The Legend of Fangren

"Quick, over here!"

The girls followed the trail of a man and a snake rolling down the mountain and finally found Fang Shi in the forest.

However, given the current situation, it seems that a major undertaking is no longer necessary.

For some unknown reason, it wasn't the snake that was coiled around Fang Shi, but rather Fang Shi using all four limbs to strangle the snake's head. The scene was chaotic, with weeds in disarray and saliva flying everywhere. The man and the snake rolled around together countless times, and the snake looked quite pitiful.

Senior Sister Qu rushed forward, speared the snake as soon as she saw it, and with a flick of her wrist, she completely sent the dying python away.

"Yay! I killed the giant snake!"

Fang Shi: "..."

Senior sister, that's not how you steal kills. If you keep attacking like that, what if you damage the snake spirit meat?

However, the group of girls certainly didn't care about any of that. They surrounded the snake and lifted it up along with the person, carrying it back up the mountain. Compared to everything else, eating dinner was the most important thing. Fang Shi jumped down and picked up a bunch of mushrooms that had fallen off his body, filling a whole basket. He could take them back and try them out.

It's certain that this mushroom is not poisonous, since we know its origin.

However, after searching through many books over the past few days, he still couldn't find the corresponding item. Moreover, the taste of this mushroom did not belong to any of the five elements; it had almost no taste at all.

Given the nature of the Xuan Realm, it's likely that fungi in this world are considered useless, just like him... emmm... that makes sense, since he grows mushrooms.

He had previously asked other people for their opinions on mushrooms, and the answers from the two elders were almost all the same: why eat such a tasteless thing? It has neither mystical energy nor nutrition, and even when cooked, it still has that slippery texture. Without the contrast of flavor, it's like eating snot.

From the perspective of the Xuanjie's pure natural cooking philosophy, mushrooms, which taste like tasteless bubble wrap, cannot be called food at all. In addition, since they mostly grow in humid and decaying substances, it is hard not to feel disgusted.

So we returned to the campsite.

"What?! You want to add this to the broth? No way, no way..." His senior and junior sisters wouldn't let him add anything, especially when they saw it was mushrooms, they wouldn't allow it no matter what.

Fang Shi was filled with righteous indignation. You ignorant bunch have no idea how delicious mushrooms can be.

Elder Yunyue, however, asked him with some curiosity, "Why do you have to add mushrooms? They don't really have any flavor."

"Because mushroom soup has a wonderful umami flavor."

Everyone else tilted their heads, puzzled, and asked, "What is umami?"

In their understanding, "fresh" describes the freshness of ingredients, so if the snake and python meat is freshly killed and cooked, isn't that fresh enough?

"..." Fang Shi was speechless for a moment.

Yes, the umami flavor in the previous life could be explained by the stimulation of the taste buds by some substance, but it's different here in the Xuan Realm. What is the umami flavor here?

He thought carefully about the boiled fish he made back then. Although he used various seasonings to make the fish soup taste as close to his memory as possible, now that he focused on the umami flavor, he felt that it was still missing a bit of soul.

This is what is known as umami.

This umami flavor isn't the freshness of a novelty, but rather a more complex and memorable taste.

Perhaps the mushrooms in the mystical realm are very different, unlike those in my previous life that have a rich umami flavor when simply cooked, or perhaps the people here haven't yet discovered mushroom varieties with a rich umami flavor.

For whatever reason, Fang Shi had no intention of giving up his research on mushrooms. They were one of his favorite foods in his previous life, and with such a long road of cultivation ahead, he would naturally continue to eat what he loved.

Making a temporary compromise, Fang Shi put away the mushrooms, then took out something else, which alerted the others.

"It's just an ordinary grass with a root ball. I just picked it by the roadside. It's edible, right?"

"Okay..." The senior and junior sisters were relieved, and Fang Shi became eager to try again.

In the past few days, he observed how many elders cooked and processed spiritual meat and discovered a truth: cooking skills and cultivation level are absolutely not equivalent. This further confirmed to him that the cooking skills of the Xuan Realm's human race were mostly at a disastrous level. How could he possibly restrain himself?

Enough! It's time to show you real culinary skills! I've been studying recipes for days, all for this day!

Fang Shi took out a few wooden bricks and lit a fire from the fire at the bottom of the snake soup pot, burning all the wood into charcoal. After the flames went out, he removed the top stems and leaves of the earthen grass and buried it along with its outer skin and roots.

The girls had nothing to do while eating, so they just watched him fiddling around.

The tubers of the burdock should take a while to soften. Before that, he washed the large leaves of the burdock clean, tore them into small pieces and put them in a bowl, then added a little chili powder to make a dipping sauce, which he then handed to Luohe.

"Hezi, why don't you try mixing this with snake meat?"

"Hmm..." Luohe took the wooden bowl, and her eyes widened slightly just from smelling it.

She likes spicy food! And Tu Shengjin, she likes sweet food.

The leaves of the grass ball are also crisp and sweet, and when mixed with chili powder, they create a sweet and spicy flavor, which is undoubtedly Luohe's favorite.

Picking up a piece of snake meat, mixing it with sweet and spicy powder, Luo He took a big bite and put the whole piece of meat in his mouth, tears almost welling up in his eyes.

These past few days, she's finally had something that tastes good, especially the chili powder, which is so important; it reminds her of a taste from deep in her memory.

That's how cooking skills are; when you don't have many options, they'll be reflected in simple combinations.

The combination itself is not difficult, but whether the proportions of the various flavors can be precisely matched to the taster's palate depends on skill. Having spent many years with Luo He, Fang Shi knew her favorite tastes, so he had a bit of a trick up his sleeve.

At this moment, Qu Mei leaned over, held out her bowl, and asked, "Where's mine?"

Judging from the tone, it seemed like it was perfectly natural.

Hey, senior sister, you've regained your senses. Please don't pretend to be a gluttonous child again at a time like this.

"Tch... I don't care." After being decisively rejected by Fang Shi, Qu Mei puffed out her cheeks and sat back down among the girls, seemingly angry, making Fang Shi wonder if there were any lingering effects.

He quickly checked Luohe, but there was nothing unusual about him; he seemed the same as usual…

"Fangzi, I want more." After finishing the spicy noodles in her bowl, Luohe held out the bowl again. Fang Shi took it and added some more for her, then watched her continue to enjoy her meat.

Look, our He Bao is so normal, he doesn't get angry easily at all.

Qu Mei: "..."

At this moment, the jerk's double standards reached their peak.

I won't let you do a controlled experiment like this!

It's a pity that Fang Shi couldn't hear his thoughts, otherwise he would have argued back a bit. Our He Bao's zodiac sign isn't like yours, so he's bound to have some trouble adjusting to the local environment when eating the spiritual meat from the Eastern Realm. It's only right that he gets some extra care. Otherwise, who can we blame if he can't keep up with his cultivation?

Calculating that it was about time, Fang Shi dug out the soil-ball grass from the charcoal pile and continued to feed Luo He with extra nutrients.