CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 259: WHY DOES IT SMELL SO GOOD?_1

The Grey Parrot held the charcoal, its expression extremely excited.

"Sage Si Yan, is this the answer to your bonus question? This tool can indeed help many weak Beastmen."

Si Yan replied, "No, it isn’t."

"It isn’t?" So this wasn’t the tool she intended to submit? This charcoal could clearly stand out with its exceptionally impressive qualities.

It was only the second day of the Wise Ones’ Competition, and right from the start, there was a stir. Jin Yao and her companions paused what they were doing to look in Si Yan’s direction.

Jin Yao asked, "Fourth Brother, what is charcoal?"

Jin Yang shook his head. "I’ve never seen charcoal, nor have I heard of it. I don’t know where Sixth Sister found such a thing."

After some thought, Jin Yang added, "However, the Golden Dragon Clan also likes to use firewood. Many females prefer hot food but suffer from the heavy smoke. If there were something that burned for a long time with little smoke, winter would indeed be much more bearable."

As he finished speaking, Jin Yang unintentionally cast an admiring glance at Si Yan. He found himself looking at her again.

Jin Yao’s heart clenched once more.

She pursed her lips, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly as she forced out a compliment, "Sixth Sister is truly impressive."

"Sixth Sister is doing well," Jin Yang turned and said. "Yao Yao, don’t worry. We have heavy wood here. We can’t lose."

Jin Yao felt a strong sense of pressure. She nodded, then bit her lip and arrogantly instructed a fellow Beastman, "Go find my other brothers. Have them ask the wise ones of our clan what charcoal is."

"Yes, Young Miss."

The Beastman departed immediately. Once he was gone, Jin Yao said to Jin Yang, "Fourth Brother, let’s deal with the meat first."

They had boar meat, which Jin Yang had specially obtained from outside. He had already taken care of hunting, cleaning, and cutting it into strips.

Therefore, the next task, salting the meat, naturally fell to Jin Yao. After all, if Jin Yao did nothing, no one would acknowledge her as a wise one.

Having grown up in the opulent Golden Dragon Clan, Jin Yao was accustomed to using fine salt from a young age. Thus, she felt no reluctance in using it generously to cure the meat.

She threw on handful after handful of salt, encasing each strip of meat in a thick layer, inside and out!

The onlooking Beastmen were aghast.

"Good heavens! Is that how you use salt? That isn’t coarse salt; that glistening white powder is clearly precious fine salt!"

"Fine salt is worth far more than meat, far, far more! How can she use it like that?!"

"If I had to use that much salt to preserve a piece of meat, I’d rather not eat it at all!"

Si Yan, who was peeling Red Earth Fruits with Tai Seng and Jin Tong, glanced over her shoulder for a moment before turning back.

The well-fed don’t know the hunger of the starving, she thought. Jin Yao didn’t understand what salt represented in most parts of the Beast World.

In truth, while curing meat did require a fair amount of salt, it certainly didn’t need such an excessive quantity. Moreover, coarse salt would have sufficed; fine salt was unnecessary.

Jin Yao heard the murmurs from the crowd and hesitated for a moment.

Jin Yang, however, said nonchalantly, "Yao Yao, in the Golden Dragon Clan, this amount of salt is nothing."

"Right!" Jin Yao exclaimed, encouraged. She then resumed curing the boar meat with copious amounts of fine salt.

After processing a large quantity of meat, Jin Yao and Jin Yang planned to discard the boar’s bones, head, and internal organs.

As Jin Yang picked up the refuse to throw it out, Si Yan came running over.

Jin Yang was a little surprised to see his sixth sister approaching him.

Si Yan asked, "You don’t want these parts, do you?"

Jin Yang nodded. "They’re just useless scraps, ready to be thrown away."

A smile bloomed on Si Yan’s face.

She could see this was a very fat pig! The pig’s head, ears, nose, and jowls... And these pink, tender ribs, the large intestine, liver, heart, lungs... My goodness!

