WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 11: Semi-Transaction, Normal Business Operations (5)
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“Got it. The strategy worked.”
Park Gangseo, who was handling the customers outside, reported to Ise with a broad smile.
Ise glanced outside through the gap in the kitchen window.
Cultivators who had already tried immortal cuisine, acquaintance cultivators including Park Gangseo who had spread word of the free tasting, people who saw the long line and massive pig’s head and joined out of curiosity.
The limit of one hundred people had been reached in no time.
At the front of the waiting line stood Pi Garam, Seolryeong, Hong Wonseo, and their fellow disciples.
Ise leaned out the window and greeted them.
“Why are you at the very front?”
“We came four hours ago and waited. We were worried we wouldn’t make the first hundred.”
Seolryeong put a hand on her hip and spoke proudly.
“Free immortal cuisine? We couldn’t possibly miss that!”
“They say the well-off are the greediest.”
“I promoted it a lot, you know? About ten people here are my acquaintances.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Ise chuckled and pulled his head back inside.
“Open up.”
He fastened his cook’s clothes securely.
Worried that a stray hair might fall into the food, he wrapped a head cloth around his hair as well, then pulled aside the curtain separating the kitchen from the dining area.
He intended to show the customers the cooking process.
That would also give those waiting for their food something to enjoy watching.
Soon, the first customers entered the shop.
With many eyes fixed on him, Ise began cooking.
First, he finely minced Thunder Boar thigh meat. He mixed in tendon and fat in the right proportions, shaped it into rounds, and flattened them in his palms.
Thunder Boar fat spread over the stone griddle set atop the newly lit stove with a hiss.
He placed the minced meat and spirit fruit into the oil and grilled them together.
Once the meat and spirit fruit had turned a rich golden brown, he threaded them one after another onto slender toothpicks.
Finally, he brushed on a thin coating of spirit honey, then rolled them across the stone griddle and grilled them once more.
Sizzle.
The spirit honey reacted to the heat and released a soft, sweet fragrance. Swallowing sounds came from all around.
“Does he really have to be that serious...?”
Seolryeong watched Ise cook with an expression so solemn it was almost tragic, then muttered those words.
Pi Garam, standing beside her, rebuked her.
“Are you not serious when you craft artifacts?”
“No? Of course I am.”
“It is the same. Do not look down on someone else’s art just because you are studying your own main craft. Every effort deserves respect.”
“...”
Seolryeong clamped her mouth shut. After a long pause, she added as though making an excuse.
“I’m not looking down on him. It’s just... he looked like he was having fun when he worked at the Training Compound butcher shop. Right now, his expression looks really serious.”
Hong Wonseo stood behind them with her arms crossed and continued calmly.
“That probably means a great deal is at stake in this shop.”
“Is that so...?”
Seolryeong’s gaze returned to the inside of Dine and Go.
It was not a particularly remarkable shop.
The location was among the cheaper ones on the Great Exorcist Order’s market street. Its walls had only been whitewashed, and its windows were narrow.
Yet careful thought could be seen throughout the shop.
Every dish was made of high-quality jade, free of turbid qi.
The furnishings for dining were all made from good materials, and the interior was spotless.
There were even flowers, which did not suit Ise at all, arranged prettily in earthenware jars.
This was a place prepared with sincerity and care.
Seolryeong awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
“...I think I said something wrong. Forget it. It’s embarrassing.”
Just then, Ise placed a skewer on each jade plate and rang a small bell. Buchun began serving the dishes in the order the customers had arrived.
“Wow, that really looks delicious.”
Seolryeong exclaimed, while Hong Wonseo quietly raised a recording stone to capture the food.
Someone raised a hand and called Buchun over.
“Fellow Daoist, what is this dish called?”
“This is Pork Skewers with Candied Spirit Fruit!”
“Was there a pig spirit beast in Spirit Beast Grove that died recently? The meat is fresh.”
“Ah ha ha... We procure our ingredients from outside headquarters.”
