After Ryan stated his request, the dialogue device paused for a moment, then dropped onto the table with a clatter, losing all movement.
"Ahem, it's not finished yet, after This Immortal completes it, I'll let you come over and play."
Cloud Retainer awkwardly cleared her throat, explaining.
Ryan could only nod in belief.
"Speaking of which, child, you suddenly returned to Aozang Mountain, could it be that you missed This Immortal?"
Secretly using her wing to nudge the motionless dialogue device and hide it away, Cloud Retainer then inquired of Ryan.
"Yes, yes, Master, when you're not around, my food doesn't even taste good, so I specifically came to find you to eat together."
Ryan immediately nodded, then picked up the ingredients he had just given to the dialogue device.
"Haha, you're so thoughtful, child, but while you were away, This Immortal has already developed a shenji cooking device; just put the ingredients in, and it can automatically prepare dishes. How about you take it and try?"
Hearing Ryan's words, Cloud Retainer happily nodded, but still explained this way.
When Ryan was on the mountain, unless he was busy refining pills, he would always come on time to prepare her three meals a day.
But after Ryan went down the mountain, she could no longer eat them, and it was inconvenient for her to cook herself, so she had to start developing the shenji cooking device.
"?"
Ryan tilted his head upon hearing this, then saw Cloud Retainer use her immortal magic to lift a cauldron-shaped device from the side.
"Come, This Immortal will demonstrate for you."
Cloud Retainer took the ingredients from Ryan's hand and placed them into the shenji cooking device.
Then, under Ryan's stunned gaze, Cloud Retainer activated the shenji cooking device, and in a short while, it produced dishes that were perfect in color, aroma, and taste.
"..."
"!!!"
"Eh?"
Cloud Retainer was initially smug, but then suddenly noticed Ryan seemed to have bristled.
Although foxes are not felines, Ryan seemed to be hissing... "Hey, hey, child, don't bite it, it's very hot! This Immortal won't use it then!"
Cloud Retainer then quickly stopped Ryan, who was pouncing towards the shenji cooking device.
"This Immortal just thought it would be too tiring to make you cook after you've finally returned."
Restraining Ryan and sheltering him with her wing, Cloud Retainer could only explain to him.
"It's alright, Master, your disciple loves cooking for you."
Ryan poked his head out from under Cloud Retainer's wing and told her seriously.
"...Alright, alright, then I'll leave it all to you."
Cloud Retainer raised her wing and gently stroked Ryan's head.
Then Ryan picked up the remaining ingredients and personally cooked the rest of the dishes.
At the dinner table, Ryan tasted a dish made by the shenji cooking device with a critical attitude and found that the taste was indeed not bad.
But he didn't think it tasted better than what he made himself.
"By the way, Master, how are your feathers? I've missed your non-rainbow feathers for a long time."
Then, Ryan inquired of Cloud Retainer while eating.
"You, child, take them, take them."
Cloud Retainer took out the few remaining feathers she had.
"No, Master, I wanted to ask if your feather color has changed back. If not, I've already thought of a way for it to change back."
Ryan immediately reached out to take the feathers, explaining as he put them away.
"Oh? Really?"
Hearing Ryan's explanation, Cloud Retainer was very interested.
She was currently relying on immortal magic and powder to disguise the color of her feathers.
Seeing Cloud Retainer's interest, Ryan immediately took out the Hair Dye Pill and introduced it to Cloud Retainer.
"Are you sure there are no other side effects, child?"
After learning about the pill's effects and that using the abilities it provided would cause changes in the body, Cloud Retainer couldn't help but confirm.
All she needed was a change in feather color; the extra abilities provided by the pill were useless to her.
"Of course, I can guarantee it."
Ryan nodded affirmatively.
He could even swear that if it wasn't true, he would be struck by five bolts of lightning.
"It's rare for you to be so thoughtful, This Immortal will believe you."
Cloud Retainer nodded.
Anyway, nothing could be worse than rainbow feathers.
Then, under Ryan's anticipation, Cloud Retainer swallowed the pill.
Ryan's pills had a very special ability; no matter what effect the pill had, once swallowed, it would immediately Melt and enter the stomach, instead of slowly digesting like ordinary food.
"Hmm..."
After simply absorbing the medicinal power, Cloud Retainer's immortal energy slightly vibrated, shaking off the powder she had applied.
Without this disguising powder, the seven-colored feathers instantly emitted dazzling light within the cave abode.
"Pfft..."
"Hmm?"
Cloud Retainer turned her head and looked at Ryan, who was covering his mouth and couldn't hold back his laughter.
"It's nothing... Master, please continue..."
Ryan covered his mouth, responding with muffled sounds.
"Hmph, This Immortal will try."
Cloud Retainer tried briefly, and soon her feathers turned her usual blue and white.
Although it lacked some of the original green color, at least it looked much more appropriate than the conspicuous rainbow colors.
"Thus, the appearance after shapeshifting should be normal, right..."
Cloud Retainer murmured, then performed her shapeshifting art.
When her feathers were rainbow-colored before, she was unwilling to shapeshift in front of anyone, as her hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc., would also be rainbow-colored in her human form.
She had already lost face once in her crane form, she couldn't let her human form lose face again.
So this was Cloud Retainer's first time shapeshifting in front of others after consuming the Rainbow Feather Pill.
Soon, a mature woman wearing red-framed glasses appeared before Ryan.
She wore a black dress that exposed her legs, with black pantyhose underneath, and a cyan cloud-shoulder on her shoulders. Two long trailing pieces hung from the back of the cloud-shoulder, like the wings of her crane form before shapeshifting.
Her hair was tied into a high Horsetail hairstyle, with a hairpin piercing through the base of the Horsetail. This hairpin was identical to the feathers at the back of her crane head before shapeshifting.
It wasn't Ryan's first time seeing his Master shapeshift, but previously, when his Master shapeshifted, her hair was a combination of black and cyan. The outer layer of hair should have been cyan, but the color was so deep it appeared completely black, while the inner layer was a normal cyan.
However, the Hair Dye Pill did not include black and cyan among the colors it could change, so Cloud Retainer's hair had turned a common brown, consistent with Hu Tao's hair color.
The reason she chose this hair color was that Xianyun felt that the other colors might be difficult to pull off.
And brown is one of the normal hair colors of ordinary mortals, so it wouldn't look uncoordinated.
"Not bad, not bad, this way I don't have to keep hiding my feathers."
Cloud Retainer looked at her hair color after shapeshifting and nodded contentedly.
At this time, the effect of the Rainbow Feather Pill was still present, just temporarily covered by the Hair Dye Pill.
Once the Rainbow Feather Pill's efficacy wore off and she stopped using the Hair Dye Pill, her feather color could return to normal...