Chapter 492: A Fleeting Dream
Chapter 492: A Fleeting Dream
...
<1> Stubbornly believe your cooking skills won't disappoint Qingran. Free.
<2> Receive Cangyun Realm's supreme culinary arts inheritance. Price: 1 top-grade spirit jade.
<3> Medicine and food share the same origin - realize the Dao of Cuisine and fuse pharmacology into delicacies. Price: 10 top-grade spirit jades.
...
It was the beloved three-choice scenario again.
How nostalgic!
Chen Huaian nearly teared up seeing these options.
Despite suspecting the Electronic Girlfriend game had ulterior motives, it truly delivered valuable rewards.Though switching to top-grade spirit jades as currency gave him the illusion he could afford everything.
The transition from millions and billions to single-digit prices felt strangely unsettling.
Having already mastered supreme alchemy, he naturally chose the third option.
[Confirm selection of Option 3?]
[Notice: Successful currency conversion has triggered a full Electronic Girlfriend game update. Would you like to review the disclaimer for new features?]
Chen Huaian scoffed - Li Qingran was waiting for his cola chicken wings. Who had time for disclaimers?
How much could this game possibly upgrade anyway?
"Select reward three!"
As the words left his mouth, his vision blurred.
Chen Huaian felt his soul abruptly yanked away before materializing atop a mist-shrouded mountain peak.
Ethereal vapors swirled around him, with distant mountain ranges faintly visible like an immortal realm.
Wasn't he just paying for a reward?
Where had his money taken him?
Worse, his cultivation had completely vanished here - he was just an ordinary man.
"You've arrived?" A hoarse, distant voice echoed through the mist.
Chen Huaian turned toward the sound.
A white-haired elder with snowy brows emerged, wielding a time-worn sandalwood spoon. His breathing was measured, eyes gleaming with transcendent wisdom. 𝖗𝓪₦ÒᛒΕᶊ
"You are..."
Chen Huaian instinctively used honorifics.
Despite his Great Ascension Stage cultivation in the real world, this elder radiated profound mystery.
Strangely, the old man felt faintly familiar.
"Enough talk. Payment received means instruction given." The elder flicked his sleeve, conjuring a bamboo kitchen.
The kitchen contained:
- A Bagua furnace stove
- Five Elements preparation table
- Yin-Yang water well
- Seasonal herb racks
Thus began a century of training.
Year 1: Chen Huaian only washed vegetables and chopped meat until his palms blistered and calloused. The elder taught: "The knife divides, the fire unites. Only through balancing Yin and Yang emerges true flavor." He practiced knife skills daily until he could slice a single rice grain into ten perfect sections.
Year 10: He finally grasped the axiom "Fire control is the Dao itself." The elder explained: "Water and fire in harmony create reversal. Medicinal cuisine requires three parts slow fire, seven parts fierce - aligned with seasons and internal organs." Chen Huaian learned fire adjustment was like breathing - a single herb could yield 72 different properties at varying temperatures.
Year 30: He could discern subtle differences among ten thousand herbs, mastering the mystery of "medicinal synergy." The elder pinched a leaf: "Every plant is both medicine and poison. The essence lies in balance - four ounces of licorice counteracts all poisons; a sliver of aconite cures all ailments." Chen Huaian learned to hear herbs whispering in the pot, feeling their merging energies.
Year 70: He could brew "Three Pure Soup" that made immortals drool - crystal-clear broth where three distinct flavors bloomed sequentially on the tongue. Yet the elder still shook his head: "Flavor passes, spirit lacks. Soup forms in shape, Dao manifests in essence. Culinary Dao values spiritual resonance over taste intensity."
Year 85: While preparing "Dragon-Tiger Purple Gold Cuisine," enlightenment struck: "Food condenses heaven and earth's essence; medicine balances yin and yang. Both express the Dao - only through reverence can one cook nourishment for body and soul."
Year 99: Beneath a cliffside pine, the elder finally smiled: "Your final lesson - 'Culinary Dao nurtures the heart.' Medicinal cuisine isn't mere taste, but life's gentle cultivation. When yin-yang and Five Elements harmonize, true healing cuisine is born."
The elder handed him an ochre seed.
"This Food Origin Seed contains your century of learning. It shall aid your future cultivation."
...
A century passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Huaian opened eyes now tinged with wisdom's patina.
Illusion merged with reality as dissonance faded.
He saw Li Qingran meditating nearby - the incense stick had barely burned down a pinky's length.
Yet in that brief moment, his soul had gained a century of memories and skills.
He felt a Dao Seed taking root in his dantian - the essence of his hundred-year journey.
The Electronic Girlfriend game had force-fed him techniques before, but this experience differed fundamentally.
Even his self-taught Green Lotus Sword Manual paled in comparison.
The sword manual had been "stolen" insights from his avatar's comprehension.
Only his Original Dao Physique, Sword Spiritual Root and Sword Bone enabled converting stolen epiphanies into true mastery.
Without these game-bestowed gifts, he'd have remained talentless - incapable of assimilating stolen knowledge.
But during those hundred dream-years, he'd been ordinary. Through sheer perseverance, he'd mastered culinary alchemy as a common man. By year 99, he'd become a white-haired elder himself.
"What exactly did the game update?"
Chen Huaian immediately checked the patch notes:
[Electronic Girlfriend Game Version 2.0 Update:
- Transaction currency upgraded to higher-energy top-grade spirit jades
- All skill learning now occurs in "Fleeting Dream" state
- Fleeting Dream time dilation up to 10,000:1
- Failed skill acquisition traps players indefinitely in Fleeting Dream
Update Benefits:
- Skills learned in Fleeting Dream perfectly adapt to player's body
- No limitations from player's actual strength/physique
- Full skill proficiency transfers upon awakening
Our Core Principle: Pay for Performance!
- More spending = Better gaming experience!
Rest assured - our system partners with Cangyun Realm's Heavenly Dao for absolute fairness!]
"Ha!" Chen Huaian's cheek twitched.
Were those last two lines supposed to be reassuring?
Their excessive defensiveness screamed "The lady doth protest too much."
The disclaimer somehow made everything more suspicious.
"Master," Li Qingran's voice interrupted, "Does standing around dazed make tastier cola chicken wings?"
Chen Huaian turned to see his disciple propping her chin in hands, watching expectantly.
"Coming right up! Your master was just... preparing mentally."
Rolling up sleeves, Chen Huaian felt no trace of his earlier insecurity.
Cola chicken wings? Child's play!
"Watch closely, Qingran! Today you'll witness transcendent cola chicken wings! Hehehe!"
Chen Huaian cackled while entering the kitchen.
Li Qingran tilted her head at his retreating back, puffing her cheeks.
"Strange..."
Her master's aura suddenly seemed deeper - like antique sandalwood aged to perfection.
Oddly... more alluring.