Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

When eating at the Shangguan and Zhang families' homes, he would only pick up his chopsticks after others had taken food from his plate. He would basically not eat the rice in his own bowl. Moreover, after returning home, he would always take laxatives from Hua Lai's Pharmacy to expel the food he had eaten. So, let alone poison, even if someone wanted to use aphrodisiacs, they wouldn't have a chance.

After all this trouble, I've gotten used to it.

"I was just being polite, how did you actually agree to cook for me...?"

After standing quietly in the kitchen for a while, he chose to open his system treasure store.

His filial piety points had reached exactly 100. After checking the account records, he found that his aunt had contributed another filial piety points to him after he left the Zhang family.

"I'll use 80 points of filial piety to exchange for the heavy sword technique, and the remaining 20 points for cooking skills. They can even buy ingredients and seasonings directly now...?"

Formal martial arts techniques are extremely expensive, while cooking skills are surprisingly cheap; 10 points of filial piety can be exchanged directly for top-tier culinary skills in both Xiling and the capital.

After a wave of spending, aside from reserving 80 points to buy martial arts techniques as a sign of filial piety, the rest was all spent on cooking skills.

Chu Mingkong didn't feel like he had gained any extra culinary knowledge, but after a little thought, many recipes came to mind. When he picked up the pot, it was as if he could flip a wok like a mammoth!

"I wonder if this top-notch cooking skills can achieve the clothing-tearing effect of Food Wars! If it can't, I'll have to request a refund."

The top three beauty assassins on the Red Skull List sat quietly in the main hall, closing their eyes to rest, occasionally sipping a sip of fine tea.

Suddenly, the aroma of braised mutton wafted into the room. Soon, Chu Mingkong came in carrying a porcelain basin, followed by several dishes of vegetables and two bowls of rice.

He first tasted a little of each with chopsticks to indicate that they were not poisonous:

"I don't know how to cook much. This is the food from Xiling. I can only braise mutton and boil vegetables. I can't cater to everyone's taste, so please forgive me... If you think there might be something wrong with the rice and chopsticks, how about I let you try them all?"

"Need not."

After saying that, the woman took out a detoxifying pill from her bosom and swallowed it. Then she began to savor Chu Mingkong's cooking skills, which made Chu Mingkong a little envious of her boldness.

Even the detoxifying pills don't make one immune to all poisons, so he wouldn't dare to be so reckless in the capital.

Fengying ate a small piece of perfectly braised mutton with rice and put it to her red lips, tasting a hint of her hometown flavor.

Her hometown may not be a good place, but the food that nurtured her is hard for her to dislike. Xiling is a border area, so it's normal for their cuisines to blend.

But this culinary skill is something that even ordinary restaurant chefs might not be able to achieve. The way they handle the muttony smell is just too perfect and authentic!

"Did you really make this yourself?" she asked, somewhat skeptical.

"Your senses are so sharp that you know exactly what's going on in and out of the Prince's mansion. Could it be that there was someone I didn't know was in the kitchen with me just now?"

Chu Mingkong smiled and asked in return. After eating half a bowl of rice and some meat and vegetables, he put down his chopsticks and left more for the female assassin who had stepped on him. She seemed to really like the braised mutton.

Noticing that the young man opposite him had stopped eating, Feng Ying also stopped. Seeing this, Chu Mingkong told a little lie:

"Don't worry about me, just keep eating. My body can't handle that much food. Food has become a burden for me. Now I usually just savor the taste and eat a little more to help out."

Feng Ying stared at him for a while, but in the end, she didn't stand on ceremony and ignored Chu Mingkong's presence, continuing to eat in small bites. No one knew how her stomach could hold so much, and the mutton was gone without her noticing.

That's normal, though. She's even stronger than Chu Mingkong was at his peak. No matter how much ordinary food she eats, she can digest it all with a single burst of internal energy.

He secretly observed the beautiful assassin who had ambushed him several times. When it came to matters concerning her daughter, she was cold and hysterical, but sometimes she would appear before him with a charming and elegant side. He couldn't tell which one was the real Feng Ying.

However, in Chu Mingkong's opinion, she was more attractive the first time he met her, mainly because she was hot enough and could even flirt with him a bit...

Just as Chu Mingkong was about to recall their past meetings, he heard her put down her chopsticks. Feng Ying took a sip of water, stood up, and left. As she walked out of the room, she suddenly stopped, turned her face slightly, and left Chu Mingkong with only a graceful back view and a full, pert moon-shaped mound beneath her slender waist.

Feng Ying was leaving, and Chu Mingkong dared not stop her.

"Is there anything else?"

