Little Cooking Saint - 0291 - Toothed Bur Clover with Garlic (h)

Chapter 291 – Toothed Bur Clover with Garlic (h)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

The elders stared at Old Gu with wide eyes and asked, “Old Gu, is the Master of Illusion that powerful?”

Elder Gu’s tone had changed from despondent to cheerful as he answered them, “I am not clear as to his true strength. However, now that Shiyu has become his disciple, the people from that side would not dare to act carelessly against the Imperial College.”

At this, the elders looked at each other. They were speechless for a long time.

Old Gu only came here to give everyone some extra information they were missing. How they make use of the information had nothing to do with him.

Nevertheless, now that the Dean has made his stand clear and further backed by Old Gu’s information, the elders became less worried. After all, they had already resolved themselves to fight boulders by throwing eggs. Right now they had been informed that their eggs were just slightly firmer than they had first believed.

Although there were still some doubts, Old Gu’s guarantee for the Heaven Switching Array and the knowledge that they would be backed by a Master of Illusion strengthened their resolve. Everyone agreed to support the Dean’s decision.

After that, Elder Feng and Elder Liu returned to their clan estate. Those who should be sent away were sent off. The remaining elite fighters were moved to the Imperial College.

One great advantage of the College was its abundance of land and living space. A few thousand people could live here comfortable.

Now that he had made the decision, the Dean called the students together and informed them about the Dawn City Massacre. The only information he held back were speculations behind the man in the grey cloaked. He straightforwardly told everyone that a very powerful and unidentified Demonic Cultivator had cursed the entire city.

The sentiment against Demonic Cultivators was strong and it [2] placed the College on a moral high ground against the perpetrator. The Dean made use of this information to fan fear and hatred against the people behind the Dawn City Massacre even as he emphasised again and again that the College could be targeted next. Therefore, students who fear for their safety could leave the College if they wish…

Just as the Dean was speaking, a sudden oppressive wave of Spiritual power spread over the College.

Xuan Yin was about to breakthrough.

Even after experiencing this phenomenon a few times, the students have not yet grown immune to the sensation. Rather, with each successive breakthrough they witnessed, they were further convinced that the Imperial College was the best place to increase their Cultivation.

After all, didn’t close to a hundred Core Condensation students experienced multiple breakthroughs in just one month during that one mission to Spiritual Beast Mountain Range arranged by the Dean? Also, the fact that a few people had broken through to Divine Transformation realm in just two weeks was more than enough for them to believe in the power and resources of the College.

Only a fool would leave now.

So what if it’s dangerous?

So long as it is worth the risk, they are willing to bet their lives on these great opportunities. With great opportunity comes great risks. Rather than living a shrinking lifestyle, it’s much better to pursue great strength or die trying.

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Meanwhile, Shiyu had no idea the preparations the College had been making in her absence.

She was currently staying at an ordinary inn with Ding Qi. The three Panda Brothers did not come with them but stayed in the nearby forest outside the City.

At noon, Suo Lan suddenly appeared.

“You should take more care these next few days,” he said. “The Supervisor has just left the Imperial Capital.”

Shiyu did not look too surprised by the news. She had already searched the whole city with her mental power but found no trace of the Demonic Cultivator.

“You should also know about our mutual acquaintance ‘Ah Chu’ from Songbai Lane?” said Shiyu. “Does the Supervisor’s arrival has anything to do with her?”

Suo Lan did not deny it but [3] also said, “The matter from the other city has nothing to do with Third Miss.”

Shiyu shook her head, “[3] I have nothing against her.” I just thought that my opportunity for revenge has arrived.

For people like Tan-Tai Chu, who took the time to make trouble for me would not give up just because she had to leave for the Eighth Realm.

That girl did not even have an opportunity to strike at me yet, how could she bear to leave just like that?

“But thank you for your reminder,” said Shiyu.

“It’s nothing, I just don’t want you to die,” once she dies, he would lose whatever future opportunity he had risked his life to secure.

Shiyu felt a little helpless against this person’s shamelessness… but, to be honest, this kind of self-serving attitude is good too. Sometimes, people who are with you for tangible benefits are more reliable than those who approached you out of ‘good will’…

That was all Suo Lan had to say to her. After exchanging greetings once more, he left.

Ding Qi, who had been listening to their conversation silently until Suo Lan left, burst out, “Since that person left, shouldn’t we go after him?”

“No need for haste,” she waved a hand at him, motioning for him to calm down. “Under this kind of situation, the best thing to do is calm down and keep your head. Especially if you want revenge.”

Ding Qi’s lips moved but said nothing in the end. After all, the only thing he could do now was to depend on Shiyu to avenge his family.

Just then, the waiter came in with their meal.

