Chapter Nineteenth: The Little Black Room

  "Eight Treasures Embroidered Rice, Red Braised Dragon's Den, Dry Stir-Fried Ink Spirit Scorpion, Soft Stewed Black-Boned Chicken..."

  Old Master Ma's culinary skills had indeed reached an extraordinary level, and in less than an hour, he once again cooked up thirteen dishes that were extremely delicious.

  Chen Xiao felt extremely happy, a happiness he had never experienced from childhood to adulthood. The dishes, which were not only delicious but also contained pure and thick spiritual energy, satisfied his six senses and gathered in his dantian, gradually condensing into the fourth true yuan purple cloud in this very short period of time!

  Congenital boundary, every step up, the dantian will appear a cloud of true yuan condensation, called the foundation cloud ladder, until nine clouds are condensed, you can open the purple mansion and become a formal purple mansion cultivator who has stepped into the fairy mansion.

  Chen Yao had been stuck in the Pre-Heaven Three Realms for a full five years, not because his qualifications were too poor, but because of the Longevity Lock left behind by his mother, Zuo Qiu Xue, which silently absorbed the true yuan from his body over these five years. Until the Longevity Lock shattered and revealed the jade pendant inside, it was as if the shackles had been broken. From then on, he no longer worried about being unable to advance in realm.

  However, even so, without the support of external objects such as elixirs and spiritual pills, his progress was extremely slow. He never thought that just eating a dozen or so dishes would cause his realm to break through another level like a geyser, naturally making him extremely delighted.

  However, along with the happiness, he also felt a kind of torture. Every time Old Horse cooked up a delicious dish, the enticing aroma would make him unable to stop himself, and what was originally intended as a light taste would end in complete surrender to gluttony, making him feel more and more ashamed, and more and more like a big eater who couldn't resist temptation.

  Ma Lao also jumped in fright at Chen Tai's eating, staring at the empty fourteen jade plates, he simply didn't dare to believe his eyes, and after a long time, he muttered: "Freak, this guy's belly is actually a bottomless pit? The disciple I've taken in is really... weird!"

  Chen Xiao heard this and felt even more ashamed, being ridiculed for having a completely expressionless face, and rarely showed a hint of embarrassment.

  He also found it strange that after peeling off the fourteen dishes, he not only didn't feel full, but instead had an urge to eat another big pile of food.

  "You freak, you're just like those laborers who only know how to eat and drink, a complete foodie!" Old Man Ma muttered again.

  However, when Chen Tai heard this, it made him think of a problem, as if... since he had been practicing the "Zhou Tian Xing Lie Jian Ti Zhi Shu" technique, he had never felt full after eating, could it be because of this reason?

  Chen Xiao subtly felt the changes in his body, and he only felt that his blood, flesh, skin, and bones were filled with endless vitality, as if even his skeleton had become two taels lighter. His entire body was surging with a mighty and boundless power.

  At this moment, he thoroughly understood that these dishes rich in spiritual energy were not only useful for Qi cultivators, but also had an extremely nourishing effect on the flesh of those who cultivated their bodies.

  Seeing Chen Xiao's dull and speechless expression, Old Man Ma seemed to have a change of heart and stopped whispering some words that made Chen Xiao blush with shame. He asked directly: "Of these fourteen cooking methods, how many do you remember?"

  Speaking of which, Chen Tang's expression finally returned to normal, and he said thoughtfully: "Almost all have been remembered."

  "Really?" Old Ma's eyes suddenly widened.

  Chen Tang thought for a moment and nodded seriously.

  Old Ma still didn't believe it, pointing at the kitchen counter and saying: "You go operate, hmm, just cook that Dry-Fried Mantis Shrimp dish."

  "Alright!" Chen Xiao replied readily, his movements also being swift and decisive. He arrived in front of the stove, following the memories in his mind, and began to operate step by step.

  Dissecting the Ink Spirit Scorpion, adjusting the ingredients, controlling the Spiritual Flame...

  Old Ma looked at Chen Quan's neat and tidy operation method, his eyes which were originally slightly suspicious gradually became astonished and amazed, until he saw Chen Quan absorb the true yuan with his palm, accurately and evenly controlling the iron spoon and iron pot, his eyes completely turned into a shocked expression.

  Every step is accurate!

  Old Master Ma couldn't help but think to himself, "When I first started learning cooking skills, I failed dozens of times before barely reaching the level this guy is at now. Could it be that I've actually taken in a disciple with astonishing talent in the culinary arts?"

  Thinking of this, his heart suddenly became excited, perhaps the goal that Laozi had never reached could be achieved through this guy...

  After a puff of fragrance, a plate of crispy and refreshing stir-fried Mok Ling geckos was served.

  Old Ma rushed forward in a hurry, picked up a fully cooked ink scorpion and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly for a moment. His expression became dazed again, this flavor and the pure thickness of the spiritual energy... were not inferior to what he had cooked himself!

  Chen Xiao couldn't help but feel a little nervous, during the cooking process earlier, there were several times when he almost lost control of the rhythm of the spiritual fire's burning, fortunately his heart was calm and steady, not panicked or flustered, which allowed him to narrowly escape danger and persist until the end.