Only a few people still knew that Dine and Go’s immortal cuisine was made with demon beast meat.
Of course, judging by Ise’s actions, it would be difficult to keep that secret forever, and people would learn in time. But that could wait until word of mouth had spread.
There was no reason to announce to everyone that their immortal cuisine was made from demon beast meat before the shop had even established itself, leaving customers uneasy.
Though, considering that Ise had hung a Thunder Boar’s head right in front of the shop, the person responsible did not seem especially concerned.
“It may tingle a little, but if you have a cup of spirit wine with it, the taste and cultivation benefit are excellent.”
“Then give me a cup of spirit wine too. It feels nice, reminds me of my days in the mortal world.”
“Only the immortal cuisine is free for the tasting. Spirit wine costs two Spiritual Stones per cup!”
“That’s fine. Give me one.”
“Yes!”
“Fellow Daoist Bu, a cup of spirit wine over here too!”
“Coming!”
In the meantime, Seolryeong, who had received her immortal cuisine first, took a bite of her skewer with an eager expression.
Then she closed her eyes and chewed slowly.
The spiritual essence in the skewer spread across her tongue.
The fresh taste of spirit fruit rested over the rich flavor of the meat, while spirit honey wrapped around them like a thin veil.
The three different energies did not clash. They flowed in a single direction.
The spiritual essence she had consumed sped up the circulation of her internal qi and the absorption of external qi, as though urging them onward.
Once she had finished the immortal cuisine, it felt as though her cultivation efficiency had increased sixfold.
Its taste and effects could not be compared with any immortal cuisine she had eaten before.
“This is... incredible.”
“Immortal cuisine could be this effective?”
“Fellow Daoist, how long does this effect last?”
Buchun immediately answered.
“About fifteen days!”
“...Except for the spiritual energy absorbed directly from a Spirit-Gathering Pellet, isn’t the effect almost comparable?”
“We are fortunate to taste this for free.”
Everyone began calculating the value of what they had just eaten.
Buchun quickly added to the customers.
“The next opening will be in fifteen days! We guarantee the same dish and the same effect. We are selling meal vouchers to everyone who came today first, at thirty Spiritual Stones each. If you are interested, please buy one on your way out!”
The cultivators who had finished their immortal cuisine quickly left, perhaps wanting to enjoy the cultivation benefit at once.
New customers filled their seats.
“I can buy several meal vouchers, right?”
“Of course! We cannot offer a discount for buying many, but there is no limit.”
“Does it have the same effect at the Foundation Establishment Realm?”
“I understand that the efficiency drops somewhat above the ninth star of the Qi Condensation Realm.”
“I see. Understood.”
The cultivator left with a disappointed look, apparently thinking of someone to buy one for.
Their first day of business was a great success.
Business began near sunset and ended before the morning star appeared.
Eighty-two of the one hundred meal vouchers they had prepared were sold in advance. Eight out of every ten people who had sampled the food intended to buy it again.
Including the Spiritual Stones earned from selling spirit wine, nearly two thousand five hundred Spiritual Stones had entered their hands.
Even after deducting the future expenses, such as the rental fees for the Meat Preservation Vaults, rent for the shop, spirit wine, and the cost of buying spirit fruit and spirit honey, nearly eight hundred Spiritual Stones remained as pure profit.
Ise gave Park Gangseo and Buchun one hundred Spiritual Stones each as compensation for their work.
That left Ise with six hundred.
It was a sweet harvest.
And there would be no more free tastings. He now had a reliable way to earn Spiritual Stones.
“You both worked hard. See you at the next opening. Work hard on promotion. Buchun, open the shop at the scheduled times and sell the remaining meal vouchers.”
“Yes.”
“You worked hard too, Senior.”
* * *
When Ise stepped outside Dine and Go with a satisfied heart, the area before the shop was still crowded.
Cultivators who had sampled the food had not left. They stood in small groups, chatting, while onlookers who had not tasted it listened in and asked when the next opening day would be.
“...They say it’s six times more effective. Is that true?”
