Chapter 119
After Bu Fang placed the door boards back in place, he went back into the kitchen. He originally wanted to practice his cooking, but he did not anticipate that Xiao Yue would actually present such a difficult problem to him when the store was closing.
Even though Bu Fang had only cooked a single type of elixir cuisine—the Sage Herb Phoenix Chicken Soup—before, he was very familiar with the principle behind the cooking process. The main point was the test of the chef’s familiarity of the true energy culinary method, since more attention needed to be paid on the control over true energy when cooking elixir cuisines than ordinary cooking.
“System, could you give me an explanation on the origins and effects of these two ingredients?” Bu Fang directly asked the system without feeling abashed. For him, the system was an encyclopedia that basically contained information on all ingredients.
The system was silent for a moment before giving Bu Fang a reply.
“Amethyst Heart Orchid: a sixth grade spirit herb that grows on amethyst ore veins. Its maturity period is one hundred years and only three Amethyst Heart Orchid will grow on a single amethyst ore vein. Every single herb has a reddish purple color and its surface is covered with vein patterns that resemble burn marks. The herb is also filled with a rich amount of spirit energy and amethyst fire spirit energy. It is an extremely excellent medicine for treating patients with mental trauma.”
“Deep Sea Sky Spirit Abalone: a fifth grade sea spirit beast that can be found at the bottom of the deep sea. It has underwent purification by the spirit energy at the bottom of the sea. Its shell possesses a naturally formed spirit array and during the cooking process, this spirit array will be able to unendingly provide water spirit energy. It has the medicinal effect of replenishing life force and alleviating mental traumas.”
The system earnestly provided Bu Fang with detailed information on the two ingredients. Bu Fang took a deep breath after reading through the information. From the introduction given, he could tell how valuable these two ingredients were. Their preciousness were at least a grade higher than the Heavenly Sage Herb and Phoenix Blood Chicken.
Bu Fang suddenly felt a sense of pressure because the more valuable the ingredients, the higher the difficulty of cooking the elixir cuisine.
Furthermore, Bu Fang realized that both of the ingredients shared a common trait, possessing the effectiveness of treating mental traumas. Without a question, Xiao Yue was planning to use this elixir cuisine to treat someone suffering from a mental trauma.
Mental traumas were not easy to resolve. The fact that Xiao Yue would entrust Bu Fang to cook this elixir cuisine meant that Bu Fang might be the only person in the imperial city that could prepare a high grade elixir cuisine and also showed Xiao Yue’s trust toward him.
Xiao Yue believed that Bu Fang was someone who adhered to his principles. He could tell it from the various rules that existed in the store. Furthermore, he was very reassured about the store’s security.
“System, is it possible for these two ingredients to be provided for my practice?” Bu Fang quietly asked.
“It’s possible. If the host wishes to use an ingredient, you can purchase them from the system.” The system seriously replied, “Amethyst Heart Orchid: a thousand crystals. Sky Spirit Abalone: a thousand crystals.”
Bu Fang’s face immediately darkened. For the first time, he realized the system was so despicable… For the sake of supporting his grand undertaking into becoming the God of Cooking, should the system not provide these practice ingredients for free?
Bu Fang sucked in a breath of cold air and asked, “System… Can’t you make it cheaper?”
“No. However, in order to increase the chances of success in cooking the elixir cuisine, the system suggests the host purchases other ingredients that are similar, as a replacement for your practice. Replacement ingredients: third grade spirit herb Fire Spirit Orchid for fifty crystals, third grade sea spirit beast Black Spirit Abalone for a hundred crystals.”
Bu Fang was stunned for a moment. He was left speechless by the system’s flawless logic.
“Then, give me three portions of the replacement ingredients.” In order to ensure the success of the elixir cuisine, Bu Fang chose to purchase the ingredients from the system in the end. The money used to pay for the purchase was directly deducted from his sales earning.
This made Bu Fang’s heart ache. Every single crystal spent came from his cultivation level…
From within the cupboard where three portions of ingredients had already appeared, Bu Fang took out a single portion.
The Black Spirit Abalone was naturally not as good as the Sky Spirit Abalone and the amount of spirit energy was not as abundant either. However, he put up with it since it was only a replacement for his practice.
