Hoho.
Duan Tianhe had been inwardly delighted after gaining ascension in spirit, but Jiang He’s words left him feeling upset about it all.
In fact, he could not help feeling an impulse to fling every remaining purple-gold sunflower seed he was holding on Jiang He’s face.
Still, he ended up putting it in his pocket after some thought.
The stuff was quite expensive. Would it not be a waste to throw them away?
Of course, the main reason was that he did not dare to throw it.
Rising to his feet, he said, “We’ll be gathering at two in the afternoon tomorrow here at the Martial Arts Department (MAD), Jiang He. Remember to be punctual.”
With that, Duan Tianhe left.
He did not want to continue his conversation with Jiang He because it really pricked his heart.
“It’s only the fifth tomorrow, what’s the hurry? Everyone is elite and quick on their feet, so heading to the Western Frontier would not take much time.”
Jiang He complained… but the timetable was more or less on point, since he still had much to do after heading to the Western Frontier.
Meanwhile, the old blacksmith’s progress on the wok was quite slow since the wok was huge, and he only finished at two in the afternoon.
Hence, Jiang He feasted his eyes upon the 15m wide wok. Though that number would not mean much, it was as tall as a five-story building if stood vertically.
Moreover, the wok was clearly embedded with new alloys and appeared shiny.
Jiang He said his things and put the giant wok in his System Backpack—having learnt about the spatial ring, he no longer had to be subtle about the System Backpack.
With that settled, he headed to the supermarket to buy some cinnamon, star anise, cumin, black cardamom, for those were necessary spices for frying five-spices sunflower seeds.
Moreover, he also bought cooking wine, ginger, soy sauce and other condiments to season his steam-cooked giant crab.
It was three in the afternoon when he reached home.
Standing just outside his yard, Jiang He took out the giant wok and told Dumbo, “Later, follow my instructions—make a cooktop on the empty ground outside.”
Having gained earth-type superpowers, such work was exceedingly easy for Dumbo and Trumbo now.
And at Jiang He’s instruction, a super large cooktop appeared on the vacant ground outside.
“The position to put the wok is a little smaller…”
“That’s too large, make it smaller.”
After putting the wok on the cook top, Jiang He took out a hose from his house, connect it to a tap and started washing the giant crab.
“By the way…”
“It says online that it takes over an hour for the crab to marinade beforehand if I steam-cook it… and it’s now past three. Wouldn’t it be time for dinner after it is marinated and cooked?”
After cleaning the giant crab, Jiang He mused to himself as an idea soon struck him.
He promptly took out a box of cooking wine and pour every drop into a huge steel basin. Then, he levitated it with True Qi and splashed it over the giant crab.
Though the crab’s shell was as thick as an A-grade alloy, Jiang He had punctured many holes with his flying sword beforehand, so that the cooking wine could seep inside.
Moreover, to ensure that the wine streamed in evenly and quickly, Jiang He use a mild wave of True Qi to aid the circulation of the cooking wine.
With that, the marinating was done in around a dozen minutes, and to greater effect than leaving it to sook.
Jiang He sighed at that. “Truly, one must adapt. Martial arts do not only kill foes, but could be applied to daily life too.”
He remembered a movie he once watched then, where people were using Taiji skills to knead flour, Wudang swordplay to trim trees, Iron Buckshot Palm to park cars, and Treading Over Ripples to evade banana skins. Such were the most distinct examples of applying martial arts to daily life.
“I’ll need a cover to steam cook the crab… I forgot to ask the old blacksmith to make me one. Forget it then, I’ll just use True Qi.”
Pouring bucketloads of water into the wok, Jiang He directly conjured a net of True Qi over the water and kept the giant crab floating over the crab, before using True Qi as a cover as well.
That required precious control and utility over True Qi, and Jiang He naturally could achieve that easily.
Then, Dumbo and Trumbo came up and started to breathe fire beneath the wok.
At six in the evening, the crab was finally cooked.
Even so, Jiang He realized that although the steamed crab was good, it was not really to his taste…
Well, Dumbo and Trumbo would benefit from this anyway.
“Ah, I should have cooked crab extra-spicy instead…”
After having dinner, Jiang He started to roast the sunflower seeds, and a huge wok of five-spices sunflower seeds was soon finished.
Jiang He had one seed and nodded in satisfaction, smiling. “Not bad, not bad—it’s really worth every penny, especially considering one seed is worth over a hundred thousand bucks. Now, it’s a hundred times tastier than the average sunflower seed!”
***
The fifth of October.
Jiang He only woke up at noon.
After washing up and having lunch, he poured himself a cup of rank-nine Origin Fluid to clear his palate, and arrived at Lingzhou City’s MAD at two o’clock sharp.
However, the others had arrived before he did.
The Tantra Secret Realm had permitted six entrants, one of which was taken by Jiang He and Cheng Dongfeng respectively, as well as Chen Jingzhou of the military.
Of the remaining three, one was dressed in military attire and appeared to be in his late twenties. His name was He Litong—and his cultivation was quite good: a rank-seven grandmaster.
Cheng Dongfeng walked up to him and introduced Jiang He, saying, “Jiang He, this is Commander He of the Sixth Recon Battalion in Xibei’s Field Operations Division.”
Even as he spoke, Cheng Dongfeng communicated with Secret Acoustics, “The man has a strong background—he’s one of the founders of our nation.”
Jiang He promptly felt dep veneration at that, and put fist to palm, saying, “Greetings, Commander He.”
He Litong offered a fist-palm salute in return, smiling. “I have heard of your before, Grandmaster Jiang, and your reputation is certainly deserved now that I’ve met you.”
Beside them was a youth with an alloy combat blade slung over his back.
