Chapter 8: Jiang Hua (Part 2)

Li Ran nodded and said, “No problem. As long as we have them or can find other ways, we’ll exchange them.”
In this regard, Ying Bei was even more generous than Jiang Hua. When he handed over the inheritance, he didn’t demand anything in return or set any conditions for exchange. This reminded everyone that nothing here could be obtained without a cost. Their goodwill toward Ying Bei grew significantly.
Jiang Hua took out a jade talisman, inspected it briefly, then handed it to Li Ran and said, “This is a list. Take a look… see if you have any extra materials you can use for exchange.”
Li Ran examined it carefully. The talisman listed hundreds of materials, many of which were quite rare even in the world of talismans. After studying it for a while, he shook his head slightly and said, “They’re all rare and hard-to-find materials, not easy to obtain even in the world of talismans.” Then he handed the talisman to Qi Wu Zhen.
Everyone took turns looking at it. Before even checking, Guo Shier asked, “Can I make a copy?”
Jiang Hua gestured with his hand and said, “Sure, no problem.” With a professional’s ability, memorizing it wouldn’t be difficult. But Guo Shier was usually lazy, so he chose to make a copy directly and store it in the altar. Besides being lazy, he mainly wanted to show the talisman to the old master, as it was the old master who controlled the collection and organization of materials.
Most of the materials listed in the talisman were from advanced mutated talisman beasts, along with a few plants, such as the Soul-Nurturing Wood and other rare treasures. There were also the essences of advanced mutated talisman beasts, which were essential for professionals. Soul Spring was also listed, though not the complete version, just its essence.
The old master took a look and said, “Kid, you already have most of the materials listed in the talisman. Among them… it’s more worthwhile to give those that can be replenished, like Soul Spring and Soul-Nurturing Wood.”
Guo Shier’s altar contained a small secret realm sealed inside, where a large number of plants unique to the world of talismans were grown, along with rare resources like Soul Spring. It wouldn’t be a problem to take some of them.
Li Ran said, “Let’s all pool our resources and see how much we can come up with.”
Guo Shier replied, “I can provide some Soul Spring, some Soul-Nurturing Wood, and other materials. Hmm, including some Essence Beads.” Although he had used many Essence Beads, there were still plenty stored in the Soul-Stabilizing Cauldron. If needed, they could be condensed into beads right away.

Soon, everyone gathered a set of materials. Though not in large quantity, there were many different types. Li Ran divided them into two parts, giving one to Ying Bei and the other to Jiang Hua, saying, “How about using these for exchange?”
Jiang Hua took a quick look and was overjoyed. He had originally planned to exchange just a few items, but was surprised by the wide variety—some of which he had never even collected in the World of Talismans. He nodded repeatedly, saying, “Sure, no problem.”
Putting away his talisman bag, Jiang Hua passed on the information about the replacement materials and processing methods directly to Li Ran, who then shared it with the others.
Jiang Hua called over a servant and gave him a few quiet instructions. After a while, the servant returned with seven or eight talisman bags. Jiang Hua smiled and said, “These are some locally sourced materials that have already been processed. To be honest, the materials you all gave me were more than enough—hehe, but I couldn’t refuse… They’re too rare. So… this is my way of compensating you all.”
His words immediately won everyone’s respect; he was an honest man.
The transaction went smoothly, with everyone happy. Both sides agreed, and they even became friends. Especially for those like Qi Wu Zhen who intended to stay in this world, this was how local connections were built.
It was so smooth because Li Ran and the others were extremely powerful. No one would dare to have malicious intentions when trading with them—no one would be foolish enough to offend such strong professionals. Thus, this outcome was expected.
Guo Shier discussed things in secret with the old man. He had already passed on to the old man a large amount of information about material names, properties, and processing methods. This wasn’t just Jiang Hua’s knowledge—it was the result of countless professionals from the World of Talismans exploring, discovering, experimenting, and gradually accumulating it over time. Through the transmission among many professionals, it had grown into a vast treasure.
By learning this knowledge, they also learned how to find new materials and process them, opening up a new path for professionals. This was also one of the foundations for talisman professionals to continue developing in this world.
The old man said, “It’s a miraculous processing method. Some materials can be forcibly transformed using talismans, even changing their properties. Hehe, now I have something to do… Actually, the already processed materials aren’t that important. What matters is the method—using talismans to process materials from completely different worlds… It’s a shame…”
Guo Shier asked, “What’s a shame?”

