Chapter 70: The Players Who Have Seen the End of Bitterness and the Beginning of Sweetness

"Take a bite, just one bite, you promised me..."

"Is it delicious?"

"A bit burnt? Alright, I'll improve it immediately."

Inside the Alchemy Room next to the training grounds, Lin Bai's gentle voice could often be heard, making the passing players blush.

Of course.

They could also see the strange scene of Lin Bai holding a plate of steamed buns, or a bowl of noodles, chasing Zhao Tong all over the training grounds to feed him.

Consequently.

Lin Bai became inexplicably popular once again, and the players in the City Lord's Mansion followed suit, riding Lin Bai's wave of traffic to make some quick money.

"Shopkeeper Lin is so sweet, I'm shipping this pairing!"

"A sour, cheesy scent has suddenly spread through the Xianxia World; the dog developers have ill intentions."

"Perhaps Shopkeeper Lin didn't enter the City Lord's Mansion for the City Lord..."

"Deng Li Buduo is in danger."

"Two grown men feeding each other, how disgusting!"

"Shopkeeper Lin is probably the most lively and unrestrained NPC so far; I think it would be more fitting to rename the Xianxia World to 'The Legend of Lin Bai'..."

"The developers are well-versed in the essence of marketing; they make Lin Bai do whatever catches people's eyes. I reckon if they kill off Lin Bai, this game will collapse."

"The Game Company is pulling so many stunts with Lin Bai; slaughtering him would definitely be a huge hit."

Regardless of how the players view Lin Bai.

In the end.

He still completed the task and obtained the Ingredient Identification Technique.

It wasn't that Zhao Tong had suddenly become enlightened.

It was that Lin Bai had unintentionally made a batch of relatively edible steamed buns; the poor guard took one bite and was so moved that his eyes welled up with tears, not only swallowing the bun in two or three gulps but also saying "delicious" three times in a row.

Sincere and earnest!

Unadulterated approval!

Seeing Zhao Tong wolfing down the food, Lin Bai truly thought he had accidentally researched some kind of delicacy, so he tentatively took a bite, only to nearly vomit up the meal he'd had the day before yesterday.

Then, Lin Bai learned a new trick.

Contrast!

First, slack off, then add to the level of badness; the chance of gaining approval becomes very easy...

Perhaps this trick could also be used on players in the future.

Lin Bai harvested the Ingredient Property Analysis Technique, while poor Zhao Tong lay down next to Zhou Jiang.

From then on.

The Dark Guard of the City Lord's Mansion turned pale at the mention of Lin Bai, and no more grand words about avenging their brothers were heard.

After visiting the two wounded, Xu Longyun completely extinguished the idea of sending any more Dark Guards to his side.

This kind of non-combat attrition was too damaging to military morale; let Lin Bai mess around as he pleased!

With the Ingredient Property Analysis Technique, Lin Bai finally had a breakthrough in culinary arts, self-teaching himself the uses of many ingredients!

What kind of vegetables are suitable for stir-frying, what kind are suitable for steaming or boiling, what kind of flour is suitable for making noodles, what kind is suitable for making dumplings...

It seemed this Skill was of no help to the game, but Lin Bai felt he should be able to perform Pill Refinement now.

Thus, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the ratios of pill formulas.

Primarily focusing on the Inedia Pill related to food.

"The nutrients the human body needs daily include fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and various inorganic salts. Beef is rich in protein and amino acids and should be able to serve as one of the raw materials; since there is beef, then dried ginger and fennel need to be added to remove the gamey smell..."

With no Dark Guards around to interfere, Lin Bai's brain was running at full capacity, with cookbooks and various medical texts laid out before him.

He carefully compared and analyzed all materials that could serve as both medicine and food, then selected those that were filling to act as the raw materials for the Inedia Pill.

The comprehension brought by the Haoweirenshi System System System played a key role at this moment.

Beef, ginger, white poria, yam, Sichuan peppercorn, licorice, and a series of other materials were selected by him.

Then, Lin Bai added them to the Alchemy Furnace according to different ratios, following the fire techniques of the Chef God System and the methods of Basic Alchemy to boil the Inedia Pill...

Unfortunately, turning a pot of ingredients into a furnace of pills was clearly not that easy.

Every time he reached the end, Lin Bai would most likely harvest a pot of cooked beef, or beef jerky, or charcoal-grilled beef...

During this period.

Xu Longyun came to check on him several times; seeing Lin Bai's bizarre method of stewing beef in an Alchemy Furnace, she was speechless for a moment and couldn't offer any evaluation at all.

Instructing everyone not to disturb Lin Bai, Xu Longyun stopped paying attention to him as well, quietly waiting for him to tire himself out and give up.

If he could really refine pills using beef, she would go out and swallow a cow whole.

Lin Bai returned to a peaceful and simple life, focusing on Pill Refinement.

The world was also undergoing earth-shaking changes.

First.

The "Collection of Heavenly Defects" transported to various places caused a sensation in the literary world.

With the City Lord's gold and jade as a precedent, the *Collection of Heavenly Flaws* had become essential reading for scholars and literati.

Whether they were masters of the literary world or failed scholars, everyone held the *Collection of Heavenly Flaws* and studied it earnestly, racking their brains to fill it with lyrics, hoping to become famous overnight just like Xu Longyun.

