Accidental Cultivator
Chapter 12
The Finer things in life
Big Ming threw the last of the food into the feed trough. His pigs squealed in happiness at the sight and smell of the mixture of grain and offal. Some ground-up fish heads supplemented the feed. Big Ming watched as the pigs rooted into the mixture for the tastiest morsels. Who said that pigs would eat anything? They could be fussy eaters unless starving. Besides, happy pigs that are fed with nourishing and delicious food made for bigger pigs with tender meat. He sometimes felt mean when he was slaughtering them as they were friendly animals but he couldn’t hunt magical beasts due to his crippled cultivation. He often thought of changing to raising chickens but the local farmers would be most unhappy with him if he intruded on their ‘territory’.
He noticed he was running low on vegetables for the pigs’ evening meal so he realised a trip to the markets couldn’t be put off for another day. He didn’t tarry and turned to walk back to the house to change his clothes. Mixing the pigs' slops was a messy business therefore he wore a long leather apron to protect himself.
Washing his hands and leaving his work boots outside on the veranda, he entered the back door and locked it. He took a moment to examine his kitchen. Deciding nothing needed cleaning or putting away, he walked into the main room. Comfy lounges and utilitarian furniture were all that could be seen. No decorations or artwork were to be found, only a large sheathed sword adorned the wall near the front door.
Changing his clothes in his bedroom, he re-entered the main room and walked to the door. Hesitating, he turned to the sword and patted it. Memories flooded his mind of his excitement at being accepted as a disciple of a sect. It was wonderful until his cultivation was destroyed. Ling Mai had awakened long-suppressed memories. Would he ever cultivate again? The feeling of strength and the excitement of learning to manipulate energy was indescribable to those who lacked the ability to cultivate. Grandma Tang was a fond memory from his last day as a cultivator. Would she ever start cultivating again? He hoped so. She was a good woman.
Giving his sword a final pat he exited his house and locked the door securely behind him. Checking that he had his money pouch, he started walking to the markets. He didn’t take his cart as his farmer friend would pack up his remaining vegetables and drop them off later after he had finished selling what he could at the markets. He had an agreement with Big Ming to supply a certain amount of vegetables. He would supplement his vegetables with other farmers' leftover vegetables so as to keep a steady supply of food for Big Ming’s pigs. Big Ming just had to pay him once a week to keep the vegetables coming. It was a good arrangement as it benefited both of them. Big Meng received cheap vegetables and the farmer never had to take unsold vegetables home.
Leaving his house he walked towards the main street leading to the markets. The houses became larger as he approached the main street. The quality of the buildings was greater although nothing like the level in the wealthy areas of town. These were mostly owned by merchants and craftsmen such as the Blacksmith, leather crafts and Cartwrights.
After walking for ten minutes, Big Ming entered the markets. On the way, he had noticed a number of cultivators in sect robes. Something is up? He thought. Dismissing his thoughts he scanned the markets for his acquaintances and trading partners. His farmer friend was busy haggling with a restaurant owner and a chef. The chef wanted the best quality vegetables but the owner wanted to go elsewhere to get cheaper but lower quality supplies. The chef won in the end as he threatened to quit if he didn’t get what he wanted. Grumbling, the owner forked over the required silver and stalked off in a huff, leaving the now-happy chef to gather his purchases together and load them into his small cart. Big Ming greeted him and asked if he still wanted to pick up some pork the following morning. The chef was happy to see Big Ming and grasped his hands and employed him to supply the best quality pork as he had important guests. They were cultivators from a large sect.
Hmmm, more cultivators and they were from prestigious sects! He thought with some slight concern. What has caused them to be suddenly visiting after so many years? Do I need to be worried? Should I warn people who regularly leave the town for business? No, I will find out the reason first, but maybe I should warn Ling Mai and a few others to be careful.
