Chapter 513: A Talking Kitchen Knife? Am I Really the Savior?

Chapter 513: A Talking Kitchen Knife? Am I Really the Savior?

With Qi Yuan’s ability to see hidden information, coupled with Chen Kangbao’s silver tongue, he fooled the naive Jiang Yunxi, making her as dazed as a dog.

“Your golden step-sway was gifted by your uncle…”

“The jade pendant at your waist was forged in the Xuan Gu era; it’s a magical artifact.”

“Mm.”

“Your armpit hair is a bit long.”

“Mm???”

Half a day later, in a courtyard within the city, Jiang Yunxi stared at a room full of ingredients, her expression dazed.

“The world is full of vicissitudes, and spirits run rampant, young lady. It’s time for you to save the world,” Chen Kangbao said seriously.

“But… what does saving the world have to do with chopping vegetables?”

Jiang Yunxi, confused, had bought the kitchen knife and was led by Chen Kangbao into a courtyard.

“The Heavenly God once said, if you can’t sweep one room, how can you sweep the world?

If you don’t chop vegetables and forge a peerless knife skill, how can you sweep away the spirits?” Chen Kangbao earnestly deceived her.

“So, the first step to saving the world is chopping vegetables.

Chop all the cabbage, eggplant, meat… and so on in this room into minced pieces. This is your first trial.

Oh, and remember to wash the vegetables before chopping. Don’t dirty them or waste food.”

Jiang Yunxi had a million whys in her heart.

She said, half-believing, “Okay.”

The truth was, the old man before her was simply too formidable.

He knew more about her than she did herself, like a worldly sage wandering through the mortal realm.

“Since I have nothing to do anyway, I’ll give it a try?” Jiang Yunxi thought to herself.

In the kitchen, she looked at the room full of vegetables and meat. This pampered young lady finally began her day as a cook.

Outside the courtyard, in a pavilion.

A man and a woman were playing chess. On the board, the black pieces held the advantage, encircling and slaughtering the white pieces. Both had ordinary appearances but bore the air of transcendent masters.

“That old man seems to have some skill, but not much,” the woman commented.

The woman was named Yun Li, an Earth-rank Weapon Master, and the man was Yun Hu. Both were ordered by the prince to secretly protect the princess, Jiang Yunxi.

Jiang Yunxi’s personality was carefree and innocent. This time, she had secretly fled the prince’s mansion to join the excitement at Ye Mountain Lake. The prince, worried, had sent the two to protect her in secret.

Unless absolutely necessary, they would not reveal themselves.

After all, Jiang Yunxi had cultivation of her own, plus many protective artifacts. Ordinary people couldn’t harm her, so there was no need for concern.

“I’m just curious—how did he convince the princess?” Yun Hu wondered.

Though the princess was naive, she wasn’t foolish.

They had followed from afar, only knowing that the princess had talked with the old man, but the content of their conversation was unclear.

“Probably a master swindler. When the princess gets tired of playing, that’s when we make our move,” Yun Li said indifferently.

She held Chen Kangbao in considerable disdain.

“Alright.” Yun Hu nodded, a smile flashing in his eyes. “That old man does have some ability, to trick the princess into chopping vegetables.”

The princess had been born with a silver spoon; she had never done manual labor.

Now, she was truly suffering hardship without reason.

This was completely different from Qi Yuan, who enjoyed blessings without deserving them.

In the kitchen, sounds of chopping rang out one after another.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Jiang Yunxi gripped the kitchen knife and chopped forcefully.

The vegetable basket was filled with chopped pieces.

Her arms ached.

“So tiring! This is more exhausting than cultivation!”

Jiang Yunxi had washed vegetables for an hour and had been chopping for three hours.

Yet, despite all her effort, she had only cut less than a third.

Her hands and arms were sore, but she persisted.

“The old immortal is right. In those biographies and novels I’ve read, the protagonist needs to undergo trials to improve their strength—like thrusting a spear a hundred thousand times a day, catching a hundred flies with chopsticks, chopping vegetables… This is my unique training.”

“I never thought that one day I, Jiang Yunxi, would become the protagonist of a biography.”

“Wait, who will write about me?”

“No, I need to keep a diary, record what happens each day, and when I return, hint to Steward Chen to write a book for me!”

Jiang Yunxi’s mind wandered.

She thought about how to embellish herself in the diary.

As for what the old immortal said about her armpit hair being long or wetting the bed—those couldn’t appear in the diary.

Tonight, after bathing, she would quickly shave off her armpit hair!

Just then, footsteps approached.

Jiang Yunxi hurriedly quickened her movements, not wanting to be looked down upon by the old immortal.

“Not bad, you’re very serious… Wait, why have you only cut this much?” Chen Kangbao’s eyes showed confusion.

Then, looking at Jiang Yunxi chopping with a clatter, his expression turned helpless. “You… haven’t used a kitchen knife before. You haven’t even taken the sheath off this knife!”

Initially, Qi Yuan had crafted a sheath to protect himself from the smell of blood and flesh.

But later, Qi Yuan thought, since he was to play the role of a kitchen knife, he should truly become one and immerse himself in it.

“Ah, sheath?” Jiang Yunxi was stunned.

Only then did she realize that the knife she had been using was indeed unusual.

Her face showed grievance.

No wonder chopping vegetables was so tiring—it was because of the sheath.

She removed the sheath from the knife, and instantly, an ancient, sharp, understated kitchen knife came into Jiang Yunxi’s view.

“So, is this knife worth nine hundred ninety-nine taels of silver?” Chen Kangbao said proudly.

Jiang Yunxi glanced at it… Hmm, it lacked the divine aura of a high-grade artifact.

“…Worth it.”

For the sake of the old immortal, it was worth it.

"Finish cutting these vegetables quickly, and I'll teach you the second step."

Jiang Yunxi's face lit up with excitement.

Was the old immortal finally going to teach her real skills?

"The first step to saving the world is cutting vegetables; the second step is... making buns."

"Huh?" Jiang Yunxi blinked.

Making buns?

"Yes, making buns."

"Old immortal, is there some deeper meaning to this?" Jiang Yunxi asked, puzzled.

Cutting vegetables she could understand, but what was the point of making buns?

"Making buns may seem ordinary, but it's not simple at all.

What your eyes see might not be the truth." Chen Kangbao continued his bamboozlement.

Jiang Yunxi stood quietly, listening to Chen Kangbao's teachings.

"I have a friend who sells dog meat. In your eyes, doesn't he commit many sins against dogs?"

"Yes."

"But in reality, he is a great benefactor who saves many dogs.

Every time he sells dog meat, he sells three taels as if it were six. For every dog he sells, he saves one.

He appears to be doing evil by selling dog meat, but he's actually performing a tremendous good deed."

Chen Kangbao recounted the lame joke he'd heard from Qi Yuan.

Jiang Yunxi's eyes widened. Having never encountered the internet's sages or been baptized by various memes, hearing such words for the first time truly fooled her.

"It can be like that?"

"So, finish cutting the vegetables and go make buns.

Sometimes, what you're making might not be buns—you could be saving the common people of the world."

"Making buns can save the common people?" Jiang Yunxi was baffled, feeling that the old immortal truly was an old immortal, his words laden with profound meaning beyond ordinary understanding.

"Yes." Chen Kangbao answered silently in his heart.

He loved eating buns. The buns he made, when he ate them, filled his stomach—that too was saving the people.

He himself was one of the common people.

Three days passed, and Jiang Yunxi worked diligently.

During this time, she devoted herself entirely to the role of a kitchen maid.

Every day, she chopped vegetables, chopped vegetables, chopped vegetables, and occasionally made buns.

This kind of life was something she had never experienced before.

At first, she was tired, bored, and even felt irritable.

But gradually, she began to enjoy this life, feeling a sense of righteous mission.

As if even her labor had meaning.

Hmm, a born beast of burden, forcing hardship upon herself.

At night, she dragged her weary body back to her room.

The kitchen knife lay on the dressing table.

She stretched.

"So tired and sleepy—I won't bathe tonight; I'll wash up in the morning."

"Better write a diary."

"Today was another day of hard work. My knife skills are becoming more exquisite—I'm afraid even if I met a grandmaster, they'd be far inferior to me in cutting vegetables.

Even though I'm tired and sleepy, I mustn't lose my grace. After returning to my room and bathing, I'll sleep and welcome a beautiful tomorrow."

Jiang Yunxi finished her diary, satisfied.

Just then, a voice sounded in her mind.

"Hey, are you even fooling yourself?"

"Who?" Jiang Yunxi was startled, her face full of shock as she scanned the room.

"Don't look around. I'm that kitchen knife."

"Kitchen knife?" Jiang Yunxi stared at the knife as if it were a ghost, her eyes filled with wariness and confusion.

How could a kitchen knife speak?

Even a celestial-grade artifact couldn't talk.

"I couldn't speak before, but your earnest chopping every day awakened my intelligence."

Qi Yuan said casually.

To truly play the role of a kitchen knife, since the chopping began, Qi Yuan had cut off his five senses, becoming like a real knife—without intelligence or thought.

As Jiang Yunxi kept chopping, his knife-playing proficiency increased, reaching over 60.

This also granted him new abilities.

Or rather, the kitchen knife gained new abilities.

It awakened intelligence and the five senses.

The knife also became sturdier and sharper.

Its current strength, by rough estimation, was comparable to a tough celestial-grade artifact.

In other words, his body was now akin to a celestial-grade artifact.

This was actually terrifying.

In this world, an Earth-grade Weapon Master's power largely came from their artifact.

Even with cultivation, their bodies were fragile and couldn't withstand an artifact head-on.

Now, Qi Yuan was different.

Originally, he was a technique-based fighter; now he could act like a brute.

"You can actually talk?" Jiang Yunxi blinked, her mind churning with shock.

Could she really be the savior?

"Are you male or female? No, no—according to legends and novels, beings like you usually have no gender. You're just using a male voice to please me, your master. Your voice is nice—say more!" Jiang Yunxi was thrilled, all her fatigue swept away.

"..."

"Why aren't you talking? Ah... I get it. It's my willpower failing—I shouldn't say such ambiguous things.

What we need to do now is cast aside romance and strive to defeat the great villain!"

In the end, I held your broken, shattered form, watching as you lost all reason, in unbearable agony, and only then did I realize that what I felt for you was not merely the bond of comradeship, but love—something I had always overlooked.

In the end, you died in my arms, and I retreated alone into the mountains—what a moving tableau that would be!”

At this thought, Jiang Yunxi grew somewhat excited to the point of climax.

Her words were like those netizens who wish that after a certain chess player defeats the AI, he would die upon placing the final stone, turning it into a swan song, becoming the eternal Chess Sage.

Rather than being like now, on the verge of breaking down over a card game.

“You’re overthinking things a bit.” Qi Yuan was also speechless.

This guy—the last time he met someone this exasperating was the last time.

“Now that you’re proficient enough at chopping vegetables, we should move on to the third step.”

Qi Yuan said seriously.

“The third step?” Jiang Yunxi’s face was full of anticipation.

“A kitchen knife that has never seen blood is not a good kitchen knife.

A warrior who has never experienced slaughter cannot become a savior.”

“Shall we go tomorrow to punish evil and promote good, rob the rich to aid the poor, kill bandits, and slay spectral beings?” Jiang Yunxi’s face was full of anticipation.

Rob the rich to aid the poor—why not start by robbing yourself of your wealth?

“No, starting tomorrow, we will catch our own ingredients—kill fish!”

“In Ye Mountain Lake, the great villain has secretly polluted many fish, turning them into spectral beings. What you need to do now is to kill those fish!” Qi Yuan said seriously.

Last time, he had preached the Dragon Transformation Art on the boat, and many fish had followed.

Many of those fish had entered Ye Mountain Lake.

This also gave Qi Yuan a deeper understanding of the Ye Mountain Lake area, and he discovered some anomalies.

Because some of the fish he had preached to had died mysteriously.

The culprits were some strange fish.

With his keen eyesight, Qi Yuan immediately judged that those fish resembled the corpses in the spirit-nurturing grounds, raised as spectral beings.

Now, since she was playing the role of a kitchen knife, he would let Jiang Yunxi catch ingredients and slay spectral fish, which would also earn her some experience points—a triple gain.

“Good!”

...

The sun had just risen, and the chill over Ye Mountain Lake receded.

Yun Li and Yun Hu sat in their boat, following the small skiff ahead from a distance.

“I have to say, that old man does have some skill—he actually managed to trick the princess into doing manual labor for days!” Yun Li couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

The princess had made too many buns; Chen Kangbao couldn’t finish them, so she set up a stall to sell them.

As someone tasked with protecting the princess, she hadn’t yet tasted the princess’s cooking, so she quickly went to buy some.

She had to admit, it was quite tasty.

“The prince knows about what’s happening here and is somewhat surprised, but he hasn’t objected,” Yun Hu said.

Yesterday, the prince also came to Ye Mountain Lake. Yun Hu told him about what had happened with the princess and brought some buns.

The prince finished the buns and did not object.

As long as his daughter wasn’t truly in danger, it was good for her to experience more things.

“The princess is indeed much more diligent than before, and today… she seems even more motivated,” Yun Li commented.

“Do you think that old man might actually be a reclusive master?” Yun Li couldn’t help but remark, as something occurred to her.

“How could that be? He’s scatterbrained. If he were a true reclusive master, why would the princess be foolishly talking to fish?” Yun Hu said.

Not long ago, when their boat was not far from the princess’s skiff, he heard with his own ears the princess holding a fish and asking where the spectral fish were.

Not only that, she even asked the fish to lead the way, intending to go kill the spectral fish herself.

He had to admit there were too many ridiculous points to even complain about.

First, how could a fish be a spectral fish?

In Ye Mountain Lake, there is only the Water Lord, that one terrifying spectral being; it would not allow other spectral beings into its territory.

Second, even if there were spectral fish, how could an ordinary fish understand human speech and lead the way?

Isn’t that ridiculous?

(End of this chapter)