The progress bar for the Residual Value in Lin Bai's mind, which had previously stopped growing, began to scroll forward once again, and along with it, a massive amount of Negative Emotion Value erupted.

Nowadays.

The Negative Emotion Tree was already laden with fruit.

……

Secondly.

The game's players were like brilliant new stars, emerging one after another.

After the local natives discovered the players' characteristics of never sleeping, never resting, never dying, and being willing to work hard without complaint, they began to arrange large quantities of high-difficulty tasks for them.

For example, arranging for them to escort goods, suppress bandits, hunt Fierce Beasts in the mountains, collect precious medicinal herbs, and so on.

The players' levels rose rapidly through these tasks, and they integrated into this world at a very fast speed, changing this world in the process……

……

After Lin Bai quieted down, the players in Jiamu City finally entered a normal game mode: learning Skills, leveling up, accepting various tasks from NPCs, and fighting monsters to level up……

Of course.

Lin Bai's influence remained, and the Residual Culture was popular in Jiamu City.

All the players learning Skills at the Blacksmith Shop, Carpenter Shop, and tailor shops crafted items that were flawed every day, to the point that they unknowingly developed the mistaken feeling that being flawed was the authentic version.

After crafting a finished product, they would unconsciously knock off a piece, only then considering it a success.

However, these influences only appeared among the life-profession players.

The players who entered martial arts halls to learn Martial Arts were not among them; although they spent a bit more cost than players in other novice villages, the things they learned were not discounted.

Therefore.

During this period when Lin Bai was not causing trouble, the levels of the players in Jiamu City were also rising steadily.

The only ones who were relatively depressed were probably the two siblings, 【Deng Li Buduo】 and 【Lao Mi】.

【Deng Li Buduo】 had the Inner Gong but lacked Skills.

That feeling was just like the monk Jueyuan, who unknowingly cultivated a body of profound Internal Energy through the *Nine Suns Divine Art* but had no techniques; when fighting others, he couldn't use even half of his Internal Energy and could only act as a punching bag, passively taking a beating.

Lin Bai was not at the Kitchen God Rice Divination, so he couldn't even leech off his master's traffic; the fans in his livestream room dropped by more than half in just two or three days.

After all.

No one wanted to watch a player sit in meditation and practice every day without any unique features, or spend their time in the back kitchen chopping vegetables and peeling potatoes……

【Deng Li Buduo】 went to the City Lord's Mansion to find Lin Bai, wanting to learn the Dragon Subduing Palm from him, but in the end, Lin Bai used the excuse that his Inner Gong was not yet at the right level, taught him two knife-work techniques, and chased him out.

Looking at Lin Bai, who was enthusiastically stewing beef in an Alchemy Furnace, 【Deng Li Buduo】 simply couldn't find a suitable excuse to trick Lin Bai out of his Martial Arts; perhaps, in his master's eyes, culinary arts were more precious than Martial Arts!

【Deng Li Buduo】 had also thought about learning some Basic Martial Arts from the martial arts halls in the city, and he had even paid the registration fee.

But Lin Bai's reputation was not only in full swing among the players, it was even more illustrious among the natives.

In Jiamu City, there was no one who did not know Lin Bai, the shopkeeper of the Kitchen God Rice Divination, and they knew even better that he was an honored guest of the Jiamu City City Lord.

The flaws in Jiamu City were all caused by his own hand.

The Kuangfeng Gang, affiliated with the Zhang Family Boxing Hall, had even taken the initiative to visit the City Lord's Mansion to offer generous gifts to Lin Bai as an apology for their underling's ignorance, turning hostility into friendship.

Others were even less willing to offend Lin Bai for no reason.

And as Lin Bai's nominal disciple, which martial arts hall would dare to teach 【Deng Li Buduo】 Martial Arts behind Lin Bai's back? Therefore, everywhere he went, he was treated as an honored guest by the hall masters, but his requests to enroll and learn were all pushed aside.

【Deng Li Buduo】's path to learning martial arts was thus brought to a halt, and he became the most bored among the game players.

……

【Lao Mi】 and 【Gengmi】 were similarly troubled by Martial Arts.

These days.

Relying on the Basic Martial Arts they learned from the City Lord's Mansion, they had unified the Beggar Sect of Jiamu City.

But that was as far as it went.

In this world dominated by Xianxia, the Beggar Sect only had some low-level methods used for petty theft and mischief, and possessed no miraculous sect-protecting Martial Arts.

The players who had initially joined the Beggar Sect could not learn any greater skills there, and once the novelty wore off, they left the sect one after another and began their normal gaming lives.

【Lao Mi】 knew that his little brother had heaven-defying abilities, but hindered by his status as an undercover agent, he couldn't even enter the City Lord's Mansion, let alone see Lin Bai.

Just like 【Deng Li Buduo】, his career had also fallen into a state of stagnation, and he couldn't even find anyone to lead a group to Xishan to hunt Fierce Beasts and level up.

As for taking the beggars out to hunt Fierce Beasts, that was simply a joke; every beggar who died was one less, and if they all died out, would he still be able to be an undercover agent or the head of the Beggar Sect?

(End of this chapter)