Chapter 260: Chapter 235 Lu Yan, Master Martial Chef _1
Lu Yan smiled slightly, unphased.
He knew these antique sellers, they always proposed ridiculous prices, looking to make as much profit as they can.
Returning the iron bowl, Lu Yan moved to another shelf, picked up a worn, cracked copper mirror, and asked, "How much for this one?"
"Four thousand taels."
The chubby shopkeeper raised four fingers.
Lu Yan merely smiled again and placed the copper mirror back on the shelf.
"Sir, are you sincerely interested in buying? If so, make an offer."
The shopkeeper suggested.
"Of course I’m serious about buying, but you’re trying to slaughter me like a pig. How am I supposed to make a purchase?"
Lu Yan laughed.
"Sir, you’re being too harsh. I conduct my business with utmost integrity. I assure you my prices are fair, catering to all ages. I guarantee you’ll be profiting from any purchase you make."
The pudgy shopkeeper swore solemnly as if ready to make an oath to the heavens.
"Alright then, those two items I looked at earlier, together for a thousand taels."
Lu Yan raised a single finger.
The shopkeeper’s face jittered, "Sir, isn’t that a little harsh?"
"If you agree, I will choose a few more items. If you don’t, I’ll leave."
Lu Yan spoke straightforwardly and decisively.
"Deal," the chubby shopkeeper clapped his hands.
"Lost."
Lu Yan inwardly lamented his miscalculation.
Seeing how readily the shopkeeper agreed, Lu Yan knew that even if he had haggled further, the shopkeeper would have sold the items to him.
With a stern face, he selected the remaining five Dao Foods and engaged in an intense ’battle’ of negotiation with the shopkeeper.
After a battle of wits and words, he got the seven Dao Foods for thirteen thousand taels. It was much cheaper than purchasing from the guild.
"Sir, we look forward to your next visit."
The shopkeeper beamed as Lu Yan was about to leave.
"I’m fond of collecting antiques from the ancient era. If you have access to more, I will frequently visit."
Lu Yan added.
"Really?"
The shopkeeper’s eyes lit up. "Rest assured, I have sources in many cities. I’ll put out the word to source more for your purchases."
"Good, I hope we can have a long-term partnership."
Lu Yan was overjoyed in his heart but remained expressionless, nodding his head and bidding the shopkeeper farewell before quickly returning to the Hidden Dragon Camp.
He placed the ten Dao Foods in a box.
"I hope that chubby fellow won’t disappoint me."
Lu Yan was quite excited. If he could continuously purchase Dao Food, that would be very comfortable.
At these prices, he was definitely making a huge profit.
Taking just the Dao Food that was worth ten Meritorious Points, he had only spent four thousand taels. However, ten Meritorious Points were worth three hundred thousand taels.
After storing everything, Lu Yan took out the ’Coral Beef’ recipe and started to study it.
After completely memorizing the content of the recipe, Lu Yan entered the Martial Kitchen.
The Martial Kitchen was fully equipped with high-quality utensils.
After cleaning up, Lu Yan followed the recipe and started cooking ’Coral Beef’.
Of the second-tier Martial Foods, Lu Yan had mastered only one, the Yinuo Lizard Meat, which he had elevated to the state of ’Man and Food Integration’. His acquired proficiency was not to be underestimated.
Preparing Martial Food was similar to cooking gourmet dishes.
Different dishes required different levels of cooking time and heat, but the fundamental principles of cooking were the same.
The situation with Martial Food was similar.
Different Martial Foods required different levels of heat, ingredients, and cooking times, but the basic principles were consistent.
Though Lu Yan only mastered Yinuo Lizard Meat, due to reaching the highest realm of understanding, he was quick to adapt when preparing other Martial Foods.
However, attaining success quickly for a new Martial Food, even with firm grasp of the basic principles, was unrealistic.
Therefore, in the initial few days, Lu Yan experienced about a dozen consecutive failures.
