Five Tripod Cooking

Aunt Wang sighed, "I know. It's fine, this is the only method I could think of on short notice. Give me some time, and I'll find another way."

Lin Wanmo nodded and turned to leave. She stopped at the doorway and tentatively asked, "What if I help him weave a cage..."

"Impossible," Aunt Wang said. "That's where the Inner Pill is, the cultivator's Purple Mansion, a place of profound mystery that cannot be named. If anyone else touches it, even a slight mistake could ruin his cultivation path, and worse, the Cannon Powder Inner Pill could explode!"

Aunt Wang continued, "Don't even think about weaving it for him to consume and refine. This method can only be woven by oneself. After you weave it, he has to refine it with his Inner Fire. Once it's touched by Inner Fire, the cage will explode the moment it gets close to the Cannon Powder Inner Pill."

The worry on Lin Wanmo's face deepened.

Aunt Wang couldn't bear to see it and said, "Wait a moment."

Aunt Wang went up to the attic and came down again after a while—this time she landed safely, without scattering debris all over the floor.

"This is my cultivation method. A-Yuan probably doesn't have one at the Pill Cultivator level yet, take it back to him," Aunt Wang handed over a yellowed ancient book.

Lin Wanmo took a step back and quickly waved her hands, "This is your most precious possession..."

Aunt Wang gave a wry smile, stroking the ancient book in her hand, and said wistfully, "In the first half of my life, this was indeed the thing I valued most. Back then, I wouldn't give it to anyone who asked."

Aunt Wang suddenly thrust it into Lin Wanmo's hand. "Nowadays, I don't even know if I'll make it to next year's Ghost Festival. What's precious and what's not, just take it. My cultivation method is extraordinary. The Inner Pill cultivated through it will be more stable and solid than those cultivated by other methods, which should help A-Yuan last a little longer."

Lin Wanmo wanted to express her gratitude, but the item was too precious, and any words would seem shallow.

Aunt Wang smiled kindly. "Alright, hurry back. I'll think if there are any other methods."

Lin Wanmo said no more. Holding the ancient book, she bowed deeply to Aunt Wang before leaving.

Aunt Wang's cultivation method was called Five Tripod Cooking.

Cultivators of the Seven Great Gates, as long as they could get started, could cultivate step by step and ascend gradually, even without a cultivation method.

Circulating Qi, consuming Bait/Food, extracting and refining—these were the only means of cultivation.

The reason the Seven Great Gates were called "Great Gates" was also due to this fundamental convenience.

Once they got the hang of it, everyone could cultivate, and the number of cultivators would naturally increase.

Conversely, some smaller sects often required various special "aptitudes" or demanded strict adherence to a certain cultivation method, and so on.

However, the Seven Great Gates did have cultivation methods, and any cultivation method with a name would increase the cultivation speed by more than half after use.

Aunt Wang's Five Tripod Cooking cultivation method was brought from her hometown in Inner Province back then.

The Wang family was a prominent surname in their hometown in Inner Province. Logically, they shouldn't have been subjected to "River Worker Labor."

It was because someone from the Eastern Depot took a liking to their Five Tripod Cooking.

They wanted to obtain it to pass on to one of their godchildren.

The Wang family was brought down by the fact that they still had a shred of integrity.

If it were some other powerful noble who took a liking to it, my Wang family would have given it.

We could have negotiated, and I would have handed over this treasure with both hands, and perhaps Your Excellency would have bestowed some favor in return?

Prominent families wouldn't end up like the exaggerated stories in novels, where they resist powerful nobles for some heirloom and are wiped out, only for a survivor to emerge twenty years later for revenge.

You want it? As long as you're strong enough, we'll give it to you readily.

But you, a nobody, my Wang family refused!

The result was that the main branch of the Wang family was sent to Jiaozhi to dig canals. The other collateral branches of the Wang family immediately knelt before that person from the Eastern Depot.

They were given an incomplete version of Five Tripod Cooking to appease them.

The main branch suffered heavy casualties, and now only Aunt Wang remains.

All the assets in their hometown in Inner Province were divided by the collateral branches, and the collateral branches no longer dared to acknowledge Aunt Wang and her kin.

Counting from Xu Yuan's grandfather's generation, for three generations, they haven't seen a better Pill Cultivation method than Five Tripod Cooking.

Moreover, Five Tripod Cooking is a very complete and comprehensive cultivation method, not only containing methods for cultivation but also for condensing Inner Pills and Outer Pills.

