Bab 5: Chapter 5
"Have you found out who owns this restaurant?" the Emperor asked, his sharp gaze fixed on the paper in his hand. The document detailed the sudden rise of Eternal Blossom Enterprises, a mysterious new organization that had seemingly emerged out of nowhere. Their crowning jewel was the Celestial Feast Pavilion, a restaurant that had taken the city by storm.
The restaurant's food was unlike anything the world had ever seen. Traditionally, cultivators who walked the cooking path avoided using things like seasonings or unconventional ingredients to enhance flavor. Instead, their focus was on nourishment that supported cultivation. Yet, this establishment had shattered convention, blending herbs and spices to elevate taste to divine heights.
This was unheard of. Herbs, after all, were prized for their role in refining cultivation and boosting strength, not in satisfying one's palate. The notion of using such valuable resources for mere flavor bordered on heresy, especially since food, laden with impurities, was seen as a hindrance to cultivation. Yet, somehow, the Celestial Feast Pavilion had achieved the impossible. Their dishes were rumored to have negligible impurities, leaving cultivators marveling and unsettled in equal measure.
For the Emperor, this raised more questions than answers. A force powerful and ingenious enough to create such a phenomenon within his empire? He needed to know who was behind it. No stone could be left unturned.
"Yes, your Majesty. But... you may not believe it when I tell you," said the Emperor's adviser, his voice tinged with an odd hesitation. The man was a seasoned figure, having served both the previous king and the current Emperor, yet even he seemed taken aback by his discovery.
"Speak," the Emperor commanded, his frown deepening.
"Do you recall the report from a few months ago about the young prince 'wasting' imperial resources on herbs?" the adviser asked cautiously.
The Emperor's expression darkened as he remembered the complaints. Zhou Lianchen, his youngest son, had drawn the ire of ministers for squandering rare herbs in what they deemed frivolous experiments.
"Are you saying Zhou Lianchen has been aiding some outsider in secret?" the Emperor asked, his voice cold. The thought of strangers having influence over his son stoked his long-buried fears of assassination attempts.
The adviser shook his head. "No, your Majesty. It seems the young prince has a unique talent for alchemy, one he's applied in an unconventional way. He's been experimenting with how herbs can enhance the flavor of food. The recipes served at the Celestial Feast Pavilion are entirely his creations. Not only that, but he devised a clandestine method to deliver his dishes to the restaurant without anyone noticing. He's been operating under our very noses for weeks."
The Emperor sat in stunned silence, the weight of the revelation sinking in. His son, a boy once dismissed as frivolous, had masterminded a venture that could reshape their understanding of both cuisine and cultivation. But the Emperor's moment of pride quickly gave way to apprehension. His other children would not overlook such a thing, and knowing Zhou Lianchen's temperament, conflict was inevitable.
The Emperor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I recall Lianchen recently purchasing over a hundred spiders... Please tell me he's not planning to sell spiders," he said, his tone filled with both resignation and mild disgust.
***
"Young master, don't tell me you're scared of a little harmless spider," Lan Mei said, glancing at the spiders crawling behind glass walls. Her tone was playful as she turned to look at me, clearly amused by my reluctance to get anywhere near them.
"I'm not scared, just disgusted by those weird-looking things," I replied calmly, keeping a safe distance while examining the machine nearby. The contraption was designed to collect the spiders' silk, refine it into threads, and spool them neatly for use in crafting my suits.
Spiders' webs were no ordinary material. Fun fact: spider silk is five times stronger than steel of the same diameter. I'd even heard somewhere that a single pencil-width strand of it could stop a Boeing 747 mid-flight. Whether or not that was true didn't matter. What I did know was that the silk was incredibly durable and lightweight, perfect for my plans.
Now, consider the spiders I had captured. These weren't your typical garden pests; they were wild beasts with cultivation levels in the Qi Refinement realm. Their silk wasn't just strong, it carried a faint spiritual energy that made it superior to any mundane material. The amount of silk I could harvest from them was enough to produce something extraordinary.
I watched as the machine hummed softly, carefully extracting the fine, glistening threads. Lan Mei tilted her head, observing me with a mix of curiosity and amusement. Lan Mei gave a soft laugh. "The great Zhou Lianchen, prince of the empire, hunched over a sewing kit. That's quite the image."
***
"You grew used to the pain oddly quickly," Lan Mei said, watching me as I floated in the medicinal bath. Pain was written all over my face despite her words. This was my 24th bath, and I could only take one a week to allow my body to heal in between.
"The pain only seems like it's lessened since I'm nearing that breakthrough... well, maybe it has lessened," I said lightly. Breakthroughs were important, each one held a meaning far greater than just progress. The best way to think about a breakthrough was as an evolution, an adaptation to become something greater.
Once I reached level 1 Body Tempering, I would have evolved into something above the average human. I'd need less sleep, less food, less air, the list went on. Every breakthrough pushed one closer to perfection.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the final tempering happening within my body. After a moment, I felt it, the shift. My cells began to rip apart and heal under the effects of the Chaos Fiendgod cultivation art and the medicinal bath. This was the crucial moment, and it was excruciating. But then, the pain subsided, and I knew, I had taken that first step to becoming a cultivator.
Lan Mei's eyes widened as the necklace around my neck erupted in a bright light, swallowing me entirely. The glow hid me from the heavens, shielding me from their scrutiny. This necklace was another layer of protection, masking my cultivation as the Nine Heavens Fiendgod art rather than the Chaos Fiendgod art. Without it, the heavens would have noticed the birth of the second cultivator practicing this forbidden path.
"Congratulations, young master. You've taken your first step into the world of cultivation," Lan Mei said with a gentle smile.
"Yeah," I replied softly, standing up slowly to test my body. My muscles trembled with lingering pain, but I endured, trying to gauge where I stood. A smirk crept onto my face as I realized I was now equal in strength to a level 3 Qi Refinement realm cultivator.
Each time my body had been broken down and rebuilt during the baths, my strength had increased. When I finally broke through, my strength soared to an even higher level. However, just because I was as strong as a level 3 Qi Refinement cultivator didn't mean I could beat one in a fight. Qi Refinement cultivators could use Qi from their Qi seas, manipulating it in ways I couldn't yet match.
There were those who could skip levels, though I believed I was the first to ever skip twelve levels while still in the Body Tempering stage.
"Now I've got to reach level 2," I muttered with a sigh, already dreading the hellish road ahead. It had taken me six months to reach level 1 Body Tempering and the thought of how long the next step might take made me almost depressed.
"One step at a time," Lan Mei said, steadying me as I climbed out of the bath. I nodded lightly but paused when a foul smell reached my nose. With a frown, I turned back to the bath I had just been in and saw the dark sludge swirling in the water.
It was impurities, everything my body had expelled during the tempering process.
"So, every bath I've taken has been purifying me too," I said, staring at the filthy water. It seemed the process wasn't just about strengthening my body but also about removing everything unnecessary, cleansing me step by step.
Lan Mei glanced at the bath and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Sigh, what an impure young master I have?"
I ignored her words; this was the first time I stayed awake to see this sight. She had cleaned me up every time before.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone