Book 2 - Fame Spreads - Chapter 21.1 - Copying Recipes

Although the area of He manor was not small, when He Yiming had entered the Xu castle, he had realized that Xu castle was actually far bigger than He manor.
However, currently, as he steered the big horse he was riding under the lead of Xie Mingjin, he truly understood how much land a clan that possessed a legacy of millenniums could possess.
Of course, if one were to account the area of the fields in the Xu castle as well, its area would exceed Xie mansion’s. However, as far as living area, rooms, constructions, decorations, and other aspects were concerned, the three influential families of Tai Cang county simply had no chance.
Xie Mingjin stopped his horse before a strictly guarded courtyard. Although he was recognized as the clan’s big young master in the entire Xie mansion, the guards here didn’t try to flatter him at all, and only after he took out the gold token did they respectfully open the way.
Hereby, one could see a glimpse of how strict Xie family’s law enforcement was.
This courtyard had more than ten chambers. Every chamber had something written on it. Xie Mingjin directly led He Yiming to the chamber that had ‘Gold Core’ written on it, pushed the door open, and entered.
From his movements, it seemed that the reason of his familiarity with this place was due to Xie Grace bringing him here many times before.
Upon entering the chamber, He Yiming was quite astonished. In this chamber, there were two bookcases, completely stacked with books. Some of the books seemed old-fashioned, some seemed new, and some were even in the form of ancient bamboo strips of legends. This kind of means of writing had died out around eight hundred years ago. Perhaps only these clans that possessed millenniums of legacy could possess such antiques.
As He Yiming swept his gaze through the bookcases, he suddenly felt bitter inwardly. There were so many books merely pertaining to gold cores. How could he read them all?
He’d raised his request in hopes to obtain some recipes of refining gold cores. However, to find what he desired among so much material would be quite troublesome.
As He Yiming was feeling quite troubled, Xie Mingjin scurried to the bookcases and asked, “Brother He, do you wish to start from scratch or just refining gold cores will do?”
He Yiming faintly started, then asked, “Is there some difference?”
“If you wish to learn from scratch, you will have to start by reading introductory books. After reading about one-fifth of all the books here and further mastering the subject via comprehensive study of some surrounding fields, you would have basically finished the study.”
He Yiming shook his head without thinking. He didn’t have that much time.
“If you don’t want to learn in entirety, you can learn about a few varying types of gold cores and their properties. As for the recipe, you can memorize it raw,” Xie Mingjin’s face turned grave as he said, “You can see the recipe here at your will, but can’t copy and take it outside.”
He Yiming nodded in understanding. Agreeing to let him see the recipe was already a huge favour by them. If he were to ask a mile for an inch, he would only incur the counterpart’s loathing.
However, he also understood why Xie Grace had been so generous. Relying only on memorization, he would only be able to remember a few tens of recipes, which would be merely like a droplet in the ocean. The latter was evidently clear on this reasoning and had thus shown such generosity.
“Brother Xie, I will settle for the use and recipes of a few gold cores.”
“All right,” Xie Mingjin stood contemplating a few moments before the bookcases, eventually picking out a few books, “These are the most important ones, take a look.”
He Yiming accepted the books and gratefully nodded at the former. If not for Xie Mingjin, he truly wouldn’t have known how to go about this ordeal.
Xie Mingjin suddenly moved closer to him and said in a low voice, “Brother He, you take your time, I will bring some good stuff for you.”
He Yiming perfunctorily nodded, not knowing the ‘good stuff’ the former was talking about.
Xie Mingjin left, and He Yiming opened the first book. From the beginning of the first page, the book stated various uses of gold cores and theories pertaining to it.
Gold cores surprisingly had so many types. Each kind had its own use. Apart from the gold cores that allowed cultivators to easily cross bottlenecks, there was another type which cultivators yearned for in their dreams.
This kind of gold core was called a Vitality gold core. After consuming such a gold core, one could increase one’s vitality. In clear terms, one would thus be able to increase one’s Internal Energy. Although these kinds of gold cores, which could boost cultivation speed, were not as expensive as the former kind, they were still unattainable for ordinary cultivators.
However, due to the rarity of inner cores, the inner cores were always first refined for the purpose of crossing bottlenecks, and Vitality gold cores were only refined with the remnants of the above refining process. Despite all this, if Vitality gold cores were to hit the market, they would be immediately sold out and were considered as an absolutely priceless market commodity.
In addition to all this, the book had a few more applications of different types of gold cores. However, these were quite random.
Some could help in stopping bleeding quicker, some could cure internal injuries, and some could even defend against infections and poisoning. It was so random and all over the place, it made He Yiming feel light-headed, almost causing him to give up immediately.
After turning a few pages, He Yiming suddenly saw an explanation regarding the effect of gold cores on breaking through bottlenecks.
After carefully reading it through, he was marveled inwardly.
This author had also compared the human body to a water reservoir. After reaching a certain point in Houtian realm, the water in the reservoir would hit the limit, and its amount could no longer be increased.
At this point, to increase one’s strength further, one must increase the capacity of the reservoir. In other words, one would have to increase the level of the body’s Internal Energy cultivation itself. Accomplishing this point was not as difficult as ascending into the Xiantian realm, but was still not easy by any means.
It was at this point that Limit gold cores exhibited their effect.
Consuming a Limit gold core would not increase the body’s vitality, but Internal Energy directly.
At this point, the body’s Internal Energy had already attained an extreme. As long as it could increase by a bit, it would provide the best opportunity to break through. Under these circumstances, a little bit of extra force could open the closed meridians, thus enabling breakthrough.
However, if one failed to open the meridians, this bit of extra Internal Energy would slowly lose its potency, ultimately dissipating from the body.
It was clearly illustrated that gold cores’ potency would closely follow the amount of consumption and the user’s age.
The more gold cores consumed, the more probability of success. Similarly, lesser the user’s age, the more abundant would be the user’s own vitality, and thus, the more probability of success.
However, these weren’t the absolute facts. Whether one would eventually break through or not would rely on one’s own will power and many other factors. These were two different aspects and shouldn’t be confused together.
After going over these details, He Yiming felt genuine admiration. He didn’t know who the author was, but could certainly tell that the latter must have been an esteemed senior, worthy of admiration.
Suddenly, the gate opened. Xie Mingjin entered in poised steps and threw a meaningful glance.
He Yiming skeptically turned around, puzzlement written all across his face.
Xie Mingjin closed the door, arrived before him, and took out a few objects from his bosom. He Yiming’s eyes stretched wide open, speechlessly looking.
Xie Mingjin had actually brought back a brush and some papers.
He Yiming immediately understood what the former had referred to as ‘good stuff.”
According to the rules, you could only look and not copy. Considering it into account, he could only have noted down about twenty to thirty recipes at most.
However, with a pen and paper now, he wouldn’t go as far as to say that he could note down all the recipes here, but at the very least, a hundred would not be a problem.
He Yiming said in a low tone, “Brother Xie, you….”