The chief judge was muddle-headed for a moment when he felt a strong wind blow against him.
The furnace was hurtling toward him…
What the f*ck?
The chief judge stopped sniffing the air, and goosebumps sprouted all over his body. When he spotted the furnace hurtling toward him, he felt as though he had been dunked into a tub filled with cold water, and his gaze turned into one of horror.
Not only was the incoming alchemy furnace incomparably heavy, but it was also completely red in color; this showed how high the temperature of the furnace was. Hot air surged out of the flying furnace, while black smoke and pill flames rolled around within it. The ever-changing pill fire seemed ready to erupt from within the furnace.
A special kind of fluctuation charged toward the chief judge’s face…
A look of terror appeared on the chief judge’s face, and he opened his mouth in horror. Not like this!
Boom!
The furnace, which had been trembling violently, could no longer withstand the turbulent pill fire within it, and with an air-splitting blast, it exploded. A loud roar resounded throughout the sky.
“Heavens… It’s a furnace explosion!”
“What the hell… Goddess An’s furnace… How the heck did it explode?”
“This… Does this mean that Goddess An lost?”
…
The audience members were shocked. As they watched the fiery flames, which was emitting a blinding light, surge out of the crumbling furnace, they were so shocked that they could not close their mouths.
Many in the audience were witnessing a furnace explosion for the first time in their lives. They knew that whenever alchemists competed against the dark horse chef, the archenemy of all alchemists, their furnaces would explode. However, after personally witnessing it for the first time, their hearts shuddered!
Even Sorceress An Sheng’s furnace exploded when she competed against Bu Fang… Just how strong was he? Was he trying to charge into the heavens?
The audience instantly awoke from their reveries and watched the scene playing out on the stage with wide eyes.
Instantly the atmosphere became awkward.
The true energy fluctuations pulsing Sorceress An Sheng’s body faded away as she stretched out her slender fingers. She untied her hair tie and shook her head, causing the hair to flutter about behind her.
“Ai… He deserves his reputation as the public enemy of the alchemists. How is anyone supposed to refine elixirs when they are surrounded by such a fragrant aroma?”
Sorceress An Sheng pursed her lips, raised her head, and looked at Bu Fang, who was standing opposite her, with an expression of unwillingness.
The smoke blowing over from Bu Fang’s side of the stage made her somewhat curious. Was this what Bu Fang referred to as his noble dish?
Wasn’t it just barbequed meat? How could it be considered noble and luxurious?
Although his dish was just some barbequed meat skewers, the aroma wafting from it was really potent.
Sorceress An Sheng’s lips began to tremble. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaped toward Bu Fang’s side of the stage.
“Cough cough cough…”
The chief judge’s expression was pitiful. When he saw a huge cloud of smoke cover him, he waved his hand once, and the smoke was blown away; only pitch-black dust particles were left behind, covering the ground.
He coughed a few times, and his eyes became teary.
However, the chief judge was someone who had broken through three shackles of the Supreme-Being realm, so how could a furnace explosion injure him? Although he was attacked when he was not expecting it, it only took a single thought for his true energy to revolve around him, protecting him from the explosion.
Even though he wasn’t injured at all, his appearance was a mess. He felt awkward standing them after being in the blast range of a furnace explosion.
Sorceress An Sheng crossed her arms and looked at the chief judge. His black hair had been scorched and was standing upright, and the breaths he let out still contained black smoke. She shot him an apologetic look that contained a trace of mockery, then she flew over to Bu Fang’s platform. When she arrived, she stood on her tiptoes, with an expression of curiosity on her face.
“This lass…” The chief judge did not know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing as her furnace had exploded, she could be considered to have lost the competition.
This was the first time he had seen someone lose so gracefully. She even slapped her furnace, which had been on the verge of exploding, toward the chief judge! It was really too excessive!
Did the judge provoke you?
Was it easy to be a judge?
