Chapter 77: Wealth Revitalizes the Cultivation World (77% complete)
Xiao Tingyuan, the "Buddhist-style young man," naturally became the student who was most natural when it came to class.
He straightened his back with composure and followed the kind-smiling old man in front of him.
The other two boys, who were also studying or minoring in culinary arts, exchanged a glance and followed behind somewhat embarrassedly.
They also chose the God of Cookery's class, and because of its special nature, this class was different from other lectures with limited capacity, so there were only the three of them.
A one-on-three private class, taught by a master chef on the spot—how incredible is that! How is this different from a personal apprenticeship?
Even though everyone knows that the God of Cookery was framed back then and that his nemesis is still alive, fortune favors the bold, and who would be willing to give up the opportunity to inherit the mantle of a great master!
The two boys were like sunflowers walking in the sunlight, their smiles growing brighter and brighter.
Meanwhile, the master and apprentice who had been pretending not to know each other instantly dropped their pretense after getting away from the crowd and confirming they were out of the photo-taking area for the opening ceremony.
"Stop the Abyss!"
"Ancestor!"
"Stop the Abyss!"
"Ancestor!"
"Stop the Abyss!"
"Ancestor!"
The grandmother and grandson embraced and wept bitterly.
I said, you two have had enough.
1314 felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of this nauseating scene and couldn't help but interrupt.
"Ancestor, congratulations on regaining your physical body." Xiao Tingyuan circled around his master.
The master and disciple both came from the Xiao family of Dongyu City. Xiao Tingyuan was used to their multi-layered relationship of being both master and ancestor, and calling him "Ancestor" was more natural to him.
This was the first time he had seen the true form of the God of Cookery, who possessed the dual identities of master and ancestor; before this, he could only see the other's phantom image.
In the past, although the God of Cookery could occasionally project a phantom image out of the ring space when his spiritual power was very abundant, he was mostly listless in the space and guided him through dreams.
Now that they are both master and apprentice and grandfather and grandson, they have finally met in a real sense. How could Xiao Tingyuan not be excited in front of the respectable and lovable God of Cookery who has helped him so much?
Not only him, but the culinary master standing opposite him was also beaming with joy.
"My dear disciple! Let your master take a good look at you." The God of Cookery held his shoulders and looked him up and down, his eyes full of satisfied smiles.
He patted him hard on the shoulder twice and praised, "Good lad! These arms are strong enough, perfect for flipping woks."
"Ancestor, please stop teasing me." Xiao Tingyuan smiled. "I have to practice martial arts so that everyone will know I'm your disciple. If I don't have some skills, I'll have nowhere to run away."
The God of Cookery touched his nose sheepishly: "The conditions offered by the academy are too tempting. There's no point in me hiding here half-dead any longer. Don't worry, I will definitely pass on all my skills to you and teach you how to defeat Su Xiaoyao as soon as possible!"
"Cough cough cough." Xiao Tingyuan choked.
I thought the chef would say something like, "I will definitely pass on all my skills to you so that you will not be afraid of my enemies coming for revenge," but he took a sharp turn and bumped into Su Xiaoyao.
The chef crossed his arms, glanced at him, and snorted: "From now on, whenever you leave the academy, take me with you. I will definitely not let you suffer any grievances outside. You don't need to worry about safety at all. Your most important task is to study hard!"
He shed his lazy demeanor of unconditionally protecting his apprentice and declared with imposing authority: "Students' grades are part of the teachers' performance evaluation! There are only three students in our class, and if even one of them fails, that's one of the highest failure rates in the entire school! I absolutely cannot let my senior down!"
Xiao Tingyuan was speechless. He opened his mouth as if to say something but then stopped, looking at his master with a suspicious gaze.
"Ancestor... tell me the truth, you don't seem like the kind of person who would strive for success..."
The God of Cookery slapped him on the back of the head, and after slapping him, he rubbed his palm, savoring the feeling of touching a person after a thousand years.
