Chef God of the Wuxia and Fantasy World

……

"Master."

In the main hall of the Huashan Sect, Ling Chi bowed to Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze, saying, "Master's wife."

"Hmm." Yue Buqun stroked his beard and smiled.

He was extremely satisfied with this disciple. In just one month, he had mastered the Hunyuan Gong and Huashan Sword Technique to a minor level, and his basic skills were becoming increasingly solid. He truly deserved to be called a prodigy whom he valued.

"Okay, okay." Ning Zhongze nodded with a smile.

"Second Senior Brother and Senior Sister are here too?" Ling Chi was somewhat surprised to see Lao Denuo and Yue Lingshan in the main hall.

"Junior Brother." Laudenuo smiled and clasped his hands in greeting.

"Junior Brother, our parents called you here to discuss coming down the mountain with us," Yue Lingshan said with a grin.

"Go down the mountain?" Ling Chi turned to look at Yue Buqun.

“That’s right.” Yue Buqun nodded and said, “I have received news…”

……

A gentle breeze caresses the willows, and the fragrance of flowers is intoxicating; it is the height of spring in the south. In Fuzhou, Fujian Province, the straight bluestone-paved West Gate Street leads directly to the West Gate.

In front of a magnificent mansion, there are two stone altars on the left and right, each with a flagpole about two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) high, with blue flags fluttering at the top.

On the right-hand flag, a fierce and imposing lion is embroidered in yellow silk thread. The flag flutters in the wind, making the lion appear even more lifelike. Above the lion's head, a pair of bats embroidered in black silk thread spread their wings and fly. On the left-hand flag, the four black characters "Fuwei Escort Agency" are embroidered, written with bold and powerful strokes.

The mansion's vermilion gate gleamed with tiny copper studs the size of teacups. Above the gate, a plaque bore the four large gilded characters "Fuwei Escort Agency," with the two smaller characters "Head Office" written below. Inside, two rows of benches were occupied by eight men dressed in tight-fitting clothes, each standing ramrod straight, exuding a heroic and valiant air.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves echoed from the backyard. The eight men jumped to their feet and rushed out the gate. Five riders emerged from the west gate of the escort agency, galloping along the ramp to the main gate. The lead horse was pure white, its bridle and stirrups made of gleaming silver. On the saddle sat a young man in brocade robes, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a hunting falcon perched on his left shoulder, a sword at his waist, and a longbow on his back. He spurred his horse on with a thunderous roar. Four riders followed behind, all dressed in short blue cloth. As the group of five reached the entrance of the escort agency, three of the eight men shouted in unison, "The young master has gone hunting again!"

The young man laughed heartily, cracked his whip in the air, and with a feint, his white horse raised its head and neighed, charging off onto the bluestone road.

A man called out, "Chief镖师 Shi, if the wild boar comes back today, we'll all have a good meal."

A man in his forties behind the boy laughed and said, "You'll get your share of a wild boar's tail, but don't get too full of wine yet." Amidst the laughter, the five horses had long since ridden far away.

……

Beside a mountain path, a hotel is hidden in the forest.

Inside the hotel, Ling Chi was dressed in coarse linen clothes and was peeling radishes with a kitchen knife in his hand.

Nearby, a slender but ugly young woman in a blue dress was arranging drinks at the wine cabinet. An old man with white hair was wiping the tables and chairs with a rag.

The sound of horses' hooves approached from afar and finally stopped outside the hotel. A moment later, several armed men accompanied a young gentleman inside.

"Where's Old Cai? Why isn't he out leading the horse?"

"..."

Chapter Eight: A Bunch of Trash

From the moment he saw the person who had arrived, Ling Chi felt a strange sense of unease.

Since being sent down the mountain by his master half a month ago, he has felt the wonder of fate.

Fuzhou is thousands of miles away from Mount Hua. He originally thought that since he had just joined the Mount Hua Sect, it was unlikely that he would be involved in the story of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer so quickly. However, because of his rapid progress, Yue Buqun eventually made a decision to send him, his daughter, and his second disciple, Lao Denuo, to Fuzhou to investigate the situation of the Qingcheng Sect and the Fuwei Escort Agency.

Not only did they have to ride at full speed, but they also had to cross the Yangtze River by boat. After a long and arduous journey, it took them ten days to finally arrive at this treacherous place, fraught with mountain roads and teeming with mosquitoes, snakes, and scorpions, as planned.

I remember that the opening of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" is about Lin Pingzhi, the young head of the Fuzhou Escort Agency, going into the mountains to hunt. He then stopped at an inn and killed Yu Renyan, the son of Yu Canghai, the leader of the Qingcheng Sect, thus giving Yu Canghai an excuse to wipe out the entire Fuwei Escort Agency.

He didn't feel anything when he first read the novel, but when he was preparing food and wine for Lin Pingzhi and the others, he heard the sound of approaching horses' hooves and heard the Sichuan accent coming from the doorway shortly afterward, which made him feel a little strange.

