Chef God of the Wuxia and Fantasy World

In addition, Ling Chi frequently provided money and grain to hire farmers or refugees during the off-season to repair bridges, pave roads, and dig irrigation canals. Over the course of ten years, he did many good deeds that benefited the country and its people. This attracted the attention of the emperor, who even invited Ling Chi to the palace to set an example, praised him highly, and gave him many rewards, including the title of baron.

In this way, even the county magistrate in Qiantang would give him some leeway, and if Ling Chi wanted to do something, there would be no official obstacles.

Because Ling Chi had done many good deeds, he not only gained considerable prestige in the mortal realm, but also attracted the attention of cultivators from all walks of life. Many came to visit him, hoping to establish good relationships. However, after these people discovered that he was actually the God of Cookery from Heaven, their initial condescending and humble attitudes were shattered. Instead, they tried their best to lower their stance and curry favor with Ling Chi, hoping that he could point them in the right direction and shorten the time it would take for them to achieve enlightenment.

Over the past ten years, there have been at least eighty or a hundred visitors to him, but Fahai has been conspicuously absent. Perhaps Fahai had a falling out with Daoji, which frightened him into not coming.

Ling Chi didn't care, since he had no intention of getting involved in the power struggles among the various factions in Heaven. Whatever happened, happened!

Aside from these external affairs, at home, Hu Meiniang and Caiyin had been recruited by Ling Chi as herdsmen, and Hu's Embroidery Shop had become history. After eating delicious food for ten years, Xiaoqing's aptitude and cultivation had greatly improved, and she had now become an ordinary gold-level cultivator. Ling Chi then signed a contract with her, making her his contracted spirit beast.

This also delighted Bai Suzhen, who had been studying in the Chef God Space for a hundred years. Speaking of Bai Suzhen, her talent was indeed very high. Although she was not as talented as Huang Rong, she was about the same as Shang Xiuxun and others. In addition, she had been cultivating immortality for 1,700 years, and her progress was very rapid. Now her cooking skills had reached the top level of red, and she was not far from the gold level.

Reaching the top red level in just one hundred years is truly astonishing talent.

Ling Chi has been in this world for so many years, but he has only recruited Bai Suzhen as a kitchen helper. There are still eight positions left vacant, which makes Ling Chi a little uncomfortable. He always wants to fill the remaining eight positions, but in all these years in the Heavenly Court and the Four Continents, he has not been able to find a candidate with enough high culinary talent.

Because of Shuang'er's case, he definitely wouldn't want a kitchen helper whose talent wasn't top-notch, but top-notch talent was hard to find. The cooks he met in Heaven who used to be in charge of the Peach Banquet might have had decent talent, but they were far from being kitchen helpers. He searched all four continents but still couldn't find anyone who met the requirements.

Fortunately, he met Bai Suzhen, so he didn't leave this world empty-handed.

"This world is truly a wasteland of culinary talent," Ling Chi sighed repeatedly. They couldn't even gather enough assistant chefs. Compared to the world of Legend of Sword and Fairy, it was far inferior.

Su Mei hugged him from behind and said, "Brother Ling, it's been ten years since I came to Qiantang. I'm getting a little tired of it."

Ling Chi reached out and touched Su Mei's hair, then asked with a smile, "So what do you want?"

"Let's go somewhere else!" Su Mei said. "It would be best to go to Wuzhuang Temple; I want to eat ginseng fruit."

Ling Chi chuckled lightly: "Don't we already have ginseng fruit growing on our farm? Why would we go to Wuzhuang Temple?"

“The ginseng fruit from the farm is just defective fruit from the branches; it’s nowhere near as delicious as the fruit that grows on the main trunk,” Su Mei said.

Ling Chi had nothing to say.

Lingchi obtained a branch of the ginseng fruit tree from Wuzhuang Temple and transplanted it to the farm. After thousands of years of growth, it did indeed grow into a ginseng fruit tree and bore fruit once. However, the real ginseng fruit takes three thousand years to flower, three thousand years to bear fruit, and another three thousand years to ripen, so it takes ten thousand years to be ready to eat. The one in the farm, on the other hand, flowers once a thousand years to flower, one thousand years to bear fruit, and another thousand years to ripen, so it can be eaten in three thousand three hundred and thirty-three years.

The ginseng fruit from Wuzhuang Temple can grant you 360 years of life just by smelling it, and 47,000 years if you eat one; the ginseng fruit from the farm, however, can only grant you 100 years of life just by smelling it, and 10,000 years if you eat one.

