Chapter 236: Dragon Lord Dismantling Plan

In the morning, Chen Xiyi adjusted his clothes and headed toward the God of Cookery Contest venue.

He went as the head judge, as he had previously promised Liu Ping, but his status was different.

Others usually attended their friends’ competitions as audience members, but Chen Xiyi was more creative—he went as a judge.

The entire God of Cookery Contest was funded by the organization under his control. As for the original organizers…

Those who were willing to step down, Chen Xiyi let them leave with dignity. It just meant giving them some money, which wasn’t a big deal.

As for those who refused to step down, they were probably carried away by ocean currents by now.

Of course, things weren’t that absolute. After all, being sealed in a concrete barrel and dumped into the sea, they might not be carried away by currents but could be stuck in the seabed mud instead.

Respect was a two-way street. Chen Xiyi wouldn’t trouble anyone who knew how to read the situation.

If they showed him respect, Chen Xiyi gave them some benefits in return. It wasn’t a big deal—if a seven-digit bank deposit wasn’t enough, eight or even nine digits weren’t a problem either.

“Mr. Chen, you’re here. Everything has been arranged inside. Please come this way.” An association member quickly approached when he saw Chen Xiyi arrive. This man was the big sponsor.

What? They used to be enemies?

To put it bluntly, only the upper echelons of the Food God Association benefited from that. The middle and lower levels didn’t get much. Even after breaking free from the Noble Families’ control, the fame and gains didn’t reach them; instead, they became poorer.

As a mascot, the Food God Association received ample funding from the Noble Families—they were just being kept around.

After the association’s upper levels unilaterally ended that arrangement, living conditions plummeted. The upper levels weren’t affected, but the middle and lower levels suffered a severe blow.

“Hmm, what’s the situation now?” Chen Xiyi asked the Food God Association member.

“The preliminaries have started. It will take about three days to complete the selection. Many chefs came to compete this time, mostly attracted by the high prize money.” The Food God Association member thought for a moment before replying.

Previous God of Cookery Contests only had one reward—the first-place winner would receive the Black Jade Pot. The other rankings received nothing.

Moreover, participants had to provide their own ingredients. Under those circumstances, who would want to compete?

That’s why past contests had very few participants—mostly chefs lacking experience and fame.

Who would spend their entire fortune just for a pot?

Keep in mind that the themes for each contest weren’t cheap—they required rare and expensive ingredients, at the very least. Otherwise, you couldn’t even enter after signing up.

In short, if you didn’t have money, you couldn’t compete. You should go back to being an ordinary chef instead of aiming to become a God of Cooking.

This time was different. With Chen Xiyi’s support, there were cash prizes for various rankings, and the rule about bringing your own ingredients was abolished. Of course, the preliminaries used common home-style dishes.

They also used this opportunity to host a continuous banquet where anyone could eat, conveniently using up the competition dishes.

As for how they advanced, it depended on the special effects emitted by the dishes.

With so many competitors, they couldn’t taste every dish. Only those that produced effects reaching a certain threshold could qualify for advancement.

In this world, the “color” in color, aroma, and taste referred to the special effects when a dish was completed, not its actual color.

“High rewards attract brave participants. But it seems I came too early. How many days will the entire competition take?” Chen Xiyi asked.

“Three days for preliminaries, three days for the top 100, two days for the top 36, one day for the top three, and one more day for the final God of Cooking match—ten days in total,” the Food God Association member quickly answered.

The top 100 round wouldn’t be a continuous banquet anymore; specialized judges would evaluate the dishes. The top 36 would be even stricter, all the way until the final God of Cooking match.

Of course, Chen Xiyi didn’t need to participate. He could just come on the last day for the God of Cooking match.

As for the competition themes, Chen Xiyi didn’t know them either. They would be drawn on the day of the contest rather than decided in advance, to prevent leaks.

They weren’t worried about themselves leaking the themes—they were worried about Chen Xiyi’s lawless behavior potentially causing leaks.

“I see. Then I’ll come back for the God of Cooking match,” Chen Xiyi said. He really hadn’t looked into the specific schedule.

As the leader, he just gave orders while others did the work. There was no need for him to worry about such details.

“Mr. Chen, won’t you stay and look around? The association hasn’t been this lively in years. You could also sample some dishes,” the Food God Association member said quite enthusiastically. If he could please this big sponsor, at least the association’s future expenses wouldn’t be a concern.

Chen Xiyi shook his head. “I’ll pass. It’s messy and troublesome to walk through, and it might affect the contestants’ performance.”

The first nine days held little meaning for him; he only needed to watch the God of Cooking match.

For now, it seemed relatively fair and just, since the organization under Chen Xiyi’s control was supervising. Although there might be some bias, there should be no issue regarding Chen Xiyi’s instruction to take care of Liu Ping.

Well, this fairness and justice were according to Chen Xiyi’s standards, not normal ones.

If he thought it was fair and just, then it was fair and just.

“Alright then, Mr. Chen, where are you heading? I can give you a ride since I’m free anyway.”

Chen Xiyi glanced at the man. He had to admit, his bootlicking skills were impressive—he really seized every opportunity without letting any slip by.

“No need. You should focus on maintaining the competition venue. I’ll go on my own,” Chen Xiyi firmly refused.

He planned to visit the Hidden Realm Cave Heaven to see if he could find Ao Lü’s Dragon Pearl.

He had seen its last known location in the other’s memories, so it wouldn’t hurt to check.

