Master's Wife, Ye Wanqing

[Route One: Medicinal Cuisine Chef]

Prerequisite Professions: Cook Lv10; Physician Lv10

Unlocking ritual: Independently prepare and cook ten medicinal dishes for ten different ailments, and successfully cure ten patients.

Description: Medicine and food share the same source. Food nourishes what heaven bestowed; grains sustain, fruits assist, livestock enrich, and vegetables replenish. Your dishes therefore have a chance to provide additional food buffs.

Assessment: A good Medicinal Cuisine Chef stews longevity in the pot; a bad one serves a summons from the King of Hell by the spoonful.

[Route Two: Rotten Chef]

Prerequisite Professions: Cook Lv10; Beggar Lv10

Unlocking ritual: Gather at least ten ingredients that are badly rotted, maggot-infested, or moldy.

Use no ordinary seasonings. Rely solely on your command of putrid odors to light the fire at midnight and cook them into a pot of food with an enticing aroma and appearance.

You must personally eat the entire dish and, within the time it takes an incense stick to burn, not only survive but feel invigorated by the decaying energy in the soup. Only then can you unlock this Profession.

Description: Turning rot into wonder—that is the work of a Rotten Chef. To ordinary people, rotting food marks the end of life. To you, it is a carnival and ascension of another kind of microscopic life.

You are no longer limited to fresh ingredients. Anything beneath heaven and earth, even dry bones, rotten flesh, and filthy gutter water, can become a dish in your hands.

Assessment: Remember, in a Rotten Chef's recipes, rot is the finest seasoning.

[Route Three: Imperial Chef]

Prerequisite Professions: Cook Lv10; Gourmet Lv10

Unlocking ritual: Enter a grand cooking competition with no fewer than one hundred chefs competing on the same stage.

In the final round, defeat every opponent by an overwhelming margin and claim the championship.

Your dish must also utterly conquer the judges, prompting every one of them to award it the highest possible rating after tasting it.

Description: Never tire of refined food or finely sliced meat. You have transcended the smoke and fire of mortal kitchens and grasped the authority known as "Ultimate Flavor."

Whether deep-sea demonic beasts, mountain spirit herbs, or highly venomous Demonic Beasts, all can become peerless delicacies in your hands.

You know how to tame an ingredient's wildness with flame and carve the patterns of its rules with your knife.

Your cooking does more than satisfy the appetite. It can permanently improve the eater's physique and even help them break through cultivation bottlenecks.

Assessment: The finest chefs often appear in the guise of Gourmets.

Li Xiang studied the three routes and quickly weighed his options.

Imperial Chef was undoubtedly the most tempting. It could handle the flesh of demons and monsters, but its requirements were too demanding: he would have to win a cooking competition against at least a hundred chefs by an overwhelming margin.

Rotten Chef was far too ghastly. He ruled it out immediately.

That left only Medicinal Cuisine Chef.

He had yet to unlock Physician as a prerequisite, but he could study medical texts and learn at an apothecary.

More importantly, Medicinal Cuisine Chef's abilities suited him perfectly right now.

Hong Tianbao had said that for a martial artist, training accounted for three parts and eating for seven.

This Profession could balance yin and yang and strengthen the body's functions. It was exactly the support Profession a martial cultivator needed most.

"If I'm going to unlock a Profession beyond Cook, Medicinal Cuisine Chef is my first choice."

"Still, more skills never weigh you down."

Li Xiang was in no hurry to decide.

The beauty of the Book of a Hundred Trades was that, provided he met the conditions and had the stamina to keep at it, he could pursue multiple professions.

After lunch came an hour-long break.

The word "break" had no place in Li Xiang's mind.

As long as life went on, so did his training.

He lay beneath a tree, took out brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and made quick sketches of the plants in the courtyard or his dozing fellow disciples.

[Quick sketch completed. Painter experience +1]

[Profession: Painter]

[Level: Lv8 (33/80)]

Painter was almost at Lv10.

He only had to wait until the third day of next month, when a yin year, yin month, and yin day coincided, to unlock Paper Effigy Maker.

Half an hour later, Li Xiang put away his drawing tools, took out the Eight-Cutting Knives, and went to a corner of the Training Ground to practice Wing Chun Eight-Cutting Knives against a wooden dummy for another half hour.

He chopped, slashed, swept, and thrust, repeating every movement thousands of times until it was engraved in his muscles.