Si Yan practically had to hide her drool. "Since you don’t want them, give them to me. It would be a waste otherwise."

It was just some unwanted animal remains. Jin Yang naturally thought nothing of it and handed them over.

As he did, he started to lecture her, "Sixth Sister, honestly. You’re from the Golden Dragon Clan, yet you don’t go back and instead pick up things others discard."

"What others discard might be a treasure to me," Si Yan smiled at Jin Yang, then carried these ’treasures’ back to her own area.

As Si Yan had requested, Tai Seng and Jin Tong dug up a large pile of sweet potatoes.

Si Yan then had them carve out a large stone vat, place a stone slab over it, and steam the sweet potatoes until cooked through.

Then, they mashed the sweet potatoes into a paste.

Next, Si Yan took a piece of clean, white cheesecloth she had set aside and gave it to Tai Seng for him to squeeze the water out of the sweet potato paste.

All this liquid was poured into a wooden barrel, covered with a lid, and set aside to settle overnight.

While Tai Seng and Jin Tong were busy, Si Yan prepared all the parts of the pig.

With the increasing variety of ingredients she now possessed, she could make even more delicious food.

She set up a large pot to one side and began to braise the pork.

Although the different parts could be cooked in various ways, with so much food available at once, braising was the most convenient and quickest option.

This braising pot contained pig ears, head meat, nose, tongue, and even the large intestines, which had been thoroughly cleaned with plant ash.

She then set up another large pot nearby and began to simmer a rib soup. While it simmered, she even borrowed a white radish from one of the weaker Beastmen to add to the stew.

And so, while everyone else was nervously competing, a rich, enticing aroma began to waft through the air.

Jin Tong’s appetite was powerfully whetted. "Si Yan, what is this? Heavens, what *is* this?"

He crouched by Si Yan’s pot like an eager puppy.

Si Yan laughed. "Don’t be impatient. It’ll be ready in a little while."

Jin Tong suddenly felt famished. "Si Yan, I want to eat! I feel so hungry, I really, really want to eat!"

Beastmen have exceptionally keen noses. Those nearby who caught the aroma wafting from Si Yan’s cooking spot grew restless.

"Did you see that? The Lady of the Lord took the parts the Golden Dragon Clan didn’t want and started cooking them with fire!"

"You haven’t seen this before, have you? This is called cooking."

"Cooking? They don’t eat raw meat? This is the first time I’ve ever seen food prepared this way."

"Only in a few large cities do some Beastmen possess this skill!"

"Heavens, it smells absolutely delicious!"

"I want some too!"

"I can’t stand it anymore! How can a smell be so enticing?"

It wasn’t just the spectating Beastmen; even the sages busy with the competition were... overcome with craving.

A Beastman from Myriad Beasts City asked the Sage Grey Parrot, "Sage Grey Parrot, you’re quite familiar with Sage Si Yan, aren’t you? Could you perhaps put in a good word? I’m dying to taste what she’s making."

The Grey Parrot snorted. "You think I don’t want to?"

He then added, "Just be patient. I’ll ask her later."

A Merfolk Beastman asked their sage, "Sage, I really want to try the food from Delusional Domain."

The Merfolk Sage said, "I’d feel too embarrassed. Sage Si Yan has already done so much for our little prince and Jin Li. Should we really impose on her for meat too?"

The Merfolk were practically drooling. "Could we offer salt in exchange?"

Their sage sighed. "...I’ll see what I can do later."

The sage of the White Eagle Beastmen also gazed longingly at Si Yan.

A White Eagle Beastman asked their sage, "Sage, isn’t Sage Si Yan on good terms with the High Priest? We could..."

The White Eagle Sage retorted, "You still want to try and use your connection to the High Priest? What exactly are you to him?"

The White Eagle Beastman fell silent.

Other tribes, who hadn’t been hungry before, now found their stomachs rumbling.

At the same time, they all wondered. Si Yan had taken what were clearly the most useless parts of the boar. So why did the food she was making smell so incredibly good?