Chapter 4: The Rise of Opportunity

  Yu Ze Cheng said calmly and quietly:

  "Big brother, how much is this book per copy?"

  Mr. Li replied:

  "Ten taels of silver for one book, buy it if you like."

  For Yu Ze Cheng, a new war has begun, and Yu Ze Cheng shouted loudly:

  "Ten taels of silver for one book? Those are only worth twenty copper coins, but this one costs ten taels. Ha ha, big brother, are you cheating me?"

  Mr. Li said:

  "This is actually a cultivation secret manual, getting it..."

  Yu then interrupted his speech and said:

  "Big brother, don't nonsense, I'm a disciple of Hei Hu Tang, we all know each other's roots. Your Li family's old master passed away before he turned 60, I even attended his funeral the other day. If this cultivation secret manual is useful, it would have been like that? Give me a reasonable price, I'll buy it back to take a look."

  Li Da Guan Ren looked at him and said:

  "Looking at these books gives me a headache, they're all just books. I bet I won't lose money on them. However, this book can't be sold cheaply. This is truly an heirloom of our old Li family, passed down through generations. They say it's a secret manual for cultivating immortality, but after more than ten generations of practice, nothing has been achieved. I think they're just worthless paper. If my dad hadn't treated them as treasures, he would have died even earlier. But this is what our ancestors left behind, and it's different from those other books. At least one of them should be worth three or four silver coins."

  Yu Ze Cheng said:

  "Oh no, big brother, make it cheaper, you're practically giving them away. What's the point of keeping them? You can't even win money with them, and Bi Cui Lou's top courtesan, Miss A Yun, has been waiting for you for a long time. Sell them to me at a lower price."

  Yu Zecheng then started to haggle, neither warm nor cold, sentence by sentence with Li Da Guanren, and they haggled for half a time. Finally, he won this war. In the end, Li Da Guanren really couldn't bear it, saying:

  "Alright, alright, I'll sell it to you for two silver coins, you're being too troublesome."

  Yu Ze Cheng said:

  "Thanks, Brother Li. I only have eight hundred and eighty copper coins, a lucky number to start with. You'll definitely win at the casino, or else this candy is on me?"

  Mr. Li frowned and said:

  "How old are you to eat sweets? Just shake it off. Alright, 880 copper coins will do, you're the first one to buy a book, I'll sell it to you with good luck."

  After finishing speaking, he threw the "Supreme Heavenly Dao Blood Seal Decision" to Yu Zecheng and said:

  "That's it, this book was damaged in a fire and lost a few pages, just take the money and leave, don't bother me with the details."

  Yu Zecheng handed over all the copper coins in his basket to Li Daoren, and with a sweep of his hand picked up one of the three books he had selected, saying:

  "Big brother, I'm giving you a good start today, how about you also make some sense of it? You're good, I'm good, everyone's good, send me off."

  Angry Li Da Guanren waved his hand and told him to get out immediately. Yu Ze Cheng smiled and took two books, leaving here and returning home.

  Back home, Yu Ze Cheng gave the copper hairpin to his mother and handed out candies to his younger brother and sister. Then he returned to his own room and began reading these two books. Before reading, he first washed his hands and face with clean water, calmed down and started reading, this was a habit passed down by his father.

  Yu Ze Cheng first opened "The Supreme Heavenly Dao Blood Seal Scripture", which wrote in the first chapter:

  "The Way of Heaven is not fair, the great achievement seems to be lacking. Without the Heavenly Way, seek the law from the Holy Ancestors, transform the energy in the void. Its use is inexhaustible. One energy divides into seven colors: white, purple, black, green, gold, blood red, and dark blue. Great fulfillment as if bursting, blood red combines with the body, its use is endless. The transformation of Heaven and Earth is self-fulfilling, the void builds a house, what seems to be empty is actually real, what seems to be real is actually empty, vast and obscure, to manifest the physical form..."

