The delicacies of the heavens begin with obtaining gem meat.

Chapter 571 Food Ethics Cultivation 1

The transport plane flew for most of the day before finally landing slowly.

After the hatch opened, the numerous food criminals were taken aside, awaiting the arrival of the Food Forest Temple personnel to receive them.

Jiang Yan and his group of five naturally didn't need it, but what they saw in front of them was an empty space.

"Huh? Where's Shilin Temple? Why is there nothing there?"

Gardevoir looked around in confusion, but apart from the trees, there were no buildings at all.

Susanoo and Kanna, who were standing nearby, were also very puzzled.

As for Kagura, she sensed something amiss in the wind about the open space ahead, but couldn't quite see it.

"The building materials of Shilin Temple are very special; only those who are grateful for the ingredients can see them."

Jiang Yan explained to the puzzled crowd.

As he spoke, Jiang Yan put his hands together in prayer and tried to express his gratitude for the ingredients.

Seeing this, Kagura and the other three followed Jiang Yan's example, putting their hands together in prayer, calming their minds, clearing their minds of distractions, and silently expressing their gratitude for the food.

A few breaths later, a simple and magnificent temple appeared.

"This is the main temple of Shilin Temple."

Jiang Yan lowered his hand, glanced at Kagura and the other three, and warned them in a deep voice.

"Remember, you must always maintain a grateful heart. If your heart is not sincere, the temple itself will attack you."

Kagura and the other three nodded, and then walked up the stone steps one by one.

Just as she reached the third step, Kagura suddenly sensed some information in the wind, which distracted her.

The next moment, a sharp whooshing sound rang out, and a wooden spike shot out from a nearby pillar toward Kagura!

Kagura almost instinctively raised her hand, and a pale blue wind blade was casually swung out, blowing the wooden spikes away.

However, because she was busy preparing the food, Kagura was unable to maintain her gratitude towards the ingredients.

As a result, countless wooden splinters shot out simultaneously from the walls on both sides, the gaps in the steps, and the roof beams overhead.

Kagura was startled, and the wind quickly blew the splinters away.

But more splinters kept shooting in.

"Stay grateful! Otherwise, the attacks from Shilin Temple won't stop."

"Calm down and think about every meal you've eaten, and how hard it is to come up with those ingredients —"

Jiang Yan quickly reminded him.

In situations like this, the more panicked you are, the more trouble you'll cause.

Kagura took a deep breath, quickly calming her mind and imagining that every grain of rice and every piece of vegetable was a gift from nature.

The distracting thoughts in my mind gradually faded away.

The splinters that filled the sky began to decrease until they stopped completely.

"Phew—this place is really strange."

Kagura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's go, stop daydreaming."

Jiang Yan glanced at Shen Le.

Despite this, Jiang Yan and his group of five still couldn't help but have some distracting thoughts on the way ahead, and were attacked from time to time.

This made it quite difficult for the five of them to walk through the not-so-long corridor.

Standing in the square in front of the main hall, all five of them couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

At this moment, the acting master of Shilin Temple came over.

"I am Fanxiu, the acting master of Shilin Temple. Thank you all for coming from afar.

Xiu's gaze swept over Jiang Yan and his group of five, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

"The fact that you were able to cross the corridor and arrive here so quickly shows that you have a great talent for cultivating the art of food. No wonder you were recommended by Toriko."

"Next, you can begin your training with the other students—"

There was no special treatment or individual instruction.

Jiang Yan had anticipated this and nodded calmly.

Thank you for your trouble.

Soon, the temple staff delivered five sets of Shilin Temple's monastic robes.

After changing their clothes, Jiang Yan and the other four looked no different from ordinary students.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the five of them were woken up to practice "food meditation".

He sat cross-legged on the cushion, with a square plate in front of him containing some soil, and a sprig of pine torch with a burning tip stuck in the soil.

This kind of pine torch and horsetail grass was modified by Shilin Temple. It can burn continuously for more than a hundred hours and is the most basic item for practicing Zen meditation.

Only when you have gratitude for the ingredients in your heart will the fire on top continue to burn; once there are distracting thoughts, the fire will immediately go out.

To master the art of food, one needs to keep the pine needles and horsetail burning for thirty minutes.

But for ordinary people, it often takes months, or even a year, to achieve this.

Jiang Yan took a deep breath of the cool morning air, closed his eyes, and the surrounding sounds gradually faded away—the wind, birdsong, and the distant flow of morning mist became indistinct and distant.

With gratitude, with gratitude —

However, the more you force it, the more distracting thoughts you have.

The torch extinguished with a "poof" sound.

Jiang Yan looked helpless and could only continue; soon the flames reignited.

But after only a moment, the thought of "I wonder how Susanoo and the others are doing" suddenly flashed through his mind, and the flame was immediately extinguished again.

