Chapter 488: Golden Light Mantra
“This challenge topic is quite timely, hitting just the right moment as the Spirit Chef Sect is holding a competition.” Jiang Li glanced at the trial topic and felt fortunate about his luck.
Commander Liu didn’t know Jiang Li was also participating in the Human Sovereign selection. He had prepared several trial topics, not for Jiang Li to randomly pick, but for him to choose from. Some trial topics would be difficult to attempt if their timing was missed.
……
Jiang Li gathered the Human Sovereign candidates from across the world into the consciousness space. Two new faces had joined the candidates – Luo Ying and Luo Zhu.
Jiang Li casually greeted everyone without any airs: “Hello everyone, we meet again.”
“Seeing me should remind you of what’s coming next. Yes, we’re about to undergo another Human Sovereign candidate trial.”
“After the previous fishing competition ended, I left you with homework – to guess which two candidates caught the most fish. I wonder if anyone figured it out?”
Jiang Li smiled as he scanned the group of youthful candidates. They all shook their heads blankly, having thought for a long time without reaching any conclusion.
Seeing this, Jiang Li gently shook his head, pretending to be disappointed with everyone.
Fortunately, they couldn’t identify them, so he could continue posing as a Human Sovereign candidate.
“This trial also doesn’t involve cultivation level.”
“They say food is the paramount necessity of the people. For intelligent beings, food is indispensable. Although cultivators don’t need to eat after reaching certain levels, is filling hunger the only purpose of food?”
“Of course not.”
“Eating is an enjoyment, a form of entertainment, a method of cultivation. Eating delicious food can lift one’s spirits, while consuming food filled with spiritual energy can enhance cultivation.”
“Precisely because of this, spirit chefs emerged accordingly.”
“The Spirit Chef Sect is currently holding a competition where all cultivators can participate. This Human Sovereign candidate trial requires you to win first place in the Spirit Chef Sect competition.”
“Considering the sensitive identity of Human Sovereign candidates, participating under that identity would cause commotion. Therefore, everyone must conceal their identities for this trial.”
“I will transport you near the Spirit Chef Sect, and you’ll proceed on your own.”
After speaking, Jiang Li sent everyone away.
……
Seven Kill Daozi happened to be traveling near the Spirit Chef Sect, so Jiang Li didn’t need to move him.
He told the Mermen Tribe Princess and South Flood Dragon Clan Princess about this Human Sovereign candidate trial. Both female companions felt somewhat regretful.
“What a pity we couldn’t become Human Sovereign candidates. With our cooking skills, first place would be easily within our grasp.”
Hearing this, Seven Kill Daozi shuddered, not wanting to recall the meals his two companions had prepared during their wilderness camping.
During their travels, Seven Kill Daozi absolutely refused to stay overnight in the wilderness, insisting on finding an inn no matter what – not for accommodation, but to find a place where they could eat.
……
“Among the three of us, is there anyone who can cook?” Yu Yin looked at Bai Hongtu and Jiang Li, thinking to herself that she couldn’t cook, and she’d never seen these two brothers know how to cook either.
At most, Yu Yin had prepared simple foods like salt-sprinkled roasted rabbit. She knew the theory of complex dishes but had never practiced them.
Yu Yin wasn’t someone interested in food – her requirement for food was simply that it was edible. After achieving inedia, she never ate except when treated by Jiang Li or Bai Hongtu.
Yu Yin had read books about spirit chefs, including a novel about a Mahayana Stage cultivator who was a hidden spirit chef. His cooking skills were so superb that even without using seasonings, just by controlling the heat, he could create intoxicatingly delicious food.
The Mahayana Stage spirit chef met a food-loving female protagonist in the forest and captured her heart with a barbecue.
At the end of the novel, the female protagonist died. Heartbroken, the Mahayana Stage spirit chef ascended to the Immortal Realm, only to discover that the food-loving female protagonist was actually a trial incarnation of the Food Immortal. She hadn’t truly died but had returned to the Immortal Realm, waiting for the Mahayana Stage spirit chef to ascend.
The two eventually lived happily together in the Immortal Realm and had three children.
After finishing the novel, Yu Yin rubbed her temples, feeling she had wasted a whole day. What kind of nonsense was this?
“I know how to eat,” Bai Hongtu said truthfully. He had never been involved with cooking before either.
Jiang Li wasn’t much better than these two.
Commander Liu’s choice of trial content was absolutely brilliant – it happened to be a blind spot for all three of them.
With all three starting from the same point, Yu Yin felt she might have a chance to surpass Jiang Li.
Jiang Li looked completely unconcerned: “What kind of talk is that? Not knowing how to cook means you can’t participate in a spirit chef competition?”
Jiang Li took out his Grand Alchemist certification: “See this? I won first place at the Alchemy Conference, ranking even above Su Wei.”
Yu Yin felt the Alchemy Conference’s standards must be quite questionable.
She had witnessed Jiang Li’s alchemy skills firsthand. When the three of them were still Human Sovereign candidates, the Old Human Sovereign assigned them a mission to eliminate a certain demonic cultivator.
When the three were exhausted from fighting the demonic cultivator, Jiang Li took out a Bloodburst Pill that could tap into one’s potential, increasing power by fifty percent for a short time.
If Jiang Li took this pill, victory would be guaranteed.
Unexpectedly, the demonic cultivator used clever hand techniques to steal the Bloodburst Pill and immediately consumed it.
Just as the three were despairing, the demonic cultivator’s power inexplicably plummeted to only half of its original level. Seeing this, the three attacked together and eliminated the demonic cultivator.
Hearing this, Seven Kill Daozi shuddered, not wanting to recall the meals his two companions had prepared during their wilderness camping.
Not only did it fail to tap into potential, it actually reduced power.
From then on, whenever Jiang Li was refining pills, Yu Yin made sure to stay far away.
When the three arrived at the Spirit Chef Sect, they found it overcrowded, with many cultivators carrying kitchen knives at their waists moving about. The number of spirit chefs was enough to overturn ordinary people’s understanding.
These were all renowned spirit chef masters from across the Nine Provinces Continent.
In most people’s impression, spirit chefs were rare, and genuine spirit chefs were seldom seen. This impression was actually correct – spirit chefs were few in number relative to the total population of cultivators.
Now that the Spirit Chef Sect’s competition had attracted spirit chefs from everywhere, their concentration in one place naturally made them appear numerous.
“I’ve heard some rumors that when certain great chefs finish cooking and lift the lid, golden light shoots up to the sky?” Yu Yin had heard some legends. The Tianyuan Dynasty didn’t even have an imperial kitchen, so she had little exposure to spirit chefs.
“Yes, this is the orally transmitted ‘Golden Light Mantra’ among spirit chefs. Reciting the ‘Golden Light Mantra’ silently over the food before covering it can make the food glow.” Jiang Li had even eaten glowing candied hawthorns.
“What’s the use of that?”
“It creates dramatic effect.”
“I remember when I was young, spirit chefs didn’t have this skill.” As the former Dao Sect Envoy, Bai Hongtu had attended many banquets in his childhood and had seen spirit chefs cook, but never encountered this phenomenon.
Jiang Li said calmly: “Because I wrote the ‘Golden Light Mantra’.”
“……”
As the three chatted, Jiang Li noticed the disguised Human Sovereign candidates had all arrived here and completed their registration.