Chapter 720 Black Quartz Jade Token
Knife skill that was accurate, smooth, and skilled was the most basic lesson of any spirit chef, and the solidness of one’s basics could be determined by one’s speed and the condition of the prepared ingredients.
Chen Xi’s speed was extremely swift, swift to the point of making most spirit chefs sigh with embarrassment from their inferiority.
But the key was that the condition of the ingredients prepared by him were thin like cicada’s wings, fine like catkin pollen, and even the flowers carved on these ingredients seemed as if a world had been opened within the tiny space, causing it to be flawless and beautiful to the limit.
It was even to the extent that it could already be described as perfect.
Yet this wasn’t the most moving and shocking thing to all the spirit chefs present!
It was common knowledge that no matter if it was slicing, cutting into threads, or carving flowers, all of it wasn’t just for the sake of it being pleasing to the eye, but most importantly, it was easier for the taste to enter the ingredients like this. Especially when dealing with meats that were abundant in spirit energy, carving flowers atop it allowed the spirit energy within to be more easily absorbed.
Obviously, Chen Xi had already attained a terrifying height in terms of the preparation of materials!
Merely this scene caused the expressions of all the spirit chefs present to become serious and solemn, and the indifference in their hearts was gradually replaced by anticipation.
The preparation of materials was only the first step in cooking delicacies, and Chen Xi’s display in this step could be said to have given them a pleasant surprise.
They started to impatiently want to witness how Chen Xi cooked. For example, the combination of seasoning, the control of spirit flames, the utilization of utensils, and so on and so forth.
Master Yong didn’t continue saying anything as he drank his wine in a carefree manner, but his half closed eyes stared fixedly at every single movement Chen Xi made, and his gaze that carried doubt in the beginning gradually turned into astonishment, admiration, pleasant surprise… Now, it even carried anticipation.
Manager Huang and Bai Gunan gaped, and their chins almost hit the floor.
Amongst the people present, both of them could be considered to be outsiders, yet their discerning gazes weren’t inferior in the slightest. They were able to discern from Chen Xi’s string of smooth and skillful movements that it was absolutely impossible if someone said this fellow hadn’t been a spirit chef in the past!
Chen Xi started cooking.
He seemed as if he hadn’t noticed the slight changes in the surrounding atmosphere, and his expression was tranquil and concentrated. With a swing of his hand, over 100 ingredients were divided into a few tens of batches, and they were either like silver paste that flowed on the table, immersed within stalactite milk, nurtured within a variety of spirit liquids, or directly placed within the wok.
After that, he lit the spirit flame and controlled the utensils as he used his Divine Sense to sense the minute changes in the spirit flames.
Swish!
A strand of snow white fat produced from the cooking of Silverscale Shark was poured into the iron wok, and it swished about while emitting a dense fragrance.
In next to no time, a few types of ingredients were placed one by one into the wok by Chen Xi, and there were ingredients that were green, red, white, blue… They possessed brilliant colors that pleased the eyes.
“What dish is he cooking?” Bai Gunan couldn’t help but gulp down a mouthful of saliva from just smelling the fragrance that effused out, and he couldn’t restrain himself from asking.
“If I’m not wrong, it ought to be a dish called Rainbow Spindrift. It’s a dish that only five leaf spirit chefs and above are capable of cooking because the ingredients and spirit flames utilized by it have extremely harsh requirements and an exceedingly high difficulty.” Manager Huang pondered for a moment before he spoke.
“Oh, why have I not heard about it?” Bai Gunan spoke with surprise. Even though he wasn’t a spirit chef, he was a Young Master that was skilled in enjoying himself. He’s tried all kinds of precious and extraordinary delicacies, yet he just happened to have never heard of the Rainbow Spindrift.
“This dish is for Golden Core Realm cultivators, and it isn’t really precious amongst all the various dishes. But comparatively speaking, it’s indeed the most troublesome to cook. Merely the ingredients of varying attributes utilized by it were no less than 100 types, and the steps to cook it were over 1,000 in number. Unless a spirit chef was forced to cook it, even five leaf spirit chefs were unwilling to cook this dish. Thus, the name of the Rainbow Spindrift is naturally known to few.” Manager Huang spoke confidently as if he was talking about his own treasures, and it was obvious from this that he wasn’t the manager of this restaurant for nothing. Even though he wasn’t a chef, he possessed clear knowledge of all the processes required to cook the various dishes.
“There’s one more thing you didn’t say. This Rainbow Spindrift is a dish that a qualified spirit chef would surely be capable of cooking. In the inheritance of spirit chefs, this dish is usually utilized to test the disciples one takes.” Master Yong spoke abruptly. At this moment, his expression was slightly complicated because since Chen Xi knew the steps to cook the Rainbow Spindrift, Chen Xi was absolutely someone that had once trained in the legitimate Culinary Arts.
This was truly surprising to him because he’d similarly never imagined that a peerless genius with Chen Xi’s status would have actually taken up the profession of spirit chef in the past, and if news of this were to be spread, there would probably few that would believe it.
Rainbow Spindrift… What does this fellow intend to do by cooking this dish at this moment? Could it be that he wants to obtain the acknowledgement of all the spirit chefs here? Master Yong was extremely bewildered in his heart.
The other spirit chefs were similarly bewildered. But in next to no time, their attentions were completely drawn over by Chen Xi’s exceedingly skilled culinary arts, and they couldn’t be bothered to think about anything else.
