The beginning is only when you become a chef

Chapter 221 Master Teacher Mode: The Flesh of the Sky Deer Divine Heir (6K)

Lijiang City, a ten-mile gallery.

Xia An, carrying her suitcase, looked at the newly renovated rural house in front of her and couldn't help but smile.

Lu Jiaxin boasted, "I'm taking credit for this!"

"How about it, Boss Xia? The secluded cottage designed for you by a professional team, isn't it to your liking?"

Xia An nodded. After receiving the property deed and becoming the true owner of the house, he asked Lu Jiaxin to find someone to renovate the house.

The house, originally a guesthouse in the scenic area, has become even more elegant and cozy after renovation and furnishing.

In the courtyard, Xia An's "old buddy," the original tricycle used for street vending, is still parked by the pond.

The key was still in the ignition.

The neon sign, now dark, reads: "Bo Bo Chicken, one yuan per skewer."

Xia An plopped down on the tricycle, tried to start it, and skillfully reversed, the tricycle then blared its familiar electronic sound—

"Reversing...Please be careful...Please be careful while reversing..."

"Haha!" Xia An laughed heartily. The surreal feeling of returning from the neon-lit Cat Island Festival and the Demon Village Feast suddenly vanished completely.

Yes, this is the land of China after the founding of the People's Republic, where supernatural beings are not allowed. It is a very scientific and realistic material plane.

however…

Xia An and the demon's notebook within her body maintained a strong mental connection.

With a single thought, one can summon the avatars of three great demons…

Of course, this also includes Shuten-dōji, who has already become his natal magic weapon.

This left Xia An with rather mixed feelings.

I went to Japan, and it turns out I'm the urban legend?
The timing of my return home was very inconvenient.

My daughter is in daycare.

However, Xia An, as a father, was already thinking about how to prepare a feast to fill his foodie daughter's stomach and appease her resentment...

"Go and choose your own rooms and settle in."

Xia An waved his hand, instructing the female disciples who had followed him home to go upstairs and choose a single room.

The houses, converted from guesthouses in scenic areas, have many rooms, aside from other advantages.

Before long, Erina, Alice, Miyoko, and Rindou Kobayashi had chosen their rooms and settled in, then gathered in the lobby on the first floor.

"Master, how do you plan to arrange our 'field study' project?"

Aside from the soon-to-be graduate, Rindou Kobayashi looked on with an air of detached amusement.

The other three female disciples seemed much more nervous.

That's right!

The Far Moon Society greatly respected Xia An, and simply arranged for Erina, Alice, and Miyoko to have their studies and internships with their master, Xia An.

As long as they produce tangible results, Xia An will put a checkmark on the assessment form, and the three female disciples will pass the assessment.

Xia An smiled and said, "What do you guys think about setting up a street stall?"

"Street stalls?"

The female disciples looked at each other, not particularly surprised.

After all, their own master's original profession was also selling goods at a street stall.

Xia An said leisurely, "The three of you can choose one of the recipes and dishes from my pre-trip menu in Japan as the topic for this stall."

"Then, you will have a week to practice diligently."

“You’ll come with me to set up a stall in a week.”

Lu Jiaxin interjected with a smile:

"Oh dear, the first stop on our itinerary has been decided: the ancient capital of Xi'an."

"To be precise, it is Xi'an's 'Tang Dynasty Never Sleeps City'."

"The Xi'an cultural tourism sector has decided to work with Mr. Xia to create an IP-themed food street, so the three of you can definitely open your own stalls on the street."

Kobayashi Rindou laughed heartily, stirring up trouble:

"That's interesting!"

"After learning the master's true skills, will you then go to the food street and face the discerning palates of the public?"

Erina, Alice, and Miyoko all cast unfriendly glances at this soon-to-be graduate and senior student.

Kobayashi Rindou, however, ignored his junior's annoyance and chuckled, muttering to himself while counting on his fingers:

"Let me count, what were Master's signature dishes before his trip to Japan..."

"A lobster version of 'Fierce Ice Sea Bream Mountain'?"

"A heavily modified version of 'Kaihua Guoba'?"

"Flaming Dumpling Soup," a modified version of Flaming Dumplings?

Of course, there's also the culinary challenge dish with Xiang Shilin, "Sichuan Spicy Ginger Rabbit," and the "Catfish Noodles" and "Great Milky Way Noodles," which were recreated on the stage of the Sichuan Juxialou Food Competition.