[Practiced knife techniques. Swordsman experience +1]

[Profession: Swordsman]

[Level: Lv2 (15/20)]

"Swordsman experience is coming in a little slowly."

After finishing his knife practice, Li Xiang did not rest. He picked up his dog-eared copy of the Book of Changes or the Introduction to Feng Shui and Geomancy he had found at a street stall, then sat beneath the tree and read with relish.

He was not merely grinding Fortune Teller experience. He was also laying the groundwork for Feng Shui Master, a profession he would inevitably unlock someday.

[Studied a classic. Fortune Teller experience +1]

The afternoon brought the most painful and most rewarding part of his day: sparring with Ye Qingyao.

During breaks, he would stop students from the Shocking Heron Martial Hall who happened to pass by, read their palms, and tell their fortunes.

[Fortune told. Fortune Teller experience +1]

Finally, at night, he practiced one last set of Taizu Long Fist beneath the moonlight.

[Practice completed. Boxer experience +1]

"This is getting too dull. I need to unlock another Profession."

Li Xiang looked at the slowly growing experience bars in the Book of a Hundred Trades, far from satisfied.

"Master Hong and Senior Sister Ye both said my footing isn't steady enough when I'm moving, and I'm not quite agile enough either. Maybe I can find a Profession that helps with that."

That immediately reminded him of how Hong Tianbao had told Qin Zhong to keep pulling a rickshaw to strengthen his legs.

Li Xiang had seen for himself how terrifying Qin Zhong's legs were. Even with sandbags strapped to them, he pulled his rickshaw faster than a Western carriage, and one forceful stomp could crack a hard stone slab.

"If I want to train my legs, Rickshaw Driver is a good choice. The barrier to entry is low, too, and experience should come quickly."

"Rickshaw Driver..." Li Xiang rubbed his chin. "Besides training my legs, it would put me in contact with all walks of life. I'd hear plenty of news."

He was a man of action. He made a mental note to ask Qin Zhong for a rickshaw tomorrow and try pulling it for a couple of days.

The other students of the Shocking Heron Martial Hall stared at his ascetic routine, dumbfounded. Even beasts of burden were not worked this hard.

"Is he even human?"

"Even a donkey gets a rest while the mill keeps turning!"

"Senior Brother Li isn't training. He's fighting for his life!"

With Li Xiang, that tireless champion of working himself to the bone, setting the pace, even the students who had been slacking could no longer sit still.

Most of the wealthy young men had come for Ye Qingyao's beauty. Their training had been as sporadic as fishing for three days and drying the nets for two, and all they thought about was how to win over their senior sister.

But now they watched this country boy get "tormented" by Ye Qingyao every day and enjoy every moment of it. His strength rose visibly, transforming him from a complete novice into a fierce fighter who could trade a few moves with Qin Zhong.

Jealousy and defiance spread through the martial hall.

"Women? To hell with women! They'll only slow down my punches!"

"No women in your heart, and your fists will reach the divine!"

"Train! If it won't kill you, train until it nearly does!"

The formerly pampered young men now seemed possessed. They turned their infatuation with Ye Qingyao into fuel for training and swore to outwork this country boy Li Xiang until they reclaimed their senior sister's attention.

Li Xiang was a pebble that had stirred a thousand waves through the Shocking Heron Martial Hall.

Watching it all, Hong Tianbao smiled until his eyes narrowed to slits. He could barely keep hold of his teapot.

Another morning came.

Li Xiang made his way to the rear courtyard's Medicine Room and pushed open the door. A familiar wave of heat and medicinal fragrance washed over him.

Hong Tianbao was already busy inside. The medicinal liquid in the huge vat had come to a rolling boil.

"Morning, Master Hong," Li Xiang greeted him.

"You're here? Get in before the medicine loses its potency." Hong Tianbao pointed at the vat.

Li Xiang wasted no words. He stripped off his clothes and jumped in.

He had to admit that Hong Tianbao put his whole heart into running the martial hall.

Not only did he personally brew the medicinal baths and prepare nutritious lunches for his students every day, he never put on airs as a master. Whenever anyone asked him about something they did not understand, he patiently broke it down for them.

He even quietly helped poor students who could not afford the extra fees, or let them work off what they owed by doing odd jobs.

Could a man like that really disregard whether his students lived or died, as he himself claimed?

Li Xiang did not know what others believed.

