Chapter 261: Chapter 236 Declining Treatment_1
Lu Yan immediately served himself a bowl, gorged on it, and then used the Cold Magic Palm to refine the food.
After a while.
"The effects are comparable to the martial food purchased from the market, with similar taste, and even slightly better results."
Lu Yan laughed.
Then he continued to eat. It didn’t take long for ten pounds of third-level martial food to end up in Lu Yan’s stomach.
After receiving twenty pounds of third-level martial food from the Martial Food Building, he continued his cultivation.
After eating, Lu Yan started his own cooking.
Then he ate again.
Five days later, a hundred pounds of third-grade Alien Beasts meat had been consumed.
The success rate was a hundred percent.
However, Lu Yan found a problem. That was, he was alone. He spent half a day every day practicing martial arts, the rest of the time was spent on cooking martial food. The cooking speed was ultimately limited. Around twenty pounds per day, plus the twenty pounds he received for free, was just enough for his own cultivation, with nothing left to sell.
"If I sell it, I won’t have enough to eat. If I want enough to eat, I can’t sell—what choice do I make?
Lu Yan pondered.
In the end, he decided to sell first, earn a profit, accumulate wealth, and once he has enough silver, he can then start cooking for himself.
According to Lu Yan’s pace, in addition to cultivation, he could cook twenty pounds a day, which would be six hundred pounds a month.
He could earn a hundred and twenty taels per pound, which would make a profit of seventy-two thousand taels of silver a month.
This equates to two additional third-level Martial Pills a month.
That was already quite good, since he had free time anyways.
He immediately went to the market and bought two hundred pounds of third-grade Alien Beasts meat and Spiritual Medicine, and started cooking.
"What a great scent, Lu Yan, are you cooking martial food?"
The surprised voice of Feng Yuanyi came from outside.
"What’s so strange about it? My master is a Martial Chef Grandmaster, and so is my elder brother. Is it strange that I can cook martial food?"
Emerging from the martial kitchen, Lu Yan lightly brushed off the question.
Upon reflection, Feng Yuanyi indeed found nothing strange about it.
Having a Martial Chef Grandmaster as both a master and elder brother, it would be strange not to know how to cook martial food.
"Third-level martial food, do you want it? I’ll sell it to you. If you don’t want it, I’ll sell it to someone else."
Lu Yan proposed.
"How effective is it? Let me try it first."
Feng Yuanyi suggested.
Lu Yan served a plate to Feng Yuanyi.
After a moment...
"Not bad, not bad at all. The effects are superb, even better than the third-level martial food found in the market. How much can you produce each day? I’ll take all."
Feng Yuanyi kept nodding.
"Twenty pounds a day."
"Good, I’ll take all of it. Keep it coming for me in the future."
Feng Yuanyi nodded, reaching an agreement with Lu Yan.
Spring went and Fall came, seasons changed.
In a blink of an eye, another year’s Hidden Dragon List challenge began.
This was the third time Lu Yan participated in the Hidden Dragon List challenge since he joined the Hidden Dragon Camp.
In this year, Lu Yan still didn’t make a move.
Chu Hongye and Wang Tianyu didn’t make a move this year either.
But this year, Feng Yuanyi challenged a powerful fighter ranked 29th, won, and entered the top thirty. His monthly rewards increased significantly as a result.
In this year, Shang Wuyang challenged Mo Wenzhuo again. After a fierce battle, he was still defeated in the end.
Shortly after the end of the Hidden Dragon List challenge, Feng Yuanyi found Lu Yan and told him that he would be going out on a mission. He probably wouldn’t return within a year, so he asked Lu Yan to sell his martial food to someone else temporarily.
The population in the Hidden Dragon Camp began to dwindle.
"This Hidden Dragon Camp challenge at the end of each year is really like a festival. When the time comes, everyone shows up. After it’s over, they head off on their own."
Lu Yan mused.
Two months later, Lu Yan encountered a vexing problem.
That was, he had already been in the Hidden Dragon Camp for three years. Once the three years were up, he would no longer enjoy ten free martial pills a month, and he would lose his free chance to practice martial arts each month.
Even the daily provision of third-level martial food would drop from twenty pounds to ten pounds.
This amount of martial food was not nearly enough for cultivation.
The significant drop in benefits left Lu Yan feeling quite downcast.
"It’s fortunate that in a little over a year, I’ve earned almost one million taels cooking martial food. I won’t sell martial food anymore, I’ll use the food I cook for myself. This should last for a while."
Lu Yan thought to himself.
From then on, he cooked for himself every day. Combining this with his daily allotment, he consumed thirty pounds of third-grade martial food every day.
However, without the aid of martial pills, his cultivation speed significantly decreased.
Twenty-one strands of inner strength required a massive amount of energy to advance at the same pace.
After six more months, Lu Yan began to consider whether he should go out and accept a task.
Only by completing tasks could he earn meritorious points which could then be converted into martial pills to increase his cultivation speed.
Lu Yan decided to go and see. If he could find a task that wasn’t too dangerous, he could accept it.
The really dangerous ones he wouldn’t consider.
The place to accept tasks was not within the Hidden Dragon Camp.
Because the tasks were not only linked to the Hidden Dragon Camp but also to the entire Forbidden Guard of King Ming.
Outside of the Hidden Dragon Camp, he circled a long alleyway and traveled five miles north to reach the Task Hall.
As he entered the Task Hall, he saw a great many people. People were coming and going, all wearing the robes of the Forbidden Guards.