In terms of cultivation, it has its own unique methods for circulating Qi, consuming Bait/Food, and extracting and refining.

Many famous cultivation methods in Huangming are actually only proficient in one of these aspects.

Cultivating with this method, "Great Fire Tripod Cooking," is extremely fast, generally more than three times the speed, and can even exceed five times at its peak!

And the Inner Pill, Outer Pill, circulating Qi, consuming Bait/Food, and extracting/refining—these are exactly the five aspects. The senior who created this cultivation method back then cleverly named it Five Tripod Cooking.

The Wang family fell into their current predicament precisely because of this cultivation method. Furthermore, Huangming always adheres to the principle of "methods are not lightly passed on," and even ordinary cultivation methods are not easily taught. Therefore, Aunt Wang attached great importance to this cultivation method.

For example, Xu Yuan's father once thought Aunt Wang would take Five Tripod Cooking to her grave.

The Stepmother returned home with Five Tripod Cooking, but Xu Yuan was nowhere to be found.

Xu Yuan went out after hanging up his clothes.

Master Qiao's residence in the county town was located in "Wangjing Ward" in the northeast corner of the city walls.

This place was completely different from River Worker Alley.

River Worker Alley was old, low, and dilapidated; this place was serene, grand, and clean.

It was the only area in the entire Shanhe County with its own perimeter wall and gate.

The wall was a circle of thirty-six hexagonal pillars, each adorned with a vermilion-eyed auspicious beast. In front of the gate stood two stone lions, each as tall as a man.

These elements deterred Malevolent Spirits far more effectively than Door Gods, meaning that even on nights under the Forbidden Night Travel edict, there was a fifty percent chance of survival when walking within the ward.

It was impossible to completely eliminate The Strange; even the Imperial Palace in the Northern Capital couldn't achieve that.

Wangjing Ward was home to the wealthiest and most powerful people in Shanhe County.

Master Qiao, who could shake Qihetan Town with a stomp of his foot, was merely a minor figure here.

The reason this place was called "Wangjing Ward" was its location in the northwest corner, the closest point in the entire county to the capital of the Inner Prefecture, the Northern Capital.

Back when the river was opened, which officials, soldiers, and commoners were forced to settle here, who didn't long to return to the Inner Prefecture?

Xu Yuan first went to the Golden Attire Building to buy a new set of clothes; it was the only place in the entire county that sold ready-made garments.

He spent a full three taels and two qian of silver.

Previously, Xu Yuan's entire year's worth of clothes didn't cost this much.

Emerging from the Golden Attire Building, dressed in silk and satin, Xu Yuan looked like the son of a wealthy family.

During the day, there were always two "militiamen" guarding the ward entrance. Xu Yuan, in his current attire, wouldn't have been able to get in.

Master Qiao owned a three-courtyard residence in the southwest corner of Wangjing Ward, with over a dozen wives, concubines, servants, and maids.

Xu Yuan scaled the wall into the back courtyard. Relying on his agility, he avoided detection and began searching for Qiao Zi'ang's study.

Literary Cultivators, after all, surely hid their treasures in their studies.

There were nine rooms in the back courtyard. Xu Yuan could tell if a room was a study just by glancing through a crack in the window.

The first two rooms weren't it. As he looked into the third, he suddenly heard suppressed sounds from within.

It sounded like a kitten's soft meow.

Xu Yuan peeked quietly. Inside was a bedroom. A beautiful woman in her early thirties, half her body exposed from behind a curtain. Hmm, it must be cold, he thought.

She was biting a mandarin duck embroidered red silk bra, sweat dampening her temples.

Inside the curtain, a sturdy figure was exerting great effort.

The shadow, along with the bed, swayed incessantly.

Xu Yuan took a couple more glances, comparing the woman to Widow Yang, and concluded: Master Qiao was indeed blessed with good fortune!

Too bad someone else was enjoying it now.

Fortunately, Xu Yuan remembered that the mission was important. Reluctantly, he moved on to the next room.

After searching three more rooms, he finally found the study.

However, Xu Yuan didn't enter immediately. He crouched down and observed through the crack in the door.

Qiao Zi'ang was deeply cunning and treacherous. Xu Yuan didn't believe his study would be without some form of defense.

Cough, cough. I was so happy to see my name on the rankings this morning, but by noon, it was gone. So embarrassing.

Pleading pitifully for monthly votes.

Also, regarding the Stepmother issue in the previous chapter, she and Xu Yuan have a "sibling" relationship and there will be no romance.

Additionally: There's more tonight.