"The miracle doctor I found for you will come to see you in the next few days, so don't go running around aimlessly."

"it is good."

The woman left, and the room returned to silence, as if she had never been there. There wasn't even a trace of fragrance left. But that was fine. An assassin of her caliber was meticulous about leaving no trace. If she left a scent when she passed by, it was most likely poison.

Chu Mingkong opened the system shop and bought the Heavy Sword Comprehension without saying a word.

He didn't feel any new postures in his mind, but the heavy sword techniques he had seen before flashed through his mind like shadows, and in an instant he understood the key points of those sword techniques.

He had the confidence that he could learn most of the heavy sword techniques with just a glance, but he was still a little short of mastering Master Zuo's [Giant Sword Falling Immortal].

"When she comes back, I'll show off my newfound understanding, praise Master Zuo's excellent teaching, and try to win her favor. Let's see if I can get some more filial piety back!"

Many items in the shop are currently locked, mostly containing cultivation techniques or similar items. How can I unlock them?

I used to suspect this thing was a scam, but the cooking skills and greatsword comprehension I bought are genuinely useful, so it seems it can't be fake.

As if his thoughts had been heard by the system, a response echoed in Chu Mingkong's mind.

"The more you show filial piety, the more useful filial piety you show to outstanding elders or elders with whom you have a particularly close relationship, the more filial piety points you will accumulate. When the time comes, you will naturally have more items to exchange in this shop."

Chu Mingkong looked around the room, thinking he was hallucinating. He confirmed several times that it was the system's voice before sitting down again.

"How do you know when the time is right? Are there any examples or references?"

This time, the system remained silent, allowing him to figure it out on his own.

Isn't this just making things difficult for him? He has no interest in understanding this stuff.

He has just broken ties with the Zhang family. Although the emperor is seriously ill, it is unknown whether he has arranged for some new girl to annoy him.

After the news of their falling out spreads, who knows, they might arrange a new girl for him in a couple of days. Taking a break is the best course of action.

Just as he was about to lie down after eating and drinking his fill, a servant guarding the gate came to inform him.

"Your Highness, Madam Gu from the Cui family has sent word that she would like you to come over for a gathering."

The generational relationships in these large and wealthy families are sometimes a bit strange. Madam Gu of the Cui family had a good relationship with Chu Mingkong. She came from Xiling to the capital after marriage. When she was young, she didn't care about complicated generational titles and would call any elder she met "brother" or "sister". At that time, Chu Mingkong called Madam Gu "little sister-in-law".

Aunt Gu is a very beautiful woman, and her soup dumplings are absolutely delicious, even the broth is exceptionally flavorful.

Later, as he grew up, he could no longer be as casual as he was when he was a child, so Chu Mingkong changed his address to Aunt Gu.

"Why did Aunt Gu come to see me? Well, she's an elder, so it's time to show her some respect."

Chapter Six: Master, let me taste your pectoral muscles.

"Ugh, so annoying!"

Before she arrived, her voice preceded her. Chu Mingkong was still thinking about Aunt Gu when the door was suddenly kicked open. The woman who entered was dressed in slightly disheveled clothes and did not have much ladylike demeanor. She sat down in front of Chu Mingkong, took his teacup, and began to chug it down.

Only Zuo Qiuchi could be so domineering in his mansion. However, Zuo Shizun's appearance was quite different from when they met not long ago. His already impressive chest was even more bulging. His waist was still slender, but the curve of his full hips below his waist was more mature and smooth. His ethereal dress was stretched taut by these lines.

Yes, this is Zuo Qiuchi's normal form. She had suppressed her cultivation level for so long that Chu Mingkong had almost forgotten what she originally looked like.

After a brief moment of surprise, Chu Mingkong quickly refilled her teacup, fanned her, massaged her shoulders, and asked her with concern:

"What happened? You look so disheveled in just a short time?"

"The plan went a little wrong, but let's not talk about it. But we really underestimated the people at that Buddhist temple. They were protecting that female bodhisattva so fiercely." Her tone was quite frustrated.

Chu Mingkong glanced at her disheveled clothes. She wasn't seriously injured; it was more that her cultivation level had been pushed back, causing her to release her self-seal. Her figure, appearance, and strength had all recovered, and the large, sweeping movements of her sword dance had simply torn her clothes.

"Why would you go and provoke those Buddhists? The Buddhist sect has a strong foundation and many strange and unusual tricks up its sleeve. A few mediocre monks forming a tortoise-arhat formation would be very troublesome."

"What else could I do? I tied up a female bodhisattva for you, that's all. I went through all that trouble, and you brat are still making sarcastic remarks!"

