Chapter 234: Tai Sui Nourishing Soup

“Four and a half stars already. I didn’t expect Liu Ping’s Favorability to rise this quickly. It’s just a shame that he can’t give me any feedback or rewards right now,”

Chen Xiyi said with a bit of regret as he looked at the latest Favorability level.

Liu Ping was just a high school student who was a very good cook. Even though his cooking skills were excellent, he wasn’t someone with power or influence, so he hadn’t sent Chen Xiyi any items yet.

You should know that Liu Ping’s travel expenses and living costs so far had come from his competition prize money and the wages he earned from temporary part-time jobs while honing his cooking skills.

His life was actually quite tight financially.

To be honest, the Food God Association was really incompetent. They clearly saw him as the one who would lead the revival of chefs, yet they gave him no support at all, adopting a hands-off approach.

Chen Xiyi guessed it was probably due to internal reasons. Otherwise, if they truly encountered a genius-level figure, the first thing they would do was take him back for training, not let him live a hard life under the guise of tempering him.

Yes, doing this could indeed temper his will, but that was only if the tempering succeeded. If it failed, he might just give up cooking altogether and go back home to farm.

In contrast, the disciples of the various committee members in the Food God Association all lived glamorous, luxurious lives.

This wasn’t called tempering; this was called suppression.

The supposed reviver of chefs, the one destined for a renaissance, actually had to scrape together his own travel and living expenses just to participate in culinary battles. If Liu Ping succeeded later, they could jump out and claim they played a major role in giving him the opportunity.

If he failed, then there would certainly be no follow-up. After all, they just needed a reason to break free from the control of the Noble Families and achieve complete independence using Liu Ping’s name as a banner.

They had already succeeded halfway; they had broken away and even set up a target.

Later, whether it attracted focused attacks or drew hatred, it would have nothing to do with them.

As for whether Liu Ping was truly the one to lead the revival, that had no real benefit for them. No one inside the Association really believed it; only Chen Xiyi thought so.

Therefore, regarding Chen Xiyi’s series of actions to raise Liu Ping’s Favorability, the Food God Association expressed strong protest and condemnation.

They claimed that doing this was destroying a chef with a promising future.

In reality, the Food God Association was panicking. Of course they knew about Liu Ping’s cooking skills. Back when the Noble Families and the Food God Association jointly held the God of Cookery Contest, it was relatively fair and just. Although the Food God Association was declining, it still had authority in gourmet food and cooking and could still put up a fight.

But now, with the Food God Association dominating alone, they naturally wanted to push their own favored candidates.

Someone like Liu Ping, with exceptional cooking skills but no background, was perfectly suited to be a stepping stone.

They could just give him second or third place, using him as a foil.

But when Chen Xiyi became Liu Ping’s backer and gained the support of various Noble Families, the Food God Association felt a sudden dread.

They imagined it as the Noble Families being unwilling to accept their loss and trying to use this to regain control over the God of Cookery Contest.

So the conflict began.

Later, Ling Hu had some Gu Martial Artists take photos of these high-ranking Food God Association members while they were sleeping at night and place them on their nightstands. After that, the protests immediately stopped.

What they sought was fame and profit, not the so-called revival of chefs.

If someone could silently enter their rooms to take their sleeping photos, they could just as silently make them die in their sleep.

Of course, there were no open protests after that, but small maneuvers never ceased.

They basically kept instigating people to challenge Liu Ping to culinary battles, trying to crush his confidence.

As it happened, these were just minor enemies sent for Liu Ping to gain experience.

Chen Xiyi thought to himself at the time, so the Food God Association was replacing his role as the antagonist, sending minions, experience, and equipment.

In short, over the past half month, Liu Ping lived vibrantly, and Chen Xiyi also felt very fulfilled.

For example, he collected 9,999 Clones of Peach Blossom Luck Bloodline Bearers and completely restored Ao Lü.

