Translator: 549690339 |
“The art of a spiritual cook is not the same as that of a mortal cook.”
The kitchen.
Bao Chao stood in front of a chopping board, seemingly a changed man.
He seriously told Wang Ba.
At this time, Wang Ba had left behind his demeanour as a Foundation Establishment cultivator. In reality, he had never been overly arrogant. He only put on a facade to make sure he could learn the skills of a spiritual cook from the other.
He immediately perked up, attentive to Bao Chao’s words.
Bao Chao continued:
“The cooks in the mortal realm cater to the senses of taste and desire, while we spiritual cooks aim to preserve and stimulate the maximum effects of spirit food. We strip away the useless or harmful parts for cultivators, shorten the time and effort needed for them to consume spirit food, rendering it an auxiliary means of cultivation.”
“This is unlike alchemy, which harmonizes the essence of plants, minerals and stones to produce various effects. Although toxicity might be considered, the ultimate goal is the potency of the product.”
“That is why the consumption of elixirs often leads to elixir poisoning, not only due to heterologous spiritual energy encapsulated within, but also because many elixir prescriptions were only designed with effects in mind, if you have studied the alchemy Dao, you would see that many elixir recipes contain minerals that we cannot absorb.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Ba suddenly realized it.
He had always thought that elixirs were solely composed of spirit grass and spiritual medicine, little did he know they could also contain elements like minerals.
No wonder there’s something like elixir poisoning.
At this juncture, he suddenly remembered something and asked: “Master Bao, I once consumed a Blood Method Pill. Why didn’t I detect any elixir poisoning in it?”
“Blood Method Pill? You consumed that as well?”
Bao Chao looked at Wang Ba with surprise, and then nodded: “You asked a good question. The reason is simple. Although the Blood Method Pill is an elixir, the array that condenses it uses a method similar to that of a spiritual cook!”
“So instead of calling it a pill, it’s better to say it is… the essence of human blood and flesh.”
“Practically no different from the essence of a Spirit Chicken.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Ba felt slightly uncomfortable, considering that he had ingested two himself.
Although all the power of the elixirs was absorbed by Zhao Feng’s Soul Nurturing Bead, he had still swallowed them.
However, he soon realized another issue: “At that time, there were other cultivators present in the Blood Sacrifice Array. Most likely, they also had elixir poisoning within them, right? The Blood Sacrifice Array refined them, so wouldn’t the Blood Method Pill also contain elixir poisoning?”
“That’s exactly what I meant when I said a spiritual cook’s method is to eliminate all the elements that are detrimental to a cultivator.”
“Including elixir poisoning, among other things.”
At this point, Bao Chao suddenly asked, “Speaking of the Blood Sacrifice Array, do you know why such an array exists?”
Wang Ba immediately shook his head, how could he know this.
Bao Chao did not find this surprising. An odd expression appeared on his face:
“Compared to the rare and precious spirit items, humans, the leaders of all creatures with innate spirituality, are readily available and naturally make good cultivation resources.”
“Therefore, eating humans, even farming humans, was a common practice in many Demonic Sects in ancient times.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Ba couldn’t help but feel a chill, despite the fact that he was already somewhat aware of the brutality of the Demonic Sects.
However, Bao Chao continued:
“However, these demonic cultivators found that after consuming a large number of humans, they often suffered from the attacks of Heart Demons, mental instability, and even the threat of their souls dissipating.”
“Everyone struggled to find the cause, only discovering that such symptoms would only occur after consuming large quantities of humans.”
“Some cultivators, therefore, gave up on consuming humans and instead sought out relatively common spirit beasts and spirit rice, removed the impurities, and purified the essence of their flesh and blood, transforming them into digestible spirit food.”
“Others, too impoverished, could only find ways to solve their mental instability.”
“After multiple attempts, inspired by the approach of the former group, they finally found a solution.”
“Hence, the Blood Sacrifice Array emerged.”
“Many variations of the array developed later on, but fundamentally, they were all the same.”
Bao Chao looked at Wang Ba, “You must have figured out the origins of spiritual cooks by now, right?”
“Demonic cultivators?”
Wang Ba hazarded a guess.
“Exactly! Our lineage of spiritual cooks actually branched off from the ancient demonic cultivators.”
“Our doctrine is to plunder the essence from spirit beasts and spirit plants for our own benefit!”
A flicker of fanaticism shone in Bao Chao’s eyes.
“We don’t have a systematic body of knowledge or an advancement system like array casters, alchemists, artifact makers, or talisman makers…In reality, there are no precise ranks for spiritual cooks. It all depends on how familiar one is with the food ingredients, the control over the purification process, and the method of treatment.”
“Of course, we have our own standards of evaluation.”
“The higher the rank of the food ingredient and the more of its essence that is retained, the better the skills of the spiritual cook.”
“Of course, the precondition is that there can be no impurities or useless parts remaining.”
Wang Ba nodded on hearing these words: “Then, where should I start?”
