Chapter 356: What Jiang Li Dislikes Eating
“Judging by your expression, you’ve never heard of this book? It’s quite popular on the market – every maid in my palace owns a copy. Though the writing quality is average, the author’s admiration and affection for you practically overflow from the pages.” Yu Yin found Jiang Li’s shocked expression rather amusing.
She suspected Holy Maiden Jingxin wrote this book but lacked evidence.
“I’ve seen this book at Red Dust Pure Land, just didn’t know who wrote it.” Jiang Li was speechless. The event’s theme was supposedly “Getting to Know Human Sovereign Jiang,” yet he couldn’t even answer the first question.
Holy Maiden Jingxin was extremely familiar with “Overbearing Great Ascension Cultivator Falls For Me” – her debut novel. After receiving positive feedback during its small-scale release at Red Dust Pure Land, she secretly distributed it outside, where its popularity exceeded her expectations.
Holy Maiden Jingxin raised her hand first: “Nine nights of passion.”
Yu Yin, sitting on the judges’ panel, gently shook her head: “Incorrect answer.”
Golden-eyed Baixue Ling raised her hand: “Six nights of passion.”
“Correct answer, one point awarded.”
Yu Yin dismissed her suspicions about Holy Maiden Jingxin.
Holy Maiden Jingxin was stunned – how could this be? She distinctly remembered it being nine nights with Jiang Li. Then she suddenly realized – those nine encounters had only happened in her imagination. When writing the book, she’d toned it down to six times.
“Second question: What were Human Sovereign Jiang’s first words after surviving his fourth Ascension Tribulation?”
Holy Maiden Jingxin raised her hand again: “Why hasn’t the Celestial Ladder appeared yet!”
“Incorrect.”
Golden-eyed Baixue Ling raised her hand again: “Damn it all, why hasn’t the Celestial Ladder appeared yet!”
“Correct answer, congratulations to Baixue Ling for another point.”
Jiang Li: “???”
Why do they remember such things? They even perfectly recalled the exact curse words! I can’t even remember myself!
In recent years, Jiang Li had focused on self-cultivation and rarely swore. But two or three hundred years ago, he’d been quite the potty mouth.
“Third question: When Zhou Emperor Ji Zhi evaluated Human Sovereign Jiang, he said ‘Jiang Li is good at everything,’ what was the second half of that statement?”
“Except time manipulation.”
“Correct answer, congratulations to Baixue Ling for another point.”
Jiang Li: “…Damn you, Ji Zhi.”
“Where did you even find these bizarre questions?” Jiang Li asked Yu Yin suspiciously.
Yu Yin took a delicate sip of tea. The leaves were excellent, but the brewing technique was mediocre – not as good as hers. She asked leisurely, “Did you know a new field of study has emerged in the past century?”
“No.”
“I thought you wouldn’t notice such things. Various academies have established ‘Jiang Li Studies’ – as the name suggests, it’s all about researching you.”
“They analyze everything – your daily routines, actions, diet, speech patterns – to understand you as a person.”
“Find anything noteworthy?”
Yu Yin curled her lip: “Nothing substantial. Just a scheme to embezzle spirit stones. They also sell useless trivia to your female admirers. I’ve banned this discipline in Tianyuan Dynasty.”
“Your female admirers’ spirit stones are particularly easy to obtain. I advised them to be more rational, but they wouldn’t listen.” Compared to Yu Yin, Jiang Li had far greater influence among female cultivators.
“I’ll look into this matter.”
“Fourth question: What food does Human Sovereign Jiang dislike the most?”
The atmosphere instantly chilled. None of the participating female cultivators could answer, not even Baixue Ling who had answered three consecutive questions correctly.
Everyone knew Jiang Li loved candied hawthorns, but his dislikes remained a mystery.
…
In Baize Dynasty’s imperial palace, Baixue Ling in her Baize form wasn’t reviewing petitions.
Numerous books lay before her – historical records, romance novels, research compilations – all sharing one commonality: they were about Jiang Li.
Baixue Ling was using her spiritual sense to rapidly scan for any mention of Jiang Li’s food dislikes.
“Hurry up, where is it?” Golden-eyed Baixue Ling urged the real Baixue Ling.
Their senses and thoughts were synchronized – whatever the real Baixue Ling knew, her golden-eyed counterpart knew too. This was how she’d won the previous three rounds.
“Can’t find it.” The real Baixue Ling slumped dejectedly. While many books mentioned Jiang Li, none recorded every trivial detail about him.
…
“Jiang Li dislikes celery.”
Holy Maiden Jingxin’s confident voice rang out.
“Correct answer. One point to the Holy Maiden.”
Golden-eyed Baixue Ling asked curiously, “Holy Maiden, how did you know this?”
Both Bodhisattva of Joy and Meng Youyou awaited her explanation.
Holy Maiden Jingxin smiled sweetly: “When Jiang Li rescued me from those demonic cultivators, we spent three months together. Though inexperienced in worldly matters, my cooking was decent enough, so I prepared meals for him.”
“He ate whatever I made… until the day I cooked celery with cured meat. He only ate the meat, leaving every piece of celery untouched.”
In the stands, Mortal World Celestial patted Jiang Li’s shoulder like she’d found a kindred spirit: “Don’t worry, I dislike celery too.”
Though Mortal World Celestial had achieved grain avoidance, she’d grown bored at Red Dust Pure Land and had her disciples prepare delicacies. That’s how she encountered the world’s most disgusting food – celery.
Jiang Li glared at Yu Yin: “Don’t tell me those ‘Jiang Li Studies’ researchers came up with this question too?”
Figuring out his preferences was easy since he ate certain foods regularly. But determining his dislikes? That was absurd. Those “Jiang Li Studies” scholars couldn’t possibly know about his food aversions.
Jiang Li had only eaten celery a handful of times in his life. The number of people who knew about his celery dislike could be counted on one hand.
Yu Yin was one of those few.
Yu Yin said impassively: “Island Master Mo was quite insistent. I couldn’t refuse, so I casually contributed a few questions.”
“Your Majesty, you volunteered these questions yourself.” Island Master Mo appeared, having noticed Yu Yin’s one-sided conversation. After brief consideration, she deduced the invisible presence must be the stealth-proficient Human Sovereign Jiang.
“Island Master must be mistaken – you invited me to provide questions.”
“Of course, of course, it was my invitation.” Island Master Mo covered her mouth with a light laugh, choosing not to press the matter.
“It’s been too long, Human Sovereign.”
“No need for formalities, Island Master. Just call me Jiang Li.”
Other Mountain Stone wobbled slightly in greeting. It wasn’t particularly close with Jiang Li – their only significant interaction being when Jiang Li beat it senseless shortly after it gained sentience, teaching it about cultivation’s harsh realities.
Later, Jiang Li had retrieved it using the system shop function, forcing it to remain obediently by Island Master Mo’s side. However, it had developed quite a friendship with Desolate Heaven Halberd – the two weapons often addressed each other as brothers while arguing over who was the elder sibling.