Chapter 17 – Test
Clear Stream Restaurant, second floor of the rear kitchen.
When Chen Xi and Bai Wanqing walked in, old man Ma, Qiao Nan, and Pei Pei were all present. The corners of Qiao Nan’s lips beamed as he grinned and whistled vibrantly. “Pretty Lady Bai, not seeing you for 10 days is like 10 years. I missed you extremely. Have you been well?”
Pei Pei instead held her coquettish face with her hands as she gazed at Chen Xi in infatuation and muttered. “Mmm, Little Brother Chen Xi seems to have become even more handsome, so manly. Oh!”
Old man Ma struck the iron ladle in his hand to make banging sounds, and his voice was like thunder as he stomped his foot and roared. “As my fucking Junior Brother and Junior Sister, you two are actually so shameless. Fucking shut your mouths!”
Qiao Nan and Pei Pei pursed their lips, incomparably resentful.
Chen Xi had experienced such a scene long ago, so he didn’t feel surprised and only was slightly unable to endure the delicate and charming woman, Pei Pei. He said in his heart, Once old man Ma becomes my master, you’ll become my Martial Aunt. Can’t you exercise a little restraint when you speak?
“I presume you’ve already learned the An Ultimate, Illustrated Guide to Food Ingredients and Collection of Spirit Flames like the back of your hands in this 10 days of time. I’ll give you a question, and if you can answer it then I’ll take you as my disciple. If you’re unable to answer it, then hurry up and leave so as to avoid wasting each other’s time.” Old man Ma’s expression went serious and he started testing what Chen Xi learned in these 10 days.
Chen Xi nodded with a calm expression.
In these past ten days, his soul had become many time stronger than before from visualizing the Fuxi Divine Statue. It was precisely because of this that he was able to learn by heart the knowledge that was as vast as the sea within the An Ultimate, Illustrated Guide to Food Ingredients and Collection of Spirit Flames in such a short amount of time.
Chen Xi was confident that so long as the question was from within those two books, he would surely not make a mistake in the slightest!
The question old man Ma produced only consisted of two words — Rainbow Spindrift! This was the name of a dish that only a 5 leaf spirit chef was able to cook because the ingredients and spirit flame used all contained extremely particular requirements and it had an extremely high difficulty. This dish was also specially prepared for Golden Core Realm cultivators.
However, within the An Ultimate, Illustrated Guide to Food Ingredients, the ranking of Rainbow Spindrift amongst the myriad of dishes wasn’t high. When compared to the other dishes that were available to Golden Core Realm cultivators for consumption, the Rainbow Spindrift was undoubtedly one of the most troublesome dishes to be prepared. Solely the various ingredients of different attributes that were used included more than 100 types, and the steps to cook it even reached of a thousand. Unless it was of necessity, a 5 leaf spirit chef would be unwilling to cook this dish. Thus naturally, very few people showed any interest towards the name, Rainbow Spindrift.
As far as old man Ma was concerned, if Chen Xi truly completely mastered the An Ultimate, Illustrated Guide to Food Ingredients, then using Rainbow Spindrift to test him was extremely suitable.
“In those days amongst the three of us, only I remembered this dish. Even if he’s any more intelligent, it would still be impossible for him to compare to me, and he would only be able to barely compare with you and Junior Sister. Senior Brother, aren’t you making things too difficult for him?” Qiao Nan respectfully protested for Chen Xi, but his words were filled with self-praise. Obviously, this fellow was extremely vain no matter what.
“Yeah, Senior Brother, you wouldn’t be envious of Little Brother Chen Xi’s appearance being more handsome than yours right? And you’re not using a different method to send him packing, right? I won’t agree to it.” Pei Pei rolled her eyes and started using her own methods to protest for Chen Xi.
The veins on old man Ma’s forehead popped up as he gnashed his teeth and barked. “SHUT UP! You’re a narcissist and you’re a boy crazy ditz! What qualifications do the two of you have to fucking challenge me? I’m the fucking Senior Brother, my say is fucking final!”
Qiao Nan and Pei Pei went silent once again, with an appearance of helplessness from surrendering to despotic power.