Overall, its growth time is only one-third that of the genuine ginseng fruit, and its efficacy is even less than one-third. This is unavoidable, since the real ginseng fruit tree is one of the ten innate spiritual roots, while this branch cultivated can only be considered an acquired variety, so it is only natural that its efficacy is inferior to the genuine product.

But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that the farm's ginseng fruit is completely incomparable to the genuine product from Wuzhuang Temple in terms of taste. Wuzhuang Temple's ginseng fruit is truly delicious, even surpassing the Heavenly Peaches of Immortality. The farm's ginseng fruit is only on par with the peaches of Immortality that ripen once every three thousand years. Although it's not bad, for Ling Chi, a chef who pursues the ultimate taste, the farm's ginseng fruit is merely a defective product. To have the taste of genuine ginseng fruit, perhaps... one can only go back to before the creation of the world, release the ginseng fruit tree to absorb the chaotic spiritual energy, and transform it from acquired to innate. Otherwise, there's no chance in this lifetime.

But this world has existed for countless eons since the beginning of time, and there's absolutely no possibility of returning to the present world after tomorrow, unless the world he travels to in the future can enter the chaotic world before the creation of time. However, entering such a world is too dangerous, and he doesn't want to risk his life for the sake of genuine ginseng fruit. Actually, things are pretty good now; there are no disasters or hardships, and life is incredibly comfortable.

"The ginseng fruit tree only bears thirty fruits every ten thousand years. Even the Queen Mother of the West can only eat two every ten years in heaven. And you, you really treat the ginseng fruit as a fruit you can eat whenever you want?" Ling Chi laughed and scolded.

Su Mei chuckled: "It's not easy for others to get this, but for Brother Ling, it's as easy as having a drill in his hand."

This was true, because Ling Chi had an abundance of delicacies. Every time he visited Wuzhuang Temple, he would stay for a month, preparing different dishes for Zhenyuan Daxian every day. Zhenyuan Daxian, having nothing to repay him with, could only offer two ginseng fruits each time to offset the 'meal expenses.' Even so, Zhenyuanzi felt Ling Chi was being taken advantage of, and felt somewhat embarrassed to offer anything when Ling Chi came. If ginseng fruits weren't so rare, he would have loved to fill a basket for Ling Chi to take away.

Since Su Mei was craving something sweet, Ling Chi thought about it and since he had nothing else to do recently, he got up and said, "Alright! Let's go stay at Wuzhuang Temple for a month. Xiao Qing, hurry up and pack your things, we're leaving."

"Where are you going?" Xiaoqing had just walked in from outside when she heard Ling Chi's nonsensical question and was taken aback.

Wuzhuang Temple.

……

Longevity Mountain, Wuzhuang Temple, the residence of Zhenyuan Daxian, the ancestor of earth immortals.

Xiaoqing was just an ordinary green snake spirit who had never even seen many immortals in her life, let alone a great power like the Ancestor of Earthly Immortals. She never dreamed that she would come to such a sacred place as Wuzhuang Temple one day. Especially when she saw Zhenyuan Daxian chatting and laughing with Ling Chi, getting along well with him as an equal, she couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

At this moment, Ling Chi was shining in her eyes.

"This is Xiao Qing, the spirit beast I recently contracted." After exchanging pleasantries with Zhenyuan Daxian, Ling Chi introduced Xiao Qing to him: "Although it is just an ordinary green snake spirit, it is not bad in nature and has good talent."

Xiaoqing quickly bowed and said, "Xiaoqing greets Zhenyuan Daxian."

Zhenyuan Daxian glanced at Xiaoqing and nodded with a smile: "Not bad."

It was clearly just a polite remark; Ling Chi wouldn't take it seriously, and neither would Xiao Qing. In terms of aptitude, there were far more powerful beings in the Three Realms than Xiao Qing. Zhen Yuanzi even found it hard to understand why Ling Chi would contract such an ordinary green snake spirit. Weren't the divine beasts in the heavens more appealing?

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Ending

Ling Chi hadn't visited Wuzhuang Temple for over a hundred years. Zhenyuan Daxian was very generous, immediately offering three ginseng fruits for Ling Chi, Su Mei, and Xiao Qing to taste, and also exchanging ideas and learning from each other with Ling Chi.

Zhenyuan Daxian learned cooking from Lingchi, while Lingchi learned spatial magic from Zhenyuan Daxian.

Zhenyuan Daxian possesses the art of concealing the universe within his sleeve. His supernatural powers are so vast that even Sun Wukong is no match for him. Furthermore, his status, position, and cultivation are even above those of the Buddha.

