A group of people all looked at Chen Yun's face to see how he would produce the living willow.
Chen Yun said calmly, "I remember there is a pond in front of this palace, but please allow the king to lend me a bamboo fishing rod. I will fish up some living willow branches for you."
Ah?
Are you going to fish for hairtail from the pond outside?
Li Congkui, Shi Jingang, and all the literati were all stunned in place.
Zhou Li, the Chiyi Master, and the cultivators like Li Ming showed a look of surprise.
Naihe and Weihe were both like that, showing a confused and perplexed expression.
If Chen Yun brought hairtail from the sky, everyone would be able to understand it.
After all, he is an immortal, and it is only natural for him to capture living hairtail from the East Sea through mountains and rivers.
However, if you want to fish out a few live hairtail from the pond outside, it might be a bit too much of a joke.
Who doesn't know that hairtail live in the sea?
How could they possibly appear in the freshwater of a landlocked city like Luoyang?
Moreover, the pond outside the Daming Palace is not really a living water source, but an artificial one built by humans.
There are no artificially farmed fish in it, how can you possibly catch hairtail?
A group of people were all extremely puzzled.
Just that everyone witnessed Chen Yun's various extraordinary techniques just now and knows that his great magic is earth-shattering and wouldn't aimlessly shoot arrows.
Therefore, everyone all displayed curiosity and wanted to see how Chen Yun would actually fish hairtail from the pond outside.
Li Conghou had the same thought as everyone else.
Curiosity drove him to immediately call his servant.
A fishing rod made of pure gold was brought.
Chen Yun weighed the rod in his hand for a moment and then directly walked out.
"Follow me."
"Follow quickly."
"I really want to see how Master Chen will fish the living willow from the artificial spring."
Li Congkui, Shi Jingang, and other officials were all extremely curious and couldn't wait to follow Chen Yun outside.
Naihe and Weihe also showed curiosity in their eyes, tightly watching Chen Yun who was seated next to the artificial spring that was spewing water.
Chen Yun casually threw the empty hook into the pond.
In the next moment, everyone was amazed to see the fish float move.
"Oh! Oh!"
"The fishing float really moved!"
"Is Master Chen really able to fish out live willow branches from this pond?"
Seeing this, the crowd quickly widened their eyes, afraid of missing any detail next.
At this moment, Chen Yun casually pulled up the fishing rod.
A live hairtail fish that shone with a silver luster.
It actually bit the hook and was caught up!
One of the officials was greatly surprised and shouted obscenities, "My God, Master Chen's magic is too amazing. How can he actually catch live willow branches from the artificial spring pond?"
Li Conghou stared wide-eyed and said, "Sigh, Master Chen's Daoist arts are truly astonishing and left me speechless!"
Shi Jingang took a deep breath and said, "It's not just astonishing; I almost thought I was dreaming!"
Li Conghou and the remaining officials, nobles, and courtiers were all equally surprised.
Everyone in the scene, one by one, was so amazed that they were almost dreaming and thought they were in a dream.
It's hard not to be amazed when they think about it, after all, who would have thought of such a thing in an inland city, a thousand miles away from the sea!
You could say that, Chen Yun's act of fishing live willow branches today truly shocked everyone present.
This is even more astonishing than the Daoist arts he showed earlier and caused even greater shock to everyone's minds and bodies.
Not to mention these ordinary people being this way, even Naihe and Weihe were secretly amazed in their hearts.
They were staring at Chen Yun, knowing that he wasn't switching things around; he was genuinely using a fishing rod to catch live willow branches from the pond!
Such techniques, Naihe and Weihe two immortals self-confessed inferiority.
As the crowd of people were surprised and noisy, Chen Yun sat there and caught ten or so live willow branches in a moment.
When he caught the tenth hairtail, he immediately stopped.
He then stood up and casually handed the gold fishing rod to a servant standing by.
Chen Yun turned to Li Conghou and said, "Your Majesty, if there are live willow branches, we need something to remove the smell to make it delicious. Do you have any ideas?"
"Ah? Oh." Li Conghou woke up from his daze and quickly said, "Reporting to Master Chen, the old ginger should be able to remove the smell."
Chen Yun laughed and shook his head, "I've worked hard to catch ten live willow branches, and using old ginger to remove the smell would be a waste of the fresh flavor. That's not right, not right at all."
Li Conghou is not a chef, and he really can't think of anything else.
Others are in a similar situation.
Since everyone lives a life of luxury, who would care about what to use to remove the smell?
Fortunately, at this time, there was a royal chef beside him. He saw everyone frowning, so he quickly shouted out, "Master Chen, I heard that the purple sprout ginger is the divine thing to remove the smell. However, my imperial kitchen does not have it. If I did have it, I could definitely use it to remove the smell."
Chen Yun laughed and said, "As long as you know what to use for removing the smell, that's enough."
Li Conghou quickly asked, "Master Chen, can you find a way to get the purple sprout ginger?"
Li Congkui, Shi Jingang, and others all widened their eyes.
They had witnessed so many amazing things about Chen Yun tonight, and naturally, they hoped to see more.
Naihe and Weihe were also similarly interested and looked over.
Chen Yun said, "Please bring over a clay pot filled with soil. I will immediately plant the purple sprout ginger."
The royal chef couldn't help but say, "Plant it now? The purple sprout ginger is something that ripens only once a year."
