The delicacies of the heavens begin with obtaining gem meat.

Chapter 117 Reencounter with Toriko, Komatsu, First Meeting with Soga

Once Jiang Yan decided to capture the pufferfish whale, he immediately took action.

First, they bought a detailed map of the area in the city at a high price, and quickly determined the coordinates of the underground cave where the pufferfish whale was about to appear.

It's not close to the city where he is now, and it won't be a short trip.

After making inquiries everywhere, they finally confirmed the exact time of the pufferfish whale's appearance—eleven days later.

If you are traveling by train, you need to arrive at least one day in advance.

However, Jiang Yan knew that the underground cave where the pufferfish whale appeared was extremely large, with intricate and complex internal passages, resembling a natural underground maze.

Even more dangerous is that the cave is inhabited by all sorts of ferocious beasts, and even he is not entirely confident that he can deal with them easily.

In addition, the time that pufferfish whales spend in the cave is extremely short, and the opportunity is fleeting.

If you arrive even a moment late, or waste time in the labyrinthine caves, you will completely miss this once-in-a-decade opportunity.

To ensure everything went smoothly, Jiang Yan immediately decided to set off a day early and reach the shallows inside the cave before the pufferfish whale arrived.

Of course, even if you arrive early, capturing the pufferfish whale will still be difficult.

Pufferfish whales are extremely timid by nature. If they are frightened or die accidentally during capture, their bodies will become completely poisoned and inedible.

Therefore, conventional traps and hunting methods are completely ineffective against pufferfish whales.

To successfully capture a live, unpoisoned pufferfish whale, two things are needed.

Firstly, it perfectly conceals its presence, silently approaching the timid pufferfish whale.

Secondly, after approaching silently, they used acupressure on the pufferfish whale to instantly paralyze it.

In terms of concealing one's aura, he has already mastered the "absolute" technique, and further suppressing his entire aura and presence is still not a problem.

It can provide anesthesia through acupressure, but this is currently its biggest weakness.

Although I had previously purchased a portable acupressure gun, I only practiced with it a few times when I first got it, and then it remained unused.

Neither the precision of their acupressure nor the skill level they possessed met the requirements for capturing a pufferfish whale.

Fortunately, there was still some time before the pufferfish whale appeared, giving him a chance to temporarily learn and practice acupressure techniques.

So, in the following period of time, Jiang Yan began to practice the use of the acupoint gun repeatedly, from aiming to exerting force, from rhythm to precision, over and over again, until his arm ached, but his eyes remained focused.

After some hard practice, Jiang Yan quickly mastered the technique of numbing acupoints, and his skills became increasingly refined.

Having confirmed that his pressure point techniques were sufficient to meet the requirements for capturing pufferfish whales, the ninth day had passed.

Jiang Yan didn't delay any longer. He packed all his bags and went straight to the train station in the city to buy a train ticket to the area where the underground caves were located.

The train roared away from the platform, passing through fields and towns.

Halfway through the journey, Jiang Yan suddenly saw Toriko and Komatsu board the train.

"Tori, Komatsu, it's been a long time!"

Jiang Yan greeted the two of them.

Upon hearing Jiang Yan's voice, Toriko and Komatsu stopped in their tracks and instinctively turned around.

Upon recognizing Jiang Yan as the speaker, Komatsu and Toriko smiled and immediately approached.

"Jiang Yan, you're going there for the pufferfish whale too, aren't you!"

Toriko looked at Jiang Yan with certainty and said.

The passengers on this train were almost all gourmet hunters preparing to capture pufferfish whales, so Jiang Yan's purpose was not hard to guess.

Jiang Yan smiled and nodded.

"Yes, after all, this is a dream fish of the deep sea—the pufferfish whale."

"I won't miss such a rare opportunity."

"Similarly, Toriko, you guys must also be after the pufferfish whale, right?"

The three of them looked at each other and smiled.

"Since we've met on this train, we absolutely must celebrate!"

Toriko then bought all the drinks on the train.

Then he unscrewed a bottle of liquor, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp. As the strong liquor went down his throat, Toriko immediately showed a look of satisfaction.

However, neither Jiang Yan nor Xiao Song were prepared to drink.

Toriko didn't care about this.

The three of them naturally started talking about pufferfish and whales.

Aruto took a swig of sake and looked at Jiang Yan solemnly.

"Catching a pufferfish whale is no easy task. The underground caves where pufferfish whales appear have a survival rate of only one percent."

