Alright, take a deep breath.

Lei took one to clear his mind as he turned another page and tried to use Yellow Maiden’s Eyes once again. He jerked back in his bed when the throbbing pain around his head filled his vision with blinding lights. Blinking through the pain, he shook his head as he let go of the skill.

Can’t seem to use it. Why?

Without the skill, the pages of the tome looked like a jumbled mess of characters. None of it made any sense. He’d never tried to use the skill for more than a couple of seconds, which was probably the reason why he’d never gotten this sort of response from it.

Maybe it has a duration? I’ll try to see if that’s the case later.

There was a lot more to think about than the skill’s duration, though. He had suspicions about Elder Huang’s identity, but this part from the tome made it quite clear that the man was not from this world, and there were more people like him out there on the continent.

They were sent here for a mission. Teams, the man wrote, and they were separated for some reason. It could be because of their method of communication, but Lei refused to believe this sort of thing would pass under the Eastern Continent’s authorities’ surveillance. Immortals lived in this world, and even though they cared little for mortal cities like Jiangzhen, the same couldn’t be said for other places.

Except, they might have some way to avoid detection.

Another thing that caught Lei’s attention was the mention of mana. Elder Huang wrote that this world didn’t have mana at all, and the spiritual energy made it hard for them to even breathe in certain places. The two energies didn’t have a harmonious relationship, but Lei’s situation begged to differ.

He had mana. He gained mana through his dishes. And it was probably thanks to this mana that he wasn’t too affected by Elder Huang’s burst of green light. He’d managed to push through and stab the sword right into the guts of the old man. His skin burned from all that pus, but it stitched itself together after he’d gained multiple tiers from the kill.

By that logic, I’ve gained mana for killing Elder Huang. So the special energy I’d gained through the System and the one I’ve got from playing a part in killing Elder Huang are the same.

That was… troubling. Elder Huang had a system of his own. Whoever these people were, they had a working, established System just like Lei’s, which gave him goosebumps.

He’d thought much about the origin of the System after he’d opened his eyes to this strange world. At that time, there was just the Feed People quest and nothing more, but beyond the blue screen floating before his eyes, the fact that it came with his reincarnation had also made him curious about the reasons.

This can’t be a simple coincidence, right?

He was reincarnated into a mortal city, far away from the capital, alone and with nothing but a basic quest. Then, once he completed the quest and got the ‘real’ System, he came across people who seemed like they were sent here as spies. And it was thanks to all the dishes he’d made that he could put up a fight against those bastards.

They’re using the thugs and other cultivators in the city. They want to stay away from certain eyes. Wait a second… Is this related to the mysterious guests of the Governor? Is that why they couldn’t just… I don’t know, level the city?

Whatever their reason was, it was clear that they wanted to act in discretion. It seemed like Lei’s group had poked a sharp stick right into their plan, though.

Who was your patron? he’d asked. And the man had told him that he’d seen his kind. Was he trying to say that there were other cultivators like him who had their own System?

So the chances were, he wasn’t unique. That was… oddly soothing, but it still didn’t clear the question in his mind.

Why? Why would a patron, a god, or some heavenly being choose some chef from another world? Why would they send him off to this place and give him a cooking system?

His breath stuck in his throat. His fingers started shaking as he remembered what Zhu Luli had said the other day. She’d told both of them that they were stronger than mere 1st Step Body Tempering Stage cultivators. Lei didn’t think much of it at the time, but it was indeed strange that a pair of 1st Step Body Tempering Stage cultivators could keep up with a strong woman like Zhu Luli.

The obvious answer to that question would be the mana in his body. Yes, the mana he’d gained through his dishes had probably made his body more durable and strong. But what about Fatty Lou? His brother-in-arms didn’t have a System like his. He was just a budding cultivator, one that didn’t have prior experience.

Wait… We’ve been together for weeks. He’s tasted all the dishes I’ve made. The spiritual ones, the normal ones, everything. Don’t tell me he has mana too?

Lei felt a sudden chill as he leaned back against the wall, frowning in thought. He didn’t dare to follow that train of thought, fearing it might lead up to some dark plot. But he was alone in his room, with a burned tome in his hands. He had nothing to distract him from diving deep into the boiling pot that was his mind.

