A Bite of Douluo Continent

"But teacher, aren't you going to take the day off tomorrow? Why are you introducing a new dish today?"

"Because this new dish is limited to one serving per month, if we don't eat it today, our monthly quota will be wasted."

"Oh, this..."

Ye Lingqing blinked. This was the first time he had ever heard the word "limited" from his teacher. Even with such precious purple-grade dishes before, his teacher had never heard the word "limited."

"Teacher, isn't this new dish supposed to be a purple-label dish?"

“That’s not true.” Qi Han glanced at Ye Lingqing and explained for the first time, “Actually, what the outside world calls ‘purple brand’ dishes should actually be called ‘three-star dishes’, while this new dish is a four-star dish, so there will be a slight difference.”

"Three-star dishes?" Ye Lingqing realized that even these incredibly magical purple-tier dishes were still not the teacher's limit. "Then, teacher, what is the highest star rating for dishes?"

“Five-star…” Qi Han couldn’t help but sigh, “I still haven’t mastered five-star dishes. I guess I’ll have a chance to let you try them in the future.”

Is this four-star dish we're having today not even the teacher's limit?

Ye Lingqing's eyes lit up with anticipation. "Teacher, so what exactly does this four-star dish look like today?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Qi Han smiled mysteriously, keeping everyone in suspense, then looked towards the door. "They're all here. Go open the door; I'm going to start cooking that dish."

"Okay." Ye Lingqing walked quickly towards the store door, her heart filled with anticipation.

I wonder what a four-star dish, which is even better than a purple-tier... oh no, a three-star dish, should look like?

As Qi Han turned and walked towards the kitchen, his anticipation was no less than that of his disciple.

I wonder what the unusual phenomenon of the peony fish fillet will look like?

It's estimated to be much better than Samsung's anomaly.

...

Outside Hanshi Gate, Qi Po-xiao watched as several Hanshi shop assistants walked into the shop, then sighed softly.

"What a pity, the Cold Food Festival will be tomorrow and the gates will be closed for two months. My stomach is going to suffer."

"Who says otherwise?" Tang Qianqiu was also a little listless. He glanced at the notice board that had been placed by the door since morning. The leave time clearly stated on it made him sigh again. "This time, Boss Qi didn't even tell me where he was going. The last time he took such a long leave, at least I knew he went to Xingluo City and I could go and have a few meals with him."

Qi Po-xiao couldn't help but roll his eyes.

As the master of the Sea God Pavilion, he didn't have the same freedom as Tang Qianqiu.

The Tang Clan has branches all over the continent, and this guy can wander around anywhere under the pretext of inspecting the branches.

But speaking of which…

Qi Po-xiao suddenly spoke up, "Has the Holy Spirit Cult leader not been found yet?"

During this period, Tang Qianqiu secretly dispatched a large number of Tang Sect disciples to search for clues about the Holy Spirit Sect and find their whereabouts. Qi Po Xiao and Tang Qianqiu also conducted two thorough searches of all the soul beast gathering areas in the Douluo Continent.

Aside from the core area of ​​the Star Dou Great Forest, where they also need to temporarily avoid confrontation, these two strongest individuals in the world can practically roam freely elsewhere.

However, such a large-scale search still failed to find any trace of the Holy Spirit Cult leader.

However, it wasn't all fruitless. After searching repeatedly, they finally discovered that some evil spirit masters were committing evil deeds under the guise of the Holy Spirit Cult, which indirectly confirmed the existence of this evil spirit master organization.

After pondering for a moment, Tang Qianqiu seemed to remember something and slowly said, "It's not that we gained nothing at all."

"Hmm?" Qi Po-xiao's eyes lit up. "Tell me about it?"

"The Mintang disciples in charge of intelligence at various branches of the Tang Clan have been reviewing past intelligence reports and have discovered something strange." Tang Qianqiu's expression was odd. "In many cities where branches are located, there were people acting suspiciously for a long period of time about six months ago, seemingly gathering intelligence from all directions."