And, the famous articles that made the name of Chef Asia resound throughout China again, "Tianxiong Roasted Bluefish" and "Unifying the Seven Kingdoms Fried Noodles".

The female disciples reminisced about their master Xia An Ni Hong's famous essays written before her departure, their eyes shining.

Miyoko Hojo tried to say:

"...Can I learn the recipe for 'Sichuan Spicy Ginger Rabbit' as a topic for my street stall?"

Alice, Erina, and Rindou Kobayashi were all astonished.

It's important to know that "Sichuan Spicy Ginger Rabbit" is a genuine Food Wars dish, closely centered around the "Cheese Rabbit," a level 12 gold-tier ingredient.

Xia An smiled and waved his hand generously:

"The cheese rabbit ingredients are plentiful, and they are all perfectly processed."

"But you have to make a pledge, and after squandering the ingredients, you have to produce results."

The female disciples were greatly surprised, their pupils dilating in shock.

"what--"

Good news! You can start using the level 12 [Cheese Rabbit] ingredient during the practice phase.

Bad news…

The fact that the ingredients were of perfect quality made the group feel quite uneasy.

Alice couldn't help but say, "Master, are you kidding us? This is really an ingredient we can handle?"

"Level 12 cheese rabbits, perfectly processed, and you're just going to keep supplying them so readily, letting us squander them?"

Xia An corrected with a smile:
"No, no, no, it's for Miyoko-chan to squander as she pleases."

"Of course, you two can choose other topics and dishes for your stall, and all the ingredients will be provided."

Alice cheered in Wuhu: "Yay!"

Erina, resting her fair chin on her hand, quickly entered a brainstorming state, thinking about which classic recipe from her master she should practice and replicate.

Kobayashi Rindou couldn't sit still any longer and started shouting:
"Then I want to set up a stall too! I want to learn one of your true teachings, Master!"

Alice chuckled and said, "Senior Lin, I think you're just envious of the perfect fantasy ingredients that you're readily offering!"

Kobayashi Rindou grunted in admission:
"So what if I'm jealous?"

After much deliberation, Alice and Erina decided on their stall project.

Alice intends to continue honing her knife skills, so she chose "Frozen Sea Snapper Mountain".

Erina then honed her skills in controlling the heat and, at the same time, leveraged her divine tongue's absolute advantage in seasoning, ultimately finalizing the recipe for "Flaming Dumpling Soup".

As for Kobayashi Rindou.

She originally wanted to be a kitchen helper and stay close to her master, but seeing how generous her master was, providing all sorts of perfect fantasy ingredients for his disciples to practice making dishes, how could Kobayashi Rindou sit still? So she also strongly requested to participate in the stall project.

Finally, Kobayashi Rindou listened to Xia An's advice and chose "Roasted Crocodile Meat".

This crocodile meat naturally comes from the [Kaira Crocodile].

Xia An first had his disciples familiarize themselves with the recipe. He pretended to make a phone call to Dongye Gang to discuss purchasing ingredients in bulk, but in reality, he activated cross-dimensional teleportation and took a step to arrive at the residence of the demons.

"As expected, there's no signal problem; we can transmit at any time!"

After personally testing that there were no obstacles in traversing the coordinates and that it was not necessary to go to Neon Cat Island to activate it, Xia An smiled broadly.

And they sensed the presence of the 'clone'.

The three demon kings, Fox Girl Long, Guhuoniao Bai, and Great Tengu Yu, instantly descended into the courtyard of their residence, gazing longingly at the open bamboo curtains of the living room.

Standing in the hall, Xia An could naturally sense the covetousness, fervor, and desire in the eyes of the three demon kings.

"According to the contract... we are to enjoy your latest creation, 'Golden Broth Crab with Egg White'!"

"Come on, I'll make sure you're full!"

Only an hour later, with the help of the [Silver Chopsticks Ten Pots Return] technique, Xia An easily satisfied the three demon kings.

In the living room of a private residence.

The alluring fox spirit Long's cheeks were flushed, her eyes were glazed, and she stroked her slightly protruding belly, which could not be concealed by her gold-embroidered robe, and unconsciously exhaled a hot breath.

The white-haired girl, Guhuoniao, also lacked any of the aloofness of a young girl, sitting in a languid posture.

Even the elegant Ōtengu Yu had lost his refined gentlemanly demeanor, licking an empty plate repeatedly while making strange noises.

"Alright." Xia An said with a smile, making the three demon kings look over. "You've eaten your fill, it's time to get back to work."

