Chapter 426: Darkhorse

Mei Shiwu won the first round of the tournament without any accidents. Even if his opponent cooked a dish more delicious than his, it won’t surpass his by much and it couldn’t defeat the effect of affecting longevity. His opponent didn’t show much surprise at the judgment. From the moment he heard that Mei Shiwu’s Thousand Year Longevity Noodle could extend the lifespan, he knew he had lost.

For immortal chefs, the effects of the dish cooked were the most important. Taste was secondary. Mei Shiwu’s Thousand Year Longevity Noodles didn’t need to taste good, but he would win because of its effect. Of course, his pride as an immortal chef would not allow him to cook a subpar dish in terms of taste. Good immortal chefs made dishes with powerful effects. Great immortal chef cooked dishes that had powerful effects and tasted good.

And so, the second match of the first round of the tournament began. The two contestants also filled the venue with fragrant dishes. But compared to the first match, it was obviously a little inferior. Even the guests sitting in the first layer of seating did not eat the finished products with much gusto.

The winner of the second match didn’t show much pleasure at winning. Instead, he stared at Mei Shiwu with a competitive spirit. Mei Shiwu glanced at him and then looked away without much interest. He was still thinking about how to make the mysterious couple pick up their chopsticks.

After the second match, the third match started and ended. It was only in the fourth match that the excitement returned. The impression of Mei Shiwu’s Thousand Year Longevity Noodles gradually faded from their minds, but it never fully left. Somewhere, in the back of their minds, it would always remain, waiting for the right moment to appear.

The first round of the tournament ended without much surprise. Unlike Mei Shiwu’s match, most of them only won because of minute differences in their dishes. Sometimes, the ten judges would start arguing over the final decision. The judged contestants could only wait with bated breaths for the final conclusion. Those who won sighed in relief while those who lost could only slump in defeat and hone their skills for the next century culinary competition.

By the time the quarter-finals arrived, four chefs seemed to be a shoo-in for the semi-finals. They were Mei Shiwu, the other two nascent soul grandmasters, and a core formation master. Once the quarter-final matches began, everyone couldn’t help but swallow their saliva. Because starting in this round, the dishes must include the meat of the Fire-Water Duality Duck. Most of the audience knew that they could only watch and not eat it, but that didn’t stop their mouths from watering.

Mei Shiwu and his opponent stepped into the arena, and the first of the quarter-final’s four matches began. Unlike the previous rounds, the chefs had ten days to cook their dishes, and most of them chose to cook more than one dish, a bowl of rice, a main dish, and some side dishes.

Mei Shiwu cooked a bowl of rice and fried it in duck fat. Despite being fried, each grain still looked milky white, and exuded a mouth-watering aroma. For side dishes, he wrapped some duck skin around some leeks and grilled them low and slow. The heat caused the skin to become a crispy brown, occasionally popping with fat.

As for the main dish, it was cubed duck breast. Mei Shiwu had rendered the duck fat into tallow. Using a shallow pan, he fried the cubed duck breast until the exterior was a crispy brown, and the interior was medium rare. He wasn’t done yet.

Mei Shiwu dumped a large spoonful of tallow into a wok. Once it melted, he threw a large amount of cubed vegetables into the wok and started stir-frying them. Once they were almost fully cooked and the sides had started to caramelize, he threw in the cubed duck breasts. Under his control, the fire under the wok burned blue, drastically increasing the heat.

The cubed meat and vegetables started sizzling even more, but before they could be burnt, Mei Shiwu poured in a large amount of red-colored sauce. It was a sweet and savory sauce full of umami that Mei Shiwu had concocted for years.

The immortal chefs did not only have to use the ingredients provided, they could also bring their own creations. In fact, most immortal chefs had a variety of sauces they prepared ahead of time. Each sauce took a long time to ferment and used hundreds, if not thousands, of ingredients to prepare. The red sauce Mei Shiwu used was one he prepared for red meat.

Mei Shiwu tossed the ingredients in the wok a few more times, allowing the sauce to coat every inch of them. Then, he poured them onto the prepared plates. Doused in the red sauce, each cube looked no different from each other and glistened red under the light.

“I’m done,” Mei Shiwu said.

Like always, he finished his dishes first and presented them to the judge. The judges, including Chef Kuai, picked up their chopsticks. Since the first match, Mei Shiwu had always amazed the judges. Each dish he presented was the focus point of the round. It always made the judges disappointed with the next dish. He was already the clear favorite to win the century culinary competition.

Chef Kuai picked up a piece of the duck skin-wrapped leeks. “The skin gives it a crispy texture, and the leek is perfectly cooked. It’s soft without being mushy, and it has a slight medicinal flavor that is very enjoyable. I can feel the wood qi flowing through my body.”

Then, he picked up a cube doused in red sauce. He raised it to eye level, and after some inspection, he put it into his mouth. “Delicious. It’s not just the duck breast, but the vegetables have a nice crispy exterior that wasn’t softened by the sauce. The mellow flavor of the inside is enhanced by the savory and sweet sauce.”

