CHAPTER 720: CHAPTER 719: PUNISHMENT MISSION

"The Demon King’s Test."

"Content: Lin Chef? It seems you’re at the threshold; you’ve come over but not yet crossed it. However, that doesn’t prevent you from reproducing the Demon King’s recipe and securing Tiqie Xianzuowen’s approval."

"Please present a piece acknowledged by the Demon King within 2 hours. Failure will result in a random punishment (hunger, loss of taste, loss of touch, etc.), which will last one natural month."

Punishment!

Xia Yu was stunned. "What’s going on?"

"With your current progress, the system has determined you have a high probability of immediately mastering a Lin Chef-level recipe. Pay attention to pairing it with the right tool," the system responded mechanically.

"So if I don’t keep up with the progress, I get punished?"

He couldn’t describe the feeling, it felt strange.

It was as if the system was a strict teacher, and what was scarier, this teacher monitored his learning constantly.

"No problem with the punishment, but what about the reward?" Xia Yu worriedly rubbed his forehead.

Random punishments: hunger, loss of taste, loss of touch... Just the thought of these negative states sent a shiver down his spine.

He had once experienced a chilling disease in Sapporo.

A runny nose combined with a feeling of gloom—Xia Yu did not want to go through that again.

"Ding!"

A tool information panel popped up in his field of vision, presenting Xia Yu with something he had never seen before.

"Purification Stone (Gold): Can be used for purifying golden and higher quality cooking utensils. Has a significant effect on golden utensils, but a weaker effect on above-gold utensils (legendary)."

A dusky stone!

Purification?

Xia Yu widened his eyes: "Could this be used on the ’Jade Dragon Pot’?"

He hadn’t forgotten about the ’Jade Dragon Pot’ in his home’s water tank, contaminated.

That mysterious meteorite left by the old man had a purifying effect, but it wasn’t immediate; it required time. According to the system’s previous progress notification, it would take about six months to a year.

"Yes, one stone can increase the purification progress by 33.3%. It is estimated that 3 Purification Stones will be needed to completely purify the ’Jade Dragon Pot,’" replied the system.

Snap!

He couldn’t help but clench his fist in resolve.

Xia Yu remembered his agreement with the old man.

Lin Chef rank was close!

And now, he had found an item that could purify the ’Jade Dragon Pot’ quickly. Didn’t that mean the days of exploring the mysterious Chinese Cuisine World were just around the corner?

The thought was too exciting!

"I’ll try to make it back in time for the Lunar New Year," Xia Yu thought to himself.

Now it was December, and the Lunar New Year was around February of the following year. It was getting close.

...

A group from the Tiqie Family was looking at Xia Yu; his face was a kaleidoscope of emotions, and they glanced at each other, puzzled.

Half a day.

Alice tentatively called out, "Instructor?"

"Hmm?"

Xia Yu gathered his thoughts.

"Is everything alright?" Alice asked.

Eriina bit her lip and said, "It’s okay if you can’t make it. I—I’m not that hungry."

Alice touched her little stomach under her cotton coat, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "I might not be very hungry, but I very, very, very much want to eat it! I really want to eat the instructor’s ramen!"

She emphasized her eagerness through repetition.

Eriina’s face stiffened.

"That’s enough!"

Afraid the two would start their mutual teasing again, and concerned whether he could secure the reward for the task, Xia Yu felt anxious and irritable and had no patience to listen to the endless bickering of the sisters.

"2 hours!"

Xia Yu turned his head to ask the Far Moon Commander sitting at the tea table, "Can you wait?"

Tiqie Xianzuowen nodded.

"Also, it’s just staying up until 3 AM. For molecular gastronomy research, I used to stay up all night until sunrise. It’s nothing!" Alice interrupted again, Eriina was about to speak but got cut off, her face looking even more uneasy.

Tiqie Zongwei and Leonora exchanged looks.

"To be honest, I’m quite interested," Tiqie Zongwei smiled, "The key is not eating, but your live culinary interpretation. I also studied this recipe once."

