Da Zaojun

Chapter 180 Leek Demon

Song Wuji practiced the Dragon Form Fist. He quickly mastered the first level, Snake Tendon, with his current aptitude. He gained +1 to his physique and easily obtained it.

Once you reach the level of "Python Tendon," it's not so easy to obtain. It requires "Opening the Dragon Spine" to train all the muscles in your body, twisting them together like a python coiling around its prey.

Although one has not yet mastered the technique, as long as one practices it frequently and applies it in actual combat, one can quickly break through to the Python Tendon level.

Besides the dragon-shaped fist of the serpent, Song Wuji also refined the supernatural seed [Great Handprint] obtained from Xiao Pusa.

Song Wuji's current supernatural abilities include: ingesting food, calling his name, opening walls, summoning wind, and making rain. These are all very useful, but their destructive power is limited, and most of them are auxiliary.

The subsequent rain-making technique allows Song Wuji to concentrate his fire energy and unleash a rain of fire from the sky, causing massive damage. However, it is only effective against demons weaker than himself or those that are relatively more effective against him.

The Great Seal is a purely offensive supernatural power.

Mahamudra is a supernatural power in Esoteric Buddhism. Since Xiao Bodhisattva is an incarnation of Manjushri, the origin of this Mahamudra is Manjushri Bodhisattva, and its real name is "Manjushri Bodhisattva's Outer Lion Binding Mudra".

It represents great diligence, fearlessness, courage, the ability to devour all afflictions and inner demons, and the elimination of all heretics and external demons.

This hand seal, if combined with Buddhist cultivation, would certainly be even more powerful, or if one were to refine the Manjushri Bodhisattva's prediction, one could become the second seventh-rank Xiao Bodhisattva.

However, Song Wuji forcibly refined the supernatural talisman seed with the stove fire and suppressed it with the stove grid, thus not being influenced by the inherent thinking of Buddhism, and turning it into his own method.

It's actually similar to the Tathagata Palm, where a giant hand is formed, pressing down like a small mountain, possessing incredible power.

Moreover, this large hand can be used to make hand seals and amplify any spell that Song Wuji uses, thus amplifying its influence, essentially acting as an energy amplifier.

Of course, it also consumes a great deal of energy. Unless one truly possesses vast magical power like the ocean, like an Arhat in the human world, this great handprint would drain Song Wuji dry after only one or two strikes. After all, although this supernatural power does not belong to the great supernatural powers of Taoism, it does belong to the great supernatural powers of Buddhism.

After continuously improving his combat strength and basic stats, Song Wuji was itching to fight, only worried that he didn't have a master to take his place in guarding the city.

As for the three elders of the Life-Gathering Sect, they were only around the eighth rank in strength, and even if they joined forces, they would not be a match for Song Wuji.

Chen Xiu and his group were still in the secret realm of vegetarianism, expanding outwards to build a new county, when a divination revealed a very bad omen.

Song Wuji could only think about how to continue becoming stronger.

Ultimately, it all came down to the remaining two: bitter and spicy.

Bitterness corresponds to sweetness, and the underlying tone of life is bitterness.

But bitterness cannot just be bitterness; it must be a bitterness that leaves a lasting impression.

In nature, a bitter taste often indicates that something is poisonous, and quite poisonous at that.

But humans have a tendency to enjoy masochism, and some even retain the habit of tasting bitterness, and some even have an addiction to it.

For example, tea leaves are bitter, but after brewing them, some people can taste a sweet aftertaste. Bitter melon is bitter, but people say it can clear heat and detoxify. Ginseng is bitter, but it is a great tonic. Further on, cocoa beans and coffee beans all have a bitter base flavor.

Savoring bitterness has become a refined act.

If we combine bitterness with life, it is most likely the bitterness of being unable to control one's own destiny, being forced to accept the arrangements of fate, being deceived and betrayed... the loss of loved ones... unforgettable, filled with hatred, regret, and sorrow.

Of all the ingredients around Song Wuji, only "gallbladder" was bitter.

Legend has it that King Goujian of Yue endured hardship and humiliation to achieve his goal. But whether such a taste is suitable for cooking remains to be seen.

Song Wuji also did not have a fixed recipe to make this special bitter taste.

If we're talking about hatred, it actually belongs to the original owner, not to oneself. And one has already helped with revenge.

Song Wuji then inquired about the other people in the kitchen office.

Upon hearing this, they burst into tears: "Why are you bringing up suffering now? Haven't you suffered enough before?"

Then Aunt Liu said with a wry smile, "If we're talking about bitterness, many wild vegetables are bitter. When we cut pig feed, the pigs won't eat it, but I used to find them and eat them when I was a child."

"Now that demons and monsters have changed so much, I wonder if those wild vegetables have become spirits. Otherwise, if I found some, mixed them with bran and flour, and cooked them into a porridge, that would be what I ate when I was a child..."

"And bitter vegetable cornbread." Aunt Zou didn't shed tears, but instead sighed, "My family was better off than yours back then, but we had many brothers and sisters. Although my father worked hard, he could only afford bitter vegetable cornbread. My father ate a lot because he worked hard, and my mother would let him finish eating first before we ate. Even with the cornbread, it wasn't easy to get full."

"Back then, I was so naive. I thought that being able to eat bitter vegetables and cornbread was happiness. When my family was arranging a marriage for me, everyone else was picky about looks, but I wasn't picky. As long as he was hardworking and could feed me, that was enough. Marrying a man means having food and clothing."

