Chapter 449: The Weakness of a Sword Cultivator

The restaurant Zhang found is called Gardenia Garden; it is near the Imperial Palace and built in an antique style.

Zhang walked in front, and as soon as she reached the entrance, she asked:

"Can I bring a cat?"

"You may, miss, but to be considerate of other guests' feelings, if you are dining in the main hall, please try not to let your pet on the table."

"What about a private room?"

"Private rooms are naturally more relaxed; the whole point of booking a private room is to be at ease, isn't it? However, please try not to let your pet touch the human tableware. If your pet has dining needs, we will provide special tableware for you."

"That works, a private room, for six."

"Woof-woo~"

The waiter stretched their neck, counting the number of people, but only saw five. Their gaze dropped, eyeing the cat in the little girl's arms, and they understood, saying in a long tone:

"Alright! Please, this way!"

The five people and one cat stepped into the restaurant one after another.

There are many places in Yujing to eat 'Court Cuisine'. Aside from the fakes, there are quite a few that are the real deal, run by Imperial Chefs who came out of the Imperial Palace.

Times have changed.

These days, Imperial Chefs in the palace are contract workers. It's just that the recruitment requirements are a bit higher, the benefits a bit better, the contracts signed for a bit longer, and they are a bit more stable. The craftsmanship required to become an Imperial Chef is naturally top-tier, but they cannot be like in ancient times, reaching the pinnacle of the world.

Now is an economic society.

A truly top-tier chef can definitely earn more working outside than in the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace wins on stability, decency, and the ability to get a layer of gold plating.

Therefore, many chefs work in the palace for ten years, finish their gold plating, and once the contract expires, they leave to open their own shops or find another employer. It works out well; those people in the Imperial Palace have been eating your food for ten years and are tired of it anyway, so they switch to a new batch of chefs and change the flavor.

Among the many restaurants that hang the sign of Imperial Chef and serve Imitation Court Meal, this one has the best reputation.

The five people and one cat sat down in the private room.

The waiter who brought them in went back out to greet guests, and a waitress came over instead:

"How many are in your party?"

"Six."

Zhang said without even thinking.

This waitress was not as sharp as the one at the entrance. She counted the number of people and asked: "Is there one more who hasn't arrived yet?"

"We're all here."

"Ah?"

"One, two, three, four, five, and it, six."

"Cats don't count as a seat."

"Count it, count it, count it..."

"We charge by..."

"Count it, count it, count it..."

Zhang said repeatedly, with a hint of urgency.

Taozi also stared at the waitress.

"Fine..."

The waitress sighed internally that all sorts of strange things happen, and continued: "We order by the person, there are several price points..."

"Give us the most expensive one!"

"Is it really six people?"

"Yes, yes, yes... oh, just hurry up and serve it."

"Woof-woof!"

"Alright, alright."

The waitress left.

Taozi quietly glanced at Zhang Suannai, her favor for this stupid human increasing by a tiny bit—not because she ordered a portion for her too, but because she was smart enough to recognize that Taozi Daren is also a higher life form, and Taozi Daren likes to spend time with smart humans.

Not long after, the waiters began to bring the dishes.

The first to be served was Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, one portion per person, followed by a Golden Fin Fish. This was not one portion per person, but a shared dish portioned by the chef according to the number of people.

Subsequently, it was basically the same; there were both small individual portions and large shared dishes, and the table was gradually filled up.

Chen Shu, holding the thought of tasting what the food Brother Meng usually eats until he's sick of it tastes like, began to taste it carefully.

Top-tier craftsmanship, combined with top-tier ingredients, the taste wouldn't be bad, but most of it couldn't be called stunning, only good. Just like this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, it wasn't as good as the one from the shop specializing in Buddha Jumps Over the Wall that Zhang treated them to after the skydiving.

There were also a few dishes that were just average.

The Golden Fin Fish was made quite ordinarily, sweet and sour. In previous years, one could add points based on the quality of the Golden Fin Fish; back then, you couldn't buy Golden Fin Fish on the market, and if the Saintess of the Sword Sect wanted to eat a meal of it, the whole school would be notified. In recent years, it has been sold in all major supermarkets, so it's no longer a rarity.

At the same time, these dishes were all very light in flavor. Not only were there no heavy oil or heavy spice, but garlic was also rarely used, and not a single dish with cilantro was seen.

