Chapter Sixteen Little Princess

  The girl in a simple dress ignored the surrounding gaze, picked up a piece of earth escape symbol, and studied it for a moment. A hint of doubt appeared in her starry eyes. Apparently, she couldn't recognize the pattern on it either.

  It's really strange, the texture of this talisman is smooth and natural, the ink marks are even and have a spirit, and the brushwork is precise and agile to an extremely high standard, how could it be a fake?

  The girl in the simple skirt was drawn out of curiosity and asked in a crisp voice, "Boss, would you mind if I try the power of this talisman?"

  Zhang Dayong was taken aback, and sighed: "Miss, don't try anymore. I've been running this small shop for 30 years, and have handled countless talismans. How could I not tell the difference between a genuine and fake Earth Escape Talisman? You also saw it, the structure of these Earth Shield Talismans is completely wrong, trying them would be useless."

  "Yes, yes, Uncle Zhang said it's accurate, Chen Zhuo's talisman made today is absolutely a scam, if not then forget it."

  The disciples around him echoed in unison, they were of humble status and had never been in close proximity to such a beautiful girl before, so they naturally seized every opportunity to show their enthusiasm.

  "How can you know if it's true or false without trying?"

  A woman in a white skirt smiled slightly, like a clear lotus flower after the rain. She was elegant and refined. As she spoke, she turned around and walked to an empty space, her hands waved gently, and a thick stream of pure true yuan poured into the talisman paper.

  A stunning scene unfolded, as the talisman suddenly transformed into a dense, earthy yellow light that churned and rolled, coalescing into a massive shield-like barrier in the shape of a tortoise shell, surrounded by a halo of light, exuding an aura of solidity and thickness.

  Splash!

  The look of indifference in everyone's eyes suddenly turned into an unbelievable expression, with a face that looked like they had just seen a ghost.

  Zhang Dayong was also shocked, could it really be a Tǔ Duàn Fú? Had he just seen things earlier?

  It's just as I thought!

  As if the conjecture in her heart was confirmed, the girl in the white dress suddenly lit up her eyes, without hesitation, her left hand wrapped around the thick true yuan, and she slammed a palm on the turtle-shaped shield.

  Bang!

  A dull, muffled sound, and the surface of the turtle-shaped shield rippled with a violent wave, quickly returning to normal.

  Even a general earth shield symbol can't withstand one-tenth of my palm strength. This strange earth shield symbol is indeed powerful!

  At this point, the woman in the white shirt's eyes became even brighter, and she once again stirred up her true yuan. With a flip of her jade-like hand, accompanied by a piercing whistling wind, she struck the surface of the shield.

  Wow!

  The tortoise-shaped shield began to fluctuate violently, and the spiritual energy that permeated it became unusually dim, already approaching the verge of collapse.

  Can actually withstand two-tenths of my palm strength? This kind of basic talisman is already enough to rival the power of a second-grade talisman!

  The girl in the simple dress was stunned for a moment, and then a hint of excitement surged into her eyes. She crushed the turtle-shaped shield that could no longer withstand a single blow with a wave of her hand, walked up to the counter, and said: "Boss, I'll take all these earth shields!"

  Zhang Dayong had already been stunned by the series of unexpected events in front of him, and when he heard this, he suddenly woke up, but remained silent.

  Through the test by the girl in the simple dress just now, he has seen that the earth shield symbol made by Chen Tai this time is much more powerful than what is usually seen, and can even be compared with a second-rate symbol. As for the price... shouldn't it be raised a bit?

  The girl in a simple dress frowned and said, "Boss, don't you dare to overcharge. I can give you at most one yuan stone for this earth shield symbol."

  Miss, I can sell you this earth shield symbol, but not all of them. You also know that the pattern structure of the earth shield symbol has been perfected over countless years and has reached the most perfect level. Wanting to make further corrections is simply impossible. The appearance of these earth shield symbols in front of us is no different from a miracle. In this case, I naturally want to keep some to thoroughly establish the reputation of our store!

  "Just think about it, a new type of talisman structure has been born, what a sensational thing it is for the entire talisman industry! Being able to operate this new type of earth shield talisman at the first time is a great fortune for my Zhang's General Store!"