“It’s not a problem, right?” Although Bai Wanqing didn’t know the difficulty of the Rainbow Spindrift, but from the behaviour of Qiao Nan and Pei Pei, she could roughly guess its difficulty.
She couldn’t help but have a worried expression as she gazed at Chen Xi, and she was extremely suspicious in her heart. Could it be that this old fart is really making things difficult for Chen Xi?
Chen Xi nodded towards Bai Wanqing, he was perfectly composed and practically didn’t hesitate before saying, “The Rainbow Spindrift is made from the Azure Spiral Root, Inky Laurel Flower, Violet Vine Nine Leaf Fruit, Dragon Feeler Poria Branch…”
Chen Xi recited with a voice that brought along a trace of a unique serene force, as it resounded out into the ears of everyone present in an orderly way.
“These 100 ingredients have attributes that include the five elements, Yin, and Yang. All of them require being sliced into threads that attain the state of being fine like cotton fibres, and this constitutes the first step. The second step is to use 10,000 Year Stalactite Milk as a pool, then sort these ingredients into different attributes before soaking them and cultivating them in the pool. Up to the point the threads are smooth as water and flexible like tendons, then use Azurewood Spirit Flame, Tenthwater Spirit Flame, Crimsonfire Spirit Flame…”
In next to no time, Chen Xi had already had spoken of nearly 100 ingredients of various attributes, then started talking about the handling of the ingredients. Bai Wanqing didn’t understand these, but she clearly saw that along with names of ingredients floating out of Chen Xi’s mouth one by one, the expressions on old man Ma and the others gradually became serious and their eyes vaguely revealed a trace of astonishment.
She couldn’t help but secretly heave a sigh of relief, and a strand of a sense of pride arose within her heart as she anticipated Chen Xi’s performance even more.
“Oh, this kid’s memory isn’t bad. He’ll soon catch up with me during that year.” Qiao Nan was startled as he spoke with a tone that had a trace of unnaturalness.
“It can’t be! You’re still vain even now? I remember that although you remembered all the steps of the Rainbow Spindrift that year, you also had over ten omissions. Little Brother Chen Xi hasn’t had a trace of mistake up until now.” Pei Pei exposed him relentlessly.
Embarrassment flashed on Qiao Nan’s face, then his face went sombre. “Actually, I could have achieved perfection that time, but it’s all because I was too kind hearted and couldn’t bear to cause you and Senior Brother to lose face. So, I intentionally…”
“SHUT UP!” Old man Ma’s suppressed his voice and interrupted. “I’m fucking taking a disciple, not listening to you blow your own trumpet!”
Qiao Nan lightly sighed, then unhurriedly stroked his chin. He had a bleak and desolate expression from not being understood, but in his heart he was instead burning with impatience. He was flustered and exasperated as he nagged. “Kid, hurry up and make a mistake. Otherwise, my stalwart and talented image will be completely destroyed. How would I strike up a conversation with beauties in the future…?”
However, what caused Qiao Nan to despair was that fifteen minutes had passed, but Chen Xi still didn’t have a single omission. On the contrary, his thoughts became clearer and clearer, his speed of speaking faster and faster, simply able to be said that his mouth was like a rushing river that was pouring out like a flood.
Qiao Nan was battered out of his senses. “It’s over, this genius’ record from that year has been broken…”
Pei Pei muttered in infatuation. “A confident man is the most handsome. Mmm, Big Sister has been captured and is stuck in the snares of love, and I’m unable to free myself.”
Bai Wanqing was radiant, and she ceaselessly repeated. “Not bad, not bad…”
Old man Ma’s shrivelled and stiff face had already bloomed into a smile, like a daisy that bloomed vigorously after autumn.
…
“In conclusion, so long as these different ingredients are handled according to these steps that I’ve mentioned, it’s completely able to form a unique exterior of spindrifts gathering to make a rainbow manifest, after baking it with Spirit Gathering Yin Flame.”
After the time for an incense stick to burn, Chen Xi finally completely explained all the steps of the Rainbow Spindrift. When raised his eyes to look, he instead noticed the surrounding people were all dumbstruck with absent-minded appearances, and he couldn’t help but be slightly startled as he thought to himself. Could it be that I made a mistake?
