Talisman Emperor

Master Young’s low voice emanated an unquestionable tone.

At this moment, he seemed to have suddenly become a different person, and his emaciated face revealed a rare trace of oppressive dignity.

Shit! Manager Huang cried out in his heart because once this old fellow revealed his obstinate and stubborn side, then he feared nothing and would even disregard his life, and he wouldn’t listen to the advice of anyone.

Chen Xi had only asked casually and never imagined that he would draw such an intense reaction from Master Young, and he couldn’t help but frown as his gaze that was like a bolt of lightning suddenly swept towards the stubborn old man with slight displeasure.

But when he encountered Master Yong’s emaciated face, grey white hair, and fearless dignity, Chen Xi’s heart shook instantly as he recalled Old Man Ma in his daze.

Old Man Ma was stubborn like this and had an explosive temper as well, and it was even to the extent that Old Man Ma frequently let loose a string of curses towards him. But Chen Xi knew that Old Man Ma had never given up on him, and Old Man Ma had even placed all his effort onto Chen Xi.

In next to no time, Chen Xi’s expression calmed, and then he cupped his hands and said, “I apologize for my rudeness.”

Originally, both Manager Huang and Bai Gunan thought Chen Xi would burst into anger. The former was worried while the later was excited, but both of them never imagined that Chen Xi would actually take the initiative to apologize!

Both of them couldn’t help but be slightly stunned and be slightly bewildered.

“Let’s go.” Chen Xi’s gaze flashed past the row after row of bright and clean stoves before taking a deep breath and intending to leave in the end.

“Wait!” Master Yong spoke abruptly and said, “Kid, let me ask you, what’s the Culinary Dao in your heart?”

“Is this considered as a test?” Chen Xi stopped yet didn’t turn back around.

“You have to give me an out, right?” Master Yong spoke bitterly. This old fellow was extremely interesting because he had a dignified and upright appearance just moments ago, yet now seemed like an old fellow with a strange temper.

“This old geezer is really unreasonable!” The nearby Bai Gunan muttered in a low voice.

Master Yong grinned and acted as if he hadn’t heard Bai Gunan while he stared at the distant Chen Xi.

Chen Xi practically didn’t think in the slightest before replying. “The Culinary Dao is a Grand Dao that’s capable of causing tongues to be unbound and the life of cultivators to be rich and brilliant. Similarly, it’s the final destination that every spirit chef seeks to climb towards in their entire lifetimes.”

These words were spoken by Old Man Ma, and he still clearly remembered it up to this day. At that time when Old Man Ma spoke these words, his eyes revealed boundless fervor and yearning.

Manager Huang was astounded. He originally thought that Chen Xi would be utterly ignorant or speak confidently with composure while citing books to fiercely shock Master Yong. But, never had he imagined that Chen Xi’s answer would actually be so simple, and it carried a slightly humorous tone.

Unbind the tongue… What a wonderful description!

Even he who was an outsider to the Culinary Dao couldn’t help but praise in his heart.

Master Yong was shocked as well, and then he fell into deep silence before nodding after a long time. “You can use my stove.”

Chen Xi turned around and cupped his hands. “Thank you.”

As he spoke, he’d already arrived before the stove, and he couldn’t help but burn with eagerness as he looked at the bottles of seasonings and utensils of a variety of shapes placed before the stove.

To him, it he had any other hobby besides cultivation, then it would surely be talisman crafting and cooking without a doubt.

Talisman crafting was the method of earning money he’d come into contact with at a young age, and it was the only source of maintenance of the lives of him, his grandfather, and his younger brother. Now, even though he had entirely no need to craft talismans to earn money, the interest that had been branded into his bones since a young age caused him to still love crafting talismans.

On the other hand, cooking was something he’d learned when he was young, and it had too many memories recorded within it, causing it to similarly be difficult to give up.

Chen Xi didn’t make a move anxiously but carefully selected the materials at the side first.

Manager Huang couldn’t help but ask Bai Gunan in a low voice when he saw Chen Xi’s serious appearance. “Is Fellow Daoist Chen Xi really skilled in the Culinary Dao?”

During this recent period of time, Chen Xi’s reputation shocked the world, and all rumors related to him were linked to the judgment of him possessing a shocking combat strength. There had been utterly no news that such a peerless genius was rather studied in the Culinary Dao.

All of this caused Manager Huang to feel that it was novel and even fantastic.

After all, spirit chefs couldn’t be compared to true cultivators because it was only an auxiliary profession. The status and reputation of a spirit chef was far less respected when compared to cultivators.

So Manager Huang even suspected that Chen Xi had only studied the Culinary Dao yet had utterly not tried it himself.

Bai Gunan was astounded as well, and then he grunted coldly. “All techniques come from the same source. This brother of mine is unprecedented genius, so how could just the Culinary Dao trouble him?”

Even though he spoke like this, he couldn’t help but mutter in his heart. Can this fellow Chen Xi really do it or not?

“Kid, even though I gave you a chance to utilize my stove, it would be a great humiliation for you if you’re unable to make a decent dish,” said the nearby Master Yong.

Chen Xi smiled, and his gaze continued to move up and down the ingredients at the side.

As a restaurant that was second to none in Blaze City, the Immortal Indulgence Inn naturally had no lack of spirit materials. These meats, vegetables, fruits, grains, and so on and so forth were all piled up together according to the different types, and they were further divided into different positions according to the quality of the materials.

To someone that was completely ignorant towards the Culinary Dao, merely looking at all these materials would cause one to be dazed, let alone select suitable materials that possessed attributes that conformed with each other.