Zhenyuan Daxian is a low-key person, and his reputation is not well-known in the Three Realms. Only after reaching a certain level of cultivation and status will people know that there is such a powerful ancestor of earth immortals in the world.

Although Ling Chi obtained the Five Elements Spiritual Roots in the world of Legend of Sword and Fairy, in terms of magic, he actually devoted the most effort to studying spatial magic. He was able to easily travel back and forth to the Demon Locking Tower because of spatial magic.

However, he was learning spatial magic on his own and making little progress. Zhenyuan Daxian, as the ancestor of earth immortals, had a tens of millions of times better understanding of spatial magic than him. Therefore, every time Ling Chi came to Wuzhuang Temple, he would stay for at least a month. The main reason was that he wanted to learn spatial magic from Zhenyuan Daxian. Zhenyuan Daxian was also a glutton. Since Ling Chi was learning spatial magic from him, he naturally wanted to make up for it. So he started learning cooking from Ling Chi. Over the years, Zhenyuan Daxian's cooking skills have reached the top level of blue. Although it is not high, it is still rare. After all, the top level of blue is already very impressive in terms of taste.

Zhenyuan Daxian was certainly not satisfied with this; his goal was to create something as dazzling as Ling Chi's, something that would leave a lasting impression for a whole year after just one bite. In comparison, the blue-grade delicacy was merely tasty, but didn't leave much of a lingering aftertaste.

Since Ling Chi rarely comes, Zhen Yuanzi naturally wants to squeeze every last drop of value out of him, while Ling Chi is equally unwilling to suffer any loss and is determined to fleece Zhen Yuanzi. Each harboring their own ulterior motives, they learn from each other, gaining valuable insights each time.

This was the first time Xiaoqing had ever tasted a top-tier fruit like the Ginseng Fruit from the Three Realms. After eating it, she instantly felt a tremendous change in her body. The last trace of demonic energy on her body finally dissipated, transforming into a kind of ethereal Taoist energy. Although her cultivation level did not increase, her magical power became more refined. If she were to use a spell again, its power would increase by at least 50%.

As for her lifespan of over 40,000 years, Xiaoqing didn't feel anything. This was related to the fact that her lifespan was bound to Lingchi's after she signed a contract with him. Now, Lingchi had consumed countless peaches of immortality and ginseng fruits, and his lifespan had long since reached the pinnacle of being as old as heaven and earth, and as old as the sun and moon. As a result, the increased yield of ginseng fruits was of no use to Xiaoqing.

Even so, it was enough to make Xiaoqing very happy: the ginseng fruit lived up to its name.

Compared to Xiaoqing's bountiful harvest, Su Mei had nothing to do except enjoy the taste of authentic ginseng fruit again.

They are all demons, yet their fates differ.

After eating the ginseng fruit, Ling Chi personally cooked a large table of delicious dishes. After Zhen Yuan Da Xian and Qing Feng Ming Yue had eaten their fill, he let Su Mei and Xiao Qing go play with Qing Feng Ming Yue, and then went to the backyard with Zhen Yuan Zi to learn from each other.

This time, Ling Chi stayed at Wuzhuang Temple for a full year. During this time, he gained a considerable understanding of spatial magic, and Zhen Yuanzi, under his guidance, also improved his cooking skills from top-tier blue to ordinary purple. Although it was only a small improvement, the change in color still excited Zhen Yuanzi greatly. That very evening, he personally cooked a table of purple dishes to entertain Ling Chi, Su Mei, and Xiao Qing.

This meal surprised Su Mei and Xiao Qing. They never expected Zhen Yuanzi to be able to make such delicious food, and the purple light shimmering on the dishes amazed them even more.

Over the years, Xiaoqing had learned to cook from the kitchen maids countless times, but after ten years, her culinary skills couldn't even reach the blue level. Meanwhile, Bai Suzhen had made purple dishes in just a few days. The huge difference in their culinary talents made Xiaoqing question her life. But as the saying goes, you'll never know the importance of talent if you don't try.

After ten years, Xiaoqing had resigned herself to her fate. She truly lacked the talent for cooking, which explained why Ling Chi recruited Bai Suzhen as his kitchen helper, while she, through ten years of devoted service as a maid, only managed to persuade Ling Chi to reluctantly contract her as a spirit beast. The difference in talent led to different destinies—it was all too real.

To be honest, Zhen Yuanzi's culinary talent was only average, but his cultivation level was too high. It was like comparing a two-meter-tall adult strongman who had never played basketball to a ten-year-old elementary school student who had been playing basketball for seven years since the age of three. Although his basketball skills were indeed inferior to those of a ten-year-old, he could still easily defeat the elementary school student by virtue of his physical strength, height, and ability to fight.

