New Moves After Leaving Seclusion, Cooking or Alchemy?

In the secluded cave dwelling behind Qingyun Sect's back mountain.

Li Wuyang sat cross-legged, his five limbs facing the sky, his expression as serious as if he were taking the college entrance exam. Spread out before him was a jade slip copy of the supreme scripture he obtained from the mysterious cave dwelling—the Huang Ting Jing (the original was too precious, he was afraid of losing it).

"The Huang Ting has three palaces: the Upper Palace in the brain, the Middle Palace in the heart, and the Lower Palace in the spleen..." he chanted, his brows furrowed into a knot. "What is all this? Brain, heart, spleen? Are you sure this isn't a Traditional Chinese Medicine health guide, Primordial Father?!"

After studying the profound and esoteric chapter on spirit-consolidation and Qi-refining for a long time, he decided to start with something practical—practicing a minor divine ability recorded in the appendix of the Huang Ting Jing: "Huang Ting Palm Thunder." The name sounded quite intimidating. The description said it could summon thunder from the palm, dispelling evil and shattering illusions.

"This is great! From now on, whoever I don't like, I'll smite them!" Li Wuyang was eager to try.

According to the incantation, one needed to draw True Qi from the dantian, guide it through the heart meridian of the Middle Palace, infuse it with a trace of innate pure Yang intent, gather it at the Laogong acupoint, and then... "With a thought, lightning is born."

Sounds simple, right?

Li Wuyang took a deep breath, mobilized his True Qi, and carefully guided it... past Zhongwan, through Juque, and rushed to... uh, he pulled a muscle!

"Ouch!" He clutched his chest, feeling as if he'd been punched. The True Qi in his dantian churned, and he almost went into qi deviation.

"No, no, the posture must be wrong!" He changed his stance to a "golden rooster stands on one leg" pose and tried again... Pfft! He didn't pull a muscle this time, but after holding his breath for a long time, only a wisp of smoke emerged from his palm, carrying a... burnt feather smell?

"Is this Palm Thunder or a Palm Fart?!" Li Wuyang felt like crying. "You promised to dispel evil and shatter illusions! This can't even kill a mosquito!"

He refused to believe it and tried several more poses: horse stance, yoga pose, even a handstand... The results were either pulling a muscle or passing gas. The most successful attempt resulted in a faint electric spark flashing in his palm, which then... electrocuted him so badly his hair stood on end, making him look like a startled cat.

"Hahaha!" Xuan, who was meditating nearby, couldn't help but let out a very faint chuckle. Although she immediately resumed her icy demeanor, the slight twitch of her lips betrayed her.

Li Wuyang's old face flushed red, and he retorted stubbornly, "What are you laughing at! I'm just building up power! Do you understand? Advanced skills have long wind-up animations!"

Xuan didn't even lift her eyelids and said indifferently, "Are you sure you're cultivating a divine ability, and not... performing acrobatics?"

Li Wuyang: "...Friendship over!"

After failing countless times, Li Wuyang gave up on "Palm Thunder" and turned to study another seemingly more "practical" technique—the "Spirit Transformation Art." This method claimed to be able to transform ordinary ingredients or low-grade spirit materials into food containing pure spiritual energy through special True Qi circulation. In short... a cultivation version of cooking?

"This is great! Food is the paramount necessity for the people! In the future, when I'm wandering the jianghu, if I'm hungry, I can just go to a restaurant... no, I can make a grand spirit food feast myself! Maybe I can even get rich with this!" Li Wuyang instantly found a new direction in life.

He excitedly ran out of the cave dwelling, plucked a handful of spirit grass that looked like chives from behind Qingyun Sect's back mountain, and caught an unfortunate, plump-looking "Spirit Fragrance Pig" (a low-grade spirit beast) that happened to pass by, preparing to show off his skills.

He set up a pot (pulled out a large stone pot from the Witch Clan's Void-Concealing Pouch), started a fire (had Little Fire breathe a small puff, almost burning through the pot), and Li Wuyang, following the incantation, injected True Qi into the ingredients...

Half an hour later.

A strange, indescribable smell filled the cave dwelling. If you called it fragrant, it had a hint of charring; if you called it stinky, it had a peculiar sweet cloyingness. The "spirit food" in the pot was a bizarre dark green, still bubbling with colorful bubbles.

Little Fire and Yingying hid far away, looking disgusted. Even Xuan silently moved her meditation spot three feet further away.

Li Wuyang held a spoon, looked at the unidentifiable mass in the pot, swallowed, and forced himself to act calm: "Hmm... the appearance is a bit lacking, but perhaps it's rich in substance! Come on, Jinbao, you try it first!"

Jinbao shook its head like a rattle, clinging tightly to its last treasured spirit fruit, indicating it would rather die than comply.

"No loyalty!" Li Wuyang scorned, then scooped a small spoonful himself, closed his eyes, and put it in his mouth.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

"Gag--!!!"

Li Wuyang rushed out of the cave dwelling with lightning speed and held onto a tree, vomiting violently. The taste was like rotten leek pancakes mixed with expired yogurt, and then left to ferment for three days and three nights during a thunderstorm!

"This isn't transforming food into spirit... it's transforming food into poison!" Li Wuyang's tears flowed. "Primordial Father! Is the recipe you gave me expired?!"

Xuan's clear and cold voice came from inside the cave, with a hint of teasing: "Perhaps, you're more suited to... eating it directly."

Li Wuyang: "..." That really hit home.

In the end, Li Wuyang tearfully dumped the pot of "spirit food" off the cliff behind the mountain. It was said that the next day, all the flowers and plants at the bottom of the cliff withered, and even a Foundation Establishment stage demon rabbit that passed by foamed at the mouth and convulsed for half an hour.

The first "alchemy" (cooking) attempt was a complete failure. Li Wuyang deeply realized that his life skill points might, probably, perhaps... be in the negative.