Chapter 424: The Shi Realm

The new realm that Tianyi and Daoyi traveled to was known as the Shi Realm. It was a former low-rank realm. Overall, it had a similar spiritual qi density to other low-rank realms, but the concentration was different. Most of the spiritual qi gathered underground. Plants would absorb the spiritual qi in the ground and grow, while animals ate these plants. The animals would mutate because of the excess spiritual qi, turning them into monsters. Unless a human wanted to risk their life, they could only process the plants and monsters for consumption.

Because of this, immortal chefs reigned supreme in the Shi Realm.

An immortal chef did not necessarily need to make delicious food. All they needed to do was to process materials into an edible substance for easy qi absorption. However, all the top immortal chefs were skilled cooks, able to make the material taste delicious regardless of its source.

In the Shi Realm, immortal chefs were king. Without them, it was practically impossible to cultivate solely by absorbing the spiritual qi from the atmosphere. Directly consuming mutated monster meat also had its dangers. Normally, alchemists would reign supreme in such a realm, but the Shi Realm didn’t have an alchemical inheritance, only an immortal’s cooking inheritance.

However, the situation was slowly changing because of the enriched spiritual qi density. Although most of the spiritual qi still resided underground, it was not impossible to achieve success solely by absorbing the spiritual qi in the air.

This change directly lessened the necessity of the immortal chefs. As a result, the eon-long dominance of the immortal chefs weakened. Undercurrents between the immortal chefs and the new generation of cultivators appeared. It was still just a sign, but war might engulf the entire Shi Realm soon.

Still, that day had not come, and a rare festivity filled the entire Shi Realm.

Since ancient times, the top immortal chefs of the Shi Realm would congregate every century and compete against each other. During this once in a century event, rare ingredients thought long lost would appear, and techniques beyond mortal comprehension would be displayed.

There was just one change. Normally, only famed immortal chefs would be able to attend and taste the once in a lifetime delicacy. However, due to the rising experts who did not rely on immortal chefs, they also secured a spot as members of the audience.

“Just a bunch of muscled-brained barbarians,” a silver-haired cultivator said. Despite his near-white hair, he only had a few wrinkles on him. Despite his aged appearance, many young maidens would still fall in love at first sight. Unlike the other immortal chefs arriving at the mountaintop above clouds standing atop artifacts, the silver-haired man was walking on the air.

Among the immortal chefs, he was one of the few rare nascent soul grandmasters. His name was Mei Shiwu.

Once he arrived, all the immortal chefs came forward to greet him.

“So it’s chef Mei. I was wondering who could enter the Nascent Soul Realm so fast. If it’s you, I’m not surprised,” a portly man named Chef Zhou said.

Mei Shiwu smiled and laughed. “I believe you will step to this level sooner or later. I was just a step faster.”

He and Chef Zhou were from the same generation and known as the Twin Star Chefs. Before, they were at the same level, but now Mei Shiwu had reached a higher level first. Even if his skills remained the same, the increased strength brought by his higher realm directly left Chef Zhou in the dust.

After a while, the crowd of chefs parted ways as an aged man in his twilight years walked forward. Although Mei Shiwu was a nascent grandmaster now, he still showed immense respect to this chef. “Good, good, good! I was worried about those uncultured swine making trouble, but with Chef Mei here, it seems that all worries are for naught.”

“My current accomplishments are because of Senior Kuai’s guidance. Without you, I would not have reached such heights. So please, don’t bow to me,” Mei Shiwu said as he rushed forward and prevented the aged cultivator from bowing.

Judging by the intact corpse, it must have been killed with no way to defend itself.

“Since Honored Guests have granted us with such a prized ingredient, entry is but a small matter. With such good material, it’s enough for a hundred seats,” Chef Kuai said. Although he wasn’t the strongest, he was the most respected.

Chef Kuai hesitated. “Would Honored Guests like to wait in the palace or in our guest house while waiting for the competition to start? Because of the new ingredient, we will need a month to devise new recipes.”

To the chefs’ surprise, a male voice said, “We’ll take the accommodations. I’ve already gotten bored with living in the palace. It’s nice to see a change of scenery.”

A handsome man and beautiful woman walked out. The two appeared like an immortal couple spoken of in poems. Following behind them were two more beautiful maids. The aboriginals thought the maids were beautiful, but they paled in comparison to the couple’s looks and features.

With a wave of the man’s hand, the palace disappeared, shocking everyone. “So, where are the accommodations?”

Chef Kuai broke out of his stupor and personally led the six unknown guests onto the mountaintop. Originally, servants should deal with such matters, but to show his respect, Chef Kuai personally guided them. Even if the six weren’t immortal chefs, they were definitely not simple. As for the Fire-Water Duality Duck, the immortal chefs escorted it into the storage. Servants would normally take care of such minor matters too, but none of the chefs wanted to hand over this opportunity.

The way they looked at the Fire-Water Duality Duck was not like an ingredient at all, but like the world’s most valuable treasure or most alluring woman. For such an amazing ingredient, they would be willing to kill their spouses.

Mei Shiwu glanced at Zou Chang and the young nascent soul grandmaster. “Your offerings are not enough. Change it, or leave most of your people outside.”

Zou Chang frowned. He glanced at his companion and sent a transmission. “Yaoting, what should we do?”

The nascent soul grandmaster didn’t just look young, but was young, too. At least, in comparison to the other people here. At the young age of a hundred, he became a grandmaster, becoming a representative of the non-immortal chefs.

Yaoting didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he recalled the mysterious couple. Different from the four maids, he couldn’t sense any cultivation base from them. However, he did not think the two were mortals. Simply that the two had far more power than him, so he couldn’t detect their strength.

“Give appropriate ingredients. In such cases, it’s better to err on the side of caution,” Yaoting replied. They had originally planned to have all hundred members feast and increase the speed of their cultivation. The plan hadn’t changed, they just needed to pay a higher price now. Still, the results would be worth it.

Zou Chang nodded and clapped his hands. This time, only five chests were brought out, but the materials inside all ranked at the grandmaster level.

Mei Shiwu’s eyes widened. He secretly discussed it with the other grandmaster-level immortal chefs. In the end, they agreed. The price barely reached the minimum requirements. Furthermore, they didn’t want to annoy the mysterious expert, and Zou Chang and Yaoting offering these five chests was also a display of force. Since they could hunt plants and monsters at the grandmaster level, it showed that their strength was far higher than imagined.

“Follow him,” Mei Shiwu said, pointing at a servant. Unlike the mysterious couple, Zou Chang, Yaoting, and their group only received the bare minimum of accommodations. While the mysterious couple received daily meals, they could only absorb the spiritual qi in the air to sustain themselves.

A month passed in this tense peace, and the cooking competition began.