“Such an incident might not attract attention if it only happened once or twice, but this time, in order to search for the Holy Spirit Cult, the various branches of the Tang Clan gathered all the intelligence information and found that all these people who were gathering information from all over the place appeared at the same time period and had certain things in common. This is a big problem.”

"And the intelligence they gathered was all..." Tang Qianqiu's expression was strange, "Some didn't even know how many countries there were on the Douluo Continent, and some had never even heard of the Tang Sect or Shrek Academy..."

"Evil Soul Masters tend to be quite secretive in order to conceal their information. Is that why they know nothing about anything?" Qi Po-xiao frowned, feeling that although this reason was barely plausible, it was still somewhat far-fetched.

"Are these people still in the area?" A thoughtful look flashed in Qi Po-xiao's eyes. "Could we find one or two and question them carefully?"

“That’s the biggest problem.” A hint of helplessness flashed across Tang Qianqiu’s face. “Later, we discovered that this group of people had all disappeared eight months ago. As the investigation progressed, we found that they had all gone into hiding in Lanbo City and left by boat.”

"At that time, it was during the transition between the old and new emperors in Xingluo, and the Xingluo Empire was not yet fully stable. No one noticed this, and it was only now, after careful analysis and review, that the clues were discovered."

"And the Holy Spirit Cult leader whom I severely injured... also disappeared around that time."

Qi Po-xiao's eyes deepened with contemplation. "So the evil spirit masters of the Holy Spirit Cult... might have fled overseas?"

Tang Qianqiu nodded slightly. "Now it seems that this possibility is not small. Although there are only a few scattered islands overseas where we can survive, it is troublesome to search for them. What I mean is, why not take precautions secretly? If they do not return to the mainland, let them fend for themselves?"

“Alright.” Qi Po-xiao frowned and nodded. “This is indeed too troublesome. If these evil soul masters don’t return to the mainland to wreak havoc, then let them be. However…”

Qi Po Xiao wanted to say something, but his words suddenly stopped. The two Limit Douluos turned their heads sharply to look at Han Shi in front of them.

At this moment, many people in the group exclaimed in surprise, "Look, what's that?!"

Following the exclamations, everyone's gaze turned to Hanshi, and then slowly moved upwards to look at the sky above Hanshi.

Clumps of mist quietly formed and gathered in the sky above the Cold Food Festival.

In the perception of the few strong individuals in the group, at this moment, the surroundings seemed to have turned into a black hole of primordial energy, with countless primordial energies of heaven and earth surging in and converging above Hanshi.

The primordial energy of heaven and earth, which had become tangible, slowly transformed from mist again, and after a while, it actually turned into a hundred-meter-long river of primordial energy flowing in the sky.

This horrifying scene caused countless people to gasp in shock.

Such a river of primordial energy, winding through the sky, could probably be seen throughout the entire Shrek City!

Tang Qianqiu couldn't contain himself any longer and was about to fly up to find out what was going on, but Qi Poxiao grabbed him from the side, saying, "Let's take another look."

Qi Po Xiao's eyes shone with divine light as he sensed the long river of primordial energy flowing across the sky. His gaze slowly turned to the entrance of Han Shi's shop.

Such a grand spectacle... could it be an anomaly caused by the dishes?

There has never been such a situation with the previous purple-label dishes, so why is this time so different?

Chapter 454 Flowers Bloom, Fragrance Fills the City

In the Hanshi (Cold Food Festival) dining area, everyone was stunned.

Qi Han had originally planned to make this one and only serving of peony fish slices tonight and share it with the staff.

Consider this a reward for the staff's hard work during this period.

But he never expected that the phenomena of the four-star dishes would be so enormous.

As soon as the dishes were served, the vital energy of heaven and earth surged towards the sky above Hanshi like a tornado.

Yes, it's the sky above the Cold Food Festival, not the sky above the dishes.

While past phenomena were wondrous, they were not large in scale. They could disturb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a certain range, but the actual amount of spiritual energy consumed and utilized was not much. The phenomena formed were only about one or two meters in size, gathering and appearing above the dishes before disappearing.

It's somewhat similar to the special effects on dishes?

While such an unusual phenomenon can be considered a celestial phenomenon, it is actually somewhat misnamed.