An Sheng did not seem to care whether she lost or not. Instead, she had rushed over to Bu Fang’s bronze platform and stared at his dish. Her shiny eyes were fixed on the food!
“This is your noble and luxurious dish?” Sorceress An Sheng asked, with a peculiar expression on her face.
Bu Fang was just putting the finishing touches to his dish when he heard her speak. With an expression of disbelief on his face, Bu Fang raised his head and spotted An Sheng in front of him.
“Why are you here?”
Bu Fang was somewhat suspicious. Shouldn’t this woman be refining her elixir? Why had she rushed over to his bronze platform?
He looked past her, directing his gaze to her bronze platform, but saw that it was empty. Standing close to it was the chief judge, who was covered in soot. He was looking over at both competitors with an incredulous expression on his face.
“Oh… Looks like your furnace exploded.” Bu Fang looked at An Sheng with a weird expression, and the corners of his lips curled upwards. The smile looked forced.
Sorceress An Sheng hollered, “So what if my furnace exploded? Are you looking down on me? As an outstanding alchemist, I need to gain a wealth of experience. Suffering a few furnace explosions mean nothing to me. I’m going to be the queen of alchemists… Don’t make a fuss of a small furnace explosion,” An Sheng said, with a nonchalant wave of her hand.
An Sheng’s gaze was fixed on the meat skewers Bu Fang placed onto a plate. The excessive fragrance and the glow emanating from the dish caused An Sheng to involuntarily swallow a mouthful of saliva. It was too fragrant… It looked really delicious.
…
“What is this lass doing?”
Grand Master Gu He stifled a bitter smile as he looked at An Sheng, who had run over to Bu Fang’s bronze platform, with a stunned expression.
Her furnace exploded? This lass actually blew up her furnace… Grand Master Gu He’s cheeks began to tremble. He felt a stinging pain on his face and it felt like someone gave him a slap.
The grandmasters beside him quickly looked over. When their gazes settled on Gu He, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
“Cough cough… This lass likes to mess around. Her furnace usually explodes, even when she refine pills in the Pill Tower. It’s nothing too unusual. it’s fine once you get used to it…” Grand Master Gu He coughed dryly as he explained. Although he had managed to think of an excuse, his face was flushed red with embarrassment.
However, his heart was filled with shock. It was impossible… How could her furnace explode? Although she was playful, her skill at alchemy was pretty good. Her mental strength was sturdy, as well… It should not be possible for her furnace to explode.
Unless… Unless she was affected by something.
Could it be that chef?
Gu He’s heart was thrown into disarray as he watched his precious disciple, who was squatting in front of the opposite platform, look at Bu Fang’s dish with eager eyes.
He felt as though his precious female disciple was about to get abducted.
“It should be because of that chef… You all should be able to smell the fragrance in the air. It’s really extraordinary… It’s this old man’s first time perceiving such an intoxicating fragrance,” Grand Master Xuan Ming exclaimed with shiny eyes.
The other grand masters agreed with him.
“We are sitting so far away from the stage, yet the aroma wafting over is already so fragrant. The lass, An Sheng, is crocheting so close to that chef’s bronze platform, and the aroma should be much stronger there. The aroma is strong enough to cause distractions… After she was distracted, she became unable to control her pill fire properly, causing it to explode.”
Grand Master Yao Guang shared his deductions as he stared at Bu Fang. It was the first time his expression had turned serious.
This chef… was no ordinary chef!
The chef had already emerged victorious in this match! As long as his dish was able to reach the standard of a one-mark spirit pill, he would be able to advance to the next round.
…
“Take a few steps back, and keep your distance from me. Right now, we are competing against each other,” Bu Fang calmly said as he shot a glance at An Sheng.
After saying so, his Golden Dragon Bone Kitchen Knife began to rotate, and with a flick of his wrist, he began to pick up the skewers atop on the iron mesh.
