Lin Mu followed the clerk to the kitchen located in the backyard. There he saw the cook fatty Yuan sitting to the side and drinking from a gourd. He was taking large sips and already seemed to be drunk.
After speaking some words with Lin Mu, the clerk bade him farewell and left. Lin Mu approached the cooking area and took out the meat from the large sack. He washed the meat and chopped it up. He then took some vegetables and spices that were kept to the side and chopped them up as well.
Having done this, he took a large pot that was hanging from the wall and set it on the stove. Adding the meat along with the other ingredients, Lin Mu covered the pot. He saw that there were only embers left in the stove with no flames left, thus he added more wood and ignited the flames. He placed the bellows in front of the opening of the stove and started to blow air into the stove.
Soon the fire was blazing hot, and the pot started cooking. Lin Mu stopped blowing the bellows and sat down. He started chanting the severing heart sutra and recuperated the spirit qi he had consumed. While he was doing this, the cook fatty Yuan was watching him with hazy eyes.
The cook's face was red, and he seemed to be murmuring to himself. Thirty minutes later, a delicious aroma started arising from the pot. By now Lin Mu had replenished a small part of his spirit qi. Soon Lin Mu's stomach groaned after smelling the delicious aroma. Thus he stopped cultivating and stood up.
Even the cook seemed to have become a little sober after smelling the aroma. What Lin Mu had cooked just now was the meat from the spirit beast he had killed. Because the spirit beast had little meat and was rather bony, Lin Mu chose to make a stew instead of the roast he usually made.
Lin Mu removed the pot's lid and scooped out a large serving of stew into a bowl. He then sat down on the side and started eating the stew. The cook named Fatty Yuan stood up in a seemingly drunken stupor and walked up to the stew, while speaking to himself.
"How can this kid cooking be better than mine?"
The cook picked up a small tasting bowl and scooped up a small serving of the stew. Lin Mu did not react and waited. He wanted to see what the reaction of commoner would be upon eating spirit beast meat.
The cook brought the small bowl to his mouth and gulped down the savory and delightful stew. He enjoyed the taste of the stew for a moment and then turned extremely red in the next. His body started heating and he could not make a sense of it.
"What… what is this?" The cook spoke.
A small amount of blood started leaking out of the cook's nose and he fainted, seemingly due to the excess amount of energy raging through his body. Lin Mu was surprised by this. He did not expect that such a small serving would be enough to knock out a commoner.
Lin Mu sensed the cook's strength and placed him at the 6th stage of the body tempering realm. Wanting to gain a deeper understanding, Lin Mu used his spirit sense and observed the condition of the cook's body.
He saw that the small amount of spirit qi that was present in the stew permeated the cook's body and was wandering randomly, without a direction. Lin Mu looked closer and tried to find the cook's meridians. He found them after a few seconds and studied the difference between them and his own.
If the cook's meridians could be compared to the thickness of a hair, then Lin Mu's could compare to that of a chopstick. The difference between the wideness of the meridians was astounding. Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong.
"Your meridians should have been the same at first, but perhaps because of eating that purple spirit fruit they became wider." Xukong spoke.
Xukong did not say the complete truth to Lin Mu, though. Just a spirit fruit would not have been enough to widen the meridians by such a large margin. It was rather the subtle effect of the mysterious ring which had actually been changing Lin Mu's constitution.
Soon Lin Mu had emptied out the pot and had finished eating. He then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra and assimilated the vital energy. He sensed the overflowing vital energy present in the stew that he had eaten. He also sensed that the spirit qi that was present in the beast meat was readily absorbed by his body without needing much effort.
The spirit qi in the meat was enough for him to replenish his entire store. After assimilating all the spirit qi, Lin Mu stood up and walked up to his room. He sat down on his bed and continued his cultivation session. He cultivated for a couple of hours until he felt tired and sleepy.
