Chapter 52: Life-Prolonging Soup for Cultivating Nature

As a supernatural market, it naturally lacked no stall owners capable of putting on a show.

But the way Li Yu was doing it, he was truly the first.

Not to mention how the medicinal cuisine he was selling tasted, the presentation alone was already the best in the entire grand market.

Countless gazes followed that heaven-piercing rainbow light toward Li Yu’s location; stall owners and customers on the tail end of the street all turned their heads in unison to look at that remote corner.

The few stall owners closest to Li Yu, upon smelling that visible "aroma," were all instantly invigorated and cried out in succession,

"So fragrant, it's too fragrant."

"Such a potent medicinal scent, I even feel the malignancy within my body has eased somewhat."

"Little fellow Daoist, what exactly is this medicinal cuisine of yours? How much does it cost?"

"Is it medicinal soup? Give me a bowl."

Several stall owners couldn't even be bothered with their own stalls and crowded over to take a look.

Then, they heard a rather absurd answer from that mechanical maid:

"The medicinal spirit food cooked by my master is called [Life-Prolonging Soup for Cultivating Nature]; it contains over one hundred rare ingredients, hundreds of special medicinal herbs, as well as my master's extraordinary culinary skills and unique recipe."

"Beyond the taste being incomparably delicious and beyond compare to the mundane."

"It also possesses spiritual effects such as nourishing spirituality, slowing malignancy, extending lifespan, and treating hidden injuries... and so on."

"Two hundred taels of silver per bowl."

Hearing the preceding parts, the few people and the customers who had gradually gathered all showed interest.

But once the price was mentioned, many took a step back.

Scolding and complaints rang out one after another:

"Are you crazy? Two hundred taels for a small bowl of soup? I could eat a whole banquet at the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall restaurant for less than that."

"Do you think you're selling a miraculous elixir?"

"Tsk tsk, although this is a grand supernatural market, it is not a place for you to extort people."

"Kid, don't tell me you think that by giving it a strange name, making some glowing trinkets, and secretly adding some fragrance enhancers... you can fool all these fellow Daoists?"

Seeing the public indignation, Li Yu remained unhurried.

He sat leisurely behind his maid before speaking in a clear voice:

"Ordinary spirit food is not worth this much silver."

"But this is top-tier medicinal cuisine; it took me forty-nine days to brew it to success. It is the result of my painstaking effort, combined with entirely rare ingredients, which is why it has produced such extraordinary spiritual effects."

"Charging you all two hundred taels of silver is not expensive at all."

"If you are not buying, fellow Daoists, please clear the path and do not block my stall."

As Li Yu spoke, he deeply agreed with the last sentence, though he didn't know who had said it.

His strategy for selling was indeed just like that.

The name must have prestige, the presentation must be good, and the aroma goes without saying.

If not for Li Yu feeling the pinch over the rarity of [Pistil Nectar], adding more would have catalyzed an aroma that could truly have filled the entire market.

But that would have been too flashy.

Covering a street or two was just about right.

As for whether he could sell it?

Li Yu didn't have even a shred of doubt in his heart; gimmicks are gimmicks, but the quality of this Life-Prolonging Soup for Cultivating Nature was beyond reproach.

"The art of medicinal cuisine combines 'Forbidden God Culinary Skills' and 'Alchemist Techniques'."

"It can bring both an otherworldly taste and the effects of a spiritual elixir; although both are somewhat weakened, aren't all goods in this world valued for their rarity?"

"My [Life-Prolonging Soup for Cultivating Nature], at two hundred taels a bowl, is actually sold cheaply."

Just as Li Yu was thinking this, several people in the crowd could no longer restrain themselves.

Not everyone was as smooth as Li Yu when they promoted to Sequence 8.

Most people had flaws to a greater or lesser degree, leaving behind some sequelae, and were often plagued by the malignancy within their bodies.

Now that they smelled the "medicinal nature" in the thick soup's aroma, they did feel more comfortable, but not being able to taste it was like scratching an itch through a boot, making it even more unbearable.

"It's only two hundred taels!"

"Just treat it as going to a pleasure house or a smoke-vapor den once."

"If I spend it and it doesn't taste good or have any effect, I'll definitely smash his stall."

With this thought, several people stepped forward.

Reluctantly paying, they each received a small bowl of glowing thick soup from Hong Dou.

Initially, everyone drank in small sips, but after only a mouthful or two, everyone couldn't help but widen their eyes, an uncontrollable look of comfort appearing on their faces, as if they were several times happier than after doing that kind of thing.

Gulping it down, they all tilted their heads back to finish every drop, and even licked the edges of the bowls with reluctance.

Next, they exchanged glances, tacitly swallowed their words of praise, and all stepped forward, saying:

"Another bowl!"

"No, two bowls." "Three bowls, give me three bowls directly."

