Chapter 68
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 68
Heading straight to the Mission Pavilion, Ise didn't hesitate before snatching up a mission slip.
— Hunt Grade 2 Demonic Beast: Lightning Boar. (Reward: 80 Spirit Stones, 70 Contribution Points. Requirement: Nang Pavilion Cultivators at the 9-Star Qi Refining Stage or higher)
The official checked the slip Ise handed over and stared at him, his face troubled.
"Cultivator Ise, this mission is strictly restricted to those at the 9-Star Qi Refining Stage and above."
"I know, but wouldn't an 8-Star who fights like a 9-Star do just fine? I really want to catch this one."
"Wait, what does that even mean...?"
The official scratched his head in a dilemma. Normally, he would have rejected the request outright, but the cultivator standing before him boasted a flawless 100% mission success rate—the undisputed king of mission completion.
Since the success rate of the assigned cultivators tied directly to his own performance metrics, he secretly wanted to just let the guy have his way.
In the end, the official cast a pleading look toward the Foundation Establishment Senior in charge.
"Let him," came the curt response.
Ise politely expressed his gratitude to the senior and immediately received the coordinates for the Outer Gate Outpost.
Without wasting a moment, he stopped by the Outer Gate Outpost to gather detailed information, then activated a Soul-Tracking Talisman to hunt down the Lightning Boar's habitat.
Grrrrrr!
A boar as massive as a house growled, furious at Ise for trespassing into its territory.
"That's one hefty fellow."
Its tusks were as huge as a saber-toothed tiger's, its body armored in thick, iron-like hide. Its legs were sturdy enough to rival those of a Giant Elephant.
Lightning streamed from the singular horn in the middle of its head, crackling menacingly across its entire body.
It was truly a mouth-watering demonic beast.
'After all, nobody dislikes pork.'
Even at the Training Center's Meal Exchange, the most popular Spirit Food had been the White Earth Boar, a Grade 8 Demonic Beast.
From head to tail, it was a heaven-sent ingredient with absolutely nothing to waste.
When their eyes met, the Lightning Boar snorted, almost seeming flustered.
It was as if the beast knew Ise was no easy opponent, yet couldn't fathom why the human was looking at it like that.
Lightning shot forth from the boar's horn. Ise wrapped his Small Axe in Vajra Lock to parry the strike, deflecting the energy flow and redirecting it right back at the beast.
Now it was time to test his two newly acquired spells.
He threw the Small Axe high into the sky, then expanded its size using the Giant Weapon Art.
The axe, now large enough to cleave a house-sized boar in half, came slamming down in a single devastating stroke via the Telekinesis Art.
Squee-eee-eek!
The crisp, piercing squeal of a slaughtered pig echoed loudly through the mountains.
After retrieving the Small Axe—which had chopped one-third of the way into the beast's body—Ise moved like a flickering shadow.
The Lightning Boar thrashed violently, hurling bolts of lightning wildly across the mountain.
The errant electrical discharges were so potent that a mere graze could char a man to cinders.
Its demonic energy was indeed powerful enough to justify its Grade 2 rank.
Shrugging off the flickering lightning that had scorched his shoulder, Ise erected a circular Earth Wall around himself to block the wildly flashing thunderbolts.
Crash! The Lightning Boar slammed its massive body into the freshly constructed Earth Wall, shattering it to pieces.
Though he raised the Golden Supreme Parasol just in time to absorb the brunt of the impact, Ise was still thrown far back, spinning in midair before sticking the landing.
'Anyone who didn't know how to hunt this thing would suffer quite a bit.'
Surprisingly, the Twin Sickle Spirit Domain Uprising was less effective against giant demonic beasts like this one.
This was because the raw physical strength stemming from their massive frames exceeded the power of their demonic energy.
If a technique were improperly planted and stomped to pieces by sheer weight, a cultivator might just want to commit suicide out of sheer embarrassment.
However, Ghost Exorcism Work wasn't combat. It was hunting.
And slaughtering a pig came with a proper order and procedure.
Ise raised an Earth Wall in a square formation, boxing the Lightning Boar in.
Before the boar could hurl its body to break the enclosure, he instantly reinforced the Earth Wall using the Metal Attribute spell, Hardening Art.
Thud! Thud! The giant creature writhed, throwing its massive weight to tear down the hardened wall.
Though the wall would crumble after three or four hits, Ise concentrated on reinforcing the targeted sections with two or three additional layers before that could happen.
Using Dokkaebi Footwork, he ran vertically up the wall and looked down at the boar from the top.
Next, the Fireproofing Art erupted from his palm. A massive wave of fire engulfed the giant demonic beast.
The Lightning Boar roared in pain.
Whenever it tried to smash the Earth Wall, he reinforced the stone; the moment it hesitated, he scorched it with flames.
Crack, snap. The tough hide encasing the pig's body peeled away layer by layer.
When dealing with a Lightning Boar, one first had to use Fire Attribute spells to melt its hard outer skin and expose the tender flesh underneath.
Then, one had to pierce through its body in a single blow, shattering the Demon Core embedded deep within its intestines.
The beast possessed monstrous regenerative power; the gash on its flank left by the Small Axe had long since healed.
Estimating where the Demon Core would be, Ise formed a long Earth Spear. A spear easily ten jang long.
It was his first time crafting an Earth Spear this massive, causing his internal qi to drain at a noticeable rate.
Following Ise's hand gesture, the Earth Spear floating in midair plunged down at a sharp angle.
The final, desperate squeal of a demonic beast facing slaughter echoed through the air.
After an uproar that seemed capable of overturning the entire mountain ridge, the Lightning Boar collapsed, its limbs sprawled out.
Earth Spears were embedded in multiple places across its massive torso, and the pig's severed head was hoisted high into the air.