“Alright, Mr. Chen, take care,” the man said. He wasn’t a fool; if he kept pushing after repeated rejections, he might end up worse off. He knew when to stop.

“Go attend to your duties,” Chen Xiyi waved and left on his own.

The Peach Blossom Luck Bloodline Bearers had all died out—9,999 of them, not one more, not one less.

Their bodies were all buried in Chen Xiyi’s Graveyard. Not even a trace of filth remained; they didn’t even struggle before death.

Those beauties might have looked like ordinary women, but that was just their disguise. Their tough structures definitely weren’t human.

Especially when they were at their most relaxed, they were killed without even reacting—gone in an instant.

Afterward, Chen Xiyi’s Clones were all separated and properly placed.

This process completely replaced them.

Thus, Chen Xiyi understood why the Peach Blossom Ancestor didn’t use the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art—the flaws were too significant.

If even he could create clones, including their Primordial Spirits, others surely had ways to counter it too. No wonder he ultimately chose Soul Possession to revive.

Ao Lü probably resorted to the Bloodline Descendant Rebirth Art as a last-ditch gamble.

To be honest, without Chen Xiyi, he might have succeeded. Too bad.

But Ao Lü definitely didn’t expect his Grotto-Heaven to have problems. He had sealed the Dragon Vein Flora and Fauna, but he only sealed them. No one could have predicted an earthquake would reveal the Grotto-Heaven’s entrance.

Chen Xiyi found a place with no people or surveillance cameras and teleported to the Underground Shelter inside the Grotto-Heaven—the one he had dug earlier.

It seemed that within the Home Game, this Grotto-Heaven was considered a mini-map rather than a separate world, which was why teleportation worked.

Chen Xiyi couldn’t use the Home Protector’s teleportation function to reach shelters in other worlds.

Otherwise, he would have become powerful long ago, finding a way to bring Lin Feng over from next door. Then he wouldn’t fear Ao Lü, even if another First God of Cuisine showed up.

After leaving the Shelter, Chen Xiyi used Ao Lü’s memories to compare with the Game Map and quickly pinpointed the Dragon Pearl’s approximate location.

This Hidden Realm was quite large—at least a thousand li across. Ao Lü was truly lucky to obtain such a natural treasure.

Of course, Cultivators at the Great Ascension Stage were incredibly powerful.

Burning mountains and boiling seas were minor feats to them. Thankfully, Ao Lü could suppress such urges, or perhaps he only cared about beauty.

If it were Chen Xiyi, he would have turned everything upside down long ago.

Ao Lü did cause trouble in the end, but the First God of Cuisine was even fiercer—he simply chopped him up.

“If Ao Lü was a Half-Step Immortal, does that mean the First God of Cuisine had touched the threshold of immortality?”

Chen Xiyi didn’t know what level “immortal” referred to in Ao Lü’s memories, but it was said that after becoming immortal, one would ascend to the Immortal Realm—well, so it was said.

This gave Chen Xiyi a feeling of a nested world—Immortal Realm, Divine Realm, Chaos Realm.

Cultivators who ascended from the lower realms were weaker than dogs in the upper realms. It wasn’t uncommon for a newborn baby’s breath to severely injure the most powerful Cultivator from the lower realms.

“Tch, if this really is that kind of world, then it’s just terrible luck.”

If it were Chen Xiyi, he definitely wouldn’t ascend. Why go up? To get beaten up?

Along the way, he dealt with many Dragon Vein Flora and Fauna that came at him. These creatures held great hostility toward humans.

Soon, Chen Xiyi reached his destination—a raised mound.

“If, and I mean if, I deplete this Grotto-Heaven’s health bar and then gather it, would I obtain a Homestead space?”

Chen Xiyi looked at the mound, as if he had thought of something.

The entire Grotto-Heaven was about 500,000 square meters, with the ground about 3,000 meters from the sky.

Although it couldn’t compare to the First Immortal’s Spirit World, it still had some land.

Since the Spirit World had a health bar, this Grotto-Heaven must have one too.

If he emptied the Grotto-Heaven’s health bar and gathered it, he should get decent rewards.

Chen Xiyi thought about it and decided it was quite feasible.

“Fortunately, it’s only a thousand li across and has boundaries.”

Having boundaries meant Chen Xiyi could attack them. It wasn’t like the Spirit World, which was so large he didn’t even know how to target it.

“Let’s not rush. I’ll check the Dragon Pearl’s situation first, then install TNT at the boundaries.”

If he blew up the Grotto-Heaven now and Ao Lü couldn’t revive, what would he do? He was counting on gathering him.

Ao Lü’s value wasn’t inferior to this Grotto-Heaven.

Chen Xiyi hoped to gather a Cultivation Module from Ao Lü. Even if he got a Peach Blossom Luck Divine Ability, even if he couldn’t use it himself, he might still be able to research something from it.

After all, this was a Karma Divine Ability, and a rare one at that.

“This mound should be Ao Lü’s remains from back then, right? I think it’s the front half—probably where the dragon’s head was.”

“His body was huge. Just his head alone formed a small hill.”

Chen Xiyi looked at the small hill, took out his Alloy Pickaxe, and prepared to gather it.

But he thought again and put it away. What if his hand slipped and he gathered the Dragon Pearl? Then Ao Lü couldn’t revive.

After all, once something was Homesteaded, no matter how powerful, it would turn into an item or material.