Chapter 44: Chapter 41: Blood Land Vein, The Scapegoat Girl_1
Low-level alien beasts that live above the Blood Land Vein spend years absorbing the Energy of Earth Blood. There’s a slight chance that they can undergo a mutation and produce Mutated Heart Meat.
This time, one alien beast from the Zhou Clan in Qingyang City, went through this exact mutation.
Of course, just having ingredients isn’t enough. You also need a Martial Chef.
The Eighteen Bone-penetrating Methods of cooking the dish requires the use of multiple Spiritual Medicines, involving complicated and troublesome steps. Even the smallest misstep could result in failure and waste the precious ingredients.
Even when the ingredients are complete, the chance of a regular Martial Chef successfully cooking the dish is extremely low.
Only the Masters of Martial Chefs have about an eighty percent chance of success.
The Zhou Clan luckily happens to have a Master Martial Chef since they are a family known for their Martial Food.
Consider that in the entire Li’an County, there are only two Master Martial Chefs.
The other one resides at the Master-level Wei Family.
Ten pounds of Mutated Heart Meat cooked by a Master Martial Chef can yield eight portions of Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat.
This aroused loads of envy from Martial Marquis-level feudal lords in the nearby area.
At first, the Zhou Clan wanted to keep the production of Mutated Heart Meat a secret, planning to cook and enjoy it on their own.
Somehow, the news got out, and feudal lords from all around swarmed as if they had smelled blood.
It became difficult for the Zhou Clan to keep it for themselves.
Moreover, the strength of the Zhou Clan has been declining over the years. Since an elder of the Zhou Clan fell a few years ago due to the exhaustion of his lifespan, they now only have two Martial Marquis.
Two Martial Marquis merely cannot consume so much Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat.
Under pressure, the Zhou Clan reluctantly announced that if they could cook eight portions from the ten pounds of Mutated Heart Meat they would auction five portions and keep three.
The Liu Family paid great attention to this. They were embarking on this journey to compete for the Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat.
After all, each serving of Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat had a fifty percent chance of yielding a Martial Marquis.
If they could buy two servings, there would be a high probability of getting a Martial Marquis.
Having a Martial Marquis is crucial for a Martial Marquis-level Clan. This addition could tip the balance of power and dominate the Wu Family.
On the same day, Lu Yan went home and told his parents, Lu Qingshan and Wang Cui, that he would be away on official business for a while to ease their worries.
After preparing, they set out on the second day.
Leading them was Liu Yuansong, an elder of the Liu Family and a Martial Marquis-standard strongman.
There were another seven members from the Liu Family, six retainers, all Martial Arts experts, and three squads of Red-clad Guards. Undoubtedly, this was a powerful force.
It is worth mentioning that after Sun Xiang and Meng Qi were killed, the Seventh Squad was left with a void in their strength, but it is now replenished.
The leader was a Liu clansman from a branch family, whose strength was even better than Sun Xiang’s. He had a cultivation level of Limit Breaking five times and was there to develop the Red-clad Guards’ experience.
The two deputy leaders were a newly recruited four-time Limit Breaking expert and a promoted three-time Limit Breaking expert based on the original foundation.
The overall strength of the Seventh Squad was now stronger than before.
"Set out."
At Liu Yuansong’s order, almost fifty Martial Arts experts rode their warhorses towards Qingyang City.
However, not long after they left the city, they heard an intense roaring sound in another direction as if a massive army was approaching.
Their faces tensed up as they stopped and prepared for a fight.
Soon, a group of horse riders approached.
"It’s the Wu Clansmen."
Lu Yan thought to himself.
The leader was a towering elderly man, standing about 7 feet tall with a build like a bear. They had seen him at Juchi Mountain. He was a strong Martial Marquis from the Wu Family.
Behind him were mainly members of the Wind Patrol, roughly the same number as the Liu Family.
Obviously, the Wu Family, too, aimed at Qingyang City.
"Liu Yuansong, we’ll go ahead first, ha ha."
The Wu Family’s Martial Marquis laughed heartily as he moved on horseback without stopping for a break. His party roared ahead.
"Reaching Qingyang City earlier is no use if you can’t purchase in advance."
Liu Yuansong uttered quietly. Only after the Wu family was far away did he order to continue moving forward.
Qingyang City, located north of Changfeng City, is about 180 miles away from Changfeng City.
This distance is not far. Even if they stopped halfway to rest the horses, they would arrive in half a day.
From a distance, a large city came into view.
Yet, the layout of this city was different from that of Changfeng City.
The other three sides resembled Changfeng City’s layout, but the direction of the eastern city gate was connected to a mountain range.
It could be said that leaving the city gate would lead directly into this mountain range.