After washing the Black Spirit Abalone, Bu Fang carefully observed its shell and discovered faint lines on its surface that formed an unusual magic array. This array was slowly circulating and gathering a rich amount of spirit energy.
Putting it plainly, the Black Spirit Abalone was just like an ordinary abalone. It was not as big as the Sky Spirit Abalone and was around the size of a large abalone in his previous world.
The best method to cook an elixir cuisine was simmering. After using an abalone to make soup, the soup itself contained the most medicinal value. Especially after adding spirit herbs, the value of the soup would rise even further and it could even be said to be the essence of the elixir cuisine.
Taking out a claypot, Bu Fang placed the Black Spirit Abalone inside and then poured the spring water provided by the system into the claypot. The refreshingly sweet spring water was filled with spirit energy.
After Bu Fang exchanged some other spirit herbs from the system, he sliced them up and carefully placed them into the claypot. The arrangement of these spirit herbs was carefully decided. If their positions were different, the taste and medicinal effects of the elixir cuisine would be affected.
After making some more adjustments to the arrangement of the ingredients, Bu Fang covered the claypot with the lid and began to simmer it. This was a process that must not be rushed.
Once steam started emerging from the claypot, Bu Fang removed the lid and a cloud of steam billowed out. Using the Dragon Bone Kitchen Knife, he made an incision on the Fire Spirit Orchid and let the highly concentrated spirit juice drip into the claypot. A rich fragrance immediately started wafting out from within.
During this phase, Bu Fang needed to infuse his true energy to control the spirit juice so that it would continuously permeate into the Black Spirit Abalone…
The second time the lid was removed, Bu Fang placed the Fire Spirit Orchid into the claypot and replaced the lid once more to let it simmer… After another half an hour, the elixir cuisine was completed.
…
Inside a luxurious inn within the imperial city.
An enchanting and voluptuous figure was sitting cross-legged on top of a large bed. Ni Yan’s jet black hair spilled down her back like a waterfall. Her eyes were tightly shut while her hands formed a hand seal. True energy was continuously circulating outside of her body.
After eating so much delicious food at Bu Fang’s store, the abundant true energy within her body allowed Ni Yan to attempt advancing toward the next stage. Even though her current cultivation level was at the early phase of seventh grade Battle-Saint, she might be able to directly reach the later phase with this breakthrough. Even though she would not become an eighth grade, this was already considered very good.
After all, after reaching the level of Battle-Saint, every single improvement was a dramatic change in power.
Buzz.
As a sound wave spread out, mysterious symbols seemed to be circulating within Ni Yan’s eyes and her crystal clear skin was overflowing with bright lights. At that moment, she was so beautiful that it was suffocating, like a celestial maiden whose beauty was unparalleled.
Suddenly, Ni Yan let out a long shout. She felt as if she had just pushed open a tightly shut door. Although only a small crack in the door was opened, a surging wave of true energy instantly flowed through her body and she could not help but cry out.
Underneath the peaceful and flourishing outward appearance of the imperial city, an earthshaking event occurred.
The long shout was accompanied with a pillar of light extending into the sky that was extremely conspicuous within the dark night.
Within the Xiao manor, Xiao Meng suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the direction of the pillar of light that extended into the sky. With a sudden change in expression, his body moved and he exited the room. While stepping on thin air, he started heading toward the location of the pillar of light.
“A seventh grade Battle-Saint appearing within the imperial city at such a moment? I wonder if this is an enemy or an ally.”
…
Minister of the Left’s manor.
Wearing an overcoat, Zhao Musheng indifferently looked at the pillar of light. As he narrowed his eyes, a golden light seemed to be slightly circulating in the depth of his eyes.
“This is the aura of someone from Celestial Arcanum Sect… Could it be that even the Celestial Arcanum Sect is intending to participate this time?” he muttered to himself before smiling. With slow strides, his entire body gracefully floated into the air as he leisurely headed toward the direction of that conspicuous location.
At that moment, it was not just the Minister of the Left and Xiao Meng, but all of the factions within the imperial city were startled by it. Only someone with at least the cultivation level of a seventh grade Battle-Saint could cause a phenomenon where true energy extended toward the sky… With a new Battle-Saint appearing within the imperial city at such a sensitive period, anyone would be alarmed.
If either the crown prince or King Yu could obtain the support of this Battle-Saint, their faction would be able to crush their opposition.