After obtaining the Spirit Chef inheritance, Li Xiuchang eagerly found an unoccupied corner and began studying it.
"To become a qualified Spirit Chef, you must first become a qualified chef. Learning the Way of the Spirit Chef begins with learning how to cook..."
Li Xiuchang read ten lines at a glance, quickly skimming through it. He gained a general understanding of the Way of the Spirit Chef.
"So learning any craft has to start with the basics. You can't just jump straight into trying to make a first-tier spirit dish."
To become a first-tier Spirit Chef, laying the foundation in the early stages could be divided into two parts.
The first part was learning how to cook. This included mastering various cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, frying, deep-frying, and stir-frying, as well as mastering knife skills, handling ingredients, and so on.
Once he could make all kinds of dishes that were pleasing in color, aroma, and taste, the first part would be considered complete.
Li Xiuchang's predecessor, Li Chang, had studied culinary arts from childhood. He had helped his father in the kitchen since he was young, and by the age of seventeen, he already had eleven years of work experience. His cooking skills were well honed, and his knife work was superb.
Therefore, Li Xiuchang could skip the basic practice for the first part entirely.
Seeing this, Li Xiuchang knew that he had made the right choice by choosing to cultivate the Way of the Spirit Chef!
The first part alone would save him a great deal of time.
The second basic part of the Way of the Spirit Chef was handling ingredients. However, the ingredients here did not refer to ordinary ingredients, but spirit creature ingredients.
For example, the meat of various demon beasts contained fierce Spiritual Power that was difficult to absorb. If it was simply cooked and eaten, the eater could easily be injured by the surge of Spiritual Power, or even explode and die.
What a Spirit Chef had to do was tame the Spiritual Power within it, making it gentle and absorbable.
Different ingredients required different methods of handling.
Even the same ingredient could be handled in multiple ways. Using different methods would directly affect the ingredient's effects and value when consumed.
Li Xiuchang could skip the first basic part and study the second part directly—the methods for handling various ingredients.
The two parts above were merely the foundation. The true core was still the cooking techniques used after the spirit ingredients actually went into the pot.
Different ingredients combined together would produce chain reactions, and different cooking methods would also cause countless changes.
This required long periods of practice to accumulate experience.
Li Xiuchang planned to buy some low-level ingredients and practice with them. These things were all sold in the Immortal Dust Sect Outer Market, but he would have to walk there again, which was both time-consuming and tiring.
But just as he set off, a familiar face approached him head-on.
"Senior Brother Wang Long!" Li Xiuchang exclaimed in delight.
He had not deliberately gone looking for Senior Brother Wang Long this time, yet by such a stroke of fate, they had run into each other.
Everything was heaven's will. Since this ride had come right to his door, Li Xiuchang had no reason to refuse it—wouldn't that be going against heaven itself?
"Junior Brother Li, we meet again." Wang Long was also somewhat surprised. He had indeed run into Li Xiuchang rather frequently over these past few days.
Seeing Wang Long reminded Li Xiuchang of Senior Brother Song Yu's words: a first-tier Talisman Master had to earn Spirit Stones by receiving new disciples.
He suspected that Wang Long might also be a first-tier Talisman Master, but after his previous experience, he knew it would be unwise to ask too many questions.
Yet before Li Xiuchang could ask, Wang Long brought up the subject himself.
"Junior Brother, are you here to choose a legacy from the Hundred Cultivation Arts?" Wang Long asked.
"Exactly. I've already chosen the Way of the Spirit Chef."
"The Way of the Spirit Chef?" Wang Long was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Li Xiuchang to choose such an unpopular craft.
But he immediately gave a self-mocking chuckle. "The Way of the Spirit Chef is good. In any case, learn anything but talisman crafting. Like me, I'm stuck at the peak of the first tier of the Talisman Dao, and I don't even know how much I'll have to spend to break through this bottleneck. But if I give up the Talisman Dao to study another craft, I'm unwilling to do that either. So I can only walk this road into the darkness."
