Let Your Name Shake the World

Yunjiang Prefecture, Cui Clan's separate residence.

After Cui Yunqi regained consciousness, the first thing he did was kneel before his father, Cui Heng, and beg forgiveness.

"Father, I have failed your expectations. I beg Father to punish me!"

Cui Heng said, "I already know the general course of events in Little Bamboo Grove, but I do not wish to hear it from others. I only wish to hear your account."

"Father!" Cui Yunqi abruptly raised his head, his face deathly pale as cold sweat poured down it.

Everything he had encountered within the Star Array had become an enormous shadow over the present Cui Yunqi.

He had struggled for two days before finally waking from his stupor. To make him actively recall and recount it now was no different from slowly cutting his self-respect to pieces.

Cui Yunqi could not answer at all. He did not want to say a single word.

Yet Cui Heng's authority weighed heavily upon him. No matter how unwilling Cui Yunqi was, beneath his father's deep gaze, he finally gritted his teeth and slowly said, "I... I entered the grand array that day and did not pay much attention to the person behind me. I never expected that person, that person..."

Before he could finish, he recalled the scene on Moon Lake: the simply dressed scholar had casually taken one step forward and crossed the chasm Cui Yunqi himself could never cross.

A taste of blood immediately surged into Cui Yunqi's throat. Unable to endure any longer, he spat out another mouthful of blood.

"Father..."

Panic rose in Cui Yunqi's heart. He even hurriedly lunged forward, wanting to wipe away the pool of blood on the ground.

Then he heard a sigh, and a hand reached out to support him.

Cui Heng bent down and said in a gentleness Cui Yunqi had never seen before, "Yunqi, your life has gone far too smoothly. You have never known what setbacks are, and now that you have met a few waves and winds, you can scarcely bear them.

What will you do in the future?"

Cui Yunqi stared blankly upward. He was clearly being comforted, yet for some reason, he felt even more panicked.

"Father, I..."

"You need not blame yourself. This is only human nature. In this world, those untouched by victory, defeat, success, and failure are ultimately very few. Such people have mostly seen through worldly fame and profit, mundane love and hatred, and possess the state of mind of sages. Yunqi, can you do that?"

"I... Father, your son cannot," Cui Yunqi said ashamedly.

"It does not matter if you cannot, because your father cannot either."

Cui Yunqi was stunned again.

"Of course, although one cannot see through everything completely, one must not be entirely controlled by one's emotions. Those trapped by emotion will eventually lose themselves and become slaves to emotion. Yunqi, are you willing to be such a person?"

Cui Yunqi immediately said, "Your son absolutely will not!"

"Then tell me now, what do you want to do?"

"What?" Cui Yunqi failed to react again.

Cui Heng asked, "You were defeated by someone, and defeated by a poor scholar born from a farming household at that. Do you... wish to kill him?"

"Kill him? No!" Cui Yunqi blurted out, then froze himself.

After a moment of thought, he said, "Father, if I were to vent my anger through murder merely because I lost once, then I fear my life would end here. Even if I killed him, whom would I have defeated?"

Cui Heng smiled. "Since you do not wish to kill him, do you wish to win back openly and honorably?"

"I..." Cui Yunqi actually hesitated.

He had already begun to lose confidence in himself. Chen Xu had become his inner demon.

Cui Heng shook his head and sighed. "Young after all. A trifling matter has left you so trapped. Yunqi, naturally you cannot let go of being defeated by a rustic country fellow—but what if the one who defeated you were a renowned master whose name shook the world?"

"A name that shook the world?"

Cui Yunqi murmured the words. His dim eyes lifted, at first carrying faint confusion, then a hesitant glimmer of light gradually seeped out from within them.

He seemed to have thought of something. An unusual radiance slowly appeared on his face.

That morning, Chen Xu made fragrant, crisp Thousand-Layer Pancakes. The dough had been prepared the night before he went to sleep, so all he needed to do in the morning was cook the pancakes, making the process extremely quick.

His Fire Control technique had now reached the pinnacle of Level One. Applying that skill to controlling the heat beneath the stove was simply perfection itself, incomparably convenient.

Thus, the Thousand-Layer Pancakes he cooked were especially crisp outside and soft within, fragrant and delicious.

With one bite, flakes fell layer upon layer. Even the sound of the crisp pastry colliding seemed to carry a fragrance.

As he controlled the heat and cooked the pancakes, Chen Xu also sensed the cultivation experience of his God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll slowly increasing.

Although the increase was barely noticeable—even after cooking a hundred pancakes, the Heavenly Book panel had not awarded him a single visible experience point—Chen Xu could clearly sense that something had changed.

Before successfully achieving Three Essences Foundation Establishment and formally cultivating the God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll, Chen Xu had never experienced such a change.

It seemed that not only could making spirit food enhance his cultivation inspiration; making ordinary food could do so as well.

It was merely that the inspiration gained from cooking ordinary food was not as obvious as that gained from making spirit food.

But if it accumulated like a thin stream flowing on, it was still an excellent form of cultivation.

Because of this, Chen Xu gained more patience for the matter of cooking, as well as a more solemn attitude toward it.

During this time, Chen Xu again heard the squeaking conversation between the little rat A Shi and Ninth Master.

The little rat's voice was lively and nimble, like an elf accompanying the stove fire, adding no small amount of amusement for Chen Xu.

"Ninth Master, the scholar's pancakes smell even better than before. A Shi's tongue is practically about to be scented right off, squeak squeak squeak..."

[Likes +1 +1...]

Two Rat Demons were hidden in his home, yet they somehow gave Chen Xu a feeling of peaceful, tranquil days. That was quite strange.

Once the morning chores were finished, Wang Mochuan and Xu Wenyuan arrived one after the other to find Chen Xu.

Wang Mochuan had even brought servants and a carriage, so the three of them ended up riding together to the Lin Residence.

Naturally, along the way, Chen Xu took out the Thousand-Layer Pancakes he had cooked for the two of them to eat.

Wang Mochuan's daily like limit was thirty points. Xu Wenyuan only had ten, but even a mosquito's leg was meat; he would not let them slip away if he could help it.

However, getting the two of them to continuously speak words of praise was no easy task. Chen Xu needed to guide them with his words.

Inside the carriage, Wang Mochuan could not help saying with a smile, "It is clear that Brother Chen is truly devoted to and attentive toward the art of cooking. Today's skill has surpassed yesterday's once again.

Brother Chen's cooking is excellent, and his learning is even better. Such progress is truly stirring. How about this? I shall offer Brother Chen some tuition, and Brother Chen can teach me how to cook as well?"

Chen Xu said, "If I truly teach, will Brother Wang truly learn?"

He seemed serious, and Wang Mochuan could not help but pause in surprise.

Then their gazes met, and hearty laughter rang out inside the carriage.

Wang Mochuan laughed loudly. In the carriage carrying the three of them, only Xu Wenyuan silently gnawed on his crisp pancake, occasionally casting envious glances toward Chen Xu and Wang Mochuan.

Suddenly, Chen Xu asked, "Brother Xu, is it good?"

Xu Wenyuan immediately straightened up and hurriedly said, "Good, good. It is extremely good."

Chen Xu looked at him, and Wang Mochuan looked at him too.

Then all three of them laughed together.

Only when the carriage arrived outside the Lin Residence did the laughter inside gradually fade.

After all, they had come to mourn a fellow student. How could they laugh and joke before someone else's mourning hall?

The three descended from the carriage with solemn expressions, Xu Wenyuan's face especially filled with grief.

Yet the activity within the Lin Residence seemed somewhat amiss.