Bu Fang placed porcelain plates onto the table and put the skewers in the plates. He firmly pulled the bamboo skewers used to skewer the ingredients, causing them to pour into their respective plates.
The seasoning tray flew over and hovered in front of Bu Fang, and he grabbed a handful of seasoning and calmly sprinkled them onto the dish. His actions were precise and looked extraordinary.
He carved some fresh spirit herbs into beautiful shapes and placed them into the porcelain bowl. His dish, barbequed supreme beast meat, was done.
He repeated the same process for the other ingredients and placed them into porcelain bowls, with the same style.
“Don’t touch it… These are my dishes for the competition,” Bu Fang calmly said when he caught An Sheng’s hand inching toward a porcelain bowl.
The hand stopped dead in its tracks, and An Sheng pursed her lips and began to holler at Bu Fang.
“Isn’t it just a taste? Your dish caused my refinement to fail, yet you won’t even let me taste your dish… You are going too far!”
Bu Fang only gazed at her expressionlessly; he was unmoved.
“I thought you did not care that your furnace exploded? Furthermore, the reason your furnace exploded was that you got distracted. This shows that you did not concentrate hard enough. You still need more practice,” Bu Fang replied.
Bu Fang wiped his wet hands and turned toward the chief judge, who was still standing close to the other bronze platform, and said, “My dish is ready. You can start judging it now.”
The chief judge was still really depressed, but when he heard Bu Fang’s words, he awoke with a start. With a face stained with soot, the chief judge walked toward Bu Fang’s bronze platform.
Sorceress An Sheng looked at the chief judge’s singed hair, which was still emitting black smoke, and felt embarrassed, then a dry laugh escaped her lips.
The chief judge turned to look at her with an expression of grief. This lass…
However, his sadness quickly dissipated when his gaze landed on Bu Fang’s dishes, which were atop the chef’s bronze platform.
As he looked at the dishes, light flashed in his eyes.
He involuntarily took a deep breath…
“What is the name of this dish?” The chief judge asked Bu Fang, in curiosity.
This time, there were too many dishes. There were nine porcelain bowls filled with different ingredients. The only similarity between these dishes was the way they were cooked.
There was a mysterious connection between the nine dishes, and spirit energy pulses could be felt around the nine porcelain bowls. It was as though there was an invisible storm between them. It gave off an extremely mysterious and wonderful feeling!
“These dishes do not have a name; You can call them… Barbeque Skewers,” Bu Fang calmy said to the chief judge.
After saying so, Bu Fang reached out and grabbed the giant signboard, which he had placed down in front of his bronze platform earlier, raised it with one hand, and began to advertise his Cloud Mist Restaurant, with a serious expression on his face.
…
The chief judge was somewhat speechless… He was doing another advertisement.
An Sheng’s hand closed around her mouth, and she giggled. She had suddenly found Bu Fang pretty cute.
When the audience heard Bu Fang’s advertisement, they began to chuckle. This time, their laughter was not filled with mockery. They laughed because they considered Bu Fang someone interesting.
The restaurant which belonged to a chef who defeated Sorceress An Sheng… A trace of anticipation appeared in their hearts.
The chief judge waited for Bu Fang to complete his advertisement before picking up a pair of chopsticks. He could not wait any longer to taste Bu Fang’s dish.
The aroma covered the entire arena. These dishes which had such irresistible aromas… How delicious would they taste?
However, before the chief judge was about to dip his chopsticks into a porcelain bowl, a faint voice resounded throughout the arena.
“Chief judge, bring the dish up here. We will personally judge this round.”
From the judicators seats, Grand Master Xuan Ming’s gaze was fixed on the nine glowing dishes. The other grandmasters sat up straight with serious expressions on their faces. They eagerly nodded their heads at Grand Master Xuan Ming’s instruction.
The chief judge was shocked. He raised his head to look at the judicators sitting upright in their chairs, and his heart shook.
They were really shameless! Evaluate the finished products have always been the judge’s job!
