Under the gazes of everyone present, a young girl clad in an azure dress had a calm expression as she walked in with even steps.
She was comely with lovely hair that was fluffy like clouds, her sweet and charming oval shaped face was slightly raised, and her indifferent expression revealed a trace of arrogance that was unable to be concealed.
Li Huai was the first to recover from his shock when he saw this young girl clad in an azure dress, and abruptly stood up as he said in pleasant surprise, âMiss Su!â
At this moment, the other people present all recognized the identity of this young girl clad in an azure dress. Some of them were excited, some surprised, and some instead lightly frowned.
âDragon Lake Cityâs Su Jiao pays her respect to all the uncles present here.â The young girl clad in an azure dress slightly bowed as she spoke in a pleasant voice.
The Li Clan elders recovered from their shock and all held smiles on their faces as they greeted her. After Su Jiao took her seat, the Grand Elder, Li Fengtu, suddenly asked, âLittle Jiao, whoâs this Du Qingxi you mentioned earlier?â
âItâs naturally the owner of Clear Stream Restaurant.â Su Jiao lightly smiled then sighed, âSheâs a favored genius of the gods thatâs famous within Dragon Lake City and the precious daughter of the Du Clanâs Patriarch. Even I donât dare offend her lightly.â
Everyone present was shocked.
Dragon Lake City was the heart of the southern territory that covered an area of 500,000 km, and was akin to a capital city. Practically all the great clans and great sects that could be considered to possess terrifying strength within the entire southern territory were all situated there.
Among the numerous great powers, the eight great sects, the three great institutions, and the six great clans stood out exceptionally. The strengths of these great powers, and the abundance of their hidden resources and reserves were something that ordinary people were completely unable to imagine.
The Su Clan that Su Jiao was born in, and the Du Clan that Du Qingxi was born in, were both one of the six great clans in Dragon Lake City. Although the Li Clan domineered in Pine Mist City, when faced with this little girl, Su Jiao, that came from one of the six great clans of Dragon Lake City, they still had to maintain sufficient respect. This was the disparity of strength and hidden resources and reserves between their clans!
Li Fengtu felt a burst of extreme fear when he thought of the terrifying background of Du Qingxi.
âUncles, all of you donât have to worry, and you donât have to make a move against a piece of trash from a shattered family anymore. According to my knowledge, Du Qingxi seems to want to foster him into a spirit chef and take him into the Southern Barbaric Nether Domain trials. At that time, Iâll go in and seize the Nether Enlightenment Token from him.â
Su Jiaoâs expression was calm and indifferent, as if she was speaking of an insignificant matter, then she lightly smiled and said, âI want to see what ability this fellow who was betrothed to me since childhood actually has.â
âMiss Su, since youâve come to Pine Mist City, then as the host, Iâll accompany you to there.â Li Huai said in a clear voice, and his eyes emitted undisguised and dense passion.
âThen Iâll be troubling you.â Su Jiao smiled as she nodded with an expression that was indifferent as before, and what she actually thought in her heart was unable to be perceived.
âŚ
Three months rushed by.
Chen Xi sat on the floor and slowly opened a book.
The book recorded his cultivation experience and the changes in his state of mind over the past three months. Heâd started writing down his gains in cultivation every day since that day he killed the two-headed Violet Rhino greater demon.
The reason he did so was something that Chen Xi couldnât explain. It seemed to be because leaving his job of talisman crafting that heâd devoted himself to for four years had caused him to feel difficulty to adapt to it, so he kept wanting to pick up his talisman brush and arbitrarily draw and write for some time.
Actually, Chen Xi knew himself, that he still loved crafting talismans extremely. He loved the patterns of the talisman markings that he drew himself; and he loved the path of the talisman markings that were fine and profound, and were filled with beauty.
Now, all this instead appeared in the form of words in the book, and it recorded every little bit of the things on his mind that he wasnât willing to pour out to another.
âŚ
As he flipped through the pages, he seemed to be able to see his emotion at that time, and the corners of Chen Xiâs mouth couldnât help but curl into a slight smile.
Old man Ma pushed upon the door and entered, and said in surprise, âEh, youâre actually able to smile, kid?â
In his impression, Chen Xi was indeed like his nickname, Deadpan Chen, as his expression always remained without change. At this moment, when he saw the smile flash in the corners of Chen Xiâs mouth, he couldnât help but be extremely surprised.
Chen Xi closed the book and asked, âI have to start training in the 3 leaf spirit chef culinary arts?â
âYou havenât advanced to the Violet Palace Realm. You wonât improve much if you learn it now.â Old man ma shook his head, then said, âI came here this time to let you know that Boss Du had something to discuss with you later.â
As he spoke, old man Ma noticed the jade slip by Chen Xiâs side with a glance, then picked it up to look, and he couldnât help but be astonished. âChaotic Windsplit Sword Technique?â
âYes.â Chen Xi nodded.
There were 3,000 spirit crystals stored within the storage ring he obtain from killing the Violet Rhino greater demon. Two months ago, heâd taken out 500 spirit crystals and entrusted it to Pei Pei to buy this Chaotic Windsplit Sword Technique in the market.