But all of this was naturally incapable of posing any difficulty to Chen Xi. Even though the materials were divided in an extremely complicated manner into different types according to their attributes, to the current Chen Xi, a sweep of his gaze was sufficient for him to obtain complete knowledge of the attributes, quality, and required seasoning, utensils, flames, and so on and so forth of every single type of material.

This was an advantage he obtained from his cultivation, but most importantly, this ability to differentiate ingredients had been thoroughly understood by him when he was young. It had become a part of his cultivation, so differentiating these ingredients naturally came easily to him.

Master Yong couldn’t help but grunt coldly when he saw Chen Xi do this, and then he suddenly stood up and shouted towards the spirit chefs that were bustling about in the surroundings. “All of you temporarily stop what you’re doing and come over.”

Everyone including the apprentices were gathered over.

These spirit chefs ranged from one leaf to six leaves, and they were around 100 plus people in total. Coupled with those apprentices, they almost numbered over a thousand. At this moment, all of them converged over while feeling bewildered as they didn’t understand what exactly Master Yong wanted to do.

Master Yong pointed to Chen Xi and said, “This the renowned disciple of the Nine Radiance Sword Sect, Chen Xi, a great figure that’s a peerless genius. Now, he’s going to reveal his culinary skill, and it’s a rare opportunity. It’ll be too late to regret once you miss it, so all of you should stare with your eyes wide open and watch properly!”

All those spirit chefs moved restlessly and revealed expressions of shock when they heard this because they never imagined that this handsome young man before them was actually Chen Xi extraordinarily renowned within the cultivation world now!

But right after that, they couldn’t help but reveal slightly strange expressions. Culinary skill? My god! Chen Xi is going to display his culinary skill to us? Isn’t this an act of showing off before an expert?

As the saying goes, there was specialization in all arts. In terms of combat strength, they felt they were miles apart from Chen Xi, but if it was in terms of the Culinary Dao, then it might not be the case!

It was even to the extent that some spirit chefs revealed disapproving expressions, and they obviously thought that Master Yong was joking.

Bai Gunan couldn’t help but glare at them when he saw this and said to himself, Fuck! This wretched old man is skilled in entrapping others. Isn’t he brazenly intending to embarrass Chen Xi?

Manager Huang frowned as well. Master Yong’s actions had gone slightly too far. No matter if Chen Xi was capable in the Culinary Dao, acting in such a way carried an intent to embarrass Chen Xi. What should I do if it infuriates Chen Xi?

“Master Yong, your…” Manager Huang sent a voice transmission.

“What are you worried about?” Master Yong stared at him while interrupting him. “Even Chen Xi didn’t refuse, so what are you anxious for?”

Right at this moment and under the gazes of everyone present, Chen Xi had already started to make a move. Type after type of ingredients seemed to be picked up by a shapeless hand before descending firmly onto the chopping board.

He walked to stand before the stove before stretching his hand out to grab a brilliant kitchen knife, and then his wrist shook, causing blade lights to flutter about as he started to prepare a piece of Green Spiral Root.

Green Spiral Root was completely verdant and densely covered with spirals, and it was one of the common vegetables.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Blade lights fluttered about like snowflakes as dense and rhythmic sounds of the knife striking the chopping the board resounded out. Chen Xi’s wrist was stable and agile while he controlled the brilliant and sharp kitchen knife with extreme precision. In practically an instant, the piece of Green Spiral Root was already prepared into slices that were thin like a cicada’s wings, even in thickness, orderly, and pleasing to the eye.

The knife skill was one of the important methods to judge the standard of a spirt chef. 30% stove and 70% knife because food can’t be made without a knife.

Early on when he was still young, Chen Xi’s knife skill had already attained the acme of perfection, and coupled with his current deep cultivation, completing all this was simply easy.

But when this scene entered into the eyes of everyone, it caused them to be shocked in their hearts. Skill was evident as soon as an expert began, and Chen Xi’s knife skill took their breath away.

“Hmph! It’s only knife skill. All of you ought to know that this person before you is a genius with extraordinary combat strength, and his control of strength has already attained the acme of perfection since a long time ago. So it’s within reason that he’s able to utilize a kitchen knife so skillfully, and it can’t be considered to be anything extraordinary.” Master Yong grunted coldly.

The expressions of everyone returned to normal when they heard this because Master Yong wasn’t wrong. The control of strength that a spirit chef utilized was actually no different from that of other professions, so merely this was incapable of distinguishing the ability of a spirit chef.

However, the following scenes caused them to be unable to refrain from being exceedingly shocked, and they even felt slightly dazed!

Ingredient after ingredient fell into Chen Xi’s hands before being prepared smoothly like flowing water and without the slightest sluggishness. Moreover, the strength of his wrist was steady while his knife skill was consummate.

He was able to cut slices of similar thickness and thin as a cicada’s wings, and they drifted down like expanses of snowflakes that carried a rhythm of their own.

He was able to cut strings of equal length and thickness, and they just happened to be like numerous catkin pollen that fluttered with the wind, fully revealing his skill as his knife’s blade descended repeatedly.

He was able to carve flowers on ingredients that were fine like the hair on an ox, and he actually inscribed numerous profound striations upon them that interweaved into a pattern.

All of this was accomplished with extraordinary skill and ease!

…

Most importantly, his speed was simply swift to the limit, and it practically wasn’t even 10 minutes when over 120 types of ingredients had been completely and flawlessly prepared by him!