Chapter 780 - 728: He, Named Six Paths! (4)
The old man left the attic, reeling in a state of wild shock.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man rose from his Taishi Chair. Through the sheer window gauze, he gazed at the branches swaying in the gentle breeze, his eyes revealing a tension he had not felt in centuries.
Yes, tension. Amid this long-lost feeling, his breathing grew rapid. It was a mixture of anticipation and urgency—the anticipation for an answer and the urgent need to know the result.
He had been tempted to seek out Qin Fan countless times before but had forcefully suppressed the urge. He believed in fate, in the damnable cycle of Heavenly Dao Reincarnation. Therefore, he could only wait, wait for the day the prodigy who had occupied his thoughts for half a year would finally appear in his world.
And after his constant, eager waiting, that day had finally come.
If the old man were still here to witness the middle-aged man’s expression, he would be beyond shocked. His jaw would have likely dropped to the floor. He had followed this ageless, reverse-aging man for a full eighty years. Back then, he had been just a child fighting with stray dogs for scraps amidst the chaos of war. The middle-aged man had rescued him from the grips of cold and hunger, and from that day forward, his life was forever changed.
He went from an orphan who could have died at any moment from war, cold, or starvation, to the spokesman for the Imperial Kitchen—a figure of such status that even the great titans of the Forbidden City had to wait for an audience.
Yet, throughout these eighty long years, the master in his eyes had always maintained an unruffled calm, as if nothing in the world could move him. Not even on that night sixty years ago did he show any emotion when he calmly told the man revered as the Grand Ancestor, "This is your reward." He had been completely impassive and carefree.
How could he now show such tension, restlessness, anticipation, and urgency? In eighty years, not one of these emotions had ever surfaced.
Gazing at the swaying branches beyond the sheer curtain, the middle-aged man gradually calmed his breathing. The tension on his face eased, and the urgency in his eyes subsided. Only the anticipation remained.
"Did you come from that place... or have you returned from there?" he murmured to himself.
He lifted his slightly trembling right hand, then used his steady left hand to still it. Only then did he turn and descend from the attic. At that moment, he had returned to that state of transcendent tranquility, as if he had seen through all the world’s affairs.
His name was Six Paths, a name unknown to this world.
「In the private room.」
After waiting for over twenty minutes, Qin Fan and his group heard a knock on the door.
At Ma Yunhai’s call, a middle-aged man dressed in simple linen clothes entered, pushing a food trolley.
"Why isn’t a waiter serving the food?" one of the young scions asked with a frown, looking at the exceedingly strange man.
"From selecting the ingredients to the final cooking, I handled every step myself," the middle-aged man said calmly with a faint smile. "I believe that personally delivering the dishes to the customer’s table is the only perfect curtain call."
"I’ve been eating at the Imperial Kitchen for more than ten years, and this is a first! Well, never mind that. Bring it over!" Ma Yunhai said with a wave after a moment of surprise.
Without another word or any change in expression, the man elegantly served seven dishes and a soup from the trolley. Throughout this process, Qin Fan’s eyes were locked on him, and his heart began to pound uncontrollably. It was as if he could smell a familiar scent—or perhaps an aura—coming from the man.
"Hey, didn’t we order seven dishes and one soup? Is this extra or something?" one of the young men asked, noticing an item wrapped in a lotus leaf still sitting on a platter on the trolley.
"This is for Young Master Qin to sample. I hope you don’t mind me addressing you as such," the middle-aged man said, his gaze turning to Qin Fan, whose expression had subtly changed.
Shaking his head with a smile, Qin Fan dismissed the thoughts from his mind. "I don’t mind," he said nonchalantly. "Bring it over, then."
"Very well," the man replied.
He reached out, picked up the lotus-leaf parcel from the platter, and presented it to Qin Fan with both hands. But just then, the urgency in his eyes, coupled with his suddenly quickened breath, reappeared strangely. Nervousness flooded his face, completely beyond his control.
Although the display was too faint for Ma Yunhai and the others to notice, Qin Fan saw it all clearly. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
Anything this abnormal must signify trouble. When a person simultaneously reveals nervousness, urgency, and agitation, it’s never a simple matter. Could he have poisoned this?
Thinking this, Qin Fan inwardly shook his head.
Poison is no threat to me. My Prison Suppressing Body has been impervious to all toxins ever since it took its initial form. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stand for it. If I discover this really is poisoned, I won’t hesitate to kill this man on the spot, or even destroy the entire Imperial Kitchen.
"Young Master Qin, please! The flavor will change once it cools," the middle-aged man urged, the tension on his face growing more intense as he held the parcel out to Qin Fan.
"Alright, thank you," Qin Fan said, nodding with a knowing smile.
He took the lotus leaf from the man and placed it on the table before him. Unhurriedly, under the curious gazes of Ma Yunhai and the others, he opened it.
The next moment, as the contents were revealed, Qin Fan’s eyes widened. A torrent of uncontrollable emotions washed over his face.
Shock.
Panic.
Utter disbelief.
His heart hammered in his chest, and his breathing fell into complete disarray.
"Damn, what is this? How can it smell so fragrant?"
"How can a lotus leaf seal the aroma so perfectly without a single wisp escaping?"
"The chefs at the Imperial Kitchen are gods!"
Ma Yunhai and the others exclaimed in unison, captivated by the food on the lotus leaf and its intoxicating scent. They failed to notice the color drain from Qin Fan’s face as he lost his composure.
But though they missed it, the middle-aged man did not. From the moment he had handed the parcel to Qin Fan, he had been watching his every reaction with extreme nervousness. Seeing the shock, panic, and disbelief intermingled with the pallor on Qin Fan’s face, he had his answer.
A thrill of excitement, an emotion he hadn’t felt for hundreds of years, flickered across his face. He quickly suppressed it, however, returning to his previous state of calm.
"Everyone, please enjoy your meal," the middle-aged man said with a soft smile.
He turned and walked toward the door. But just as he was about to step out of the room, Qin Fan looked up from his stupor and asked urgently, "May I ask the name of this dish?"
Pausing in the doorway with his back to them, the man replied, "Lotus Encounter."
He then continued on his way. Behind him, silence fell once more.
After the middle-aged man left the private room, the old man, who had been waiting in the main hall, hurried over and whispered deferentially, "Sir, people from the Qi Family have arrived! They are waiting outside."
An aura he had kept contained for an age erupted with torrential force. "Those blind fools! Eradicate the Qi Family!"
As his words fell, the entire Imperial Kitchen was plunged into a deathly chill, like that of an ice cave. The old man, bowing deferentially beside Six Paths, trembled uncontrollably as a chill of pure fear ran through him.