Of course, basketball is something easy to learn but difficult to master. It's fine for bullying kids, but if you want to continue improving your skills, it's not so easy. The same goes for Zhen Yuanzi learning cooking. Cooking is easy to learn but difficult to master. It's not hard to learn to cook home-style dishes, but it's difficult to reach the level of a restaurant chef, let alone a five-star hotel chef or even a master chef.

Zhen Yuanzi studied for over a thousand years and only managed to raise his culinary skills to the purple level with great difficulty. This is far inferior to Huang Rong and the others, probably only about the same as Shuang'er. Thinking of Shuang'er, Ling Chi felt a pang of heartache. Since entering the God of Cookery Space to hone her skills, Shuang'er has rarely left the space, yet even with such hard work, she has only just reached the ordinary gold level.

This is even after Shuang'er has eaten countless dishes that have improved her aptitude over the years, and her culinary talent is already quite high. If Shuang'er had just been recruited back then, she would never have been able to make a gold dish, or even a red dish.

Because the red level is the threshold to becoming an immortal, Shuang'er's original aptitude was simply not enough to achieve it.

Fortunately, although it's a bit slow, she's still making progress. And being able to make gold-quality food proves that Shuang'er already has the ability to conquer Xuanxian (a high-level immortal), and if she keeps practicing, she can even conquer Jinxian (another high-level immortal).

Taken individually, Shuang'er was already good enough. It's just a pity that Huang Rong and the others were too talented. They had completely mastered the high-level gold-grade dishes. Although it was only a small level, the difference was the same as the difference between a Xuanxian and a Jinxian. To make a simple analogy, it was like the difference between a mouse and a cat, and even more so, the difference between an ordinary mouse and a strong adult wildcat.

Ling Chi had made a rough calculation a few years ago: it would probably take Shuang'er at least ten thousand years to improve her cooking skills to the advanced gold level. Even with the tenfold acceleration of the Culinary God Space, it would still take a thousand years in the outside world.

Almost everyone is cheering Shuang'er on, hoping she can persevere. Just like Liu Mengli said: every single kitchen helper is indispensable.

……

As Zhen Yuanzi's culinary skills improved, Ling Chi's spatial magic also continued to advance and improve.

Is Zhen Yuanzi's "Hidden Space in the Sleeve" technique amazing? Absolutely! Hundreds of years ago, Zhen Yuanzi passed on the technique to Ling Chi. However, the "Hidden Space in the Sleeve" is a vast and profound art, and Ling Chi can only create a space of a few hundred square meters within his sleeve to this day.

How many Zhen Yuanzi are there? They truly have a universe within their sleeves, capable of containing heaven and earth.

Moreover, Zhen Yuanzi is only at the Quasi-Saint level. Once he becomes a Saint, this "Universe in My Sleeve" will evolve into its ultimate form, capable of containing "existence." It can contain everything that is within sight.

Cattle!

Unfortunately, there are already six saints in this world, so it is almost impossible for Zhen Yuanzi to become a saint.

It's not a matter of qualifications, nor is it about 'Primordial Purple Qi'. There is no such thing as Primordial Purple Qi in this world, nor is there any Hongjun Ancestor. The greatest beings are the six Sages, and the nominal Supreme Being of Heaven and Earth—the Jade Emperor.

The reason why Zhen Yuanzi found it difficult to become a saint is actually quite simple. If this world is like a fish tank, then the six saints are like the six largest giant fish in the tank. These six giant fish occupy almost most of the space in the tank, leaving no room for the remaining fish to continue growing.

Zhen Yuanzi is like a giant fish, second only to the six giant fish. He wants to be on par with the giant fish, but he lacks the space to continue growing unless one of the six giant fish dies...

Even so, Zhen Yuanzi, as the ancestor of all earth immortals, was already incredibly powerful. Although not a saint, he could associate with saints and never acted arrogantly. He could befriend both those above and those below. During the Journey to the West, he humbled himself and became sworn brothers with Sun Wukong. Keep in mind that at that time, Sun Wukong was merely a Taiyi Golden Immortal, far inferior to Zhen Yuanzi, yet Zhen Yuanzi still became his sworn brother. The two got along quite well and were reluctant to part.

With such a wide network of connections, Zhen Yuanzi's position in this world is as secure as a mountain. Just being alive is good enough; as long as you're alive, there's always a chance.

After living in Wuzhuang Temple for a year, Ling Chi left with Su Mei and Xiao Qing. For the next few decades, Ling Chi lived mainly in Qiantang County, but would occasionally take Su Mei and Xiao Qing to travel around the Four Continents. He would also help those in need and earn some merit in the process.