The handsome old man said, “We’ve passed through so many small worlds, with plenty of materials… We gave them all up and didn’t collect anything at all. If we had such methods back then, we might have found many materials with unique properties…”
Guo Shier saw that the handsome old man had a fervent passion for research. He himself got headaches just by looking at the materials once, but this guy was full of enthusiasm, showing no signs of impatience and clearly loving them dearly, eager to try different ways of processing them as soon as he saw them.
To welcome the new friend, Jiang Hua arranged a feast, a practice common among the Mechanical Clan. The Mechanical Clan loved delicious food the most, with various tools for cooking in all sorts of strange ways. Among Jiang Hua’s followers were several members of the Mechanical Clan. The Mechanical Clan in this world was quite interesting—they mostly relied on stronger beings for survival, providing them with various conveniences, including delicious food. This made Li Ran feel quite surprised, as in the Greater Universe, the Mechanical Clan was a proud race and one of the strongest. It was unexpected that they would depend on other races here.
As for food, Guo Shier would never refuse. He was a real food lover, an extreme one at that. When he heard about delicious food, he could put everything else aside. He even seemed distracted while talking to the handsome old man, which frustrated the latter greatly. After all, he couldn’t eat any food—except for Soul Beads, he had nothing to do with anything else.
The handsome old man grumbled angrily, then slunk back into the secret realm, focusing all his attention on the inheritance he had received earlier.
Soon, various foods were laid out on a large metal table. Guo Shier noticed that almost everything was meat and eggs—various roasted meats, fried eggs, fried fish, and lettuce, all cooked in strange ways with unusual flavors. Although he could eat it, he was actually very disappointed. Compared to the delicious food from his past life, this was simply trash. It couldn’t even compare to ordinary food in the Spell World, let alone Spell Food.
Halfway through eating, Guo Shier couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “Jiang Hua, do you really think this… is delicious?”
Jiang Hua replied, “It’s delicious!”
Everyone was speechless. Guo Shier asked, “Have… have you never eaten Spell Food?”
Jiang Hua countered, “Spell Food? What’s that?”
Halechi reminded him, “Shier, Spell Food isn’t available everywhere.”
Yingbei said, “I’ve heard of Spell Food. It’s said to be very delicious, but few professionals know how to make it.”
Guo Shier asked, “You’ve never eaten it?”
Yingbei replied, “No, I’ve only heard of it. I’ve never seen it.”

A member of the Mechanical Clan placed a large piece of meat between two metal plates and quickly pressed them together. Then he heated it over fire. After a while, he opened the metal plates to reveal a meat patty with patterns on it. He cut it with a knife, sprinkled some unknown powder on it, and distributed it among everyone.

Most of the food was prepared using such strange tools. At first, Guo Shier could eat, but soon he couldn’t anymore. Sighing, he said, “I’m full…”

Qi Wu Zhen was the first to stop eating. Li Ran also stopped and said, “I’m done too.”

Halechi said, “Shier, give me some wine. I’m thirsty…”

Jiang Hua hurriedly said, “By the way, bring out my precious wine. Hehe, I was so focused on eating that I forgot about my fine wine—Gawas wine. Hehe, it’s specially brewed using my hometown’s methods. It’s absolutely delicious.”

Everyone became interested. After all, it was wine brewed by someone from the Spell World, so it probably wouldn’t taste bad.

A servant brought in a large vial and placed a big metal cup in front of each person. The servant filled the cups. Halechi grabbed the cup and took a big gulp, with everyone else watching. As soon as the wine entered his mouth, he spat it out immediately, right onto Yao Zebusong’s face.

Yao Zebusong was talking to Goha at the time and didn’t have time to defend himself. This was a safe place, so no professional would keep their defenses up unnecessarily. Thus, he was drenched in spit. Caught off guard, he flew upward and roared, “Who did this!”

Everyone was stunned.

Halechi’s face turned pale with fear. Yao Zebusong wasn’t someone to mess with. He shrunk his neck and said, “I… uh, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

Yao Zebusong couldn’t kill him with a single strike either, so he grunted in anger. Guo Shier held back his laughter and said, “Maybe you haven’t drunk in a while and got excited…”

Jiang Hua’s expression turned ugly. After seeing Halechi spit out the wine, he obviously understood that Halechi didn’t like it at all—he couldn’t even bear to swallow it and just spat it out.

Guo Shier carefully picked up the cup, took a tiny sip, and immediately understood why Halechi had spat it out. This wasn’t wine at all—it was vinegar, extremely sour and bitter. Who knew how Jiang Hua could think of it as a treasure to serve to guests?

Li Ran asked, “How does it taste?”

Guo Shier gestured, “Taste it yourself… Hehe, I suggest taking small sips.”

Jiang Hua picked up the cup and swallowed a large gulp without hesitation. In that very moment, he lost control and spat it out immediately. Everyone’s expression changed because he spat it in Qi Wu Zhen’s direction.