He snapped out of his daze and said angrily, "How could you think of your master like that! Am I the kind of person you're describing? Am I the kind of person who would work hard to compete with students for the inheritance of other powerful teachers? Am I the kind of person who would bow down for the academy's huge salary? Am I the kind of person who would strive for performance just because the Dao Ancestor promised to protect me after my ascension?"
"Yes! You are!" Xiao Tingyuan exclaimed, clutching the back of his head.
The chef slapped him again.
Xiao Tingyuan stood up straight with a righteous and awe-inspiring demeanor, expressing his attitude with an upright and unyielding attitude.
"You brat," the God of Cookery cursed, "I'll find you junior brothers and sisters right away, and then I'll be a biased master."
Xiao Tingyuan recalled Su Xiaoyao's irreverent tone and blurted out, "You will never again wholeheartedly impart all your knowledge to me with joy; you will only impart all your knowledge to me with a cold and indifferent expression."
As expected, he was slapped again.
Xiao Tingyuan grimaced and rubbed the back of his head, having a premonition that his head would also need to be armed in the future, specifically to deal with his master's Iron Palm.
"You've gotten quite bold, daring to even tease your master." The God of Cookery made a gesture as if to raise his hand again.
Xiao Tingyuan instinctively covered his head.
The chef's hand hovered in mid-air as he watched him with a leisurely air.
Xiao Tingyuan awkwardly lowered his hand, but unexpectedly, the God of Cookery took him by surprise and quickly raised his hand to rub his head.
"You!" The chef laughed heartily, his eyes overflowing with deep affection.
He genuinely treated Xiao Tingyuan like his own child.
“I used to only have you as my disciple. But now that I have other disciples, their cultivation methods are not refined, and I will need to put in more effort to teach them. Don’t feel that your master is being unfair and secretly cry when that happens,” he said.
“Ancestor—” Xiao Tingyuan said helplessly.
The chef burst into laughter again.
From the moment he stepped onto the platform, the laughter he let out in just one day was more genuine than in the past two thousand years. The gloom that had been weighing on his heart finally dissipated. He no longer had to agonize over whether or not to let his precious disciple avenge him. Now he stood here alive, receiving the favor of the Heavenly Dao Ancestor to teach the future pillars of the cultivation world. This alone was enough to make his former rivals so angry that they crawled out of their secluded caves.
The unexpected twists and turns in his life stirred the chef's emotions even more.
He maintained his high spirits and happened to catch a glimpse of two hesitant young monks behind him, so he generously called them over.
The two cultivators exchanged a glance and saw the undisguised envy and excitement in each other's eyes.
Xiao Tingyuan's interaction with the God of Cookery didn't deliberately avoid the two of them, revealing that the former had already become acquainted with the God of Cookery and formed a deep master-disciple relationship.
No wonder Xiao Tingyuan's culinary skills are so high.
In the cultivation world, with no culinary traditions left behind, almost no cultivator dares to rely on a completely new path for cultivation, because without predecessors to explore the way, one could easily suffer from qi deviation and demonic possession.
This also indirectly illustrates the greatness of the culinary master who explored a unique new path two thousand years ago.
Unfortunately, the God of Cookery was killed before he could reach the pinnacle of his art, and this unconventional path was cut off. No one has since used the art of cooking to reach the boundary of ascension.
Therefore, in most cases, those who study the art of cooking tend to follow the example of these two and take it as a secondary skill, or while pursuing their ideal of studying the art of cooking, they must also learn a more convenient path.
And now, the pinnacle of culinary arts stands before them. This great master is kind and approachable, and he only has three students. What a fortunate thing this is!
No matter how powerful their enemies are, as long as they cultivate diligently and learn the true essence of culinary arts from the God of Cookery, they will be fearless once they become strong. They went through countless hardships to enter the Heavenly Evolution Academy, and their goal is naturally not to be content with their current small plot of land. Every cultivator who sets foot on this island aims to ascend to the Great Dao.
Enemies and foe alike are all just minor trials on the path to ascension.
Every monk who has reached this point is fully prepared mentally, and they will never back down because of any possible risks.
