Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)

AST 1321 – Powerful Culinary Art, Culinary Qi, Jade Steamed Bun

Qing Shui had always been very curious about acupuncture and acupuncture points in his previous life. But that was no longer the case. Just as how the saying went, ‘anything was possible’.

Wood Qi was a form of Vital Qi. It was the best Qi for treating illness. Qing Shui immediately separated the acupuncture techniques of wood element from the Five Element Acupuncture technique, since Soulsearch couldn’t learn every element among the Five Elements. This was closely related to his body.

Qing Shui’s Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique was very miraculous, just like the five elements. Therefore, it was very easy to use the principle of mutual creation and destruction among the five elements to treat illnesses and detoxify.

Apart from this, there was also another acupuncture technique for constitution nurturing. However, it all depended on Soulsearch’s capability to cultivate it. Qing Shui only looked at Culinary Arts after sorting this out.

In his previous life, he had neglected the power of culinary arts, so he only knew how to cook a little. He only knew how much he had missed out on after witnessing the Imperial Cuisine Hall. It seemed like food was also a very formidable form of cultivation.

One fact he observed from his previous world was that all the strong people had great appetites. The people who had small appetites were usually weak. It was evident just how much energy a human body could absorb from food. The better the food they ate, the more energy they could absorb. Of course, the excessive nutrition that human body couldn’t absorb would be harmful instead.

The more powerful a cultivator’s body was, the more they could absorb. Hence, only better food could slightly raise their cultivation. It was very unlikely that ordinary food could do anything to raise their cultivation in any way.

Looking at his Culinary Arts, he didn’t realize that there were already so many items amongst his Culinary Arts. He had never really looked through them all this time and had only tried a few of them, like wine-brewing.

Plum Blossom Wine, Precious Dew Wine, Tigerbone Yang Amplification Beauty Purification Wine… This was probably the Tiger Bone Liquor and there was also Snake Bile Wine… However, these were all low quality wines back then.

Wines were also classified by quality, then by their age. The higher the quality and the older the age, the better the wine was. The wine’s age would be important if the quality of the wine wasn’t high. However, the quality of wine could make up for its age.

Apart from wines, Qing Shui saw steamed buns…

He rubbed his nose. There were steamed buns in this world too but Qing Shui had never thought of steaming buns himself. But since he saw it, he could give it a try. So he instantly looked through the recipe for steamed buns.

Although Qing Shui knew Culinary Arts, he still needed the ingredients for steamed buns. Qing Shui looked through and found out that the ingredient cost of this steamed bun was very high. It actually required ten ingredients and among them were bone powder and shredded meat of some demonic beasts…

This would definitely be one inconceivable steamed bun in his previous world as it would be impossible to satisfy the cost of making it. Putting aside the medicinal herbs that would be needed, just the requirement of demonic beast’s bone powder was very to difficult meet because demonic beasts didn’t exist back in his previous world.

Then he saw Jade Meat Floss, Jade Willow Dew, Jade Radish Soup, Thousand Golden Dew…

As Qing Shui was happily reading through, he found some familiar items among them, like the Hundred Flavors Wine. This type of wine was actually great to brew. It was a wine that was brewed with a hundred different ingredients. Although this was very easy for Qing Shui, it was very difficult for others to blend the ingredients of a hundred flavors together.

He didn’t realize that he had Drunken Haze, Immortal’s Drink and some other familiar items. But the ones that had appeared were enough already, because their qualities could all be enhanced.

Take Qing Shui’s Plum Blossom Wine as an example. Over these years, especially in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, the 1000-Year Plum Blossoms were no longer just 1000-Year Plum Blossoms. Therefore, the effects of the Plum Blossom Wine he brewed later were even better.

The strength of his demonic beasts was still rapidly and steadily improving. The Treasure Hunting Pig and Jade Emperor Queen Bee were both Peak Grade Two Spiritual Medicinal Beasts and they would be breaking through any moment now. Nowadays, the Treasure Hunting Pig was Qing Shui’s multi-functional demonic beast. It could search for treasures, nurture medicinal herbs and also cooperate with him in taking down enemies.

