Chapter 805: Chapter 804: For the Dragon (Part 2)

“A Gastronomic Tapestry!”

This was Xia Yu’s first strong impression when he tasted the old man’s bamboo rice.

In the past, Xia Yu had told his opponents and students more than once that a chef is like a painter wielding a brush across a blank canvas.

Ingredients, naturally, are the chef’s palette of materials.

Having long realized the art of “painting,” Xia Yu has since created many exquisite works, like the Divine Beast Vermilion Bird, the Nine Feathered Phoenix reborn from flames, and like the Peacock King with its five feathers shining with Five Elements Radiance in “Peacock Dance.”

Before tasting the old man’s bamboo rice, if anyone dared challenge him on “painting,” Xia Yu would confidently retort with something like, “You know nothing about gourmet food.”

However.

At this moment, while tasting a dish made by a Dragon Chef, Xia Yu’s worldview was refreshed.

Unable to resist, he took another chopstick and stuffed a second bite of bamboo rice into his mouth.

Chewing.

The rice grains, cooked through “bamboo roasting,” were fragrant and had a primitive taste of fire.

Apart from the soft fragrance of glutinous rice, there was the crisp texture of broken Japonica rice grains.

That’s right.

Bamboo rice does not use only glutinous rice or only Japonica rice; the old man used both, with a ratio of about 3 to 1. This greatly enriched the texture of the rice—soft yet slightly crisp, extremely refreshing.

“The rice grains form that white canvas, giving the old man room to perform.” Xia Yu had an epiphany in his eyes.

The main ingredient, rice, was actually the base for the painting!

The old man only used ordinary glutinous and Japonica rice to create a sufficiently spacious canvas.

“Try it again!”

After understanding the essence of “chaotic dance,” Xia Yu was also able to use ordinary ingredients to construct a grand and complex gastronomic concept, destroying the superficially delicate items. Therefore, the old man’s skill here only amazed Xia Yu and did not make him feel inferior.

What truly shocked him, filling his chest with long-lost emotions, was the sudden bloom of vibrant colors in his mouth while chewing the rice grains.

Bamboo leaves.

Fresh bamboo shoots.

And small pieces of wild game meat cooked to fragrant perfection in the mixed rice.

The bamboo grove was tranquil, and Xia Yu waded barefoot through the stream, standing beside the cottage lyre stage, closing his eyes and quietly listening to the music.

Through the rice grains in his mouth, what Xia Yu saw and heard was so vividly alive.

After a moment, he opened his eyes, meeting the gazes of Zhu Qing and the old man.

“So? Is it delicious?”

Zhu Qing eagerly asked, her eyes glimmering with curiosity.

Xia Yu opened his mouth, “Delicious?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t want to use ‘delicious’ as an evaluation.”

Hearing this, Yan Qi and Xia Qing were stunned for a moment, then exchanged looks of surprise.

Did he truly grasp it?

Unexpectedly, the grandson would give such an evaluation; Xia Qing remained seated with arms folded on the opposite side of the tea table, coolly casting a glance, “Oh? Explain, tell us your true thoughts.”

Xia Yu took a breath, “Interesting! Full of charm!”

“Ha—”

“This is a food evaluation?!”

Zhu Qing widened her eyes in confusion, but Yan Qi and the old man were smiling.

“How should I put it…”

Xia Yu was briefly tongue-tied, picking up a piece of bamboo from the table, smelling the faint bamboo fragrance, and in his mind was the vivid bamboo forest scene seen through the aroma and actual tasting.

This picture had bamboo, streams, small animals, a cottage and a weeping lady playing the lyre.

It’s as if past real moments were captured and recorded on canvas with a brush.

Indeed!

A vivid and true tapestry of life!

Suddenly, Xia Yu seized that fleeting inspiration, blurting out, “It’s like the Qingming River Painting…”

“Qingming River Painting? What does this have to do with cooking and gourmet food?” Zhu Qing was even more confused.