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Ling Mai froze in the centre of the Town Hall, and it was not from Lady Meng’s question about telepathy. It was more about revealing information that she was uncertain about the ramifications for both herself and her new family. The thought of powerful cultivators having potentially unlimited mind powers was scary even for her. She knew she didn’t understand any of the real but hidden forces in the wider world. How many were inimical or just plain evil? It was important to her as she didn’t want to risk Kitty. That the cultivators would investigate Kitty was a forgone conclusion if the cultivators discovered any hints of telepathy between Kitty and herself. She closed her eyes and attempted to send a message to Kitty to stay away but didn’t feel any connection. She would just have to hope Kitty had received her message or was not coming back into town any time soon. Her eyes became moist as she was already missing his companionship, despite his antics and his faux superiority demeanour. He was like all cats; playing and hunting without a care in the world. Once she had finished training, getting Grandma Tang cultivating, and had seen these cultivators off, she would go into the forest to find him.
Opening her eyes she blinked away the moisture. Looking at Lady Meng and Elder Xing, who were waiting patiently for her to gather her thoughts, she found herself still feeling undecided on how much detail she should reveal about her abilities. Only semi-trusting the nobles and sect people seemed the wisest course. She looked at Grandma Tang to see which of them should answer the question. Grandma Tang was frowning so Ling Mai was able to affirm her own feelings of caution about what she should say. She instinctively sensed from Lady Meng’s tone of voice and her intense facial expression that telepathy was an incredibly important ability.
Grandma Tang quickly explained, “I was teaching Ling Mai about the magical beasts in the mountains that surround Dragon Town. She asked how they avoided people. I said that it was postulated by the seniors in sects that they had a sense that allowed them to detect cultivators. They did not explain to me how the magical beasts could do this. They also remotely communicate with other magical beasts to warn them to stay out of any areas with cultivators.”
Ling Mai interrupted, “I wanted to know if any humans could do this. Grandma Tang said that it was called telepathy and that, as far as she knew, only Immortals might be able to do it,” she paused in her explanation to gauge their response. She needed to give enough information to assuage their rabid interest in the topic but not give them an answer that revealed her own and Kitty’s abilities. Seeing their heads nodding in understanding but no sign of suspicion on their faces, she continued, “That is why I wanted to know if I could meet an Immortal so I could learn telepathy. From what you were saying about comprehending Intent, it should be easy to achieve telepathy if one’s soul is powerful enough.”
Lady Meng and Elder Xing looked dazed then awed. They exchanged glances. Lady Meng queried Ling Mai, “Do you have any ideas about how to develop telepathy?”
Ling Mai realised that Lady Meng was very keen to know if she could learn telepathy. She thought about how much to reveal about how she had postulated to herself about how telepathy functioned. She felt it was safe to say how she thought magical beasts could achieve telepathy, but didn’t want to reveal her telepathic ability with Kitty. She suspected that Kitty’s family could protect him but did not want to risk him. She had only just met these cultivators and so she did not know if she could trust them to keep her abilities secret. Once she was stronger then she would be able to protect Kitty and Grandma Tang.
“I think that magical beasts have a more developed part of their brains that allows them to communicate mentally. It probably relies on soul force and may even be linked to them having a core gem,” Ling Mai said whilst looking at Lady Meng to see if she was following along with her hypothesis.
Ling Mai thought to herself, The magical beasts have their cores in their brains so it makes sense that having cores and maybe vortexes in their brain would help enable telepathy and increase their intelligence. Telepathy can only occur if the sender knows how but the recipient also needs a strong soul. What does telepathy consist of? Is it a type of energy? Or is it a type of soul-force energy? Ling Mai was thrilled. A whole new world to explore!
She continued to explain her conjectures, “I would guess that young magical beasts would not be able to use telepathy until their cores develop. There must be a threshold for enabling telepathy. I imagine that Immortals are like adult magical beasts in that they have a similar level of soul force. I know that my muscles increased in power as soon as I started to cultivate. My heart and lungs are also more efficient as I don’t get breathless when running. Therefore I expect my other organs, bones and brain to have also improved in strength and efficiency. A few things have indicated this to me.” She was mostly thinking about her ability to have multiple minds as she was not yet aware of her increased memory and cognitive abilities.