"Greetings, Master! Greetings, Eldest Brother!" The round-faced girl was quick-witted; before the God of Cookery could even arrange their future, she had already recognized their identities.
A clever and quick-witted child easily wins people's favor, and a master chef is no exception.
The crisp, clear voice calling him "Master" made his eyes crinkle with laughter.
He didn't choose to hide his relationship with Xiao Tingyuan, but instead openly told them that Xiao Tingyuan was different.
He said, "Good, good, good boy, much better than your troublesome senior brother."
Although his words were meant to be sarcastic, anyone could hear the warmth in his tone.
"Senior Brother's cooking skills are amazing! He is a role model for us all!" The round-faced cultivator looked at Xiao Tingyuan with bright eyes and sincere expression. "We should learn from Senior Brother! Please take good care of us in the future, Senior Brother."
The other person also realized what she meant and immediately followed up with, "Junior brother's skills are not yet proficient, please take good care of him, senior brother."
Xiao Tingyuan smiled and looked at the round-faced cultivator, saying, "Your culinary skills are very inspired, otherwise Xiao Yao wouldn't have chosen you to cooperate."
The round-faced cultivator was the owner of the steamed bun shop who had partnered with Su Xiaoyao; he was a rogue cultivator with some incredible luck.
The little monk scratched his head shyly: "Oh, not at all. My buns are just average. It's all thanks to Senior Sister Xiao Yao for helping me improve the recipe and for sharing better quality fresh ingredients for free. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep my bun shop open."
"No need to be modest, you have a very good foundation. I even went to the kitchen this morning and had some steamed buns from your shop for breakfast." Xiao Tingyuan and she complimented each other.
His future junior brother waited and waited, but hesitated to speak.
Finally, with Xiao Tingyuan's encouragement, he said, "My foundation may not be that good. I learned cooking by chance and have loved this skill ever since. Although everyone says that my talent is in weapon crafting, and I didn't choose cooking in the group assessment to ensure my advancement, I truly love cooking."
He was a little embarrassed.
It was obvious that of the three, he was the most confused. He didn't have the same achievements as Xiao Tingyuan, nor did he have the same unwavering determination as Xiao Bao Xiushi to open steamed bun shops all over the cultivation world.
It was just by chance, or out of interest.
Xiao Tingyuan showed no favoritism towards his two junior brothers and sisters, and said to him, "It doesn't matter. People who first come into contact with the culinary arts are all confused and find it difficult to find their own path. Junior Sister Bao has already formed her own fixed cooking techniques, but you are different. You can integrate the fragments and completely inherit Master's mantle."
The junior brother was taken aback: "Master's legacy should be inherited by you, senior brother. I only need to learn a little bit; I have no intention of competing for it."
Even if he had a little greed in his heart, he was very clear-headed. First of all, he was no match for Xiao Tingyuan in any aspect. Secondly, just by looking at the interaction between Xiao Tingyuan and the God of Cookery, one could tell how deep their master-disciple relationship was, which no one could ever surpass.
So he quickly clarified, afraid of displeasing his master and senior brothers.
"Relax," Xiao Tingyuan said, both amused and exasperated. "There's no point in fighting or grabbing; we don't care about these things."
He gave the master chef a look, and the latter immediately understood the meaning through their years of tacit understanding.
In fact, the God of Cookery is not a talkative person and is too lazy to explain anything to others, even if that person is his apprentice.
Anyway, some things don't need to be explained; we can figure them out gradually in the future, so why waste words?
However, since it was Xiao Tingyuan's idea, he still spoke up: "Tingyuan is right. He entered the Dao early and formed his own set of techniques, so he cannot fully inherit my skills. You have come at the right time. I am looking for a disciple who does not yet have any system. It depends on whether you are willing to give up your own style and learn from me from scratch."
"I'm willing!" the junior brother answered without hesitation.
He didn't even need to think about it. He didn't have his own style at all and was always on the verge of confusion. He was able to get into the academy purely because of his weapon-forging skills.
How could he refuse such a good thing—the master chef was willing to impart all his knowledge and skills?