Lin Mu soon fell asleep and appeared in the Sleepscape. It was finally time for Lin Mu to start practicing the Thousand Armament Blade scripture. There were many weapons that were described in the manual, and from those Lin Mu had a spear, axe, hatchet, and dagger, that he could practice with.
He started with the spear as it seemed to be the easiest to him. The manual described simple moves and stances for each weapon. Though they seemed to be simple to practice, what they contained was the pure essence of that weapon.
When Lin Mu started practicing, he found the process to be easy and simple, but the more he practiced, the more he became aware of the hidden complexities of the spear. He would thrust and experience that he thrusted, yet it did not feel right to him.
It was as if the manual was making him reveal his weaknesses. In a little while, Lin Mu was lost in the practice. He did not even realize as the hours passed by and morning came. His consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body.
Lin Mu slowly opened his eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. Standing up to stretch, Lin Mu flexed his body. He then heard a knock on his door, which prompted him to open it. It was the clerk who had knocked.
"The breakfast is ready, sir, or would you prefer to cook yourself again?" The clerk asked.
"Both." Lin Mu shortly answered.
The clerk felt a little strange at Lin Mu���s answer but did not mind it for long and gestured Lin Mu to follow him. They went downstairs and walked to the left. They entered a small hall in which many people were currently sitting and eating their breakfast.
The clerk brought Lin Mu to an empty table and let him sit, while he brought him some breakfast. The breakfast was rather simple, consisting of some steamed buns, light soup, and vegetables. Lin Mu finished the meal in a few minutes, yet did not feel the least bit satisfied.
The Clerk was standing beside Lin Mu the entire time he was eating. The other patrons of the inn saw this and felt a little strange upon seeing the clerk standing beside Lin Mu. They wondered what could be the reason, but did not really mind it as much.
Most of the patrons of the inn were hunters with some other people like merchants, travelers, and mercenaries mixed in. Just as Lin Mu was about to get up, he saw someone familiar walk in from the entrance of the hall.
It was none other than the mercenary Yan Zhong from the Fierce Blood mercenary company. Along with him, the rest of his team members also walked in. He spotted Lin Mu and approached him.
"Greetings, Brother Lin Mu." Yan Zhong said.
"Ah, hello." Lin Mu awkwardly replied.
The other mercenaries also greeted Lin Mu next.
"Are you done with your breakfast brother Lin Mu?" Yan Zhong asked.
"No, not yet, I'm going to make more for myself." Lin Mu answered.
"Was the food here not to your liking?" the Yan Zhong asked.
"Oh, that's not it, I'm just used to something different." Lin Mu replied.
Yan Zhong nodded in response and did not ask any further. Lin Mu left the mercenaries and walked to the kitchen to prepare the meat for himself. In the kitchen, the cook Fatty Yuan was cooking food and seemed to be very energetic.
'Probably the effect of the stew from yesterday.' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu took out the remaining meat from the sack and covered it with spices before setting it to roast in a clay oven. The meat was cooked after fifteen minutes, thus Lin Mu did not have to wait long. After finishing his meal, Lin Mu left the inn and walked out of the town.
While he was on the way to the forest Lin Mu spotted many black dots appearing in the air. Though the one difference was that these black dots seemed to be aligned in a curving line. Lin Mu became intrigued upon seeing this, thus he decided to check and open the spatial rift.
Lin Mu looked around and ensured that there was no one watching him. He then extended his hand towards a black dot and willed it to open. In the next moment, the spatial rift opened and Lin Mu inserted his hand inside.
Once his hand went inside the spatial rift, Lin Mu sensed that it was not a normal spatial rift. It was instead a teleportation channel. Excited at the prospect of finding something valuable again, Lin Mu searched around for the object that was being transported.
Fifteen minutes later Lin Mu touched a small cylindrical object. After storing the object inside the ring, he pulled his hand out. Withdrawing the object from the ring, Lin Mu looked at it. The object in his hand was a rolled-up scroll, which had a wax seal placed on its opening.
"A letter?" Lin Mu muttered.