  Then he became dizzy and felt like something in the book was absorbing his energy, he couldn't finish a page without having to put it down and wait for a long time to recover.

  This book can't be read anymore. Father said before that if one continues to force oneself to read, it will hurt the vital energy. It seems this book really has something to say. Yu Ze Cheng put down this book and opened another one. This book, which was used as a pillow, was "Xian Qin Examination" written by Wang Yin Yang, a great Confucian scholar 7,000 years ago, who conducted detailed examination of the legendary Xian Qin Empire. It's the hundredth edition now, having been passed down for thousands of years.

  In this book, it is recorded that in the near ancient times, continuing from the era of Huangdi Xuanyuan's unification, more than 30,000 years ago, the four regions of Tian Nan, Mo Bei, Gu Qin, and Chu Xi were once unified under a great empire, which was the Xian Qin Empire. The rulers were all immortals who could live forever, summon the wind and rain, create life, open up the sky and split the earth, turn over rivers and seas, and shatter the void.

  These immortals unified the four domains, dividing the world into thirty-six states, unifying weights and measures, language, law, establishing rules for humanity, establishing the ancient Xianqin path, eliminating demons and ferocious beasts, exploring outer space, among which the regions of Miao and Xiang were discovered at that time, and humans began to multiply in those regions. This empire prospered for seven thousand years before it collapsed.

  The collapse of the Xian Qin left behind countless Xian family cave ruins, known as the Xian Qin Ruins. Each time a ruin is discovered, it attracts numerous Xians who flock to it, leading to a great war among them. These wars cause the continent to drift, mountains and rivers to change shape, and oceans to alter their courses, resulting in a world of bloodshed and chaos for ordinary humans, causing countries to be thrown into turmoil. This disaster that affects both Xians and ordinary humans is known as the Heaven's Fury Disaster. Three years ago, Chen Guo experienced one such disaster, its capital was reduced to ruins, 80% of its population died, and my father was among those who lost their lives there.

  In the late ancient times, there were seven overlords of the Spring and Autumn period. The Seven Overlords of the Spring and Autumn all discovered the relics of Xian Qin and used them as capital to dominate the world. However, none of them could restore the splendor of Xian Qin in its heyday. They only dominated for a short time. In recent years, the relics of Xian Qin have been developed almost completely. Those fairy houses are either occupied by famous schools or destroyed. Few Xian Qin relics have been discovered, especially in the last three thousand years, there has been no news at all.

  Yu Ze Cheng continued to read the book slowly, and before he knew it, it was almost noon. Yu Ze Cheng had no choice but to stop reading, as he couldn't afford to fall behind on today's work. As he put down the book, he was still marveling at the various accounts within, and couldn't help but think back to the glorious days of Xian Qin, feeling a deep sense of nostalgia and envy towards those celestial beings.

  Yu Ze Cheng hurried back to the rear kitchen of Hei Hu Tang, where Chef Wang Xue Sen was already directing his staff. Upon seeing him, he let out a cold hum.

  Yu Ze Cheng returned to his own soup room, began selecting ingredients, checking the mother soup, and preparing to cook the soup for tonight. Yu Ze Cheng dared to fight Wang Xue Sen because of Cui Ren Xiong's strong support. Firstly, Yu Ze Cheng was very respectful to Cui Ren Xiong, always calling him Master Cui or Uncle Cui, which made Cui Ren Xiong very satisfied with Yu Ze Cheng's attitude.

  Before this, Grandfather Zhang Fushan and Cui Renxiong were good friends, so naturally they would take care of him a bit due to their friendship.

  There were contradictions between Cui Renxiong and Wang Xuesen, but Wang Xuesen's cooking skills were unmatched, and no one could replace him. Moreover, he was a branch of the Chen family and had backing, so Cui Renxiong couldn't remove him.

  The reason for the conflict between the two is actually very simple. Wang Xuesen saw Cui Renxiong always shouting "Vice President Cui, Vice President Cui", and because of this title, the two were like fire and water.