Lady Meng and Elder Xing looked intrigued. Lady Meng slowly said while obviously still thinking hard, “What you are saying makes sense. If we can find an effective and efficient way to increase our soul force and maybe also develop our brains like we do our bodies then we may discover a way to develop mental communication plus other mental abilities such as your advanced energy sensing and manipulation.”
Ling Mai was excited by all these ideas. It may mean that Grandma Tang could learn telepathy if she started cultivating in the same way that she herself did. Having her vortexes in her head probably contributed enormously to her own brain’s further development. She had previously already had an advanced level of energy sensing and manipulation before cultivating; though she hadn’t consciously awakened the ability. It most likely had improved rapidly since she had started cultivating. With her using her energy sense and energy manipulation, it would have helped enhance her level of precision of use and increase its strength. She was most happy with the thought of being able to send thoughts to Grandma Tang. She could tease her all the time!
Ling Mai glanced at Grandma Tang who was staring at her suspiciously. Oops! I must have revealed my thoughts, or she can already read my mind! Ling Mai swallowed and took a deep breath to calm herself then asked, “I can demonstrate my level of soul force and energy manipulation if you want?”
Lady Meng looked surprised and intrigued. She nodded for her to commence.
Ling Mai wanted to distract them from the subject of telepathy so she decided to put on a good show. First, she manipulated fire energy to form a ring of fire on the ground then wind energy to whip the fire energy into a rapidly spinning ring. The heat emitted became extreme to the extent that first Lord Jai and then the others backed away. Not wanting to burn anyone, she next created a wall of clear ice to shield the flames. Inside the flames, she created a circular platform of earth and then started constructing a gold and silver tower. Wood energy plants started growing rapidly whilst water formed fountains and mini waterfalls. As a finishing touch, she decided to create some magic butterflies formed from the strange yellow energy and some purple energy. She used infinitesimally small vortexes to power the wings.
Looking proudly at her creations she admired them whilst tweaking the energies for an even more aesthetically pleasing appearance. The ‘brains’ of the magic butterflies were simple rune constructs with parameters to avoid solid objects but move towards and hover near moving energy such as the waterfalls and fountains. All her practising with energy tools, shields and defences was paying dividends.
After briefly hovering and dancing in the air above her energy landscape, the magic butterflies took this opportunity to ‘escape’ and quickly flew towards the hall’s door where Lord Jai had sheltered to escape the earlier extreme heat. He had been in the process of starting to approach the new more benevolent energy landscape with a view of seeing the finer details.
What is going on? Thought Ling Mai. They should not be acting like this. They can’t be alive. Does this yellow energy do more than interact with other energies? Wow, this is exciting!
Ling Mai sensed a glimmer of the yellow energy moving within the butterflies which was unexpected as she hadn’t created runes to achieve this. Ling Mai sighed as she ruefully thought, I don’t have time to study this now. I’ll have to experiment later.
Lord Jai yelped in shock and ran outside waving his sword above his head to ward off the ‘dangerous’ hovering magic butterflies. Ling Mai quickly used her energy manipulation to herd the wayward magic butterflies back inside, whilst muttering, “Bad magic butterflies. Lord Jai is no longer a bad man.” Ling Mai surmised that maybe her unconscious mind still felt some resentment towards Lord Jai. She sighed and looked up as Grandma Tang was striding over to her.
Grandma Tang stopped and examined the yellow and blue energy butterflies then turned to Lady Meng and stated, “See what I mean about me being an animal tamer? Though the butterflies are new and seem harmless which is a change,” She stared hard at Ling Mai, “They are benign? Yes?”