Other than that, Qing Shui also saw another cuisine, Longevity Noodles!

The Longevity Fish was one of the ingredients needed for Longevity Noodles. Qing Shui was quite speechless about this. The Longevity Noodles that he ate in his previous world was a type of noodles that people only ate on their birthdays. This was a tradition and of course it wouldn’t increase a person’s lifespan.

But the Longevity Noodles in this world was different. It was really a type of noodles that could increase lifespan. Of course, it was fine to not add the Longevity Fish in the Longevity Noodles, however the effects would be greatly reduced. Furthermore, this type of noodles was very strange, it had to be eaten on a birthday to increase lifespan by a year. An ordinary person could only increase their lifespan by fifty years at most. That meant they could only eat that fifty times at most, once a year.

Similarly, cultivators of State Master Grade could also only increase their lifespan by a year but a total of additional two hundred years to their lifespan at most.

Not only could the Longevity Noodles increase lifespan, they could also get rid of some ailments, strengthening the body and thus increasing the lifespan. Hence, it was also a strength enhancer in disguise, save for the fact that its effect wasn’t that significant.

Yet this was definitely a heaven-defying cuisine. A Longevity Fish could be made into two or three bowls of noodles. The effects of Longevity Fish was good but there was a limit to it. One wouldn’t be able to consume it after a certain number of times. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a point in making the Longevity Noodles as directly eating the Longevity Fish would have been much better than eating the Longevity Noodles. Although it was wasteful to use the Longevity Fish for making Longevity Noodles, sometimes this was just necessary.

Qing Shui saw a skill at the end, Culinary Qi!

It was best to rinse the ingredients with Culinary Qi for a while when preparing the cuisine. That way, it could not only save the effort but also lead to better results.

In the end, Qing Shui decided to shift his attention towards wines, steamed buns and Longevity Noodles for now.

Longevity Noodles weren’t for sale and had to be pre-ordered. But it went without saying that it wasn’t affordable by just anyone. So even if it were to be put on sale, it could only be sold to some special people. There was another catch to it, this wouldn’t be sold for money.

……

Qing Shui got up quite early the next day. After he came out, he saw Soulsearch doing his morning practice at the courtyard in the distance. He was practicing a fist that technique that trained his Qi. Not only him, even Li Ji was up already practicing her sword technique.

Li Ji was also a cultivator of State Master grade. Although she was only a Grade One State Master, she was still an outstanding individual as this was a dividing range that was like a natural barrier.

Qing Shui walked over. When Soulsearch and Li Ji saw him, they greeted him. Li Ji was looking kind of radiant now. She seemed to be a lot more youthful. This must be what they meant by ‘joy puts heart into a person’.

“Brother, you are training your Qi just now?”

This wasn’t strange. A physician who didn’t train their Qi would hardly amount to anything in the end. All physicians had their own ways of training Qi. Qing Shui had never considered teaching him how he trained Qi himself. But rather, he’d watch how he trained and then assist him to improve or even incorporate some movements from the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique or force generation.

This shouldn’t be underestimated as it could instantly lead to significant effects. Qing Shui had the capability to do so too. His attainments in martial art could be considered very profound by now, so he could very easily make slight enhancements to skills and techniques.

After his meal, he didn’t go to the Imperial Cuisine Hall immediately. But instead, Qing Shui told them that he had something to discuss with them.

It was naturally about how to promote a few items.

Qing Shui was prepared to take out some wines that he had brewed before. Although the qualities were slightly inferior, they were very aged. The items that Qing Shui recommended were not made available to everyone. Hence, they needed Soulsearch to advertise since Qing Shui didn’t have enough yet and needed time.

Qing Shui took out a jar of Plum Blossom Wine. The three of them drank while they discussed. The taste and effects of the Plum Blossom Wine stunned Soulsearch and Li Ji. Just the taste alone was unparalleled, let alone the fact that it could cleanse meridians and strengthen the body.

