Strange World Alchemist Chef – Book 2
Chapter 001 – The Questioning
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Pill Bug
That evening, Wu Xuan and Yue Xing’er had just finished their dinner and was thinking about sitting outside to enjoy the evening breeze when an old man appeared before them. It was the Seventh Elder, but what was a venerable Elder doing here?
Since there was really no one else of importance living nearby, Wu Xuan had a feeling that the elder’s target was himself.
As expected, the elder came towards Wu Xuan with a smile, “Wu Xuan, the elders would like you to go over to the Hall of Elders. Are you free to come now?”
Wu Xuan was so surprised that he didn’t know what to say for a long moment. Why was the Seventh Elder so polite to him? Logically speaking, even if he wanted Wu Xuan to go to the Hall of Elders, surely he could just get Uncle Wu to pass on a message? For one of the actual elders to personally invite him, they really gave him a lot of face, ah. They even asked if he was free to come. Hey, even if a disciple is not free, surely he will drop everything and come over to the Hall when called upon?
The polite speech really shocked Wu Xuan. Could it be possible that his performance earlier was so impressive that these elders wished to speak to him?
After a while, Wu Xuan nodded, “Of course I’m free to come, this disciple have troubled Seventh Elder to personally come and ask.”
“No trouble, no trouble.” the Seventh Elder hehe-ed, his face perfectly happy.
When Wu Xuan arrived at the Hall, he saw that all eight elders were gathered at the Hall of Elders. There were actually more elders today than the last time he was here. The Great Elder was like a great dragon, there were no weaknesses in his countenance. Such an important character rarely attended to trivial matters, which was why his presence here was so shocking.
[Gumihou: Yeah, yeah, we’re all shocked. Whatever]Even though he had made it to Level 8 at a short time and could hold himself against a Level 9 Cultivator, surely that’s not something that warranted a Great Elder’s attention, right?
“Sit.”
Second Elder said lightly, as though this single word did not hold the weight of the world. What kind of disciple could sit when an elder sat? What’s more, to sit when a whole line of elders were seated in front of you was not something just any clan disciple could do.
Wu Xuan slowly placed his butt on the chair. An ordinary disciple brought up in this stifling environment might be shaken by this scene, but not a modern person like him. Well, it was still kind of unnerving to have eight pairs of eyes staring at him.
“Would the elders please enlighten this disciple why he was called here?” Wu Xuan inquired politely.
A thin smile appeared on the Second Elder’s face as he countered, “Do you know where your master is right now?”
“Master?” Wu Xuan was surprised, but then quickly recovered. These elders here, could it be that they had attributed his skills to some non-existing master? Whatever, let’s pretend to bluff. He blinked stupidly and looked exaggeratedly to the side, “What master, this disciple doesn’t have a master…”
Second Elder said, “There’s no need to conceal this matter anymore. For a cultivator to reach Level 8, they must have access to good spiritual pills. Seeing that you have now unblocked your meridians, something that all of the elders here have failed to assist you with, we’re guessing that your master must be a high level alchemist?”
The rest of the elders nodded along as Second Elder reasoned out loud. Wu Xuan nearly laughed himself sick, privately, deep down his heart. He had no idea when he had obtained this high level alchemist master… but to be honest, it WAS the most logical explanation for all his current achievements. It could all be explained away by ‘A Master Class Alchemist Shifu’.
Since they had come up with such a convenient excuse for him, Wu Xuan decided to just go along with it. Who doesn’t want such a convenient master? In the end, he said awkwardly, “Actually, he was not really my master. We only met in passing and did not perform and master-disciple ceremony, I also do not know his name…”
Since this master was only their figment of imagination, Wu Xuan could only explain him like this. What if they want to see this master? Let’s just use cliche number 6, ‘Immortal master passing through’ to explain away his unblocked meridians. How convenient is that?
Wu Xuan could almost see the enlightenment dawn on the elders’ faces. Oh ho, aren’t great masters all eccentrics like that? Here today and gone tomorrow? How felicitous for their crippled disciple to encounter this great master who, probably out of great boredom, saw his weakness and decided to cure him, after which they must have left without even dropping their name. It’s not like there was no precedence for this. It was kind like a rich young master randomly tossing gold ingot at some beggar just because they felt like it.
“No wonder his meridians are unblocked…” Ninth Elder said wisely as he nodded to himself. Then, he said, “So, if this great master left immediately after he unblocked your meridians, that is to say, your cultivation up to this point was all your own effort?”
Wu Xuan looked embarrassed, “That is so, once I was able to cultivate. I somehow managed to successfully breakthrough several times.”
He had to say this, otherwise, how was he supposed to produce Master Figment Imagination? There was no way he was going to say anything about cooking up spiritual ingredients either in front of so many venerable elders. Also, if he attributed everything as ‘talent’ he would be able to receive even more benefits and favours from this panel of elders. More importantly, nobody would be suspicious of him.
The elders all exchanged glances at this answer, for a beginner cultivator to grow so quickly on their own meant that their basic talent must be incredibly outstanding.
“Your performance yesterday at the Practice Hall, you have performed a few never before seen martial arts, you even managed to instil your own attribute into your strikes. Do explain that.”
Wu Xuan toed the ground and said shyly, “I’m not too sure. It was all based on feelings. When my clan brothers attacked, I somehow could also attack back with the same technique…”
“… huu…”
The elders sucked in their breath together, they were beyond shocked and astonished now. In fact, they were elated, nearly delirious with ecstasy even! It was one thing to have his blocked meridians fixed, martial arts proficiency was something altogether different. As a genius who could infuse his own element into his martial techniques, this boy’s potential was too amazing!
Moreover, Wu Xuan’s ability to level up was amazingly fast, breaking everyone’s expectations, ah!
As for Wu Xuan, he was perfectly happy to have the elders’ ecstatic eyes on him. In order to increase his strength, it was important to gain the attention and approval of this group of people.
As long as he showed the potential, all of Wu Clan’s resources, be it pills, elixirs, secret techniques and more were all available to him. If he had to collect all these resources on his own, who knows how much time it would take.
“I have another question. The spiritual plants you collected from the Elixir Pavilion, were you trying to refine them?” the questioner was Master Wang Yu. He was particularly curious about this matter.
The most critical question has arrived!
Wu Xuan smiled innocently, “This disciple wanted to try his hand at it, but it appears I am not fit for it, ah…”
Isn’t this just nonsense?!
The phrase echoed through the chambers of the elders’ hearts. How can an ice attribute person be an alchemist, only an idiot would even try, ah!
Wu Xuan had no intention of letting anyone know of his special ‘cooking skills’, especially when he had no idea how to explain it away yet. Though he wanted to properly show off this skill of his, it was just too weird and attention catching. Why attract danger when he could keep his head low and secretly increase his own cultivation and wealth?
“It is decided!”
The Second Elder suddenly slapped the table, he turned his gaze towards the Great Elder. Wu Xian blinked confusedly at the First Elder’s expression: just what is going on? What has been decided?
[Gumihou: By the way, are the little comments in between annoying? Should I stop? The novel is annoying me to death with its repetitive amazing! Amazing! Surprised! Shock! Astonished! Wow! Super!]
