Chapter 37 Two Conditions (Part One)

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  The onlookers let out a cry of surprise, then immediately came to their senses and cursed the foreign envoy. In terms of skills, they couldn't compare, yet they resorted to such despicable tactics - it was truly shameless.

  It's okay, Qin Yifan didn't care about this laughing trick at all, and instead faced it with a smile. The surrounding crowd also took the opportunity to appreciate an even more astonishing technique of swinging his sword without looking at the target. After scolding for a few sentences, it turned into cheers like a tidal wave.

  When he counted to two hundred and sixty-seven, Qin Yifan finally stopped waving his knife. Lin Qiulü's hand also left a layer of thin flesh, like the wings of a cicada. Because the blood was clean, the flesh was thin enough that you could vaguely see Lin Qiulü's white skin through it.

  Although it didn't reach the expected 300 pieces, this has already far exceeded that of the chef from the other tribe. The crowd had long been watching with bated breath, savoring the exquisite flavors, and could still see such a wonderful performance, coupled with the pleasure of thwarting the other tribe's plans, truly a great joy in life.

  As for the barbarian chef and butcher, they had long been staring blankly, unable to tear themselves away. When the barbarian ambassador was making his move, they too were shouting in surprise just like the surrounding crowd, completely forgetting their own position. Until Qin Yifan not only supported the ambassador but also showed even more incredible knife skills, the two almost got excited and cheered, barely holding back at the last moment and not making a sound.

  However, Qin Yifan's performance still has some suspicion of bullying with internal force. Relying solely on the sharpness of the knife is far from achieving such an effect. The chef from the Fan tribe had to use one hand to press down and stabilize the cutting, and Qin Yifan was no exception, except that he used intangible internal force.

  Moreover, the extremely thin slices of meat cut out by him would only have one possibility for an ordinary chef, which is to stick to the blade, and it's absolutely impossible to fly out and land accurately on the tray held by the inner servant about a zhang away. Here, not only is there assistance from internal force, but also some subtle techniques of hidden weapons are involved. Although Qin Yifan had not put in much effort into hidden weapons before, under the tempering of his elder brother by the lake, what he was most skilled at was control, whether it was internal force or physical agility.

  Despite this, everyone was still amazed. Even if those martial arts masters were the same, when did they use their profound martial skills to do such a lowly job as cutting meat? Even if they had experience cutting meat, it was human flesh, and they didn't need to cut it so neatly.

  The last piece of meat from the chef of the Fan tribe was swiftly carved with a knife on the chopping board, with four large characters "Wan Shou Wu Jiang" (Long Life Without Borders) now still on Lin Qiulü's back, and it is unknown what kind of ultimate skill Qin Yifan will display.

  This time is different from before, before it was just a horizontal cut, as long as you don't touch Lin Qiulü's skin, basically there won't be any problem. But now it's different, the knife has to touch Lin Qiulü's skin, otherwise it's impossible to cut such thin slices of meat. When that chef from the Fan tribe performed, the sound of the knife and chopping board colliding was like popping beans, how could Qin Yifan bear to chop on Lin Qiulü's hand?

  It seems like he was responding to everyone's doubts, Qin Yifan stopped the knife in his hand and turned to the chef of the Fan tribe: "Sorry, my calligraphy is not as exquisite as yours, it's really not worth showing, so I can only use some fancy small techniques to replace you carving characters."

  Is it that my skills are not as good as others? Everyone fell silent for a moment. However, someone reacted and realized that Qin Yifan was only saying that his calligraphy wasn't presentable, but that didn't mean his swordsmanship wasn't presentable either. In other words, if he changed to another method, or perhaps something even more impressive, who knows?

  Under the gaze of the crowd, Qin Yifan made Lin Qiulü's arm drop down a bit and gave her a faint smile: "Don't be afraid, don't move!" The knife was still in mid-air, making a beautiful knife flower, flashing towards Lin Qiulü's hand.

  Among the screams, everyone thought they would see Lin Qiulü's palm being chopped off or her hand back covered in blood, but that scene did not appear. All they saw was the kitchen knife, as if it had grown eyes, seemingly not touching Lin Qiulü's hand back at all, hovering above it and flashing back and forth nonstop.

  The sword flashed and it was over in the blink of an eye, about the same time it took for a chef from that foreign tribe to carve a character. Qin Yifan had already sheathed his sword. Looking again at Lin Qiulü's hand, it seemed to be intact, without any change. Not even a wrinkle appeared on the skin of her hand, and no one could say what exactly Qin Yifan had done, not even those few powerful martial arts generals who were present.

  When Qin Yifan sheathed his sword, Lin Qiulü didn't move at all. With the same smile on her face, she replied to Qin Yifan with a sentence: "I'm not afraid!" However, Qin Yifan's speed was too fast, and by the time she finished speaking, he had already sheathed his sword.