Being overly refined means losing the touch of human life.

It is not necessarily a good thing.

Fortunately, Dayi was founded on martial arts, and the Imperial Family almost entirely practices cultivation. These dishes were refined in quality, but the portions were not refined, especially since there was a lot of meat. This point added a few points in the heart of Chen Shu, a carnivore.

Not long after, Taozi noticed something was wrong—

Why were Zhang Suannai, Chen Shu, and Chen Banxia all reaching their chopsticks into the dish in front of her? Wasn't it one portion per person?

"Woof?"

"What did it say?" Chen Banxia asked.

"It said for us to eat more, since its appetite is small anyway and it can't finish it," Chen Shu said.

"Woof-woof!"

"What did it say now?"

"That's right."

"Oh, oh..."

The siblings divided the sea cucumber and abalone from Taozi's bowl, then helped it finish most of the shark fin; Zhang Suannai helped it eat the squab, and she also took half of the small plate of grilled Eastern Continent Beef that had just been served, to ensure it wouldn't be left with too much to eat.

Taozi lowered its head, staring at them.

"Ah..."

Chen Shu was full and satisfied; he sprawled out on his chair and chatted idly: "Isn't the Martial Arts Academy Group's Martial Body competition in a few days?"

"That's right."

The young girl nodded.

Zhang Suannai also sprawled on her chair, glanced at the young girl, and said to her: "The fifth year of the Martial Academy has a Fifth-tier Sword Cultivator who is my junior at the Sword Sect. Although his talent in cultivation and Sword Dao is only about one-hundred-thousandth of mine, he is still quite remarkable. The main thing is that he practices pure Sword Sect Sword Dao; you won't be able to beat him. You might as well stop once you reach the finals to save some energy for the inter-school competition..."

"I can beat him."

"You can't beat him."

"I can beat him."

"You can't beat him."

"I can beat him."

"You can't beat him..."

"..."

The young girl couldn't be bothered to pay her any mind.

After sitting for a while, Zhang got up to pay the bill—1,800 per person, with the six of them spending over ten thousand.

Fortunately, a sword instructor's salary is high; her base salary is over thirty thousand a month, and with private coaching commissions and bonuses for winning challenges, she makes nearly fifty thousand a month. The boss didn't pay her less just because she had only worked for a month, so this ten thousand plus was not worth mentioning to Zhang.

"Everyone, how was the meal?"

Zhang paid the bill, her back straightened, adopting the tone of a host.

At the same time, she quietly gauged everyone's expressions.

Especially Chen Shu and Qingqing.

Because she always went next door to mooch meals and was always satisfied, now that she was treating them back, she naturally wanted to host them well.

"First time eating this, it feels alright... So the Sovereign eats this well in the palace every day."

"There are no potatoes."

"My brother's cooking is still better!"

"Woof~"

Zhang tasted it carefully, but couldn't help scratching her head.

Indeed, although this Court Cuisine is exquisite, it has many limitations. Just speaking of the taste, in a modern society filled with delicacies, it isn't necessarily that impressive. And these few people are either very good at cooking, very good at eating, or have unique tastes—their palates have been shaped by someone specific. Court Cuisine might be able to bluff most people and satisfy her own appetite, but it might not necessarily satisfy their tongues.

Zhang couldn't help but feel troubled—

What job should she look for next month?

What should she treat them to next time...

While pondering, Zhang cleared her throat and said to everyone: "Everyone, since we happen to be here, let's go for a stroll to help digest the food."

"Why?" Chen Shu glanced at her, "Do you want to host us for a massage and a foot soak, a full post-meal package?"

"Bang!"

"Well hit! Harder! Just beat them to death!"

"Ahem, where are we going for a stroll?"

"Just walk around, take a stroll."

"Alright then."

The group walked forward along the roadside.

Zhang Suannai and Chen Banxia walked in front, arms draped over each other's shoulders; Chen Shu and Qingqing followed closely behind, and the young girl held Taozi, trailing slowly at the very end.

The weather in late spring was just right, neither cold nor hot. The Yujing Plain never lacked wind, and this area was full of ancient buildings with high aesthetic appeal. The dark-colored tiles seemed to absorb all the warmth from the sunlight; walking in the shadows under the eaves, one felt only a cool crispness, as if suddenly walking through the Yujing of several hundred years ago.