He agreed quickly, and the chef showed a satisfied expression.
Very good, all three apprentices seem to be very ambitious.
Although if any one of the three falls behind, his performance evaluation may drop to 60 points, the small number of people means that as long as all three are motivated and perform well enough, he can easily achieve a perfect score in his teaching.
The chef stood with his hands behind his back, his smile as warm as a spring breeze.
He was really envious of the inheritances of those powerful beings. Although he was also a half-step ascension person, life is about experience, and he wanted to climb higher.
Not to mention the teacher performance evaluation, his teaching quality must be worthy of the sky-high salary offered by the university.
He reached out and stroked his white beard, looking at his three disciples with loving eyes.
“Come on, Master will take you to our classroom so you can experience what it feels like to cook with sacred artifacts,” he said.
"A sacred artifact!" Xiao Bao and his junior brother were stunned.
"certainly."
After leaving the camera's view, the God of Cookery got tired of pretending to be a profound and unfathomable master. He knew he would be seeing his two newly accepted apprentices every day for a long time to come, and he was tired of pretending every day.
So they simply went back to the old way.
He boasted with a sense of shared honor and shame, "What don't we have in our academy? The worst things we use are sacred artifacts. You can use them as you please. When you first start, you'll inevitably cause some damage, but that's okay. Master has a damage reporting limit. There are only three of you in our culinary class. You can fry ten sacred artifacts a year without any problem."
Xiao Tingyuan quietly tugged at him: "Keep it under control, Ancestor."
Some things are better left unsaid; it's a bit arrogant to say them out loud on university grounds.
"That's no big deal," the chef waved his hand.
Compared to the salary promised by the university, these things were not worth considering.
He felt that since the university was so generous in paying salaries, why would it be so concerned about such a small loss?
This time he was really wrong.
As Jun Huilian walked into the classroom, stood on the podium with his lesson plan in hand, and scanned the room before taking attendance, a deafening noise that could barely be called music suddenly erupted.
The people on the podium immediately fell silent.
Jun Huilian created a small group chat in his mind and sent three mentions.
[Jun Huilian: @Guiyi, what are you doing over there?]
[Jun Huilian: @Guiyi, your students rebelled right after class started?]
[Jun Huilian: @Guiyi, do you need any support on your end?]
After a few breaths, a new reply slowly popped up in the small group.
[Guiyi: I simply selected a requiem and let the students express themselves freely, allowing for diverse perspectives, in order to get a general understanding of their basic abilities.]
[Jun Huilian: ...As long as it's not a rebellion, that's good.]
As soon as the message was sent, she clearly heard a sharp, piercing sound, like a fingernail scratching a spirit stone.
[Jun Huilian: @Guiyi, are you sure you don't need support on your end?]
[Guiyi: ...No need, one student was just too energetic and got knocked off his instrument by a string.]
Jun Huilian remained silent.
Before she could speak again, an even louder explosion rang out, creating a series of sonic booms.
[Jun Huilian: @Guiyi, support?]
[Guiyi: ...No need, one student was too nervous and blew a shrill note on the suona.]
[Jun Huilian: Let's send this kind of talent to the weapon repair class for weapons testing.]
[Guiyi: We're on the same page! That's exactly what I suggested to him. He said he'd apply for a part-time job at the equipment repair class later.]
[Jun Huilian: The damage report for the sound repair class has been reduced by 20%]
[Guiyi: I've already told them.]
Jun Huilian then shifted his attention back to the classroom.
"Teacher, what was that just now...?" a student in the front row asked cautiously.
With such loud noises and fluctuations of spiritual energy occurring one after another, if it weren't for Jun Huilian's intimidation and their understanding that no one would dare to act recklessly on Tianyan Daozu's territory, they would have almost all sought a safe place to evacuate immediately.
"It's alright. It's just that our class was poorly located. The music training class is right next door. Some students were using sacred instruments for the first time and couldn't control their spiritual power well, which caused some minor accidents and noise."
Jun Huilian calmly replied.
"We underestimated their destructive power before, but now we're fine."
After she finished speaking, she snapped her fingers.