  The kitchen knife was handed over to Qin Xiaoling, and Qin Yifan stood beside Lin Qiulü, beckoning the eunuch who was not far away. The eunuch immediately ran over. Everyone else also stretched their necks to see what kind of ultimate skill Qin Yifan would use this time.

  He stretched out his index finger and carefully pulled up a slender thread from the back of Lin Qiulü's hand.

  Then, start pulling outward. A long section has already been pulled out, and the person is far from I segment. Only then did he hand over the head of the meat thread in his hand to the inner attendant, and he himself went to Lin Qiulü's side, grasping that thin meat thread and slowly pulling it outward. The action was careful, as if afraid of breaking it.

  Without waiting for orders, the second eunuch quickly came over, carefully supporting the meat strip and slowly moving it further away, then the third one, the fourth one... The meat strip seemed to be growing out of Lin Qiulü's hand like a living thing, never breaking off and with no end in sight.

  Everyone seemed to have finally understood that Qin Yifan had actually cut the thin slices of meat into connected strands. However, the strands were extremely fine, so they could be pulled very long. On Lin Qiulü's wrist, he sliced through the meat without cutting her skin, which was more impressive than the chef from the other tribe who made a loud noise on the chopping board. Carving characters was nothing compared to creating such delicate strands of meat, it wasn't as simple as carving large characters.

  The chef of the Fan tribe was not far away, his eyes wide with wonder, watching this scene, and his admiration in his heart was beyond words. Although Qin Yifan didn't show off that kind of fancy skill, but from inside to outside, evenly and intricately carved a spiral on the piece of meat placed on Lin Qiulü's hand, is this something a human can do?

  The eunuchs holding the meat strips already numbered twenty or so, and yet there were still more to come. Roughly estimating, the length of the meat strips pulled out now was tens of zhang long. Those eunuchs holding the meat strips stared at the meat strips in their hands, carefully moving their feet, afraid that one careless move would cause them to break apart. A few who understood culinary arts also had a look of admiration in their eyes.

  The emperor had come down from his seat and was leaning forward to observe this rare sight. Although others were eager, the emperor stepped forward, and naturally no one dared to compete with him. The barbarian chef had been dragged away by the guards a step earlier, and only the emperor Qin Yifan and Lin Qiulü as well as those queuing eunuchs were left in front.

  No one needs to announce the results of the competition, as it can be seen from the faces of the chefs that they have already lost. Everything is because of Qin Yifan alone. Or rather, it should also include Qin Xiaoling and Lin Qiulü, three people who are still ordinary civilians without any official positions.

  The meat threads were finally pulled out, using more than thirty eunuchs, stretching over forty feet, thick and thin evenly. At this moment, Lin Qiulü raised her own hand to show the crowd, the back of her hand was clean and spotless, not to mention blood threads, there wasn't even a speck of dirt visible. Suddenly, the surrounding people burst into cheers and applause.

  The emperor is truly delighted, Qin Yifan can be said to have made a comprehensive attack today, giving the emperor enough face. Not only was his attitude humble, but he also solved all the problems in front of him, making up for his previous compensatory attitude.

  What's more delightful is that several foreign envoys all surrendered, and there was no room for anyone to dare to provoke again. Just turning around to look at those envoys, they were all exceptionally respectful, greatly enhancing the prestige of the Heavenly Dynasty.

  The emperor, with a smile all over his face, returned to his seat still in high spirits. Today was indeed a rollercoaster of emotions, from great sorrow to great joy, and the process had taken the emperor's heart on a thrilling ride. Now, finally, he had reached the highest point and put it all calmly into his belly. He felt as if even his footsteps on the stairs were light and airy, with a refreshing energy rising from the soles of his feet. All 36,000 pores on his body seemed to be enjoying that gentle, ethereal massage, a feeling he hadn't had in years.

  The emperor was delighted, and the high-ranking officials were also happy. The consorts' decrees didn't need to be mentioned, and even the eunuchs and guards on duty, as well as those two barbarian butchers, were overjoyed at having witnessed the legendary skills. Except for a few of the barbarian envoys who looked utterly disappointed, everyone had a happy face.

  "Good!" The emperor sat back in his own seat, waved his hand and another "reward" came out: "This time, I will grant you another request. Still the same sentence, whenever you think of it, whenever you mention it to me." Such an honor fell on Qin Yifan's body, and in the eyes of the crowd, at this moment Qin Yifan was simply radiating golden light all over his body.

  The golden words of the emperor, a promise worth a thousand gold, something that many people desire but cannot get, on Qin Yifan's body, it actually appeared twice in just a few moments, the imperial favor is unmatched.

  No one knew that the emperor, in his joy, would bestow such a reward, it was really somewhat out of bounds. Those generals with great military achievements, until now, have not received such treatment, how could Qin Yifan, a humble commoner, dare to be so presumptuous?