Alright, if mana and spiritual energy are contradictory in essence, then shouldn’t the mana in my body have affected me in some way? The same is also true for Brother Lou.

Elder Huang wrote that spiritual energy weighed on them like a natural pressure. Why, then, hadn’t Lei felt something similar?

Hold on. I’ve felt something similar, haven’t I?

The pain he’d gone through whenever he’d gotten a tier upgrade. Before, he unwittingly attributed this pain to his body’s lack of capacity, but now it seemed to him that the pain was mana’s doing. Then, when he stepped into the 1st Step of Body Tempering Stage, things got a touch more bearable.

Is it because we have spiritual energy in our meridians? Maybe those two have established some sort of balance.

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That aligned with his initial thoughts. He’d wanted to climb through the cultivation ranks to prepare his body against that pain. Granted, he’d never thought this could be because of the System’s rather different way of injecting mana into his veins. Unlike spiritual energy, the special energy roaming inside his body had refused to trigger a minor circle.

What should I do, then?

There was one thing he was sure of: He couldn’t just stay still and wait for things to happen. Like they’d talked about with Brother Lou and Sister Luli, they’d be hunting for spiritual beasts and spiritual ingredients to boost their cultivation.

Or I can just hunt these spies to get those level ups.

Elder Huang’s death alone gave him multiple tiers, to the point that he’d hit the limit of Novice Tier right away. To move further, he’d have to prepare an Earth-tier dish, and Lei could only imagine how much pain it would bring when he stepped into the next Tier.

But that bastard nearly killed us all.

That was the problem. Lei had no way of knowing how strong these people were. He’d caught Elder Huang off guard, which gave him a chance to finish the old man off, but from the diary, it was clear the man had another rotten bastard with him — supposedly his Master, who no doubt would be stronger than a mere servant.

It’s too risky.

They’d talked about moving to Lanzhou just to be safe, but the trip wouldn’t be a breeze with a dozen children by their sides. Zhu Luli said that Qi Condensation, or even Foundation Establishment beasts, lurked along the path between the cities, and she wasn’t sure if she could protect them in case of a spiritual beast attack. That left them no choice but to stay in Jiangzhen for the moment.

Prepare an Earth-tier dish and keep the stall up and running. We need money if we’re going to do this.

That was their exit. To use the Empire’s spiritual ferry service, it would take more than just coppers, but it was worth the price. Using flying beasts to travel across the continent was the safest way. Lei just had to make sure he’d have enough money to bail his group out of Jiangzhen. Even though Lanzhou was full of cultivator clans competing against each other, at least it would be safe from an outside attack. There were Core Formation experts there.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he put the diary to the side. All this information and thinking about what-ifs and what-nots had turned his mind into a mess. And he needed rest, as tomorrow he and Zhu Luli would take the other kids to the Governor’s Office to measure their talents.

Baby steps. You don’t have to do everything at once. Give yourself some time.

Lei eased into the bed and pulled the blanket over him. Sleep came right away.

……

The next day, they took the kids to the Governor’s Office after Lei sent Fatty Lou to fix them some dummies from a carpenter. When asked, Zhu Luli kept her silence about the training plan, insisting on the fact that she would have to see the talents of the children to devise individual programs for the most efficiency, but she made it clear that she’d need those dummies.

They didn’t take Snake, Stone, and Little Mei with them, as according to her, there was a good chance these kids had over ninety spiritual roots, which surely would spark some degree of attention from the authorities. All things considered, they had decided to keep them away from the Governor’s Office, as they didn’t know how deep those rotten bastards had penetrated into the city’s governance.

Still, Lei found himself deep in thought as they strode into the building complex. The place had been nailed right into the heart of the city, walls white-washed and kept clean of any blemishes. People hurried about in the wide halls, all clad in the Governor’s Office’s brown robes.

A scribe showed them the way down a corridor that led them to a different hall. Before the high double doors, a line of townsfolk stood, their kids waiting by their side. Lei could see the confusion on those young faces and the excited expectation of the parents. A talented child could change the entire fate of a family, but whenever the doors opened with a thud and a parent dragged their child away with a disappointed pace, it seemed as though everybody took a long, shivering breath.

