I'm in the Teyvat running group

“Yukihiro…right? I once traveled incognito and had your grilled eel, and it was indeed quite good.” Raiden Shin smiled as he tasted the tempura, then lifted the lid of the fox ramen and said to Shiro Chen beside him with a smile, “Look, the Fukuuchi tofu with the fox head carved on it even has twelve tails carved on it, just like you.”

"Lord Thor, I think the raspberry water buns are pretty good... Hmm, delicious!" Bai Chen quickly popped two small buns into his mouth: "Foxes just love eating these things, hmm... Tempura is good too."

She smiled and glanced at Xia: "You're quite a promising young lady. Come to Narukami Shrine as an apprentice shrine maiden. I'll pay for your tuition with water buns. I need to eat ten every day!"

"Huh?!" Xia stood there in surprise, but Xingxiong reacted immediately. He thanked Bai Chen respectfully, received a peculiar divine tablet from the big fox, and then returned to his stove with his wife and children.

Soon, his score came out: 81.75 points, not much different from the preliminary round, and he is now ranked 42nd. However, there are still 3 tables that have not been served. Although it can be said that he performed exceptionally well, this is also his true level.

"Haha, although I got this far by luck, it really didn't work out." Yukio laughed heartily while holding his daughter, but soon...

The audience cheered for him.

"That's great! And Xia is so cute, she'll definitely become a great witch someday!"

"+1, but Xiao Jie is also very cute. He's quiet and doesn't say much, but he'll definitely be handsome when he grows up!"

"+10086! But I still want to pinch Xia's cheeks!"

"Pinch Xia Xia +1. By the way, can we go to Narukami Shrine to pinch her in the future?"

"How much are ten steamed buns worth again?"

"You idiot, Lord Bai Chen's meaning is very clear: this stall can be set up inside Narukami Shrine from now on!"

"how do you know?"

"How many times have you seen Lady Bai Chen leave the shrine? Every time I go, I see her sleeping under the sacred cherry tree..."

The audience cheered for Yukio, and the family packed up and left the venue with smiles. The next match was about a week away, and their room would be kept until then.

As for this week, they can travel around Liyue, enjoy the Luna Festival and... this touch of human life.

Yunxiu naturally recognized Xia's talent; she possessed a strong talent for illusion magic. However, upon seeing that smiling face and that family, Yunxiu knew very well that this little girl was destined to belong to that cherry blossom kingdom. Therefore, this opportunity was naturally left to Fox Palace and Thunder God. If these two were to misjudge her, Yunxiu could simply recruit her herself.

Of course, these two are just too lazy to go out, but they still have a very good eye...

Xiangling unsurprisingly won first place with a score of 99.25, crushing everyone else. In particular, her Moon Pie, which even incorporated Nata seasoning, made Mavica's hair turn color after eating it. This terrifying dish was made by Xiangling without using any magical artifacts!

"This little girl's cooking skills are almost god-like?" Bai Chen nudged Taranis on her other side in shock. "You know what kind of person your eldest sister is?"

“I haven’t paid attention to these things, but I can eat Xiangling’s food every day, but you can’t.” Taranis smiled and put the last piece of Cuijin Cold Jade into his mouth: “Hmm, it really is full of the moon’s aura, but Yunxiu likes her too much, so I’ll deduct 5 points out of personal preference.”

"?"

Gui was eliminated in this round, while Yanxiao and Aikefei successfully advanced. The next rounds, the "Hometown" theme in the 16-to-8 round and the "Lover" theme in the 8-to-4 round, saw these top chefs engage in fierce competition.

When it came to the final competition, only four chefs remained on the stage.

Xiangling, who scored 99+ points and crushed everyone, Yanxiao, who scored the only 100 points in the hometown theme with a few Liyue old dishes, has a very good cooking level, but she has been hiding her cooking talent because she has been too busy. And there is Aikofi, the genius chef of Fontaine who has not been particularly lucky all the way. She drew a headache in the preliminary round and stumbled all the way in the semi-finals, but relied on her strong integration ability to get to where she is now.

"The final competition, themed 'The Human World'!" The main arena for the final match was at the Jade Pavilion, and the host, Ningguang, personally announced the final theme: "Now, the competition begins!"

