Honey-Glazed Roasted Meat, More Seasonings

Drifting free and far through the Grand Void, dim and obscure as one grasped the workings of creation.

In this sleep, Wu Chu continued having a similar dream. He became the Purple Jade Daoist, and subconsciously knew that he was dreaming, so he thought of cultivating for a while.

In the void, the Daoist sat cross-legged. Mana surged within him, while beneath the starry sky and amid the mountains and rivers, spiritual energy rolled like tides and rushed toward him, instantly engulfing him. It circulated and refined itself within his body in some strange manner, eventually transforming into mana that flowed through him along a particular route. By then, Wu Chu no longer knew where he was.

Endless profound principles flooded his mind like a surging river. In this state, Wu Chu only felt that his thoughts were clear and open, his heart at ease and his spirit refreshed.

Until those alluring scenes that he both loved and hated emerged once more.

When Wu Chu woke up, his heart was full of doubt. He wondered whether he could cultivate as he had in his dream. Whenever he used those spells in his dreams before, he would naturally know them upon waking. Now that he could cultivate in his dreams as well, could he perhaps learn it without realizing it?

So he imagined himself cultivating, just as he had in his dream. However, the spiritual energy outside was nowhere near as obedient as he had imagined. He could not even sense it.

He tried for quite some time without feeling anything unusual. In the end, he could only give up on this blind approach in frustration and ponder why he could easily replicate those spells, yet could not readily learn this cultivation method. Could it be that this cultivation method was merely something he had imagined in his dream, rather than something that truly existed?

Only that could explain why it did not work.

His sword-like brows furrowed slightly. He spread his hands, and with a thought, flames rose from his palms. The mana within his body traveled through the meridians of his arms to his hands, while Fire Spirit Power from the outside gathered toward them. This was the result of combining the mana within his body with the spiritual energy outside.

Yet the spell's power was still painfully weak. Wu Chu could not find the reason. Unable to look within himself, he could neither sense the path of mana circulating in his body nor feel the spiritual energy outside.

Instinct?

But that wasn't scientific!

Wu Chu found the strange things happening to him increasingly incomprehensible.

Fragrance drifted outside the cabin. Amid the howling night wind, neither starlight nor Moonlight could be seen. It seemed that the frail Starlight and Moonlight simply lacked the strength to pierce the leaden clouds covering the sky and earth.

The bloody, gamey stench had faded considerably. The fragrance of flowers and roasted meat now occupied the space before the wooden cabin. Little Moon Spirit's voice sounded from outside. "Brother A Chu, want to come out and have some roasted meat? It smells amazing! I brushed some Honey on it. It's really sweet!"

Hearing that, Wu Chu walked out of the cabin. "Who taught you to brush Honey onto roasted meat?"

"I came up with it myself! Didn't Brother A Chu say that cultivating the Culinary Dao meant learning to draw inferences and constantly experimenting? I thought that if I brushed some Honey on roasted meat, it might become sweeter and taste even better! The result was pretty good!"

Little Moon Spirit bared her pearly teeth in a sweet smile, her eyes curving into crescents. Clearly, she was overjoyed to have gained something from her pioneering experiment in the Culinary Dao.

Wu Chu smiled. "This is called Honey-Glazed Roasted Meat. Yueling truly has talent in the Culinary Dao! You learned much faster than I did back then, and you have far more insight too!"

Little Moon Spirit smiled even more happily at Wu Chu's praise. She brought him a grilled steak that was already cooked and handed him a pair of chopsticks. "Brother A Chu, try it."

Wu Chu picked up the roasted meat and took a bite. Then he smiled and asked, "How many times did you try?"

As he spoke, Wu Chu looked toward Doggy, who was lapping water nearby.

Little Moon Spirit bared her white teeth in a grin, lightly scratching her cheek with one tiny finger. "Th-three, six times. Hehe, Brother A Chu, is the sweetness right?"

Wu Chu nodded slightly. "Not bad. You even knew to dilute the Honey with water. It's still a little too sweet, but at least it isn't cloying."

He was certain that Doggy A Qiu was constantly lapping water because the sweetness of the first Honey-brushed roasted meat had been overwhelming. Poor A Qiu had become an experimental subject just like that.

Seeing Little Moon Spirit place another fresh piece of bear meat onto the grill, Wu Chu stopped her. "Actually, roasted meat is best marinated first. Although we do not have many seasonings, we still have Salt and Ginger. If we get the chance to find Evodia or Chili Pepper later, that would be even better. Barbecue without spice has no soul!"

"Don't worry, Brother A Chu. I already marinated some in that bamboo barrel. Brother A Chu told me before that marinating meat before roasting would improve the flavor. I remembered!"

After a pause, she asked again, "What is Evodia? And what is Chili Pepper?"

Wu Chu explained, "They are spicy things that can be used for seasoning. Besides those, there are also things like Scallions and Garlic. Later, I'll search the flower fields carefully. Since we found Ginger before, perhaps we might find Scallions and Garlic too. This flower field is not small."

Of course, perhaps there would be nothing at all, and they would need to search outside. But he did not want to go outside. For all he knew, the moment he left this little patch of heaven and earth, some Fierce Beast would eat him.

The dangers of the Primordial World sent chills down his spine just thinking about them.

"Brother A Chu, do you have pictures of those things?" Little Moon Spirit asked curiously.

"Yibao, come out and mop the floor... no, get to work!"

When Yibao heard that she was being asked to draw pictures of those seasonings for Wu Chu, she was somewhat unwilling. Still, although her attitude was not much to speak of, she was truly excellent when it came to getting work done.

Very quickly, Yibao found images of many seasonings Wu Chu had once seen in his memories and displayed them in the phone's image library.

Many of them were things Wu Chu had long since forgotten.

Seeing this, Wu Chu could not help saying, "It seems that when we have time, we could make some instruments ourselves to pass the time!"

In his memories, he had watched plenty of handmade instrument videos, including ones for flutes, xiao, guitars, guqin, and so on.

Of course, after watching all those things, his brain said: I've got this!

His hands said: Why don't you try it?

Try it and die!

His hands were hopeless!

Yibao's eyes immediately lit up at that. "Is there Merit in it?"

"..."

Who knew? "Can't you stop obsessing over Merit all the time? Do you want me to give you all my Merit?"

"Hehe, Master, you want me to grow up faster too, don't you?" Yibao shot him a flirtatious look. "I knew you had designs on me. Hmph! And you still refuse to admit it!"

"Sorry! I take back what I just said. My mistake. Farewell!"

While the two were fooling around, Little Moon Spirit pointed at the Scallions and Garlic. "These two grow by the bamboo grove on the other side of the lake. As for this Evodia, I think I have seen it somewhere too..."

"Ah! What else? What else?" Wu Chu's eyes lit up.

"I've seen this Star Anise too, and these Goji Berries..."

"What else? What else?"

"Um, not for now. Maybe there are some in the mountains and forests, but I just did not notice them!"

"That is already quite a lot, haha! Once dawn comes tomorrow..."

"No need to wait until tomorrow. I'll go get the Scallions and Garlic and Evodia right now."

Before her words had even faded, she had already vanished.