From a country cook to a master chef

It was already eight o'clock at night when Lin Jue left Chen's Grain and Oil Shop.

As dusk deepened, the streets were deserted, and every household had its doors and windows tightly shut. Dim light shone through the paper windows, casting a yellowish and dim glow.

At the entrance of the alley where snowflakes were falling, a wolf cub lay quietly, its gray fur not very noticeable in the snow.

Upon hearing footsteps, it abruptly raised its head, its ears perked up alertly, and its eyes gleamed eerily in the dim light.

As the footsteps drew closer, a figure gradually became clearer as it approached.

A light mist enveloped the entire city of Yu.

Lin Jue wiped the snow off his face, squatted down, and picked up the wolf cub's two front paws.

In less than two months, the change in this guy's size was so great that Lin Jue, who rarely paid attention to it, was taken aback.

Its height increased from more than two feet to nearly five feet, almost reaching 1.5 meters, and its weight increased from seven or eight kilograms to an astonishing forty kilograms, almost five times its original value.

The wolf cubs are now beginning to resemble adult gray wolves.

"Is it because you ate bear meat? Or because you took Qi and Blood Powder?"

Looking at the astonishingly changed wolf cub before him, Lin Jue pondered for a moment, then rested his chin on his hand and said earnestly, "Growing this fast, then from now on your name will be Fast-Growing!"

Upon hearing the name, the little wolf cub showed no reaction and silently followed behind Lin Jue toward No. 27 Jiming Lane.

Lin Jue did not use the Spirit Control Seal to control the "Fast-Growing Beast," but instead used the Beast Control Technique of the Spirit Control Sect from the incomplete manual. Unexpectedly, the effect was surprisingly good.

As soon as Lin Jue opened the courtyard door, Yuan Rou, who was chopping wood, immediately put down her axe, brushed off the snow and wood chips, and said happily with a smile, "Brother Lin, you've finally arrived. Can we go back to the tavern now?"

"Grows Fast" was dressed with a bamboo basket on its back. It glanced at the two of them, then went into the house on its own and lay down on the ground, exhausted.

Lin Jue walked into the back of the house, reached out and took the bamboo basket off the back of "Grow Fast", grabbed the fish by the gills, and pulled out the red perch treasure fish. He said happily, "Let's not rush the tavern matter. We can talk about it while we eat."

The cooking utensils in Jiming Lane were simple. After pondering for a moment, Lin Jue killed and cleaned the fish, took out the dragon-patterned griddle, and planned to make a pan-fried perch.

The leader of the Black Bamboo Gang was assassinated, along with two of his chief protectors, at the Red Flower Pavilion. After leaving the grain and oil shop, Lin Jue spent some time secretly inquiring about the matter, and as he expected, no one wanted to thoroughly investigate the cause of death of Qin Chi and the other two.

Although the murder case involved three registered martial artists, the county constables only went through the motions for half a day before returning home and leaving the matter unresolved.

As for the remaining leaders of the Black Bamboo Gang, they are all only concerned with who can take the vacant position of gang leader. With no one willing to submit to anyone else, they are busy fighting amongst themselves.

The news of the assassination of the Black Bamboo Gang leader was met with the happiest response from its rival gang, Qingyang Hall, who immediately spread rumors that they would take over all the large and small lottery businesses in Xiayuanfang.

After finishing the pan-fried sea bass, Lin Jue excitedly went to the courtyard to practice his boxing, eager to know how much internal energy he could condense after eating a treasure fish.

Although the Black Bamboo Gang's troubles have been resolved, he still has a lot to do.

The thing that bothered him the most, yet he couldn't ignore, was his promise to Xiang Yuan: he would definitely kill Gao Yao, the genius scion of the Gao family who was rare in a century, at the right time.

"According to rumors, Gao Yao was taken to cultivate by a master of the Yanxia Sect because of his outstanding talent. Despite such a big event happening in the Gao family, we haven't heard any news about him. Either he didn't receive a message from the Gao family, or he is temporarily unable to leave his sect..."

While Lin Jue was pondering, his body moved with his fists. Sometimes his fists were fierce and domineering, like the wind sweeping through the mountains and forests, with a majestic momentum; other times they were gentle and agile, like a white crane spreading its wings, light and swift.

The energy of the red perch was absorbed by his body and, along with the execution of his fist techniques, slowly transformed into surging blood and qi within his body, constantly surging and impacting his flesh, helping him condense strand after strand of martial arts energy.

