Mo Qi was a grateful person.

The "Bear and Tiger Fight" had yielded a total of four bear paws. Liu Hui had eaten one, Mo Qi kept one for himself, set one aside for Liu Ruyan, and of course, the last one was for the Inspector Elder.

After all, the Inspector Elder had helped him a great deal during the entrance trial, and he had also provided the Wind Tiger and the Earth Bear.

He had unbelievably succeeded on his first attempt at making Medicinal Cuisine.

Mo Qi knew that his culinary skills only accounted for thirty percent of the success. The other seventy percent was all thanks to the *Chaos Scripture*.

’Looks like even the heavens want to help me become a Kitchen God, hahaha.’

By the time Mo Qi returned to the trial grounds, night had already fallen.

He found the Inspector Elder, carrying a food box. The Inspector Elder was taken aback.

"Mo Qi? What are you doing here?"

Mo Qi pointed at the food box and smiled. "Thanks to your care, Elder, I’ve come to treat you to a meal."

As he spoke, he opened the box. A bear and a tiger seemed to leap out, locked in combat, their roars making the Inspector Elder tense up as if facing a great enemy, thinking something was wrong.

The steam dissipated, and a rich aroma washed over him.

"Oh? So it’s a dish."

The Inspector Elder took a deep breath of the fragrance. Even with his self-control, he couldn’t help but feel his appetite stir.

"What a magnificent Bear and Tiger Fight!" the Inspector Elder praised. He could naturally tell that this dish had been cooked using the Wind Tiger and the Earth Bear.

"I’ve long heard of your exceptional culinary skills. This old man has been Fasting for many years and hasn’t had a taste. Today, I’ll see for myself just how good you are."

Mo Qi handed him the chopsticks. The Inspector Elder didn’t stand on ceremony, picking up a piece of bear meat and putting it in his mouth.

With just one bite, the Inspector Elder’s eyes went wide.

"Mmph!" He couldn’t help but clamp his mouth shut, afraid of letting even a wisp of the aroma escape.

He racked his brain but couldn’t think of the right words to describe the taste. He could only summarize it with two words: delicious, and exquisite!

If his dignity as an Elder wasn’t constantly reminding him to maintain his composure, he would have loved to just grab the bear paw and gnaw on it.

Although he didn’t use his hands, his eating speed was by no means slow. Within a few breaths, he had cleaned the plate.

What little rationality he had left made him abandon the idea of licking the plate.

He had lived for several hundred years, yet he had never imagined that eating a meal could be so enjoyable.

"Simply... simply a taste that belongs in the heavens, rarely found in the mortal world!" The Inspector Elder reluctantly put down his chopsticks, his gaze fixed on Mo Qi, as if asking, ’Where are the other three bear paws?’

Mo Qi pretended not to notice. He was waiting, waiting to verify something.

The Inspector Elder wiped his mouth, preparing to shamelessly ask Mo Qi for another bear paw when his expression suddenly changed.

An unnatural flush rose on his aged face. The True Essence in his body surged, and the entire hall filled with an incomparably tyrannical aura, beginning to tremble slightly.

’Impossible! Why has my fading vitality and blood suddenly been revitalized?’ The Inspector Elder was shocked and delighted, but mostly bewildered.

He was over three hundred years old, in his twilight years. He had little vitality left, and his journey on the Martial Dao had come to an end.

His vitality and blood had withered, his potential was exhausted, and there was no hope of a breakthrough. All that awaited him was the end of his lifespan, to pass away in quiet meditation.

This was also why, despite being the Second Elder of the Void Sect, he was willing to preside over the entrance trial hall.

But now, a massive, external surge of vitality and blood had reignited the fire of his Essence Energy, which had been extinguished for a hundred years. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He even showed signs of an impending breakthrough. Once he broke through, his lifespan would instantly double. He would transform from a dying old man with one foot in the Ghost Gate into a man in his prime.