Wang Long tore open his own scar, using himself as a cautionary example to persuade Li Xiuchang to stay away from the Talisman Dao.
Li Xiuchang could only offer a few words of comfort and wish him an early breakthrough to become a second-tier Talisman Master.
"Enough, let's not talk about this. Junior Brother, are you heading back to the Eastern Geng District? Why don't I take you there?"
"This... I was planning to go to the Immortal Dust Sect Outer Market to buy some ingredients and Spirit Chef utensils. How could I trouble you, Senior Brother? I can walk there myself..."
As Li Xiuchang said he was sorry, he also reported his destination in full.
After a round of polite refusals, Li Xiuchang once again boarded Wang Long's convenient flying boat.
This was Li Xiuchang's first time visiting the Immortal Dust Sect Market on the outskirts.
The market was so large that if Li Xiuchang had come alone, he might not have found what he needed for quite some time. Fortunately, Wang Long knew the way.
"The stalls in this alley sell mostly first-tier or unranked materials and tools. Take your time browsing, Junior Brother. I have official business to attend to, so I'll come back for you in an hour."
Li Xiuchang was practically dying of embarrassment. He had not expected Senior Brother Wang Long to be so considerate that he even intended to come back and pick him up.
Even though he was not particularly thin-skinned, he still felt awkward at this moment and hurriedly declined Wang Long's kindness.
"Senior Brother Wang, you're tied up with official business, so don't worry about me. I'll browse around the market and head back later."
After Li Xiuchang refused several more times, Wang Long finally stopped insisting. However, afraid that Li Xiuchang might be cheated, he still told him the approximate prices of the various kinds of ingredients before leaving.
"Junior Brother Li, if you have a decent amount of Spirit Stones on hand, you can buy a low-grade Artifact Fire Furnace. These low-level artifacts, pills, and talismans are extremely cheap in our Immortal Dust Sect Market. It's still worth buying them here." Wang Long gave him one last reminder before piloting the flying boat away.
Senior Brother Wang Long was someone you could count on... Li Xiuchang had received quite a bit of care from Wang Long over these past few days since entering the sect, and he was already thinking of returning the favor.
"Senior Brother Wang seems to be short on funds and still owes Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi Spirit Stones. If I find a way to earn Spirit Stones later, I can bring him along."
Next, Li Xiuchang made a round of purchases in the alley, buying some materials to practice the Way of the Spirit Chef.
Since he had only bought unranked materials, they were not expensive. But after adding everything together, they still cost him four Spirit Stones.
Taking Wang Long's advice, Li Xiuchang also bought a low-grade Artifact Fire Furnace.
Thanks to the fierce competition among first-tier Artifact Refiners, the price of low-grade artifacts was extremely affordable. After comparing prices at several stalls, Li Xiuchang did not even need to haggle. Several stall owners began undercutting each other on their own, allowing him to buy the low-grade Artifact Fire Furnace at the lowest price.
The price was ten Spirit Stones, and it even came with a set of unranked kitchen utensils.
The so-called unranked kitchen utensils were defective products left over after failed attempts to refine low-grade artifacts. But for a beginner like Li Xiuchang, they were more than sufficient.
This cost him fourteen Spirit Stones in total, leaving him with only three Spirit Stones. He was so poor that even the wind whistled through his pockets.
Still, these were all necessary investments, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Li Xiuchang put everything he had bought into his Storage Bag, then walked back to the Eastern Geng District.
Even after becoming a first-tier cultivator, Li Xiuchang was panting heavily by the time he was nearing the Eastern Geng District. But just then, he suddenly noticed something sparkling on the ground ahead.
That was... a Spirit Stone!
When he sensed the spiritual energy radiating from that Spirit Stone—far surpassing that of the three Spirit Stones on his person—Li Xiuchang's heart suddenly began to race.
A mid-grade Spirit Stone was worth a hundred low-grade Spirit Stones!
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