Chapter 32 - Su Jiao

The answer was quickly known.

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, "Miss Su!"

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.

"Dragon Lake City's Su Jiao pays her respect to all the uncles present here." 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, "Little Jiao, who's this Du Qingxi you mentioned earlier?"

"It's naturally the owner of Clear Stream Restaurant." Su Jiao lightly smiled then sighed, "She's a favored genius of the gods that's famous within Dragon Lake City and the precious daughter of the Du Clan's Patriarch. Even I don't dare offend her lightly."

What!?

The owner behind the scenes of the Clear Stream Restaurant is actually the Eldest Young Miss of the Dragon Lake City's Du Clan?

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!

Dammit!

If it wasn't for the arrival of Su Jiao, my Li Clan nearly incurred a monstrous calamity… Li Fengtu felt a burst of extreme fear when he thought of the terrifying background of Du Qingxi.

"Uncles, all of you don't have to worry, and you don't 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, I'll go in and seize the Nether Enlightenment Token from him."

Su Jiao's expression was calm and indifferent, as if she was speaking of an insignificant matter, then she lightly smiled and said, "I want to see what ability this fellow who was betrothed to me since childhood actually has."

"Miss Su, since you've come to Pine Mist City, then as the host, I'll accompany you to there." Li Huai said in a clear voice, and his eyes emitted undisguised and dense passion.

"Then I'll be troubling you." 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.

…

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. He'd 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 couldn't explain. It seemed to be because leaving his job of talisman crafting that he'd 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 wasn't willing to pour out to another.

I'm extremely happy! Senior Ji Yu commended me for my marvelously swift advancement. Actually, I know, if it wasn't for Senior Ji Yu's guidance, it would be absolutely impossible for me to attain the advanced-stage in the Heavenly Dragon's Eight Steps.

Tonight, when I cultivated the Chaotic Windsplit Sword Technique, I failed to grasp its essence and was unable to breakthrough to the advanced-stage after a long time. I felt extremely vexed and sat at the river bank as I stared on blankly. I recalled Chen Hao still being steadfast and relentless as he practiced his swordsmanship with his left hand. What qualification do I have to flinch and be vexed?

I've finally become a 2 leaf spirit chef. Qiao Nan and Pei Pei both commended me as a genius of the Culinary Dao. Old man Ma instead expressed strong disagreement. He said he's afraid he'd spoil me, and it was harmful to my growth… Haha! Actually, even though old man Ma's temper is strange, but his disposition is still quite cute.

Deep in the night, as I roamed in the Southern Barbaric Forbidden Area, I encountered a Congenital Realm Divine Beast, Herculean Yellow Ape. Its skin was like steel that was difficult to be injured by swords and sabers; its speed was like lightning, and its strength was boundless. Seeing myself unable to flee, I resolutely rose to battle. I was only able to penetrate its throat with my sword technique when my True Essence was exhausted and my body was heavily injured, and killed it on the spot. After experiencing this desperate life and death battle, the Grand Collapsing Fist finally advanced to the third level 'collapsing a rock into needles' and my sword technique advanced to the advanced-stage together with it. Truly worthy of congratulations. Senior Ji Yu joked that we should toast to it!

…

As he flipped through the pages, he seemed to be able to see his emotion at that time, and the corners of Chen Xi's mouth couldn't help but curl into a slight smile.

Old man Ma pushed upon the door and entered, and said in surprise, "Eh, you're actually able to smile, kid?"

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 Xi's mouth, he couldn't help but be extremely surprised.

Chen Xi closed the book and asked, "I have to start training in the 3 leaf spirit chef culinary arts?"

"You haven't advanced to the Violet Palace Realm. You won't improve much if you learn it now." Old man ma shook his head, then said, "I came here this time to let you know that Boss Du had something to discuss with you later."

As he spoke, old man Ma noticed the jade slip by Chen Xi's side with a glance, then picked it up to look, and he couldn't help but be astonished. "Chaotic Windsplit Sword Technique?"

"Yes." 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, he'd 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.

"Not bad, cultivating some sword techniques can be used to protect yourself."

Old man Ma coughed dryly. "But 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."

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.

"Alas, you properly think it over by yourself, I won't force you. But if you have the chance, go participate in the spirit chef ranking competition that's held in the Darchu Dynasty once every 10 years. Take it as fulfilling a wish of mine, how about it?"

Old man Ma patted Chen Xi on the shoulder as his face revealed a rare trace of nervousness and anticipation.

Perhaps, this is the long-cherished wish of old man Ma in his lifetime? 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 wish…

Chen Xi's felt sad in his heart when he thought of this, and he said with a staunch expression, "I promise you!"

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.

If grandfather was still alive and he saw my cultivation advancing by leaps and bounds, he would happily roar in laughter like old man Ma right?

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, "Finished writing?"

"Yes," 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.

The first category, cultivation section, Perfection-stage of the Congenital Realm in qi refining and 5th level of the Congenital Realm in body refining.

The second category, martial skills section. Grand Collapsing Fist has attained perfection in the unity-stage. Heavenly Dragon's Eight Steps has attained the advanced-stage. Chaotic Windsplit Sword Technique has attained the advanced stage.

The third category, weapons section. Azurebolt Sword, an ungraded Magic Treasure.

The fourth category, self-assessment of combat strength: Unmatched below the Violet Palace realm, however, the probability of winning when challenging an opponent with a cultivation that exceeds mine isn't great.

From the day he started cultivating in his movement technique and sword technique, Ji Yu had requested that he take a day's worth of time out for self-reflection by comprehending the changes in his strength and summarizing his combat experience.

According to Ji Yu: It's 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 he'd written his self-reflection on were kept by him like treasures and were compiled into a book that was named the Self-Reflection Diary.

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. "Soul, Perception Force stage."

Chen Xi took the paper in his hands and read it, and he couldn't help but be stunned.

According to his knowledge, the soul could be considered as the most mysterious existence in a person's 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 wasn't 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.

"The 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 you've already noticed, the strength of the soul is not only able to ceaselessly strengthen your comprehension ability, but it's similarly able to be reflected in your cultivation and martial skills."

Ji Yu lazily lay on the rattan chair as he explained in a light voice. "If it wasn't 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 technique's swift improvement."

Actually, Chen Xi had already vaguely become aware of the greatness of the soul's strength from talisman crafting and from his culinary arts. At this moment, when he heard Ji Yu's explanation, he instantly felt enlightened.

"Looks like I have to pay even more attention to the cultivation of the soul in the future…" Chen Xi muttered, then raised his head, but noticed that Ji Yu's figure had vanished, and he was still stunned by this when he heard sounds of the door-knocking coming from outside the room.

"Chen Xi, the Southern Barbaric Nether Domain trials is beginning three days from now. Come out, I have something to discuss with you."