Chapter 15: Spirit Cuisine

The sun sets in the west, and the dark clouds retreat to the east.

As night falls, Du En, having finished bathing early, is in the small courtyard tinkering with his spirit cuisine enterprise.

That strange owl has been bled, plucked, and gutted, cleaned thoroughly, and is now laid out on the cutting board.

Ning Caize looks at this board with a bitter face.

That is his.

On the other side, Wei Ming, listening to Du En's instructions, brings over the brown rice, smoked meat, dried fish, and other food bought together yesterday, sorting them and placing them to one side.

Then, choosing to retreat while the going is good, he dares not stay a moment longer.

Everyone else has already gone to sleep, but Ning Caize is still waiting.

Du En, however, is very calm: "They won't. They actually have a sense of proportion. Besides, if a real fight breaks out, the overseers and managers above aren't dead; they will definitely intervene."

Du En is quite satisfied with this.

Du En silently circulates his Qi to accelerate digestion.

Unless they are starving or bold, those that have been taught a lesson will generally only circle without moving, peering and drooling at Du En and the others.

It's not that it smells even worse, but how should one put it?

The strange owl meat cooks the slowest; it also takes the most time for the medicinal properties and food properties to meld.

After about two incense sticks of time, he finally returns.

As for the other two pots, because this spirit cuisine has not taken shape and is incomplete, it cannot be counted as a repetition.

When boiling excrement, no matter how many spices you add, it is still boiling excrement; it's just that, inevitably, it will make people have a fleeting thought that the smell is actually not bad.

Sniffing the scent at the tip of his nose, a subtle change appears; he opens his eyes and looks at the three pots of strange owl.

Even Du En's die-hard follower, Wei Ming, has absolutely no confidence at this moment.

There is a significant commotion brewing in the distance!

He is suddenly lost in thought, finishes eating and cleaning up, and with a full, protruding belly, goes out to scout and help digest his food.

Du En's evaluation is only to find problems.

Du En is deep in thought when he suddenly glances outside the courtyard.

After consuming it, it can gently nourish the body, promote the growth of strength, and also invigorate the spirit, aid in cultivation, and shorten the time required for circulating Qi!

In this way, Du En's nightly cultivation repetitions can be completed five times in the same amount of time, one more than before, increasing his speed by a quarter.

He immediately gives it a name: Three Talents Stewed Owl.

Seeing this spectacle, the others silently grit their teeth, feeling their tooth roots ache.

But boiling smoked meat and dried fish is much faster.

A stench like that of a rotting corpse suddenly begins to permeate, once again filling the inside and outside of the small courtyard.

What could Boss Du possibly come up with by doing this?

I ate a bit too much.

When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer!

Ning Caize fears this.

It would be better if it were just completely foul-smelling!

Swallowing their saliva, the group is shocked and terrified by the appetite stirred up within them; they scramble, turn, and dive into their rooms, sealing the doors and windows.

The five of them exchange glances, their thoughts revealed, their hearts full of murmurs.

By comparison, this dish can be considered spirit cuisine; it barely entered the ranks, being a First-Grade Low-Rank.

The situation where the air was relatively fresh only lasted for a short day.

However, this does not mean the main ingredient is fully usable; it is just that this variety of brown rice is quite special, capable of absorbing the medicinal power of the herbs, making it easier to digest.

Thinking about it, before Du En has even officially started, Wei Ming already cannot help but feel nauseous.

One pot of boiled strange owl, three pots of brown rice, four times.

Thus, he estimates the situation again and adds other medicinal herbs to the three pots of strange owl.

Opening the lids again, there is a fresh, clear fragrance mixed into the strange owl meat's original strange odor; it no longer seems foul, but it is still strange—after all, it was weird to begin with.

"If I use it to grind repetitions, it's barely acceptable. However, I only have one stomach, and there is no way to preserve it; once made, it cannot be kept long, and I cannot waste food and herbs. Hmm, if I really make it again in the future, I'll do three plus one and boil them together."

