Translator: CatatoPatch Editor: Vermillion
“You’re the outsider chef who defeated Wen Renchou in the Chef’s Challenge?”
This ordinary-looking elder who appeared suddenly looked at Bu Fang. The deep wrinkles on his face shook slightly and revealed an expression of doubt and curiosity.
Defeated Wen Renchou? Bu Fang was startled. After thinking for a while, he finally understood.
It seemed like the elder in front of him had a deep relationship with Wen Renchou, or else he would not have said something like that.
The elder’s gaze was unfathomable. With his long robe and hands clasped behind his back, he observed Bu Fang for a moment. After looking at Bu Fang for a while, he shifted his gaze toward the girl hiding behind Bu Fang.
Taking a deep breath, the elder waved his hands.
A surge of invisible energy begun spreading out, and to her dismay, the girl found herself floating toward the elder. Stretching out a withered finger, he tapped Xiao Ya’s forehead lightly. A faint luminescence emanated from where he touched her.
“It’s indeed the sealed child. The spirit of Gluttony lies slumbering within her. Sigh… this girl has it tough.” The elder sighed. There was still doubt in his heart. He was familiar with the person who planted this seal, and there should not have been any leaks in it.
However, the aura which exploded out previously was the aura of the spirit of Gluttony. This was a clear indication of a leak within the seal.
Even if his intuition was wrong, the beast residing in Sunset Lake would not have been wrong. It was fortunate that this leakage of the seal was minuscule and only managed to draw out the Sunset Lake beast. If the seal had leaked completely, it would have drawn out an even more terrifying existence within the Sunset Lake. If that time had come… the problem would not have been so easily resolved.
Hence, he had to bring this girl away to prevent another leak of the spirit of Gluttony out of the seal.
Moreover, aside from the issue of the spirit of Gluttony, the elder was also filled with an inexplicable admiration for this girl. This was because any child with a sealed spirit of Gluttony was an innately talented chef. Their latent talent in cooking were all terrifying.
“No… I can’t just bring the child back like this, or else the other elders in the valley will also find out that this is a child with a sealed spirit of Gluttony.” The elder creased his brows and stroked his beard as if he had thought of something important.
Finally, the elder raised his head and gazed deeply at Bu Fang with his lips turned up in a smile.
“You look quite close to this girl, so perhaps I’ll let her stay with you. Remember, do not reveal who she is, otherwise, you will attract fatal calamities,” the elder said. After finishing, he waved his hand, and an ornate porcelain flagon with intricate carvings flew out of his hand toward Bu Fang.
Bu Fang caught the porcelain flagon and his heart instantly wavered.
“This is alcohol?” Bu Fang looked dubiously at the elder as he caught a whiff of an alcoholic aroma within the flagon.
“This is the Soul Suppressing Wine. If a similar situation happens to the girl again, splash some wine onto her and she’ll be fine,” the elder explained.
Bu Fang nodded and stored the flagon.
The elder also proceeded to hand over the sleeping girl to Bu Fang. In the next moment, the elder took a step forward and disappeared into the distance with a whoosh.
Carrying the girl, Bu Fang first looked at the rapidly dispersing figures around him, then he looked toward the Sunset Lake which had regained its calmness. He then let out a small sigh.
“Spirit of Gluttony? What’s that? It seems popular,” Bu Fang mumbled as he glanced at Xiao Ya.
…..
The moon set and the sun rose. On the following day, the entire Valley of Gluttony was in an uproar and seemed full of vitality. Ripples of light reflected off Sunset Lake’s surface and gave it a dazzling look.
The Glutton God’s Banquet would be held on this day. The entire Valley of Gluttony was abuzz with activity and numerous experts from beyond the valley flocked into Glutton God City to participate.
Glutton God City stood at the edge of Sunset Lake majestically. The city walls were ancient and carved with a countless number of magical formations. Compared to Heavenly Mist City, Glutton God City seemed to have a more solid and ancient foundation. Whoever saw it would be immediately attracted by the unadorned aura of the city.
However, Glutton God City was not intimidating. It was like a benevolent elder, welcoming the arrival of the masses.
On the Hidden Dragon Continent, many experts would set Glutton God City as their final abode. This was the reason why Glutton God City was so popular.
Glutton God City had an enormous gate which was wide open. In front of the gates, numerous city guards stood at attention.
Bu Fang was also thoroughly dazzled when he brought Xiao Ya to Glutton God City.
This was the most extraordinary city Bu Fang had ever seen. This city had a confidence and deep set sturdiness to it.
It seemed to be Xiao Ya’s first time entering Glutton God City as well, as her eyes were filled with boundless curiosity.
“Big Brother, I heard from Grandfather that in Glutton God City only chefs on the Tablet of Gluttony were qualified to set up restaurants! The chefs who set up restaurants in Glutton God City are all second-grade chefs!” Xiao Ya said.
Bu Fang nodded his head and remained silent. He brought the girl directly into the city. Below his feet were cobbled stone walkways and beside him were rows upon rows of houses. In this big city, the coming and going of humans seemed endless.
In the crowd, Bu Fang caught sight of many young people wearing similar clothes. They probably belonged to the same faction.
All in all, this was different from the image Bu Fang had of the major city of the Valley of Gluttony. There were not only Valley of Gluttony disciple chefs within the valley, or to say, although the Valley of Gluttony chefs constituted the majority of the population there, the truly significant people were those who patronized the chefs.
The moment Xiao Ya entered the city, she seemed to be intimidated by the strangeness of its novelty. She pulled Bu Fang’s sleeve and looked around curiously, and although there was an expression of fear on her face, she was still filled with a childlike curiosity.