“I believe so but they are acting peculiar,” Ling Mai replied whilst trying to understand what had happened. Grandma Tang threw her hands up and gazed at the ceiling which made Ling Mai feel even more nervous. The looks of amazement on the other spectators’ faces didn’t diminish her anxiety. I may have overdone it in my attempt to distract them from telepathy.
The Mayor chose this moment to step forward and interject with a question. He had been mostly lost with the details of what was being discussed and had no idea how Ling Mai was doing seemingly impossible things with multiple energy types. He was also feeling left out of the conversation.
“Would your Ladyship and Lordship be inclined to have lunch with me? I can have food delivered from our finest restaurant in Dragon Town. Alternatively, we can dine at the establishment. They have many fine wines and excellent entertainment,” he asked whilst looking expectantly to Lady Meng for a reply.
Lady Meng looked at Ling Mai’s excited and expectant face and smiled helplessly. This Ling Mai is too adorable, she thought to herself, so she readily agreed, “We will dine at this restaurant. Ling Mai looks like she could do with a good meal.”
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“YES!” Shouted Ling Mai, then she looked apprehensively at Grandma Tang but discovered she was looking back at her with a fond look on her face. Ling Mai realised Grandma Tang was happy for her to have a good meal. Grandma Tang, herself, was pleased and proud of Ling Mai as she had gone from an almost starving street urchin to a somewhat powerful and very talented cultivator who could now dine with nobility.
The Mayor looked pleased at Lady Meng’s acceptance. He did appreciate that Ling Mai had been instrumental in Lady Meng’s ready agreement to his lunch invitation. He made a mental note to nurture a relationship with Grandma Tang and Ling Mai as they displayed knowledge and talent far exceeding the norm
This lunch would raise his status in the town. He may even be able to establish friendly relations with these nobles. He was very aware that contacts such as these nobles could boost trade and other valuable items such as cultivation resources and visits by skilled sect members. These cultivators could help gather resources from the more dangerous locations in the mountains and also stop magical beast attacks. The town may also gain access to high-level blacksmiths, alchemists, talisman masters and grandmasters. His own stunted growth in cultivation weighed heavily on his mind. Pills, advanced cultivation methods and techniques were very thin on the ground in remote areas such as Dragon Town.
Lord Jai had returned inside after being ’saved’ from the pretty, and ‘deadly’ butterflies. He looked uncertainly at the energy landscape complete with the still hovering butterflies then in amazement at Ling Mai. He realised he had a mixed understanding of her abilities and personality. In some ways, she was very mature. How she approached problems showed a remarkable ability to be logical at a level that rivalled most adults, if not exceeded them. In other ways, she was very much a young girl of eight years of age. Her ability to shock him had not diminished the more he interacted with her. She had undeniable talent and intelligence. He was in some ways jealous of her, but now more in awe of her. When he was her age, he was nowhere near her in any shape or form. He now looked back at his childhood with some embarrassment. He even felt embarrassed by his recent behaviour. Meeting Ling Mai was a wake-up call. Ling Mai had shown him aspects of life that he had totally ignored. His self-centred personality was very apparent to him now. He had always looked up to his sister but had never admitted this to himself. He had mostly felt resentment at her efforts to ‘improve’ his behaviour. He actually felt lucky that he had met Ling Mai. He now had a chance to make his sister proud of him. He smiled as he looked at Ling Mai.
Ling Mai saw Lord Jai smiling gently while looking at her. She glanced at Lady Meng who was looking at her brother with surprise written all over her face. Ling Mai started thinking that Lord Jai was not a simple arrogant young lord who couldn’t change. Might Lord Jai be starting to understand and sympathise with people of a lower class than him, even to the extent of empathising with their situation?
The Mayor ushered them out of the building and led the way to the restaurant which was only a five-minute walk from the Town Hall. Along the way, the Mayor engaged Lady Meng and Lord Jai in conversation leaving Ling Mai and Grandma Tang to chat with Elder Xing.