Bao Chao smiled at the question, turned sideways to reveal the buckets of toadlike spirit beasts behind him:
“These are unranked spirit beasts called Eel-tail Clam. What you have to do is categorize every bone, every strip of muscle, every piece of skin…one by one!”
Looking at the water tub full of toads piled on top of each other, covered in warts and even oozing poison, Wang Ba instantly felt repulsed.
He couldn’t help but look at Bao Chao, suspecting the man was intentionally seeking revenge.
Truly, he wasn’t overawed by much, just fearful of these disgusting things covered heapful in warts.
Every time he saw them, he felt as if he had been subjected to a Hold spell or Thunder Strike, either rooted in fear or causing him to jump around in fright.
He almost couldn’t resist the temptation to employ the jade pendant Zhao Feng had given him to wipe out all the dirtiness in front of him.
Fortunately, he managed to resist.
“What about switching to another spirit beast? Would a Spirit Chicken do? I have loads of them!”
Resisting the urge to use a spell, Wang Ba said to Bao Chao.
However, Bao Chao shook his head firmly: “There’s no better spirit beast than the Eel-tail Clam for beginners. I even still occasionally use them for practice. Once you’re familiar with its body, you’ll be able to quickly master the preparation of most Class I ingredients.”
Upon hearing this.
Wang Ba glared at Bao Chao and decisively shut off his sense of touch and vision.
Instantly, he felt a bit better.
However, Bao Chao, seemingly predicting Wang Ba’s action, reminded him, “Don’t forget, sir, to master the body of the Eel-tail Clam, it’s better to use your five senses together with your spiritual sense.”
Wang Ba: “…”
For the sake of the Spirit Chicken essence, I’m all in!
Two months later, at the eatery outside the Taosheng market in Jiantao Station.
“Whew–”
The Mana on Wang Ba’s index finger quietly disappeared.
In front of him, a giant wooden table was filled with bones and muscle strips…
All of which came from a single Eel-tail Clam.
Wang Ba1 s dissection was incredibly precise.
An Eel-tail Clam the size of a palm managed to cover the entire table.
“The organ arrangement on this Eel-tail Clam is indeed complicated.”
“No wonder Bao Chao says that once you’re familiar with this one, most Class I spirit beasts won’t be a problem.”
Wang Ba lamented in his mind.
Two months of diligent studying and exclusive focus.
His status as a Foundation Establishment Competitor had granted him thorough understanding of the Eel-tail Clam.
Now, even with his eyes closed, he could dissect every part of the Eel-tail Clam clearly and meticulously.
However, this was only mastering the most basic part of being a Spiritual Cook.
It can’t even be considered the first step.
According to Bao Chao, once he had familiarized himself with the Eel-tail Clam’s anatomy, he would need to use Mana to extract a specified organ from it while keeping it alive.
Subsequently, he should be able to disassemble the Eel-tail Clam with Mana at the blink of an eye, replicating the effects of manual dissection.
In short, he must familiarize himself to the utmost extent with the ingredient to complete the first step.
The second step would be learning how to process the ingredients, preserving as much of their essence as possible.
And then, the third step…
All of these are equally complicated and lengthy processes.
The Lifespan Panel couldn’t assist with any of these, there were no bottlenecks or Cultivation Methods and Spells, everything relied on personal practice.
Well, not exactly. The third step involved the use of the Purification Method, the Lifespan Panel might come in handy at that point.
Other than that, everything else required painstaking effort.
This is the reality for most Cultivator skills.
It requires a lot of time and energy.
Most cultivators only dabble in these techniques in their early stages unless they are exceptionally talented or their Cultivation talent is too low to break through.
Once their cultivation base level increases and their lifespan extends, they could learn these techniques more leisurely.
Furthermore, understanding these techniques under the guidance of a higher realm is different and much more time-saving.
Take Wang Ba for example, as a Foundation Establishment Competitor, he has the edge over Qi Refining cultivators because he can use his Spiritual Sense to better understand the Eel-tail Clam.
This is why he could complete the basics of being a Spiritual Cook in just two months.
Ordinary Qi Refining cultivators probably need nearly a year to finish this single step.
It was this kind of experience that tempered down Wang Ba’s initial enthusiasm to learn other skills.
It was too time-consuming and draining.
For the past two months, besides contemplating the Yin God and practicing the Power of the Yin God, he had paused his Mana cultivation in order to become familiar with Eel-tail Clams more quickly.
As of now, let alone preparing the Spirit Chicken essence, he hadn’t even touched a feather.
This is just one of the less popular skills. If he were to take on a broader and deeper occupation like Alchemist, the demands could be even more daunting.
Those truly rely on natural talent and willpower.
“Once I’ve learned the techniques of Spiritual Cook, I’ll focus on cultivation!”
Wang Ba made a resolution in his heart.
If becoming a Spiritual Cook and learning to prepare Spirit Chicken essence wasn’t beneficial to his cultivation, he would have given up entirely.
Having said his bye to Bao Chao, he used the Teleportation Array to return to the East Saint Station.
He hadn’t been back at East Saint Station for two months, and the spirit rice next to the chicken coop was almost ready to harvest.