The moment this happened, the persuasiveness became instantly off the charts.

Because among the people drinking the soup, there were both stall owners and customers.

If they were all "shills," then that was quite a heavy investment, and being fooled once wouldn't be a big deal.

So in the next instant, several more people stepped forward to pay for the soup.

The same scene happened again.

Following that, it was like a "viral infection," and almost the entire crowd of onlookers was conquered.

Even the most fastidious customers, after drinking the first mouthful of thick soup, had to swallow their inner curses, and while struggling to digest the medicinal properties in the soup, they squeezed forward to continue purchasing.

At this point, the frantic praise that had been hidden could no longer be suppressed:

"Good, the boss has great culinary skills."

=9+Shu_ba

"Life-Prolonging... there is no name more fitting than this. Fellow Daoist, this art of medicinal cuisine, even if taken to large restaurants like Garuda or Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, would at least be on the third or fourth floor."

"Two hundred taels a bowl is indeed not expensive."

"Shh, stop talking. If we spread the word too quickly, whether we can see this fellow Daoist tomorrow is an unknown."

Although the Taiping Ghost Market is known as the number one supernatural market in Wanfu City, the entry threshold is not low, so in terms of liveliness, it actually cannot compare to commercial streets or bottom-tier markets where commoners participate.

Scenes of such hot queuing are rare.

Before long, it attracted a different kind of guest.

"What is everyone eating?"

"Let me have a taste too."

Accompanied by a hoarse voice that made people inexplicably uncomfortable, the line suddenly stalled.

Before the crowd even saw the source of the sound, they first smelled an extremely terrifying odor; although it could not overpower the aroma Li Yu had catalyzed with his "hard work," it still forced the customers one by one to clear a path.

There was no choice; if they didn't move, they might die.

Because the person in question was, shockingly, a special existence.

His outward appearance was like a down-and-out middle-aged beggar, his entire body festering and covered in pus-filled boils and sores; as he walked, they kept rupturing, and the bones were even rotting through on his exposed hands, feet, and neck, looking exactly like some images of severe diabetic foot that Li Yu had seen in his past life.

This person walked over slowly, yet among the group of Sequence 8 practitioners nearby, not one dared to say anything disrespectful.

The reason was simple!

Most stall owners recognized this person and knew what path and sequence he belonged to.

"Lu Heng, he has quite a reputation within Taiping Ward."

"He is of the Plague God path under the Merciful Father, a Sequence 7 [Festering Man]. Because something went wrong during his promotion ritual, he gathered more malignancy within his body, and the pain he suffers daily is several times more intense than other Festering Men of the same sequence."

"To alleviate the pain, he often haunts supernatural markets like Taiping and Yongning, looking for related curios."

Although Li Yu did not know the person's related deeds and reputation, he could guess the other party's path and sequence.

Without a doubt, he was a hundred times dirtier and far more terrifying than the Unclean Ones he had seen in the Ghost Domain earlier.

After the crowd cleared a path, Lu Heng stepped forward.

After listening to Hong Dou's introduction, he didn't think it was expensive either, and casually threw a gold cake, covered in dirty marks and flickering with fluorescent green, onto the stall.

If it were any other stall owner, they probably wouldn't even dare to touch it.

After all, he was a Sequence 7 Festering Man; even if not intentional, as long as a little of the malignancy and toxicity from his body remained on the gold cake, there was a chance it could poison a Sequence 8 practitioner to death.

Fortunately, the one managing the stall was Hong Dou, not Li Yu.

They saw Hong Dou quickly dish out a bowl of thick soup that shimmered with rainbow light and had fragrant clouds, handing it to the Festering Man.

Then, a puff of "Corpse-Burning Fire" was sprayed onto the gold cake; amidst a hissing sound, a wisp of miserable green vapor drifted up, and the gold cake melted into individual gold beans, which were collected by the maid.

No one cared about her performance except Li Yu; everyone's eyes were fixed on the Festering Man.

He chuckled and stared at Li Yu, saying:

"The soup's presentation is not bad; whether the taste is that good is not important."

"But if it lacks spiritual effects, I will cause you trouble."

After finishing his threat, he tilted his head back and gulped down the thick soup.

Halfway down his throat, his expression changed.

From threatening, it turned into surprise and joy.

The rotting throat moved with difficulty; after drinking the thick soup dry, he was still reluctant to stop, sticking out a rotten tongue to lick the rim of the bowl, and in the next instant, his body began to hiss and spew out gases even more foul-smelling than before.

Even though the pustules and sores on his body showed no change at all.

Yet the look of comfort on this "decayed person's" face, as well as his subsequent actions, could not be faked.

In an instant, it made everyone understand: the stall owner hadn't lied earlier; this soup was truly extraordinary, as it could actually alleviate the malignancy within a Sequence Seven level cultivator?

(End of chapter)