Wearing the Vermillion Robe, Bu Fang strolled along the streets. On the sides of the streets were rows of neatly constructed buildings – some of the houses had tightly closed doors, while some were wide open with the aroma of food wafting out onto the streets.
These were the stalls of Glutton God City.
Bu Fang’s curiosity was piqued as well. He twisted his head to inhale the aroma of freshly cooked dishes hanging in the air and squinted his eyes slightly inadvertently.
The Valley of Gluttony was indeed the holy grounds for chefs; this place was highly suitable for a chefs’ development of their culinary skills.
“Hmm? Noodle King Establishment?”
Bu Fang mused as he stopped in front of a stall and turned over to look at it. The first thing he saw there was the signboard, where three words were inscribed, “Noodle King Establishment”. They had the audacity to call themselves the noodle king, what arrogance!
Bu Fang’s eyes shifted down and caught sight of the sheer popularity of the stall.
Feeling interested, he pulled Xiao Ya along and proceeded toward Noodle King Establishment.
“Noodle King Establishment, I really have got to see what it is like myself,” Bu Fang contemplated.
Although their business was booming, the store was spacious—the moment Bu Fang stepped into it, he managed to find a seat. The waitress was a beautiful young woman, who had a long and luxuriant ponytail and smiled cordially toward Bu Fang.
“This is the menu for the Noodle King Establishment, sir. What would you like to have?” The woman smiled and inquired of Bu Fang as she handed him a jade amulet.
When the jade amulet was placed before Bu Fang, a projection shot out, upon which dense lines of words representing the different choices of dishes appeared.
This method truly amazed Bu Fang. This technique of presenting the menu was much cooler than the way he did it in his own restaurant.
“This row shows the noodle dishes prepared by our Noodle King Establishment’s own first-grade chef, Chef Ouyang Chenfeng. On the other hand, this row shows the noodle dishes prepared by Ouyang Chenfeng’s disciples. You can take your pick from here sir, however, do bear in mind that the prices of noodle dishes in the two rows differ greatly,” the young woman explained.
Bu Fang’s raised his brows. First-grade chef?
No wonder he dared to call himself the Noodle King, as even Zhou Tong who went against Bu Fang previously was not a first-grade chef. He truly did not expect that the chef of this Noodle stall was actually a first-grade one.
He had to try the food from this stall!
Bu Fang tapped his elegant fingers on the clean table lightly as he browsed through the dishes prepared by chef Ouyang thoughtfully.
“Give me a portion of this ‘Firerain Falling Blossoms Noodle’.” Bu Fang ordered as he raised his hand to point towards a particular location on the projected menu.
“Then… I’ll have this.” Xiao Ya thought for a long time before deciding. The sheer complexity and number of dishes on the menu left her starry-eyed. Under the guidance of Bu Fang, she finally chose a dish.
The ponytailed waitress gave a beautiful smile as she put the jade amulet away. After politely asking Bu Fang and Xiao Ya to wait while the chef prepared the dishes, she turned to leave.
“Big Brother, this Noodle King stall’s extremely famous in the Valley of Gluttony. I’ve heard that he’s one of the most well versed chefs in noodle dishes within the Valley of Gluttony,” Xiao Ya looked up and said to Bu Fang while seated firmly on the chair.
“If he wasn’t well versed in noodle dishes, how would he dare proclaim himself as the Noodle King?” Bu Fang stretched out his hand to pat the girl’s head as he smiled and said.
Suddenly, a few figures entered the restaurant.
Bu Fang froze after he realised that a sharp gaze landed on him from the direction of the entrance of the restaurant. He raised his head and slowly looked in the direction of the entrance.
The sight stunned Bu Fang. It was actually someone he knew!
Prior to entering the valley, Bu Fang had met this person once, so meeting him here once again was serendipitous.
“Owner Bu, it’s been a long while.” The owner of the gravelly sounding voice was handsome, with long flowing black hair. A sword was strapped on his back and shone brightly, emitting ripples of brilliance. He walked toward Bu Fang and pulled out a chair before taking a seat.
“Xiao Yue, yes, it’s been a while.” Bu Fang glanced at the person before him and gave a nod.
This was not just anyone, he was someone Bu Fang was familiar with back in Light Wind Empire, Xiao Yue. After the events within Light Wind Empire, Xiao Yue left the empire. Still, meeting him there was unexpected.
Looking at the current Xiao Yue, Bu Fang felt that his entire disposition was vastly different. The sharp aura and the barely concealed rippling sword energy around him could cause anyone’s hair to raise.
“What business does Owner Bu have in the Valley of Gluttony? Could Owner Bu be a chef of the Valley?” Xiao Yue said coarsely. His eyes were bright. Being able to meet a friend far from home, he was naturally in high spirits.
Valley of Gluttony chef?
With a slight smile, Bu Fang shook his head.
Xiao Yue was surprised at Bu Fang’s denial. He knew that the level of Bu Fang’s culinary skills were extraordinary. If a chef like that was not from the Valley of Gluttony, then where could he be from?
Self-taught talent?
“I have no connections with the Valley of Gluttony… You don’t have to speculate blindly. Oh, the dishes I ordered have arrived. Let’s eat before talking more,” Bu Fang said as he caught sight of the ponytailed girl holding a bowl of piping-hot aromatic dish walking toward him.
In the next moment, the ponytailed girl reached Bu Fang’s table and served up a large bowl of hot noodle.
From within the bowl, fiery light shone out, and the aroma which spread out was so thick it seemed almost solid.