After the waiter arranged the food on the table Shiyu pushed a dish of green vegetables towards Ding Qi.

“You’ve been under a lot of pressure these past few days. This is Toothed Bur Clover, it could reduce heatiness [4] so eat some.”

Ding Qi looked at the table full of wine and dishes, “I can’t.”

Shiyu took the lead by helping herself to a chopstick full of the Toothed Bur Clover fried with garlic. In fact, this clover was once considered a type of weed and was mainly used as horse feed. Who knew which brave fellow decided to cook this weed and ended up discovering its deliciousness.

So delicious that people eventually turned this horse feed into restaurant delicacy.

The craftsmanship of the inn’s chef could not be said to be very good. However, Tooth Bur Clover does not take much cooking effort to become something delicious. Just cleaning and stir-frying it in a little garlic was enough to entice anyone to eat a large bowl of rice with this side dish.

After eating a few mouthfuls on her own and a sip of egg drop soup, Shiyu said, “On our way here, the amount you ate barely fill up this rice bowl. You’re only a Core Condensation Cultivator and haven’t yet reached the inedia [5] state yet. Are you trying to achieve Immortality this way? It’s sad that your loved ones have passed away, however, in my eyes, you are merely wasting your life by punishing yourself like this. I don’t intend to inquire into your personal affairs but if you don’t want to die, you should grit your teeth and live on.”

Who knows whether it was due to Shiyu’s words that spurred him on but Ding Qi’s eyes seemed to tremble at the words ‘don’t want to die’. He lowered his head, clearly overwhelmed by his miserable memories.

For the past few days, aside from sorrow for the loss of his entire family, he hated and blame himself for his weakness and cowardice. Right now, he was suffering from survivor’s guilt. He didn’t want to die but he could not escape the shadow of the past looming over him.

After a while, he slowly picked up his chopsticks and picked up a bit of rice and quickly shoved it into his mouth.

Shiyu looked at this miserable child for a moment: [6] What could she say to comfort him, ah?

She had always been the type to go for action rather than words. In fact, you could say that she shows care through food…

“You eat slowly-” [6] she managed to say when Ding Qi suddenly choked.

The young man coughed and Shiyu quickly got up to pat him on the back.

Ding Qi continued to choke until his eyes reddened and his choke turned into sobs. Suddenly, he began to howl.

[6] The emotions he had suppressed. The terrible fear and misery he had choked down while hidden under the barrel broke out and he cried and cried.

[6] Shiyu’s hand hovered awkwardly over the young man’s back.

This young man’s home and family had been destroyed overnight. What could she say or do to make it better? [1b]

“I hate it!” [6] he howled. “I hate myself for being a coward, for being weak! If only I wasn’t such a coward. Then… then grandpa and the others…”

Shiyu was shocked. She had not imagined that he was harbouring such thoughts in his heart.

How he must have hated himself now.

“It can’t be helped if you are weak. It’s a fault but it is not a sin. Anyone would choose to live when faced with such a terrible situation. Therefore, we have to commend those people brave enough to fight even under such conditions. However, even though we revere the brave, it is not wrong to lack bravery.”

[Gumihou: Poor Ding Qi]

We now have Glossaries for Character, Cultivation Terms, Clan Names, Restaurants & Places

[1] Deleted Stuff:

[a] After the Dean’s decision…

A repeat, why?

[1b] Also, he had suppressed it too long…

A repeat, why?

[2] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Manipulating sentiments against Demonic Cultivators. This was only briefly mentioned by the author, Gumi decided to expand on this bit.

[3] Adjusted Detail for Clarification: Because the text ‘Solan did not deny, but only said: “This matter has nothing to do with Miss San,”’ is like suuuper vague and doesn’t answer Shiyu’s question at all. There’s being cryptic and then there’s incoherent. Shiyu’s answer was incoherent too…

Vague answers do not a clever person make!

[4] Heatiness: is a concept based on Chinese philosophy of yin (cooling) and yang (yang). Symptoms of ‘heatiness’ are fever, sore throat, mouth ulcers, acne, excessive thirst, redness of the skin and irritability.

It is believed that stress increases ‘heatiness’ as well.

https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/800/Heaty-and-cooling-09Nov2015-NHG

[5] inedia – is actually Latin for fasting, lol. The Taoism term is ‘Bigu = avoid grain’. More correct but somehow most translations I saw use ‘inedia’ instead of ‘bigu’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia#:~:text=Inedia%20(Latin%20for%20’fasting’),and%20in%20some%20cases%20water.&text=It%20is%20an%20established%20fact,water%20(nutrients)%20to%20survive.

[6] Adjusted Details for Dramatic Purpose: It’s the scene where MC is trying to comfort Ding Qi. A bit stilted in the original text, smoothed it out and make the words flow more naturally.

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