At this moment, the entire kitchen was silent while the gazes of everyone had converged onto Chen Xi, and admiration was aroused within their hearts as they looked at his technique that dazzled the eyes.
If it was said that they had doubts towards Chen Xi’s culinary skill in the beginning, then now, they’d already been gradually and completely convinced by everything Chen Xi had revealed.
Chen Xi seemed as if he hadn’t noticed all this.
He was immersed within his own world, and he seemed as if he’d returned to his youth and returned to the days of learning the culinary arts from Old Man Ma in Clear Stream Restaurant.
As time zipped by, those years ceased to exist, whereas those familiar people had disappeared without a trace. But everything he’d learned during that period of time seemed like aged wine that was sealed within his blood, and it became even richer as time went by.
Unfortunately, no matter how rich and dense the taste of this aged wine was, there was no one to drink with him anymore.
So he could only pay his respects in this way, and utilize a Rainbow Spindrift to pay his respects to Old Man Ma, Pei Pei, and Qiao Nan who’d vanished without a trace.
This dish was the first dish spirit chefs tested their disciples with, and he similarly wanted to use this dish to convey his affection to those acquaintances from that period of time as a way to comfort their hearts.
…
15 minutes later, Chen Xi’s dish came out of the wok and was placed within a jade white tray. Under the baking of Spirit Converging Yin Flames, snow white waves that overlapped each other and roiled without end appeared above the dish that was complete in color, taste, and fragrance, and it formed into dazzling and resplendent rainbow bridges that rose into the sky.
At the same time, a tempting and refreshing fragrance effused out like one’s lover that had removed her veil to reveal a shocking and peerless appearance.
Everyone was shocked speechless while some with discerning gazes like Master Yong even discovered a trace of variation from the fragrance and spirit energy emitted from this dish.
It was precisely this variation that caused him to be unable to refrain his shock.
If he wasn’t wrong, this Rainbow Spindrift was different from the dish he knew. No matter if it was taste, or the spirit energy it contained, everything had obtained a qualitative change!
If it was said that the Rainbow Spindrift cooked by other spirit chefs was a top-grade earth-rank spirit pill, then the Rainbow Spindrift Chen Xi cooked was a heaven-rank spirit pill, and it was a qualitative difference!
Master Yong was unable to figure out how Chen Xi had achieved this, but he deeply understood that since a spirit chef was capable of attaining such an accomplishment with this fish that had the most complicated process of cooking, it could already be considered to be extraordinary to the extreme!
At this moment, Chen Xi withdrew from the stove with a calm expression, and his gaze was deep and indifferent while his entire bearing seemed even more extraordinary and ethereal.
Even though he’d only cooked a dish, it contained too many thoughts of Chen Xi’s, and at the instant he completed it, it was like he’d unties a knot in the deepest depths of his heart, causing his spirit, energy, and essence to experience an unprecedented release.
“Let me try it first!” Bai Gunan was the first to break the silence as he rushed hastily towards the stove and picked up a chopstick before eating. He was truly curious how the dish Chen Xi cooked would be.
Most importantly, when he thought about how he would actually be able to test a dish Chen Xi had personally cooked, his entire body was filled with excitement that couldn’t be restrained. Taste was only secondary, and the key was he could brag to others!
Because this was a dish personally cooked by Chen Xi who was renowned in the world, and who would have such fortune in the cultivation world?
Bai Gunan firmly believed that so long as he was to tell this to those friends of his, it would surely draw over gazes of extreme envy.
“Oh, tasty! It’s truly god damn tasty!” He’d just taken the first bite when Bai Gunan felt a special taste instantly spread throughout his mouth, causing his tongue to tremble slightly as if it was shocked by electricity, and it was filled with a numb and smooth feeling. The taste of the dish was very unique, it was tasty, refreshing, carried an unbroken feeling of smoothness, and it was wonderful to the extreme.
After that, Bai Gunan completely disregarded his bearing before holding onto the tray while gulping down voraciously and crying out with satisfaction.
Chen Xi couldn’t help but glance at this fellow. He knew clearly in his heart that even though the taste of that dish was good, it wasn’t to the extent of causing this profligate Young Master that had tried all the delicacies in the world to act like this.
In other words, this fellow was indirectly utilizing the dish to flatter Chen Xi, and at the same time, he was acting for the spirit chefs in the surroundings to see.
Chen Xi couldn’t help but sigh with emotion when he realized this. Everyone knows that this fellow is arrogant and overbearing, but do they know that this fellow is actually ingenious?
“Chen Xi, I apologize for my impudence from before.” Right at this moment, Master Yong had a solemn and serious expression as he suddenly bowed in apology to Chen Xi.
The eyes of the nearby spirit chefs opened wide from shock when they saw this because they never imagined that Master Yong would actually make such a solemn apology to a young man because this was absolutely a first for Master Yong.
Chen Xi raised his hand and helped Master Yong up. “You’ve done nothing wrong, it’s I who was slightly rash earlier.”
Master Yong shook his head and withdrew a palm sized and glittering jade token made from black quartz, and then he gave it to Chen Xi. “For the sake of making up for my mistakes, I hope you can take this.”
Everyone was greatly shocked and revealed expressions of disbelief as they seemed to have never imagined that Master Yong would actually give such a precious thing to Chen Xi!