novel against the - Chapter 2120

Chapter 2120 – The Culinary supreme-ruler from Beyond This World

The old man’s mouth twitched, and then he jumped up again, “You little girl, it’s only been a few years, how come you’ve learned to lie!”

“I’ve been immersed in the culinary arts for over a million years. A million years, do you know what that means? Those so-called culinary masters in your Divine Realm aren’t even qualified to be my apprentices!”

“There are only a few people in this world who have lived longer than me, and it’s impossible for anyone to surpass me in the culinary arts. There’s no one who can even touch my heels!”

As he jumped, even his beard almost stood on end… This reaction was as if his reverse scale had been touched.

Yun Che seemed to be lost in thought.

“But…” Hua Caili showed no sign of “being taught a lesson,” and said innocently and sincerely, “I respect and like Uncle Liuxiao so much, how could I lie to him? The food Big Brother Yun makes is better than Uncle Liuxiao’s.”

After saying that, she didn’t wait for the old man to explode again. With a light flash, she stood beside Yun Che, so close that their bodies were almost touching, “Right, Big Brother Yun?”

The old man looked at Yun Che as if he had just noticed his existence. But with just one glance, his bristling hair fell back down, and then he burst into a wild laugh.

“You’re talking about this kid? Hahahaha! With his youthful aura, he’s not even as old as the dirt in my fingernails, and you dare to say he’s better than me in the culinary arts?”

“You little girl, your cultivation has improved a lot, but why has your brain suddenly become dull? If he can make something more delicious than my ‘Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry¹,’ I’ll write my name, Liuxiao, backward from now on!!”

“Uncle Liuxiao is cheating again!” Hua Caili curved her eyebrows, “Liuxiao written backward is still Liuxiao. Since Uncle Liuxiao is so unconvinced, do you dare to make another bet with me?”

“Another bet??” The old man’s eyes widened a bit.

“This time, we’re betting on Uncle Liuxiao’s best skill, the culinary arts.” Hua Caili smiled, “We’ll bet on whether Big Brother Yun can make something more delicious than Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry. Of course, if Uncle Liuxiao doesn’t dare, then forget it. How can a junior like me dare to make things difficult for Uncle Liuxiao?”

“Hehehe…” The old man grinned, revealing his yellow teeth, “Trying to provoke me with this… Bet!! We must bet!!”

“If this kid can surpass me in the culinary arts, I’ll call you Uncle… No! I’ll call you Grandma!”

Hua Caili quickly and obediently waved her little hand, “How can that be? Uncle Liuxiao is the senior I respect the most. This absolutely cannot be messed up.”

“If… by any chance… Uncle Liuxiao really loses, just agree to a small request of mine, hehe.”

“I’ll lose??”

He let out a strange cry, but he didn’t laugh anymore. Instead, his gaze swept up and down, reassessing Yun Che.

How could he not know that Hua Caili’s sudden move was definitely not without reason?

But to say that this kid could surpass him in the culinary arts…

He would rather believe that this kid could crush him, a Divine Official, with a single finger in terms of cultivation.

“Kid!” The old man didn’t ask for Yun Che’s name or origin, and said with a slanted old eye, “When I was your age, I hadn’t even figured out how to play with mud. If we’re really going to compare culinary skills, I’d be bullying you. How about this…”

He pointed behind him, “I don’t have anything else here, but I have all kinds of rare ingredients from all over the world! If you can use the things here to make any dish that catches my eye, then this little girl wins! Look at her smiling face, she must be holding back some bad fart!”

The old man’s words were casual and vulgar, but they showed his doting and indulgence towards Hua Caili. He knew that Hua Caili was definitely looking for an excuse to ask him for a request, so he directly gave her this opportunity.

After all, whether it caught his eye or not was up to him.

Yun Che bowed respectfully but didn’t respond. His gaze swept around, and suddenly he reached out.

More than a dozen gentle wind swirls flew out, heading straight for the messy piles of ingredients.

