The Cauldron Scripture, Ten Years Late

In the latter half of the night, a drizzling spring rain lingered in the air, falling until dawn.

Chen Xu did not even know when he had fallen asleep. Half-dreaming, half-awake, he seemed to have had a head full of bizarre and fantastical dreams.

One moment, he dreamed that he had passed the Imperial Examination with flying colors, rode through the streets on horseback, and saw all the flowers of Chang'an in a single day;

The next, he dreamed that demons had led him into desolate mountains shrouded in cold mist, where a fox maiden held him captive and demanded that he marry her;

Then, in the blink of an eye, he felt that he had become a demon himself and barged into the Nether Spring Ghost Market.

Along its gloomy long streets, where ghostfire drifted, demons and ghosts came and went. The goods for sale were all things like corpse oil, painted skins, rotten maggots, and bleeding grass dolls. There were also evil ghost tears, human-skin lanterns, skull wine cups...

Chen Xu woke with a start.

His heart thudded wildly, nearly leaping from his chest.

Leaning against the window, he listened to the sounds from South Market Street in the distance: husbands and wives next door cursing each other, pots and pans clattering, children crying and shouting...

The greed, anger, and delusion of the mortal world instead pulled him back down to earth.

Chen Xu let out a long breath. At last, he calmed himself and sorted through his thoughts.

It was a dream. Thank heavens.

He took his crutch and decided to check the kitchen first.

To see whether there really was... a Rat Demon!

Inside the kitchen, everything seemed exactly as he had left it after making supper yesterday.

Except the stove was faintly warm, and in the bowl covered with a bamboo sieve atop the counter, the white porridge had vanished without a trace.

And beside the emptied porridge bowl lay an extra piece of grayish-brown tree bark, roughly half the size of a palm!

At the sight of that bark, Chen Xu froze for a moment. Then he remembered what the Rat Demon had said last night: "Put this Worry-Free Clothes on the stove."

So this so-called Worry-Free Clothes was actually a piece of tree bark.

From the name alone, Chen Xu had thought it was some kind of magical treasure or enchanted garment.

But on second thought, that made sense. If the Rat Demon from last night had truly been so powerful that it could casually give away magical treasures, why would it sneak in during the middle of the night to steal... to trade for porridge?

For some reason, upon discovering that the Rat Demon had only given him a small piece of bark, Chen Xu was not disappointed at all. Instead, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He leaned forward slightly and studied the bark, wondering how he should deal with it, when another line of information suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Worry-Free Clothes: Remnant bark from a century-old peach tree. Carrying it grants a slight evil-warding effect. Grinding it into powder and consuming it can kill bacteria and cleanse filth.]

Chen Xu blinked. The notification vanished. When he focused and looked again, it reappeared.

Chen Xu instantly realized that he had gained an extraordinary ability. He hurriedly tried examining every item around him and finally concluded that this ability should be called [I Can See All Food Entries]!

That was right—every kind of "food," including certain edible things outside the conventional definition.

For example, the salt in the jar had the entry:

[Crude Salt: Salty, astringent, and bitter. Small amounts are harmless; excessive consumption is poisonous.]

And the soot beneath the iron pot had the entry:

[Pot-Bottom Ash: Inferior Hundred Herbs Frost. Whether taken internally or applied externally, it has a slight hemostatic effect.]

Even pot-bottom ash had an entry. It was clear just how broad the category of "edible" was.

Countless thoughts immediately rose in Chen Xu's mind, and the gloom that had weighed on him all this time began to stir faintly.

But when he remembered that a demon might still be hiding somewhere in his home, he quickly reined in his surging emotions.

He paced back and forth across the kitchen a few times, then feigned surprise. "Eh? Why is the porridge gone? Did I remember wrong?"

As he spoke, he casually tucked the bark from the counter into his sleeve pocket and set the porridge bowl aside.

[Worry-Free Clothes] could ward off evil. The Rat Demon had been thoughtful.

Returning a peach for a plum, Chen Xu immediately lit the fire and prepared breakfast.

There were not many ingredients available, so Chen Xu cooked another pot of plain rice porridge.

Then he cracked five eggs, grabbed a handful of flour, mixed them with water, added some salt and lard, and fried them into ten thin, soft egg pancakes.

The instant the eggs and lard met, the high heat drew out a marvelous fragrance.