"I need four ingredients: crab-pig, cheese rabbit, four-finned sailfish, and Kayla crocodile. Ideally, I should catch them alive..."

The three demon kings' avatars and spirits are locked in the demon's notebook. Without Xia An's permission, they cannot even observe the outside world, let alone manifest in the real world on their own.

Of course, the three demon kings did not ask Xia An why he hunted these ingredients.

They just eat until they're full.

Then you just get to work and that's it.

Watching the demon kings take off on their respective missions, Xia An withdrew his gaze and sighed to himself, "I've searched the entire Blue Star world, and I'm afraid only my master is so generous as to provide his disciples with unlimited amounts of gold-grade ingredients for practice."

We also need to add a prefix—

perfect quality!

Xia An would not personally handle the carving. With the imitation [Greedy Wolf Pot] embedded with the third fragment, he could simply use his supernatural abilities to mass-produce them.

What... loss?
He believed that the upgraded [Greedy Wolf Pot] would greatly increase the success rate of processing gold-tier ingredients, even approaching 100%.

Well, Xia An decided to remake the replica himself to embed this third fresh and hot artifact fragment.

Don't forget, he himself is a grinder, and his skill level is very high, enough to take on private custom orders for pseudo-dragon kitchenware.

Just as Xia An was about to make his move.

"Ding dong!"

A pleasant notification suddenly rang in my ears.

"A new objective has been triggered?" Xia An opened the Chef God panel in surprise, then his expression became very strange.

The Chef's panel has been temporarily switched to Master Chef mode.

[Objective triggered: Train a female disciple and help her master one of your classic recipes (Life Menu/Improved Ancient Recipe, etc.)]

[Branch 1: The female disciple successfully replicated the dish using 'Bronze Tier' ingredients, and the host receives an equivalent reward (100% perfect cooking insights from any Bronze Tier ingredient)]

[Branch 2: The female disciple successfully replicates the dish using 'Silver Tier' ingredients, and the host receives double the reward (100% perfect cooking insights from any two Silver Tier ingredients)]

[Branch 3: The female disciple successfully replicated the dish using 'Gold-Tier' ingredients, and the host receives tenfold rewards...]

"There's also a 'Celebrity Teacher' mode?"

Xia An carefully examined the three branch objectives and thought to himself, "This means that there will be rewards for teaching apprentices? Then why has this mode never been triggered before?"

He guessed it was because his cooking skills had improved; on the Chef God panel, he, the host, was getting closer and closer to the True Scale level.

The rewards for mentoring students are exactly the kind of "accumulation" that Xia An needs.

Being young and having only recently risen to prominence means having fewer opportunities to explore, cook, and master the ingredients of one's imagination.

This is due to a weak "accumulation".

Let's take the tenfold reward for mentoring someone from branch ③ as an example. If you obtain 100% perfect cooking insights for 10 kinds of gold-tier ingredients, how much hard work and research would you save?

Xia An smiled inwardly and pondered:
“Erina, Alice, Midoriko, and Gentian are not even top-tier chefs. Logically speaking, they have no chance of cooking or handling gold-tier ingredients.”

"But what can I do? I'm their master... I can provide them with an endless supply of perfectly prepared ingredients."

A perfect product means that it is free from dirt and contamination.

The culinary cells have been completely tamed.

An ordinary person could easily cook and eat it.

Furthermore, the female disciples will practice according to Xia An's recipes, providing them with a clear path to follow and allowing them to showcase their culinary skills within a well-defined framework. There's no need to worry that they'll be wielding a dragon-slaying sword without possessing unparalleled internal martial arts techniques.

Perfect ingredients + perfect path!

Next, he would silently wait for his female disciples to succeed and give him, their master, a reward.

"correct."

Xia An took out an exquisitely sealed container about the size of a jewelry box. After unlocking it with her fingerprint, the lid slowly rose with a click.

Amidst the billowing white mist, a square piece of food weighing only 50 grams gleamed with a mysterious luster.

hiss…

Xia An reluctantly looked away, closed the lid tightly, and the surging sensation of the food cells in her body gradually subsided.

"I haven't even eaten it yet, but just looking at it is enough to instantly awaken the gourmet demon that was perfectly suppressed by the true essence of light." Xia An muttered to himself, a chill running down his spine. "This 'divine ingredient' is far too dangerous!"

"It's like an extremely evil thing that can drive people mad just by looking at it from afar!"

That's right.

This is how Xia An described it—

An extremely evil thing!