Mo Qi was nearly suffocated by the Inspector Elder’s aura, his bones creaking under the pressure, but inwardly he was thrilled.

’Just as I thought!’

’The Blood Spirit Flower can dispel the aura of death and awaken vitality.’

’As someone who cultivates the Nine Transformations into Spirit, no one understands the physical body better than I do.’

’How could the deathly aura lingering in the Inspector Elder’s body escape my eyes? Fortunately, Liu Hui appeared at the right time and managed to obtain a Blood Spirit Flower. It was a windfall for me, allowing me to give the Inspector Elder a massive favor.’

The Inspector Elder quickly figured out what was happening and retracted his aura.

"You successfully made a Medicinal Cuisine?!"

He knew that Mo Qi had chosen the *Basic Staff Technique* and the *Medicinal Cuisine Record* at the Martial Hall. At the time, he had been worried, thinking Mo Qi was just messing around. But now... Mo Qi had given him a pleasant surprise instead.

Mo Qi nodded. The Inspector Elder laughed heartily. "Truly, heroes come from the young. Mo Qi, this old man owes you a favor. If you need anything in the future, you can come find me."

Mo Qi gave a dry laugh and said, "Elder, there is actually something I’d like to ask of you."

"Oh? Speak your mind," the Inspector Elder said with a smile, in high spirits.

"I want that Obsidian," Mo Qi said, pointing at the irregular gate nearby that sealed the five stages of the entrance trial.

"What use do you have for that thing?" The Inspector Elder was confused. While Obsidian was rare, it wasn’t particularly valuable, because other than being able to test a cultivator’s Talent Spirit Root, it had no other use.

Although it was dense, hard, and nigh indestructible, it couldn’t undergo Spirit Communication and thus couldn’t be refined into a weapon.

It was a "chicken rib" among luxury goods—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.

"This is this disciple’s secret. I hope the Elder will grant my request," Mo Qi said, cupping his fist and bowing.

The Inspector Elder thought for a moment, then said generously, "Fine. This old man agrees."

With that, the Inspector Elder waved his large sleeve, dismantled the Obsidian, placed it into a Storage Ring, and handed it to Mo Qi.

Mo Qi was overjoyed. The *Chaos Scripture* recorded that Obsidian could be activated with a Secret Technique, turning it into a growth-type Divine Material.

’That’s prime material for making my four-piece kitchen set.’

"Prepare well for the life-and-death battle in a month." The Inspector Elder patted Mo Qi’s shoulder. "This old man needs to enter seclusion for a while, but don’t worry. On the day of your duel with Wang Hao, I will definitely come out to support you. Even if you are no match for him, I will protect you."

Before Mo Qi could respond, the Inspector Elder vanished on the spot, eager to begin his secluded cultivation.

The signs and feeling of an impending breakthrough were a rare opportunity he had to seize. He was in such a hurry that he didn’t even take the time to ask more about something as important as the Medicinal Cuisine.

Mo Qi shrugged. With the Obsidian, he was even more confident about his fight against Wang Hao.

’But there’s a problem now. I can’t condense True Essence, so how do I open the Storage Ring?’

With this question in mind, Mo Qi headed down the mountain, planning to go back and taste his own portion of the "Bear and Tiger Fight" first.

With the medicinal effects of the "Bear and Tiger Fight," it would be enough for him to break through from the Second Transformation: Live Fetus of the Nine Transformations into Spirit to the Third Transformation: Breath, and maybe even the Fourth Transformation: Bone Tempering.

By then, his physique would reach a whole new level.

The night at the Void Sect was quiet and peaceful. The darkness was like thick ink in an inkstone, too deep to be diluted.

But it was all a little *too* quiet.

Mo Qi stopped, his brow furrowing slightly.

"You’ve been following me for a while. Come on out."

SWOOSH! A streak of white light shot through the night sky, heading straight for Mo Qi.

