CH 65

Chapter 65 – Special Yogurt Cake (b)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

The black-robed man’s attitude stunned the people around him.

Just who was this guy? Why is he so arrogant?

The descendants lining up behind the old men were immediately displeased, not even the emperor would dare to speak so disrespectfully to these Venerable Elders of ours. Just who is this man in black to speak so to our Elders?

Just then, Shiyu happened to be done with her work and entered the unusually silent reception hall with Feng Luo.

Wei, why is it so quiet? Has something happened? [1]

Her eye was immediately drawn to the pack of Lius and she immediately understood. Oh my, it looks like both Elder Lius had rushed over with their brood. Er, is this supposed to be a friendly exchange?

Shiyu was busy pondering over this as she trotted up to the man in black, “Teacher.”

Her voice was very modest. She was a bit hesitant about calling this person ‘teacher’. Even if no one else knows your background, I know, ah! [1]

However, though she was filled with uncertainty, the old man had little problem claiming her as a disciple. In fact, he was very pleased to do so. This little girl’s cooking skill was pretty good, having pleasure in the secular world kept him in touch with his five senses. It was just too bad that he could not enjoy the full experience of eating as a spirit…

“Oh, you’re done? Your martial brother brought some gifts on your behalf too,” the man in black’s voice was very indulgent. He was clearly very keen to convey the message that ‘here is my student’.

His sudden about-turn in attitude caused everyone to swing their eyes over to the two elders.

The cold attitude from before was clearly deliberate, ahh!

“Thank you, martial brother,” Shiyu very naturally stepped up beside Lin Fan. This caused her to face Elder Liu, Gatekeeper Version directly, so she said respectfully to Old Gu, “Teacher, this person is Elder Liu from the College. He has kindly given me some advice before.”

Though the advice was a mere ‘please don’t simply take out your precious treasures like so many cabbages or you’ll get into trouble’, it was still done with good intention, right?

“I see,” the eyes of the people swing over the arrogant man. His voice had suddenly softened, “Allow me to thank you for the care you’ve granted my disciples during their stay at the Capital.”

What the- are you trying to say that these two elders are only worthy of your attention if your students deem it so?! [1]

Everyone was speechless.

They held their breath.

Are the Liu Elders going to lose their temper over this obvious slight?

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~

In truth, the Elder Liu Brothers were currently sweating away in their hearts. They were indeed, very angry at the obvious arrogance shown by this stranger. Especially in front of so many people. However, neither were little brats anymore. At the first sign of trouble, they had privately exerted Spiritual Pressure onto the other.

A Cultivator could suppress another’s will by virtue of his Cultivation alone, so long as their level was higher. The larger the gap, the greater the pressure. However, when Elder Liu exerted Spiritual Pressure, not only did the other man not bow down from the weight of his will, not even the corners of the man’s robes move at all! Undaunted, Elder Liu quietly signalled to his brother and together, they exerted their collective will onto the person…

But… nothing happened, ah!

When the other party finally moved, it was to cordially thank them both for taking care of his two disciples…

There was only one explanation for this kind of situation. Their opponent’s Cultivation base was higher than both of their combine strength. But… they were both already at Great Perfection, Core Condensation Stage, unless, this man was at… Divine Transformation Stage?

Impossible!

Do you understand just how difficult it was to challenge the Divine Transformation Stage? It was rare even to see someone challenging the Divine Transformation Stage once every hundred years. News that the Feng Elder was attempting to challenge that stage had drawn all sorts of attention already. Therefore, how could there suddenly be a Divine Transformation powerhouse in their midst?

However, if not the Divine Transformation Stage, then… just how strong was this man?

Elder Liu was feeling a little muddled. Even the Liu Patriarch was feeling a little faint.

Nevertheless, all was not lost. The other party had offered an olive branch. They had thanked Elder Liu for taking care of their two disciples. This was an opportunity to win their friendship. No matter what kind of background these people came from, it would not be wrong to remain on friendly terms with them.

Once all the social calculations were done. Elder Liu stepped forward with a smile and said, “How truly enviable to be the master of a great talent like your disciple.”

[3] Everyone nodded, Lin Fan was truly a great talent. A rare one-in-a-hundred-years talent. There was no question about this.

[3] Shiyu piped up innocently, “Thank you elder for your exaggeration.”

[3] “… …”

[3] Wei, who’s talking about you, ah?

Awkward…

From the side, Mo Yin was fuming. She was already pissed off by the personal attention given to Shiyu by Elder Liu. Now that Shiyu had stuck herself into a social faux pas, she couldn’t wait to stab her viciously and put this lowly little cook back in her place. However, before she could say anything, Elder Liu nodded, “Yes, yes, Miss Shiyu certainly has a great talent for creating delicacies. I wonder if this old man would be able to taste your cooking today?”

“Of course you will,”

Well, if one stretches the definition a bit, one could assume that ‘a great talent’ could mean ‘a great culinary talent’, allowing Shiyu to squeak past this faux pas with barely a hitch.