  The more Zhang Da Yong spoke, the more agitated he became, with an infinite longing in his eyes, as if he had already seen a bright future.

  The girl in a simple dress wrinkled her nose, reluctantly compromised, and finally bought fifteen earth shield tokens at the price of fifteen yuan.

  "Uncle Zhang, what you said... isn't true, is it?" A worker approached him, his face full of astonishment.

  "Is that so? Chen Xiao's earth shield talisman is not as powerful as you say, it's just a basic talisman, how can it be called a miracle?"

  Other symbol artisans also spoke out, and the original symbol that was equivalent to pretending to be fake suddenly became a miraculous event that could shake the entire symbol industry. For a moment, they only felt that their heads were spinning.

  What's more important is that these earth shield symbols were made by Chen Xiao, the Sweeping Star. In that case, doesn't it mean that this guy will also rise with the tide?

  Zhang Dayong swept his gaze over the crowd, saying coldly: "I know what you're thinking. You think Chen Yao is a jinx, that he deserves to be worse off than all of you, and that he deserves your ridicule, right?"

  "But I'm telling you, if you want to stay here and work for me, don't ever let me hear another bad word about Chen Yuai again, or get out!" Zhang Dayong's voice suddenly turned icy cold.

  Everyone was silent as cicadas in winter.

  Zhang Dayong still felt indignant, not because he was angry with these symbol workers, but because he hated himself for almost misunderstanding Chen Tai.

  Yes, tomorrow when Chen Xiao comes again, I must give him a raise!

  Zhang Dayong made a decision, and then he thought of the girl in the white dress again, feeling like he had seen her somewhere before.

  Bang!

  After a long silence, Zhang Dayong suddenly slapped his forehead and muttered: "No wonder it looked familiar! The Broken Jade Palm she used earlier was the signature move of General Qin of the General's Manor. She must be the young mistress of the General's Manor - Qin Hongmian!"

  ……

  "To become a qualified spiritual chef, one must master the eight major parts of ingredients, knife skills, stove, spiritual fire, utensils, seasonings, water, and methods. Among them, ingredients, knife skills, and spiritual fire are crucial, while the others are not that particular."

  "This 'Panorama of Ingredients' records tens of thousands of kinds of spiritual herbs, fruits and vegetables, grains, demonic birds, and wild beasts that can be used to make ingredients. It is all-encompassing and has everything. What you need to do is familiarize yourself with the various different grades of ingredients, understand their properties, flavors, colors, as well as the things they complement or counteract, in order to cook dishes that are full of spiritual energy and have different effects."

  "This 'Spirit Fire Collection' records various spirit fires of different attributes from first to fifth grade. Depending on the ingredients, different spirit fires are needed during cooking, only then can the dishes achieve the best effect."

  ……

  When Chen Xiao returned home, he was stopped by Bai Yuqing, who carefully explained the skills that Ling Chu Shi needed to master. This shows how much she cared about Chen Xiao's affairs.

  Chen Xiao naturally wouldn't refuse Bai Yuqing's kindness, and listened attentively with a serious expression.

  "As for your knife skills, you've already passed Old Man Ma's test, just follow him and practice. Do you have any other questions?" White Weiying asked with a smile.

  Chen Xiao thought for a moment, then asked: "Yesterday at Qingxi Wine House, I heard that Old Man Ma and the other two were all Tri-Leaf Spirit Chefs. Does this occupation also have different levels?"

  Bai Wei Qing replied, "This is natural. After all, the spiritual chefs are serving the cultivators, and the dishes they cook are also divided according to the cultivator's realm. The dishes cooked by a one-leaf spiritual chef are extremely beneficial for post-heavenly realm cultivators. A two-leaf spiritual chef can cook dishes needed by pre-heavenly cultivators, and so on up to an eight-leaf spiritual chef, whose dishes can bring endless benefit to even the Broken Void Immortals, comparable to heavenly-grade spiritual elixirs!"

  Heavenly Stair Spirit Pill?