There was no Culinary Qi in these. He wondered if the effects would be even greater if he had used the Culinary Qi to refine the Plum Blossoms while brewing.

The description mentioned saving effort and leading to better results. That meant everything would at least be increased onefold or even more, right?

Then there were also steamed buns. Although these things were a little too common, Qing Shui still decided to give it a try. Fortunately, these steamed buns had decent names. Something like Jade Steamed Buns and Jade Tofu. However, Qing Shui had never made them before.

……

Qing Shui recalled a certain someone from his previous world, the ‘Steamed Bun Guy’ [1]. The thought of himself steaming buns one day made the corner of his mouth twitch…

It wasn’t like he felt embarrassed, he just found this to be a little unbelievable.

Judging from the way both of their eyes lit up after Qing Shui explained his plan to Soulsearch, they weren’t too much of an issue. They could slowly penetrate the market. They just mainly needed to withstand some pressure. After all, when these items appeared, someone would definitely wish to monopolize them. Hence, they’d need to rope in some powerful parties. As long as they had more powerful figures with them, no one would even dream of monopolizing anything.

Fortunately Soulsearch was still quite famous among this generation. After all, he had been hired by the Yehuang Clan in the past. Just this fact alone was a great shield that no one would dare to recklessly lay a finger on.

“Then let us go to the Imperial Cuisine Hall today and give them a try.” Qing Shui smiled after a moment of consideration.

Soulsearch and Li Ji naturally agreed happily.

The Imperial Cuisine Hall was usually managed by Li Ji because Soulsearch was treating patients outside most of the time.

It was already almost noon. There were still many people on the first floor of Imperial Cuisine Hall. The price list on the first floor was still affordable. Besides, there were simply too many people and rich people in the capital city.

When they arrived at the top floor, Qing Shui directly told them the recipe of Jade Steamed Bun and had them memorize it before they began to try making them. The three of them experimented together along with help from some maids.

But of course the maids wouldn’t know the recipe!

Although the bone powders of some sort of demonic beasts were needed, all of these could be bought with money. Qing Shui directly made the steamed bun instead of using the Culinary Qi.

For the meat, he used high quality demonic beast’s lean meat. The steamer baskets here were huge. There were some special ingredients in the bun that were Qing Shui’s spices. These were very important because without those Jade Bay Leaves, it was impossible to create the Jade Steamed Bun and Jade Tofu. Qing Shui wasn’t surprised about it either because the Culinary Art was his and similar situations had frequently happened before. To put it simply, these things would turn out differently if they weren’t made by him. Qing Shui wasn’t sure if he should be happy or gloomy about this.

The good thing was, it would be very easy for him to manipulate the market. Without his Jade Bay Leaves, even if the others had the recipe, they wouldn’t be able to produce the Jade Steamed Buns. This meant that the product would be unique…

His actions were very swift. Soon enough, he was done shaping the pale green buns. They were only the size of a child’s fist and looked very exquisite. Qing Shui didn’t expect that it was possible for even buns to reach such an exquisite level.

He then started to steam them. This itself was a process that required particular attention, for example, the intensity of the flame. Some branches and leaves of medicinal herbs were also required to be added to the flame. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long. The buns were ready in just under two hours.

There were about two hundred buns in this batch. The moment he took off the lid, Qing Shui and the rest were amazed. An indescribable fragrance wafted out. Furthermore, these Jade Steamed Buns were sparkling and translucent, just like a work of art.

In the past, Qing Shui had thought that steamed buns were quite tacky. But now, he realized that even steamed buns could become high-grade luxury food…

Qing Shui sensed the Jade Steamed Buns and found out their effect.

Strengthens the body. Quickly replenishes stamina and some spirit energy. Extremely delicious.

Although the effect of body strengthening wasn’t great, the fact that they could be taken as daily meals was an advantage. It was enough for the fact that they could be considered a delicacy, let alone the fact that they could also quickly replenish stamina and some spirit energy.

Translation Note:

[1] The Steamed Bun Guy refers to the contestant from Thailand’s The Masked Singer who dressed up as a steam bun on stage.