Ling Mai was mostly silent as she was busy contemplating recent events and revelations plus formulating plans for the future. She first reallocated her sub-minds to their previous tasks. Also, every moment she cultivated and worked on advances in techniques and abilities was precious to her. She had a lot of catching up to do to be able to quickly reach these adult cultivators’ levels. If ‘these adult cultivators’ knew her thoughts then they would beat their heads against a stone wall.
Ling Mai decided she needed to keep a watch on her surroundings as there were more and more cultivators visiting Dragon Town. She also reinstated all the higher-level responses to attacks. She didn’t know if there were other even more powerful cultivators visiting Dragon Town. Lady Meng seemed to be almost at the peak of the mortal realm but she had only just advanced to the ninth level. It would take time to stabilise her cultivation and become accustomed to her new strength. Ling Mai wondered if she, herself, followed the standard levelling up progression. She would have to ask how it all functioned. She did not want to go down a path that resulted in a bottleneck or a dead-end.
She decided she needed a new sub-mind to scan full-time for cultivators. Being able to detect their souls should be possible. Hopefully, this would also help progress her soul force. Quickly forming a sub-mind she explained what she wanted it to do. She observed as it started scanning first her group and then the surroundings. Success! It was easy to do. How she had missed sensing souls was a mystery. Why can I sense souls as soon as I try? Did she have other abilities that only needed her to recognise they were possible? This was the third ability she didn’t know she had. Can any of the others sense souls? I will have to ask Elder Xing.
She was somewhat surprised to discover that Elder Xing’s soul was glowing much stronger than Lady Meng’s; not that Lady Meng’s soul was weak. Lady Meng’s soul also had a different ‘flavour’ than Elder Xing’s soul. She needed to investigate the reason for the different ‘flavours’ and what these different ‘flavours’ indicated. Surprisingly, Grandma Tang’s soul was about twice as powerful as Lord Jai’s. She estimated Lord Jai’s soul force was about a tenth of the power of his sister. She looked at Grandma Tang with some amazement. Without having any real cultivation she was already this powerful! This boded well for Grandma Tang’s future abilities. She decided she would make Grandma Tang’s starting on her own special method of cultivating an immediate priority.
Her attention was then drawn to a group of women who were walking slowly ahead of them. The women had a range of soul force levels and flavours. Ling Mai examined the different flavours but could not determine what the flavours indicated. A few were similar to others in the group, though none were of the flavour of any in her own group. She wondered if there were as many flavours of soul force as there were energy types.
Was there a link between the type of energy they cultivated? I will have to ask Elder Xing if he could detect these flavours and if so, what they indicated. Why were they flavours instead of colours? Is it my mind making this distinction so I don’t get confused as to what was what? Would another property be a smell? Hmmm, that could be vile, she decided. Imagine if someone smelled of farts because they could use magic; not that magic was real - as far as she knew. Hmmm, I should create a mind to examine yellow energy as it seems to be very important in how energies interact with everything.
Maybe I can ‘experiment’ with Lord Jai? He is becoming more malleable.
She looked at Lord Jai ahead of her and smiled. Lord Jai turned and looked at her, wondering what Ling Mai was smiling about. He felt uncomfortable for some reason.
Taste, sound, temperature and pressure/texture/touch are other senses that can be used by my brain. So much to learn! She felt very happy to have such an interesting and exciting life now that she was cultivating.
The group ahead was browsing the shops as they slowly walked by but they didn’t enter any as they seemed to be going somewhere and were not that interested in the items on display. Unsurprisingly, it was the group of cultivators that Ling Meng had encountered before with Kitty. The group of women turned and entered a restaurant ahead of them. Music could be heard as the restaurant’s doors were opened. A woman’s voice started singing a song about unrequited love. Ling Mai was excited as she had only heard travelling minstrel’s songs before this and not an ensemble of instruments. Fortunately for Ling Mai, the Mayor led them into this establishment.
