“It worked. The strategy worked perfectly.”

Park Gangseo, who was managing the customers outside, reported to Yise with a broad grin.

Yise glanced outside through the kitchen window. There were Cultivators who had bought his immortal cuisine before, others drawn by the word of free tastings that Park Gangseo and his acquaintances had spread far and wide, and yet others who had joined the queue out of curiosity at the long line and enormous pig’s head. The hundred available places had filled up in no time.

His fellow entrants, including Pi Garam, Seol Ryeong, and Hong Wonseo, stood at the head of the queue. Yise stuck his head out the window to greet them.

“How did you end up at the very front?”

“We’ve been waiting here for two watches. We didn’t want to miss the cutoff.”

Seol Ryeong planted her hands on her hips and spoke with an air of self-importance.

“Free immortal cuisine? We couldn’t pass that up!”

“They say the rich are the worst.”

“Hey, I did a lot of advertising for you! About ten people here are friends of mine.”

“All right. Thanks.”

Yise chuckled and pulled his head back inside.

“Open up.”

He fastened his cook’s clothes securely. After tying a headcloth around his head to keep any hair from falling out, he drew aside the curtain separating the kitchen from the dining area. He intended to let the customers watch him cook. That would give them something enjoyable to look at while they waited.

Soon the first customers entered the shop. Under their gazes, Yise began cooking. First, he finely minced the Thunder Boar’s thigh meat. He mixed in tendon and fat in the right proportions, formed the mixture into portions, and flattened them on his palm.

Thunder Boar fat hissed as it spread across the stone griddle, heated over the freshly lit stove. He laid the minced meat and spirit fruit in the fat to cook.

Once the meat and spirit fruit were golden brown, he threaded alternating pieces onto slender tooth-cleaning sticks—toothpicks. Finally, he brushed on a thin coat of spirit honey and rolled the skewers over the griddle once more.

SIZZLE.

The spirit honey released a delicate, sweet fragrance in the heat. Audible gulps came from all around.

“Does he really need to look that serious...?”

Seol Ryeong blurted out the words as she watched Yise cook with an almost grim expression. Beside her, Pi Garam rebuked her.

“Aren’t you serious when you craft implements?”

“What? Of course I am.”

“It’s the same thing. Don’t look down on other people’s crafts just because you study one of the major ones. All effort deserves respect.”

“...”

Seol Ryeong clamped her mouth shut. Only after a long while did she add, almost defensively,

“I wasn’t looking down on it... He used to smile and enjoy himself at the training compound’s butcher shop. Now he looks, well, so solemn.”

Standing behind them with her arms folded, Hong Wonseo spoke quietly.

“It must mean he has that much riding on this shop.”

“I suppose...”

Seol Ryeong looked around Dine Before You Depart again. There was nothing particularly special about the shop itself. It occupied one of the cheaper locations on Daemudo’s shopping street. The walls had little more than a single coat of whitewash, and the windows were narrow. Yet thoughtful touches were evident throughout.

All the tableware was made from fine jade free of impure energy. The dining furnishings were likewise made of quality materials, and the interior was spotless. There were even flowers prettily arranged in an earthenware jar—something entirely unlike Yise. He had prepared this place with genuine care and devotion.

Seol Ryeong scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

“... I think I put my foot in my mouth. Forget I said anything. It’s embarrassing.”

Just then, Yise placed a skewer on each jade plate and rang a small bell. Bu Chun served them in order of arrival.

“Wow, wow. That looks really good!”

As Seol Ryeong exclaimed in admiration, Hong Wonseo quietly raised an Image-Retaining Stone to record the food.

Someone raised a hand to call Bu Chun over.

“Fellow Daoist, what is this dish called?”

“These are candied pork skewers!”

“Has a pig spirit beast died in Spirit Beast Forest recently? The meat is fresh.”

“Ahaha... We source our ingredients from outside the main mountain.”

Only a handful of people still knew that Dine Before You Depart’s immortal cuisine was made with demonic-beast meat. Given Yise’s activities, it would be difficult to keep that secret, and people would eventually find out—but that could wait until word had spread about the food. There was no need to announce it far and wide and leave customers feeling uneasy before the shop had even established itself. Judging by his eccentric decision to hang a Thunder Boar’s head in plain view, though, the man himself did not seem particularly concerned.

“You may feel a little tingling, but paired with a cup of spirit wine, the flavor and cultivation benefits are superb.”

“Then bring me a cup. This is nice. It reminds me of my time in the mortal world.”

“Only the immortal cuisine is free to sample. Spirit wine costs two spirit stones per cup!”

“That’s fine. Bring it.”

“Yes!”

“Fellow Daoist Bu, a cup of spirit wine for each of us here, too!”

“Coming!”

Meanwhile, Seol Ryeong, who had been served first, took an eager bite of her skewer. She closed her eyes and chewed slowly. The skewer’s spirituality spread over her tongue. The refreshing energy of the spirit fruit layered over the meat’s rich energy, and the spirit honey enveloped them both like a thin film. The three different energies flowed in one direction without clashing.

The incoming spirituality accelerated the circulation of her internal energy and the absorption of ambient energy, as though urging them onward. By the time she finished, she felt that her cultivation efficiency had increased roughly sixfold. The taste and effects were beyond comparison with any immortal cuisine she had eaten before.

“This is... incredible.”

“Immortal cuisine can be this effective?”

“Tell me, fellow Daoist. How long does the effect last?”

Bu Chun answered at once.

“About a fortnight!”

“... Aside from the spiritual energy you absorb directly from a Qi-Condensing Pill, isn’t the effect nearly equivalent?”

“We’re lucky to get to try this for free.”

Everyone was mentally calculating the value of what they had just eaten.