He ate a mouthful of white rice. After finishing it, he said, “The white rice is rich, yet not heavy. Combined with the main dish, it perfectly balances the heavy flavor out.”

“The duck meat is succulent, and not dry and perfectly tender. Furthermore, each bite releases a burst of vitality and qi. Were it not for my age, I might want to attempt the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation,” Chef Kuai joked after biting into a duck breast cube.

The other judges glanced at one another. Even after eating the Thousand Year Longevity Noodle, Chef Kuai didn’t make a joke. It can be seen that Mei Shiwu’s dish really satisfied him. After eating, the other judges also gave praise after praise.

While most immortal chefs would have fainted from the praise, Mei Shiwu only focused his attention on Lord and Lady Xi. When he saw that neither touched their chopsticks, he clenched his fist and vowed to make the two beg to eat his cooking, forever unable to forget his dish.

Mei Shiwu won without any suspense, and the second match of the quarter-finals started. Although the dishes cooked weren’t as impressive as Mei Shiwu’s, the competing immortal chefs still impressed the audience with their skills and dishes.

The second match had two core formation masters competing against each other, so the winner wasn’t as clear cut. One of the two immortal chefs won by a narrow margin. However, this was likely as far as he would go. As for the third match, it was a nascent soul grandmaster against a core formation master. Like the first match, the nascent soul grandmaster won.

The fourth match had a nascent soul grandmaster going against a core formation master. Without any accident, the nascent soul grandmaster would win. The nascent soul grandmaster only used seven days and finished his dish, and handed it to the judge. Although his dish didn’t reach the same height as Mei Shiwu, it still got rave reviews, like the winner of the third match.

No one expected the core formation master to win. Compared to the nascent soul grandmaster, he took the full ten days. And when he was done, he presented his dish in a large clay pot.

“This is my, Gao Chushi’s, dish, duck rice bowl. Please have a taste,” the core formation master said.

Like before, Chef Kuai moved first. He grabbed the lid of the clay pot and took it off. A burst of white steam buffeted his face. Had it been a mortal, the heat would have melted his skin off, but as a cultivator, he only felt a bit of heat. Then came the condensed aroma. Because the fragrance had been sealed inside, he got a full blast of it when he opened. Even if the fragrance weakened, it would still be imprinted into his mind.

He peeked into a bowl and ingredients garnishing the rice. In the center was a soft-boiled egg yolk. On the side, there were some red fermented cabbage-like vegetables, salted cucumber-like vegetables and pickled bean sprouts covering half of it. Their other half had layers of fatty duck meat sliced extremely thin.

Chef Kuai picked up the side dishes and ate them one by one. He also ate a mouthful of rice. “It’s a good dish. However, it is slightly inferior to Chef Huai’s dish. The components work well, all except the egg yolk, which brings disharmony.”

Gao Chushi’s brows twitched, but he didn’t say anything. Then the other judges started eating. Chef Kaui expected them to agree, but to his surprise, eight of them disagreed. He saw them devour the dish like ravenous wolves without a hint of elegance. Not only that, but they mixed up all the ingredients and rice together.

“I have to disagree. The egg yolks make for the perfect sauce, be it for the rice or the meat.,” one judge said.

Chef Kuai frowned and joined the argument, something he had never done before. Before, he always judged from high above, with the other judges echoing his thoughts and only arguing over the minor details. But this time, a clash of conflict occurred.

In the end, the points from the eight judges gave Gao Chushi the win over the nascent soul grandmaster. With such a turnaround, the crowd stared at the winner. From his age, he wasn’t even a hundred, meaning that this was his first century culinary competition. Not only did he become one of the top four chefs of the Shi Realm, but he also defeated a nascent soul grandmaster for it. Although there was some contention, especially from the conservative chefs, it also displayed his potential.

The one most affected wasn’t anyone else but Mei Shiwu. He didn’t care about Gao Chushi’s duck rice bowl. In his eyes, even if Chef Kuai approved of it more, it still couldn’t beat him. But the thing that shocked him most was that the mysterious couple actually picked up their chopsticks and ate the dish!

Sure, they only ate a few mouthfuls, but this was the first time they partook of any food. Mei Shiwu stared at Gao Chushi, wanting to dissect him and pick apart his brains. Just how did he do it? Was it just because of the novelty?

Gao Chushi sensed Mei Shiwu’s gaze. Although he was confused as to why Mei Shiwu stared at him so seriously, he gazed back with a fighting spirit.

With the quarter-finals over, the semi-finals began. This time, Mei Shiwu created an even better dish than the quarter-finals, yet the mysterious couple didn’t even taste it. The only solace Mei Shiwu found was that they didn’t try Gao Chushi’s dish again. However, the core formation master actually defeated another nascent soul grandmaster and moved to the finals.

Even Chef Kuai judged Gao Chushi’s dish as equal to the nascent soul grandmaster, despite not conforming to traditional values.

Unlike the quarter or semi-finals, each immortal chef had a whole month to cook their dish.

Mei Shiwu and Gao Chushi stared at one another. Fire burned in each of their eyes.