Once, twice, three times —

The flame ignited again and again, only to be extinguished time and again by various distracting thoughts.

Sometimes it's the memory of a dish I cooked in the past, sometimes it's the cool touch of the morning breeze on my skin, and sometimes it's simply a touch of impatience arising from perseverance.

After each time the light went out, Jiang Yan would adjust his breathing and then immediately start again.

The one-hour meditation session ended quickly.

Jiang Yan opened his eyes. In the past hour, the pine needle grass in front of him had been extinguished intermittently more than a dozen times, and the total burning time was less than ten minutes.

It's far from the thirty minutes required to get started with "Food Etiquette".

Jiang Yan knew that being impatient was useless.

I got up and headed to the dining hall at Shokurin-ji Temple.

Breakfast was simple: millet porridge, cooked until thick and fragrant, with rice oil glistening on the surface; served with a dish of refreshing pickled wild vegetables, crisp and tangy, and two whole-grain steamed buns with a rich wheat flavor. They were firm and chewy.

Jiang Yan sat at a table by the window with Susanoo, Kagura, Kanna, and Gardevoir.

Kagura took a couple of bites of porridge, then couldn't help but put down her chopsticks and mutter a complaint.

"This weed is so hard to kill! I felt like I was genuinely expressing my gratitude, but it still dies out so easily!"

"If the mind is not calm, the fire will naturally go out."

Susanoo responded calmly.

Kagura pouted, wanting to retort but unable to find the words, so she just snorted and lowered her head to continue drinking her porridge.

After breakfast, we practice the etiquette of gratitude.

In the square, hundreds of students lined up in neat rows, following the instructor's movements, practicing putting their hands together, bowing, and paying their respects over and over again.

The movements themselves are not difficult; the challenge lies in incorporating gratitude for the ingredients into each action.

The sun grew stronger and stronger, reaching its zenith overhead. No one slacked off, and no one made a sound.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Yan closed his eyes and began "eating Zen".

This time, Jiang Yan was much calmer, and he slowly focused his mind on his gratitude for the ingredients.

The torches and horsetail flames burned evenly.

Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Yan's mind suddenly wavered, and the pine torch extinguished.

Jiang Yan opened his eyes, looking much more relaxed, and then looked at the others.

The flames of the pine torch and horsetail grass in front of Susanoo continued to burn steadily.

The pine torch and horsetail grass in front of Kagura went out at the tenth minute.

"good."

Xiu looked at the pine needle grass in front of Jiang Yan and the other four, and nodded in satisfaction.

It would take an ordinary student at least a month to get the pine needle grass to burn for ten minutes, but Jiang Yan and his group of five only took three days.

Susanoo, in particular, is almost at the beginning of the "Food Theory".

Since Jiang Yan and the other four have shown considerable talent in their cultivation of food and righteousness, Xiu naturally wouldn't mind helping them out.

"Starting today, the cafeteria will no longer provide breakfast for you. You will need to obtain your own ingredients first."

After Jiang Yan and his group of five arrived at the cafeteria, they were quickly led to a room by Xiu.

The room contained five bowls filled with beans, as well as five pairs of chopsticks, each three meters long.

"You need to use the chopsticks in front of you to pick up the beans from the plate for breakfast. Eat as many as you pick up."

Xiu said very decisively.

For the sake of cultivating the righteousness of food, Jiang Yan and the other four naturally would not refuse.

Jiang Yan reached out and grasped the end of the long chopsticks.

Holding a three-meter-long chopstick in your hand is heavy, and the center of gravity is extremely difficult to control. If you move your wrist even slightly, the chopstick tip will swing far away.

I tried raising my hand, and the chopsticks hit the edge of the bowl with a "clang," making a crisp sound.

Composing himself, Jiang Yan took a deep breath, exerted force with his wrist, and probed the chopsticks into the plate.

With a flick of his fingertips, he controlled the distance between the two chopsticks, aiming them at a perfectly round bean in the plate.

The chopsticks were brought together, but the beans were too slippery; the moment the chopsticks touched them, they slipped out through the gap.

Once, twice, three times —

Beans kept rolling off his chopsticks, but Jiang Yan's eyes remained focused, and he even slowed his breathing, coordinating with each slight adjustment of his wrist.

A soft "Oops!" came from the side, tinged with frustration; clearly, she had failed again.

Susanoo's side was much quieter, with only the occasional soft sound of beans rolling around.

Jiang Yan remained focused, slowly figuring out the tricks of the trade.

Try to relax your wrist and stop using brute force to pinch the beans. Instead, gently move the chopsticks along the direction the beans are rolling. Just as the two chopsticks are about to come together, pause slightly with your fingertips and stop the force just right.

A round bean was held firmly between the chopsticks without slipping.

As breakfast was about to end, there were five beans in Jiang Yan's bowl.