[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dao-dust-pearl":3,"chapter-the-dao-dust-pearl-the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-957":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dao Dust Pearl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2360458,4614,"Chapter 957","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-957",957,"\u003Cp>Dou Dabibao turned back to the followers of Xuanzhen Sect and sighed, “All you virtuous true cultivators, there are too many deaf, blind, and mute people coming to this temple—surely no more patients with nose or throat ailments will come seeking cure?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow chuckled, “Master Dou, why beat around the bush? There certainly are some…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Insect King slammed his fist on the table and cursed, “Damn it! I’ve spent my life playing with insects, yet I’ve been tripped up by one. My greatest pride has always been these ears—I never let anyone know their power, yet still fell victim to a schemer!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before these pointed words had even faded, a young man from Xuanzhen Sect stepped forward, bowing to the Insect King: “Do you still remember me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Insect King stared at him for a long moment, then pointed at his nose: “You’re the one from the Land God Temple who killed my Ghost-Faced General in combat.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s right!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man smiled, letting the Insect King clearly see his lips, speaking slowly and clearly: “That day, we agreed to three duels. In the first, my Golden Tooth General lost to your Ghost-Faced General—I lost one round. In the second, your Ghost-Faced General heard a single insect chirp, and my Broken-Whisker General bit it to death—so we were even. Then you vanished without word… I’ve brought the five hundred silver dollars as prize money—I’ve come specifically to challenge you to the third duel!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man neatly placed five wrapped silver dollars on the table beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Insect King laughed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Xuanzhen Sect has schemed long and hard to get my ears!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Insect King spoke coldly: “Fine. How do you want to duel?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Use your head as the fighting pit. That silk-puppet insect is mine. You choose one insect—it crawls into your right ear canal…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The onlookers shuddered at the idea: using a human head as a fighting pit, letting two crickets crawl into the ears to fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t insect fighting—it was murder!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Three Emperors’ Assembly turned to Xuanzhen Sect—these people were cruel and tyrannical; though they already knew Xuanzhen Sect disciples weren’t kind, such brutality still shocked them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Insect King sneered. Dou Dabibao quickly intervened: “In insect fighting, the key is stimulating the insect’s spirit with grass and coaxing—it’s impossible to stick grass stems into a human skull!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man said calmly: “Using grass to coax is the lowest form of insect fighting. The highest form uses sound to provoke—the Insect King excels in oral mimicry, able to replicate the long cry of crickets, and skillfully uses it to shatter an opponent’s fighting spirit!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Insect King’s face darkened. He spoke slowly: “Few know this skill. How did you learn of it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man smiled and bowed: “Long ago in Zhigucheng, there were two great Insect Kings—one skilled in southern crickets, the other in northern crickets—hence they were called the Southern and Northern Insect Kings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But after that gambling match, the Northern Insect King lost two rounds, lost his entire fortune, and since then, Zhigucheng has had only one Insect King—you, Master Qi.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who was the Northern Insect King to you?” the Insect King asked calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He was my father.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, everyone who had wanted to mediate fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man smiled: “My father was obsessed with insects. After losing the second round due to your vocal mimicry hiding the cricket’s chirp, he lost two matches in a row, lost everything he owned, and was forced to stake his reputation as the Northern Insect King in the third duel.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He sold me for the price of one insect to Xuanzhen Sect, in exchange for a rare insect: Blood Tooth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But Blood Tooth has one peculiarity—it cannot be raised in light. Once exposed to light, it gains boundless fighting spirit, seeks out other insects to fight, and will not stop until death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After acquiring this insect, my father kept it in a jar beneath his bed, waiting only for your third challenge, to reclaim that one breath of honor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After he took me out, he returned with only one jar. My mother, frantic searching for me, opened the jar—Blood Tooth leapt out and vanished. She then threw herself down the well. When my father returned and saw this, he hanged himself from the rafters outside the house that night.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man bowed again, calmly: “I am Xuanzhen Sect’s Guardian, Blood Tooth. I hereby formally challenge you to your final duel!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dou Dabibao’s face flushed red. After a long silence, he muttered: “When will this cycle of vengeance end?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine!” The Insect King, though deaf, read lips perfectly—he heard every word clearly, and answered with a sharp cry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced at the sky: “Crickets fight best at night. Your insect hasn’t been adjusted to day and night—wait until dark, then we’ll duel.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the blood feud between them, Dou Dabibao dared not interfere. He turned to Bei Xiannü: “Master Bei, how did you come here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bei Xiannü wrote on the ground: “Today, the Master of Xuanzhen Sect personally came to Juxialou and offered me a dish of the ultimate five-flavor essence—Immortal Flesh. I tasted it. My tongue touched the strange flesh and experienced a flavor beyond the five flavors of this world—now my tongue can no longer taste anything else, not even the taste of speech.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I did not come for healing—I came to beg Xuanzhen Sect for the rare ingredient, Black Taishui, to pursue the ultimate in culinary art.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dou Dabibao stared at the words on the ground and murmured: “The Master of Xuanzhen Sect?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua the Physician joined him, staring at the writing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who exactly is the Master of Xuanzhen Sect?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huo the Physician, gazing at the words, was stunned: “To make Master Bei, the culinary god of Sichuan, lose her taste after tasting it—rendering all flavors in the world blank—what kind of ultimate flavor could this be?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The ultimate flavor of mortals?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For a chef, to lose all taste forever—what agony is that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder Master Bei seeks that ingredient—to create her own ultimate mortal flavor. That must be the highest pursuit of every chef!