In just a few breaths, thirty-seven ingredients of various colors and shapes were laid out in front of Yun Che.

“Senior, the ‘Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry’ you made earlier should have used these thirty-seven ingredients. I wonder if my judgment is correct?”

The gray-clothed old man… the dignified Liuxiao Divine Official, one of the Four Divine Officials of the Pure Land, didn’t answer immediately. His old eyes widened and widened, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Hua Caili’s lips also parted slightly, and her beautiful eyes trembled with deep surprise… Judging from Liuxiao Divine Official’s exaggerated reaction, Yun Che’s judgment was correct. Thirty-seven ingredients, not a single one was wrong!?

She only knew that anything Yun Che made was always heavenly, even better than Liuxiao Divine Official’s. But she never imagined that he was so incredibly skilled to such an unbelievable degree.

Liuxiao Divine Official suddenly turned his head and roared, “Yuanying, get in here!”

Yuanying Divine Envoy, who had just cleaned the smoke and dust from his body, flashed in with a “whoosh,” “Master, you called for me…”

“Did you tell this kid the recipe for Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry?!”

“Huh?” Yuanying looked innocent, “I’m wronged, Master. Even if I had the guts of a bear, I wouldn’t dare to leak your recipe. Oh, wait, you just made this Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry, and even the name was just made up. Where did the recipe come from?”

“…Get out.”

“Yes, sir!”

Yuanying flashed out again with a “whoosh.”

Liuxiao Divine Official’s gaze returned to Yun Che, occasionally sweeping over the thirty-seven ingredients, and he muttered, “Not bad, no wonder this little girl dares to be so cocky.”

Yun Che quickly and modestly said, “Senior, you flatter me. I’m just particularly sensitive to smells and was lucky enough to identify them. Then I’ll use the same ingredients and try to make Senior’s Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry.”

With that, he took a step back. Wind swirls rolled up, and the thirty-seven ingredients passed through his hands in sequence, being crushed, refined, and purified…

When Cang Shuhe was teaching Yun Che culinary skills, she praised his talent in this area as unparalleled in the world.

This was not an exaggeration but an undeniable fact.

Because the most ultimate refining and purifying power in this world existed in the Sky Poison Pearl in his hands.

Therefore, any ingredient could be easily handled to the most perfect state in his hands.

And another important factor in the culinary arts… the control of fire. With the Evil supreme-ruler’s Profound Veins, he was also unparalleled in the world. Even if others cultivated for ten lifetimes, they could never reach his level.

At the level of the Sky Poison Pearl, its refining and purifying aura was undetectable even to a powerful Divine Official. In Liuxiao Divine Official’s eyes, the ingredients were being peeled, sliced, and dispersed by Yun Che’s profound energy, with the essence retained and the excess removed.

The whole process was precise and ingenious to an unbelievable degree, and it was incredibly fast.

Liuxiao Divine Official watched for a long time without taking a breath.

Red light shone, and flames ignited in Yun Che’s palm. As he turned his palm and moved his fingers, the flames split into dozens of fire snakes of different sizes and even different temperatures. They danced gracefully over the different ingredients, sometimes close, sometimes far, sometimes burning, sometimes extinguished.

Finally, all the flames fell into Yun Che’s palm and extinguished after a few breaths.

Yun Che’s palm slowly opened, and in it lay two pastries of the same color but different shapes.

A faint fragrance spread out. The fragrance touched his nose, and Liuxiao Divine Official’s throat couldn’t help but make a “gurgling” sound.

“It’s done.”

Yun Che raised his hand and gave one of the pastries to Hua Caili, “Caili, you try it first.”

Compared to Liuxiao Divine Official’s dirty lump, the pastry Yun Che gave to Hua Caili was exceptionally exquisite. It was shaped like a maiden holding the moon, half-hidden in the clouds, its meaning and imagery captivating.

“Wow! It’s so pretty.” Hua Caili held it in her hands, her beautiful eyes shining with a strange light, her movements exceptionally careful, “It’s so pretty that I can’t bear to eat it.”