He didn’t know how great of a shock that these two hours of him explaining without the slightest mistake brought to the others, but he was extremely clear that today was the time he spoke the most, and it was practically worth the amount he spoke in a year.
“Cough. Mmm, being able to achieve such a degree in 10 days, your natural talent is alright.” After a long time, old man Ma coughed dryly to break the silence.
Chen Xi let out a sigh of relief, it was alright as long as he passed the test. As for how his natural talent was, he didn’t care to fuss about it.
“What do you mean by natural talent is alright?” Qiao Nan was as if been provoked, and he didn’t have a trace of poise anymore. He waved his arms about like he was in a frenzy as he roared. “How can a fellow that is a bigger genius than this genius be called as alright natural talent? Then what about me? Trash with stupid natural talent?”
Pei Pei was unable to bear with old man Ma’s evaluation as well, and she spoke with extremely sharp words. “Senior Brother, when you explained the Rainbow Spindrift to Master all those years ago, you were oppressed to the point your face flushed red. You hummed and hawed for more than half a day, and even got a more than half of it wrong, you…”
Old man Ma was embarrassed to the point he become incomparably furious when his old scars were exposed in his face, and he roared to interrupt Pei Pei at once. “Is it not enough that I fucking admit he’s a genius? Would the two of you die if you shut your mouths and be silent!?”
Old man Ma stopped for a moment, then said weakly, “Actually, I was afraid he would be arrogant, so I merely struck a small blow to his confidence.”
Qiao Nan and Pei Pei rolled their eyes in unison.
Chen Xi was confused by this, he extremely lacked the awareness of the importance of becoming a genius, and he only muttered in his heart. These three fellows are really strange…
Bai Wanqing pulled on the corner of Chen Xi’s sleeve and said softly. “Did you know earlier that old man Ma was going to test this Rainbow Spindrift?”
Chen Xi was startled then shook his head. “I didn’t know.”
Bai Wanqing said in amazement, “That is to say you’ve completely mastered the An Ultimate, Illustrated Guide to Food Ingredients and the Collection of Spirit Flames?”
Chen Xi was bewildered. “Is there a problem?”
He was indeed extremely bewildered, as far as he was concerned, wasn’t it just memorizing some words, what was so worthy of being surprised of?
Bai Wanqing was finally convinced from Chen Xi’s tone. This fellow had indeed completely memorized the two books, and she couldn’t help but have a trace of inexplicable shock arise within her.
She’d once glanced through the An Ultimate, Illustrated Guide to Food Ingredients, and there was a few tens of thousands of ingredients. Wanting to remember by heart all the names, attributes, appearances, affects, growth environments, etc., of these tens of thousands of ingredients wasn’t something that was able to be done in a short amount of time. Whereas Chen Xi had instead memorized all of them within 10 days. How could it not shock others?
But this wasn’t important, as if it was another fellow with shocking memory, so long as the fellow was willing to spend the time, then the fellow would similarly be able to do this. What was important was Chen Xi had not only remembered these ingredients, but was also able to master in detail the dishes that could be cooked with these ingredients and every step during the cooking process without mistake. This was what caused others to feel shocked the most.
Of course, if Chen Xi was a Violet Palace Realm cultivator who had condensed Perception Force, he would naturally be able to memorize everything within 10 days. But the facts were that Chen Xi merely possessed the cultivation of the 3rd level of the Congenital Realm and it had long since been seen through by old man Ma and the others. Thus, it was completely impossible for them to regard him as a Violet Palace Realm cultivator.
It was precisely because of this reason that old man Ma and the others felt incomparably shocked and regarded Chen Xi as an extraordinary and intelligent genius.
Bai Wanqing had figured out all this now, and besides being shocked, she couldn’t help but feel proud and happy for Chen Xi.
She knew how much suffering the youth before her had suffered since a young age, and what sort of painful hardships he’d experienced. Now that it was like he was reborn and started to emit the radiance that belonged to him, how could it not cause her to be happy?
“Old man Ma, since you’ve recruited a disciple, then sign an agreement with me.” Right at that moment, a voice that was as chilly as ice faintly sounded out from outside, and accompanied by this voice, the door was pushed open. An extremely beautiful young girl walked in with a proud and aloof, yet icy cold expression.