Opulent decorations and furnishings greeted them upon entering the restaurant. The group of women were speaking to the receptionist. A few of the women turned to see who had entered after them. Two of the older women gasped and hurriedly bowed down low to Lady Meng whilst greeting her humbly. The remaining women quickly turned and bowed whilst offering their own greetings. Lady Meng bade them to rise and started walking towards the receptionist, the women cultivators swiftly making way for her. The young woman receptionist looked nervous but quickly relaxed as the restaurant’s owner came out from a side room having heard Lady Meng’s name. Lady Meng accepted the owner’s polite greeting and asked for a private room. The owner quickly agreed to the request and ushered them up the stairs, bypassing the ground floor dining area which contained a stage with musicians performing a song, much to Ling Mai’s disappointment. Upon reaching the floor above, they were guided past several other rooms and shown into a lavish room at the rear of the restaurant. Fine artworks adorned the walls with a variety of sketches and paintings. Ornate and comfortable-looking chairs surrounded a large table. The view from the window was of beautifully landscaped gardens and ponds. Birds and butterflies flitted about and colourful fish could be seen in the water.
Is this what Lord Jai is used to? Thought Ling Mai, No wonder he was conceited! In comparison, the colours of the mundane world pale into shades of grey.
Ling Mai gawked at the unbelievable luxury of the room. Grandma Tang’s food was very tasty but Ling Mai suspected the food here might be spectacular. She was proven right as several young waitresses started immediately bringing in wine and food. She wondered how they had cooked the food so fast. She realised that the food was probably meant for other customers but the noble status of Lady Meng had diverted the food to their room.
Ling Mai licked her lips at the sight of the exquisitely presented food. The dishes were artworks in their own right: swans and other animal shapes with vibrant colours, landscapes of trees and flowers, geometric patterns, and then there were the tantalising aromas wafting into her nose. Looking up, she suddenly felt embarrassed as the rest of the party was watching her salivating over the food. Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson but she quickly recovered her aplomb as there was food to be eaten!
Lady Meng ushered her to the head of the table and sat down next to her. Grandma Tang sat on her other side with Elder Xing. Lord Jai sat next to his sister leaving the Mayor to decide if sitting next to Elder Xing was preferable to sitting next to Lord Jai. He ended up deciding on sitting next to Elder Xing as he could then more easily talk across the table with both nobles.
New dishes kept being served so Ling Mai started to dish food onto Grandma Tang’s and her own plate. She offered to do the same for Lady Meng but Lady Meng thanked her and took each dish to serve herself then passed the dish to Elder Xing. Ling Mai’s eyes grew wide open as she realised she was sitting in the guest of honour seat, and that Lady Meng was treating her as very important! Ling Mai looked to Grandma Tang to see if she should offer to swap seats with Lady Meng. She made eye movements to indicate her swapping with Lady Meng. Grandma Tang smiled and shook her head. Perplexed, Ling Mai settled down to eat the delicious food. She noticed that Grandma Tang was examining each dish and smelling and tasting them carefully. Ling Mai grinned and asked, “Have you identified all the spices used in the dishes so that you can cook these for me in the future?”
Grandma Tang swiftly reached out and lightly tapped Ling Mai on the head with her chopsticks. “Unlike this precocious little girl, this woman knows how to cook. Maybe you can work here to learn how to cook for me? Hmmm?”
Ling Mai looked thoughtful, then asked, “You can’t teach me to cook like this?”
“I can teach you how to cook similar tasting food but the skill in arranging the food on the plate is more artistry than cooking.”
Ling Mai considered the options, learn from Grandma Tang or from the restaurant’s cooks. “I think I can duplicate this food if I watch the cooks for a few minutes.” She promptly stood up and took her plate of food to the kitchen. She had been feeling very self-conscious sitting at the head of the table. The others gazed after her feeling mixed emotions and thinking speculative thoughts. ‘Does she ever stop learning new skills?’ Was the most common thought.
