From a country cook to a master chef

Xiayuanfang, Jiming Lane.

Lin Jue jogged along, stopping occasionally to greet familiar neighbors before hurrying back to his residence.

He wasn't sure what the Gao family's purpose was.

Having the Zhao family's immortal book in my hands is definitely a hot potato.

"I should have left Yucheng with the martial arts school..."

Lin Jue gently pushed open the door, and the first thing he did was take off his martial arts school jacket and change into a black outfit.

Black is warm.

Lin Jue lit the firewood and sat silently to one side.

Most of the Zhao family's affairs are related to the Gao family. Now, even Pan Mang is backed by the Gao family. It seems that the Gao family already knows his background, so they sent Pan Mang to test him.

Lin Jue guessed that the Gao family wanted to see if the Immortal Book was on him, but they didn't expect him to join the Four Symbols Martial Arts School, which caused the Pan Mang line to break.

"Because of the Second Miss's relationship, the Gao family may not have wanted to deal with the Four Symbols Martial Arts School at first. Injuring Senior Brother Wang was just a warning, intended to make the martial arts school back down."

"The martial arts school has only two choices: either abandon a disciple in exchange for peace, or put the school in dire straits for the sake of a disciple."

Lin Jue sat on a bench, constantly poking at the sparks in the basin with a smoked wooden stick, his mood fluctuating.

"Clearly, Master chose to abandon me, his disciple, to save the overall situation. But what about Senior Brother Chen Meng? Was that just a warning from the other side?"

Lin Jue remained silent. He seemed to have figured out the whole story, but in the blink of an eye, it became chaotic again.

There was only one thing he was certain of.

Plan ahead.

Some things need to be planned in advance.

"The heavy snow caused a disaster, and even in the small city of Yu, intrigue and deceit were rampant. The power struggles within the prefecture must be even more intense. It's truly difficult for ordinary people to survive."

In this world, you can only rely on yourself!

Lin Jue sighed, got up and sat cross-legged on the bed. Since he couldn't rely on outsiders, he had to find a way to strengthen himself.

It's better to rely on yourself than on others; God helps those who help themselves.

Lin Jue slowly closed his eyes and entered his sea of ​​consciousness.

After the Spirit Seal absorbed the blood and energy of the Crimson Scale Python and the Pig Dragon, it forcibly forced its mind out of its sea of ​​consciousness. Now, when it entered again, it saw a vast expanse of golden light, with stars shining brightly and dazzlingly.

Each starlight point is a golden hieroglyphic, and the surface of each character seems to be covered by a thin film, blurring the vision and making it difficult to see what the character is.

Lin Jue refused to believe it and observed it carefully again. However, no matter how hard he tried or how he changed his perspective, the hieroglyphs wrapped in golden light seemed to be deliberately teasing him, remaining a blurry mess that he could not see clearly.

"Does it mean I have to silently recite the Spirit Summoning Incantation to activate the Spirit Summoning Seal?"

Taking a deep breath, Lin Jue adjusted his posture, silently recited the Spirit Control Technique, and his mind once again flew into his sea of ​​consciousness.

As the golden light in the sea of ​​consciousness dissipated, the halo surrounding the hieroglyphs also faded away little by little. In an instant, two beams of light, one black and one white, shot out from the stars on the back of the Spirit Seal, like two large hands, arranging the messy hieroglyphs neatly one by one.

Has it worked?

Lin Jue was pleasantly surprised, watching the pictographs that were constantly forming.

Spirit Summoning Technique: Beast Taming

Lin Jue suddenly understood. It turned out that the Spirit Summoning Technique not only allowed him to control the Spirit Summoning Gourd and the Spirit Summoning Seal, but it was also a unique Qi Refining Cultivation Method.

However, the only condition for practicing this method was somewhat contrary to his understanding.

It turns out that the cultivator must not possess spiritual roots.

This was the exact opposite of what he knew about the common knowledge of alchemists, and he found it hard to believe for a moment.

After careful study, the shock on his face began to slowly dissipate.

The Spirit Gourd Seal was originally an ancient treasure passed down from ancient cultivators. To activate this treasure, one could only rely on the internal energy of a martial artist, not the magical power of a cultivator as he had previously thought.

Who would have thought that an ancient treasure could not be activated by a cultivator's magic power, but rather by a martial artist's energy?

Lin Jue guessed that the ancient cultivator who created this treasure must have had an extremely eccentric temperament, otherwise he would not have thought of creating such a peculiar magic weapon.

Although this treasure is named the Spirit Gourd Seal, it is actually composed of two complementary magical treasures, neither of which can be missing.

The Spirit Gourd can be used to refine Spirit Gourd Water. Water can be added to it every seven days, during which time it needs to be exposed to moonlight and sunlight for one hour each.

Taking the Spirit-Controlling Gourd Water alone can greatly increase a martial artist's power, generate internal energy, and break through martial artist bottlenecks. It can also be used to ambush opponents and temporarily control their bodies using the Spirit-Controlling Seal; this is the method of beast control.

Martial artists need to replenish a large amount of qi and blood for cultivation, and the Spirit Control Technique and Beast Taming Method can be used to hunt and kill demonic beasts.

Could it be that the person who crafted this treasure was a martial artist himself?

Lin Jue, surprised, continued to study and familiarize himself with the Spirit Summoning Technique.

Suddenly, his face lit up with joy, and a bright smile spread across his face.

It turns out that this Spiritual Art is actually an external alchemy cultivation method. With this method, people without spiritual roots can cultivate to the Core Formation stage.

