Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

“Three-Flavors True Fire?” Lu Yang was confused, thinking to himself whether Eldest Senior Sister couldn’t differentiate between “昧” and “味” (TL Note: See the explanation in the previous chapter). The two words only looked similar but were pronounced entirely differently.

Then, Lu Yang thought that Eldest Senior Sister’s level of education was probably higher than his own.

Lu Yang forced a calm smile and joked: “Hahaha, Eldest Senior Sister, you really have a sense of humor. You taught me the Samadhi True Fire, how could I possibly learn the Three-Flavors True Fire?”

“It’s impossible, absolutely impossible.”

Yun Zhi did not explain but signaled to a puppet to fetch a piece of demon beast meat from the kitchen.

Yun Zhi somehow made the demon beast meat spin in mid-air: “Roast it with the true fire.”

Lu Yang exhaled true fire, and the demon beast meat sizzled, quickly releasing a delicious aroma that made Lu Yang swallow saliva.

Although Lu Yang’s true fire was not as powerful as the one Yun Zhi demonstrated, it was still much stronger than ordinary flames, and it didn’t take long for the demon beast meat to be roasted.

“Try it yourself,” Yun Zhi said.

The piece of demon beast meat had no seasonings added, yet it gave Lu Yang a sensation of being seasoned with salt, enhanced with sugar, and spiced up with chili peppers.

It was indeed the Three-Flavors True Fire.

“There must be a problem somewhere.” Lu Yang analyzed seriously. He had followed the method taught by Eldest Senior Sister step by step, with such a great expert personally demonstrating, it was impossible to make a mistake!

“Let me try again, I’m sure I can succeed!”

Yun Zhi nodded, “It’s good that you have this determination. Tonight’s dinner will be up to you then, it will also help consolidate what you’ve learned today.”

After saying this, Yun Zhi turned around and went back to her cave to meditate, leaving her meal to Lu Yang.

“No, wait, I didn’t mean that…” Lu Yang felt that Eldest Senior Sister had misunderstood his determination, but by the time he tried to clarify, Eldest Senior Sister was already far away, leaving only the puppet for company.

Lu Yang sighed and called the puppet to the kitchen with him.

It was Lu Yang’s first time in the Heaven’s Gate Peak kitchen. He had never cooked before, as it had always been the puppets preparing meals. With the daily exhaustion from training, there was no energy left for cooking.

Eldest Senior Sister’s specialized kitchen was larger than a gym from his previous life, with a dazzling array of ingredients neatly displayed and several meters high demon beast corpses visible everywhere. These demon beasts, imposing even in death, must have been formidable beings before their unfortunate encounters with Eldest Senior Sister, who killed them with a single strike, so fast they didn’t even realize they were dead.

Lu Yang had some basic cooking skills, but those were limited to ordinary ingredients. He didn’t recognize any of the ingredients laid out before him.

“What should I make? What does Eldest Senior Sister like to eat? It seems she eats a little of everything at meals, without showing a particular preference for anything?”

“The master likes barbecue the most.” A sudden voice startled Lu Yang.

Turning around, Lu Yang saw it was the puppet speaking.

The puppet, made of wood and resembling a female figure, had an uncarved face. The puppet had been with Lu Yang since his first day of cultivation, but he had never known it could speak.

“Why are you looking at me?” the puppet spoke again, confirming to Lu Yang this wasn’t his imagination.

“You can speak? Why haven’t I heard you speak before?”

“Why would I want to talk to an idiot?”

“You…” Lu Yang was at a loss for words. If he could, he would have dismantled the so-called puppet right there and then.

“You say Eldest Senior Sister likes barbecue? How come I’ve never seen her eat it?” Lu Yang looked at the puppet suspiciously.

He knew about a spell called Puppetry and that masters of Puppetry were known as Puppeteers. There was even a sect composed entirely of Puppeteers within the first-class factions.

But what he didn’t know was the extent of Puppetry’s capabilities, including such high intelligence.

Does this speak to the exceptional nature of Eldest Senior Sister’s puppet?

“The master does not have the habit of revealing personal preferences to outsiders,” the puppet replied to Lu Yang with a tone that seemed to disdain further conversation.