Experiencing the opening scene firsthand was an unprecedented feeling. It was like the protagonist in many novels traveling back to ancient times and personally experiencing the historical events of that era.

Seeing the two groups clashing soon after, Ling Chi hesitated: Should he change 'history'?

At this moment, Lin Pingzhi and Yu Renyan had already fought outside the hotel.

Seeing that the opponent's fist was aimed straight at his chest, Lin Pingzhi remembered the "disarming" technique passed down by his father. He immediately stretched out his left hand to block and deflect the force of the punch. Unexpectedly, Yu Renyan was very strong, and he could not deflect the punch. The punch hit him squarely in the chest.

Lin Pingzhi swayed, his collar already grabbed by Yu Renyan's left hand. Yu Renyan's arm slammed down, bending Lin Pingzhi's upper body over, then his right arm used the "Iron Threshold" move, placing it across the back of Lin Pingzhi's neck, laughing wildly as he said, "You little bastard, kowtow three times and call me 'good uncle' three times, then I'll let you go!"

The two bodyguards following Lin Pingzhi were shocked and tried to abandon their opponents to rush to his rescue, but Yu Renyan's helpers attacked with both fists and feet, not allowing the two of them to leave.

One of the men raised a hunting fork and stabbed it at Yu Renyan in the back, yelling, "Aren't you going to let go? How many brains do you have...?"

Yu Renyan kicked back with his left foot, sending the hunting fork flying several feet. He then kicked back with his right foot in succession, sending the hunter rolling seven or eight times, unable to get up for a long time.

Immediately, another soldier started cursing: "You bastard, you son of a bitch, you motherfucker, you're blind!" He cursed once, then took a step back, cursing eight or nine times and retreating eight or nine steps.

Seeing that this person was such a coward, only capable of barking like a defeated dog, Yu Renyan laughed loudly: "Young lady, will you kowtow or not!" He increased the pressure on his arm and pressed Lin Pingzhi's head down, lower and lower, until his forehead almost touched the ground.

Lin Pingzhi threw a punch at his lower abdomen, but it was always a few inches too short. He felt a sharp pain in his neck, as if it were about to break, and saw stars before his eyes. His ears were ringing loudly.

He grabbed and thrashed about with both hands, when suddenly he bumped into something hard on his calf. In his panic, he didn't think twice and pulled it out, pushing it forward with all his might.

Just as the blade was about to pierce Yu Renyan's abdomen, a loud bang was heard, accompanied by a scream. Yu Renyan was kicked several meters into the air, rolling eighteen times on the ground before getting up in a disheveled state more than ten meters away. He looked at the person who had kicked him away with a gloomy expression and said in a deep voice, "I didn't expect to misjudge you. Who are you?"

Not only Yu Renyan, but everyone stared in shock at the young cook in coarse linen clothes, unable to believe that a martial arts master, and so young, could be hidden in this small mountain shop.

"You are all guests of our establishment, so you should enjoy the fine wine and food with great enthusiasm. Why resort to fighting and killing, which would only damage our harmony?" Ling Chi said with a smile, clasping his hands in a fist and palm salute. "I humbly request that you, esteemed guests, for my sake, turn hostility into friendship. What do you say?"

"Hmph!" Yu Renyan knew he had met a tough opponent today and couldn't afford to be presumptuous. He forcefully brushed the dirt off his clothes and said, "Let's go!"

"Wait a minute!" Ling Chi chuckled and said, "Sir, you haven't even tasted our fine wine and delicacies yet, how can you leave like this?"

"I have no appetite!" Yu Renyan had no appetite and was about to leave with his men.

"That's not up to you, sir." Ling Chi's figure flashed, and in an instant, he appeared in front of Yu Renyan, ten meters away, like a ghost.

Yu Renyan was shocked and threw a punch at him, but before his fist could hit the other man, the other man grabbed his wrist. With a pull and a push, he threw Yu Renyan to the ground.

"Brother Yu!" Yu Renyan rushed forward to help, delivering a Black Tiger Heart Strike towards Ling Chi.

With a grab, a tug, and a push, another unfortunate soul lay sprawled on the ground.

Now, Yu Renyan and his companion were both obedient. Even if they were stupid, they knew that this person's martial arts were far superior to theirs. If Yu Canghai were here, things would be fine, but now there were only the two of them, with no one to call for help, and they couldn't help but feel fear in their hearts: "You... what do you intend to do?"

Ling Chi smiled brightly and said, "How about you two guests enjoy the fine wine and delicious food before you leave?"

"..." They dared not utter a single word of dissent, and after getting up, they slumped their heads and returned to the hotel.

"Please take your seats again, gentlemen. The food will be ready shortly," Ling Chi said with a smile to Lin Pingzhi and the others.

"Ah!? Okay, okay."

"Please take a seat, please take a seat."

"Young Master Escort, are you alright?" one of the escorts asked, concerned about Lin Pingzhi's injuries.