Zuo Qiuchi raised an eyebrow and pinched his disciple's face in an annoyed manner. Chu Mingkong begged for mercy, and his face was spared from the ordeal.

Although they were officially master and disciple, they didn't show much courtesy when interacting.

When he was a child, Zuo Qiuchi took a fancy to a heavy sword treasured in the Xiling Prince's mansion and used that sword as payment to teach Chu Mingkong swordsmanship.

Heavy swords are weapons that are usually used by strong men. The Prince's Mansion had previously found several teachers to teach him heavy swordsmanship, but Chu Mingkong could not learn them. Those heavy sword masters had extremely loud voices, and they could spit out a few grains of saliva when they spoke.

Based on his experience playing the "Dynasty Warriors: Overlords" series in his previous life, spearmen are truly effective, so he focused more on training with long spears, heavy lances, and heavy halberds.

Upon seeing Zuo Qiuchi's chest and her peach-shaped buttocks...

Looking at the male instructors in his palace who taught spear techniques, he decisively went to learn heavy sword from Zuo Qiuchi, thus beginning his cultivation journey.

Zuo Qiuchi herself didn't intend to teach him seriously; she just took him around to play. Her personality was also quite different from that of a "little girl"—she was very unrestrained, and occasionally there would be some rather outrageous master-disciple conversations, which once made the servants in the palace feel ashamed and worried about the young prince.

"Young Prince, your strength is lacking. Although cultivation can make up for some of your weakness, you still need to change your monkey-like physique."

—How much training is needed?

—At least your pectoral muscles should be as thick as mine, right? Look at your tablet, it's making a loud thumping sound.

—Master, you just touched me and took advantage of me. You have to touch me back.

—You need to build up your pecs before I let you touch them. Right now, I feel uncomfortable touching them. If I let you touch them, wouldn't I be at a loss?

The woman, with her exquisite features, finished her tea, kicked off her shoes, and placed her delicate, white feet on Chu Mingkong's lap, gesturing for her disciple to massage them. Seeing Chu Mingkong staring at her in a daze, she frowned and said:

What are you grinning about?

"It's nothing, I just suddenly remembered that time when you wanted to be lazy and sleep in, and you tricked me into practicing Qi and Blood Tempering alone. You're such a despicable teacher!"

Chu Ming sighed wearily, but his service was impeccable. He hooked one arm around Zuo Qiuchi's waist and the other around her knees, carrying her to his bed and making her comfortable before massaging her feet.

Those who have achieved mastery of cultivation possess truly beautiful skin; even their toes are fair and translucent. Judging from her words, she had clearly been in battle, yet her feet were dry and sweat-free, with a faint, delicate fragrance. No one else would even have the chance to see the skin of a sword immortal; only he could so intimately admire it.

She enjoyed the foot massage, and Chu Mingkong also enjoyed the massage, so it was a win-win situation.

The woman adjusted her lying position, making a larger movement. The smaller-sized bodice couldn't hold her breasts in place, causing Chu Mingkong to feel a little dizzy.

[System Treasure has arrived in your account, 40 points of filial piety (undesirable).]

She said, "Me, immoral? Later, when your sister went to the vault to get weapons for me, you rolled on the ground complaining that I didn't teach you properly. I had no choice but to let you touch me a few times!"

The woman lightly raised her delicate foot, making a feinting flying kick, as if she wanted to kick him away.

She was telling the truth. At first, Zuo Qiuchi tried to play dumb, saying his pectoral muscles were so thin while hers were so thick, putting her at a disadvantage in the matter of mutual touching. How did they eventually compromise? Chu Mingkong let her touch him a few more times; if the quality wasn't good, quantity would make up for it, giving her a real experience of the sword immortal's magnanimity.

The pressure is indeed strong!

Suddenly, Zuo Qiuchi frowned and asked suspiciously, "Has a woman been on this bed?"

No, you can actually sense that? I can't smell anything at all.

He didn't hide anything: "She came to seduce and test me. People in the capital naturally have a lot of trouble. That woman thinks I ruined her daughter and is looking for clues from me."

Seeing that Chu Mingkong was so frank, and there were no signs of a struggle in the room, Zuo Qiuchi didn't bother to ask any further questions.

The room fell silent for a while. Chu Mingkong's hands were sweating as he clenched his fists. He remembered the new heavy sword he had just acquired and decided to let her experience it.

"By the way, I've recently had some insights into the greatsword, could you take a look?"

Zuo Qiuchi asked in surprise, "How long has it been since you last touched a greatsword? You've spent more time touching my feet than you practiced swordsmanship as a child. What could you possibly have learned from that?"