After more than ten failures, Lu Yan gradually found a rhythm. His techniques became increasingly proficient, and he was getting closer and closer to success.
In the following days, after finishing his daily martial arts practice and consuming the Martial Food, Lu Yan would get straight into the kitchen.
Like this, it took Lu Yan a little over twenty days to finally cook ’Coral Beef’ successfully and form a Martial Food Avatar.
To upgrade a second-tier Martial Food Avatar, second-tier Martial Food was sufficient, so Lu Yan did not waste his Dao Food.
He went out and bought heaps of second-tier Martial Food.
Now that his digestion capacity had greatly increased, after consuming twenty pounds of third-tier Martial Food each day, he would also eat a few dozen pounds of second-tier Martial Food.
The level of his Martial Food Avatar rose rapidly.
After a little over ten days, it reached the state of ’Man and Food Integration’.
Lu Yan’s understanding and mastery of Martial Food improved significantly.
However, Lu Yan did not start experimenting with third-tier Martial Food, but instead bought another second-tier Martial Food recipe to study.
This time, it only took him around ten days to successfully cook and form a Martial Food Avatar.
He continued to consume second-tier Martial Food, and after more than ten days, he raised the Avatar to the state of ’Man and Food Integration’.
"Can I start studying third-tier Martial Food now?"
Lu Yan pondered.
Having advanced three types of second-tier Martial Food to the ’Man and Food Integration’ state, Lu Yan’s understanding of the Martial Chef profession had reached a very high level.
He cross-compared the several first-tier and three second-tier Martial Foods, identifying many common elements, and his understanding of the fundamental principles of Martial Food had gone up a notch.
Lu Yan had faith that even if he were to cook ’Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat’, he would have a very high success rate.
Now, he was very close to reaching the realm of a Martial Chef Grandmaster.
After purchasing a Grade 3 Martial Food recipe book, as well as the necessary Alien Beast meat and Spiritual Medicine from the Trade Association, Lu Yan plunged himself into the Martial Chef kitchen.
Grade 3 Martial Food is much more difficult than Grade 2 Martial Food.
Without a renowned mentor to guide him, Lu Yan had to fumble his way through the process, making it even harder.
After more than two months and hundreds of failures, he finally succeeded in cooking a dish of Grade 3 Martial Food for the first time and managed to form an Avatar of Martial Food.
By this time, the new year’s Hidden Dragon List Challenge had begun.
On the day of the challenge, the area around the battle stage was still packed with people.
Lu Yan, of course, went to watch.
But he didn’t initiate a challenge.
Compared to last year, the rankings this year didn’t change much.
This year, not only did Wang Tianyu not challenge anyone, but Chu Hongye also didn’t make a move. It seemed that they didn’t make any significant breakthroughs and didn’t feel confident enough to make a big leap.
Feng Yuanyi also didn’t challenge anyone.
However, a fighter ranked below Feng Yuanyi challenged him, allowing Lu Yan to witness Feng Yuanyi’s strength.
Feng Yuanyi’s Signature Skill, hidden within his kidneys, was a combination of Inner Strength and Wind attribute. His primary Top Martial Arts skill was kick-based, excellent in both attack and defense. His speed was as fast as lightning. His opponent couldn’t even touch him and was eventually kicked off the stage.
"This guy is strong. He’s ranked thirty-third, but it’s unfortunate that his Cultivation Level is slightly lower, still at the Fifth-level Master. Wanting to make a big leap forward and get into the top thirty isn’t easy, so he hasn’t challenged anyone yet."
Lu Yan thought to himself.
A few days later, the highlight of the event arrived.
As expected, Shang Wuyang challenged Mo Wenzhuo, resulting in another pinnacle showdown.
Compared to last year, the moves they used in battle were more varied and intense.
In the end, Shang Wuyang was slightly weaker and was defeated by Mo Wenzhuo.
However, those with keen eyes could see that the gap between the two was tiny, and this gap was getting smaller year by year. Perhaps in a few years, the throne of the first place would change.
