Knowledge Seeking Array Answers! (September 30, 2025)

Sect Brothers and Sect Sisters, 

The questions channeled into the Knowledge Seeking Array this September were:

1. What is a Kitchen Spirit?
2. How is Old Man Zhen able to do something with them?
3. How do people not have Cultivation?
4. Is there more work than the Kitchen Spirit Tamers can handle?
5. Or are there just not enough spirit stones (no hyphen) to get them out of bed?
6. And they aren’t thirsty for payment because they already make a lot of money—erm, spirit—erm, stones?

Now, the first question, from Third Elder Crazyone47 is a question that requires such a detailed answer … it will be answered in a full Behind The Wok lore article this month! 

The second question … alas, cannot be answered because that would reveal the secrets of Heaven! It is an important plot point that cannot yet be spoken of. Third Elder Crazyone47, your questions are too deep and profound!

Question 3 (also from Third Elder Crazyone47): How do people not have cultivation? 

Answer:

People without cultivation are simply mortals who couldn’t break through to Qi Condensation. 

As we now know from Senior Brother Ming Shi’s insight, in order to become a cultivator, you need to break through from Mortal Cook to Qi Condensation Chef. 

Which is easy in theory: you just need to direct your qi through one full cycle of your meridians. In theory, anyone can do it! Just go and do breathing exercises and meditate until you find a style that works.

But in practice, not everyone can accomplish this. Sure, we all have meridians and qi. But most mortals have meridians that have lots of blockages. Or their qi is very weak. They’ll never be able to direct their qi through one full cycle through their meridians, no matter how hard they meditate. They’re just stuck with qi hanging out in their body, moving here and there, but they won’t be able to cultivate with it. So, they have no cultivation.

If you can afford it, of course you can buy all kinds of spirit foods to strengthen your qi and clear blockages. But if your fundamental meridian structure is still shit … you are a bit screwed. 

Imagine a straw, bent into a circle. Then imagine three straws braided together, also bent into a circle. 

If you have the large, single straw circle as your meridians, you can sneeze and take your meridians through your first cycle. You are blessed. It’s so clear and simple. Just go around once.

But with three straws braided together, the effort is much higher and much more complicated. You’ve got to navigate three directions to go in one direction to somehow all three flows complete a cycle as one cycle … what a headache.

So, that’s how people have no cultivation. By being mortals who, alas, were not able to pass the first hurdle due to their own unfortunate spiritual anatomy. Or laziness.

If you are SUPER lucky, your qi might just one day decide on its own to complete a full cycle through your meridians. This is like winning the lottery. You've just been gifted cultivation.

It’s almost as lucky as being born to a noble clan, where you are typically born at Foundation Establishment, because your parents are at least that level. Your qi has been cycling since you were in the womb. It’s never not cycled.

So, yes, in conclusion, people without cultivation are simply mortals who couldn’t break through to Qi Condensation. Basically this is the entire mortal population of the Lower District. Which is about 50% of the total Lower District population. This might seem like a high mortal to cultivator ratio, compared to other xianxia realms. However! There is nuance and reason for this.

Fragrant Bowl City is one of those cities where chefs flock to, because it’s a cultivation center. It’s like how if you live in Los Angeles, you have a higher population of actors compared to anywhere else in the country. It’s simply because the film industry is there. So, outside Fragrant Bowl City, there are many Provinces with a ratio of something more like 10,000 mortals for every 1 cultivator. The Low Vegetable Provinces are examples of regions with pretty much no cultivators, only mortals/Mortal Cooks, because of the lack of ambient spirit energy there. Even if you managed to take your qi through one full cycle in a Low Vegetable Province, you wouldn't have enough ambient spirit energy to increase your cultivation. What do you do then? Well, you move somewhere like Fragrant Bowl City and make your dreams of delicious immortality come true there! Or at least, you try to. This is why Fragrant Bowl City has such demanding Residency Trials for aspiring migrant chefs.

Questions 4 to 6, from Senior Brother Editor … will be answered in more detail in the upcoming BTW lore article. But in short: yes, Kitchen Spirit Tamers are a profession that will never be short of work. They are always handsomely paid, but it’s also rather a risky profession so they may not live to spend that paycheck. Hahaha. 

That’s it for September’s Knowledge Seeking Array!

I hope this helps you advance your own cultivation, Fellow Daoists! 

Expect Kitchen Spirit lore in this month’s BTW!

— Xiao Tao 笑涛
Junior Disciple, Dim Sum Dao Sect
Fragrant Bowl City, Thousand Flavor Realm