“See the Kui ox on your right? Chop off its thigh. The master likes that part.”

“I’ll trust you this time.” Lu Yang felt the puppet had no reason to deceive him.

He took out his Qingfeng sword and aimed a strike at the Kui ox’s thigh. The ox’s body surface glowed, bouncing Lu Yang away and sending him crashing into a pile of flour, covering him in white.

“Cough, cough, what level was this ox when it was alive?” Lu Yang was certain that the ox’s cultivation level must have been outrageously high, to the point that it remained unharmed even after death.

The puppet didn’t answer but punched and shattered the protective golden light around the Kui ox: “Try again.”

“Chop!” Lu Yang used the Chop Word Technique, causing a superficial cut on the skin.

The Chop Word Technique, though not as powerful as the Break Word Technique, had the advantage of a wide coverage area and could be used multiple times.

“Chop!”

“Chop!”

Lu Yang executed the Chop Word Technique three times in a row, draining his spiritual power. Just in time, the puppet fed him a Great Restoration Pill.

“Chop!”

“Chop!”

“Chop!”

Great Restoration Pill.

Thus, after a cycle of Chop-Chop-Chop, Great Restoration Pill – repeated multiple times, he finally managed to cut enough meat for a meal.

Just as the ingredients were ready, Lu Yang was so exhausted he lay sprawled on the floor, panting heavily, while the puppet continued to feed him Great Restoration Pills.

Lu Yang found this scene strangely familiar.

It goes without saying, the Great Restoration Pills really did work wonders, revitalizing Lu Yang, who then continued cooking.

“Use sword energy to mince the tendons,” instructed the puppet by his side.

As Lu Yang inserted the tip of the Qingfeng sword into the Kui ox meat and released sword energy, he felt like it disappeared without a trace, stirring up no effect.

“Keep going, you’re doing great,” the puppet encouraged Lu Yang, albeit in a monotone voice that hardly inspired him.

Lu Yang yelled, “Could you put some emotion into it?”

The puppet obligingly changed its tone: “Lu Yang, even though your cultivation level is low, and everything you learn seems to go awry, not to mention I can’t even lose to you, but you’re trying your hardest. Keep it up!”

Lu Yang’s veins bulged with frustration as he increased the output of his sword energy, which finally began to cut through the tendons of the Kui ox meat bit by bit.

After the entire process, Lu Yang was too tired to even bother getting angry at the puppet.

When it came to roasting the meat, Lu Yang kept gulping down Great Restoration Pills while using the Three-Flavors True Fire. The aroma of the meat soon wafted out of the kitchen.

“What’s that delicious smell?” Grandpa Ba entered the kitchen, drawn by the aroma, and saw Lu Yang barbecuing.

“Grandpa Ba, what brings you here?” Lu Yang was surprised.

With a cheerful smile, Grandpa Ba brought out a can of tea leaves: “I just got some Enlightenment Tea and was planning to bring some to Yun Zhi. Then I smelled this aroma and came to see what’s cooking. So, you’re roasting a Kui ox. With your level of cultivation, it must have taken quite an effort, right?”

Lu Yang sheepishly chuckled in response.

“By the way, you were asking about Ninth Junior Brother. Do you know where he is now?”

Feeling that his master would soon emerge from seclusion, Lu Yang saw no harm in telling Grandpa Ba about his master’s secluded cultivation in the pine forest.

Grandpa Ba’s eyes lit up at the news, thinking to himself that troublemakers indeed attract each other. So, the dreaded Ninth Junior Brother had been confined by Yun Zhi.

He put down the Enlightenment Tea and left in a hurry: “I’ve got something to do. I’ll be off now.”

He couldn’t wait to share this news with his fellow disciples and have a collective viewing of Ninth Junior Brother’s predicament!

(TL Note: Kui was, according to the book Classic of the Mountains and Seas, a beast living on Mt. Liubo in the Eastern Sea. Its skin was used by the Yellow Emperor to make a drum to invoke rain and wind. Kui is therefore seen as identical to the thunder gods, with a human face and the body of a dragon. The Kui is also described as an animal with only one foot, similar to that of a dragon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kui_(Chinese_mythology))

(End of the chapter)