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, no one had anything left to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xuanzhen Sect had indeed lured both here—one with a blood feud, the other with the ultimate mortal flavor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That dish, “Immortal Flesh,” was precisely what Master Bei knew would render her divine tongue—once it had tasted every flavor in the world—unable to taste anything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She would not abandon this chance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Three Emperors’ Assembly and foreign physicians examined Master Bei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They brought five herbs, each representing one flavor: hawthorn, coptis, schisandra, ligusticum, and salt—refined and placed on Master Bei’s tongue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Acid gathers, pungent disperses, salty dissolves, bitter dries, sweet nourishes. The medical five flavors hold subtleties beyond the culinary. I’ve felt Master Bei’s pulse—her five organs are unusually active, robust as a young person’s,” Hua the Physician said, baffled, holding her pulse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huo the Physician also placed a hand on her pulse. His expression turned grave. After examining her thoroughly, he was utterly shaken, his face filled with disbelief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others heard him mutter: “Locked five organs… five energies stored…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua called his name several times before he snapped back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huo the Physician stared at Master Bei—her eyes bright, her seventy-year-old hair growing darker—and suddenly clasped his hands into his sleeves and bowed deeply to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Bei hurried to help him up. Hua the Physician exclaimed: “Huo brother, what are you doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am bowing to the pinnacle of medical art!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huo the Physician said: “That dish, Immortal Flesh, is not merely the pinnacle of culinary art—it is the pinnacle of medical art.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Acid belongs to wood, bitter to fire, sweet to earth, pungent to metal, salty to water. Thus, pungent disperses and locks the liver’s wood; sweet nourishes and calms the kidneys’ water; salty dissolves and restrains the heart’s fire; acid gathers and secures the spleen’s earth; bitter dries and blunts the lungs’ metal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The five elements generate and overcome each other!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I once marveled that the five organs held divine treasuries, yet we mortals could never find them. Now, right before my eyes, someone has locked the five energies of the five organs with five great locks—using this heavenly flavor to seal Master Bei’s vitality and internal qi, causing her vitality to contract and endure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This dish, Immortal Flesh, is medicine and food as one source—not merely the ultimate mortal flavor, but a divine medicine that stabilizes the five energies and stores vitality.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If Master Dou had eaten this medicine back then, even internal traitors could not have stolen any of his vitality. Compared to this, that Five-Energy Return to Origin Decoction is laughable!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua the Physician felt Master Bei’s pulse—his face darkened. Indeed, the pulse was steady and strong, like hidden vitality deep beneath the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master Bei lost speech and taste because her five organs were locked with five great locks—sealing the loss of vitality, sealing the body’s internal qi changes. Because locked, she is full; because slow, she is still. Her qi moves gently, yet naturally—thus she extends her life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huo the Physician stroked his beard and mused: “If I were to say it, as the Sage said: ‘Five colors blind the eyes; five tones deafen the ears; five flavors dull the palate; racing to hunt stirs the heart to frenzy; rare treasures corrupt conduct. Thus the Sage seeks nourishment, not spectacle—he discards the former and chooses the latter.’ This Immortal Flesh cuts off the five colors, severs the five tones, abolishes the five flavors, seeks nourishment, not spectacle.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet what is rare is this: originally, the five energies were locked within the five organs, all vitality inwardly contained, all outward vitality suppressed—like a divine tortoise, slow outside, vitality hidden within.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But the Master of Xuanzhen Sect, while locking the five organs and stripping away taste and speech, left all other activities of Master Bei untouched.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So… this loss of taste and speech cannot be cured?” Hua the Physician frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huo the Physician shook his head: “This is not a disease!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A tree’s bark is cracked, withering, about to die—then one spring thunder, all its leaves fall, its branches broken, yet from within, a new bud sprouts. You point to its discarded, rotten husk and say it’s dying—hurry, save it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that not the act of a quack doctor?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I were to diagnose this, I’d say it’s a transformation of the old body—transferring vitality inward, hiding it. When lifespan ends, teeth will regrow, returning to youth! But the Master of Xuanzhen Sect only severed taste and speech—as if slapping our faces, saying: within the divine treasuries of the five organs lies endless vitality; conceal it, and you shall live forever.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Immortal Flesh… Immortal Flesh… only a god could cook this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I deal in mortal medical principles; they wield heavenly elixirs. How can I possibly understand or fathom them?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Three Emperors’ Assembly stared at Bei Xiannü—her eyes bright as a child’s—and listened to their most skilled physician’s words. All fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only now did they understand why Xuanzhen Sect had said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You don’t understand—it’s a frog in a well seeing the moon. Once you understand, you’re a mayfly seeing the blue sky.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Huo the Physician understood…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow hurried back through the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In her hand she carried a piece of purple-black flesh, as if hastily cut, still bearing muscle fibers, and brought it before Bei Xiannü.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow said: “Our Master is delighted you came. This is the Shiren meat he promised you. He said: only a chef who, after tasting his Immortal Flesh, still retains a cook’s heart—not one who loses all hope and kills himself from its ultimate flavor—is worthy of receiving his Black Taishui!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bei Xiannü extended her tongue and licked the strange Black Taishui.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She closed her eyes, then spoke with difficulty: “I will not fail the Master of Xuanzhen Sect’s trust.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saying this, she hung the meat-mushroom on her wall, faced the wall, bowed to the path of cooking for life, seeking the method to create this ingredient—unprecedented in history, unmatched in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>",2032,"2026-06-21T05:40:02.617Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","2cff44724f28e1da627cffd8a8bd2b0965b7519502912f1a0508fe458dfe145e","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-958","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-956",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dao-dust-pearl-cover.jpg"]