  Yu Ze Cheng started brewing soup. Previously, Wang Xue Sen had tried to sabotage Yu's reputation by tampering with the ingredients in order to learn his secret recipe. However, he ended up falling into Yu's trap and was scolded by Ma Lao Hei with Cui Ren Xiong's support, after which he never dared to meddle with the ingredients again.

  Yu Ze Cheng was brewing soup when there was a sudden commotion outside, and then someone opened the door of the soup room and walked in. Yu Ze Cheng turned his head to look, and it was actually Master Ma Lao Hei bringing Bai He Xi into the soup room.

  Seeing the two coming into the bathroom, Yu Ze Cheng was startled and thought:

  "How did they end up here? Ma Laohei wouldn't come for no reason, it must be Bai Hezi who wanted to come here. What could attract him here is his own soup, no wonder he was like that towards me yesterday."

  Ma Laohei said with a smile:

  "Xiao Yuzi, Bai Shaomen's master wants to learn your stewing technique. You are not allowed to keep it private and must teach Bai Shaomen's master well. Otherwise, you will be punished for violating the sect rules."

  Bai He sighed and said:

  "My mother especially likes to drink soup, as a son I should respect my parents, so I want to learn from my younger brother's simmering skills, but I don't know if Brother Yu is willing to teach me?"

  Yu then burst out laughing and thought to himself:

  "Learning how to make soup for your mother? That's ridiculous! Just invite me over and that's it, does it make sense to raise a pig just to eat the meat?"

  But on the surface, Yu Ze Cheng loudly replied:

  "I am willing, I am willing."

  Ma Laohei saw that things were arranged clearly and turned around to leave, leaving Bai He Xi in this place. Seeing Bai He Xi, Yu Ze Cheng said:

  "White Gate Master, White Young Hero, I, I..."

  Bai He sighed and said with a smile:

  "Just call me Bai Dage, no need to be polite. I really want to learn the method of making soup, I heard that someone followed your formula and procedure to make soup, but couldn't get that flavor, is this true? Can you tell me what happened?"

  Yu then nodded, and would even call himself "little brother", it can be seen that he has made up his mind to learn the method of making this soup. Good, such a good opportunity, I must seize it, as long as I get along with him and get his help, maybe I can change my fate. Such an opportunity may only come once, the teacher said that if there is an opportunity, you must grasp it, otherwise you will regret it later. I cannot be too flattering to him, with his personality, he has seen many people who flatter him, so I should be humble and modest, and quietly make friends with him.

  Yu then calmed down and began to recount the events of those days, as well as the story between him and Wang Xuesen.

  In the main hall of Hei Hu Tang, Cui Renxiong said to Ma Laohei:

  "Hei Ge, what does this white kid want to do? He used to be cold and arrogant, but just now he was like a completely different person."

  Ma Laohei smiled and said:

  "He's just a nobody in front of us, but back in the mountains, he's just a dog in front of others. The Red Water Gate was originally a gathering place for outer sect disciples of the Xiuzhenmen School and the Yunyun Sect. He must be thinking of learning this soup to go back and curry favor with the powerful figures in the Yunyun Sect, so as to mix in as an inner sect disciple."

  Choi In-ho said:

  "Xiu Xian Men Pai Shui Yun Zong? I've never heard of it before, how is their power?"

  Ma Laohei burst out laughing and said:

  "You haven't heard of it, that's normal. Just pretend you didn't hear it. What about the powers? Our country is called Tangguo, this place is called Linhaicheng, the capital is called Bijiangcheng, the northern country is called Chiguo, the capital is called Mianjiangcheng, the southern country is called Muguo, the capital is called Mancheng, and the names of the rulers of the three countries have always had a water radical. How about the power of the Water Cloud Sect?"

  At once, Cui Renxiong's mouth was shut tight, and he couldn't say a word.