A confident look appeared on Jiang Yan's face.

"I already knew that. I was prepared for the terrain of the underground caves and the dangerous creatures that inhabit them."

----------

"Moreover, I've eaten a lot of delicious food, which has greatly improved my strength. I think I'll be more than capable of dealing with the dangers in the underground cave."

He made extensive preparations for this capture of the pufferfish whale.

Seeing Jiang Yan's confident expression, Aru grinned.

"In that case, I wish you success in catching the pufferfish whale."

As he spoke, Toriko grabbed the bottle and tilted his head back to take a big gulp of the strong liquor, which slid down his throat and into his stomach.

"I believe that you, Toriko, will be able to successfully capture the pufferfish whale."

Jiang Yan looked at Alu, his tone unusually serious.

"Mr. Toriko will definitely be fine!"

Xiaosong nodded vigorously, his eyes full of anticipation.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing pufferfish whales in person."

After putting down the bottle, Toriko looked at Komatsu.

"Komatsu, I think you're more interested in the person who can cook pufferfish whales than in the taste of the whales themselves, right?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaosong raised his hand and scratched the back of his head somewhat embarrassedly.

"As expected, Mr. Toriko guessed it—"

"I volunteered to travel with Mr. Toriko this time because I wanted to see for myself what kind of amazing culinary skills that chef who can handle pufferfish whales possesses."

At this point, Xiaosong's gaze became serious.

"It is extremely difficult to completely remove the poison sac from the body of a pufferfish whale. It is so difficult that the IGO has listed pufferfish whales as special ingredients for cuisine."

In Komatsu's view, anyone who can handle pufferfish and whales must be a world-renowned top chef.

Toriko smiled, then said with a hint of mystery.

"Yes, there are no more than ten chefs in the world who can handle pufferfish and whale meat."

"However, the person we're going to meet next isn't the chef."

--------------

Upon hearing this, Komatsu was taken aback, then looked at Toriko with a puzzled expression.

"Not a chef?!"

Can someone who isn't a chef handle a pufferfish whale?

Jiang Yan calmly ate his hamburger, knowing perfectly well who Toriko was talking about.

Coco, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet Food.

Just as Komatsu was about to ask Toriko about his identity, a voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"You brat! No wonder I couldn't find a single bottle of liquor in the whole carriage; turns out they were all here!"

Are you deliberately looking down on me?

"Let me tell you, I'm the infamous Gourmet Hunter—Lord Soga! You bastard!"

Zongjia, a man with a rugged appearance, dressed in animal skin clothing, and looking exactly like a primitive man, glared angrily at Alu.

He had searched several carriages but couldn't find a single bottle of wine; clearly, Jiang Yan and his two companions had bought them all.

Jiang Yan looked at Zong Jia with great interest.

In the world of Gourmet Hunter, Sōga is an absolutely mysterious figure.

On the surface, Zongjia's strength is not very strong, nor has he shown any particularly great strength.

Even when Jiang Yan used his "Circle" to sense Zong Jia, Zong Jia did not make him feel any danger.

But in reality, it's really hard to say.

It's important to know that the environment in the culinary world is much harsher than that in the human world.

In that environment, ordinary people simply could not survive, let alone cross several continents.

Zongjia, however, accomplished this without any help from anyone.

Furthermore, in the battle for GOD, Zunga survived unscathed amidst the devastating aftershocks of that epic battle.

While Jiang Yan was pondering Zong Jia's true strength, Zong Jia's two henchmen, seeing that Aruto didn't seem to care about Zong Jia...

He seemed very concerned and immediately jumped out, arrogantly pulling out a piece of paper.

"Look over here!"

"Be careful, this might scare you half to death! This is one of Brother Zongjia's life-changing menus!"

The two unfolded the paper and then read it aloud.

"The appetizer was golden caviar, the soup was snake and frog liver soup, and the fish dish was striped salmon —"

"And our eldest brother's main dish is the legendary Kayla Crocodile!"

The two underlings puffed out their chests and held their heads high, looking smug as if they had accomplished something extraordinary.

Zongjia raised his chin and stared at Toriko with a confident expression.

"How about that? Scared yet? I caught that giant crocodile myself not long ago!"

Jiang Yan glanced at the menu. The meat dish was crab meat, the salad was almond cabbage, the dessert was white apple, and the drink was Power Water. All of them were low-level ingredients with single-digit capture levels.

There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about it.

>