Chapter 60: Huge Harvest

Normally, as a Rank 8 cultivator who is also a spirit chef responsible for medicinal cuisine, Li Yu’s status should not be high.

But in reality, the status of spirit chefs in every exploration team is quite high; even if the entire team consists of Rank 7 powerhouses—and not the kind who had mishaps during their advancement rituals, but those who advanced perfectly—they are all very polite to Li Yu.

Especially after he took out two types of medicinal cuisine: Hundred-Flavor Meatballs and Longevity-Nurturing Hundred-Turn Immortal Soup.

All six of them revealed expressions of great joy, exclaiming repeatedly:

“So the mysterious stall owner mentioned in the *Wanfu Daily* is you.”

“Good, good, good, we accidentally recruited a rare chef.”

“The meatballs taste too strange, but the Longevity-Nurturing Hundred-Turn Immortal Soup is very good; I like it very much.”

“Idiots, look here—this is what you call good luck, this is what you call a blessing in disguise. Envious, aren’t you? Hahaha…”

The last sentence came from the captain, Zhan Kui.

This powerhouse, clad in scarlet armor and appearing as if he had just slaughtered his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, was grinning from ear to ear, holding a gourd of jelly-like Immortal Soup and walking around the camp several times.

He displayed the iridescent mist and the aromatic phenomenon as much as possible, letting the other camps see it.

With this show-off!

Before long, everyone knew that the mysterious medicinal cuisine stall owner who had caused such a stir in the [Taiping Ghost Market] last night had finally joined the City Lord’s Mansion.

After returning from showing off, Zhan Kui said to Li Yu:

“This soup looks good, tastes good, and its spiritual effects are not bad, but it cannot be taken into the forbidden zones.”

“There are too many ‘ghosts’ in there, all sorts of things; if we attract some big ones, the few of us might just end up dead.”

“The strangely flavored meatballs are fine, but their spiritual effects are too low. If you want to get good pay in the future, you must research medicinal cuisine that can also have significant effects on us.”

Li Yu nodded to show he understood.

Then, he spoke directly:

“My medicinal cuisine techniques can be tailored to each of you, specifically developing corresponding medicinal spirit food.”

“However, it will take quite a bit of time and expensive materials.”

These two sentences from Li Yu were entirely true.

Tailor-made medicinal spirit food—could it be cheap?

However, he was also laying the groundwork for his own potential “corruption” and “lining his own pockets” in the future.

As the saying goes, a man cannot get rich without windfall, and a horse cannot get fat without night grass.

Now that he, Li Yu, is living in Wanfu City, if he is rigid and obedient, how can he ever get ahead?

And as soon as he finished speaking, the eyes of the six members of the exploration team lit up in unison, and expressions of surprise appeared.

They looked at each other, all feeling that their Ninth Exploration Team had struck gold this time.

“What kind of problem is that? With the foundation accumulated by the City Lord’s Mansion over so many years, the thing we fear least is spending money.”

“If you can really tailor-make it, that’s great. Just tell us what you need us to provide.”

“Your Sister Wu has been fighting and exploring outside for so many years and has hidden many internal injuries. If you are going to customize it, shouldn’t you examine me first?”

“This ability is already at the Rank 7 level. It seems the path you are on is truly specialized in this… Could it be the [Food God Path] that appeared and quickly vanished during the Warring States period?”

……

Taking advantage of the six people’s joy, Li Yu began to ask about their malignant traits, preferences for the taste of spirit food, dietary restrictions, internal injuries, and other information.

At the same time, he intentionally or unintentionally guided the conversation to ask about secret matters he was interested in but could not access.

For example: Is it true that only cultivators of the Evil God faction have to pay the price of malignant backlash?

Upon hearing this, the “Wizard Luo Sheng” of the Foolish God Path answered Li Yu.

The shrunken, tumor-like head chuckled and said in a hoarse voice:

“Naturally not!”

“To obtain extraordinary power through cultivation, one must naturally pay a price that ordinary people cannot bear; neither righteous nor evil are exempt.”

“We have malignant traits, while those so-called righteous god brats have to face even more troublesome problems like [Eccentricities], [Personality Distortion], and [Alignment Shift].”

“For example, a Rank 8 Wandering Soul of the Yin Son Path under the Earth Mother might privately have the eccentricity of liking to sleep in graveyards, or another path’s Rank 8 Corpse Collector might develop necrophilia. Once they cannot curb their eccentricities and become obsessed, their personalities will distort, and they will eventually fall and lose control.”

“Hehe, by that time, the righteous god they believe in and follow will want to ‘purify’ them.”

“In Wanfu City, I don’t know how many citizens fled here exactly because of that.”

“Come to think of it, we are actually better off; there is no room left for us to continue falling.”

Upon hearing these words, Li Yu was first stunned and speechless.

Then he felt that it was damnably reasonable—the Evil God believers were already in the basement; there was indeed no room to go any lower. They won.

And as this “common knowledge,” unknown to low-level rogue cultivators, entered his ears, the progress of the seventh Truth Bubble surged forward again.

With even more motivation, Li Yu continued to probe for extraordinary knowledge through casual conversation.

Most of it was something low-level rogue cultivators could never touch.

“The City Lord’s Mansion has established more than a dozen exploration teams and is still expanding. The lower the number, the more powerful the team.”

