7.Temporarily Evade the Crisis

Sometimes, Xu Shan had to admit that his optimism was truly strong. When the pressure reached its peak, his nervousness actually tended to decrease. He even had the leisure to think about these things now...

Xu Shan wiped his face, composed himself, and tried hard to recall. He needed to review... He had to review. When he was in the inner sect, there were still many doubts that he hadn't figured out clearly. He couldn't just let it go like this.

The questions Lu Xiangjun asked on the mountain weren't the most important. The most important problem was actually his own situation. When he was cooking, he felt extremely happy. But afterwards, his spiritual energy was depleted, and his physical strength almost disappeared completely. Since he came to this world, he had never been in such an extreme state.

If it was because of coming into contact with poisonous ingredients, it was too unreasonable. He had just come into contact with them and ended up like this. How could Lu Xiangjun have no negative reactions after eating them? Moreover, it was unlikely that the sect would prepare poisonous ingredients.

Also, Lu Xiangjun said there was a green dragon on his sleeve. It was impossible for a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator to be so mistaken as to see a green dragon on a white cloth. Could it be that he had some problem before and had an illusion?

Xu Shan turned his head and looked at the position of his right arm. Blood seeped a little from the deep wound under his right arm, staining it crimson.

Xu Shan squinted his eyes and fell into deep thought. Lu Xiangjun had pointed very clearly before. The green dragon appeared at this position, and this place had been wrapped by the towel from the cyan seal. That towel seemed like an ordinary object, but it was definitely not something common. This was a bit too coincidental...

As his thoughts moved, Xu Shan reached out and grabbed a towel out of thin air, wrapped it around his right arm, and then casually pulled it off. The moment he saw his right arm, his mind went blank with a loud buzz, and his pupils instantly dilated!

A dragon! There was really a dragon on his arm?! A green dragon surrounding a red character "特" (Special)赫然 appeared on his right arm.

"This.... This..." Xu Shan's lips moved, and his eyes stared fixedly at the pattern on his right arm.

Little Chef... Isn't this something from the cartoon? It's the certification of a special-class chef in the cartoon. Every time the protagonist appeared, he would pull off the towel on his arm, reveal his identity, and show off in front of others, causing a great commotion.

"Special-class chef...." Xu Shan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he murmured to himself.

Special-class chef! He had casually shouted that out before. Although he thought the words were a bit strange at that time, he didn't think much of it and just thought the other person was encouraging him. Now it seemed that wasn't the case... Could it be because of this towel?

It should be! The lewd way Senior Brother Lu ate and the lewd words he said were exactly the same as those in the cartoon.

Xu Shan swallowed hard and sat up all of a sudden. So the special feeling he had when cooking was also because of this towel?

It turned out that... The items and props derived from the cyan seal needed a special method to trigger their functions. No wonder he had tried all kinds of methods for several months but had no results.

Then, it meant that the dishes weren't poisoned. It was all the special effects caused by the towel. So it wasn't really a bad thing...

Xu Shan's face turned pale again in an instant. No... Then the people in the main hall who ate the dishes...?!

No, this was no different from poisoning them, and it was even worse than poisoning... Even if the cultivators in the hall had high cultivation levels and wouldn't encounter any accidents, they would definitely be able to sense something abnormal.

Xu Shan covered his chest and took a while to calm down. His state of mind returned to normal. He glanced at his sleeve again, and the green dragon special-class chef symbol on the sleeve was slowly fading away.

Anyway, there seemed to be a turning point now. At least it wasn't completely a bad thing. He had been researching the items derived from the cyan seal for a long time, and he had finally discovered and confirmed that they had other uses. He roughly knew the function of the towel, but he still needed to try it further.

But he definitely couldn't do it in the Xinglan Sect. He had to go outside and find a place to test his conjecture.

The most important thing now was to get through the current trouble and go back to the outer disciple's dormitory as soon as possible to check the situation.

With this thought in mind, Xu Shan quickly sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to absorb spiritual energy to recover his strength. He was already very familiar with the basic introductory cultivation technique that outer disciples specialized in. After all, it was just basic work.

As the spiritual energy entered his body, Xu Shan quickly stopped cultivating. He frowned and slowly opened his eyes.

Something wasn't right. The process of drawing spiritual energy into his body and transforming it into spiritual power, including the speed of the spiritual power circulating in his body, had become extremely slow. He originally had a low-grade spiritual root, and cultivation was already a bit difficult for him. Now it seemed that he was far worse than a low-grade spiritual root cultivator.

If a high-grade spiritual root was like having diarrhea, a middle-grade spiritual root was normal, and a low-grade spiritual root was like having constipation. Now his state was like having a huge hemorrhoid on top of constipation.

This was a new situation he had never encountered before.... Was it caused by triggering the effect of the towel?

Xu Shan felt extremely worried. He was both happy and worried, and there were many doubts in his heart. After thinking for a long time, he closed his eyes again to recover.

.... As the sky was getting dark.

Xu Shan walked back to the dormitory with a heavy expression. His chin was wrapped with a piece of cloth he had found casually.

The dormitory for outer disciples wasn't large and was rather simple. Four people lived in it. Xu Shan pushed open the door, and the three people in the room all cast strange looks at him.

"Hey, bro, who are you?"

"We've lived together for so long, and you still don't recognize me? Who else could I be but Xu Shan?" Xu Shan sat back on his bed and replied indifferently.

"No way! Holy shit, Brother Shan, you look like this?"

"Brother Shan, you're such a pretty boy..."

"Damn, you've been hiding your true appearance all this time!"

The three of them sat up from their beds one after another. One of them looked at Xu Shan and asked suspiciously, "Where's your beard? Why did you suddenly shave it off? What's wrong with your chin?"

Xu Shan untied the cloth wrapped around his head and hissed in pain. A large, bloody wound on his chin was revealed in front of the three of them. He had smashed it with a stone before leaving the river.

"I was cultivating and accidentally got injured. The beard was in the way, so I shaved it off directly."

The three of them still stared at Xu Shan. Another person said, "Do you know that today Elder Cao took an inner sect senior brother and was looking for someone everywhere? They were looking for a man with a big beard. Could it be you?"

"Is it Senior Brother Lu?" Xu Shan asked, looking sideways. "I've already met him. He was looking for someone, but it wasn't me."

"Hey... Seeing you sneaking in and having a different face, I thought they were looking for you." The three of them immediately lost interest.

"You weren't in the room today. You didn't see the scene. It seemed that something really big had happened. That inner sect senior brother was looking for people with beards everywhere and called them all out. At first, he called Tian Xuan. That kid was really scared."

"What happened next?" Xu Shan asked.

"Then that senior brother checked and searched one by one. He said it was a chef with a dragon on his arm. He searched around but didn't find anyone. Oh, and he also asked who wasn't there, and you were the only one missing."

Xu Shan's gaze swept over the three of them. "You don't think it was me and then betrayed me, do you?"

"How could we, Brother Shan?" The roommate across from Xu Shan gestured and said, "It's not that we're not loyal, bro. I almost thought it was you. But when he mentioned the chef and the green dragon, I knew it definitely wasn't you."

"Besides, that inner sect senior brother had a really bad temper. Even if we knew, no one dared to say anything. Who would want to get themselves into trouble for no reason?"

...