma also noticed their situation, but they didn't follow. With Tohru by Liu Ming's side, they felt very at ease.
With Tohru leading the way, the group quickly arrived at their destination.
Looking at the cave entrance, less than half a meter in size, Liu Ming was speechless. How were they supposed to get in?
"Is there no other entrance?" Liu Ming looked down at Iko.
"Do you think there's a need for one?" Iko walked to the front of the cave entrance and gestured to compare its size with the opening.
"You win. So what do we do now? Tohru, do you have a way to get in?" Liu Ming turned to ask Tohru.
"Why don't we just blast open a big hole?" Tohru said, then began to open her mouth, preparing to unleash a roar.
"Wait, you can't do that! Do you want to destroy this place?" Liu Ming quickly reached out to stop Tohru.
"Actually, I can make the entrance bigger," Iko said at this moment.
Liu Ming gave it a glare. "Why didn't you say so earlier? You're wasting my brain cells."
Iko's body shimmered with a glow, then slowly began to change. As the light faded, Iko transformed into a pangolin several times its original size.
Its front paws dug furiously, and the cave entrance visibly grew larger at a rapid pace.
"This ability is really convenient, but why don't you transform into a creature that can directly control earth? Wouldn't that be even more convenient?" Liu Ming asked, puzzled. He remembered that Iko could transform into a divine dragon capable of controlling the weather.
"My transformation ability has significant limitations. If I don't have the concept of that existence in my mind, I can't transform into it at all. Moreover, it's also affected by my own strength, so it can't compare to the real thing."
Iko explained while digging the hole.
Liu Ming thought about it and felt it made sense; otherwise, Iko wouldn't have been unable to defeat Tohru.
Several minutes later, the group finally reached their destination.
Looking at the cave, which was only a few square meters in size, Liu Ming felt sad for Iko.
To call itself a mountain god, yet live in such a place.
His first impression of it was that it was like a rat hole magnified several hundred times.
No wonder its resistance wasn't very strong when he asked it to live with him.
He scanned the surroundings, finally settling on a pile of miscellaneous items on the ground.
They were all broken objects, some even rusted.
What a disappointment.
It seemed Iko hadn't lied earlier; it really didn't have any treasures.
Liu Ming crouched down and, after sifting through them, found the only useful item.
It was a hammer, resembling Thor's Hammer.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the real Thor's Hammer.
After Liu Ming swapped the hammer for his cleaver, a new skill appeared in his skill bar.
Forging - Master Level.
Seeing the hammer suddenly disappear, Tohru and Iko were stunned for a moment, but they didn't ask any questions.
Tohru came to Liu Ming. "I have a friend who collects a lot of treasures. If you like these, I can go and get some for you."
"No need. I was just curious about what Iko had collected, but I didn't expect them to all be junk." Liu Ming shook his head.