That night, amidst the bright lights and evening breeze of the restaurant.

Kongcan drank the spirit wine while nodding in praise, "Good wine."

He praised it five times consecutively.

This brought Chen Xu a series of [Likes +1000], [Likes +800], [Likes +500], [Likes +300], [Likes +300].

In total, it was [2900] likes.

Adding the previous [1100] likes, it finally reached Kongcan's daily limit of [4000] points!

And this, even when Kongcan was not in the right state, seemingly "emotionally damaged, intellectually diminished, and with greatly reduced cultivation."

If Kongcan were in his complete state, Chen Xu could hardly imagine how high his cultivation would be.

But now, the profoundly mysterious little Daoist Kongcan, after drinking a gourd of Intoxicated Spirit Wine, swayed and then collapsed drunk in front of Chen Xu.

He looked utterly defenseless, appearing both funny and pitiful.

If it weren't for the Food Cauldron Celestial Book revealing his background, who could have guessed at first glance that this beggar-like little Daoist child was actually a top-notch expert in the world!

This night's experience was indeed strange.

Recalling the Great Li's Splendor Record he had seen earlier, Chen Xu felt as if a vast world had opened up before him, with an overwhelming sense of impending chaos.

Kongcan divined for him but ended up spitting blood himself.

At this moment, Chen Xu couldn't help but recall that "one" character he had written on the table earlier, simply because it had the fewest strokes.

But in Kongcan's interpretation, this character "one" seemed to represent a grand concept of connecting heaven and earth, traversing yin and yang.

In his confusion, what was Kongcan trying to say?

No matter what Kongcan wanted to say or do, Chen Xu decided to act contrary to it.

For example, with Kongcan drunk in front of him, the usual thing would be for Chen Xu to take him back to his place for temporary shelter.

However, Chen Xu called the restaurant shopkeeper and asked him to send Kongcan to a nearby inn.

Chen Xu left ten taels of silver for Kongcan, which would be enough for him to stay at the inn for a while.

He also tucked a small gourd of spirit wine into Kongcan's arms, hoping to gain Kongcan's subsequent likes.

As for the thought of keeping Kongcan by his side for daily likes—

Chen Xu had considered it, but out of caution, he believed that even if he were to milk this sheep bald, there were other ways.

Truly, there was no need to meet daily and increase risks pointlessly.

Kongcan's divination might not be credible, but the divination by the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe could be trusted.

May fifteenth, best to travel alone.

This was also a way of acting contrary to common reasoning.

Perhaps avoiding risk could be achieved with this one action.

The shopkeeper came upstairs and sent two sturdy waiters to carry Kongcan.

Just thirty meters east of Zuanyu Building, there was an inn, where they placed Kongcan.

After that, Chen Xu prepared to settle the bill, but the restaurant shopkeeper hurriedly said, "Mr. Chen, our young master instructed long ago that we cannot charge you any silver coins.

You are the second owner of our restaurant...

Please don't make it difficult for me, otherwise, I might not be able to keep my position as shopkeeper!"

It was indeed the usual style of Cui Yunqi.

Chen Xu didn't insist, as with his current relationship with Cui Yunqi, a few meals didn't matter.

Today's harvest was abundant, and the Food Cauldron Celestial Book accumulated likes reached a new height.

[Accumulated Likes: 28045]

The majority of these fresh likes were from Kongcan, with a few hundred points gathered from the night's restaurant gains.

In the end, there were three hundred points from Feng Yuanbai!

It seemed County Magistrate Feng had taken an interest and drank some spirit wine at night, thus Chen Xu gained [300] likes as a result.

Now, Chen Xu was just a step away from reaching thirty thousand accumulated likes.

Perhaps it could be achieved tonight, or at the latest by tomorrow.

Chen Xu returned home full of gains, and the steward had already sorted all the materials Chen Xu bought earlier in a warehouse.

Having many things often brings a harvest-like joy.

Even the estate steward cheerfully said, "Mr. Chen, every delivery came with a receipt, and I have verified everything, no discrepancies.

Some businesses, wishing to be generous, even gifted Mr. Chen some items.

Here are the receipts, please take a look."

Chen Xu took the receipts and walked around the roomful of materials.

As he passed, the objects beside him vanished one by one, almost like the mythological Qiankun Dust.

The Feng Family steward seemed knowledgeable, showing only brief surprise before quickly regaining composure.

His surprise wasn't because he hadn't seen similar magic but because he didn't expect Chen Xu, who hadn't yet passed, to possess such abilities.

It seemed only natural for a guest of the lord to have many extraordinary qualities.

Deep into the night, stars scattered across a moonless sky.

It wasn't truly moonless; the moon's light was merely obscured on each new moon night.

This was the new moon, its light invisible.

This evening, Chen Xu could perform a Netherworld spell, directly entering a nearby Ghost Market.

But Chen Xu refrained from blindly using his divine power, instead returning to his room with a full amount of gains to inventory the materials first.

He also wanted to test the Talisman of All Things Transformation.

Various ingredients were returned to the Fire and Smoke Kitchen, and Chen Xu even tried to bring potted plants into it.

He discovered that the Fire and Smoke Kitchen could accommodate live plants.

Then, Chen Xu consumed 100 Fireworks Value to enter the Fire and Smoke Kitchen once, to test how the plants would grow when placed inside.

Would they grow as they did outside?

Or would they remain still, or perhaps...grow with a staggering time difference?

Such a notion naturally stemmed from the fact that when Chen Xu entered the Fire and Smoke Kitchen, an external quarter-hour could stretch to twelve hours inside.

Yet, this concept also harbored numerous paradoxes.

For instance, when Chen Xu entered the Fire and Smoke Kitchen, it was his Divine Soul entering, not his physical body.

This made the time difference more like an awareness rather than a reality—

But then again, whenever Chen Xu entered the Fire and Smoke Kitchen, though it was just his Divine Soul, it felt corporeal inside.

Moreover, whether cultivating or cooking, there was an integral sense of reality both inside and out.

If he were injured externally, the injuries would also reflect on his Divine Soul form inside the Fire and Smoke Kitchen.

Similarly, if he got injured while cultivating inside, the harm would also be reflected on his actual body.

In summary, there exists a time difference inside and out, yet the two are a unified reality.

This mystery defies resolution by purely logical means.

Chen Xu wasn't obsessed with getting to the bottom of it. He mused that given his current level of cultivation, not understanding the Fire and Smoke Kitchen wasn't surprising.

But one day he would cultivate to great depths, and by then, he would unravel all these mysteries one by one.

For now, Chen Xu inventoried all the potted plants he bought that day.

He categorized these pots into groups.

One group remained outside as a control, another went into the Firewood House within the Fire and Smoke Kitchen to grow naturally.

Yet another group was set aside to test the Talisman of All Things Transformation.

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