After completing one round of Pine Crane Long Fist, Lin Jue's blood and energy were abundant, his skin turned a light reddish-brown, and his muscles and bones, having undergone countless temperings, were full of power. His spirit and energy were enhanced, making him even more extraordinary.

Yuan Rou sat on the threshold, quietly watching Lin Jue, who was punching tirelessly and frantically, without a trace of sleepiness in her eyes.

"Grows Fast" lay with its eyes closed beside the roaring firewood until its fur was charred and smelly, before belatedly moving away to get away.

After practicing for two hours, Lin Jue, panting heavily, sensed the changes in the internal energy within his body. His face suddenly lit up with joy. In this cultivation, he had actually managed to condense a full fourteen strands of internal energy using the Red Perch Treasure Fish.

Including the original twenty-two strands of energy, Lin Jue quickly calculated that he was now a 12th-level martial artist.

He only needs to condense another fifty-four strands of energy to become a low-level martial artist, reaching the minimum standard for registration as a martial artist in the Great Wu Kingdom.

Martial arts are prevalent in the Great Wu Kingdom. To encourage people to practice martial arts, the government allows anyone who reaches the level of a low-level martial artist to register with the government and enjoy tax exemption.

Besides that, what Lin Jue valued most was that low-level martial artists could receive a Yellow Dragon Pill from the government every time the seasons changed, based on the fish tokens they obtained.

One Yellow Dragon Pill can help a martial artist condense thirty strands of internal energy and increase their martial prowess by ten levels.

At this moment, the Red Perch Treasure Fish's energy was almost exhausted, and he had already mastered the Pine Crane Long Fist. If he continued to practice, he wouldn't be able to come up with any new moves. Seeing that the sky was gradually brightening, Lin Jue breathed a sigh of relief and decided to go back to his room to sleep for half an hour.

Yuan Rou covered her mouth and yawned, gently rubbing her eyes. After seeing Lin Jue fall asleep, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened her eyes and exhaled a long breath. She then lifted the iron pot, took out ice to melt into water, and started cooking white porridge.

On the other side, "Grows Fast," having slept all night, was full of energy and was circling around in the yard.

Looking at the half-cooked white porridge boiling in the pot, Yuan Rou's mind was filled with Lin Jue's words when he ate fish last night: "We are going to leave Yucheng and head north."

After a moment of silence, she got up to pack her luggage.

The sky outside the window grew brighter and brighter, and the crisp sound of wheels rolling over the bluestone slabs of Jiming Lane rang out, accompanied by loud and lively gongs and drums.

Half asleep, Lin Jue opened his eyes, sat up abruptly in bed, pushed the window open a crack, and looked out warily.

It turned out that another girl in the alley was getting married.

Standing to the side, Yuan Rou fiddled with her fingers, gazing absently at the passing wedding procession.

It wasn't until the boiling water from the porridge in the pot splashed onto the firewood, making a sizzling sound, that she suddenly came to her senses and instinctively reached for the iron pot resting on the fire.

"hiss……"

Her fingers were scalded and red. Yuan Rou let go in pain, and the iron pot crashed onto the firewood with a clang. The white porridge extinguished the flames, and dust and smoke immediately filled the air.

Seeing this, Lin Jue pulled her aside, fetched some water to rinse the wound, and seeing that the injury was not serious, he told her to use water to relieve the burning pain from time to time. Then he jogged away from Jiming Lane and went to a small clinic on Ping Street. He got some ointment for external application and used a steamed white cloth to bandage Yuan Rou's burn.

Gazing at Lin Jue tending to her wounds, Yuan Rou remained lost in thought for a long while. Then, with a slightly embarrassed expression, she said, "Thank you, Brother Lin!"

Lin Jue was slightly taken aback, but didn't say anything more. After telling her to stay in Jiming Lane, he hurriedly ran out the door again.

He was about to leave Yucheng, so he had to make some preparations. In addition to some essential dry food and supplies for the journey, the most important thing was to prepare a horse-drawn carriage for the trip.

The journey from Yucheng to Tianwu Mountain in the capital is long, and it's impossible to walk the entire way.

At this moment, the white fog shrouding the streets gradually thickened. At first, Lin Jue didn't take it seriously, but as he spent more and more time in the fog, he began to notice something was wrong.

After passing through several forks in the road, he suddenly turned around like an old man and forgot the way he came, standing there stunned.