The Dragon King’s Personal Chef
Nian Bing's heart jumped. "So what you’re saying is that if I use the Ice and Fire Source as my foundation, I can imitate other attributes of magic, is that right?"
Salamandhys chuckled. "In theory, yes, but as for whether you will be successful, you'll have to see what level you can cultivate your Ice and Fire Magic Source to. You don’t need to rush, just cultivate slowly. The Ice and Fire Source isn't easy to control. Even I don’t understand the theory behind it. But I’ll give you a suggestion, and you can investigate it further. For example, a single magic element is small, a sparrow is also small, but it has a full set of organs. If you can study a single bit of magic element thoroughly, you may be able to find out more. All magic element has things in common, even the diametrically opposed ice and fire, light and darkness are no exception.
“What do ice and fire have in common? If you can understand this, then your future will become that much easier. Mutually opposing each other, in certain circumstances they can mutually transform one another. This is the first lesson.
“I know that this is relatively profound, and might be too hard to understand for a magic beginner like you, but don’t be discouraged. Slowly now. Of course, you don’t need to thank me. Even if you learned magic mimicry, it would far be from my level. I’m teaching you this not because of any good intentions. The more magics you master, the more different flavors you can create. We're in a mutually beneficial relationship.”
Although Nian Bing did not have too great of an impression of Salamandhys, he acknowledged the depth of his magic knowledge. He engraved Salamandhys' words into his mind. He couldn't completely understand it, but he knew that it was extremely useful for his future cultivation. "Who was going to thank you. It's as you said, we're friends with benefits. Anyways, you see as me as an eyesore. At worst, you would kill me. And with your ability, a nobody like me would be an instakill. However, there probably isn't anyone else who can infuse magic into their cooking like me on the continent."
"Shitty brat, you dare threaten the mighty Salamandhys? You're looking for death." Salamandhys sat up quickly, eyes flashing with a fiery light. He angrily glared at Nian Bing.
Nian Bing responded with a smile. "No need to get worked up. You have lived for over a millennia; if you really get angry over a few words, you aren't the mighty Salamandhys."
Salamandhys stared blankly, then broke into laughter. "Boy, are you slapping my dragon ass?1 But that does sound nice. That said, I can't waste you. If you can find other attributed magic knives, it will be quite beneficial for your magic and culinary arts. En, I won't waste you. I'll let you borrow these first."
While speaking, he stuck an arm into his pile of treasure. He flicked his wrist, and a golden light appeared in his palm. When the light dimmed, a knife appeared, a very ordinary looking knife. It looked almost the same as a knife used by the average cavalry knight. It had a wide blade and a thick back, and was about 1.3 meters in length. At its thickest, the back of the knife was close to an inch wide. This thick-backed knife was most suited for cutting, an ordinary shaped battle knife. The only thing not normal about it was the golden light that drenched it. However, this knife wasn't decorated, not even a single scratch. The handle shone, but it didn't have finger indents like Proud Sky. The gentle gold light gave what should have been a ferocious weapon a gentle aura.
Salamandhys flicked it lightly, and the knife immediately emitted a joyous hum. The golden light around it flickered gently, revealing a hole in its glow. It seemed to be so gentle because of Salamandhys' pressure. He gave Nian Bing a look. "What do you think about this knife?"
Nian Bing nodded and praised, "It really is an excellent knife. It should specialized for a cavalry soldier's usage. If my guess is not wrong, this knife should be about the same weight, but the most special thing is its light magic aura. A normal weapon is hard to become a light magic item because light magic is the most pure and most holy, inharmonious with a weapon.
"For this knife to obtain the recognition of the light element and become a light magic knife, if I'm not wrong, it wasn't originally used for killing, but a ceremonial knife."
Salamandhys laughed loudly. "You spoke well. To have this understanding is pretty good for a weak human like you. Just a pity that nothing you said was right.
"Although this knife is surrounded by massive light element and full of a divine aura, it's a war knife used to kill, not a ceremonial knife. This knife has countless lives to its name. However, it still is a divine knife not a demonic knife.
“It was bestowed light element and divine aura, not by a light mage, but as a favor from heaven. So light element naturally gathers around it. This is one of the most precious treasures of my hoard. It has many descriptions, the most widely known is Dawn at Daybreak. Over ten thousand years ago, it shone for the sake of the poor and those forced to do evil. When dawn comes, all suffering will end.
“This holy knife’s name is Dawn. It has appeared in your human world for a total of seventy-three years. In these seventy-three years, the holy knife Dawn was the nightmare of all the evil; the dawn of all those forced to do evil. This knife has claimed innumerable lives of evil people. Even if it might not have killed a demon king, this knife doesn't only cut humans but also those of other races. Even our dragons have three evil dragons die by this blade.
“Although this Dawn Knife has claimed countless lives, all those killed were of great wickedness. It has been cursed by these evil people, but it was also extolled by ordinary citizens and the bullied. When this knife is kill other organisms, it only needs to shine; the blade never touches the enemy bodies, just emits a white light impossible to defend against. The nightmare of its enemies.
“Afterwards, Dawn crisscrossed the continent for sixty years when its white light turned gold. That isn't because of what humans called ‘holy qi’, but rather because the knife received the baptism of the light element and turned into a light holy knife. Including me, no one knows what that knife was made out of, but after ten thousand years, it still doesn’t have any signs of corrosion. The divine light element protects the Universe’s Dawn Knife forever."