Feng Yuanyi looked at the two figures on the stage with envy.
"Brother Yi, by asking others to call you ’Brother Yi’, are you harboring the ambition to be number one?"
Lu Yan questioned Feng Yuanyi.
"Nonsense, it’s just that the name ’Yi’ is part of my name, isn’t it?", Feng Yuanyi denied. Seeing Lu Yan’s skeptical look, Feng Yuanyi helplessly said, "So what if it’s true? What’s the difference between a person without grand ambitions and a salted fish? Perhaps someday Mo Wenzhuo and Shang Wuyang will break through to the True Body Realm, then I might have a chance."
"Isn’t there still Chu Hongye?"
Lu Yan muttered.
"Could...could I be the ’Second Brother’ instead?"
Feng Yuanyi, greatly affected, turned around and walked away.
"Isn’t there still Wang Tianyu?"
Lu Yan continued to mutter.
Feng Yuanyi walked away even faster.
"Isn’t there still... me?"
Lu Yan’s voice echoed.
Upon hearing that, Feng Yuanyi vanished into the distance in an instant.
...
After the bustling Hidden Dragon Camp Challenge, things returned to normal.
Everyone was busy and working hard.
Some were assigned tasks by their superiors, some took on tasks themselves to earn Meritorious Points, and some devoted their days to closed-door Cultivation.
Even if people in the Hidden Dragon Camp had exceptional talent, without hard work, they would fade into the crowd.
"If I want to upgrade my Grade 3 Martial Food Avatar, Grade 2 Martial Food might not be of much help. Should I use Dao Food to improve it?"
Lu Yan wondered.
During this period, he had visited the antique store twice and bought five Dao Foods.
He now had a total of fifteen Dao Foods.
"I’ll decide after upgrading."
Lu Yan made up his mind.
If he needs to improve his Martial Arts in the future, he’ll find a way then.
He took out a Dao Food for the Dao Book to consume.
The energy needed to upgrade Grade 3 Martial Food is even more than a top-tier martial arts skill. After consuming one mundane Dao Food, the progress of upgrading the Martial Food Avatar was quite limited.
One by one, the Dao Foods were absorbed by the Dao Book.
After a total of nine Dao Foods were consumed, the Grade 3 Martial Food Avatar finally upgraded to the ’Man and Food Integration’ state.
Of course, these nine Dao Foods had rather sparse energy. The remaining six, in contrast, contained relatively dense energy.
This included two pieces with energy equivalent to ten Meritorious Points.
Having a Grade 3 Martial Food reach ’Man and Food Integration’ greatly increased Lu Yan’s experience in the realm of Martial Chefs, officially propelling him into the rank of Master Martial Chef.
When preparing Grade 2 Martial Food, many previously challenging aspects now came naturally to him. Where he used to easily make mistakes, he now easily excelled.
Lu Yan felt that if he attempted to cook ’Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat’ now, the success rate would be very high.
"Should I give it a try?"
Lu Yan was tempted to buy some Mutated Heart Meat and give it a try, but he decided against it due to the risk of waste should he fail and lose the Silver invested.
"Now that I’ve managed to raise a Grade 3 Martial Food to the ’Man and Food Integration’ stage, I can start preparing Grade 3 Martial Food for Cultivation myself."
A smile appeared on Lu Yan’s face.
Purchasing Grade 3 Alien Beast meat and auxiliary Spiritual Medicine is much cheaper.
A pound of ready-made Grade 3 Martial Food costs 300 silver.
But the cost price is less than 200 silver, roughly around 180 silver.
"If you cook a lot, you can sell some to earn the difference, creating a positive cycle. Wouldn’t that mean there’s a consistent supply for Martial Food Cultivation?"
This thought energized Lu Yan, and he immediately purchased a hundred pounds of Grade 3 Alien Beast meat and the corresponding Spiritual Medicine from the market to start cooking.
Soon, a pot of Grade 3 Martial Food, weighing around ten pounds, was freshly off the stove, filling the air with its delicious aroma.