Lingchi had lived in Qiantang County for forty-three years by the year before the Queen Mother of the West's birthday. Now, Xu Xian was over sixty years old, a renowned physician, and had many children and grandchildren, living a happy life.

Although Li Gongfu and Xu Jiaorong only had one daughter, she married into a good family and had two sons and two daughters. She held a high position in her husband's family, which put their minds at ease. With Xu Xian's help, the couple's old age was quite comfortable.

Daoji, on the other hand, still wore tattered shoes, a tattered hat, and a tattered cassock. He wandered around every day, righting wrongs and earning the title of "Living Buddha Jigong" among the common people, which also brought considerable fame to the Buddhist community.

As he was about to return to Heaven, Ling Chi hosted a banquet for Ji Gong before leaving, asking him to look after Xu Xian until his death. This could be seen as his way of repaying Ji Gong for taking Bai Suzhen from him!

Ji Gong ate and drank heartily, readily agreeing, and casually asked, "Will you come back this time?"

Ling Chi chuckled, "A day in heaven is a year on earth. Besides, I've already seen all four continents, so there's no need for me to come back." He paused, then added, "Perhaps the next time I leave the Heavenly Court will be the time I leave this world."

"Oh?" Ji Gong sighed, "If you leave, there will be no more delicious food in the world."

Ling Chi smiled slightly: "I do want to find a successor in this world. Keep an eye out for any talented young men and women. As long as they can pass my test, I can pass on my culinary skills to them so that my cooking skills will not be lost in this world."

Ji Gong's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly: "Good, this humble monk will certainly pay close attention." After a pause, he added: "Don't hold anything back."

"It's just cooking skills, what's there to hide?" Ling Chi shook his head: "With my current cooking skills, I can't compare to Laozi's alchemy at all. The only thing I can surpass is the taste. If, after I leave, someone can develop cooking skills that rival Laozi's alchemy based on the cooking skills I leave behind, that would be the best."

Ji Gong looked at him and chuckled, "Excellent, excellent! Benefactor Ling has a broad mind, I admire you."

Ling Chi smiled and raised his wine cup: "After this parting, I wonder if we will ever meet again? Please drink this cup to the brim and take care."

Ji Gong also put away his playful smile and solemnly clinked glasses with Ling Chi: "Amitabha, please take care, Benefactor Ling."

……

The next day, Ling Chi used his spatial teleportation technique to move the entire Ling Mansion to the alternate dimension he had created. After decades of living there and renovating it, the Ling Mansion was already full of spiritual energy and could be called a blessed land. He couldn't bear to give such a good place away to others, so he naturally took it all with him.

Having done all this, Ling Chi headed straight for the Heavenly Court. However, the sudden disappearance of the Ling family overnight sparked a heated discussion among the common people. At this moment, Ji Gong stepped forward and said, "Ling Chi is the God of Cookery in the Heavenly Court. He was on vacation before, but now that his vacation is over, he must return to the Heavenly Court to take up his post."

After Ji Gong's verification, the people were naturally astonished by Ling Chi's identity. Upon learning of Ling Chi's identity, the Xu Xian and Li Gongfu families immediately set up a shrine for him, offering three sticks of incense daily. This action, however, brought them great benefits.

Ling Chi once obtained a recipe called "Prosperity" from the Heavenly King Duowen, which could grant 10 points of luck to those who worshipped him. Ordinary people only have 1 point of luck, so as Xu Xian's family and Li Gongfu's family began to worship him, their luck suddenly increased dramatically. They would find money on the street, or be lent an umbrella by a kind person when they were in the rain without one, almost every few days. In important matters such as taking the imperial examinations, everything went smoothly for them.

As time went by, the good fortune of the Xu and Li families naturally attracted the attention of many people. When they learned that the two families' good fortune only came about after they started worshipping the God of Cookery, the custom of worshipping the God of Cookery began to flourish among the people. Moreover, under the influence of the "prosperity" effect, almost everyone's luck began to increase dramatically. This led to the gradual shift of people's belief in gods and Buddhas to belief in the God of Cookery.

Because a day in heaven is equivalent to a year on earth, although decades have passed in the mortal realm, only a few dozen days have passed in heaven. As the gods in heaven and the Buddhist and Taoist sects discovered that their incense offerings had decreased significantly, all three sides became somewhat anxious.

An investigation revealed that this happened because when people stopped worshipping them and started worshipping the God of Cookery instead, all the gods had some complaints about Lingchi.