Chen Yun smiled and said, "It's alright, just bring over the clay pot."
The royal chef was still skeptical, so he quickly brought over a clay pot filled with soil.
Chen Yun took the clay pot, then with a sweep of his robe sleeve.
A magical scene was instantly visible to everyone's eyes.
The clay pot that Chen Yun had swept his sleeve over instantly started to grow roots and sprouts, and then gradually grew into a plant of purple sprout ginger!
Li Conghou drew a sharp breath, his face full of awe as he asked, "May I ask, Master Chen, what kind of magic is this, so mysterious?"
Naihe and Weihe looked at Chen Yun's face with shocked and doubtful expressions.
By now, they had really no idea what kind of great magic Chen Yun had used.
Let alone Li Congkui, Shi Jingang, and other ordinary people, not to mention Naihe and Weihe, two immortals.
Everyone straightened their ears and wanted to hear what Chen Yun had to say.
Chen Yun pretended to be mysterious and said, "The Daoist magic is too profound and should not be mentioned lightly."
Seeing that he was unwilling to say, everyone showed a look of disappointment, and at the same time, their hearts became even more reverent towards the unknown.
Of course, Chen Yun wouldn't tell everyone that what he had just done, from catching live willow branches from the pond to making the clay pot grow purple sprout ginger, were all related to the "Summoning" technique.
The Summoning technique can summon required items from thousands of miles away and will not be detected by others.
That's how the live willow branches appeared.
Moreover, he only caught ten live willow branches because...
It was because he knew he had become an immortal, and he could not use his Daoist magic to harm the living beings of the mortal world.
Otherwise, it would be recorded in the book of meritorious deeds in the heavenly court.
For these ten live willow branches, he still tried his best to make up for it by releasing ten rabbits earlier through various means, so as not to bear the burden.
This is a kind of unscrupulous trick, taking advantage of the rule between inheritance and imputation.
Otherwise, if he wanted to eat the hairtail, he would have to go to the East Sea himself and fish them up with human means, not by using his immortality.
As for the purple sprout ginger, Chen Yun not only used the technique of summoning to obtain seeds, but also used his own insight into the "path of life" to quickly cultivate these seeds.
These techniques look magical.
Actually, if one were to explain it, it's not that extraordinary.
That's why Chen Yun hasn't revealed anything to everyone to maintain the mystique.
Perhaps he was too mysterious.
Afterward, as everyone returned to the hall, Li Conghou, Li Congkui, Shi Jingang, and the other mortals were all very eager to flatter.
Even Naihe and Weihe became more friendly than before.
The banquet ended in a happy atmosphere with everyone praising Chen Yun.
...
Night.
Lu Li, Naihe, and Weihe returned to their office.
Naihe and Weihe, who had kept silent all the way, couldn't help but praise it as soon as they were back in the room.
Naihe looked at Chen Yun and exclaimed, "The wonderful method Master Chen displayed today truly broadened my eyes."
Weihe also expressed admiration, "Yes, compared to you, my elder brother and I have a long way to go in cultivation. However, the truth is, if we really wanted to do what you did earlier, we would truly be unable to."
Chen Yun humbly said, "Master Chen knows a bit about the techniques and it wouldn't be possible without the wisdom of our predecessors."
Even though Naihe and Weihe knew that Chen Yun indeed used some magical techniques they were unfamiliar with.
However, they were very clear that such transcendentally profound techniques were not something that could be learned by just anyone.
Of course, they were very rational. Even though they were extremely curious about what kind of great magic Chen Yun had used, they never asked it out loud.
After all, these are someone's trump cards; how can one ask them so casually?
People like Li Conghou and Li Congkui, being mortals, can ask without any problem.
Naihe and Weihe asking would be like prying into Chen Yun's secrets.
As for doing something that offends people, Naihe and Weihe, having lived for over a thousand years, truly can't do such a thing.
After half a while, the two stopped praising.
Weihe frowned and said, "Master Chen displayed so many wonderful techniques tonight, I wonder if it has attracted Li Congkui's attention. If he doesn't admire it, we may have to come up with another plan."
Naihe said, "Hey, younger brother, what are you talking about? Master Chen's great Daoist methods are so mysterious. Even though Li Congkui is just a mortal, not to mention us who have become immortals, we all feel deeply shocked. Are we afraid that he won't be convinced?"
He said that, but it was actually giving Chen Yun face.
In fact, Naihe had no idea in his heart whether Li Congkui would be attracted by it and then used by them.
Chen Yun, however, seemed calm and composed as he said, "I calculated that he would definitely come tonight, but it's still too early now. He is afraid of being noticed and dare not come to seek guidance immediately. In my opinion, after midnight, he will surely come in disguise."
Naihe and Weihe looked at Chen Yun's confident words and their hearts somewhat relaxed, but they didn't fully believe it.
As people say, "One's heart is hidden in the stomach," how can they know if Li Congkui has the courage to come to Chen Yun for help?
At that time, Naihe and Weihe indeed thought that way.
However, to their astonishment, after midnight, Li Congkui, as Chen Yun had predicted, disguised himself and sneaked into the office to knock on the door!
Upon hearing this, Naihe and Weihe immediately admired Chen Yun's astuteness and insight with great respect.
(Chapter complete)