The little boy next door had an especially keen nose. He actually began shouting beside the wall, "Granny, Granny, Shi Tou wants egg pancakes! The egg pancakes smell so good!"

No sooner had he shouted than a head popped up over the east wall of Chen Xu's courtyard. It was an elderly woman with graying hair, calling toward Chen Xu's kitchen, "Scholar, Scholar Chen, how did you make those egg pancakes? Why do they smell so good?"

[Like +1]

[Like +1]

Chen Xu stood in the kitchen, utterly stunned.

So it was not only the Rat Demon's approval that triggered notifications. Praise from ordinary people did too!

What exactly was going on? What use were these so-called likes?

Chen Xu's thoughts shifted, and he immediately walked out of the kitchen. Smiling at the old woman atop the wall, he said, "Good morning, Granny Lai. You say my egg pancakes smell good? Are they really that fragrant?"

Granny Lai's eyes rolled around and around. The wrinkles on her face bunched together as she licked her lips. "They smell good, truly good! Since they smell this good, Scholar Chen, are you going to share a few with us?"

[Like +1]

[Like +1]

[Like +1]

Three likes appeared in quick succession. On the other side of the wall, the Lai family's little boy anxiously cried, "Granny, I want some too! Shi Tou wants the yummy-smelling egg pancakes!"

[Like +1]

[You have collected 10 likes. Vital Blood +1]

[The Cauldron Scripture has been activated]

Chen Xu's vision swayed slightly. At once, he felt as though an ancient bamboo scroll had arrived from the far end of distant time and space.

Half-illusory, half-real; half-true, half-false—it slowly unfurled before Chen Xu's eyes, in the empty air at this very moment!

Chen Xu was startled, but his first reaction was to turn and look at Granny Lai, who was clinging to the wall.

He worried that Granny Lai might see the Cauldron Scripture before his eyes.

But before that worry could show on his face, a strange, ineffable sensation let Chen Xu know that the Cauldron Scripture was a treasure belonging to him alone. Only he could know of it, see it, and use it.

Granny Lai was still staring wide-eyed at Chen Xu, her gaze dripping with greed, as though drool were about to spill from her mouth.

Seeing that Chen Xu did not answer, she hurriedly urged him again. "Scholar Chen, your pancakes—where are your pancakes? My Shi Tou wants to eat them too!"

Under normal circumstances, Chen Xu would never have agreed to casually give pancakes to a neighbor like Granny Lai, who clung like dog-skin plaster.

But this time was different. He turned and went into the kitchen, then came back out carrying two egg pancakes on a plate.

He walked slowly on his lame leg, and along the way Granny Lai kept calling, "Scholar Chen? Scholar Chen?"

Carrying the pancakes to the wall, Chen Xu said with a half-smile, "Granny Lai, there is no need to be so anxious. The road ahead has an end; do not fight over the horn of a snail."

Granny Lai's eyes had long since stuck to the egg pancakes. How could she possibly listen to what Chen Xu was saying?

She clung to the top of the wall in a panic, stretching her neck out like a duck being hanged, and reached for the pancakes.

"What snail, what ox? You scholars really make things hard to understand. Oh, these pancakes smell so good! Hurry, I can't reach them. Scholar, stretch your hand out farther!"

[Like +1]

Chen Xu shifted his hand slightly away, keeping the plate half a foot from Granny Lai's chicken-claw-like hand.

"Granny Lai, do the egg pancakes really smell that good?"

"They do, they do! Hurry up and give them to me!"

[Like +1]

Chen Xu raised the plate a little higher. At last, Granny Lai hooked it with her fingers and instantly swept the two pancakes from the plate.

She used too much force and toppled backward behind the wall. Separated by the wall, Chen Xu heard a loud thud.

"Ow!" Granny Lai fell to the ground, but she paid no attention to the pain. Her voice twisted with wild delight. "Fragrant! The pancakes smell so good, they're delicious! Shi Tou, quick, quick! Come eat the pancakes!"

Shi Tou rushed over happily and immediately began wolfing them down. "So fragrant, so good! Ah, ah-woo, delicious, delicious!"

[Like +1]

[Like +1]

On the other side of the wall, grandmother and grandson were delirious with joy. On this side, Chen Xu was equally ecstatic.

His golden finger had finally arrived. He felt that he might just be saved.