If I really had to go catch them myself, it would actually be quite troublesome.

Then, he stands guard before these stoves and clay pots, his expression unchanged and his heart calm, watching the changes, smelling the scents, comparing them to the principles of cuisine, and making judgments, adding a bit of herbs from time to time.

"Hmm, the strange owl feeds on carrion, and its meat is damp and yin. Combining it with these three yang-warming herbs promotes mutual benefit, kneading them together to nourish yin and strengthen yang, supplementing the body and invigorating Qi. The key is that the taste is two parts better than the simple boiling from before."

That will do!

Du En's eyes flicker, and he begins to eat.

The brown rice carries a sweetness, and the texture is fresh, tender, and smooth; compared to the previous coarseness like gravel, it is a world of difference, clearly caused by absorbing the juices and medicinal power of the fresh herbs.

You guys are being too dramatic.

When all is said and done, in the shantytown, no matter what gang or faction it is, they are essentially just bottom-feeding ants under the rule of the immortal sects, cheap labor outside the border city.

"What is going on outside?"

Hmm, it's as unpalatable as ever!

However, compared to the brown rice that can only absorb medicinal properties without mutual influence or induced change, this boiled strange owl does have such signs.

I, I, I believe in the Boss.

He doesn't even mind the heat and begins to drink the soup and eat the meat.

The others indicate that they are used to it.

【Spirit Cuisine (Beginner 0/10)】

There is no actual change, so it is still not very good.

However, next, when Du En timed it just right and began adding the fresh medicinal herbs, even the corpse-buriers who lived amidst all sorts of stenches retreated in a hurry with heavy thuds!

It won't work.

Du En ate, silently savoring the taste.

Du En tasted a mouthful of each.

Then, it was the second fastest-cooking brown rice.

"It looks like these two gangs are going to have a few clashes; Luo Heng's death seems to be because of this. I just hope this fire doesn't spread to our side."

I had intended to grind for attempts, but it didn't work out.

I don't want to eat anything tonight; anyway, I already ate quite a few dates on the way here.

He shook his head inwardly.

Thus, half an hour passed.

Looking at the boiling water in the clay pots on that row of small mud stoves, and then looking at that ghastly pale strange owl, memories too painful to look back on couldn't help but surface, and he even recalled that half of a sinister corpse he had seen just this morning... Ugh~

Du En himself didn't care, simply submerging the portioned strange owl into the boiling water.

The main ingredient is no good.

For each basic ingredient, first take out three portions, corresponding to the three types of medicinal herbs.

"The people from the Blood Eagle Gang are gathering, and the target, from what I hear, seems to be the Iron Hand Gang."

One pot had too much added, it's ruined.

In fact, one could judge their failure from the fact that no new items popped up on the panel.

Now it has taken shape.

The changes in flavor were light and faint; overall, they seemed elusive.

Indeed, spirit cuisine is not something one can learn just like that; Du En was truly being a bit whimsical this time.

Ordinary smoked meat and dried fish are just too ordinary.

Let's call it Three Talents Rice, or Three Talents Porridge.

So Du En could only continue adding, until all three types were added, until only one pot remained.

Everything else was fine, but when the strange owl was chopped into pieces, each cut felt as if it were landing on them, making the onlookers blink their eyes shut.

Other rice or meat might be available, but this strange owl...

Du En looked at these people's reactions and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

More importantly, this spirit cuisine is free!

"It's just that those strange owls don't deliver themselves to our door every day."

I think it's unlikely!

Once this putrid stench was layered with three different notes of fresh, new, and sweet, it became truly awkward!

Even so, it is necessary...

Adding one to one in appropriate amounts, he began to cook.

But there's no help for it, who told him to be the boss!

Just as everyone was thinking this helplessly, Du En also began to operate.

Hearing this, Ning Caize's worried expression was immediately revealed without doubt.

There is simply no decision-making power in his hands!

Please follow the updates!

Please add to your library!

(End of this chapter)