Bu Chun quickly added,

“Our next opening is in a fortnight! We guarantee the same food and the same effects. We’re giving those of you here first priority on meal tickets at thirty spirit stones each, so please buy one on your way out if you’re interested!”

The Cultivators who had finished quickly vacated their seats, evidently eager to take advantage of the cultivation boost right away. The next customers filled their places.

“We can buy more than one ticket, right?”

“Of course! We can’t offer bulk discounts, but there’s no limit.”

“Does it have the same effect at Foundation Establishment?”

“As far as I know, the effectiveness drops a little above ninth-star Qi Refining.”

“I see. All right.”

The Cultivator left looking disappointed, perhaps having intended to buy some for someone else.

Their first day of business was a resounding success. They had begun around sunset and finished before the morning star appeared. Of the hundred meal tickets they had prepared, eighty-two sold in advance. That meant eight out of every ten people who had sampled the food wanted to buy it again. Including the proceeds from spirit wine, they had taken in nearly 2,500 spirit stones.

Even after deducting upcoming expenses—the Meat Preservation Chest rentals, the shop rent, and the cost of spirit wine, spirit fruit, and spirit honey—they had nearly eight hundred spirit stones in pure profit. Yise paid Park Gangseo and Bu Chun a hundred spirit stones each for their work, leaving six hundred for himself. It was a sweet harvest. Better still, there would be no more free tastings. He now had a reliable source of spirit stones.

“Good work. See you at the next opening. Keep up the advertising. Bu Chun, open the shop at the set times and sell the remaining tickets.”

“Yes.”

“You worked hard too, Senior.”

* * *

When Yise stepped outside Dine Before You Depart, feeling satisfied, the storefront was still bustling. Some of the Cultivators who had tasted the food lingered in small groups, chatting. Onlookers who had missed out listened to them and asked when the shop would open again.

“... They say six times. Is that true?”

“I’m telling you, it is. I just ate it myself. Believe it or don’t. I’m going straight off to cultivate.”

“When do they open again?”

“In a fortnight.”

“A fortnight? We have to wait that long?”

“But isn’t thirty spirit stones a bit expensive for a meal ticket?”

“Then blow a few hundred on a Qi-Condensing Pill instead. Assuming you can even get your hands on one.”

“Isn’t the owner that fellow? The one who reached the eighth star in his second year?”

“No wonder he advanced so quickly. He had this talent up his sleeve.”

Yise quietly passed them and headed to the opposite end of the shopping street, where the trading houses directly operated by Daemudo’s four founding families stood. Located right at the entrance to the commercial district, they were impossible to miss: a cluster of the largest, most luxurious buildings. The Flame Blossom Hong family, the Clear Water Hae family, the Eternal Snow Seol family, and the Jinju Kang family. These four families had distinguished themselves since Daemudo’s founding, and countless members of their bloodlines belonged to the organization. Their trading houses were also the sect’s largest distributors of ritual implements and elixir pills.

Yise entered the Flame Blossom Hong family’s trading house first. Spiritual energy brushed his skin as he crossed the threshold. The entire interior was meticulously maintained by a formation.

The first floor held ritual implements. Ritual implements and supernatural treasures brimming with spiritual energy were neatly arranged on the display stands. There were not many, but every one was a genuine article of superb workmanship.

The second floor held elixir pills: Grain-Abstinence Pills, Healing Pills, poison pills, and other varieties readily available on the market. Spiritual elixirs that aided cultivation were not physically stocked. They could only be ordered after consulting a clerk.

The third floor was off-limits. A Foundation Establishment Cultivator stood at the foot of the stairs with his arms folded. When their eyes met, he merely gave a faint smile rather than stopping Yise. An invisible barrier already blocked anyone from setting foot on the stairs.

‘I saw another entrance around the back. It must be for distinguished guests.’

A quick tour of all four trading houses revealed similar layouts. Unfortunately, none currently carried supernatural treasures of the kind he sought. Yise returned to browsing the ritual implements at a more leisurely pace. The first thing that stopped him was a glass pedestal in the center of a trading house.

‘A cloud... It’s a cloud.’

What had caught his eye was a flying ritual implement called the Divine Wind Cloud. Of course, it was out of reach. The placard stated that only Cultivators at Foundation Establishment or above could operate it.

Yise pictured himself riding a cloud to hunt demonic beasts. There was certainly something romantic about it. Come to think of it, Master Mongryeon usually traveled by cloud too.

‘Let’s just see how much it costs.’

The price was 3,800 spirit stones—enough to make him gasp. Strictly speaking, though, he could afford it if he sold just a hundred and thirty servings of immortal cuisine and then closed the business. Yise shut his eyes. He took a breath in, then let it out.

‘That’s the first thing I’m buying when I reach Foundation Establishment.’

Suppressing his desire to buy it, Yise turned away from the pedestal and immersed himself in browsing ritual implements once more. After visiting not only the four major trading houses but all the smaller ritual-implement merchants as well, he had found four Qi Refining supernatural treasures that interested him.

[Formation-Breaking Spear. 750 spirit stones.]

[Earth-Travel Gauntlets. 500 spirit stones.]

[Crimson Flying Sword. 900 spirit stones.]

[Vajra. 660 spirit stones.]

The Formation-Breaking Spear specialized in piercing formations.

The Earth-Travel Gauntlets allowed the wearer to use the Earth-Travel Art, a spell for burrowing into the ground.

The Crimson Flying Sword contained the Sword-Control Art, which allowed a sword to be wielded in the air.

The Vajra was a supernatural treasure dedicated to exorcising evil spirits.

With his arms folded, Yise pictured each of the four supernatural treasures in turn.

‘... This is a tough choice.’