There are three vital forces within the Mansion of King Ming, the army of King Ming, the Forbidden Guards of King Ming, and King Ming’s Bodyguards.
The primary duty of King Ming’s army is to guard various locations and go to war against external forces.
The main mission of King Ming’s Forbidden Guards is to guard Mingwang City.
With thirty thousand Forbidden Guards, the defense of Mingwang City is impenetrable, and no one has been able to break through in hundreds of years.
Only the Bodyguards of King Ming tend to be more flexible.
The members of King Ming’s Bodyguards have profound cultivation; even the weakest amongst them are at Martial Marquis Level Five. By their title, it may seem that they are the guards protecting King Ming. But that’s not the case.
With King Ming’s level of cultivation, why would he need protection?
Even if someone could pose a threat to King Ming’s safety, it would be of no use to rely on these Bodyguards.
Thus, only a few confidants work around King Ming.
Some are always guarding some of King Ming’s family members.
Most of King Ming’s Bodyguards are scattered about, solving some highly difficult problems.
Surrounding the task hall, there are twelve counters, and there are people asking something at each counter.
Lu Yan casually chose a counter and walked over.
"Are you here to accept tasks? Here is the task list; take a look first."
The elder behind the counter waved his hand, and a piece of paper flew straight toward Lu Yan, who caught it. He found that the paper listed dozens of tasks.
There are mainly two types of tasks; one is solo tasks, which are mostly simple, with little danger, but the reward is quite low.
The lowest ones offer a single Meritorious Point, and the highest ones offer just five Meritorious Points, yet they are tiring and time-consuming.
Lu Yan looked around and did not find a suitable one.
Then he went on to check the group tasks.
The so-called group tasks pose a higher risk, but they offer much more generous rewards.
However, they require cooperation from multiple people.
Of course, if you are highly skilled and have enough confidence, you can also accept it on your own. There are no fixed rules on this.
After looking around and rubbing his temples, he didn’t know which mission to select.
"Lu Yan..."
Two figures walked over to Lu Yan and called out his name.
"Wang Guangyao, Li Chengkong." Lu Yan turned around and recognized the two men.
These two men were from the Hidden Dragon Camp.
Lu Yan had been in the Hidden Dragon Camp for three and a half years and had had a chance to meet many people. Even though many people were usually busy and sometimes they were out on missions, he had managed to interact with them over such a long period.
He had met almost all of the over three hundred people in the Hidden Dragon Camp and made some impression on them.
"Are you here to take on tasks?"
Wang Guangyao asked. He was a brawny and muscular man who looked like a tower.
"Yes, you too?"
Lu Yan nodded and asked back.
"Yes, we took on a group task, but we are short of one archer. Your cultivation of Thunder Nine Sounds has advanced so rapidly that you achieved mastery in half a year after joining the Hidden Dragon Camp. After three years, your archery skills must have reached the peak, right?"
Wang Guangyao asked tentatively.
Lu Yan nodded and accepted frankly, saying, "Thunder Nine Sounds, I have reached the peak of perfection."
"Indeed, a genius as talented as Wang Tianyu. In just a few years, you have attained the pinnacle of superior archery skills. We are far behind. We admire you"
Wang Guangyao and Li Chengkong sighed in awe, full of envy.
But they only envied him; they did not have any thoughts of jealousy to kill him because he had higher talent.
They are not so shallow.
In this world, there are too many geniuses, how can they handle them all?
So, most people just want to get along with geniuses when they see them, not offend them.
Lu Yan smiled, did not explain much, and then switched to another topic: "You mentioned earlier that you took on a group task, what kind of task is it?"
"We are going to the ancient battlefield of the Youlin Mountains to eliminate evil spirits."
Wang Guangyao said.
"That ancient battlefield was left from the late Dagu Dynasty when the world was in chaos. It is said that over two hundred thousand soldiers died there, and the grievance was overwhelming, densely filled with deathly energy. This makes it easy for various demons, zombies, and Flying Asuras to thrive."
"Every several decades, the Mansion of King Ming sends people to eradicate them. If these evil spirits become too many, they will go out and harm people. Because it has to be eradicated once every several decades, the strength of the evil spirits there is not too formidable. The strongest will not exceed the fourth-level master, so they are not difficult to kill."
"What’s troublesome is the Flying Asuras. They can fly low and fast. That’s why we need an experienced archer to help. Brother Lu, your Thunder Nine Sounds have already reached the peak of perfection and are perfect for this."
"Brother Lu, are you interested?"
Li Chengkong explained in detail.
Lu Yan also remembered this task, which offers quite a lot of Meritorious Points, up to two hundred points.
"How many people are going on this mission?"
Lu Yan asked.
"Besides Li Chengkong and me, there are two other people. If Brother Lu agrees, we will have the right number of people and can set off immediately."
Wang Guangyao said.
"Well, how will the Meritorious Points be allocated when the time comes?"
Lu Yan asked again.
"For a group task, according to the rules, it is generally distributed according to the amount of labor. The greater the contribution, the more Meritorious Points are shared, and vice versa."
Wang Guangyao said.
"By the way, besides this task, we also took on another one to round up the Flower-picking Thief Liu Boguang. This man has been harming innocent women continuously and killing them after his horrific acts. He’s hard-hearted and has been hunted by the Martial Hunter of the Mansion of King Ming. He has taken refuge in Youlin City, which is on our way."
Li Chengkong said.
Lu Yan’s eyes moved. He remembered this task as well.
"The task introduction indicates that this Liu Boguang is suspected to be a Martial Spirit."
Lu Yan said.
