Chapter 28: Breaking Limitations

Although his purpose in learning cooking was impure, Wu Chengyu never expected this to bring him such a great surprise.

Wu Chengyu came from a later era; as a mid-level leader in a state-owned enterprise who traveled constantly on business, he had seen and eaten countless famous dishes. Hua Guo was vast and broad, every place had its own specialty dishes, and many dishes, when spoken of, were absolutely unheard of by people of this era.

Let alone dishes with complicated processes or those requiring extreme knife skills like Boiling Water Chinese Cabbage and Peony Fish Slices, and those secret-recipe seasonings Wu Chengyu was even less likely to know. He simply took out dishes he was familiar with or understood to some extent, improving them bit by bit according to the guidance of the Bamboo Slips.

In just over ten days, Wu Chengyu's cooking skills improved greatly. He felt he definitely could not be a head chef at a big restaurant, but opening a small eatery would definitely be good business.

But in the process of constant practice, his sense of taste, which had always had little presence among his five senses, began to take effect.

The sense of taste had a huge impact on a chef. Whether judging if a dish met standards, adjusting the taste of a dish in time, or accurately identifying the ingredients and combinations of raw materials during the innovation and development of new dishes, the sense of taste was crucial.

In a certain urban emotional TV drama, that guy who asked whether the watermelon was sweet or not became impoverished from a Michelin chef just because he lost his sense of taste.

In the process of practicing cooking, Wu Chengyu discovered that the sensitivity of his sense of taste even exceeded the scope described in the Bamboo Slips manual. Some dishes, following the manual's guidance, had already reached an extremely high standard, and the Bamboo Slips' evaluations were all "excellent."

However, through his extreme sense of taste, Wu Chengyu always felt unsatisfied, as if these dishes still had great potential to be tapped.

Not only that, dishes emphasized color, aroma, and taste being complete, so Wu Chengyu's sight and sense of smell could also be applied to cooking, even including touch.

To believe everything in a book is worse than having no book. Wu Chengyu quickly realized this. He remade those dishes he had completely mastered, using his keen five senses to adjust bit by bit, including using taste to judge slight changes in seasoning ratios, smell to distinguish how the aroma of a dish differed, and sight for more perfect color combinations.

Even when cutting vegetables and stir-frying, he could perceive bit by bit through touch how to cut more reasonably, better follow the grain and try not to destroy the fibers of the food, as well as judging the heat when stir-frying, and so on.

Just like this, through constant tasting, constant adjustment of methods, experiencing many failures, Wu Chengyu finally broke through the limitations of the Bamboo Slips through his own five senses.

The dishes he made now, the Bamboo Slips could no longer guide at all, and even the evaluation was only one character: "Convincing" (or "Impressive").

When Wu Chengyu achieved this, he finally confirmed that the Bamboo Slips could help him improve, but human creativity and imagination could never be limited by the Bamboo Slips, nor should they be limited by the Bamboo Slips.

Those check-in, point-adding, or out-of-nothing direct summoning Jinzhizhi, Wu Chengyu naturally envied them. If one came now, he would definitely be overjoyed. Don't be pretentious; being able to get something for nothing and succeed everywhere, Wu Chengyu would definitely not refuse it.

But now there was only this one Jinzhizhi with many limitations, the Bamboo Slips. Wu Chengyu instead felt it was the most suitable for him, and the most particular among all unreasonable things. Only in this way could his second life have infinite possibilities.

After discovering he could break the limitations of the Bamboo Slips, Wu Chengyu's attention returned to cultivating martial arts again.

Now his legs and feet were not good, so Bibo Palm Technique and Yan Qing Fist could not be cultivated. Wu Chengyu's idea was how to make the already perfected Bibo Heart Method bloom.

The inner vision formed by the Divine Sense Three-Dimensional Dynamic Image was also completely constructed by the five senses. Sight, smell, and taste were temporarily useless, but hearing and touch could fully act on himself.

Not counting the simplest heartbeat and breathing sounds, Wu Chengyu's hearing could easily hear the movement of internal organs and blood vessels, including the sound of Inner Force passing through the meridians.

