Unexpected Gains

Sun Wu had learned his lesson. From then on, no matter what Chen Xu asked him to do, he would obediently comply.

Chen Xu stood by the oil lamp, flipping through a ledger. He casually asked, "Was that thing just now tasty?"

"Good, tasty?" Sun Wu was confused at first, hesitating as he spoke while stealing a glance at Chen Xu's expression.

Seeing the young man's eyes not leaving the ledger, Sun Wu's heart suddenly pounded. He hastily let out a string of exaggerated, fawning smiles, "Delicious! Oh, it was incredibly delicious! I, I... I've never tasted such an earth-shattering delicacy in my life!"

Sun Wu smiled on the outside, but his heart was bleeding. He recalled the strange powder that had been forcefully shoved into his mouth earlier.

He suspected that this powder was what had put him under Chen Xu's control, but what good would it do to understand the reason now?

He absolutely did not want to experience the pain of his soul being churned again. Sun Wu summoned all the wit he possessed, observing Chen Xu's expression and carefully flattering him.

"Crispy and fragrant, sweet, incredibly delicious. Heh, Young Master Chen... that, that, do you, do you have any more?"

[Likes +1 +1 +1...]

Six likes in a row, Sun Wu blurted out in one breath.

Chen Xu raised an eyebrow slightly. This test was not in vain. It turned out that even a bizarre spiritual food like Soul-Controlling Powder could indeed earn likes.

Although Sun Wu's likes were forced out of him, perhaps due to the intensity of his emotions, a portion of his sincerity was actually compelled, which was why more than half of Sun Wu's likes were recorded by the Cauldron Scripture.

And soon, Chen Xu discovered something even more interesting.

Sun Wu was an ordinary mortal. The Three Essences of Spirit, Qi, and Body were not outstanding in any way, yet his daily like limit was not just 5.

Chen Xu checked the Cauldron Scripture and immediately understood.

If spiritual food was fed, even to a mortal, that mortal could have a like limit of 100 for the day!

Of course, based on the fundamental principle that passersby could gain likes by praising the food Chen Xu made, even if they didn't eat anything, passersby also received preferential treatment for their like limits when it came to spiritual food.

When the object of praise was spiritual food, the daily like limit for ordinary passersby was 10.

Chen Xu, like a navigator discovering a new continent, was filled with interest.

He simply gave Sun Wu a brief command: "Continue."

Sun Wu had been on edge, his nerves taut. Hearing Chen Xu say "continue," he hastily uttered the flattering words he had racked his brain to find, "That powder, that agent, was truly delicious. Not only was it crispy, fragrant, and sweet, but it, it also melted in the mouth..."

While continuing to observe Chen Xu's expression, seeing that it remained calm, Sun Wu gradually became more enthusiastic.

"It was like jade dust and precious jade, making the mouth water.

Heh, hehe, it was like snow falling on the Jade Terrace, more elegant than the plum blossom crisps from Liuchu Zhai, more enchanting than the cold food powder from Jin Kui Lou..."

[Likes +1 +1 +1...]

Sun Wu was cautious at first, then put more effort into it. Once he started speaking, his mouth didn't stop, flowing like a torrent, ceaseless.

Truly worthy of being the head shopkeeper of Boyazhai in Jichuan County, he was truly eloquent!

[Likes +1 +1 +1...]

The likes were endless. Sun Wu wanted to show his loyalty to Chen Xu. As long as Chen Xu didn't tell him to stop, he wouldn't dare to rest for a moment.

Even when he started to feel his lips go dry and his face contort with bitterness.

Later, his face was a mix of smiles and bitterness, bitterness and greenness, so twisted that even his mother wouldn't recognize him, yet he still kept praising it.

"This thing should only exist in heaven, how often can one taste it in the mortal world!"

Wuwuwu...

Sun Wu cried inwardly.

[Likes +1 +1 +1...]

100 accumulated likes, 10 Free Attribute Points, and 100 Firework Value were all pocketed.

Excellent!

Suddenly, Chen Xu said, "Tell me, where is all my money hidden?"

Sun Wu's incessant voice abruptly halted. He opened his mouth, wishing he could slap himself for crying inwardly just moments ago!

Was it just about praising that thing as delicious until he ran out of words?

Come on, let him praise more.

He could fight for another three hundred rounds.

But Sun Wu dared not defy Chen Xu, even though the bitterness in his heart had already soaked his internal organs.

However, even the number one miser had to bow before extreme terror.

Sun Wu, with a bitter face, wiped away a tear. He crawled to the bookshelf and took out a row of books from the bottom shelf. He then pried open a seemingly seamless board beneath the books.

When the board was removed, it revealed a wooden piece shaped like a six-petaled flower.

He held the wooden piece in his hand and crawled back to under the desk on his knees. He then fumbled around on the floor. This time, he pried up a square-shaped bluestone brick. Beneath the brick was a six-petaled flower-shaped groove.

Sun Wu placed the flower-shaped wooden piece into the groove. A faint click was heard.

He opened a small cabinet on the right side of the desk and pulled out another board. Then, from the mechanical space beneath the board, he retrieved a wooden box.

Chen Xu watched all of this silently, secretly admiring Sun Wu's ability to hide things.

This place is full of mechanisms. If he hadn't confessed voluntarily, who would have thought the items were hidden like this?

Chen Xu thus realized a truth: Soul-Controlling Powder is just too effective!

It's a shame he's only managed to refine one dose so far, and the key ingredient for Soul-Controlling Powder, "[One Ounce of Joy, Three Parts Melancholy]," came about strangely.

Chen Xu couldn't help but wonder how he could obtain more "[One Ounce of Joy, Three Parts Melancholy]."

Afterward, Chen Xu took a total of three hundred and sixty-seven taels of silver from Sun Wu.

His original intention was to extort even more, to strip him completely bare.

To this end, Chen Xu later used control techniques multiple times, causing Sun Wu to collapse in agony repeatedly.

Tears streaming down his face, beating his head against the ground, he explained with extreme regret, "Young Master Chen, spare my life! I truly have no more! It's all my fault for having wicked thoughts back then and instigating Miao Chao to enter Black Dew Temple once. That temple, that temple..."

Sun Wu steeled himself and finally revealed his biggest secret: "There is a Goat Head Mountain God in Black Dew Temple. Ever since I saw it once, I've dreamed every night of being eaten by sheep. Only by going to offer incense on the first and fifteenth of the month and offering silver can I be free from this nightmare.

It's not that I'm stingy, it's just that I'm constrained and have no choice, sob sob sob..."

As he spoke, Sun Wu finally burst into tears of sadness.

The keyword "Black Dew Temple" immediately made Chen Xu think of "Black Dew Mountain," which he had heard of before, and the precious sheep mentioned by the vendors at the South Market Street stalls!

Those sheep had always made Chen Xu feel inexplicably uneasy, but he had never understood why.

Now, hearing Sun Wu mention Black Dew Temple and his nightmare of "being eaten by sheep," coupled with Mr. Zhou's mention of the Art of Animal Husbandry during the day, Chen Xu suddenly connected all the clues.

Right, he had walked past South Market Street yesterday morning.

At that time, he had already awakened the Cauldron Scripture and gained the ability to see the attributes of food. Yet, when he looked at the sheep heads at the vendor's stall, the food attribute did not appear.

Why did the sheep heads have no attributes?

The answer was obvious, and Chen Xu's heart turned cold.

Please follow along, as readership during the new book period is crucial. Thank you, fellow Daoists, for your support!