As they moved closer, they discovered that the orbicular mountain range was similar to a dragon lying down with faint, blood-red mist surrounding it, giving an eerie and mysterious feeling.
"Is this the Blood Land Vein? The one occupied by the Zhou Clan."
A thought flickered in Lu Yan’s mind.
Now, Lu Yan was no longer the naive boy who knew nothing when he first crossed over to this world.
After several years in the Red-clad Guard, his understanding of this world had deepened a lot.
Blood Land Vein, it was the lifeblood of the feudal world.
Because the main ingredient for cooking Martial Food, the Alien Beasts, lived on the Blood Land Vein.
Only by absorbing the blood energy emanated from the Blood Land Vein could the Alien Beasts grow, and their meat would have all kinds of magical effects.
Without the Blood Land Vein, the feudal lords wouldn’t be able to breed Alien Beasts; they would lose their foundation and ultimately decline.
There were naturally Blood Land Veins around Changfeng City, two to be precise, one each in the south and north, occupied by the Liu Family and the Wu Family respectively.
They built castles on the Blood Land Vein, stationed their martial armies, and had powerful experts guarding. The Blood Land Vein was the real core of the feudal lords.
Unlike the Blood Land Vein in Qingyang City connected to the city, Changfeng City’s two Blood Land Veins were a dozen miles away from the city.
Changfeng City was located between the two Blood Land Veins.
Guards like them in red, were not qualified to enter the Liu Family’s Blood Land Vein.
The Liu Family sent people to Qingyang City to prepare a few days ago; they rented a large courtyard and hired a dozen servants for laundry, cooking, and cleaning.
So when they arrived, they moved in directly, which was very convenient.
As soon as Liu Yuansong arrived in Qingyang City, he went to visit the Zhou Clan with two members of the Liu Family.
"Lu Yan, I’ve been to Qingyang City before; it’s quite prosperous. The Zhou Clan is famous for their Martial Chefs, so there are several restaurants in the city that offer Martial Food with excellent taste. Shall we go and give it a try?" Wang Lin said.
"Let’s go!"
Lu Yan was naturally very interested in Martial Food.
Wang Lin also invited two other acquaintances from the Seventh Squad. The four of them set off into the city.
Walking down the street, they occasionally met martial arts experts who either carried swords or looked robust and vigorous with solid auras.
Clearly, many martial marquises from the neighboring fiefdoms had arrived.
Zhou’s Martial Food, a very straightforward name, was the largest restaurant in Qingyang City, and it was managed by the Zhou Clan itself.
Like Wuke’s House, it also had five floors, with the first three providing regular food, and the fourth and fifth offering Martial Food.
They headed directly for the fifth floor, only to find more than half of the seats already taken.
A glance around, and Lu Yan’s gaze was instantly drawn to one table.
At this table was a woman, about 16 or 17 years old, with a classic almond-shaped face and a pair of beautiful, large eyes. Her features were incredibly delicate; even having encountered numerous beautiful faces on Earth, few could compare to this young woman.
Of course, what attracted Lu Yan’s gaze was not her beauty, but what she was wearing.
She was dressed in tight-fitting martial arts attire, but it was obviously altered to reveal her fair arms and long, slender, fair legs.
What was most unusual was that she had a black... iron wok on her back.
Next to the wok, there was even a spatula.
Such attire, not only piqued Lu Yan’s interest, but also attracted frequent glances from others.
But the girl seemed oblivious to the attention, sitting at her table with two dishes of Martial Food, eating slowly.
She ate very slowly, her beautiful face alternatively expressing puzzlement, delight, and slight frowning.
"Gentlemen, our Zhou’s Martial Food is usually sold in limited quantities, but due to the recent arrival of our esteemed guests, we have relaxed the limitation. Each person can now purchase two servings of Martial Food."
A middle-aged man, who looked like the manager, approached and informed them.
"Then we’ll each have two servings."
Wang Lin generously raised his hand.
Soon, two different types of Martial Food were served for each person, about a kilo for each serving.
They were all signature dishes of Zhou’s Martial Food.
One was a stewed antelope leg, and the other was slow-cooked blood beef.
Lu Yan placed a piece of the stewed antelope leg into his mouth, savoring it. Instantly, the exquisite taste exploded on his taste buds, making his eyes light up.
"It’s even more delicious than the Martial Food at Wuke’s House."
Lu Yan couldn’t help but exclaim.
The ingredients of Martial Food are diverse, and as the Alien Beasts’ meat differs, so do the dishes, thus the taste varies greatly.
"The Zhou Clan is famous for Martial Food after all, producing renowned Martial Chefs generation after generation. It’s only natural that the food they make isn’t bad."
Wang Lin also praised.
At that moment, Lu Yan noticed something and looked to the side.
Two tall, skinny men were approaching the beautiful girl, their gazes heated.
