Persuasion

"Heavenly Halberd, Five Divine Weapons of War." Mo Li caught Lu Bu's Heavenly Halberd and casually spun it around a few times, sensing the immense power contained within. He was quite satisfied with it. Though it could not compare to the Heavenly Halberd he had fished out of the sea, it was still a rare and valuable treasure.

"Anyway, it's yours now~" As Tian Nü Ba watched Mo Li wield the Heavenly Halberd, she suddenly said, "Um, how about trying one of my new dishes? Sichuan-style Buddha Jumps Over the Wall!"

Mo Li paused, then looked at Caren. "Prepare a non-spicy portion for this child first. She can't handle food that intense."

"Okay~" Seeing Mo Li agree, Tian Nü Ba happily pulled out two large jars she had prepared beforehand from her storage space—one spicy, and one non-spicy.

She had originally been prepared to give him the normal version if he refused to eat her special version again, but unexpectedly, Mo Li had not turned her down at all. This immortal who had appeared out of nowhere was simply too kind!

Tian Nü Ba muttered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "Hmph, Father said I could never seize happiness through cooking. I'll prove him wrong!"

Even though her voice was already extremely quiet, Mo Li pretended not to hear. He calmly watched Tian Nü Ba place the special and normal versions of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall on the living room table, then take out special bowls, chopsticks, and other utensils.

"Here, eat~" Tian Nü Ba looked at Mo Li with innocent, expectant eyes.

Wearily, Mo Li picked up a bowl and spoon and began serving himself the special red-broth Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Tian Nü Ba's cooking had long surpassed anything that could be described as merely adding ingredients or preparing food.

It was like extracting and bestowing concepts. She had granted these dishes concepts such as ultimate deliciousness and ultimate fiery heat. Every dish was a unique Conceptual Artifact, changing according to each person's tolerance.

Forget humans—even gods would still be knocked flat if they could not withstand that sudden stimulus pushed to its absolute limit.

But as long as one could endure it, they could gradually adapt and enjoy these delicacies afterward. Though eating them brought no additional effects, experiencing food at the absolute peak of its respective flavor was itself a pleasure. There could not possibly be another dish of the same kind in this world capable of surpassing what Tian Nü Ba made.

As always, as long as one could endure the initial shock, they could begin enjoying the food afterward.

Tian Nü Ba called Caren over to sit down. "Caren, come, eat this non-spicy jar with me~"

"Ah? O-okay." Caren sat down opposite Tian Nü Ba.

Tian Nü Ba served herself a bowl and spoke as she ate, "Mo Li, do you know how far Caren's true talent can actually go?"

"I don't." Mo Li answered with difficulty as he ate the specially made, super-spicy Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Tian Nü Ba launched into an explanation. "Actually, Caren's Saint Mark may outwardly manifest as sensing those demons, but in the end, it can be elevated to directly sensing the concept of demons. If her ability is strong enough, she can influence the concept of 'demons,' and can even use that ability to directly erase the demons she wants to destroy. If she is diligent enough, she can even cultivate the ability to influence concepts herself. With a conceptual-level method like that, she will definitely become very powerful."

Caren obediently ate her meal, listening intently to their conversation.

Mo Li asked, "Why not directly erase the concept of demons, or simply manipulate and rewrite it?"

Tian Nü Ba smiled. "Ha, if she could do that, Caren would not be a holy child with a Saint Mark—she would be God Himself. That is Caren's limit. At least, I cannot see any room for her to improve beyond that."

"I see." Mo Li ate a soft-centered abalone. He was gradually adapting to Tian Nü Ba's cooking.

Before long, Mo Li had finished an entire jar of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall—enough to fill nine grown men. After learning that he too was an immortal, Tian Nü Ba had deliberately prepared a great quantity of ingredients.

"Huh? You finished it all in one go again?" Tian Nü Ba looked at the completely empty jar and immediately fell into deep thought. No one knew what she was thinking.

Whatever she thought of, Tian Nü Ba suddenly looked at Mo Li with bright eyes, her expression complicated, as though she were torn yet had already made up her mind.

This person in front of her was pretty good. He had eaten the food she suddenly brought over without complaining. Maybe she could try talking to him about it?

Besides, the women closest to him were even still children—Matou Sakura, Caren, and Tohsaka Rin. Not a single one was a threat.

Tian Nü Ba pulled out a tissue and wiped her mouth, then glanced at her nearly flat figure. Her confidence immediately faltered.

Hearing Tian Nü Ba's words, Mo Li asked, "There shouldn't be any problem with finishing it all at once, right?"

"Mm... there's no problem."

After Caren had eaten her fill, Tian Nü Ba quickly finished the remaining normal Buddha Jumps Over the Wall as well. With a wave of her hand, she put everything away, rose to her feet, and left. "Then next time I visit, I'll bring new dishes. You have to finish those too, okay~"

Mo Li said, "Fine. As long as it isn't dark cuisine, anything is negotiable."

