Translated by TheFireTrucker
Edited by Qwaztop
Chapter 1: The Innate Fu Orb
Li Ran explained, “This is an Ancient Fu of Teleportation, so even though it’s here, it is still very precious because it is a type of Auxiliary-type Ancient Fu that is rarely seen, as such it’s far more precious than Attack-type Ancient Fu.”
“Teleportation!”
Luo Jie was very wise, but not even he had seen this type of Ancient Fu before, since it allowed teleportation, if you were surrounded in battle, you could easily teleport away to safety. To a FuZhou Warrior, this was a priceless artefact. As such he let out a hearty laugh and said, “12th, your luck is amazing!”
12th smiled bitterly and said, “Luck’s not as good as athlete’s foot……” He sighed and continued, “Master, you got a pretty good Ancient Fu, but your disciple is still striving for one.”
Li Ran smiled as he put away all of the Ancient Fu that were on the marble table. He said, “Luck isn’t as good as athlete’s foot? Haha, then why didn’t you use your feet to choose? Haha……”
12th mumbled, “I scratched my feet before hand……”
Li Ran choked at that, coughing, he said, “You little kid…… Heh, you got quite the audacity haven’t you?”
(T/N: Now that the entire joke has finished, lemme explain cuz you are probably confused af. The characters 手气 and 脚气 mean ‘Luck’ and ‘Athlete’s Foot’ respectively. The joke here is that individually the characters would literally mean ‘Hand Air’ and ‘Foot Air’ so 12th made a joke with play on words, or at least the mandarin equivalent of play on words. The joke later about him scratching his feet is him saying “well I scratched my feet (with athlete’s foot) beforehand which is why luck isn’t as good as athlete’s foot. Now obviously he doesn’t actually have athlete’s foot, he was just simply extending the joke. Or maybe he does have it, I don’t know. This world is crazy :D)
12th remembered, “Oh yeah, what’s the Fu Door like?”
Li Ran said, “That’s right, I almost forgot…… These are two Spirit Fu of Fu Doors, each Fu can take up to four people into the Mysterious Lands, and this is a book on how to use the Fu Door, it’s quite easy to learn.”
“Oh, and before I forget, each Fu Door can record up to four Mysterious Lands. Only four though and if you try to record a fifth one, it will delete the first one. So choose carefully.”
12th s.n.a.t.c.hed up one of the Fu Door’s Spirit Fu and also the book. It was quite a thin book; there only seemed to be about twenty or so pages and the words were also quite big. It only took 12th 10 minutes to finish. Indeed it was quite easy, the ability to use FuZhou powers was the only requirement for using it.
Luo Jie learnt quickly. He only flicked through the book briefly and instantly understood how the Fu Door worked. He immediately absorbed the Fu Door’s Spirit Fu into his Innate Fu Book. This time the exploration of the Mysterious Lands yielded rewards beyond what was expected, and as such he was very content.
Xiao Feng returned and following behind him was Chen Hong and not only was she carrying the Hidden Fu Bag with the tools, but also the Hidden Fu Bag holding food, and in it was also the meat from the Fu Bear, along the Earth Dragon’s various internal organs and flesh.
“Brother Li, Master, Grandpa Nan Shan, you guys wait while Igo prepare the food.” 12th said as he ran out. In his past life he frequently drove past a small shop, and had also learnt how to cook, although not as good as a professional chef, he still knew quite a few ways to cook food.
Li Ran called out, “Oi, kid! Wash your hands first! Don’t go scratching your foot again!”
12th tripped and stumbling, he ran out as he murmured, “Had I really scratched my feet, I might have chosen an even better Ancient Fu!”
To obtain a good Innate Fu from Li Ran, he decided to make his specialty. It was no wonder that 12th was nervous, he didn’t know what type of person Li Ran is, he also didn’t know how strong Li Ran really was. Seeing him reveal so many Ancient Fu indicated that he would not be easy to please, if he didn’t do his best now, it’ll be too late to regret it later.
Luo Jie cautiously asked, “Li Ran…… What do you do?”
Li Ran spoke loudly, “What do I do? Well, I’m a retired…… businessman, I don’t really do much at all anymore.” After he finished, he smiled baring his teeth. Luo Jie and Qi Nan Shan both stared at him, not knowing what to say, this answer was so obviously fake but they couldn’t refute it.
The two of them could see Li Ran’s confidence so even though his words were carefree and calm, and without any malice or insult, it was instead quite inspiring. The two of them were old and wise, but they still couldn’t believe how confident he was.
Li Ran was too mysterious, not only did he make Luo Jie and Qi Nan Shan uneasy and slightly fearful, it made it hard to communicate as they were unsure how to word their sentences. Li Ran noticed that the two of them were unnerved, but he still didn’t give any sort of explanation, only chatting about anything and everything. This made them two feel rather out of place, as they hadn’t even heard of a lot of the things before.
After about half an hour, a delicious smell wafted in, Li Ran sniffed a little and said, “Huh, this smell…… it…… it’s sweet and sour pork ribs?! And what is this smell?” He couldn’t help but stand up and walked to the doorway to have a look.
Luo Jie also sniffed the air and asked, “When did 12th learn to cook Fu Food?”
Qi Nan Shan shook his head and replied, “I don’t know either, but this smells good…… so good that it’s actually making me rather hungry!” Being a Great Fu Master meant that he barely needed to eat, and yet this smell made him feel hungry.
“Brother Li, wait inside, it’s almost done.”
Li Ran smiled and returned to his seat, saying, “Your disciple…… has a good chance of winning that Innate Fu, haha.”