The students only felt the scene before them shake slightly, and those with relatively keen senses had already noticed that the space in which their classroom was located had changed.
They released a little spiritual energy to probe and found that the entire teaching building area on the island was magnified to twice its original size, and that each classroom was reinforced with a layer of soundproof wall made of spiritual energy.
“They should have started training at a lower level.” Fu Xiu said sourly in the classroom.
"Exactly, giving it to them is a complete waste."
"Why would we use sacred artifacts during class? Those burly guys who only know how to carry around a zither and shout and kill, and who use musical instruments as weapons to smash people, are clumsy and rough. What if they break everything? What a huge loss that would be for the academy!"
The talisman-cultivation class couldn't use any spiritual artifacts. When they thought about how other classes had sacred-grade spiritual artifacts provided free of charge by the academy as teaching aids, they felt envious and thought they had been taken advantage of.
A Saint-grade spiritual artifact! Most of them haven't even touched one yet! And those people don't cherish it, using a Saint-grade spiritual artifact and making a fool of themselves!
If they had come into contact with a sacred artifact, they certainly wouldn't have lost their composure like they did, even losing their skill in handling it.
Many cultivators silently thought to themselves.
Jun Huilian's lips curled into a slightly mischievous smile: "So that's what you're thinking—I originally planned to show you the completeness and precision of a Saint-grade talisman in the first lesson, but since you've put it this way..."
"teacher!"
The students below quickly responded.
"We're different from them. Our Fu Xiu are the most meticulous and professional! We would never damage anything!"
“That’s right, that’s right. We are fundamentally different from them, teacher. Please believe us!”
"Yes! Please show us one. We'll be extremely careful when we pass it around, making sure it's not damaged in the slightest! Give us a chance! We're usually very meticulous when we do line drawings, down to the last millimeter!"
"Teacher! My child is narrow-minded and wants to see the world!"
"A talisman! A sacred talisman! Teacher, I'm so envious, I want to see it, sob sob!"
"Teacher, please give us a chance! We will definitely observe it carefully and make the most of its effectiveness! Your small action can influence the future of talisman cultivators in the cultivation world!"
"Teacher! Master! Respected teacher! Please let us see him!"
The talisman cultivators immediately started wailing and lamenting, creating a commotion no less than that caused by the sound cultivation class next door.
The surge of spiritual energy caused by his excessive excitement even caught the attention of Guiyi next door, and Jun Huilian was instantly tagged three times in the small group chat.
Jun Huilian casually resumed asking Guiyi if they needed support, and was amused by the pitiful, expectant looks on the students' faces.
She glanced through the void at the "teaching aids" that Jun Feibai had prepared a month ago, deliberately not taking them out first, but instead putting on a show and keeping it a secret.
"Alright, I'll naturally go with the opinion of our own classmates, so..."
The students' eyes lit up, and they all leaned forward slightly, their appetites whetted.
Jun Huilian smiled as he looked around at the eager students, then took a step back.
The students, who were intently watching her, followed her every move, their eyes glued to her, afraid of missing a single sacred talisman.
As Jun Huilian made way for her on the platform, a gentle breeze arose, and countless spinning talismans floated in front of her.
The sacred talisman, gleaming with golden light, swayed in the wind, like a small ornament sold wholesale at a roadside stall, constantly rotating to show everyone its complete patterns.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, stunned and lifeless, Jun Huilian extended his right hand forward, making a "please" gesture, displaying the air of a wealthy and powerful tycoon:
"Everyone, please choose a talisman. Remember to observe it carefully to maximize its effectiveness."
She said it half-jokingly.
At this moment, in the eyes of the students, her already tall figure appeared even more majestic.
Shen Suqi, who had been boasting among the students, shrank back slightly and felt a little embarrassed when she was called on in an unusual way during class.
Jun Huilian casually waved his hand, and countless rare and priceless sacred talismans flew towards the students.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing how much of an impact this glance will have on the future of talisman cultivators in the cultivation world."
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Author's note: I'm working hard to advance to Asahi Roku!
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