It was by no means a short battle. The boar's lightning strikes had scorched several spots on his Daoist robe, leaving battle scars on his shoulder and side that could have easily turned fatal.
Though the hide and meat were somewhat damaged, it was nevertheless a clean hunt.
Ise sealed the butchered meat into the Demon Ghost Sealing Scroll and immediately turned back toward the main mountain.
That day, an urban legend was born at the Great Martial Dao main mountain: a rumor that a pig as huge as a house had been seen flying through the air.
*
"You're back early, Senior!"
"Yeah. Good work."
Bu Chun was sweating profusely as he tidied up the inside of the Meal Exchange store.
The old, dust-covered shop that had been left abandoned for so long was gradually taking on the appearance of a clean restaurant.
Ise took off his Daoist robe, hung it up, changed into his chef attire, and then washed and sharpened his Spirit Food knife.
"Where's the meat?"
"Outside."
Wondering why he hadn't brought it inside, Bu Chun poked his head out the doorway, only to let out a startled cry.
"...Whoa! I thought a mountain had popped up right at the door."
Ise chuckled softly. He stepped outside, finished bloodletting and scalding the beast, then butchered the meat into sections, handing them piece by piece to Bu Chun.
"This could easily feed three hundred people."
"Many parts lose their Spiritual Nature quickly, so that won't be possible. We'll have to throw away all the internal organs."
"Ah, speaking of that..."
As if remembering something, Bu Chun brought out an iron storage box from the kitchen. A faint film of frost hovered over its surface.
"This is a Dharma Artifact called Meat Storage."
When Ise remained silent, merely casting a questioning glance, Bu Chun proudly continued his explanation.
"It's a Dharma Artifact that preserves butchered Spirit Beast meat so it doesn't lose its Spiritual Nature. The officials in the Spirit Beast Forest use them, but since Spirit Beast carcasses are rarely brought in, most of these just sit around unused. I rented it for five Spirit Stones a month."
Ise instantly stopped what he was doing, rushed over, and flipped open the Meat Storage lid. Cold spiritual energy brushed past his face from inside.
"I didn't expect you to bring back such a huge demonic beast... If you need more, I can go get a few more of these."
After placing a piece of Lightning Boar flesh inside for a moment and taking it out, Ise found almost zero loss of Spiritual Nature.
"...To think something like this existed."
Ise stroked the box, his face lighting up like a child discovering rice crackers. Was this not the ultimate Dharma Artifact needed for the Meal Exchange?
Even if its capacity was limited, being able to store demonic beast meat for a long time was a truly revolutionary change.
"Bu Chun."
"Yes?"
"Well done."
Bu Chun scratched the back of his head.
"You are truly capable. An indispensable talent for the Meal Exchange."
"Ahaha. Hearing you say that makes me a bit embarrassed..."
Ise's mind worked rapidly.
Originally, he had planned to give away the entire demonic beast on opening day as a promotional gimmick.
Since long-term storage hadn't been possible and word of mouth would take time to spread, it had seemed like the best option.
However, with Meat Storage, he could make Spirit Food two or three more times out of a single demonic beast.
In particular, he could even sell parts like the internal organs, which were highly effective even in small quantities but rapidly lost their Spiritual Nature.
'This will secure me a lot more cultivation time.'
A subtle smile played on Ise's lips.
"Ah, you beautiful bastard. Go right now and rent every single spare one they have."
"Yes, Senior!"
By the time the initial butchering was wrapped up, one side of the kitchen was filled with Meat Storage boxes. The normal refrigeration unit they had previously used was sent back to their lodging.
After setting aside some boiled meat to test ingredient pairings, he spoke to Bu Chun.
"Now, let's work on combining the side ingredients."
"Yes, Senior. I'll bring them."
Bu Chun brought over small portions of each prepared side ingredient.
They were perfectly in sync.
Just as Ise was about to mix them to test their compatibility, Bu Chun stopped him.
"Senior, how about trying these first?"
What he handed over was honey—specifically, Spirit Honey—and an apple-shaped Spirit Fruit.
"Spirit Herbs are actually hard to procure internally. Most of what comes out is monopolized by alchemists anyway. Getting them from external marketplaces every time is a hassle too... so I think it's better to cook using ingredients that are easy to get inside the sect."
"That makes sense. Are these produced in decent quantities?"
"Yes. Spirit Fruit is used a lot in pill refining, but production is so high that it's easy to get. Spirit Honey is hardly used for anything other than brewing alcohol, so it's cheap, too."
"Since it's honey, it'll be great for bringing out the sweetness."
The compatibility between the ingredients wouldn't be bad, either. Spirit Honey and Spirit Fruit were famous as a well-matched pair, appearing quite frequently in books related to Spirit Food. He just hadn't known they were produced so abundantly in the Great Martial Dao.
Ise took a piece of the demonic beast meat and placed it into his mouth along with the Spirit Honey and Spirit Fruit.
"This is great!"
The result was beyond expectations. Coming from a Grade 2 Demonic Beast, the meat naturally harbored excellent Spiritual Nature, but the savory richness of the pork paired remarkably well with the sweetness of the side ingredients.
It was magnificent both as Spirit Food and as a culinary dish.
Upon quickly preparing and eating the dish he had envisioned, the result showed a cultivation efficiency increase of up to six times.
Their eyes met.
Time passed, and the opening day of the Meal Exchange finally arrived.
The market street in the Commercial District buzzed with visitors who had come for the Full Moon Market.
After performing an opening ritual with the Lightning Boar's head, they hung it right in front of the shop.
A long line formed at the entrance of the Meal Exchange.
Lured by the sweet promotion of free tastings, cultivators eagerly waited to nab a spot on a first-come, first-served basis as soon as the market opened.