Two years later
Four Seasons City, Zixuan Settlement, Ji Orphanage
In an old stone foundation, straw thatched roofing of the one roomed Siheyuan, the spring breeze carried the fragrance of nature after a long winter, a loud cheer of joy could be heard with the laughter of children, and the clanging of plates, "Wow! It finally happened, hahaha brother Chang awakened, and at only nine years of age! Does this mean that he is a genius?" Said a young boy among the gaggle of children on the worn out low kneeling table.
"No way, awakening early doesn't make you a genius."
"But the son of the city lord, awakened early and everyone says that he is a genius, why can't elder Brother Chang be a genius too?" Asked the little girl in confusion.
"Look the nobles are said to be chosen by the heavens since birth, and if Brother Chang was a son of a city lord then I would agree that he is a genius, but he is a poor Orphan Just like us Mei'Mei, so that means he is not a Genui..Ow!"
The debate between the young children was disturbed by a smack on the back of the head by Sister Yi on both kids, "You two stop talking nonsense, and just be happy for your older brother for awakening early, I bet if you guys worked as hard as him in the house chores you could even awaken earlier than him."
Hearing this Lin Shi Chang who was busy dishing out the Potato Pork stew he had made from Brother Gei's provisions, was smiling jovially at the warm display of home, his ‘early’ awakening had happened during his cooking experiment sessions, however unlike other normal awakenings, orphan’s like Shi Chang when they talk about an ‘early’ awakening it means the initial ages that were guessed for them were now confirmed or disproved not to be true, as many orphans found as babies use the awakening of veins to track their normal birth ages, but Shi Chang liked being a pseudo eleven year old because it was the age allocated to him by his family in the Ji Orphanage.
His awakening had also brought a change to his tingling feel of his tongue that increased exponentially, together with his other senses. However his tongue was the most perceptive of all his senses as he used mostly for tasting experimentation.
And now that he was awakened he was excited to start learning the elementary skill manual he had long since stored away.
"Sister Yi is Brother Gie here yet?" Asked Shi Chang, he wanted to share the news with his elder brother, and the one person he had been reliant on since his childhood, however he was nowhere to be seen so far.
Seeing his sister shake her head, he sighed and guessed it was one of those days when his brother would return late at night, as that was what he always did since he could remember.
"I want everyone to thank your elder brother Chang for the food he has cooked, somehow he manages to make the lacking resources we have into delicious food."
"Thank you brother Lin!" Said all the kids in a chorus, while bowing, and once everyone stuck a spoon of the beefy stew into their mouths, resounding squeals and ecstatic sighs could be heard from the children's happy taste buds.
Once again a feeling of satisfaction and glee filled Lin Shi Chang knowing he had helped to bring joy to the orphaned kids who had lost everything, this was something only cooking could make a reality for him.
"You should eat too!" Said Yi Xiulan.
Shaking his head Lin Shi Chang protested, "I'll wait for Elder brother to return!"
With a sigh Yi Xiulan only smiled, "I swear you take up after that guy so much, people might think you are actually blood."
"Hehehe." Shi Chang only laughed it off, but deep inside he indeed saw Gie Cao as a true blood brother.
After a few moments the kids finished eating, and Shi Chang who wanted to wash the dishes was prevented from doing it, as his adoptive younger siblings, had truly believed in elder Sister Yi's words of having a early awakening if they did more chores, and with that Shi Chang happily left them do what they wanted as long as it made them happy.
"Elder Sister Yi, I want to learn that technique now."
Staring at the grey clothed youth, in a tattered and patched up apron, Yi Xiulan only smiled, "Of course, its the lowest level martial skill, anyone can learn it, it won't affect you in anyway in your future cultivation, as far as I know it even guides you, so go ahead, maybe when you are done, Gie Cao would have already come back from wherever he went.
Nodding excitedly Lin Shi Chang ran to the back of the building into the kitchen and pulling an old vase's lid open retrieved the [All Piercing Mystical Eye Manual.] He then went outside under the shade of an old tree and sat down.
Opening and reading the scribbles of the mystical glyphs, he did not get a headache this time as his profound veins already had traces of the profound Qi of the world. However when he tried reading the symbols it felt confusing, his dark eyes could not make sense of the symbols no matter how much he tried to read them.
"Don't try to read it Little Chang, ahaha."
Lin Shi Chang heard Sister Yi giggle behind him, he turned and asked, "But aren't I supposed to read something if I want to understand it? Like the recipe manuals?"