Being a sharp man of great tact and discretion, Ling Tianyi judged that this was his cue to start the next phase of the banquet. He loudly called for the start of the banquet, and dishes were brought out, breaking the increasingly weird atmosphere.

To be fair, the two Elder Lius should be served in a special private room, away from the hoi polloi or at least at the grand table. However, Patriarch Liu said, “Well, we did barge in uninvited. There’s no need to go through all that trouble, Patriarch Ling. We shall be comfortable here.”

‘Here’ being Shiyu’s table.

The people currently seated at Shiyu’s table were as follows: Lin Fan, Old Lu, Feng Luo and birthday girl Ling Xiaoxiao. San Pang was seated on Shiyu’s shoulder, so he did not count.

Any other social climber might have insisted on making the Elder Lius sit at the grand table to increase their own social status, but Patriarch Ling did not get into his position by being weak and stupid. Knowing that there must be a reason for this request, Patriarch Ling could only escort them to Shiyu’s table, bowed them to their chair and urged his daughter again and again in tones that were really not exaggerated you know to properly look after this table. [4]

Ling Xiaoxiao smiled tensely at her father.

Nooo…

[4] This was meant to be a fun party with friends, nice presents and good food, you know? What is this social pressure pressing down on me now…

While Ling Xiao Xiao was crying on the inside. The two Liu elders began making small talk with Old Gu, intending to gather some information first. However, Old Gu was a pro when it came to verbal deflections. He was a master of The Verbal Tai Chi [5] and though he answered them amiably enough, they could not dig up anything of substance out of him.

Finally, Elder Liu cracked first, and inquired after Old Gu’s gardening habits. Does this venerable old man, for example, happen to enjoy keeping a certain type precious Immortal Lotus treasures like pretty bonsai…

“Eh, I came across some when I was at the Spirit Beast Mountain Range. Although it is a rare medicine, it is of no use to me.”

Elder Liu wanted to curse his mother.

Why could such great luck not befall on him? While it was true that regular Cultivators could not make use of the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus because it was an Arcane Grade [6] medicine, Cultivators at the Great Perfection Level of Condensation Core Stage could increase their chances of breaking through to the Divine Transformation Stage with this particular medicine.

However, Immortal Jade Petal Lotus was too scarce. It grew wherever it liked and luck played a great part in whether you’ll encounter one in this lifetime or not.

Nevertheless, it looked like his luck was about to turn now. Elder Liu felt his heart settled as he asked probingly, “If it is of no use to you, perhaps I may persuade you to part with it?”

“You two are preparing to breakthrough?” Old Gu asked curiously.

“Surely it is every Cultivator’s wish to keep breaking through? The rewards are many, long life, immense strength. Not to mention no one wish to see their hard work go to waste…” Elder Liu stopped speaking suddenly. Then, he stared at the robed man as though he had just seen some kind of hideous monster.

To think, this man knew the purpose of them coming here…

He dared not even consider it.

The man had just indicated that he knew the Immortal Jade Petal Flower could assist people who wish to breakthrough to the Divine Transformation Stage. However, he had also said that this thing was useless to him… it could only be useless if… if he’s…

Elder Liu turned to glance at his brother and saw a similar look of horror on the other’s face. “Surely not…”

“Heh,” Old Gu barked a sharp laugh. “My little disciple already told me your terms for the transaction. Hum, the girl is still too immature. How about this, let two people into the Third Floor. Each gets to pick out one item they like, how about it?”

[Gumihou: I think this chapter is one long ‘AAAaaaaaahhhhhhhh……’ from everyone including Gumihou… please see Note 2]

[1] Change Structure for Dramatic Effect: Switch inner dialogue to more casual language.

[2] Here’s a reference ~ Gumihou remembers it so you don’t have to ~

Great Perfection = Level 10

The ‘?’ for the Elder Feng is because author kept talking about Core Condensation and Divine Transformation and no one seems to remember Nascent Formation is between them there…

The Elders Lius are at 凝丹境大圓滿 = Great Perfection, Core Condensation

Let’s double check Chapter 46.

*If you reach Great Perfection

Excerpt from Chapter 46

‘天級則是留給凝丹境大圓滿的學生衝擊化神’

‘The Heaven Class is reserved for Great Perfection, Core Condensation Stage students aiming to Challenge Divine Transformation Stage’

Okay Gumihou has checked. According to the above statement, as spoken by Shiyu in Chinese, but Gumihou had used ‘the next stage’ in the translation at Chapter 46 because at that time Gumihou can’t tell a fancy idiom from a made up Cultivation Stage name…

However, the one thing Gumihou can confirm is that we have just dropped an entire Cultivation Stage…

How!?

T_T

[3] Change Structure for Comedic Effect: The build-up towards the punchline was a little lacking, so I fixed it.

[4] Embellishment for Dramatic Effect: The italics are all Gumihou. Because it’s hilarious, hyaaaa hahahaa! Poor Ling Xiaoxiao…

[5] Verbal Tai Chi – The Art of Verbal Deflection, lol!

[6] Arcane Grade – Just above Yellow Grade