"It's nothing." Lin Pingzhi stretched his neck a few times, frowned. Yu Renyan's strength was considerable. Even though he had practiced martial arts for many years, he was bound to suffer some injuries. Fortunately, it wasn't a big problem, and he would recover after a few days of rest.

The group sat down again. Lin Pingzhi looked at Ling Chi, who was walking towards the kitchen, with some eagerness in his eyes, and said in a low voice, "I didn't expect that Old Sa's grandson's martial arts skills are so high. I'm afraid he can compete with Father."

Although the voice was low, Ling Chi heard it clearly and couldn't help but twitch his lips, unwilling to stoop to the level of a frog in a well.

“Junior brother, you…” Laudenuo, disguised as Old Man Sa, said in a low voice, “Why are you causing trouble?”

"It's alright." Ling Chi shook his head and said, "If the young head of the Fuwei Escort Agency has such low martial arts skills, then Lin Zhennan's martial arts skills probably aren't much better either. And since Yu Canghai's son is here, the Qingcheng Sect must indeed be planning to take action against the Fuwei Escort Agency. There's no need for us to stay here any longer. Let's entertain them and then head to Fuzhou City!"

Laudenau pondered for a moment, then nodded.

……

Laudenau began to gut the pheasants and rabbits, skin them, remove the tendons, and clean them thoroughly, then watched from the side.

Although I've seen it many times, I'm still amazed every time I see Ling Chi's smooth and skillful cooking.

Ling Chi held a kitchen knife, and with the aid of his Level 5 knife-cutting skill, several flashes of light appeared, and the pheasant and rabbit were turned into evenly sized pieces of meat.

Instead of preparing the two ingredients separately, he combined them into one dish, "Chicken and Rabbit in the Same Cage".

One of his recipes is a simple white recipe for chicken and rabbit, which is not only delicious but also saves time.

Of course, these were Lin Pingzhi and his companions' own pheasants and rabbits; Yu Renyan and his companion would need to prepare something else.

The hotel has no shortage of ingredients. With Ling Chi's current culinary skills, she could easily make a standard white-label dish with a success rate of over 90%. Judging from the previous encounter between Lin Pingzhi and Yu Renyan, the two are at most ordinary white-label individuals, perhaps not even that, so there's no need to serve them a high-class white-label dish.

Just as Ling Chi had predicted, half an hour later, several soft sounds also came to Ling Chi's mind.

"Ding! You have conquered the stomach of ordinary white-clad diner Yu Renyan. Conquest count +0.01. Ordinary white-clad recipe dropped..."

"Ding! You have conquered the stomach of Lin Pingzhi, a regular white-clad diner. Conquest count +0.01. A regular white-clad recipe has been dropped..."

"Ding! Conquered the ordinary white-clad diners..."

"Ding! Conquering the stomachs of unranked diners does not count towards the conquest count, and unranked recipes have been dropped..."

"Ding……"

Pah! A bunch of trash.

Chapter Nine: The Second Senior Brother is Heartbroken

"Second Senior Brother, Junior Brother, are we really leaving?"

After watching Lin Pingzhi and Yu Renyan's group leave, Yue Lingshan removed the human skin mask from her face, revealing her original bright eyes and white teeth, charming appearance.

“There is no need to stay here any longer. Since the Qingcheng Sect has decided to take action against the Fuwei Escort Agency, we should enter the city within the next day or two so that we can act in secret,” said Laudenuo.

"Second Senior Brother is right." Ling Chi nodded, looking at the room full of wine and food, and said, "It's just a pity that all of these things are being wasted."

Laudenau chuckled and said, "It's just a little wine and food, nothing important. Completing Master's mission is more important."

Ling Chi thought for a moment and said, "How about this? Second Senior Brother and Senior Sister will go to Fuzhou City to investigate first. I will stay here to handle the aftermath and then enter the city to meet up with Second Senior Brother and Senior Sister."

“Then I’ll stay too.” Yue Lingshan quickly said, “Second Senior Brother is enough to gather information; Junior Brother and I will handle the cleanup.”

Laudenau: "..."

Ling Chi coughed lightly and said, "One person is enough to handle the aftermath, but gathering information requires investigation from multiple sources; one person is not enough."

“Then…” Yue Lingshan thought for a moment, then looked at Lao Denuo and said, “Why don’t you stay behind to handle the aftermath, and I and Junior Brother will go into the city to investigate?”

Laudenau: "..."

“No.” Ling Chi shook his head and said, “Second Senior Brother is knowledgeable and knows how to investigate information most effectively, while I have no experience in the martial world, and Senior Sister’s experience in the martial world is also somewhat lacking. How can we put the cart before the horse?”

After a pause, Ling Chi advised, "Senior Sister, you should go with Second Senior Brother first! I will handle things here quickly, and I will meet up with you in the city by tomorrow at the latest. Senior Sister, the bigger picture is more important."