"Hehehe no silly! Gosh sometimes I forget your still eleven years old, with how responsible you are with the kitchen chores. If you want to understand the manual you have to comprehend it by the feel of the mystical laws and profound Qi that has been imbued inside of it, simply trying to read it like a book will not work, but you have to meditate on the symbols, then that is when you shall awaken the skill."
"Hmm! I think I understand you, then I will try it, thank you Sister Yi." He said with clasped hands.
Placing his palm on the pages, Lin Shi Chang attempted to feel the symbols, although he stared at the symbols he did not attempt to read but delve into the symbols origins. Time passed, his attempt to not simply read the symbols but comprehend them continued, After staying in the lotus position for what felt like a few breaths of time, he felt a reaction of sorts happen within his profound veins.
He had awakened his profound veins early despite his weak body. Profound veins matured by absorbing minuscule amounts of vitality from the body, and like a tree branched out towards the whole body, and within these branches were profound gates that governed ones cultivation speed and the total level one would reach in their lifetime, depending on how many innate gates opened.
If one had less than ten innate gates their cultivation speed was said to be below the average ordinary person, while those with ten opened innate gates could cultivate one fold faster the speed of those below them, same effect happened with those with twenty innate gates opened said to cultivate at a speed twofold the speed of the average human, and were regarded as talents, however those with gates of around thirty were said to be geniuses among geniuses and could only be counted by the palm of one's hand in the entire Wei Province.
Lin Shi Chang felt his profound veins constrict and loosen then a series of popping noises could be heard as his innate gates located from the sole of his feet opened up, and a flow of the profound Qi from the earthly world was now able to flow into his veins, no longer needing the vitality of his body. From now on he would have to slowly open his gates fully from the sole of his feet till he reached the gates at his head, then with that he would be able to connect the heavens and earth with his bodies profound veins as the bridge in order to ascend to the next realm.
Still meditating a sudden spark appeared in Shi Chang's mind accompanied by words he could finally understand this time.
Ping!
You have Interpreted the Elementary grade skill [All Piercing Mystical Eye.]
Profound Description: From the countless paths found in the mystical martial river, the simplest of the martial skills has been extracted and imprinted into this manual for the later generation to comprehend with the aid of the profound Qi found in the heavens, earth and Veins. The skill will help not only the interpreter to see that which is not revealed to the mortal eyes, but aid in distinguishing the various traits and features of the organisms and items found in nature.
Ping!
Skill is passively acting on your body.
With a swirl of the mystical glyphs in his mind, Lin Shi Chang felt the skill travel through his body, and discreetly investigate it, from the smallest cells of his body, the strands of flesh, soft marrow of his bones, pathways of his now matured profound veins and even his mind state. Nothing was left unchecked by the mystical eye, it was truly a piercing mantra.
Mystical Status
Realm: Nine Profound Mortal Realms
Name: Lin Shi Chang
Sex: Male
Species: Human
Cultivation Rank[1/10]:
Elementary Profound Realm [1st Stage]
Cultivation Exercise:
Non
Cultivation Skills:
[Elementary Grade] All Piercing Mystical Eye
General Skills
[Elementary Grade] Meditation
Combat Prowess: Non
Martial Shards [3/3]:
Cuisine Martial Shard Progress: 1%
Type: Production Variant
[Low Gourmet Essence]
Martial Shard Progress: 0%
[Non Detected]
Martial Shard Progress: 0%
[Non Detected]
Consumables Chart Key
Profound Qi: Golden
Spirit Qi: Silver
Health: Bronze
Innate abilities:
Strength: 1
Speed: 1
Senses: 3
Vigorous Qi: 1
Blood Essence: 2
Profound Vein: ( Stable)
Located Profound Gates: [9/54]
Profound Aptitude: Low Talent
Opened Profound Gates: [1/9]
The Mystical eye skill also showed him an outline of a humanoid body that contained three different colors from Golden, Silver and Bronze that shared segments of the human body outline within it, and he instinctively knew that those represented his Profound Qi, Spirit Qi and Overall Health condition.
"Woah! So this is what my overall body condition is like? The ability of the mystical eye is truly incomprehensible." Said Shi Chang.
He had expected his aptitude to be a little higher but nothing went as you expected in life, he found that he was not saddened by this, as his goal was not to become a powerful martial artist but a simple cook who could take care of his family, and maybe open a family restaurant one day. But the most surprising was he had a Martial Shard, to be honest he had his assumptions by his tongue sensitivity outrageous increase, however he had assumed it was a low tier bloodline, said to be passed down a family tree.
Lin Shi Chang did not know anything about his origins nor did he have any desire to pursue such a goal, his goal still stood firmly in his mind, which was to put food on the table and take care of his family in the orphanage like his elder Brother Gie, and that would never change.