Chen Hong brought in a large bronze bowl,“12th said these are Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs!”
Li Ran waved over at a large table and said, “Put it here!”
It was a giant bowl filled to the brim with ribs, although these ribs were somewhat large, each one was like the size of a club. Li Ran immediately grabbed one and started gnawing at it, gleefully saying, “Not bad, this taste is great! Good! Good!”
The next dish was Stir Fried Stomach. The stomach was the Fu Bear’s and it was stir fried with garlic for a very aromatic dish.
A few more dishes followed, enough for a feast. The last dish was Braised Bear Paw and though it looked quite simple,the ingredients used were hard to get. Chen Hong sneaked some into her mouth while 12th was cooking. She had never had such delicious food before, as such she felt a lot of admiration towards 12th.
After they finished, 12th watched Li Ran expectantly.
Li Ran couldn’t help but laugh, saying, “Why are you staring at me? It’s not like I’m a supermodel!”
12th furrowed his brows, and thought, That’s too cruel, no way can this guy scam me out of this! So he asked, “How was it?”
Li Ran nodded and said honestly, “It was good, the others were mediocre, but those Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs was delicious!”
12th said, “So what about my Innate Fu……?”
“About what Innate Fu?”
“Unbelievable……”
Li Ran laughed aloud, saying, “Alright alright, I’m just teasing you, here……” He lifted his hand and placed it on 12th’s forehead, saying, “Don’t move!” as a green light emanated from his hand into 12th’s head. He said, “Count yourself lucky that I just so happen to have a True Spirit Fu on me, haha, it’s one of the best Innate Fu Books in existence.
“A True Sprit Fu?”
Now Luo Jie pretty much understood Li Ran’s categories for Fu. The weakest were Treasure Fu, Spirit Fu were mediocre and Ancient Fu were pretty high level, however, True Treasure Fu were truly superior. As for True Spirit Fu, since Li Ran had one, it too must be a very powerful and valuable Fu.
Li Ran explained, “This True Spirit Fu isn’t very useful for me for it’s not an Attack-type Fu nor is it a standard Auxiliary-type Fu, it is in fact a Fu used for crafting Innate Fu Books, and as such it is called a True Innate Fu because it can create an Innate Fu Orb, haha, it’s a little different to your Innate Fu Books.”
Luo Jie exclaimed, “Innate Fu Orb? This is the first time I’ve heard of such a form of Innate Fu.”
Li Ran nodded, explaining, “Innate Fu Orbs are the forms of superior Innate Fu, it’s better than the Innate Fu Books and uses Fu from it is faster. It’s a special form of Innate Fu where I come from, it’s like this……” and he held out a finger and tapped the air.
A clear image appeared in front of them all.
It started with a bead of light, and then rapidly expanded to a sphere the size of a basketball. It consisted of countless small Fu. The sphere span rapidly and a Fu floated out, quickly enlarged, and then retracted back into the orb as another one came out and likewise returned into the orb. It really was quite beautiful to watch.
Li Ran brought his finger down and the orb disappeared.
Luo Jie saw the beauty of it, saying, “Amazing form.” He sighed and said, “Why can’t we think of Innate Fu like this?”
12th was beyond happy, he understood better than even Luo Jie about the usefulness of this form. Luo Jie’s Innate Fu Book was two dimensional, whereas the Innate Fu Orb was three dimensional, these were two completely different concepts. It meant that the Innate Fu from where Li Ran came from were far superior to the ones at the North Fu Sect, and their understanding of it was probably better too.
Li Ran said, “Little guy, I’ve already put the True Spirit Fu into your body so you’ll have to search for an Innate Fu yourself, haha, it might take you ten years…… by that time you should be able to advance, though, it might take even longer than that…… Well whenever you find one, you’ll be able to advance, with this True Spirit Fu, as long as you have enough FuZhou power, you’ll be able to advance. Are you content, boy?”
12th thought this was too good to be true, he said, “One meal…… can get me a True Spirit Fu. Hey Brother Li, heh, are you by chance in need of a chef?”
Li Ran smiled and said, “You’re kidding right?”
12th immediately said in all honesty, “Brother Li, tell me what else you want me to do, there’s just one condition, it has to be something that I can manage, or else even if I agreed it would be pointless.”
Li Ran said, “You really are quite a smart little kid!”
Luo Jie said, “Mister Li, thank you for your generosity.” This was genuine grat.i.tude, he sounded very sincere.
Li Ran shook his head saying, “No need to thank me, this is an exchange between me and your disciple. 12th, bring the Fu Door over.”
12th brought out his Fu Door and handed it over. He only saw Li Ran brush his finger over the face of the Fu. Li Ran then returned it to 12th saying, “12th, I’ve recorded a location on your Fu Door, when you….. Yes, when you advance to Great FuZhou Master…… that should be right, it’s the level your Master is at, I hope that you can go to this place at some point in time for I’ll need your help.”
12th knew that there were going to be strings attached to this seemingly free True Spirit Fu, if one meal could really trade for a Fu as precious as this, then this world would be crazy beyond belief. He answered, “No problem, Brother Li. So how do I find an Innate Fu?”
Li Ran smiled, “You must search yourself, I can’t help you. You have natural talent meaning it should only take you ten years to advance, by that time your Innate Fu will naturally appear…… Oh, and also, ten years is enough time for this True Spirit Fu to completely a.s.similate into your body.”
12th lowered his head without saying anything, as he closed his eyes and had a look deep inside his soul, he was both surprised and happy to find a light floating within his soul. Could this be the True Spirit Fu? How would it manifest itself?
(T/N: The author wrote here: “The next part will leave you speechless.” )