“I told you, it’s true. I just ate it. Don’t believe me if you don’t want to. I’m going to cultivate right away.”
“When’s the next opening?”
“They say it’ll open again in fifteen days.”
“Fifteen days? We’ve got to wait fifteen days?”
“But aren’t meal vouchers a little expensive at thirty Spiritual Stones?”
“Then go swallow a Spirit-Gathering Pellet worth several hundred Spiritual Stones, assuming you can even find one.”
“They say the shop owner is that person. An eighth star only two years after entering.”
“No wonder his cultivation has been rising so quickly. He had been hiding a talent like this.”
Ise quietly passed through them and crossed to the other side of the market street, where the directly operated shops of the Great Exorcist Order’s Four Great Meritorious Clans were gathered.
The entrance stood prominently at the start of the commercial district.
It was a cluster of the most noticeable, largest, and finest buildings.
The Yeomhwa Hong Clan, the Clear Water Hae Clan, the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Seol Clan, and the Pearl River Gang Clan.
These were the shops directly run by the four clans that had rendered service from the Great Exorcist Order’s founding, whose countless blood relatives formed much of the order. They also distributed the greatest number of spirit artifacts and medicinal pellets within the sect.
Ise entered the Yeomhwa Hong Clan’s shop first.
The moment he crossed the threshold, spiritual energy brushed against his skin.
The entire interior was carefully maintained with a formation.
The first floor sold spirit artifacts. Spirit artifacts and treasure artifacts filled with spiritual energy were neatly displayed in every showcase.
There were not many, but every one of them was a genuine, high-quality item.
The second floor sold medicinal pellets. They handled easily obtainable items such as fasting pills, Healing Pellets, and poison pellets.
There were no spirit pellets that aided cultivation available for immediate sale. They could only be bought by reservation after consulting with a clerk.
The third floor was off limits. A Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator stood before the stairs with their arms crossed.
When their eyes met, the cultivator only gave Ise a faint smile and did not stop him.
Still, an invisible warding barrier had been laid before the stairs, preventing anyone from stepping onto them.
‘There was another entrance at the back of the building. It must be for distinguished guests only.’
After quickly looking through all four shops, he found that the others had similar layouts.
Unfortunately, none of them currently handled sacred relics.
Ise slowly returned to examining the spirit artifacts.
His gaze first stopped at a glass platform in the center of one shop.
‘A cloud... It is a cloud.’
What caught his eye was a flight spirit artifact named the Divine Wind Cloud.
Naturally, it was only something he could admire from afar. The description said that only cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm or above could operate it.
Ise imagined himself riding a cloud as he went out to hunt demon beasts.
It was certainly a romantic image. Come to think of it, Master Mongryeon usually traveled on clouds too.
‘Let me at least look at the price.’
It cost three thousand eight hundred Spiritual Stones. The sum made him gasp.
Still, if he thought about it, it was an amount he could afford by selling only one hundred and thirty bowls of immortal cuisine, then closing the shop.
Ise closed his eyes. He drew in a breath, then let it out.
‘When I reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, I will buy that first.’
Suppressing his material desires, Ise turned away from the platform and became absorbed in examining spirit artifacts again.
After visiting not only the four major shops but also every small and medium-sized spirit artifact store, he found four treasure artifacts that could be used at the Qi Condensation Realm.
[Formation-Breaking Spear. 750 Spiritual Stones.]
[Earth-Escape Gauntlets. 500 Spiritual Stones.]
[Crimson Flying Sword. 900 Spiritual Stones.]
[Vajra. 660 Spiritual Stones.]
The Formation-Breaking Spear, specialized in piercing formations.
The Earth-Escape Gauntlets, which allowed the wearer to use the Earth-Escape Art.
The Crimson Flying Sword, which contained a Sword-Control Art that let its user control a sword in the sky.
The Vajra, a treasure artifact made specifically to eliminate evil spirits.
With his arms crossed, Ise considered the four treasure artifacts one after another in his mind.
‘...This is difficult.’
Footnotes:
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