"Yes, who would have thought that now that I'm working here, the least of my worries is food. My luck has really turned around."

"How can you say such a thing? In this world of demons and monsters, we are in such a state, but how many families have been destroyed and people have died? There are many people who are suffering more than us."

With the help of Aunt Liu and Aunt Zou, Song Wuji decided to create a series called "Remembering the Bitter Past," which is the opposite of "Thinking of Sweetness."

But can this stuff even be made to taste good?

Won't that ruin the reputation of the Kitchen God?

Regardless, they still sent people to dig up wild vegetables, but those who recognized wild vegetables were all elderly women.

Song Wuji believed that although Taichang City always had a shortage of food, the presence of demon flesh and blood, along with the cooking provided by the Kitchen God, meant that at least the food was not lacking, and these people would no longer be so fond of eating wild vegetables.

To everyone's surprise, these old women, upon hearing about digging for wild vegetables, exclaimed, "Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!"

It turns out that although wild vegetables are hard to eat, people at the bottom of society would find joy in hardship and try to make them taste better.

Moreover, it's not just wild vegetables. Throughout the year, most families can eat a little meat. This little bit of meat, mixed with wild vegetables, creates an incredible transformation, making it the most anticipated delicacy of their year.

However, spring is indeed the time to eat wild vegetables. The vegetables that ordinary people in the city usually eat are the leaves of shrubs and demons, or the vegetable fields specially cultivated by the Five Elements Agriculture Department. In short, they are relatively scarce, and people even eat more demon meat than vegetables.

A group of elderly women, carrying baskets and small hoes, went out of town to pick wild vegetables.

Don't underestimate the fighting power of these old women. Ordinary little demons would not stand a chance against them. They might be as strong as oxen, but they could definitely make someone cough up blood with three punches.

In no time, shepherd's purse, dandelion, purslane, water celery, and wild onions were all found near the official road.

Near cities, even if it's not farmland or official roads, these wilderness areas rarely breed powerful wild demons; they are mostly small plant spirits.

"I found wild chives here!"

An older woman exclaimed in delight!

The next moment, two human-shaped chives sprang up from the ground and screamed!
Song Wuji's eyes lit up: "The chives can be harvested again and again, but don't let those two chive spirits go! Capture them and have the Five Elements Agriculture Department study them to see if they can be domesticated and cultivated into seeds!"

The plant spirits that have become sentient are all spiritual beings. Of course, not all spiritual beings become spirits. Anyway, the blood rice has already been planted and the second round of land reclamation is underway. This round of land reclamation is to allocate vegetable fields, giving each household a small plot specifically for growing vegetables.

After all, this is ancient times, and it is still a period of rural economy. Song Wuji's large canteen can continue to operate, but in the future, as the population grows, many people will start their own small families and cook for themselves, no longer needing to earn work points to eat the communal meals.

After all, the work done to earn work points is collective; what can be left for future generations to achieve stability is private property.

The first round of reclaimed land, totaling 5,000 mu, belongs entirely to the Taichang City collective, and there is no plan to distribute the land at this time.

The second round of land reclamation, although also collective, involved allocating vegetable plots to the villagers themselves, which were considered private property and were entirely granted land.

However, there were no vegetable seeds in the city, so they had to be collected from the wild and domesticated again. Anyway, since the vegetable spirits had become sentient, the taste must be pretty good.

Song Wuji had previously considered the plan to plant shrub demons.

"Where to go!"

An old woman ran three or five steps, covering seven or eight zhang, and caught a leek demon.

The leek demon struggled, its roots about to pierce into the flesh, but was struck by a sickle and immediately withered, only able to twitch, before being put into the basket.

Similar scenarios are not uncommon.

After the Emperor's rain, a large number of plants and trees gained sentience, but their strength was suppressed by the laws and regulations of the Taichang Realm.

Some of the plant spirits can burrow into the earth, making them difficult to catch, while others can only be uprooted and run around everywhere, though they run very fast, just like the rats before the great changes in the world.

However, after the great changes in the world, everyone in Taichang City practiced martial arts. These old women may not look remarkable, but they may have already mastered some impressive external skills. Not to mention, the true qi cultivation method of refining essence into qi has become popular among everyone.

The old lady just now used the ninth-grade martial art "Cicada Chasing Step," one of the martial arts that Song Wuji brought out from the Zhaiseng Secret Realm. It is a very basic movement technique, suitable for popularization, and is listed as one of the four free basic martial arts in Taichang Realm, along with the Mountain-Splitting Saber Technique, Tiger Form Fist, and Five Rats Moving Technique.

Every evening, at the site of the four former earth god temples that have been demolished, there are people who explain these four martial arts techniques.

People who couldn't get a seat at the brothel would come here to listen to a story.

The Mountain-Splitting Knife Technique and Tiger-Shaped Fist are relatively difficult to master. While it may not be difficult to imitate their forms, it is difficult to achieve even a basic level of proficiency. However, the Cicada-Catching Step is truly practical. It is useful for both escaping and traveling, and it can also save energy.

Aside from the "Catching Cicada Step," that pounce is like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey in Tiger Style Fist, and that sickle strike is like "Opening the Mountain and Taking the Way" in Mountain-Opening Knife Technique.

Before the great changes in the world, this old lady was considered a skilled martial artist.

(End of this chapter)