Although these Clones had their frontal lobes removed and were controlled by a Subsystem, rendering them idiots, it didn’t hinder Chen Xiyi from extracting their memories at all.

It must be said that Ao Lü’s childhood was the epitome of happiness and perfection.

Unfortunately, later, the Peach Blossom Ancestor’s legacy emerged from the bottom of the Qinghe River where he lived. Various practitioners of the Demonic Path and unorthodox sects swarmed in. His entire family was wiped out except for him; some were skinned and deboned, others had their souls refined and tormented. Fortunately, he alone escaped, and relying on a remaining magical treasure, he killed the Peach Blossom Ancestor’s remnant soul and obtained his legacy.

This was how he embarked on the Path of Union and Joy.

Eventually, he relied on his Peach Blossom Luck to attract beautiful women for dual cultivation and energy absorption, stumbling his way until he reached the Great Ascension Stage.

Later, he ended up in this world after being chased into the Polar Sea abyss, where he went into hiding. Using spells and his Peach Blossom Luck, he deceived people for food, drink, wealth, and favors.

Finally, he tried to deceive the First God of Cuisine. But the First God of Cuisine was no pushover. At first, he was indeed fooled, since Ao Lü had quite a reputation back then.

But later, Ao Lü grew so desperate that he wanted more cultivation vessels to achieve immortality. This ultimately led to the First God of Cuisine slicing Ao Lü apart with his blade.

“In the Hidden Realm Cave Heaven lies Ao Lü’s Dragon Pearl. His body was indeed sliced into dragon sashimi by the First God of Cuisine, but the Dragon Pearl remained unharmed. Back then, the incomplete dragon body, carrying the Dragon Pearl, escaped wrapped in the Grotto-Heaven. Later, the dragon body dispersed, polluting a large number of plants and animals within the Grotto-Heaven, forming the Dragon Vein Flora and Fauna.”

“When the time is ripe, the dragon veins will gather back into a dragon body. He only needs to retrieve the Dragon Pearl and then reform his Primordial Spirit to resurrect Ao Lü.”

“As for the Dragon Pearl, it seems to be nourishing itself using the Jingzhou area, which is why successive dynasties chose it as their capital.”

“More importantly, the proliferation of eerie beings is a sign that the Primordial Spirit is maturing before the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art completes.”

“When the area turns into a haunted realm in the future, that will be the day of success.”

You should know that the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art was created by the Peach Blossom Ancestor, an old demon of the Path of Union and Joy, so it definitely wasn’t a proper or righteous spell.

As for the birth of these filthy beings, the reason was simple: they were part of the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art, Ao Lü’s experience packages.

After the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art succeeded, he would become an immortal. But at that point, he would have just been resurrected. His level cap would have reached the target, but his actual level wouldn’t be high enough. The Dragon Vein Flora and Fauna in the Grotto-Heaven wouldn’t be sufficient for him to level up; they might not even restore him to his peak. So, naturally, he needed extra experience packages.

Thus, the filthy beings came into existence.

You should know that this world originally had no ghosts, souls, or such things. They were born under the influence of the Primordial Spirit split by the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art.

Otherwise, how could these filthy beings only appear around Peach Blossom Luck Bloodline Bearers.

Chen Xiyi didn’t believe in coincidences. One or two might be a coincidence, but he had 9,999 samples, all exactly the same. If that were a coincidence, then the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art in Ao Lü’s memory must also be fake.

Precisely because of this, the efficiency of capturing filthy beings had increased recently. After all, with an accurate activity range, capturing them became simpler.

Therefore, this led to Chen Xiyi’s workload being a bit high recently. However, correspondingly, the number of burials in the Graveyard increased.

The Graveyard had been expanded three times. His progress, which originally increased by 5% only every ten days or half a month, now increased by about 5% every day. This rate was still rising; in a few days, it might stabilize at a daily increase of 7–10%.

Perhaps he could reach Sequence 3 before the God of Cookery Contest.

