The reason Luo Huai’an and Phoenix became friends was because of Azure Dragon.

Luo Huai’an, a Pixiu that gathered the wealth of heaven and earth, loved gold and silver treasures. In ancient times, she spent her days running around collecting treasures. She was loved by everyone, and flowers bloomed for her. 

Generally, immortals wouldn’t compete with her for treasures; instead, they would bestow treasures upon her, hoping to share in her wealth and good fortune—all except for Azure Dragon.

Azure Dragon also loved gold and silver treasures, especially sparkling pearls. His crystal palace was decorated with tens of thousands of luminous pearls, making the entire East Sea as bright as day.

In the ancient world, powerful treasures were few and far between. Therefore, on Luo Huai’an’s journey to find treasures, that damned Azure Dragon was a persistent nuisance, always eyeing the same item. The two often fought fiercely over the ownership of a single treasure.

While Pixiu was incredibly powerful, she was not the strongest auspicious beast. The Azure Dragon was even more formidable, not only possessing incredibly thick skin and flesh, but also having countless shrimp soldiers and crab generals charging towards it. 

Luo Huai’an, however, was all alone, without a clan or followers; she was a lone wolf.

This resulted in Luo Huai’an winning less and losing more, and she could only sadly watch her prized possessions end up in someone else’s pocket.

After this happened countless times, Luo Huai’an grew to loathe Azure Dragon, and consequently developed a dislike for other aquatic creatures with many scales.

After losing yet again, she lay dejectedly on the ground of her cave, her entire being listless.

Suddenly, she had a flash of inspiration. She couldn’t defeat Azure Dragon, but she could find outside help. After all, the enemy of my enemy was my friend.

Modern tradition emphasized the auspicious union of dragons and phoenixes, but there were no historical examples of them actually combining in ancient legends. Modern pairings of dragons and phoenixes were simply forced pairings, replacing yin and yang with male and female, merely an attempt to create a popular romantic pairing between these two auspicious symbols.

Dragon and Phoenix—one yin and one yang—were not only not friends but natural enemies.

The two were evenly matched, each possessing comparable strength. The Azure Dragon commanded a million shrimp soldiers and crab generals, while the Phoenix was the King of all Birds, ruling over all bird species. In short, they disliked each other, but neither could defeat the other.

So after much deliberation, Pixiu decided to curry favor with Phoenix, the strongest enemy of Azure Dragon.

Now, Luo Huai’an stared blankly at the mortal Phoenix in front of her, a creature she could kill with a single punch.

Phoenix was once more powerful than her.

This feeling of power imbalance was… well, it was kind of exhilarating.

Luo Huai’an cast a strange look at Qi Ze. Qi Ze met her gaze, somewhat puzzled, wondering why the person in the photo was looking at him like that.

Ji Wuchen and Qi Ze walked in together. When he saw Luo Huai’an, he was both surprised and delighted, thinking, “She’s even more beautiful than in the photos!”

He saw Luo Huai’an looking in their direction and assumed she was looking at him, which made him very happy. But when he followed her gaze, he realized that Luo Huai’an was actually looking at the person next to him.

Ji Wuchen: “…” I’m speechless.

Fortunately, after so many days of school, he has gotten used to all the passersby looking at his roommate every time they went out.

He quickly composed himself and turned to look at Qi Ze, “Stop looking, let’s go get our food. I’m starving.”

Ji Wuchen stepped forward and asked curiously, “I saw on the forum that the Eighth Canteen sells big, crispy chicken leg rice bowls. Do you offer it for dine-in?”

Initially, the big crispy chicken leg rice bowl was only available for delivery, but after several days, the students who dined in were extremely upset and reported the situation in the community forum, asking the owner not to discriminate against them.

So Luo Huai’an also put the big, crispy chicken leg rice meal on the menu for dine-in customers, but there were only fifty servings available, first come, first served.

“Yes.” Luo Huai’an nodded, thinking of the big chicken legs that were almost done cooking in the kitchen. “How many do you want?”

“We’ll each have one,” Ji Wuchen said, then placed his campus card on the card reader.

In no time, two servings of crispy chicken leg rice meals were ready.

Since it wasn’t for delivery, it wasn’t packed in a takeout box; instead, it was served directly on a metal plate.

Ji Wuchen stared in amazement at the big, deep red, chicken leg on the metal plate. The crispy chicken leg was enormous; the plate almost couldn’t hold it all. Fresh from the oven, it emitted a rich, irresistible aroma.

Ji Wuchen quickly found a seat, took a bite of the big chicken leg, and couldn’t stop eating it once he started. He was shocked to realize that crispness and tenderness could coexist in one dish.

The chicken leg had a crispy and flaky outer skin, while the meat inside was tender. The multi-layered texture made it irresistible to eat.

One bite and you could taste the meaty aroma of the chicken leg, the crispy skin, the fragrance of spices, and the smoky flavor of barbecue.

The salty and savory flavor glided over the throat and into the esophagus, bringing waves of pleasure and making every cell in the body scream with satisfaction.

He kept tearing the meat off the chicken leg with his teeth. As the meat was torn apart, the heat and aroma from the large chicken leg wafted out, making the air feel like it was filled with an enticing meaty fragrance.

This crispy chicken leg was the best chicken leg he has ever eaten!

Ji Wuchen was initially a little disappointed that he hadn’t gone to Guanhailou to eat their braised pork, but after taking a bite of the big chicken leg, he realized how naive he had been and couldn’t help but feel incredibly glad that he had decided to come to the Eighth Canteen today.

Compared to Ji Wuchen’s almost anxious eating, Qi Ze was much ate more leisurely.

He took a small bite of the big chicken leg, and as the steaming hot chicken entered his mouth, the savory flavor hit his taste buds.

Before he even had a chance to savor it properly, he was already somewhat intoxicated by its enchanting flavor.

To his surprise, he sensed the abundant spiritual energy within the food, which flowed into his body as he swallowed. Whether it was an illusion or not, it seemed that the pain deep within his soul was temporarily relieved.

Mythical Beast Cafeteria translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: While Luo Huai’an is undoubtedly a good cook (taught by the Kitchen God himself!) part of what makes the food in the Eighth Cafeteria so appetizing is that they’re cooked using ingredients grown from Fragrant Mountain which is steeped in spiritual energy. 

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