  "I'm going to change the way I teach cooking." Half a beat later, Old Horse seemed to have thought deeply and said slowly: "Pure imitation may not be difficult for you anymore. In that case, start cooking your own dishes."

  "What should I do?"

  "It's very simple, take the most basic 1,308 kinds of ingredients, according to their five elements yin and yang properties, cook out dishes that belong to you."

  "Only if you can make the dishes full of color, fragrance and flavor, while also bringing out the best spiritual energy of the cuisine, then you are a true One Leaf Spirit Chef!"

  Chen Xiao felt a sense of unease, he had just become an apprentice in the Spiritual Cooking Academy and only remembered two books: "The Panorama of Ingredients" and "The Collection of Spiritual Fire". As for cooking skills, he only recalled the steps to cook fourteen dishes, with no foundation whatsoever.

  In this case, why would Old Horse make such a request?

  Chen Xuan was still puzzled.

  "Just as the understanding and perception of Tao by monks are vastly different, each spiritual chef's culinary skills are also unique." Old Master Ma said calmly: "Your innate talent in cooking is astonishing. Instead of following my path, why not explore and create your own - a culinary path that belongs to you?"

  At this point, the old horse's eyes flashed with that crazy enthusiasm again. He suddenly turned around, stared tightly at Chen Tai's eyes and said in a low voice: "However, I will test you every now and then. If you don't pass, don't think about getting the salary of Qingxi Wine House!"

  Chen Yu was stunned for a moment, suddenly having a feeling of being abandoned, accompanied by bloody exploitation.

  ……

  Inside the little black house.

  Was it that the stir-fried Mantis Shrimp he cooked himself was really inedible? Was Old Ma taking revenge on him?

  Chen Yu gazed at the piles of ingredients stacked around her, taking in the brand-new kitchen counters and utensils. Her eyes were dazed, her thoughts a jumble.

  He was the only one here, according to Old Man Ma's wishes, unless he could cook his own dishes and reach the standard of a One Leaf Spirit Chef, otherwise don't even think about leaving the small black room.

  This old guy has a weird temper and behaves strangely too, he's simply a crazy son of a bitch!

  Chen Xiao recalled what Old Man Ma had said, and even with his patience, he couldn't help but feel a wave of annoyance. He was only thinking of earning some yuan to pay for his brother's tuition fees, and hadn't thought about taking the path of being a chef at all!

  After calming down, Chen Tang quickly calmed down and looked at everything around him. He knew that complaining was useless, and it would be better to think about how to use these ingredients to cook a dish that would satisfy Old Man Ma and leave this damn little black room.

  He walked up to the mountain of ingredients and carefully observed each one.

  "To become a Ling chef, one must cook a dish suitable for the post-heavenly cultivators to replenish their energy. The ingredients not only vary in type but also have different flavors. What's more important is to distinguish their yin-yang and five-element properties, striving to achieve mutual generation while avoiding mutual restraint..."

  Chen Xiao, who had become serious, undoubtedly possessed an extremely surprising explosive force. His thinking rotated wildly, combining the knowledge he had learned from "The Food Material Encyclopedia" to start organizing the piled-up food materials.

  After burning one stick of incense.

  All the ingredients were sorted by him into two large piles, representing yin and yang attributes. Each of the two large piles was then divided into five small blocks, representing the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. And each of the same five-element ingredients was further divided by him according to taste, growth environment, main ingredient, auxiliary ingredient, etc., into several smaller areas.

  The process took him almost a day, and to ensure that there were no mistakes, he even went so far as to taste the bloody and pungent bird blood, as well as the gelatinous food ingredients that looked extremely disgusting. His tongue was almost numbed by the various strange and irritating flavors, and several times he felt nauseous and nearly vomited.

  However, when he saw the various ingredients neatly presented before his eyes, Chen Tang felt a sense of relief and began to think about creating new dishes without even wiping away the sweat on his forehead.

  Time slipped away, and after a long while, Chen Tang stood up, picked out more than ten kinds of ingredients, and went straight to the kitchen counter.

  Splash!

  Step by step, Chen Xiao finished processing the ingredients and seasonings, and without hesitation, she started cooking. However, in less than half a minute, a burnt smell wafted out from the bottom of the pot.

  He had long been prepared for failure and was not surprised at all. He put the dishes on a jade plate, eating them one by one into his stomach.

  "The spicy flavor is too heavy, the spiritual energy of the chrysanthemum and the drunken fish is out of balance... it seems that it should be simmered over low heat..."

  The taste was strange, but Chen Tang seemed to have no feeling, numbly chewing his mouth, and his mind was fully invested in analyzing the reasons for the failure.

  Wipe clean and start cooking again with a new pot of water.

  The five elements are not balanced, failure!

  Seasoning mistake, failed!

  Improper handling of ingredients, failure!

  Overcooking, true yuan disperses, failure!

  ……

  After more than a dozen consecutive failures, Chen Yu had completely lost his sense of feeling. He calmly analyzed the reasons for each failure and started again, his face expressionless, like a tireless machine repeating the same action over and over.

  Chen Xuan didn't notice that his spiritual power hadn't been depleted at all, but instead was growing at a visible rate, like a stream after a heavy rain.

  ——

  Please collect, click, red ticket, brothers, top up!