Thinking about it made him a little excited. Moreover, his Spirit Warden had become stronger too, although it still couldn’t compare to him.

It might be mediocre, but it had the advantage of being able to level up.

Actually, this Sequence was much better than starting as a Qi Refiner. After all, it was relatively simple. Whether collecting corpses or guarding the tomb, there wasn’t much danger involved.

It also had combat power: Death Notice plus Spirit Warden made for quite formidable close-combat ability.

The only pity was that Chen Xiyi didn’t engage in close combat.

[You have new mail, stored in your mailbox. Please check.]

[A letter from Liu Ping, the Culinary God]

[Uncle, I found some…]

[Attachment: Tai Sui Nourishing Soup]

“…”

Chen Xiyi looked at the Tai Sui Nourishing Soup in the attachment. He knew about Tai Sui.

It was said to be a very complex thing, and it seemed edible.

But this was the first time he had seen it made into a soup, and a nourishing soup at that.

But then he remembered that Liu Ping had an ability to simulate taste perceptions. Perhaps this was a new dish he developed through that.

[Tai Sui Nourishing Soup]

[Satiety Level +50]

[Permanent Slow Health Regeneration]

At first glance, it seemed a bit weak. It only added 50 points to Satiety Level, and the effect was just Slow Health Regeneration.

But then he looked again and saw the word “Permanent” in front.

“Hiss… terrifying, absolutely terrifying. He just sent me a passive skill directly. Not even the Hellish Demon Chef and Heavenly Gourmet Spirit working together could make this.”

The Hellish Demon Chef and Heavenly Gourmet Spirit could indeed make food with better and more numerous effects, but those effects were all temporary. Once the added Satiety Level was consumed, the effects disappeared.

But Liu Ping’s bowl of Tai Sui Nourishing Soup was different. Slow Health Regeneration was indeed mediocre, but it was permanent, and it could stack with other Slow Health Regeneration effects.

This was the difference in skill level.

“Could it be that Liu Ping’s cooking skills have reached the divine level?”

Beyond Supernatural was Divine. Previously, the food Liu Ping cooked also had temporary effects. This was the first time he sent something, and it was a passive skill. He must have made a breakthrough.

Chen Xiyi used it without hesitation. Then he watched as a new “Permanent Slow Health Regeneration” status appeared in his Status Bar, separate from the regular “Slow Health Regeneration” status.

Although both were Slow Health Regeneration, they were different.

“Reincarnation of the First God of Cuisine, I hope…”

After using it, Chen Xiyi felt even more convinced that the idea of Liu Ping being the reincarnation of the First God of Cuisine was increasingly likely to be true.

“Looking at it this way, perhaps the First God of Cuisine researched something from Ao Lü’s remains back then.”

You should know, back then, Ao Lü’s remnants carried the Dragon Pearl back to the Grotto-Heaven, but the larger remaining part of his body fell into the hands of the First God of Cuisine.

Ao Lü was a Cultivator, at the Great Ascension Stage, a Half-Step Immortal.

Even without the Primordial Spirit and Dragon Pearl, that larger remaining part of his body must have contained many things.

Through the First God of Cuisine’s research on these things, he might indeed have developed some kind of reincarnation cuisine or similar creation.

Back in that era, chefs were still Supernatural Chefs, not like the current times where they only make dishes with special effects or cause hallucinations or clothes bursting from deliciousness.

The First God of Cuisine, a Supernatural Chef of that era, managed to beat Ao Lü, a Half-Step Immortal, to such a state, nearly turning him into a dish. How could he not have some research methods?

Therefore, Chen Xiyi was quite inclined to believe that the First God of Cuisine, who obtained the larger part of Ao Lü’s body, likely developed a reincarnation-type dish or a dish that, when eaten, grants a Paranormal Ability for reincarnation.

This wasn’t impossible. To become the First God of Cuisine, he must have been a genius among geniuses, the kind that even Chen Xiyi felt inferior to. There were plenty of smart people in the world, as numerous as fish in a river.