Yun Che smiled, “Food should be excellent in color, aroma, and taste. Because its shape and color greatly affect a person’s mood when enjoying the food, I made it a little more elaborate.”

“Although the ingredients are the same, I came up with this on the spot. I think the method and combination are quite different from Senior’s, so I naturally don’t dare to call it ‘Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry.’ Let’s call it… ‘Moon-Reflecting Cloud Pastry²,’ I guess.”

As Yun Che spoke, Hua Caili had already taken a small bite.

Immediately, she raised her head, her eyes shining like stars, “Delicious! It’s really delicious! Not only is it beautiful, but it smells good, the name is nice, and the taste is even… many times better than Uncle Liuxiao’s Flying Immortal Pastry!”

Liuxiao Divine Official’s protruding eyeballs seemed to finally retract at this moment.

As someone who had been immersed in the culinary arts for over a million years, he was far more aware than Hua Caili of how astonishing Yun Che’s series of actions had been.

Without waiting for Yun Che to speak, he grabbed the other pastry from Yun Che’s palm with a flick of his hand… The exotic fragrance assailed his nostrils, and his movements paused slightly before he threw it into his mouth.

He took a bite… In an instant, his old eyes bulged out again.

More than a dozen different exotic fragrances exploded in his mouth, instantly radiating to his taste buds. He clearly felt his soul go numb.

As the number one culinary supreme-ruler in the world, whose importance in his eyes far exceeded his title as a Divine Official, he could accurately distinguish which flavor came from which ingredient. And the “tuning” of these flavors had all reached a perfect level. Their fusion created an ultimate delicacy that intoxicated the soul and numbed the body.

It was a “flying immortal” feeling that his “Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry” had not truly achieved.

He was shocked, completely and utterly shocked. He stared at Yun Che, his voice trembling slightly, “This… Did you really make this on the spot?”

He had spent thousands of years of effort and tens of thousands of attempts to make the perfect “Liuxiao Flying Immortal Pastry”!

Yun Che seemed to have misunderstood his meaning and quickly said, “Most of my life has been spent wandering the world. It’s rare for me to come into contact with such… and so many exotic treasures, so I could only try my best. I’m afraid I’ve made a fool of myself in front of Senior.”

Made… a fool of himself?

Liuxiao Divine Official really wanted to laugh.

This kid had just made this on his first try, and in such a short time, he had crushed his thousands of years of effort and even his million years of skill… How could he laugh?

Before Liuxiao Divine Official could speak, Hua Caili said sweetly, “Big Brother Yun, make Uncle Liuxiao a serving of Four-Colored Cloud Soup³, he’ll definitely be shocked.”

“Okay.”

Yun Che smiled and reached out. Four dull-colored leaves flew into his hand.

Liuxiao Divine Official looked closely… They were four Bitter Leaves⁴ that could be found everywhere in the abyss!

The land outside the Pure Land and the Divine Realm could not grow green trees and flowers. The vegetation that could survive must be able to resist the abyss dust to a certain extent and naturally had extremely strong vitality. Their taste was mostly extremely bitter and could be used for seasoning, but they were almost impossible to eat.

“Just… these four Bitter Leaves?” Liuxiao Divine Official now looked like an old student who had just entered the culinary arts, and he asked in a trembling voice.

“That’s enough.”

Yun Che moved back and forth between the four Bitter Leaves, refining and purifying them silently and invisibly. After dozens of swirls of profound energy, only four juice clusters of different colors and sizes remained.

Yun Che gathered cold energy in his palm and formed a small ice bowl. With another grab, half a bowl of clear water appeared in the bowl. The juice clusters from the four different Bitter Leaves fell into the ice bowl, then naturally dispersed and fused, forming a bowl of four-colored, glassy ice soup.

He held the ice bowl in front of Liuxiao Divine Official, “The Four-Colored Cloud Soup is ready. Please taste it, Senior Liuxiao.”