"If only I had a flame Martial Shard though, I could have never had to worry about firewood for the kitchen pots while I cook, but I guess this one might be helpful I just don't know what the word 'Cuisine' means, I wonder what it does?"
Immediately after uttering those words the mystical status displayed what it could decipher.
Ping!
Cuisine Martial Shard.
Type: Production Variant
Description: With your persistent experiments of various foods, Savoring the taste of what you ate and the desire to cook a delicious meal, the mystical world river has gifted you with a production martial shard to help in your pursuit of perfecting your cuisine skills, and all skills and abilities related to the art of cooking will now be done with half the effort with double the result.
i) Effect
Seamless: All skills, Tools and abilities related to cooking will require less profound energy and spirit energy to use, and faster comprehension speed to wield cooking related tools.
ii) Effect:
Savor; All senses have been heightened to help in savoring the taste of the good gourmet essence rich meals prepared by yourself, and distinguish all the flavors and ingredients used, this will help in deciphering some rare meals you eat that you may want to recreate.
iii) Effect: ??? [Increase Martial Shard Progress to reveal further effects.]
"Huh? Th...is" Shi Chang could barely contain his excitement, his laborious tasks and experiments with the scarce food he found in the dumpsters, to the food he learned how to cook thanks to his Brother Gie had now paid off with the gift of a Unique martial shard tailored for him by the world river.
Martial Shards were supernatural abilities that were used by practitioners to aid them in their cultivation ascension, there were different kinds of types from Nature Variant types, Weapon Variant Types, Beast Variant Types and, Production Variant Types like the one Lin Shi Chang had acquired.
A Martial Shard increased in strength as the level of the practitioner increased, and sometimes it might undergo a special change. The higher the level of a practitioner, the stronger the abilities their Martial Shard showed.
The reason Shi Chang was so shocked with this attainment was that it was rare to receive a martial shard tailored to him, he had only gambled by focusing his day to day tasks with cooking as that was one of the methods he was told he could receive a gift from the mystical world river, although the chances were really low.
Even a genius who solemnly focuses on sword fighting from a young age would not find themselves with a weapon type martial shard, however Lin Shi Chang was different he did not desire the life of sword wielding like most of the populace in the Wei Province. He simply wanted to feed his family and his desire and hard work had compensated him in full. He could not wait to tell the others.
After calming himself Lin Shi Chang opened his eyes, and found that it was already the evening hour, even though it had felt like a few moments for him.
A nasty stench assaulted his nose, and surveying his own body found dark sludge and grime lathered all over his tanned skin, The stench was so strong that Shi Chang almost felt like throwing up then and there, "Good thing I decided not to eat dinner. Now to take a bath."
Grabbing a bucket he then went to the nearest water barrels and begun to wash himself clean, and proceeded to wash the grey robe he had on. He had no clothes to change to, so after scrubbing as best as he could and raising a fire in the fire-pit, he dried the clothes off and luckily the stench was then dismissed by the smoky ash of the burning firewood.
"Everyone must be asleep by now."
Lin Shi Chang feeling the cold breeze of the night air shivered slightly, however the profound Qi that was absorbed from the surroundings was already at work, as it provided some minuscule form of advanced homeostasis.
While he was still feeling the warmth of the flames, Lin Shi Chang heard a loud crashing sound back inside the dilapidated Siheyuan. "Is Brother Gie finally back?"
Running into the building, Lin Shi Chang upon entering was shocked by what he was seeing before his eyes. His Brother Gie had a large gaping wound from his gut dripping profusely with red blood over the dark tunic he was wearing, his face covered with sword cuts branching out bulging veins of agony and Brother Bao had him placed on the kneeling table, as Sister Yi, was hurriedly ripping clothes from her dress, seeing him walk in she looked at Shi Chang agitatedly.
"Little Chang! I need you to bring me some of the water from the barrels, hurry! We have no time to waste." She said as she tried to put pressure on the wound.
Although Lin Shi Chang heard the words of Sister Yi, he found himself unable to move from the shock of seeing the state of his injured brother.
"Little Chang!" called out Sister Yi again.
Shi Chang's mind became chaotic, and his breathing started to become strained and panicked, he was having a panic attack, however a feeling of a hot slap across his left cheek disrupted his distressful reaction. Lin Shi Chang looked up at Bao Di who, angrily pushed him out the door, "We don't have time for your hesitation, hurry and do what your told."
Lin Shi Chang, then begun to move, while Bao Di went to the fire and inserted a Iron Knife into the fire. That night was one of the longest and scarring nights Lin Shi Chang would never forget.
