If it weren’t for the fact that she had to flip through the illustrated guide every time she took out a type of Lingcai, and he knew that this was indeed her first time encountering these ingredients, he would have thought she was already very familiar with them.
The two became acquainted through the dishes, and by the end, You Yu was calling Jin Haochen “Brother Jin,” while he called her “Little Sister You.”
You Yu was a bit bewildered. The titles had just come up naturally in conversation—how had she inexplicably gained a brother?
Half a month later, Jin Haochen’s people arrived at Taiyi Zong, and You Yu spent another half month teaching all the dishes she had recently developed to those few people.
The people Jin Haochen had selected all had culinary talent, and within half a month, they had mastered eighty to ninety percent of all the recipes.
“Little sister, your big brother is going back first to get the restaurant up and running. I’ll come find you again later.”
“Go on, go on. The rest will be hard work for Brother Jin.”
Jin Haochen handed her a token: “This token gives you a twenty percent discount at all establishments under Wangyuege. It’s for personal use only.”
“How do you verify it’s the owner?”
“Drop a drop of your blood on it, and it will become bound to your blood energy. If someone else takes it, their blood energy won’t match, and Wangyue Lou won’t recognize it.”
You Yu accepted the token. “Thank you, Brother Jin.”
“Don’t be so formal with your big brother. Alright, no need to see me off. I’m heading out.”
Jin Haochen ruffled You Yu’s hair, secretly chuckling to himself. The texture was really nice!
He only had older and younger brothers, never a younger sister. Having a little sister for the first time felt pretty good.
You Yu watched as he led his people away, letting out a huge sigh of relief.
This had delayed nearly two months of her cultivation time!
Although she had still been cultivating at night, thinking about all those daytime hours over one or two months made her heart ache.
She hoped this restaurant would make money—bring her back plenty of Lingshi and not let her take a loss!
…
After seeing off Jin Haochen, You Yu went to her two mu of vegetable garden.
Every day, she went to the herb garden to release Mulingli once, and then at night, after Jin Haochen and the chefs left, she would come to her own plot to channel Lingli into it.
Although it had only been a little over a month, the vegetables in her garden were already ready to harvest.
She knew that the vegetables she planted normally took about three months to mature, but now the time had been shortened by half.
Thinking that these vegetables couldn’t be kept fresh once harvested, she remembered the Kongjian Huanjie that had been completely unnoticeable.
On the day of the test, it had absorbed a lot of her blood, causing her to faint. Since then, it had shown no signs of activity—it didn’t crave her blood like last time, and the space hadn’t opened.
She had been busy for the past four or five months and hadn’t thought of it, but today she finally remembered.
She returned to the courtyard, activated the Defense Array, and pricked her fingertip. Fresh blood flowed out, and she immediately felt a sense of craving, as if it were saying, “Give me, give me.”
“You’ve been quiet for so long—I thought you didn’t want to drink anymore.” You Yu teased the Kongjian Huanjie.
“Want to drink, want to drink.”
“Then why have you been silent these past few months?”
“I scared you, so I was afraid you wouldn’t want me anymore.”
You Yu understood. Last time, it had absorbed her blood and made her faint directly, causing her to miss the test. So it was afraid she would blame it and had been playing dead.
Understanding its meaning, You Yu smiled instead. Then she grew puzzled—the clear consciousness she sensed in her mind… could it be the Artifact Spirit of this Kongjian Huanjie?
She had read in novels that anything above a Divine Artifact might develop an Artifact Spirit. Could this Kongjian Huanjie be a Divine Artifact?
“A Divine Artifact is nothing! I am a Xianqi! A Xianqi!”
You Yu was stunned.
Spirit Tool, Shengqi, Divine Artifact—and above that was Xianqi. Xianqi were rated from first to ninth grade.
In novels, the most common were Spirit Tools and Shengqi; even Divine Artifacts rarely appeared. In their Dongyu, there were only two Divine Artifacts, kept as mountain-guarding treasures by two sects. No one else had any.
Only You Xue’er and the male lead had the protagonist’s halo, obtaining a pair of Divine Artifacts from an ancient Secret Realm.
Now, the Kongjian Huanjie in her hand was claiming to be a Xianqi—this truly shocked You Yu.
“Give me a drink, give me a drink!”
You Yu snapped back to reality and pressed her fingertip against the Kongjian Huanjie, saying, “Take it easy, don’t make me…” faint again…
She didn’t finish the last two words before she collapsed again.
Damn…
When You Yu woke up, the sky had already darkened. She rubbed her brow, remembering why she was lying on the ground.
She poked the ring on her middle finger. “I told you to take it easy! You didn’t listen!”
“It was too delicious! I couldn’t control myself!”
“What? Who?”
The voice that appeared in her mind made You Yu jump to her feet, warily looking around.
“It’s me, it’s me! I’m Gungun.”
“Gun… gun?”
“I’m here, I’m here!” The cheerful childlike voice in her mind grew clearer.
You Yu confirmed there was no one around and asked in confusion, “Are you the Artifact Spirit of the Kongjian Huanjie?”
“Yes, yes! Master, the Kongjian Huanjie has been opened. Do you want to take a look?” Gungun’s voice sounded a bit guilty, clearly knowing it had gone overboard again this time.
You Yu’s attention indeed shifted from it to the spatial ring. She probed inside with her consciousness and was utterly shocked.
What was going on with this boundless space?
The largest spatial ring she’d read about in novels was only tens of thousands of cubic meters. This space of hers had no visible edge—she couldn’t even estimate its volume.
However, only the very center was clear; the rest seemed somewhat murky and hard to see clearly.
“The area in the center where it’s clear has frozen time—whatever you put in comes out exactly the same. Those unclear areas around it can’t preserve things.” Gungun explained.
You Yu found her voice and asked in astonishment, “Gungun, why is this so big?”
“I’m a Xianqi, not something those ordinary spatial rings can compare to.” Gungun said proudly. “I used to be even more powerful, but I was injured and forgot a lot of things. But I remember that I used to be able to let people inside!”
“A spatial ring that can hold people?”
“That’s right. Once I’m repaired, I’ll be able to!”
“Then how do you get repaired? What Tiancaidibao do you need?”
“I need Air Bubbles.”
“What are Air Bubbles?”
“It’s a kind of bubble water that releases air. With it releasing air inside the spatial ring, you’ll be able to come in later.” Gungun said. “If you can find Guixu Soil, then this place can become its own world.”
“Guixu Soil?”
“Ah, it’s the Embryonic Soil that formed this continent.” Gungun explained. “When every continent first forms, it’s derived bit by bit from Embryonic Soil—that Embryonic Soil is called Guixu Soil. Master, keep it up, and try to find both, so I can become a High-grade Immortal Tool!”
Grades one through three were called Low-grade Immortal Tools, grades four through six were Mid-grade Immortal Tools, and grades seven through nine were High-grade Immortal Tools.
You Yu’s mouth twitched. “What gave you the illusion that I could find these two legendary things?”
“My intuition told me.” Gungun said a bit sheepishly. “But before that, Master still needs to feed me blood.”
“Feed you blood again? Are you a vampire?”