Mo Qi reached out and snatched it from the air. When he saw clearly what the white light was, a towering rage erupted from the depths of his heart.

A savage aura exploded from him. He nearly shattered his teeth from clenching them so hard, feeling an unprecedented, desperate urge to kill.

The white light was a palm-sized Jade Pendant. It was an item Uncle Niu had carried with him his entire life. After his death, Mo Qi had buried it together with Uncle Niu’s remains.

Now that the Jade Pendant was here, it could only mean one thing: Uncle Niu’s grave had been dug up.

He had been raised by Uncle Niu. To Mo Qi, Uncle Niu was half a master, and even more so, half a father.

To have a father’s grave desecrated... such an act was utterly depraved.

"Get the hell out here!" Mo Qi whipped his head around. His keen perception had detected something, and he leaped forward.

The immense force from his feet tore a furrow in the ground as his body shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Under the cover of night, a figure had been ordered to come and provoke Mo Qi, to lure him to a certain location.

Just as he threw the Jade Pendant and was about to speak, he was shocked to find that Mo Qi had vanished from his sight.

The next second, a bone-chilling killing intent enveloped him. Before he could react, he felt a cold sensation on his back, followed by a surge of excruciating pain.

A large hand had pierced through his waist and was gripping his spine.

"AHH!"

The bloodcurdling scream tore through the night, startling countless birds and beasts.

Cui Yu only managed one scream before the pain rendered him speechless.

He deeply regretted it. Why had he run his mouth and tried to curry favor by accepting this mission?

What he hadn’t expected even more was that Mo Qi’s Body Technique would be so terrifyingly fast.

He had been subdued without even having time to react, and he was severely injured. He was at the Qi Refining First Heaven, for crying out loud!

’Wasn’t Mo Qi supposed to be just a newly promoted Outer Disciple?’

"You have one chance. Talk. Who sent you, and what happened to Uncle Niu’s remains?" Mo Qi’s chilling voice rang in Cui Yu’s ear.

Cui Yu quickly begged for mercy. "Mo... Mo Qi, it has nothing to do with me! I’m just an errand boy! Please, don’t kill me!"

Mo Qi tightened his grip, nearly snapping Cui Yu’s spine. "Answer my question!"

Cui Yu was terrified. Never mind him, a mere Qi Refining First Heaven; even a cultivator at the Refining God Realm would surely die if their spine was broken. Survival was impossible unless one reached the Purity Realm.

He didn’t dare hesitate and quickly shouted, "Fang Min sent me! Your Uncle Niu’s remains are with Fang Min! She said for you to go to the old place to find her. I’ve told you everything I know! Please don’t kill me, I was forced into this, just to deliver a message!"

Mo Qi desperately wanted to rip out Cui Yu’s spine and end his life, but he was, after all, a chef who had just stepped into the Martial Arts World.

As the saying goes, "Every debt has its debtor." He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

"Hmph!" Mo Qi snorted coldly and threw Cui Yu to the ground, sparing his life.

’Fang Min, I could tolerate you testing my limits time and time again. But this time, you’ve gone too far.’

Having narrowly escaped death, Cui Yu lay on the ground, pulling out Elixirs and frantically stuffing them into his mouth as if they were free.

He watched Mo Qi’s departing back, a flash of venomous hatred in his eyes.

...

「At Mo Qi’s residence.」

When Liu Hui woke up from a deep state of cultivation, he discovered that his once short and scrawny body had grown nearly twenty centimeters taller.

Not only that, but beneath his torn clothes, muscles as hard as steel gleamed under the candlelight.

His Innate Weaknesses had completely vanished, and his cultivation had reached the Refining Essence Ninth Heaven—a perfect state of Refining Essence, at that!

’Am I dreaming?’

Liu Hui pinched himself hard. He felt it. It wasn’t a dream!

’It’s really true... He didn’t lie to me. How did he do it? Just because of a single dish?’