Lying securely on the wolf's back, Xue Xi rested her hands behind her head, crossed her legs, and gazed contentedly at the clear sky. A few mutated sparrows flew past now and then, only to scatter in all directions, frightened by the ferocious Little Wolf.
As she pondered her plans for the future, she set herself a main objective: run a restaurant and gain the ability to keep the situation under control before the Golden Horned Beast disaster struck, doing everything she could to prevent tragedy.
Right now, she had the cultivation of a peak apprentice-level Martial Artist and Psychic, but that was all. She could handle small monsters, but against a High-Level War God who knew a few secret techniques and understood how to amplify his strength, her combat power wouldn't amount to much.
But Xue Xi had no intention of diverting her energy to learning those things. As long as she focused on spreading traditional cuisine and increasing the restaurant's customer traffic, she could keep improving her realm. Wouldn't it be great to simply crush him with an overwhelming difference in strength when the time came?
All she had to do was make delicious food, then let go and leave the rest to the Great Book of Records!
Mentioning the Great Book reminded Xue Xi that she still had five page-unlock rewards she hadn't claimed. She'd just gained her abilities, then been quarantined for several days because of the RR Virus. In her rush to set off afterward, she'd forgotten all about them.
She sent part of her Spiritual Force into her mind and looked at the information panel for the Gourmet Anchor in the Great Book.
Shop owner: Xue Xi (virus absorbed, healthy)
Level: Peak Apprentice, Ninth Rank
Unlocked Dishes: [Cat Ear Noodles], [Crab Roe Soup Dumpling], [Zhu Ku La Coffee], [Lijiang Baba], [Xi'an Beef and Mutton Paomo], [Gaoqiao Scallion Pancake, Pan-Fried Bun, Five-Spice Beans, Pear Syrup Candy], [Tianfuhao Braised Pork Knuckle], [Highland Barley Wine].
Unlock Rewards: Myriad Manifestation Water (Desolate); Culinary Practice Virtual Space (Desolate); Culinary Spirit Fire (Desolate); Magic Seasoning Pouch (Desolate); Housekeeping Doll [five unclaimed]
City-level popularity: 0/10000. Page unlock progress: 13/1000.
Sure enough, there were still five rewards. Delighted, Xue Xi was about to open them, but then her eyes landed on the page unlock progress. She stared at it in disbelief, then took another close look. "One, two, three—why are there three zeroes?"
Could it be that the difficulty of unlocking pages increased tenfold every time she completed a milestone?
Xue Xi was utterly dejected. She'd planned to put together a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast set with over a hundred dishes, but even if she completed the city-level goal, she'd only have twenty-one dishes at most. At this rate, who knew when she'd ever reach a hundred?
By the time she opened a restaurant in the universe, others would have tens of thousands of dishes, while she'd have a sparse few dozen. That would make her restaurant far less appealing.
Never mind. She'd win with quality. She might as well check out her rewards!
She cleared the red dots one by one, and a familiar vortex appeared before her. Five items emerged: a small metal orb, a pot, a wooden blade, and two books.
The orb flew out and vanished. The next second, a new function appeared on the Gourmet Anchor:
Cooking Time Regulator (Desolate): Within the Gourmet Anchor's range, time acceleration can be activated when cooking food or brewing alcohol. The current maximum is 1 Earth day: 10 Earth years.
Xue Xi felt as if she'd been given a pillow just as she was getting sleepy. She'd been worried that brewing alcohol took too long and her customers would think she was making false claims. Now, with one day counting as ten years, aging fine liquor would be a breeze!
The first reward was already perfect. Xue Xi looked at the other items. The red and blue books shot straight into her mind, and in the next instant, countless insights about fire and water flooded into her thoughts. One of the books was the Fire Control Technique.
Xue Xi opened her eyes. The Myriad Manifestation Water and Culinary Spirit Fire hidden between her brows appeared, forming a small, constantly rotating Water-Fire Taiji Diagram.
"Water rises, fire ignites!" she silently intoned. Xue Xi felt the Origin Energy in her body surge toward her arms under the guidance of her Spiritual Force.
With a soft pop, her right hand opened. Her palm felt warm, and a golden flame appeared, scorching the surrounding air until it rippled. Its temperature was clearly terrifying.
A tiny droplet of water condensed in her left hand. One moment it turned into vapor, the next into a bead of ice. It was incredibly strange.
She played with them curiously for a while, but soon felt her strength draining away rapidly, so she hurriedly put them away. It seemed she wouldn't be able to use them to attack for long until she reached the Planetary Realm.
There was also the pot and the blade. Xue Xi simply took them both out. A wooden blade appeared in her right hand, its surface carved with a golden Coiled Dragon, claws bared. The dragon's tail formed the tip, and its head formed the handle. Even holding it, she could feel a chill. The blade was clearly extremely sharp, though she had no idea what kind of wood it was made from.
Xue Xi sent her Spiritual Force into the blade and left her aura on the golden orb at its core. A stream of information came back from within:
Coiled Dragon Wooden Blade (Desolate): Made primarily from the trunk of Coiled Dragon Divine Wood, with Coiled Dragon blood essence as its secret pattern. It was forged after enduring the tempering of heavenly lightning. It can suppress beasts with lower bloodline ranks.
Xue Xi happily gripped the Coiled Dragon Blade and flourished it in a beautiful arc. "Perfect. Now I won't have to worry about my kitchen knives curling when I handle high-level ingredients!"
She tied the blade's handle to Little Wolf's long fur, then picked up the final reward and examined it.
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