Xia Yu spread his hands, meeting the eyes of Yan Qi and the old man, “You see, the Qingming River Painting, a treasured masterpiece, vividly records the prosperity of Bianjing City during the Northern Song dynasty. Such a large canvas, filled with oxen, mules, houses, bridges, bustling street scenes…all these elements are so lively and interesting.”

“The charm lies within those shining materials!”

“Each material shines brightly!”

He added one last sentence.

Indeed.

After tasting the old man’s bamboo rice, in Xia Yu’s mind, a higher level of “painting technique” has been roughly sketched out.

All-encompassing, all-accepting!

An invisible grandeur!

In other words, every ingredient used, regardless of its quality, becomes an “image” on the canvas, each capable of creating a magnificent culinary piece with the power to penetrate the diners’ defenses.

“Did the ingredients shine? No, all ingredients are shining.”

His thoughts unconsciously drifted to the recipe of life.

With Sekiya Takashi’s “Molten Lava Seafood Soup” recipe he borrowed, the Flagfish ingredient shines on this chef’s life menu.

Thinking of this, Xia Yu felt a lingering shock, “The chef’s life recipe only has one shining ingredient. But in the old man’s bamboo rice, all ingredients seem to shine and become embodied…Is this the old man piling up experience from life recipes?”

Having just glimpsed a blurry corner of the Dragon Realm scenery, Xia Yu clenched his fist, unable to return to his senses for a long time.

Seeing this, Yan Qi and the old man exchanged a glance.

“The path to higher places has no guide; one must understand it on their own!” Yan Qi thought silently, watching Xia Yu, and secretly said, “This culinary work by the elder is a practical lesson. Have you obtained that seed?”

…

On the same Loulin Ship, in the resting cabin on the other side.

A bronze incense burner emitted a faint fragrance.

Inside, the defeated Dragon Venerable sat cross-legged on a mat, staring intently at the bloody basin on the table in front of him.

The so-called “A Thousand Cranes Leaving the Nest” dish remained untouched.

Huang He’s face alternated between green and white.

“Lost!”

Ultimately, all unwillingness turned into a sigh, “Completely lost!”

In fact, even if the dragon’s head hadn’t left, when Xia Qing uncovered the lid to reveal the culinary creation, the intriguing gastronomic tapestry hidden in the flavors slowly unfolded in the mind, Huang He knew he lost without any suspense.

“Why!”

The faint voice echoed.

This question wasn’t about why he lost, but why a newly advanced overseas Dragon Chef could present such an intriguing, vibrant culinary tapestry.

A calm voice from the side said, “Compared to Xia Qing’s work, your dish was too monotonous!”

The elder of the Wei Family stood in the draped curtain, his face stern.

“One strives to highlight the immortal crane, while the other unfolds a bamboo forest scene rich with hidden stories,” the elder Wei said expressionlessly. “Moreover, your crane painting looks strong, like rivers rushing into the taster’s mouth, but aside from the crane blood and whole roasted crane, what other shining ingredients are there?”

“Brother Huang, if this is your hidden ace, all I can say is you lost not unjustly!”

Huang He turned his back to the curtain, lowering his head, “Yes…”

Ye Feizhou was also within the curtain, standing a few steps behind the elder Wei of the Wei Family, listening to the two Dragon Venerables of the White Jade Tower conversing cryptically, increasingly bewildered.

“Feizhou!”

Suddenly, the lowered head of Huang He turned his face.

“Present!” Ye Feizhou stood up straight with a serious look.

“I’ve lost…”

Huang He cast a hopeful gaze towards Ye Feizhou, the once-grim face now glowing with divine light, “But you haven’t lost yet!”

As a high-level figure in the White Jade Tower, he naturally knew about Ye Feizhou’s seclusion study of a Lin-class Killing Recipe, preparing to step on Xia Yu in the New Year’s hunting event to solidify his young generation’s king crown.

“I’m old, a loss is just a loss, but you must restore this breath, this face for me, for your master, for the White Jade Tower…”

“Take it back!”

Words spoken with firm conviction.