Taking the opportunity given by Ling Mai’s departure, the Mayor took the chance to raise some questions about future trade and visits from sect people. The Mayor was pleased they were in a private room as the lack of entertainment would not detract from his efforts to woo these nobles and Elder Xing to have a long-term interest in Dragon Town. Ling Mai being seated at the head of the table further reinforced his understanding of Ling Mai’s importance to these nobles. Ling Mai was a big drawcard for these powerful people so he absolutely had to engender a closer relationship in the future with Ling Mai and Grandma Tang.
Changing the subject from future trade and sect member visits, the Mayor asked, “What has you so interested in Ling Mai?”
Grandma Tang looked to Lady Meng to see how she would answer. She had a good idea why a sect would be intrigued by the possibilities of Ling Mai’s unique abilities and insights, not so much the nobility.
Lady Meng took another morsel of the delectable food and contemplated how to answer. Swallowing she replied, “Because she is cute?”
The Mayor scowled whilst Grandma Tang burst into laughter. “Yes, her cuteness factor is a divine ability. Look at Lord Jai. He is now in awe of her. If she wasn’t so cute he would be jealous.”
Lord Jai started to scowl but realised Grandma Tang’s words were not false or an exaggeration. He nodded and added his opinion, “I do feel awe, but also terrified. But I have justifiable reasons for that fear. I am also learning a lot about life that my noble upbringing failed to address. Not that it was my tutor’s fault. My mother did spoil me… rotten to be exact.” He looked introspective as he gently tapped his chopsticks on his cup.”
Elder Xing took this opportunity to voice his thoughts, “Ling Mai’s energy sensing and manipulation abilities are superior to mine. I suspect she is from That family.” This caused Grandma Tang and the Mayor to look puzzled. Continuing he explained, “That family is not talked about as they have a habit of investigating all people who even mention them with often terminal action. They are incredibly powerful. They wish to remain unspoken of and unseen.” The manner in which he stated this was emphatic to the extreme.
The Mayor gulped and waved his hands, “Forget I asked!” Sweat beaded his brow as he fought to regain his equilibrium.
Grandma Tang asked the obvious question, “Is it possible she is from That family?”
Elder Xing simply nodded.
Lady Meng chuckled, “This is all speculation. Other than her cuteness and never seen before level of abilities, she has a way of cutting to the heart of all matters. She also has a unique cultivation technique. I don’t know the details but her cultivation technique is at a Divine or even higher level. She is an anomaly. We have much to learn from her. It is unbelievable that she has only been cultivating and developing her skills and techniques for a few days. I know it is true though as she continues to learn at an astonishing rate and she performs mini-miracles multiple times a day. I can’t wait to see what she produces from the kitchen.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Lord Jai mumbled, “I hope the food she cooks isn’t poisonous.” Which earned him a sharp look from Grandma Tang and Lady Meng.
Lady Meng smiled sweetly, “I think you should go a ‘save’ the cooks.”
Lord Jai looked horrified but then his shoulders slumped and he looked resigned to his fate. “I guess I deserve this.”
Lady Meng laughed, “You are learning.”
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Meanwhile, Ling Mai had entered the kitchen with a little bit of trepidation. She looked around at all the cooks chopping meat, peeling vegetables and stirring pots. Dodging to the side, she avoided obstructing the waitresses who were rushing into the kitchen with empty plates and bowls, then grabbing full plates before rushing back out.
Getting some sub-minds to change tasks to observing different cooks preparing food, she watched how the head-chef orchestrated the flow of ingredients to the preparation cooks, who then passed the ingredients to the cooking chefs. The head-chef would somehow keep an eye on all this whilst dishing out the food onto the plates. He was a Masterchef who excelled at presentation. This aspect fascinated Ling Mai.
The head chef seemed to have eyes in the back of his head as he finished dishing up a meal then whirled on Ling Mai and politely asked, “Hello little Miss. What do you want?”
Taking a step forward, Ling Mai introduced herself, “I am Ling Mai. I want to learn to cook like you.”
