Gate of Immortality

Yang Shi wandered in the large market, trying to find the place Mo Yi had mentioned. Around the eastern part, there were rows of medicinal stores, selling various herbs and pills.

But there are three larger stores, or one could say, it's like malls on modern Earth. Three stores belonged to four different factions.

True Alchemy Pavilion was created by an elder of Longevity Hall. The second store was Spiritual Pill Hall, backed by the Dao Instruction Pagoda.

  The third was Azure Feather Medicinal Hall, backed by the royal clan of Azure Feather Ancient Kingdom.

These three factions competed again each other for hundreds of years. Each has its own strength. 

The Azure Feather Medicinal Hall was slightly weaker than the other two in terms of alchemy. But in terms of influence, it still has its home ground advantage.

Yang Shi quickly made it through the bustling street as he looked for his destination. After turning left, he suddenly saw something interesting.

Although the street was bustling with people and each store was full, this particular place was deserted. One could say that not even flies are flying here. It was like a desert amidst of ocean.

" Floating Cloud Restaurant?" Yang Shi read the name which was carved on an old wooden board. He was standing in front of an old three storied building, looking at it with a doubtful gaze.

He entered the building, only to find a dozing middle aged man on the reception desk.

Yang Shi slammed his hands on the table, making a noise enough to scare the man.

" HUH?!! Oh? A guest?" The middle aged man jumped out as he looked at Yang Shi. But soon, his expression turned happy.

"Little Wen, hurry up and receive our guest!" Please come inside." The man smiled as he welcomed Yang Shi.

A young man around the age of twenty came running as he looked at Yang Shi.

" May I take your order?" Little Wen asked as he looked at Yang Shi with a hopeful gaze.

" Uhh… How about this Five Flavored Soup and Roasted Spirit Duck? And a jar of Purple Mist Wine." Yang Shi looked at the menu as he said.

The expression of the duo stiffened as they looked at Yang Shi. Yang Shi became confused as he looked at them.

" Errm... Esteemed guest, currently, we are lack those ingredients. Uhm…" Little Wen muttered lowly.

" Okay…" Yang Shi nodded, " How about this Aromatic Salad and Three Stripe Prawn Soup?" He asked again.

" Uhm… we don't have that either." Little Wen smiled, but his smile was uglier than crying.

"…" Yang Shi turned speechless.

" I see. Just prepare what you can." Yang Shi waved his hands as he spoke. Little Wen nodded hurriedly as he went to the kitchen.

" Business not going very well, is it?" Yang Shi asked that middle aged man.

" Hehe, It's not like that. It's just we are having lesser customers these days." The man smiled.

" Did I stutter?" Yang Shi stared at him. The middle aged man coughed in embarrassment.

  " Why don't you just close this place?" He asked.

" Absolutely not!" The man's face turned serious as he looked at Yang Shi.

" It may look old and torn today, but once upon a time, it was the most successful restaurant in the whole kingdom." The man said proudly.

" Oh?" Yang Shi raised his brow. He wasn't a native of Azure Feather Ancient Kingdom, so he didn't know much of its past affairs.

" This restaurant was gifted by the third patriarch of Mo clan to the ancestor of Wen family, who excelled in the dao of cooking. His dishes can even make the deadliest beasts into submissive pets."

" It happened five hundred hear ago and five generation of Wen family made it one of the best restaurants. "

" Especially the grandfather of Little Wen, who was a renowned chef even in the neighboring kingdoms. Even the King of Azure Feather Kingdom was interested to make him his cook."

" But he denied, as he was bounded to this place." The man said with a proud voice.

" Fine, I understand. But what's about the current situation?" Yang Shi asked.

" Everything started after his death. Father of Little Wen did well at first, but then, he died from illness".

" There are many other chefs beside him, but years after year, they all went to different places. And thus, this place declined." The man sighed.

As he was talking, Little Wen already came with a few plates of dishes.

" Thanks for waiting. Here, this is a Mine Herb Soup and this is Mixed Vegetable Stew. And this is a bowl of Spice Noodles." He arranged the dishes.

Yang Shi looked at them, with internal sighing. They looked plain and simple, like any house hold dishes.

" Just because people like dishes which taste like home, you don't need to make something this simple?" Yang Shi shouted inwardly.

He felt even Ruxue can cook better than this.

Yang  Shi ate the noodles as he frowned, " This noodle is chewy, it feels…uncooked." He muttered. Then he tried the soup as he felt some vegetables are burnt.

" What the fuck?" He almost cursed out.

" I guess, you should close this place soon." Yang Shi said, " You think raw noodles and burnt vegetables can save this shop?"

" This…" Little Wen was stunned as he heard Yang Shi. He tasted the dish himself as his face turned sour.

" Damn it, The Fire rune in the kitchen is malfunctioning again." Little Wen cursed. " I am extremely sorry, dear guest." He bowed.

" Now, Give me reasons, Why I shouldn't close this place?" Yang Shi started at them.

Both of them were stunned, but the middle aged man suddenly realized something.

" Are you from Mo Clan? Perhaps, you are the one who wants to buy this shop?" He asked slowly.

" You are smarter than you look." Yang Shi commented.

Hearing that, The middle aged man sighed as Little Wen's gaze turned hostile. Yang Shi saw that, but he ignored it.

" I really didn't plan to shut this business abruptly, judging from the standard here, I think it's better to close the restaurant." Yang Shi said.

" NO!" Little Wen shouted as he turned aggressive.

" Calm down young man." Yang Shi spoke lightly, even he was younger than Little Wen. 

" You can't feed stories to customers, do you?"

He suddenly got up as he walked to the kitchen. The kitchen was very large, but the amount of things inside is very few.

He saw the cooking area, which looked old and rubbish. The Fire rune was used in the kitchen to draw the ground fire to cook.

As things like the meat of Ferocious Beast and Demonic beast and spirit herbs are hard to cook, one needs the assistance of a powerful flame for cooking.

Yang Shi looked around the stove and saw the broken rune patterns. Then he looked at the storage and found the Freezing Ice Rune and Wind breeze rune are also not working properly.

This world does not have things like a freezer and air ventilators, but the mystical techniques here can supplement them all.

  The freezing Ice rune is like a freezer and Wind breeze rune is like a ventilator.

Yang Shi understood the feelings of Mr. Ramsay when he visited the hotels and restaurants.

" Mo clan has decided to compensate you with 10 million gold coins. Now, If you like, I would like to reconstruct the ground floor today." Yang Shi spoke casually.

" You-you can't do that. This is my family's legacy. This is my family's pride. How can I sell this?" Little Wen roared.

" Don't forget, this belongs to the Mo clan. Moreover, do you think your cooking can be considered excellent? Even my maid can cook better than you." Yang Shi snorted.

" No matter what, I won't…" Little Wen was still raging but suddenly, he shuddered as he saw Yang Shi's cold gaze. Yang  Shi wasn't in any mood for chit chatting here.

" Young master, we can negotiate." The middle aged man tried to calm down Yang Shi.

" First of all, I am taking this place right now. I still haven't demolished the restaurant."

" Unless you show me some potential, I would rather hire another cook to run this place." Yang Shi shrugged.

He turned and went upstairs to check the living room.

" Damn it." Little Wen cursed as he slammed his fist.

" Uncle Han, contact Lin Ying, and ask him to repair all these runes.." Little Wen sighed.