“For example, the Eighth and Seventh Exploration Teams have ten members, almost all of whom are long-time Rank 7 cultivators with high hopes of entering Rank 6. The ones ahead of them, the Sixth and Fifth, already have some Rank 6 members.”

“It is rumored that this [Great Exploration Plan] was set by the City Lord. Although he disappeared inexplicably afterward, the City Lord’s Mansion still maintains operations and has been pushing it forward.”

“The City Lord’s path and rank? That is a secret no one knows. It is only known to be an extremely special path, very complete, but with only three ranks.”

……

“The Three Great Forbidden Zones?”

“It is rumored that they were formed in an era even more ancient than the Warring States. In every forbidden zone, at least the corpse of a god is buried.”

“There is even more precise inside information: two in the Ancient Black Forest, three in the Terror Valley, and even more in the Ten Thousand Ghost Frozen Plains, but the exact number is unknown.”

“There is another theory: the three forbidden zones are actually the top-tier Ghost Realm Spirit Worlds that were accidentally dragged into the human world, which is why they coincidentally gathered together and surrounded a Wanfu City.”

“As for other rumors—that deep in the forbidden zones are hidden secrets to ascending to godhood, extremely complete path sequences, or buried secret medicines from low to high—none of them are worth believing.”

“Every forbidden zone has countless ghost objects. Large numbers of low-level ones are fine, but the truly deadly ones are things like [Forbidden Ghosts], which carry their own rules; touch them and you die.”

“A Rank 8 like you can wander around the periphery of a forbidden zone, but if you go a little deeper, you will surely die.”

……

=9+Shu_Ba

“Who is the strongest among the four district overlords?”

“In terms of foundation and backing, it is undoubtedly the North District’s Blood God Temple and the West District’s Wheel Temple. Since the Warring States period, these two districts have always been their territory. Even the City Lord’s Mansion can only follow ancient contracts and share a portion of their tax revenue.”

“Next is the Sacred Nest in your South District. Those lunatics say they have received the gift of the Ancient Saint and have occupied the South District for many years, secretly tinkering with something.”

“As for the East District’s Joy King Mansion, that ‘Joy King’ likes to show off the most, but he is the weakest. Relying on relics obtained from the Great Ancestor of the Gan Kingdom, plus the help of a large group of forces with unknown motives, he defeated the original overlord over a dozen years ago and took the position.”

“However, he has now defected to the Forbidden God Sect, and his strength has increased quite a bit.”

……

Gossip is human nature, and the desire to complain about big shots and big forces is something no one can be exempt from.

Even if Li Yu didn’t deliberately ask or guide them.

The private chatter of these six members of the exploration team was likely all about these things anyway.

When Li Yu finished listening to the last bit of extraordinary common knowledge and the topic was exhausted, and he had finished recording the physical conditions of the six people, he glanced casually at his own eye membrane.

Immediately, a scene that made him quite uncomfortable appeared:

The seventh Truth Bubble!

The charging progress was nearly complete.

But it was stuck on the very last bit, motionless.

“First meeting, first day on the job—the scale is just right now; I can’t be too wordy.”

“It’s just a little bit short. After I get my salary later, I’ll buy the leftover news from the *Wanfu Daily* from Shi Dazhu tonight; that will be enough to complete it.”

As this thought crossed Li Yu’s mind.

His hands didn’t stop, scribbling down various ingredients, medicinal herbs, ghost objects, and strange minerals, etc.

In short, there was everything, and the quantity was not small.

Afterward, he deliberately showed an embarrassed expression on his face and handed it to Captain Zhan Kui:

“Alright, Captain!”

“These are the medicinal cuisine recipes I have roughly thought out. Once they are all bought, I can start working to tailor-make medicinal spirit food for you.”

“I guarantee there will be no side effects, they can be consumed repeatedly, are convenient to carry into the forbidden zones, and the spiritual effects will be sufficient.”

“Of course, there are indeed quite a few, but they could be reduced, though it might affect the medicinal efficacy…”

Li Yu was about to continue.

He saw Zhan Kui smile and take the dense list of recipes. He didn’t know what he did, but a delicate-looking mechanical puppet immediately flew over.

“Hand the recipes to the Logistics Department. By tomorrow morning at the latest, all materials must be purchased.”

“As for the quantity, two sets—oh no, make it three sets.”

“Also, fetch an [Onboarding Gift Package], register the resident of the Third Old Street of Tianji Workshop, House 404, Li Yu, as a newly hired member of the City Lord’s Mansion, and transmit this information to the relevant departments under the South District overlord, the Sacred Nest.”

“Beep! Command received!”

After sending the mechanical puppet away, Zhan Kui turned his massive body around.

His ugly, scarred face grinned, and then he used a voice he thought was a whisper, but was actually audible to everyone:

“The first set of materials will be delivered to the camp tomorrow morning; the other two will be stored in the warehouse.”

“Come early to check in. After you finish cooking all the medicinal spirit food, just report the remaining scraps as ‘wastage’ to the supervisor puppet.”

Hearing these two sentences, Li Yu was first stunned, then he also smiled.

At the same time, a thought of regret arose in his heart: Damn it, I wasn’t greedy enough; I asked for too little.

……

PS: There is more to come. Additionally, there is a setting regarding the "golden finger" in the previous text: "Curios verified and judged can be assimilated and stolen by the Truth Soul Body." I forgot to state this clearly and have already added it to some earlier chapters. It does not affect readers who have reached this point; just knowing this setting has been added is fine. My apologies.

(End of chapter)