And touch could also perceive the condition within his body. Whether Inner Force circulated slightly fast, discomfort in the meridians, or insufficient Inner Force and the feeling of emptiness in the meridians, Wu Chengyu could perceive them all.

Plus the error-correction function inherent in the Bamboo Slips itself, all this gave Wu Chengyu the courage to boldly break through.

He re-examined the Bibo Heart Method meridian path diagram in his mind. After all, it was a basic technique; the meridians it could cover were only a small part, and many other meridians could not be utilized.

Wu Chengyu attempted, on the basis of the existing path diagram, to let Inner Force leave the original path and surge toward other meridians, especially those mentioned by the Bamboo Slips at the beginning—meridians other than the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian, Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian, and Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Meridian which had been completely fused.

The remaining eight of the Twelve Regular Meridians were not unblocked, especially the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian and Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian. The Bibo Heart Method had defects on these two meridians.

Wu Chengyu first attempted to break through the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian, Hand Shaoyang Triple Burner Meridian, Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian, Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian, and Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian—these were temporarily unblocked but had not been warned to have obvious defects.

Wu Chengyu suspected that the advanced heart method above the Peach Blossom Island Bibo Heart Method must completely unblock these six meridians.

And the four meridians that had already been fused and unblocked gave Wu Chengyu enough reference. After all, except for Wu Chengyu, no one could directly inner-view the Inner Force circulation within the body's meridians.

Wu Chengyu used these four meridians as a template, perfecting the remaining six meridians bit by bit. Every time he perfected one, he used Inner Force to enter the imagined path diagram. Once something went wrong, the body would react immediately, such as slight discomfort in the internal organs and a feeling of incoordination in the meridians.

This difference was so slight that ordinary people could not feel it at all. Only Wu Chengyu's touch could detect it immediately. It was precisely this keen perception that allowed Wu Chengyu to stop circulating Qi immediately, so as not to cause injury to the body.

If there was slight discomfort, Wu Chengyu would immediately slow down, bit by bit attempting to improve, until he found that the new circulation path not only had no adverse reactions, but after Inner Force circulated, the body would instead have a feeling of comfort.

Or when he boldly attempted certain paths, his intuition would immediately warn him, as if taking one step further would bring great disaster. At this time, Wu Chengyu would never be stubborn; he would immediately call a halt.

The Bamboo Slips also played a role throughout this process, appraising the already perfected circulation paths, multiple times preventing Wu Chengyu from going down the wrong path. Even when unblocking meridians, it would offer corresponding suggestions, reducing the risk of Wu Chengyu's path of creating techniques to the minimum.

Just like this, Wu Chengyu used ten days to first perfect the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian and Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian. One Yin and one Yang complemented each other, and at this time the Bamboo Slips also gave an evaluation.

'Nameless Heart Method (pending name), advanced version of basic internal energy, improved from the Bibo Heart Method. Basic circulation path is basically consistent, fusing six of the Twelve Regular Meridians. Four meridians remain to be fused. Additionally, the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian and Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian cultivation paths have obvious defects and cannot be improved.'

Advantages: Large Inner Force storage, rapid Inner Force circulation, agile and changeable Internal Energy, more condensed Inner Force, Refining Essence into Qi Beginner.

Correction method: Insufficient data, technique cannot be ultimately perfected.

Evaluation: If the last two meridians can be perfected, the technique will reach Great Accomplishment, but it is still a basic heart method. With the Host's aptitude, at most he can reach second-rate, equivalent to a Six-Bag Disciple of the Beggar Sect. Perhaps he will never surpass Lu Youjiao, whom you think is very foolish.'

I deliberately suppressed the function of the Jinzhizhi. The Legend of the Condor Heroes is middle or low martial arts. If the Jinzhizhi is too powerful, it looks satisfying at first, but soon it will break the power balance, and this book cannot continue. I do not want to forcibly raise the world while writing and turn it into a xianxia novel.

This book is also slow-paced because I like to tell stories leisurely. I am in my forties and cannot write the satisfying webnovels that young people in their twenties want to see, because I can no longer feel satisfied myself. So I can only go at my own pace.

Some friends said I lay too much groundwork. I will pay attention to this, but every author has different habits, and balancing is difficult.

Finally, thank you for everyone's support. Grateful.

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(Chapter End)