He looked a bit surprised and confused. A waitress approached him and whispered in his ear. She glanced at Ling Mai and whispered some more then picked up the newly prepared plate of food and exited the kitchen. Ling Mai recognised her as one of her room’s waitresses.
The head chef smiled and beckoned Ling Mai over. “Little princess, have you cooked before?”
“Only fish and animals over a fire,” she replied honestly. “and I am not a princess. I have already learnt most of the dishes being prepared here as I have seen what the other chefs are doing. So I mainly want to learn from you how to present the food in such an aesthetically pleasing manner.”
The head chef looked a bit confused by her reply, but quickly decided to ignore her statement about having learnt to cook from just watching for a few minutes. “How about you cook and try to arrange a dish then we can work out ways to improve the taste and presentation?”
Ling Mai readily agreed and charged over to start preparing the ingredients of a dish that Grandma Tang had cooked for her. She examined the food that the head chef was currently serving and arranging onto a plate and the other dishes he had prepared. She compared them to the dishes she had seen and eaten in the private room. She decided that Grandma Tang’s dish would be the centrepiece with various dishes arranged around this to form a landscape. She drew inspiration from her previous ‘landscape’ of energy at the Townhall. As she worked, she used her sub-minds to keep watching the other cooks and the head-chef cook and present the dishes.
Deciding she would use her energy sensing and manipulation to speed the cooking process up so she could get back to her dining room, she first washed the vegetables using materialised water energy, then using metal energy, she chopped the ingredients into sizes and shapes that would enable them to be cooked evenly and also be suitable for her final food artwork. As the ingredients became ready for cooking, she used fire energy to start the cooking process which sped up the cooking time immensely as she could also cook the inside of the food, not just from the outside. Spices and other condiments flowed from the storage containers into and onto the ingredients. She had one unfortunate incident when using wind energy to bring some powdered spices from the containers on the shelves. With so many different people rushing around she got distracted mid-transport. Some pepper and other less irritating powders escaped her control and landed on a waitress’s head causing her to sneeze and drop the plates she had been carrying to the sink to be washed. Fortunately the plates didn’t break through the waitress wasn’t happy. Ling Mai quickly apologised to the still sneezing waitress which seemed to somewhat appease her.
Ling Mai switched her extra minds from observing the cooks so she could increase the speed and accuracy of her own cooking. Ling Mai finally brought the cooking to an end, as she again used wind energy to position the food onto a large plate. She used a variety of energies to hold things in place as she didn’t know how the head chef achieved some of his masterpieces. Admiring her food artwork replica of the back garden of the restaurant, she did some final tweaking to get the birds and butterflies to seem to be flying, then turned to the head chef.
The head chef was standing with his mouth open and with a dazed look on his face. Ling Mai just now noticed that there was no movement in the kitchen. All the cooks were frozen. A number of waitresses were watching from near the doorway. She hadn't noticed them stop working when she pulled her sub-minds from watching the others as it got complicated to simultaneously prepare and cook all the ingredients. Whoopsie! My bad. I hope I haven’t freaked them out too much, she thought worriedly.
“What do you think? I like the way the fish look so lazy, and the birds so busy.”
The head chef struggled to overcome his astonishment, “Yes, but the butterflies are a work of art. They are wonderfully detailed and so lifelike.” The rest of the kitchen staff nodded in agreement and rushed to closely examine her cooking masterpiece.
Ling Mai looked at the birds and fish, Hmmm, I need more practice. The butterflies are more lifelike due to having previously created their likeness. With time, I could get good at cooking. If the cooks in attendance could hear her thoughts they would spit out their tongues.
“If any of you want to taste my cooking, I can return and cook some dishes for you at another time?” Multiple ravenous gazes shifted focus from her food masterpiece for a few brief seconds before returning to examining the food.
A good thing I didn’t make these butterflies really fly. That may have freaked them out! Thought Ling Mai.