He appeared to be just short of twenty and a sense of childishness still lingers on his face. He appeared excited after meeting Jiang He, even speaking gibberish as he walked up with a fist-palm salute. “Greetings, Grandmaster Jiang. I’m Yang Chengwu—our academy director often mentions you… a lot of people in the academy are your fans.”
“Yo?”
Jiang He’s gaze shifted to study the youth, and could not help grinning, “Are you a local?”
After all, the youth spoke fluent Lingzhou dialect.
Cheng Dongfeng grinned. “The kid is handpicked from Lingzhou City’s
Martial Arts Academy (MAA), and also happens to be the heir of the Yang Clan School, led by grandmaster Yang Shipeng. He’s young, but he’s already rank-five pinnacle and a B-class Awakened with superstrength.”
Rank-five pinnacle and a B-class Awakened with superstrength…
It meant that the kid’s ability was on the upper end of Lingzhou city, even the Western Xia province. Moreover, it was also proof that when an heir from an old martial arts school had a head start compared to average people following the Revival of Qi.
Jiang He had heard of Yang Shipeng as well.
He was the creator of the Reverse Backblade, and there were records of him on the Warrior Home forums. He was a martial artist cultivated up to grandmaster during the Degenerate Age, and his future would have been inestimable if he cultivated in this age instead.
Being one of the Hui tribe, Yang Shipeng’s Yang Clan School had a two-hundred-year history, and their disciples once formed the Tiger Battalions to rebel against the Qing-dynasty as well as civilian military force to fight the Japanese, and were worthy of respect.
Still, unlike Elder Master Dong who founded the Eight Trigrams School, Grandmaster Yang was not able to reach new heights, and died fighting for the country. Still, such individuals were not rare, since many martial artists started to show up during the days of the Republic.
Given that all of them were able to cultivate up to grandmaster during the Degenerate Age, they would take to the skies in one go if they cultivated now in the Revival of Qi!
The last person was a lady.
She was dressed in sportswear and carrying a stuffed gym back.
“Jiang He, this is Zhou Rui, the prodigy that Xi’an’s MAD recommended. She’s 23, and once a fencer at the international level. She’s an A-class Awakened with Royal Sword—a very rare ability.”
The lady came up and offered Jiang He a fist-palm salute as well.
Clearly… she did not know Jiang He.
Even so, she showed him respect once she heard He Litong address him as Grandmaster Jiang.
Jiang He slid her a few more glances.
Royal Sword was certainly rare as a superpower, and those who possessed it were very powerful. Even the weakest A-class Royal Swordsman was an equal match to a rank-seven martial arts grandmaster.
That being said, it was reasonable that Jiang He would slide a few more glances since they shared the same ability.
After greeting everyone, Jiang He started chattering with Chen Jingzhou and Cheng Dongfeng.
Even so, he was puzzled.
Yang Chengwu, He Litong, and Zhou Rui were all young and worth grooming. On the other hand, both Chen Jingzhou and Cheng Dongfeng were basically geezers now, and yet they were actually chosen to go to Tantra as well?
Be that as it may, Jiang He was not aware that Chen Jingzhou counted as a genius—top rank-nine elites who grasped sword will before 60 had a huge chance of reaching divine-tier in the future.
As for Cheng Dongfeng, he was once the Peerless Rank-six and truly deserving of that title, although he was eclipsed by Jiang He after coming to Lingzhou City. Even after he had ascended as grandmaster, he had overtaken Duan Tianhe who ascended to rank-seven before he did.
If he had been mediocre, there was no way Elder Master Dong would have placed so much importance on him and personally instruct him.
Soon…
Duan Tianhe, Three Blades Lin, and Ji Dongxu all arrived.
After greeting each other, Three Blades Lin cut to the point, saying, “Start preparing. We shall depart at five o’clock sharp—since the roads of Western Xia were devasted by Ferals, everyone has to go to Tantra on foot.”
“This will be a long journey. It’s over two thousand miles of wildlands full of danger. Ferals or even Sky Demon Cult elites might be sent to attack us… that’s why everyone must be very careful.”
Three Blades Lin was going to escort them in secret but he did not say that, since the 2000-mile journey could be used as training for the group.
After mentioning the red flags, Three Blades Lin asked, “Any questions?”
Chen Jingzhou and the others shook their heads, whereas Jiang He stood up and asked, “Well… where is Tantra, specifically? Is there a map? What if I alone can’t find the Tantra Sect if we somehow split up?”
To tell the truth, Three Blades Lin did not think of that.
Still, he promptly answered, “I’ve already informed Chen Jingzhou where the Tantra Sect is so that the situation you spoke of would not occur, Jiang He. I would also have some people prepare the maps and give it to you before we go.”
Jiang He mused to himself for a moment, before adding, “Old Lin, we’re strangers to Tantra and I heard that Minister Wang had some squabble with them, and had to knock down their front door to get the list. What if we accidentally killed a Tantra Disciple if they came to bother us…”
Noting the fire in Three Blades Lin’s eyes then, Jiang He’s tone promptly changed and he laughed, “I’m joking, just joking… I’ll watch myself when the time comes and hold back from killing.”
Three Blades Lin: “…”
In truth, Jiang He had a belly full of questions, but he did not keep asking.
For example, could he deliberately lure Sky Demon Cultists to ambush their group?
And for a further example, would he pass by Mount Tian along the way to Tantra? If he did, would he cause trouble if he went up the mountain to kill that Golden-Crowned Black Eagle that attacked him last time?
“Forget it. The boss of the MAD himself secured this place for me… so I’ll just go have a bask of that glory and nothing else. Asking too many questions is no good either.” Jiang He thought then.
He was prepared… to adapt to the situation along his journey.