Chapter 431 The Whole City Swears an Oath to Call Upon the Gods

Streams of willpower flowed from all over Liyue, converging on the arena and gathering in the center of the Moonsea Pavilion, above the Human Artifact. In fact, the energy was already sufficient three days ago, but the continuous flow of willpower still surged in.

After the Seven Stars consulted the Emperor, the work of gathering the power of wishes continued. After Maxius was revived, the power of wishes would most likely be useful in the flood control battle. The angels had enough methods to condense the power of wishes into energy crystals, which would naturally be a good thing for the gods.

In the final competition among these four contestants, none of them had many weaknesses; they had all reached near perfection in their respective fields.

The only thing that surprised Yunxiu was that Qin had actually made it all the way here...

However, Gin is a genuine, perfect superhuman, more like the protagonist. She is proficient in everything from governing a country to fighting, and even does better than many of her predecessors. It's not surprising that she has some talent in cooking.

In the preliminary rounds, Jean ended up in the "Also Win" group, very close to Xiangling, both in the Ding-781 area. Xiangling made honey-glazed char siu, while Jean made the classic Mondstadt roast meat pie. Xiaoyue was the immortal in charge of patrolling that area. According to him, Jean's roast meat pie knife skills were almost superb, with each piece of roast meat cut perfectly. Therefore, the inspector at the time gave her a super high score of 97.5, only one point lower than Xiangling.

In the previous competitions, Jean also presented many Mondstadt dishes of extremely high quality, especially the meat and mushroom pizza and the Northland apple stew, which were all top-notch dishes that received full marks from the six judges.

For this "human touch" theme, she chose Mondstadt potato pancakes as an appetizer, Dudulian seafood soup as a soup, the Anemo stew as a main course, and the Adventurer's Egg Burger as a staple. It was quite simple and straightforward, and all of them were some of the most popular dishes among Mondstadt residents, which one could say they ate every day.

She only brought one "cook's assistant" with her, her younger sister Barbara, while the Mondstadt cheering squad led by Ms. Frederica sat on the other side, in the audience seats facing Jean.

Almost all the Knights of Favonius were present, and Yunxiu even spotted some unofficial members among them…

Venti winked at Yunxiu from afar, then continued drinking his Liyue Old Cellar. Frederica, standing beside him, smiled and said, "Is that our Knight of Honor? I heard he's the son of the Emperor."

“I was a little too late. I should have brought him to Mondstadt.” Wendy smiled and poured Frederica a glass as well. “Where’s that old man Simon? Stayed in Mondstadt?”

"The Grand Master wanted to come and see, so he went to Jingfu Port to coordinate the knights who were about to head to Nordkale. After all, someone has to keep an eye on things." Frederica sighed, then glanced at Qin and Buyer, who had already started their match, and said, "Lord Barbatos, give me a straight answer. Just how dangerous is this time? Will it be more dangerous than it was five hundred years ago?"

“I don’t know…” Wendy also became unusually serious: “But if we’re just talking about preparation, we’re much better prepared than we were five hundred years ago… Five hundred years ago, no one was very well prepared, but this time we’re well-rested and waiting for the opportune moment.”

"That's good." Frederica's golden hair fluttered in the wind. She looked a lot like Jean. Because she had broken through to the legendary level at a young age, her appearance had not aged and she still looked like a young girl.

She watched her two daughters preparing with a gentle smile.

Aikofi's choices were almond trout appetizer, a soup of mixed flavors, Vesi chicken main course, and lasagna with meat sauce, all traditional Fontaine dishes. This genius chef was finally able to show her talent at this point, and she truly deserved to be compared to Xiangling as a genius chef.

Yanxiao's four dishes were crispy fried spring rolls, fish and mutton soup, abundant harvest, and peace in all directions.

As for Xiangling... the moment Yunxiu saw her menu, she knew that this victory was already a foregone conclusion.

The appetizer was grilled tigerfish, the soup was braised pork and bamboo shoots, the main course was boiled blackback perch, and the final dish was dragon beard noodles. Xiangling had made these four dishes countless times, and the customers of Wanmintang had bought them countless times. Even Yunxiu didn't know how many times he had eaten them. Yunxiu had actually thought that Xiangling might serve the "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" dish, but he did not expect that at the last moment, Xiangling would choose this classic dish, which was a daily staple for countless people in Liyue who would come to Wanmintang to order many of these dishes.

After finishing cooking all the dishes, Xiangling looked at Yunxiu on the stands. Her big eyes gently looked over, and Yunxiu instantly understood what she meant.

