Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 8 So, what is this pot of stuff that's been simmering—a soup, a stew, or just some ingredients?
[Soy milk? ? ?]

[Hilarious! The Ice and Fire Chef can't keep up the act now. How could a chef from Sichuan and Chongqing possibly use Beijing's fermented mung bean juice? Even in Beijing, not everyone can stomach fermented mung bean juice!]

That foreign chef isn't necessarily better, is he? Isn't he a French chef?

[He's lived in Beijing for six years, and now his tastes have almost changed to Chinese standards. He sees douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) everywhere he goes. He may not have seen a pig being slaughtered, but he's certainly seen pigs running.]

[The Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef: Oh no, this dish is aimed at me!]

Xia Ming frowned slightly upon seeing the ingredients.

In my memory, this was indeed a specialty of the old Beijing area. It was usually made from mung beans, which were ground, filtered, fermented, and boiled to create a sour and salty snack.

The reason why the judges were so shocked was probably because many people couldn't accept the taste.

Actually, the original owner had never drunk this stuff, but since people were talking about it and it sounded scary, she just followed what they heard.

"That's interesting. It's so hard to drink, yet it's been around for so long. Either this stuff has some kind of health benefit, or it's not as bad as advertised at all."

The name "douzhi" reminded Xia Ming of a fruit called "Yehe" that grew behind the outer mountain of the Blood Blade Sect.

This fruit is extremely sour and astringent, and it also has a strong smell of spirit beast excrement. Although it contains a lot of spiritual energy, even a sect like the Blood Blade Sect, which is not very particular, doesn't have many people willing to eat it.

Later, when the eleventh elder of the Blood Blade Sect went out to travel, his demonic soul was injured by the "Ten Thousand Scrolls Sect". He lost his sense of taste and could not taste ordinary flavors at all.

After killing five cooks from the Blood Blade Sect, the head chef finally intervened, mixing "Night Core" with "Spirit Beast Essence" to create "Night Moon Beast Brew," one of the Blood Blade Sect's "Eight Evil Foods," thus ending the massacre.

"No matter how bad soy milk is, it's definitely not as bad as 'Night Moon Beast Brewed Wine,' the taste of that stuff can penetrate the soul."

He mentally assessed that douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) probably tasted the same as "Soul River Water".

It's sour, astringent, and has an unmistakable stench, but since "Soul River Water" is one of his usual ingredients, the soy milk shouldn't pose much of a threat.

On the other hand, when "Micahs" saw the soy milk, he was first stunned, then fell into deep thought, but after a few seconds, he inexplicably showed a smile.

The viewers in the live stream were also confused by this scene.

[His ability to laugh even after drawing douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) – is Michael Scofield truly confident or just bluffing?]

[I see the Ice and Fire Chef across from me is laughing too. Could it be that making fermented mung bean juice is a very simple matter?]

[This is interesting~ You wanted to show off and impress everyone, but instead of choosing the general, you chose the pawn, thinking it would lower the difficulty. Your cleverness backfired; anyone who uses this thing will explode.]

[I suddenly remembered, it seems like Brother Feng really hates this ingredient. He might get his head shaved this time!]

[Fine, he shaved his head then. The Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef got into the top 16 by cheating anyway. You guys don't actually think he has any real talent, do you?]

No matter how noisy the comments are, the theme of Xia Ming and "Micas" on site will not change.

After shaking hands politely, the two went their separate ways to their rooms.

Xia Ming's room was located at the back of the lounge, with a large "Soldier" label on it and his name tag below it.

After confirming the location, he entered the password to open the door and saw a neatly set six-person dining table with several plastic bags of food on it.

Picking it up casually, Xia Ming saw that it was labeled "raw soy milk".

"Raw soy milk is soy milk that hasn't undergone the final processing step. The soy milk sold in stores is usually cooked!"

Seeing is believing, and trying is even better. Without a second thought, he unscrewed the cap and gulped down a large mouthful. At that moment, the live broadcast had switched to the 32-person audience. Because of Xia Ming's previous performance and the bizarre question he'd drawn, many viewers were still curious to see how he would handle it.