In his view, aren't the 'divine cells' and 'divine sequences' that cannot be contained or tamed just such evil things?

Fortunately, it was just a demon residing inside her that was stirring, and it wasn't to the point that it could affect her mind at a glance.

At the same time, just two or three seconds later, Xia An's "data eye" successfully extracted the information.

……

[Ingredient: Meat of the Sky Deer Offspring]

[Rank: Divinity (Weak)]

Legend has it that there are top-level beings in the culinary world known as the 'Eight Kings,' and the 'Sky Deer' is the Deer King, or rather, the Deer God, one of the Eight Kings.

Due to inexplicable changes in the culinary world, the divine offspring and their descendants, who originally inhabited the forest on the Deer King's back, have scattered to various places.

This branch of the royal descendants is gentle and dislikes conflict. They live hidden deep within a secret realm, and only gourmet hunters with extraordinary luck can track them down and meet the divine offspring.

……

Xia An breathed a slight sigh of relief.

If God's egg can be identified, there's no reason why divine ingredients can't. In terms of level and status, God is far superior to the Eight Kings Ancestor.

He then reviewed the ingredient information provided by the Murphy siblings:
"...This Deer King's offspring...after multiple verifications by the Gourmet Association, its capture level is around 110."

"The recommended life menu path is 'meat dishes' and 'meat dishes'."

what.

The document includes a semi-finished recipe titled "Sous Chew and Pan-Fried Sky Venison".

Xia An read it carefully.

"① Pre-marinating process: It needs to be marinated for three days with 92-grade 'Sweet Cola' (Salamund Phantom's Tears). The special carbonic acid in the beverage will gradually penetrate into the ingredients during the marinating process, thereby destroying the protein structure of the meat and making the meat fibers loose and soft."

"② Formal cooking stage: Put the venison into a sous-vide cooker and cook at a constant temperature for 8 hours. After this process, the meat should have a light pink color in the center and be firm and elastic, about medium-rare."

"The core of this process lies in balancing the tenderness and juiciness of the meat through precise temperature control."

"Use 68-level 'air-water' for cooking throughout the entire process to absolutely avoid contamination and bacteria."

"③ Second cooking step: Pan-fry in a skillet, using level 80 'Morse Oil'. After pan-frying, the Sky Deer meat will be completely free of any impurities, retaining the original clean flavor of this divine ingredient..."

"④ Finishing touches..."

The recipe goes up to step 4, which is just a series of ellipses indicating that the next step will not be completed.

Xia An: ? ?

"That's it?" He rubbed his temples, his expression shifting.

Despite the detailed procedures and information in the first few steps, and the fact that the deduction and research progress may be 70% or 80%, this recipe still has a major flaw precisely because the final seasoning and plating step is completely blank.

Accumulate ingredients, cook a certain number of times, and then deduce the complete process...

The Murphy siblings and the food club behind them simply cannot afford such waste and extravagance!
what.

I'll go back and look at the ingredient information again.

Xia An noticed that the panel had changed.

……

[Ingredient: Meat of the Sky Deer Offspring]

[Rank: Divinity (Weak)]

[Feasible Cooking Recipe - Sous-vide and Pan-fried Sky Venison (75%)]

[Practice this recipe to 100% perfection and cook it flawlessly to decipher the secrets of the divine sequence and divine cells.]

……

The incomplete recipes that have been successfully included are strikingly illuminated with a faint orange-red hue.

Not the timeless classic of gold, but a legendary orange-red of an even higher level?

Xia An remained silent for a long time before whispering to herself, "Does this count as being certified by the Chef God panel?"

However, filling in the remaining 25% of the seasoning is easier said than done.

Even with their father, a powerful figure in the dragon industry, carefully guiding them, the Murphy siblings are still stuck at this stage.

Essentially, it's because divine ingredients are too precious to withstand any waste in practice.

"Let's work hard to unlock 'Extreme Seasoning' first. The seasoning attribute value can't be too bad."

Xia An formulated a plan in his mind: "Hmm, continue to improve my cooking skills by one level... become a True Lin, shed the pseudo title, only then will I be considered to have met the standard in terms of cooking skills and be qualified to fill the remaining 25% of the content!"

He calmed his restless mind.

It took some time to reforge the replica of the "Greedy Wolf Pot" using the skills of a polishing master.

After the third artifact fragment was embedded, the information about the Greedy Wolf Pot also changed significantly.

