Chapter 2: Prologue(2)
Xing Feng was shocked but he nodded his head. "Chao Feng sounds better than Xing Feng anyway, and with this, if I manage to accomplish a great feat, I might be able to truly enter the Chao family and become a cultivator!" Xing-sorry, Chao Feng's heart stirred with ambition.
"Then it is settled. Chao Feng, come with me. We will take a carriage to the palace. If you are not aware, I am the son of the Clan head's nephew, meaning I have a high status in the Clan regardless of my low cultivation level. If you help me break through past the initial Martial Origin realm into the Martial Servant realm, I will deliver a formal request to my father for him to adopt you and also attempt to awaken your cultivation, if you possess the talent. If you are a great talent, you will not be disappointed with the resources provided by the Clan. Once you reach eighteen, if you are a cultivator, you can enrol in the Clan's academy, the Black Dragon Academy." Chao Yuan explained.
"Chao Yuan sir, if you may, can you please tell me of how cultivation works?" Chao Feng was fascinated by the idea of cultivation, his deep eyes had a glint of anticipation, eagerness and excitement in them.
"Cultivation is the art of purifying oneself constantly, until one manages to overcome their limitations and break through, then the process repeats. It is an eternal struggle for eternal life, defying heaven itself." Chao Yuan explained.
"I see." Chao Feng was enlightened.
"Come on, let's leave. Thank you very much for the food, owner and Brother Feng." Chao Yuan expressed his gratitude as he took Chao Feng to the carriage that was waiting outside the restaurant.
"Goodbye, Feng'er." The owner sighed softly as he saw them off, smiling sadly after the carriage departed.
Seven years. He had spent seven years with Chao Feng and now, with one thing, he was already gone. He remembered when he came as a skinny, little boy and how he changed into an imposing man, he was extremely proud that the boy he considered his son was now a part of the Chao Divine Clan. He knew he would reach great heights in this world, this was just the start.
The Chao Great City was ruled over by the Chao Divine Clan, it was the largest city state they had established ever since they conquered the entire realm.
The Chao Divine Clan was currently under the control of Chao Xieshuan, Chao Yuan's grandfather's brother. Chao Yuan's father was called Chao Peng and his father was called Chao Xia.
Chao Xia was over five hundred years old and he was the one who originally had the idea to create the Black Dragon Academy, and due to its great prosperity, his status in the clan had massively increased, meaning Chao Peng and Chao Yuan's status also increased.
After Chao Feng was told this, a question appeared in his mind: "You are at the Martial Origin realm, and you told me that there are multiple ranks within realms, how many ranks are there?"
"Nine for each cultivation realm." Chao Yuan replied.
"What are the cultivation realms?" Chao Feng continued questioning, he was extremely fascinated by the idea of cultivation.
"My knowledge only extends so far, I only know of the Martial Origin realm, the Martial Servant realm and the Golden Martial realm." Chao Yuan smiled and answered.
"I see." Chao Feng was satisfied as he silently observed the scenery outside the carriage through the windows, seeing multiple shops, smiling people and even one time he saw a weapon stall and a person who bought a dagger from the shop leaving with a malicious grin on his face. Then, as they moved further, he saw the person yet again, this time they were wielding the dagger against a defenceless woman who had a small child next to her. Chao Feng moved to exit the carriage so he could assist the woman and persecute the dagger-wielding man but Chao Yuan placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
They advanced into a remote area of the city, where there wasn't many things to see at all. At that moment, someone started to bang on the doors of the carriage.
"Open the fucking doors!" A hoarse voice screamed from outside.
Quickly after, they managed to break the brittle wooden door with their sheer strength, that was when Chao Feng realised what was happening here.
They were being robbed!
Chao Yuan kept a tranquil expression as he released his aura.
Aura was a strange phenomenon in this world, cultivators had a distinctly different aura to humans but the change was unexplainable. Also, one could not determine the rank or realm of a cultivator through their aura, that was why the thieves, who were at the fifth rank of the Martial Origin realm, were not scared.
They believed that since they were much older than Chao Yuan, their cultivation level would be proportionately higher also.
They were wrong. With one palm to the leading, the residual pressure was enough to knock all of them far into the countryside.
That was the difference between a cultivator whose spiritual energy had fully condensed and a cultivator who had barely reached the halfway point of full condensation.
Ten minutes later, the carriage stopped. They had arrived at their destination after an eventful hour-long journey.
After exiting the carriage, Chao Feng was met with an awe-inspiring sight.
A huge white palace with golden outlines and several tall pillars that seemed to stretch on endlessly into the boundless sky above was erect in front of him.