Tian Nü Ba's special dishes were already difficult enough for ordinary people to accept. If she started developing them in the direction of dark cuisine as well, Mo Li felt he probably would not be able to withstand it.

With a turn, Tian Nü Ba vanished from before them and returned to the shop.

Mo Li stood and headed toward the kitchen. Caren looked at him in confusion. "Big brother, are you not full yet?"

"I'm just planning to recreate her dishes. I've already eaten plenty. I more or less understand them now."

"Recreate Sister Tian Nü Ba's dishes? Is that necessary?"

"If they were merely ordinary dishes, then of course not. But her food has been made into something like Conceptual Artifacts. I've learned quite a bit from her cooking."

Mo Li recreated them quickly. He started with the simplest Mapo Tofu, then stopped after recreating Mouthwatering Chicken. As he ate, he realized something was still missing. "That shouldn't be right. Logically, the steps I reverse-engineered cannot be wrong. Whether it is the ingredients or the heat, every part of the process should be just right. The flavor is the same as what I experienced, but it lacks a certain charm. Is it the influence of the concepts?"

After silently finishing the dishes he had recreated, Mo Li returned to the living room and began drawing a summoning circle with Caren, who had been reading.

At the same time, Mo Li called Tokiomi Tohsaka. "You summon first. I'll contact the Einzbern Family. I need to ensure that the Heroic Spirits summoned afterward are the Magus and Berserker I need."

Tokiomi Tohsaka was somewhat bewildered. He remembered Mo Li saying that he did not care about the Holy Grail War. "You're going to participate?"

"Yes, I have no choice. Caren was chosen to participate, so I need to protect her. And the Holy Grail system needs a Magus Heroic Spirit to inspect and repair it."

Tokiomi Tohsaka recalled what Tohsaka Aoi had just called to tell him, then sighed. "All right. I just checked the records. Angra Mainyu did indeed appear in the Third War, and he could indeed have contaminated the Holy Grail. After all, his legend is terrible. I'll do my best to cooperate."

After hanging up on Tokiomi Tohsaka, Mo Li turned on his computer and sent out a communication request.

Having just received the old family head's orders to bring over copies of a great number of magecraft tomes related to the Holy Grail system, Kiritsugu Emiya had only just finished packing the books and was currently exhausted, sitting to one side.

The communication was connected very quickly.

It was Kiritsugu Emiya's first time seeing Mo Li. He was surprised by Mo Li's excessively youthful face, but did not show it. He calmly asked, "You are the current head of the Matou Family?"

Mo Li said, "That's right, it's me. I'll skip the nonsense. After you prepare the Holy Relic and summon your Servant, that Servant may wish to obtain the Holy Grail. I hope you can explain to your Servant that there is a problem with the Holy Grail. I need time on my end to inspect and repair the entire Holy Grail system."

Kiritsugu Emiya asked, "Has it already been completely confirmed that the Holy Grail has been contaminated?"

"I understand completely, Kiritsugu Emiya. I hope you won't bring your battlefield methods into the Holy Grail War. There's no benefit in doing that, and if you really do, you'll most likely regret it. Now, back to the point—the one who corrupted the Grail was Angra Mainyu, who appeared in the Third War. I believe the Einzbern Family should have records concerning him as well. Perhaps you don't know exactly what happened, but if you examine the legends surrounding that Servant carefully, you should be able to spot the problem. The Grail's corruption is connected to him."

Kiritsugu Emiya fell silent as he listened to Mo Li, shaken by what he had heard. If the Grail had been corrupted, then everything he had pursued might already have lost its meaning. Should he take his wife and daughter and run now?

As though he had seen through his thoughts, Mo Li said, "The Grail may already be beyond repair, though the possibility of creating a new Grail system cannot be ruled out. And if I'm not mistaken, your wife should be the Lesser Grail prepared by the Einzbern Family, right? I plan to summon a Magus Heroic Spirit to solve that problem for her—to separate the Lesser Grail system from her body."

Kiritsugu Emiya's pupils contracted. Mo Li's words had indeed struck straight at his weak point.

As far as Mo Li was concerned, Kiritsugu Emiya had only two choices. Continuing to fight was how events unfolded in the vast majority of worldlines; taking his wife and daughter and running was the Prisma Illya Worldline. There was nothing to guess. All he had to do was cut off Kiritsugu's escape route in advance and make him cooperate properly.

Mo Li continued, "Kiritsugu Emiya, there are many misunderstandings about you in this world. For example, you killed Natalia because there were no living people left on that passenger plane—only a specially bred swarm of bees released by a Magus. Once the plane landed at the airport, many people would die, so you had no choice but to fire a man-portable missile and destroy the passenger plane Natalia had guided down to low altitude. Yet people misunderstood you as some heartless, insane mercenary."