……

[Noble Phantasm: Greedy Wolf Pot (Fake)]

[Grade: Pseudo-gold]

[Supernatural (Medium)]

……

Weak, slight, small, moderate, strong, great.

When it was a weak deity, the Greedy Wolf Pot's data panel was purple. Now that it has advanced to a mid-level deity, the interface has changed color to the next stage, becoming a pseudo-gold frame with a faint golden glow...

Xia An took a deep breath.

He quickly retrieved the treasured level 92 ingredient, Sweet Cola, from the replica [Spirit Treasury], poured out a small cup, and once again tentatively poured it into the reworked and upgraded Greedy Wolf Pot.

It only took two or three seconds.

The object then vibrated slightly before Xia An's eyes, and a faint halo appeared on its surface.

"Finally, there's a response—" Xia An was overjoyed.

We are not afraid of processing failures, nor are we afraid of low success rates.

He feared that it would be the same as the last time he tried, with the pot remaining silent and unresponsive.

A moment later, Xia An pinched her nose and poured out the failed product.

The originally bright and sweet-smelling grade 92 liquid ingredients have turned into a pool of filthy, foul-smelling water.

Xia An patiently washed the teapot, trying repeatedly.

Once... five times... ten times...

Gradually.

Xia An started to lose her composure.

"This success rate in processing is rather impressive!"

Finally, after using up about 3 kilograms of stock, they succeeded on their first try, obtaining a cup of absolutely pure and perfect sweet cola.

The three returning demon kings were astonished to see Xia An lying exhausted on the tatami mats in the teahouse.

"Master, what's wrong...?"

Xia An smiled wearily: "It's nothing, I just suddenly fell into a state of enlightenment after a huge and extravagant waste."

At this moment, the demon kings also noticed the cup that Xia An was gripping tightly in his hand.

The gently rippling liquid was filled with the aura of a heavenly spring; even a demon king would feel an ethereal bliss upon taking a sip.

The fox spirit Long exclaimed in surprise, "This is perfect, sweet cola?"

"Can't be wrong!"

Da Tengu Yu said, "This ingredient was actually the tears of the 'Salamund Phoenix,' containing a strong beastly will and a savage and intense flavor, but now all of that is gone!"

Guhuoniao Bai: "The hunters of the Demon Realm are used to calling this level 92 ferocious beast a 'Salamander-bodied Lion-faced Beast'..."

As they spoke, the three demon kings volunteered in unison:
"If Master needs a lot of 'Sweet Cola', I can do my duty and make a trip to the secret realm."

"I only hope that one day I will be fortunate enough to taste a small cup of the perfect drink... just a tiny cup! I dare not ask for more!"

Xia An: ? ?

Look at the eager expressions of the demon kings.

"Uh, you guys can solo the dungeon?"

The Demon King, on the contrary, found it strange.

Long: "Solo? That's an open-world dungeon, a small world, an ancient ruin, where no living being is restricted from entering or leaving."

Yu: "We can easily reach the deepest part, find all the living 'Salamanders with Lion-like Faces' and obtain their tears."

Bai: "Hmm... I vaguely remember that the method of collecting tears is quite particular. Let me ask Chief Lei Xiang or Priestess Zi Yuan for details!"

After Xia An remained silent, he finally nodded.

The three demon kings each dropped the fresh ingredients whose movements were restricted by their demonic power, and then, fearing they would fall behind by even half a second, they transformed into streaks of light and disappeared one after another.

Xia An: "..."

He looked at the crab-pig, cheese rabbit, four-finned sailfish, and Kayla crocodile that had been captured in the courtyard.

After a moment, Xia An chuckled and shook his head:

"Well, so in the eyes of the demon kings, the level 92 'Sweet Cola' is not difficult to obtain."

His thinking is outdated.

Or rather, despite signing a contract with the three demon kings, Xia An never truly understood the power they wielded.

At the same time, Xia An gained a new understanding of the Spirit Master profession in the Land of Demons—

Compared to Gourmet Hunters who rely solely on sequence and cellular power.

Spirit Masters can command monsters far stronger than themselves, using the monsters' power as a lever to glimpse a higher level of scenery!
"Now that we've obtained our first perfect and pure 'sweet cola,' can we start preparing the second half of the recipe for the Ancient Regeneration Master's Inheritance, Animal Chapter?"

Shortly after.

A perfectly blended concoction, its vibrant color infused with blood.

The cup in Xia An's hand was poured out, drenching a lifeless giant egg.

Boom!
dong dong!

(End of this chapter)