He stood up, pushed through the crowd, and walked step by step to the center of the stage. Together with Xiangling and Guoba, he delivered the dishes to the judges' tables.

"Suddenly adding unregistered kitchen helpers is a violation," Ningguang said jokingly, leaning against a pillar with her signature long pipe. "However, if the dishes are good enough, we can..."

"It's okay, Sister Ningguang, you don't need to break the rules for me. I can give up the championship." Xiangling placed the last bowl of dragon beard noodles in front of the Emperor, carefully put the chopsticks next to him, and then turned around and said, "But this is the last step in the mortal world. I just want to walk through it with Xiuxiu."

“Because—” she smiled, just like an ordinary girl.

"This is my ordinary life."

Zhongli smiled, slowly picked up the bowl of dragon beard noodles, gently picked up a strand with his chopsticks, and carefully tasted it: "From a generally rational perspective, a dish that has violated the rules should score zero, but..."

"The soup is as clear as water, yet its flavor penetrates to the bone. The noodles are as thin as silk, yet they are incredibly chewy. The scallions are sprinkled just right; adding even a little would overpower the flavor, while subtracting even a little would diminish its appeal. Moreover—" He paused, looked at the entire room, and smiled, "The existence of rules is to keep the world orderly, but the world itself has never existed for the sake of rules."

"But... that girl who grew up in the city doesn't need a championship to prove herself anymore."

He stood up, patted Xiangling on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Go, go to the mortal world with you."

Xiangling nodded, pulled Yunxiu away from the venue, and kept waving to the audience.

The audience didn't say much, but smiled and waved to them, watching the young couple quietly walk to their seats. At this moment, the gods finally finished tasting Xiangling's dishes.

Zhongli gently raised his thumb; the Great Tree King smiled and shook his head; Lei Dian Zhen put down his score card; Mawika looked at the two of them with a smile; Bai Chen looked at Taranis with a grin and then put down his score card as well, while Taranis chuckled and gave him a perfect score.

"Both the food and the dishes deserve full marks." She smiled at the other five judges: "I was just a special guest judge, and besides, that's my eldest sister!"

The gods exchanged knowing smiles before turning their attention to the second contestant who was serving dishes.

That was Yanxiao. His skill level among Liyue's chefs was beyond doubt. The four dishes he chose were all Liyue dishes from the Lantern Festival, containing wishes for life, blessings for the festival, and the beauty of the whole year. This feeling of "humanity" was something that all the gods could naturally taste.

99.5 points.

Aikofi also brought out her dishes. This girl had almost always been unlucky. From the initial disaster to her hometown and lover, she didn't have many good choices. But she relied on her strong strength to fight her way here. In the final theme, the dishes from Fengdan were undoubtedly excellent. Even Bai Chen could taste the care put into the dishes.

99.5 points, the same as Yanxiao.

All eyes were focused on the last dish to be served, the Gunnhilds. The Gunnhilds presented the dishes to the deity and then stood respectfully to one side.

"Xiuxiu, how did Commander Qin choose these dishes?" Xiangling looked at the dishes. She had been to Mondstadt and had eaten them, but she still didn't know much about the lives of the people of Mondstadt.

"The people of Mondstadt... are quite peculiar. They appear incredibly bold, yet possess a refined side. The city of wind and pastoral songs gets its name from this, making it a land teeming with adventurers and countless heroes." Yunxiu smiled as she looked at the gods who were scoring the food. With a gentle wave of her hand, she conjured two egg-shaped buns using a weakening wish and placed them in Xiangling's hand. "Simple and straightforward, but definitely a main course that all adventurers would love. Two in the morning, a bowl of Dudu Lotus Seafood Soup in the evening, and a glass of fine wine from Dawn Winery—that's the life of these adventurers."

"Mmm, it's so delicious." Xiangling shared one of her egg burgers with Xiaogong next to her, and the two girls ate quietly.

Yunxiu didn't give any to Nilu, not because he looked down on her, but because Nilu made it clear that as a dancer, she had already eaten a lot these past few days, and maintaining her figure would be a problem if she continued eating like this...

"Its form is simple yet profound, its flavor unpretentious yet authentic; it is truly a fine dish." Zhongli smiled as he finished tasting the dishes, then gently picked up his score card and gave it a perfect score.