  Chen Xuan's heart involuntarily rose with a hint of shock. As far as he knew, the Ling Dan was divided into four levels: Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang. Each level was further divided into lower, middle, upper, and extreme grades. The Tian-grade Ling Dan was the rarest and most precious, and even in the entire Song Dynasty, it was a existence that could be described as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

  At this time, hearing that a chef of the Eight Leaf Spirit could cook dishes comparable to the Heaven Tier Spirit Dan, how could Chen Tai not be shocked?

  "However, advancing to a spiritual chef is more difficult than becoming an alchemist. Let alone an eight-leaf spiritual chef, in the entire Song Dynasty, there are only a handful of seven-leaf spiritual chefs."

  Bai Wei Qing looked at Chen Yao with a light smile and said, "Don't get discouraged, as long as you persist, there will be hope. However, being a Spirit Chef is after all an auxiliary profession. Once you've earned enough yuan stones, don't waste too much time on it, lest you neglect your own cultivation."

  Chen Xiao nodded, he learned to make talismans and cookery in order to survive with his brother, the ultimate goal was still to cultivate better and become stronger.

  ……

  In the following days, Chen Xiao was in a state of bitter cultivation.

  During the day, I create talismans and study "The Compendium of All Things" and "The Collection of Spiritual Fire". At night, I invoke the energy of Canopus to refine my body and spirit, practicing the "Zi Xuan Skill", until just before dawn when I use the remaining time to enter the Sea of Consciousness and visualize the image of Fuxi.

  The days are passing very fulfilling, and can even be described as tense.

  His nerves have been tense, not daring to relax for a moment, since the day his grandfather Chen Tianlei was killed, he has been filled with a strong sense of crisis in his heart, forcing him not to waste any time.

  What delighted Chen Zhuo was that he had recently made seven or eight different types of basic talismans with different properties, the pattern structure was completely different from before, but the power was comparable to second-grade talismans. When he took them to Zhang's general store, they were all sold out for three yuan each, and the price had risen by nine times, making him a handsome profit.

  However, his progress in refining his body and energy was still extremely slow, the root cause of which was the lack of a large amount of spiritual power support.

  The way of cultivation emphasizes the four characters "wealth, companionship, law, and land". Wealth is the first priority, but here wealth does not refer to gold and silver, but rather spiritual stones, elixirs, sacred herbs, etc. To practice martial arts, one must have a full stomach; to cultivate, one must absorb and expel spiritual energy. Treasures like elixirs, spiritual stones, and sacred herbs are indispensable aids.

  "A companion" is secondary, can be a Daoist companion, but most are teacher-disciple relationships. With the guidance of a master, you can avoid many detours and save a lot of effort compared to exploring on your own.

  And what is meant by "method" refers to the magical powers and techniques, the higher-level methods not only can shorten the cultivation speed but also can largely avoid getting stuck in bottlenecks and falling into madness.

  "The land" refers to some so-called fairy homes, the places where sects are established, which must be located in areas with concentrated spiritual energy. Practicing here is naturally much better than those mountains with poor spiritual energy.

  Those who truly come from a prestigious family may start practicing at a very young age, eating rare and precious elixirs, cultivating top-notch techniques, occupying places where spiritual energy converges to form auspicious land, and having senior masters guide them personally. Their cultivation speed is extremely fast, far surpassing that of ordinary practitioners.

  Chen Yao had no spiritual elixirs or magical medicines, no caves of blessings or lands of good fortune to cultivate in, and no mentors to guide him. Among the four characters "wealth, friends, law, and land", he only possessed one - "law". Every day, he had to create talismans to earn yuan stones to make a living, so how could his cultivation progress rapidly?

  "Today, I must make Old Man Ma accept me as his apprentice and become a spiritual kitchen apprentice of Qingxi Wine House. After that, I will definitely be able to earn more yuan stones. With careful calculation, I can completely buy some spiritual elixirs and medicines for my own cultivation!"

  Chen Xiao silently recalled the "Wanxiang Food Material Spectrum" and "Linghuo Collection" in his mind, making sure that there was not a single omission before getting up and walking out of the house.

  "Let's go, great chef of the future."

  Outside the door, Bai Yuqing was beaming with a smile, she had been waiting for a long time.