"Controlling beasts, commanding spirits, refining elixirs, and attaining the Great Dao."

"I see."

"Unfortunately, the method of controlling beasts and spirits can only be used on opponents of the same or lower level. If the opponent is stronger than oneself, forcibly using the method of controlling spirits will cause damage to the soul. Even if one does not die, it will become extremely difficult to advance to a higher level in the future."

"No wonder I'm getting more and more white hair; it's a side effect of the Spirit Seal."

Gazing at the raging flames, Lin Jue's thoughts raced, and he finally understood the many wonderful uses of the Spirit Gourd Seal.

The so-called external alchemy method involves seizing the spiritual roots of others, gathering the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, using the physical body as a furnace to refine the inverted five elements pill, and nourishing it with the martial artist's abundant qi and blood for a hundred years, which can then be transformed into a golden pill, thus achieving the path of external alchemy.

There are only two requirements for cultivating this method: first, the cultivator must not possess spiritual roots; second, the cultivator must cultivate both martial arts and magic, otherwise they cannot use the Spirit-Controlling Gourd Seal, let alone talk about external alchemy methods.

"What a remarkable ancient cultivator!"

"It takes a hundred years to achieve the Core Formation stage. No wonder one must cultivate martial arts. If one does not practice martial arts, one will die before the external core is fully formed."

"However, the conditions for refining the Reversal of Five Elements Pill are too harsh. It uses the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth as the basic raw materials, and each element needs to be three times. In total, it takes hunting down fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators to gather enough basic raw materials to refine the Reversal of Five Elements Pill. In addition, other spiritual plants, precious medicines and rare materials also need to be prepared."

Lin Jue sighed, feeling a chill. Just as he was about to get up and close the window, he suddenly heard a rather familiar voice coming from the alley.

"Brother Lin, I've brought the person to you."

The matchmaker, Wang, smiled as she pushed open the door. Beside her stood a shy woman who dared not look up at Lin Jue.

"Young Master Lin, from now on you two are a married couple. I think tonight should be your wedding night!" As she spoke, Wang the matchmaker pushed the girl next to her forcefully towards Lin Jue, and did not forget to take out the official document stamped with the government certificate and the five taels of silver as a reward for the newlyweds from her bosom.

"A moment of bliss on this spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold, so I won't disturb you two any longer."

Just as Matchmaker Wang was about to leave, Lin Jue quickly pulled her aside two steps and whispered, "Mrs. Wang, are you kidding me? I can barely support myself, I can't hold this girl back. You should call off this marriage!"

Lin Jue's words startled the matchmaker, Wang, who quickly shook her head: "Young Master Lin, this is unacceptable, this is absolutely unacceptable."

"This marriage cannot be called off. The government notice changed yesterday. Now it's not as simple as just paying ten taels of silver. The imperial court stipulates that newlyweds cannot separate within a year. If they violate this rule, the man will be sent to the army, the woman will be sent to be a camp prostitute, and I, the matchmaker, will also have to spend three months in a prison."

At this point, Wang the matchmaker held up her round fan and whispered in Lin Jue's ear, "To be honest, young man, I have an acquaintance who is an official. He revealed that within three months, the entire Great Wu Kingdom will be in chaos. In the current situation, it's a good thing to be able to make money. Get the money first, because only with money can you find a way out."

"Besides, this girl is a genuine virgin, and quite beautiful. You should accept her!"

Seeing that Lin Jue remained silent, Wang the matchmaker tacitly agreed to the marriage, and quickly took her leave with a smile, not forgetting to close the door behind her before leaving.

Inside the house, staring at Lin Jue who had remained silent for a long time, the simply dressed girl suddenly knelt down, tears streaming down her face, and cried out, "Brother Lin, you're a good person, please take me in!"

"Young lady, there's no need for this, really no need." Lin Jue was taken aback and quickly reached out to help the woman up, forcing a wry smile. "We're all in the same boat, homeless people. It's fate that we've met. You can stay here from now on!"

"Thank you, Brother Lin!" The woman wiped away her tears, stood up, and smiled, "My name is Yuan Rou, Brother Lin, you can just call me by my name."

"Um!"

Lin Jue responded softly. Seeing that he was dressed in thin clothes and shivering from the cold, he had no choice but to find some fine cotton and thread and have him make him a suitable set of clothes to change into. He also made up another bed and set up a pile of firewood next to it to keep warm.

The houses rented by the government were not very nice; they could only provide shelter from the wind and rain. They also needed to be heated by fire, otherwise the temperature inside and outside would be almost the same.

Sitting in front of the firewood, Lin Jue once again fell into deep thought.

"The Four Symbols Martial Arts School will probably leave Yucheng in the next few days. Fortunately, I have already finished learning the Pine Crane Long Fist. Xiaoyao Prefecture is a mixed bag, probably no less so than Yucheng. It's best not to go with them."

"As for the Gao family, now that they have obtained the cultivation method of the Spirit-Controlling Gourd Seal, as long as they don't send Qi Refiners, everything is fine."

As he pondered, he slowly turned his head to look at Yuan Rou, who was busy making clothes, and a thought suddenly arose in his mind.

He could leave Yucheng and live in the nearby mountains. With his current wealth, he could afford to buy plenty of living supplies, retire to the mountains, and devote himself to martial arts.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but stand up and clap his hands in approval. However, this strange action startled Yuan Roufang, causing her to prick her hand with the needle and thread and cry out in pain.

When Wang, the matchmaker who had been eavesdropping in Chicken Cry Alley, heard the girl cry out in pain, the dark cloud on her face immediately disappeared, and she beamed with a smile.