But after spending this time with the smiling, portly man before him, Li Xiang could not believe Hong Tianbao was cold-blooded.

"The warlords are still carving up this chaotic land. Everyone's fighting to make it across. I'd better look after myself first."

Li Xiang closed his eyes and felt the medicine seep into his body.

Golden Cicada chirped merrily again, devouring the medicinal power and feeding it back into him.

[Your bones and constitution are being strengthened by the medicinal bath...]

[Boxer experience +1]

[Boxer experience +1]

[...]

An hour later, Li Xiang climbed out of the vat and checked his Boxer experience.

[Profession: Boxer]

[Level: Lv4 (6/40)]

Just as he had expected.

The bath's effect had weakened again, granting him only ten points of Profession experience.

At this rate, another bath tomorrow would probably give him only five.

After that, the Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup would be nothing more than bathwater to him.

"Ah, every step on the martial path demands a bow of the head. There are no shortcuts."

Li Xiang sighed, dressed, and left the Medicine Room.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Hong Tianbao beneath the osmanthus tree in the courtyard, pruning its branches with a pair of shears.

"Master Hong." Li Xiang approached and bowed.

"Enough. Stop looking like you didn't get your fill."

Hong Tianbao came over and examined him. "Not bad. Your bones and sinews are almost fully tempered. One more soak in the Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup, and it'll probably stop working altogether."

"Thank you for nurturing me, Master Hong."

"Enough flattery." Hong Tianbao set down the shears and brushed the wood chips from his hands. "Qingyao has some personal business today. She asked me to tell you not to go to the training room to spar with her."

"Huh?"

At the news that he would not be beaten up... no, that he would not get to spar, Li Xiang felt a little disappointed.

Senior Sister Ye was away?

Then who would exchange moves with him?

Who would help him grind Boxer and Swordsman Profession experience?

One day sparring with Ye Qingyao earned him as much experience as four or five days of training alone.

"Why did Senior Sister Ye go on strike without warning..." Li Xiang muttered.

"Quit grumbling." Hong Tianbao found his expression both funny and exasperating.

This boy truly cared about nothing but martial arts. He had actually turned Qingyao into a sparring partner.

If the young men of Guangzhou found out, they would probably want to kill Li Xiang.

"Go fetch Qin Zhong. I have something important to tell you both."

Hong Tianbao looked serious, so Li Xiang did not dare joke around. He hurried out and called Qin Zhong over from his stone-lock exercises.

The two young men stood before Hong Tianbao like schoolboys awaiting a lecture.

"Master, you wanted me?" Qin Zhong wiped away his sweat.

Hong Tianbao looked at the two young men before him: one whose aspirations reached higher than the heavens, and one who had been sickly since birth.

"Our match against the Eight Gates Martial Hall is getting closer. Both of you have found your way with Knife-Clasping Hand-Wrestling and built a foundation. But if you want to win in the ring, skill alone won't be enough."

"A fine horse needs a fine saddle, and a fine ship needs its sails spread wide."

Hong Tianbao clasped his hands behind his back and paced a couple of steps.

"If you enter the ring barehanded, or fight in those rags, you'll be at a disadvantage. You'll embarrass the Shocking Heron Martial Hall, too."

"Qin Zhong." Hong Tianbao turned to him. "You know where your master's wife has her shop, don't you?"

"Master's wife? Master, do you mean..."

Qin Zhong froze, then his eyes lit up. Excitement entered his voice. "Did she agree?"

Master's wife?

The beautiful young matron Li Xiang had glimpsed at the registration desk that day surfaced in his mind: Ye Wanqing.

His impression of the hall master's wife went no further than his first day at the hall.

He had seen her once from a distance at the registration desk.

Standing beside Ye Qingyao, the beautiful woman had carried herself with stately grace. One look told him she was the mistress of the household.

But Li Xiang had not seen her since that day.

"That's right." A faint smile appeared on Hong Tianbao's face.

"Your master's wife is an exceptional tailor. Only because I have some sway with her—and spent days persuading her—did she agree to make an outfit for each of you."

"Remember, these aren't ordinary clothes." Hong Tianbao raised his voice. "They're Enchanted Garments."

"Enchanted Garments?"

Li Xiang caught the crucial term.

Not clothes, but Enchanted Garments.

That was a term usually used for Taoist priests or eminent monks. Why would martial artists wear Enchanted Garments?