Before long, the two in front suddenly stopped by a small square, pointing at the center of the plaza.

"Look!"

Chen Shu turned his head to look as they did.

During this year's Blue Flower Festival, they had brought Chen Jiaoshou here. At that time, this small square was still bare, but now there was a Monument.

The Monument was very tall and eye-catching, perhaps over ten meters high, with a base at the bottom. It was clearly brand new and sat in the very center of the square. On it, individual red names were engraved in a standard script, all uniformly two characters long.

Chen Shu walked over, tilted his head back, and looked at them one by one.

Bei Zhi; Bai Yuan; Jun Xiu...

They all seemed to be names of Heavenly Humans.

Chen Shu's gaze moved upward.

Sure enough, it was written above: In memory of those Heavenly Humans who made outstanding contributions to the world.

"Outstanding contributions?"

It wouldn't be referring to global anti-terrorism, would it?

Chen Shu found it strange.

Heavenly Humans contributed a lot to global anti-terrorism, but they had always been behind the scenes. Was it worth setting up a special Monument? And those Heavenly Humans should still be alive; did Dayi have a custom of setting up monuments for the living?

"Bai Yuan..."

Chen Shu muttered, feeling that the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall it for a moment.

No! It was itching at his heart!

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone.

Just as he typed out the name "Bai Yuan," he remembered that Qingqing had mentioned this name during her thesis defense at the beginning of the month; it seemed she said that when her advisor was verifying the observation method in her paper, they had asked this Heavenly Human big shot for help.

This person should still be alive, right?

At least they were alive a while ago.

Chen Shu was baffled.

He clicked search, but couldn't find anything of note; there was indeed a person named Bai Yuan online, but the records were sparse, with no mention of any outstanding contributions made to the country or the world in recent years, nor any record of his death.

Could it be some kind of custom among Heavenly Humans?

Or perhaps some political reason? Similar to policies for ethnic minorities? To curry favor with the Heavenly Human cultivation community?

As Chen Shu was thinking, Zhang Suannai and Chen Banxia had already walked further away, so he had no choice but to temporarily set aside his doubts, planning to look it up again later, and continued to follow them.

……

At the end of March, the Martial Arts Academy Group Martial Body Meet.

Chen Shu and the others still went to watch Xiaoxiao's final.

A Fifth-tier Sword Cultivator versus the Fifth Stage Xiaoxiao.

On the school forum, the predictions regarding the outcome of this match were almost one-sided—

One was a genius from the Sword Sect who excelled in fighting and killing, with rich combat experience, while the other was a soft, cute twenty-year-old girl who still looked childish; it was said she also had a certain Night Person Bloodline, and Night People don't reach adulthood until they are thirty.

Who had the better chance of winning went without saying.

Even Chen Shu and Chen Banxia felt Xiaoxiao's chances of winning were very low, and Zhang Suannai even went so far as to put aside her pride to beg this junior from her own sect, saying that if he beat her little goddess too miserably, she would post the video of him streaking around the practice field when he promoted to the Fifth Stage onto the school forum, and even if the post got deleted, she would buy a projector to play it on a loop at the school gate.

However, as soon as the battle began, everyone suddenly discovered—

The Martial Cultivator classmate Ning Ji was actually a Spirit Cultivator.

Everyone had previously thought she was a Martial Cultivator, but that was only because she hadn't used any Spells and had defeated her enemies using pure physical strength; in reality, her Spirit Power Talent was also at a genius level, and the Spells she learned were the latest versions from the Spirit Sect.

At the same time, for some reason, the young girl seemed to have an extreme understanding of Sword Cultivators; every strike from her opponent was easily neutralized by her, while every one of her own strikes landed precisely on the opponent's weak points and pain points, to the extent that the two of them on the Arena looked as if they had rehearsed it, with the Fifth-tier Sword Cultivator being suppressed by her from start to finish, everything just right.

Even the teachers at the Martial Academy thought their student was throwing the match.

Zhang Suannai's expression, however, gradually grew grave.

She did not feel that this junior from her sect was intentionally holding back due to her threat; on the contrary, with her discernment, she saw the key at a glance.

This shocked her immensely, and she subsequently fell silent.

Until the Fifth-tier Sword Cultivator on the stage could no longer hold on, was blown away by several close-range Tracer Technique blasts, spat blood, and raised his hand to concede.

"Clang!"

The school champion was born.