It’s like the SATs of the cultivation world, only the results are solely decided by your birth.

“Stand tall,” came a voice from the front. A man glowered down at a little boy with a raised fist, then leaned over to him and pulled his chin. “I don’t need another farm boy in my house. You’ll get in there and show your worth.”

The boy nodded weakly, fingers trembling as he tried to hold his chin high. When the double doors opened and an old man beckoned them closer, the father pushed the child into the hall.

“Big Brother Lei,” said Little Ji from beside Lei, gulping nervously. “What if I don’t have any talent? Will you—”

“Nonsense.” Lei bent his knees and looked Little Ji in the eye. “Whether you’re talented or not isn’t important, Little Ji. In the end, you will choose your own path. That is the only thing that matters. We’re just here to see if you have other options.”

“But Big Brother Snake is talented,” Little Ji said, shoulders slumped. “I want to be like him. He’s strong and fearless.”

Lei felt a smile on his lips as he pressed Little Ji to his side. “But he’s older than you. Give yourself a few years. You’ll see, you’ll become a dependable big brother just like him in the future. Now, I want you to take a deep breath and try to stay calm.”

Zhu Luli gave him a deep look before scowling down at the other kids. A strict gaze from her was enough to keep them in line.

She was certainly taking a different approach to the kids, but Lei had no qualms about that. Unlike him, the woman would be their cultivation instructor, and according to what she’d said before, she might be one of the kindest ones out there.

The doors swung wide open.

“Worthless!” growled that same man, dragging his boy by the nape of his neck. “You’re all worthless. But it’s my fault for taking that whore into my house!”

Lei tapped gently on Little Ji’s back, and pulled him aside before sighing out a breath. “Hey,” he called out just as the father-son duo was about to pass him. “You have a second?”

“What?” the man snapped his head toward him, eyes bulging with fury. “What do you want?”

Lei pointed at the kid who was flailing desperately in his father’s hold. “Let’s calm down a bit. You don’t have to blame the kid. He doesn’t have any say in the matter. You should—”

“Who the hell are you?” the man hissed through clenched teeth, leaving the kid and taking a step toward Lei. “You think you can tell me what to do with my own son? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

When the man poked him in the chest with a thick finger, Lei shook his head and was about to jab him senseless, but he saw the little boy staring up at him in fear.

He’s your father after all.

Rather than punching the man, he instead decided to take him by the neck just like he did to his own son. The man tried to swat his arm away, but Lei barely felt his touch before yanking him closer by his neck.

“You’re a big man, are you not?” Lei whispered into the man’s ear as he tightened his hold around the man’s neck. “Then why don’t you act like one?”

“You—”

“Shush, now.” Lei pulled him tight once again, shaking his head. “If you don’t know how to speak with your own son, perhaps we should make sure you can never talk again. What do you think?”

Turning his back to the kid, Lei then jabbed a finger into the man’s mouth and pulled his tongue out. “Now, what do you say?”

“I-I,” the man sputtered, saliva dripping down his chin.

“Oh, right,” Lei said, releasing the tongue.

“I-I’ll be good.” The man nodded under his hold, shaking like a broken stick. “I-I’ll—”

“That’s right.” Lei nodded and patted him on the back before releasing him. “Don’t think you can get away with it next time. I’ll be watching.”

The man rubbed his neck as he stumbled back, breath wheezing through his teeth. He nodded over and over again before taking his kid and bolting out of the hall.

“You sure looked like a cultivator there,” Zhu Luli chuckled a moment after.

Lei shook his head. “I couldn’t have stayed silent. You saw how that bastard treated his own son.”

Zhu Luli shrugged. “Not the first time I’ve seen it. You get used to it.”

“You always say that.” Lei glanced at her. “You get used to it. But what if I don’t want to?”

“Then you do that,” Zhu Luli said. “You fix it.”

“Simple as that?”

“Simple as that,” Zhu Luli said solemnly. “Not like an ant would ever dare to fight against a tiger. As long as you’re the tiger, you don’t have to think about these things.”

“A tiger…” Lei muttered to himself. “That sounds good to me.”

…….