Of course, it's more likely that they want to see how he gets overwhelmed by the stench of fermented soybean juice and eventually gives up, unable to do anything about it.

But when they clicked in, they happened to see Xia Ming guzzling raw soy milk.

For a long time, the chat fell silent before someone finally typed out a sentence.

[Awesome! Although I know it's just for the show, I admire your courage.]

Just as the comments section fell silent, Xia Ming pulled up a chair, casually lay down, closed his eyes, and began to slowly savor the taste of raw fermented soybean juice.

"I knew it tasted better than the Soul River water. It even has a slightly lingering aftertaste. This flavor is great for seasoning cold soup. I just don't know what it tastes like when heated."

Thinking of an interesting dish, Xia Ming unconsciously curled the corners of his mouth. Although the production team did not explicitly state how many dishes needed to be made, since the theme was to bring out the characteristics of "ingredients", it would most likely be a test of how to handle ingredients in various situations.

His first thought was to make three dishes: "hot," "warm," and "cold," but this required a comprehensive assessment of the versatility of the fermented mung bean juice ingredient.

Opening his eyes, Xia Ming saw that there was still more than an hour left on the timer. He wasn't in a hurry at all. He walked to the stove and started heating the soy milk.

He didn't stop working while the heating was running; he grabbed the service bell from the side and rang it.

The staff at the control panel were curious. He'd only just gone in, and he already needed to do food experiments? What the hell?

But when the staff took the food board and saw it, they were so angry they almost fainted.

"Fresh Wagyu beef with blood", "Fresh pork blood (Note: not coagulated)", "Live pigeons", "Live sheep".
The beginning was bearable, but it got more and more outrageous as it went on, to the point that the staff were practically ready to yell at it.

"How about we move you to a breeding farm? If you keep writing like this, you'll probably write about live crocodiles, live wild boars, and live tigers. Why don't you just fly to the sky!"

The show does have sponsors, and they're willing to invest, but not like you, who squander money like this!

At that moment, the staff member was only thankful that there were only two blank forms in each room; otherwise, if another one had been placed there, he probably would have been furious.

However, given the competition format, he couldn't possibly give Xia Ming nothing of value. In the end, amidst the staff's mixed emotions, Xia Ming received a piece of high-quality, bloody beef, a bag of pig's blood, a small bag of sheep's blood, and a live pigeon.

At that moment, he felt the joy of being able to be called upon at any time.

"It's better to film variety shows in the city. Back in the Blood Blade Sect days, disciples would just throw bundles of things out of their storage bags. The more particular ones would sort them, but the less particular ones would just mix spirit beasts, evil monsters, blood ore, and so on together. It was a lot of work to separate them!"

"Moreover, for high-end spirit beasts, the kitchen staff have to contribute, unlike now where it's all free!"

He didn't stop working either. After getting the beef and blood, Xia Ming first put the soy milk aside, then picked up a tall stainless steel bucket and poured the blood into it.

It was called "pouring," but in reality, it was just secretly absorbing the blood using his internal energy without the camera's knowledge. After absorbing it, the color of the blood visibly faded, and because he didn't deliberately preserve the flavor, the taste became strange.
The viewers in the live stream naturally couldn't see that; all they could see was Xia Ming's high spirits. Some of the neutral viewers began to speculate whether he really had some amazing method.
Then, Xia Ming confidently began to stew some ingredients that were originally stored in the warehouse behind the room. As spices, rotten vegetable leaves, fish scales, pork bone scraps, tofu residue and other ingredients were added, even the most professional chefs in the live broadcast room began to feel confused.

What is this? Is it a soup made of pearls, jade, and white jade?

Is this thing really edible?

[You know what, the combination of sour and sour flavors might actually mask the taste of the fermented soybean juice.]

It was a bit dark, but... I just couldn't imagine what this stuff would taste like!

Just as the live streamers were bewildered, the director and two assistant directors in the control room were also stunned. They were all seasoned gourmets, but this was the first time they had ever seen douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) handled like this.

Just as the three were discussing whether Xia Ming was going to make soup, stew, or just some ingredients, they saw him pick up the pot of stew, smell it, and then...
With a flick of his wrist, he poured the entire pot of soup into the trash can.
(End of this chapter)