Nian Bing sighed. "Something from ten thousand years ago is already long gone from the continents history, but listening to you and seeing this knife, I can imagine the valiance of the people from the past. He was born for justice; something that I can never contend with. I only live to pursue revenge and the peak of culinary arts.
"Salamandhys, can you explain his story in greater detail? I am very curious about the one who crisscrossed the continent for 73 years, so dedicated to justice. Could just one person perform so righteously? Could it be he never did anything evil? It's really hard for me to believe, how could his strength be enough to affect a whole continent?"
Salamandhys snorted. "Idiot, when did I ever talk about him? Whether he did bad things or not can be seen from the knife. To be acknowledged by the element, doesn't that confirm it all? Can you make the light element acknowledge you?
"Only by being open-minded and candid, with light in your heart, and devoting all of you to helpings others could you do that. I very scarcely admire humans, but I can't help but admire that person. On this continent, there have been several people who obtained god level strength, but the only one who truly entered the Divine Realm was the the owner of Dawn.
"As far as I know, he was the only saint of the entire continent. He received the worship of all the races. That was also one of the few times that the entire continent was united, and united for a very long time. Everyone showed love and respect for one another. At that time, the Yangguang Continent was a single, independent democratic nation. An unprecedented cohesion of humans. What a pity, a pity."
Salamandhys' human form possessed a dim light to his eyes. h e shook his head as he lost himself in reverie in the Dawn Knife.
Nian Bing's heart jump. "What's a pity? Could it be something happened after? Didn't you say that saint ascended to the God Realm? What's wrong with such a perfect ending?"
Salamandhys fondled the Dawn Knife gently. "Although the saint a man who commanded respect, he had no good successors. They got worse by the generation, and the perfect country ended. Humans were almost extinct. The saint even braved the punishment by the Divine Realm to return again to Yangguang. His exhaustion of his life moved the gods, so they sealed away the enemy completely.
"The seals are in the seven Modas' Bottles, which were handed to the seven great dragon kings to protect so that the continent could regain peace. Although it wasn't the prosperous and flourishing land before, at least humans weren't in danger of extinction.
"I admire his selfless, self-sacrificing spirit the most. I didn't think that ten thousand years later there would be someone who had designs on Modas' Sealed Bottles."
Nian BIng's whole body shivered. "If Modas' body is actually that important, then you should find it and bring it back as soon as possible!"
"Find? Of course I'll find it. But there's no need to be anxious about it. That despicable fellow used a transfer scroll to who knows where. So even if I devoted myself to finding it, it would take a while. Moreover, the seven Modas' Bottle are almost impossible to gather, so I'm not worried. I'll wait for us to leave here and search for it while eating delicious human food."
Nian Bing smiled bitterly. "Your thoughts are really queer. Choosing you to protect a Sealed Bottle was definitely those gods' mistake. Can you tell me what is sealed in that bottle? What sort of enemy almost wiped out humankind? The Saint had such a strong dynasty, could it be that there was an invasion by some tribe?"
Salamandhys snorted. "As I said before, it's best for you not to know too much. When you do know too much, you won't be able to safeguard your life. And I have no obligation to protect you. However, I can tell you this: the only one who could exterminate humans is humans themselves. This has nothing to do with another race. Just like how the greatest obstacle for a warrior's cultivation is their own demons. You humans are so disappointing, no one could help you. Okay, I'll give this Dawn Knife to you, your fourth cooking knife. Using such pure light element to make food will definitely produce a good flavor. Hehe."
"What? You want to give me Dawn so I can use it to make food?" Although Nian Bing greatly desired this light kitchen knife, but Dawn had such a mystical history, also only item left by the saint to the human realm. Using it as knife was really too…, of course, that wasn't the main reason. This knife was even longer that Feng Nu's Heavenly Flame Sword and was also so wide and thick. How could this big of a knife be used as a kitchen knife? It might be a problem to manipulate, so he was suspicious of Salamandhys' good will.
Salamandhys lightly waved Dawn and said, "Dawn was historically powerful, but it needs the Saint to wield its true strength. Rather than leave it in my treasure pile, it would be better to let you use it. Using it a kitchen knife isn't anything wicked, so there won't be a problem. This knife is very heavy, so if you want to carry it, it'll take some effort. Give your light element stone to me. This holy knife has existed for over ten thousand years, so to raise its level I'll embed the stone. After all, without the saint wielding it, it loses its spirit."
The Dawn Knife plus the Holy Light Stone would be far too strong. Nian BIng stared wide-eyed at Salamandhys.
Salamandhys felt impatient. "Hurry up. If you want to leave here earlier, give me that stone. I know what you're worrying about. Actually, could it be you don't know, that those three stones in the knives you possess were left behind 'by' the gods? Without the light stone in Dawn, how could Dawn compare to your knifes? With the stone, if you can learn mimicry, the Dawn Knife will be just like your other three knives, a top-level magic wand, a light magic wand. Boy, just make me good food It will be very beneficial. As long as you satisfy my stomach, we can discuss everything else. Perhaps if you work hard for a 180 years, you could become another saint."
Patting the horse's ass is another way to say flattery ↩