The strange phenomenon appearing in the sky above the Cold Food Festival has not yet fully manifested, but the gathered primordial energy of heaven and earth has already formed a long river of primordial energy rushing through the sky, on an unprecedented scale.

In a sense, this is what can be considered a true celestial phenomenon.

At this moment, Qi Han and the others were inside the Cold Food Shop and should not have been able to see the strange phenomenon behind several ceilings, but as soon as they looked up, the strange phenomenon seemed to be right in front of them.

"Ruyi, is this a special design for the Cold Food Festival?" Qi Han asked silently, puzzled.

"No, this is the special feature of the four-star phenomenon: the phenomenon arises from the mind. As long as you focus on the direction in which the phenomenon occurs, no object can obstruct your view in the slightest."

It turned out to be the case.

Growing increasingly shocked, Qi Han frowned as he looked at the strange phenomenon in the sky.

As the long river flowed on, a peony bud appeared between heaven and earth, tightly closed and refusing to open even a fraction.

The long river slowly encircles the peony flowers, and scenes like dreamlike bubbles vanish in the river, appearing before everyone.

Qi Han's heart skipped a beat.

He was more familiar with the scene before him than anyone else.

Because those were the scenes he had experienced in the Food Realm!

As the scene unfolds, the peony petals begin to tremble gently, as if influenced by the story. The buds open gently and eventually bloom completely.

At that moment, a strange floral fragrance appeared at the tip of Qi Han's nose.

No, it wasn't just Qi Han; everyone in Shrek City who witnessed this strange phenomenon smelled the floral fragrance that seemed to appear abruptly regardless of distance.

The extraordinary phenomena of the Four-Star Recipe are no longer limited to sight and hearing; they are beginning to evolve in a more realistic direction, affecting more of the viewer's senses.

The peony flower, which bloomed in mid-air and was a hundred meters in size, did not completely disappear. Instead, it slowly turned into tiny pink petals, which fell from mid-air like a drizzle.

In the group, Yu Lianxin gently stretched out her palm and carefully picked up a petal that had drifted down. She felt the peony petal, which seemed to be a real petal, slowly turn into a rain of flowers and disappear completely in her palm. She felt a sense of loss in her heart.

What a beautiful phenomenon! Is such a phenomenon also a dish?

A pair of beautiful eyes slowly turned towards the direction of Hanshi, and looking at the still tightly closed gate of Hanshi, the girl's heart was filled with turmoil.

Such a magnificent scene, spanning a hundred meters, would require at least a Soul Saint level expert to exert their full strength to achieve, yet he has now easily reached that level with just a dish.

...

In the dining area, Qi Han silently looked down at the petals disappearing in his palm, his heart filled with even greater shock.

The texture is almost indistinguishable from real flower petals.

Even though it was several floors away, the strange flower petals fell without any hindrance and reached his hand, but his hand was able to stop them from falling any further.

This incredible scene clearly cannot be explained by any physical rules.

Fuya and the others stared blankly at the falling petals, finally speaking up, "Boss, can such a precious dish really be our work lunch?"

It was only through Ye Lingqing's introduction that they learned that only one serving of this dish was available each month. Although they didn't know the price yet, they were not surprised that such a precious dish was much more expensive than the purple-label dishes, and that it cost tens of thousands of yuan.

Seeing such a magnificent scene now, they were even more shocked. The thought of having such precious dishes served as their working meals filled them with a sense of unease.

Qi Han glanced at the diners outside, their eyes practically piercing through the opaque door, and sighed softly, "It really isn't quite right now."

Originally, he only planned to make a portion for the staff to try, just like when he tasted the three-star recipe before, and also to try it himself. He didn't expect that such a magnificent phenomenon would expose the dish so quickly. If he still insisted on sharing it with the staff, the diners would probably think he was eating it all by himself.

That's it.

"I'll make you each a plate of Yangzhou fried rice," Qi Han said, turning and walking towards the kitchen. "As for this plate of peony fish fillets..."

"Fuya, open the door and tell the diners that each person can try a petal of this new dish as a thank you for supporting the Hanshi business during this time. You guys don't forget to eat too."