"Adventure is about heading towards the distance... That's how the adventurers of Inazuma are too." Raiden Shin gently wiped his mouth and gave it a perfect score.

The Great Tree King remained silent but also gave a perfect score. Mavika, on the other hand, heartily finished the Wind God's Stew and then devoured the Adventurer's Egg Burger one bite at a time.

Taranis and Bai Chen ate slowly and deliberately, but they also gave each other a perfect score.

"The championship... doesn't belong to me, it belongs to every adventurer about to embark on their journey." Looking at the scores given by the six gods, Jean bowed slightly with Barbara and looked earnestly at Ningguang, saying, "Miss Ningguang, may I say a few words?"

"Please, Commander Qin."

Qin nodded, looking at the audience and the live stream from Lingjing, and said with a heavy heart, "Although this is a very inappropriate statement... I still want to say it. I believe that the essence of human life is what we should always protect. But soon, an extremely brutal war is about to begin. I participated in this competition only as a rest before the war, but I never expected it to come this far..."

"There are no winners in war. Even if we win in the end, we are destined to sacrifice a lot. So... I made this dish to say that the people of Mondstadt eat these things when they go to the battlefield to protect Mondstadt's fertile land and pastoral life."

“Everyone is.” She slashed her hand down diagonally, making a gesture reminiscent of a knightly order.

"Protect Mondstadt forever!"

"May Mondstadt be protected forever." Barbara placed her hands on her chest, a gesture of prayer used by priests.

"Protect Mondstadt forever!" Frederica and her knights stood up, the Alder Knight looking at her daughter with a smile on her face.

"Protect Mondstadt forever!" "Protect Liyue forever!" "Protect Teyvat forever!" "Protect Inazuma forever!" A cacophony of voices rose from the audience, gradually coalescing into a mighty torrent!

Golden willpower surged from above everyone's heads, rushing towards the human artifact. The almost solidified willpower transformed into a golden light, instantly shooting out several streams of light that headed straight for various parts of Teyvat. Yunxiu raised an eyebrow. It seemed that this conversion of willpower would enhance the power of more than one god, which was indeed a good thing for the upcoming war.

Although she didn't know who it was, Yunxiu could roughly guess: Dvalin, Navilette... or perhaps Guizhong, whose power also needed to be restored.

The thickest stream of willpower shot towards the direction of Wanmin Hall. Everyone saw that the willpower gathered in Wanmin Hall, and then a small bear leaped into the air, shook in the wind, and transformed into a giant bear thousands of meters tall. Its back was covered with patterns formed by rock and fire elements. Its body was heavy, and when its four huge paws swung, an incredibly explosive gale rushed towards them, but turned into a warm autumn breeze when it reached their faces.

With a deafening roar, its terrifying power was immeasurable!

Maxius, the devil of the hearth!

Chapter 432 The Kitchen God Returns to His Position, Bringing a New Sound

"Guoba...it's huge!" Xiangling was quite surprised to see the giant bear jumping out of her backyard. Yunxiu had indeed told him Guoba's identity in advance and made it clear that this year's Lantern Festival was for Guoba's revival. Xiangling, being such a kind girl, must have understood, but she didn't expect Guoba to be so big.

"It's huge! It seems much bigger than that big tree in Mondstadt!" Nyl looked at the giant bear with some surprise, but she quickly noticed something: "It's shrinking little by little... It seems to be heading this way?"

"It's still transforming! So this is what the little bear next to Xiangling looks like!" Xiaogong stood up and watched as the giant bear shrank little by little until it was about the height of a person, transforming into a burly middle-aged man. He strode through the air towards the venue, each step sending up flashes of fire and rock. This was the true power of a god, even more powerful than many of the demon gods that Yunxiu had seen.

Soon, he landed in the very center of the field, but to everyone's surprise, he did not walk towards Zhongli first, but turned to look at Xiangling in the audience.

"Let's go." Yunxiu took Xiangling's hand, walked out of the audience seats, and came to Maxius.

"Guoba... no, no... it shouldn't be called Guoba anymore, right?" Xiangling looked at the uncle cautiously. His appearance was quite similar to Master Mao's. No... it should be said that Master Mao looked like Guoba. Xiangling reached out and touched the flames on his body. There was no burning sensation, but rather a warm feeling.

“If you want to call me that, of course you can.” Guoba chuckled softly. “You are my acknowledged successor, so there’s no need to be so formal.”