"Oh?"

"Don’t look so surprised. I’m a chef too, but my expertise doesn’t quite align with this recipe, so I studied it, yes, but I wouldn’t say I mastered it."

Tiqie Zongwei slightly lowered his head, pushed his glasses up, hiding a hint of melancholy in his eyes.

As the legitimate eldest son of the Tiqie lineage, the offspring of the ’Food Demon King,’ his culinary talent was not outstanding.

At least, when it came to conventional cooking, he did not have any remarkable talent.

That’s why Tiqie Zongwei had crossed the seas to Denmark, to the headquarters of IGO, as a culinary researcher to get in touch with the latest molecular food theories, establishing ’Tiqie International,’ a research institution that carved out a culinary path starkly different from his father’s.

"Go for it!"

Tiqie Zongwei, with a look of enthusiasm that Xia Yu couldn’t understand, gave him a word of encouragement.

"Make it happen!"

"I will!"

Xia Yu didn’t ponder over the source of Tiqie Zongwei’s expectations. At the moment, his mind was filled with that stone prop that could enhance the purification progress!

Must get it!

Go for it!

Heading towards the inner chamber of the main kitchen, Xia Yu walked while opening the item bar: "Use [Enlightenment Crystal]!"

No point in holding onto this item any longer. Completing the task swaps one gold item for another, and besides, it allows one to immediately master a secret recipe, a sure win.

"The current recipe available for use is ’Demon King’s Ramen.’ Confirm use?"

"Use!"

Thus, the recipe text cataloged by the system, at this moment, shattered all at once in his memory.

After a few seconds, the chaotic text reassembled in his mind, forming sentences and paragraphs, but now refined and organized by the system. Xia Yu stopped in front of the kitchen counter, pulled out a row of information, and murmured:

"So, ’Blue Star Algae’ is a critical part of the recipe’s core!"

"If the soul of the Neon Ramen is the soup base, then ’Blue Star Algae’ is the most vital core of the recipe, with all ingredients constructed around it!"

An incomprehensible recipe structure suddenly became transparent and easy to understand.

The feeling, if simply described—

Was as if he was the original creator of the recipe!

"Ding, ’Demon King’s Ramen’ (Gold) has been mastered successfully."

"’Demon King’s Ramen’ (Recipe): A mysterious recipe evolved from Chinese Ramen and Japan Ramen. The system initially rates it as a gold-tier Lin Chef level. However, the recipe seems to bear the mark of not just one chef, as if it were a collaborative creation."

There’s nothing notable about the recipe text itself.

Much like those ancient recipes that shone through history, once at the gold-tier Lin Chef level, the key wasn’t the ingredients.

All that fantastical foodstuff, under the spiritual core of the recipe, would dim to nothingness.

The key is the culinary spirit!

"Culinary spirit..."

Xia Yu frowned.

This was the difficult part, unlike those ancient recipes, he was unfamiliar with the original, and had never tasted the ’Demon King’s Ramen,’ so he had to guess at the so-called ’culinary spirit.’

With this thought in mind, he couldn’t help but glance at the outer chamber through a layer of sealed glass.

Tiqie Xianzuowen was there, calmly drinking tea.

Suddenly, Xia Yu’s eyebrows relaxed.

"I get it!"

"The same recipe, in the hands of different Lin Chefs, would have a myriad of different spiritual expressions!"

"What I need to do is carve my own mark on the creation!"

Realizing this point, Xia Yu also unexpectedly understood why Xianzuowen, the old man, would request such a bowl of ramen as a late-night snack.

It was merely a continuation of tonight’s shop opening tale. The ’Xia Family’s tofu trio’ had alarmed Xianzuowen, so he issued this challenge with a mind to delve into and confirm it.

He opened the "Heart of Cooking" Talent, investing the 2 Talent Points he gained from the increase in his cooking level, and the progress bar jumped to 57/100.

Seeing this, Xia Yu’s eyes sparkled with confidence.

"No problem at all!"