Chapter 487: Miracle Meal

As soon as he crossed the wooden bridge and set foot on the other side of the island, a large crowd swarmed toward him.

The man leading them had pointed ears, blond hair, green eyes, and a full beard. “Brother, you selling?”

Hearing such predatory words right off the bat, Qin Ziwen looked up in shock.

“If you need a recipe, you can come to me.” The man in front of him, who was wearing a hat, took it off, his full head of silver hair dancing in the wind. He bowed slightly and handed over a business card with a smile. “Everyone who comes to the restaurant is here to prepare some fine cuisine. If you have any spare or suitable ingredients, you can look for me. I can give you a fair price.”

Qin Ziwen accepted the card. It seemed to be handcrafted from some kind of metal.

Four words were engraved on it: Food Hall Merchant: Bai Ye.

Qin Ziwen passed through the crowd. Beyond the central plaza across the bridge, a wooden house stood out amongst the surrounding structures. It was obvious at a glance that this wooden restaurant was the center of the entire complex.

Mogu said in a low voice, “My Lord, this is the restaurant.”

“Let’s go take a look.” Qin Ziwen walked to the restaurant’s entrance.

“Welcome, customer~ My name is Jin.” A small figure in exquisite white clothes leaped down from a nearby tree.

He didn’t even reach an adult’s waist in height, with a delicate face and long, slender arms that nearly hung down to his knees.

“Your aura smells a little unfamiliar. This must be your first time at the restaurant,” the small figure said, hopping onto a stone statue at the entrance. As if by magic, he pulled a menu from a pocket behind him and handed it to Qin Ziwen.

The menu looked very thin, but it felt incredibly heavy in his hands, weighing at least three or four hundred pounds.

An ordinary person probably wouldn’t even be able to lift it.

Outwardly, other than its blue cover, there was nothing particularly magical about the menu in his hands.

He opened it to the first page, which was just a long table of contents.

Qin Ziwen flipped through dozens of pages, all of which were just the table of contents. The pictures of the main courses didn’t start until page 99.

The magical thing was, even after flipping through so many pages, the menu’s thickness hadn’t changed at all.

The number of different cuisines recorded in this menu must be enormous.

“If you have any questions about the cuisines, you can just ask me,” Jin said, crouching down.

Qin Ziwen fell into thought.

He thought about the Silver Blood he had obtained earlier.

“Can Silver Blood be made into a cuisine?”

“Of course! It’s a very common ingredient.” With a tap of Jin’s finger, the book in Qin Ziwen’s hands flipped automatically, quickly stopping on a particular page.

In the center was a transparent crystal glass filled with a silvery liquid. Faint specks of crimson could be seen sinking and rising within it.

Beneath it was a description.

Seventh-Grade Cuisine: [Dusk Silver Wine]

Effect: Increases innate flexibility and healing attributes by 4%~15%.

Restriction: This cuisine may only be consumed once. After consumption, no other alcoholic cuisines may be consumed for one year.

Required Ingredients: Five portions of Silver Blood, one drop of Blood of Divinity Ascension.

A trace of surprise flashed in Qin Ziwen’s eyes.

‘This restaurant’s cuisines actually have this kind of restriction?’

‘There are limits on consumption, and it seems there are also time restrictions for similar types of cuisine. Unlike the Abyssal Ruins, which provides an all-around enhancement, the boost from these cuisines is directional. Different cuisines must have different effects.’

Qin Ziwen turned to the next page.

Fourth-Grade Cuisine: [Yin Yang Gold and Silver Soup]

Effect: Increases the user’s innate flexibility and healing attributes by 16%~40%. Increases the user’s innate strength and burst power attributes by 20%~40%. Increases the user’s innate endurance attribute by 30%.

Restriction: This cuisine may only be consumed twice. After a single consumption, no other soup-type cuisines may be consumed for two years.

Required Ingredients: Ten portions of Golden Blood, ten portions of Silver Blood, three Yin Flowers, three Yang Flowers.

The more precious the cuisine, the stronger its effects.

However, the required ingredients weren’t cheap either.

Qin Ziwen mused. ‘Although I’ve never seen Golden Blood, judging by the name, it must be of a much higher grade than Silver Blood.’

Combined with the required Yin Flowers and Yang Flowers, the cost of these ingredients lay in their specificity.

At the Abyssal Ruins, you could obtain Law Essence just by making a sacrifice, regardless of the materials’ effects.

This place, however, was far more targeted and specific.

The Abyssal Ruins allowed for faster improvement in the early stages, and the materials were highly versatile. But the amount of Law Essence required increased tenfold with each level, making it inferior to the restaurant in the long run. In the short term, however, the Abyssal Ruins was undoubtedly more beneficial for the growth of the members of his Home.

“It’s all a bit dazzling. I have some of these materials, but I’ve never even heard of some of the other ingredients,” Qin Ziwen said with a sigh as he closed the menu.

“No need to worry, customer. We offer ingredient trading here.” Jin wasn’t surprised by Qin Ziwen’s response. He took the menu, and with a flick of his wrist, it vanished mysteriously from his palm.

“If you have ingredients you need, we can provide them for free through an exchange. However, you can only trade for Marvels of a lower level. For example, if you have Level 5 Marvels, you can only exchange them here for Level 4 Marvels.” Jin pressed his palms together, his eyes narrowing into slits.

“…”

“Holy crap, what an exchange rate,” Qin Ziwu muttered under his breath.

“Let’s look around some more.” Qin Ziwen wasn’t in a hurry. He thought for a moment, then asked, “Can I borrow the menu to look at?”

“Of course, whatever the customer wishes.” Jin took out the menu again and tossed it to Qin Ziwen.

After Qin Ziwen left,

In a small house behind the restaurant, a figure in white stood up and gazed for a long time in the direction Qin Ziwen had gone.

Outside the restaurant was a straight, horizontal street.

The street was lined on both sides with exquisite two- and three-story wooden houses.

“Hey, young friend, young friend, over here!” In the distance, a man in a long, green robe waved at him.

When Qin Ziwen got closer, the man pushed open a wooden garden gate and invited him in with great enthusiasm.

“Please, come in, young friend.”

Qin Ziwen didn’t enter.

He stood outside the garden for a moment, observing the man’s attire.

Judging by his clothes, he looked like some ancient figure from an Eastern background.

The man in green seemed to notice Qin Ziwen’s hesitation. He laughed heartily and bowed with his hands clasped. “Don’t be alarmed, brother. My surname is Chen. I have passed through the mortal realm, my cycle of rebirth unending for over a thousand years. Now, I have settled here to live out my remaining days.”

“I see you are new to this place, young friend?”

“No, this is my second time here,” Qin Ziwen said without batting an eye.

The man in green was taken aback for a moment, then broke into a smile.

He gave another bow. “You are so wary, young friend. It seems I was being presumptuous. Perhaps we can talk again when we have another chance.”

After speaking, the man in green gave a polite, shallow bow, then turned and went back inside his house.

Qin Ziwen walked through the entire town and found that aside from the restaurant, there were very few other commercial buildings. Most of the structures were wooden houses for residents.

When Qin Ziwen returned to the plaza in front of the restaurant where he had started, the bearded man from before walked over. “There’s only the restaurant here. Everything revolves around it. There’s nothing else. If you were hoping for something more, you’re probably going to be disappointed.”