The pressure emanating from it was enough to almost crush Chao Feng to death, and after his round of questioning, he now understood that it was pure Qi which was present in the palace to assist cultivation.
While Chao Feng was gaping at the palace, Chao Yuan had already opened the gate and shouted for Chao Feng to follow him.
Chao Feng returned to his senses and ran to the pearl-white gate, with two imposing cultivator guards adorned in black robes at either side of it.
The gate opened to a previously obscured garden, which had many kinds of magical flowers that could assist with cultivation, battle and recovery. There were many cobblestone paths that weaved through it, but the largest one was the one leading to the large, blood-red door with golden ornaments on it and clear gold letters made from the actual material that read: 'Chu Divine Clan Branch Palace'
"Branch Palace? This is not even the main palace?" Chao Feng was shocked in his mind but he did not express it outside, watching as Chao Yuan opened the door and a blinding light entered his eye, forcing them shut.
When he managed to open them again, he was already a few steps inside the palace, the door was closed and the light had dissipated.
"Yuan'er, you're finally back! Is the news from the Royal Sea Palace correct? Have you actually broken through? You are finally at the peak of the Martial Origin realm! This is a day for celebration! Hm, Yuan'er, who is this? Also, where is Chao Shen?" Chao Peng was a very talkative person and he was even more so today due to his son managing to overcome a great bottleneck in his life.
"Yes, I have indeed broken through. This is Chao Feng, father, he is the one who helped me break through by cooking a spiritual meal! I have disposed of that Chao Shen trash, he wasn't even comparable to Brother Feng!" Chao Yuan answered all of his questions with a proud and confident smile.
"Spiritual meal?!" Chao Peng's eyes widened before he asked: "Can you please prepare one for me, Chao Feng? I would like to test the validity of Yuan'er's statements."
"Yes, Lord." Chao Feng bowed and followed Chao Peng to the kitchen, listening to his explanations on the way.
"Our kitchen is nothing special, it has no magical properties. However, it is at the peak of mortal kitchens, it is most likely many times better than the one in the restaurant you previously worked at." Chao Peng stated just before they entered the kitchen.
After conversing with Chao Feng for a few minutes, he already understood most of the major events in his life, yet he still didn't understand him on a personal level.
Chao Feng nodded his head and entered the kitchen, drawing the attention of all of the staff that was there.
"Oh? Who's this?" The head chef asked Chao Peng who was standing behind Chao Feng.
"This is Chao Feng. Leave the cooking for him for a while, take a break."
"Yes, sir!"
All of the staff instantly left, they would enjoy their well-deserved break.
"What is Young Master Yuan's favourite meal?"
"It is egg-fried rice."
"Oh? That is coincidentally the meal I am most proficient in cooking!"
Chao Feng gathered the necessary ingredients from the kitchen's pantry. He even gathered some special cultivation herbs from the garden.
An hour later, the meal was finished and it was served by a servant.
From the white porcelain bowl, an intoxicating aroma wafted up as thick wafts of smoke, permeating into Chao Yuan's nostrils.
The bowl was covered with countless grains of white, pristine rice and each grain was meticulously covered in shining egg yolk. The herbs and salad was dotted throughout the bowl and the special dressing on it had a heavenly taste. All in all, it was extremely visually pleasing to Chao Yuan and he unhesitatingly picked up a few grains of rice with his chopsticks, inserting them into his mouth.
He closed his eyes as his breathing started to become heavier, the taste was simply too good!
"Chao Feng. We have to pay all of those kitchen staff and combined, their meals cannot hold a candle to yours. From now on, we will fire most of kitchen staff and you will be the sole chef of this branch palace." Chao Yuan decided after tasting the outstanding meal. "Furthermore, the meal really holds magical properties. Father, the qi has condensed even more without me even moving a finger. See, this is proof."
Chao Peng had been watching silently from the shadows and he suddenly emerged into the light with a shocked expression, numerous thoughts were racing through his head.
"You are not a cultivator, so it shouldn't be possible to accomplish such a thing." Chao Peng said. "Yet, you have managed to do such a thing. Therefore, you must have a great amount of cultivation talent.
Chao Feng, cook around seventy different meals over these next few weeks and once you are finished, I will send you to the Black Dragon Academy!
If you do possess an adequate level of talent, I shall adopt you as my third son."
"Yes!" Chao Feng was elated.
Chao Peng's decision was not unreasonable, if Chao Feng could create spiritual meals without being a cultivator, that would mean that his spiritual energy and dantian would already be present inside his body, to have such things as a normal human was completely unheard of.
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