The Chaotic Windsplit Sword Technique was considered to be a treasure amongst the intermediate-grade martial skill. The sword moves were famous for being swift and fierce like an agile venomous serpent and fluttering like the wind. After being personally improved by the spirit of the Manor, Ji Yu, the mere six sword moves had been completely changed, and its grade had become even better, causing Chen Xi to be extremely fond of it.
âNot bad, cultivating some sword techniques can be used to protect yourself.â
Old man Ma coughed dryly. âBut Chen, I think your mind ought to be placed on the Culinary Dao. A youth who possess natural talent in the Culinary Dao like you is completely capable of attaining the highest level of a spirit chef, and shocking the entire Darchu Dynasty with his name. At that time, even King Chu would invite you to be his personal spirit chef.â
Old man Ma drew an attractive pie that was sufficient to excite any spirit chef, but Chen Xi was instead indifferent to it, because he had too many things he wanted to do and it was completely impossible for him to be a spirit chef forever.
âAlas, you properly think it over by yourself, I wonât force you. But if you have the chance, go participate in the spirit chef ranking competition thatâs held in the Darchu Dynasty once every 10 years. Take it as fulfilling a wish of mine, how about it?â
Old man Ma patted Chen Xi on the shoulder as his face revealed a rare trace of nervousness and anticipation.
This caused Chen Xi to recall his own grandfather. Even before his death, the old man yearned to be able to rebuild the Chen Clan, but unfortunately, he was killed before he could realize his wishâŚ
Chen Xiâs felt sad in his heart when he thought of this, and he said with a staunch expression, âI promise you!â
Old man Ma was stunned, and after a while, he silently turned around and left. Only when he walked out of the room did he roar out in laughter, and his low and hoarse voice revealed boundless gratification and happiness.
Chen Xi shook his head and tried hard to disperse the unrealistic thoughts in his mind, then he picked up the talisman brush and started writing something on a piece of blank paper.
Gulp gulp~
Ji Yu suddenly appeared within the Quiet Room, and he picked up the bottle gourd before sipping a few mouthfuls of wine, then he asked, âFinished writing?â
âYes,â said Chen Xi, and he passed over the paper that was filled with lines of rough writing.
The words on the paper were divided into 4 categories.
From the day he started cultivating in his movement technique and sword technique, Ji Yu had requested that he take a dayâs worth of time out for self-reflection by comprehending the changes in his strength and summarizing his combat experience.
According to Ji Yu: Itâs insufficient to talk about advancement without bitter cultivation; and without self-reflection, how could he achieve great things?
Chen Xi was extremely fond of this practice, as only by being adept in summarizing combat experience and conducting self-reflection could he be able to rectify his flaws and tread more steadily and swiftly on the path of cultivation. Moreover, these papers that heâd written his self-reflection on were kept by him like treasures and were compiled into a book that was named the .
Ji Yu ceased reading and made no comment, then he picked up the brush and added on a line of words on the upper side of the paper. â
Chen Xi took the paper in his hands and read it, and he couldnât help but be stunned.
According to his knowledge, the soul could be considered as the most mysterious existence in a personâs body. The energy of the soul was profound and difficult to comprehend, and it could be roughly divided into 5 stages, namely the Perception, Perception Force, Spiritual Perception, Divine Perception, and Divine Sense stages.
However, the differentiation of soul energy wasnât strict. Some people were born with strong souls and were able to condense Perception Force when they stepped into the Congenital Realm, whereas the energy of the souls of some people had only formed into Perception when they stepped into the Violet Palace Realm.
At the heart of the matter, this disparity was mostly because of the lack of a soul visualization technique.
Without a visualization technique, one was unable to cultivate the soul and could only allow the soul to advance as their own cultivation advanced. It was precisely because of this that within the cultivation world, there was a centralized understanding that said Congenital Realm cultivators possessed Perception, Violet Palace Realm cultivators possessed Perception Force, Golden Hall Realm cultivators possessed Spiritual Perception, Golden Core Realm cultivators possessed Divine Perception, and cultivators at the Rebirth Realm or above possessed Divine Sense.
âThe wonders of the soul is far from being as simple as you think. You been visualizing the True Body Brand that my Master left behind and perhaps youâve already noticed, the strength of the soul is not only able to ceaselessly strengthen your comprehension ability, but itâs similarly able to be reflected in your cultivation and martial skills.â
Ji Yu lazily lay on the rattan chair as he explained in a light voice. âIf it wasnât for your strong soul, it would be absolutely impossible for you to cultivate the Grand Collapsing Fist to the unity-stage. Similarly, besides diligent and bitter cultivating, your strong soul played an immeasurable role in your movement technique and sword techniqueâs swift improvement.â
Actually, Chen Xi had already vaguely become aware of the greatness of the soulâs strength from talisman crafting and from his culinary arts. At this moment, when he heard Ji Yuâs explanation, he instantly felt enlightened.
âLooks like I have to pay even more attention to the cultivation of the soul in the futureâŚâ Chen Xi muttered, then raised his head, but noticed that Ji Yuâs figure had vanished, and he was still stunned by this when he heard sounds of the door-knocking coming from outside the room.
âChen Xi, the Southern Barbaric Nether Domain trials is beginning three days from now. Come out, I have something to discuss with you.â