A Bite of Douluo Continent

Qi Han's heart skipped a beat.

"System, what does 'special dining table' mean?"

[As shown in the picture.]

As they were talking, a picture appeared in front of Qi Han. It was a dining table with the same style as the small shop. It looked somewhat similar to the dining table in the shop now, but there was a large hole in the middle, with an iron pot for hot pot placed in the middle.

Is this a specially made dining table?

Qi Han stared at it for a long time, and apart from the extra hole in the middle, it seemed to be no different.

"That's easy, system, just modify the tables in my shop for me."

Qi Han said, "This is no big deal, it's simple!"

[The host does not have renovation permissions for the shop; the operation cannot be completed. Please obtain renovation permissions for the shop first.]

this...

This renovation permission... does that sound familiar?

Only intermediate-level chefs have the right to expand and renovate small shops. Please reach the intermediate-level chef level as soon as possible!

Gan!

Qi Han's face darkened; he finally remembered what this renovation permission was.

When the system was making empty promises to him before, he didn't pay attention to the so-called renovation rights, only noticing the expansion rights. He didn't expect the system to be waiting for him here.

"So...System, you've tricked me again?"

[This system never tries to cheat its host. The host only inquired about hot pot, and adhering to the rule of never concealing anything from the host, the system truthfully informed the host of any information related to hot pot. There was no attempt to cheat the host during this process.]

Qi Han fell into deep thought.

So... I brought this on myself again?

Wait, why did I say "again"...?

【Yes. 】

After glancing at the four available two-star selectable recipe fragments, Qi Han finally let out a deep sigh.

Why can't I change the hot pot base that I've been looking forward to for so long?

"Never mind, I'll just take the two-star recipe: Kung Pao Chicken."

In the end, Qi Han did not choose to use the fragments. Since he could not exchange for the hot pot series for the time being, having another two-star dish would not have a big impact on the small shop at present.

It's better to save them up and wait until the hot pot series becomes available for sale, then use the fragments to exchange for hot pot.

The next instant, Qi Han disappeared from his spot and entered the training space, where he began practicing Kung Pao Chicken.

Chapter Seventy-Two: Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken is a famous traditional dish known both at home and abroad. Its origins are related to the braised chicken with soy sauce in Shandong cuisine and the spicy chicken in Guizhou cuisine. It was later improved and popularized by Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong and governor-general of Sichuan during the Qing Dynasty, and has become the Kung Pao Chicken that is still served today.

The system provides the most traditional way of making Kung Pao Chicken.

Qi Han took a deep breath to soothe his tired mind, which had been working for a long time, and then looked at the cooking pot in front of him again.

He heated a small amount of oil in a pan until it started to crackle. He quickly turned down the heat to keep it low and then slowly slid the peanuts into the oil along the edge of the pan.

Fry over low heat until the pink color of the peanuts gradually deepens to an enticing brownish-red, and a rich aroma of fried peanuts wafts out. Only then does Qi Han turn off the heat, carefully scoop out the peanuts, and set them aside for later use.

After washing the breast meat of the lark, he carefully removed the tendons and membranes. This step was a piece of cake for Qi Han, who had already mastered the more difficult knife skills of deboning a whole fish. He also completed the step of dicing the breast meat smoothly in just a few breaths.

The improvement Qi Han received from breaking through to the master level in knife skills was obvious. He was now able to pass the knife skills part of the two-star recipes smoothly after a few mistakes.

Place the diced breast meat in a small bowl, sprinkle with the system's special starch, mix carefully, and set aside. Qi Han turned on the stove again, heated the oil in the pan, and carefully stir-fried the breast meat that had been sitting for a few minutes. Soon, the translucent color of the breast meat changed to a slightly yellowish white, and a meaty aroma quietly wafted out, causing Qi Han to subconsciously sniff.

Hmm, not bad, that's the taste.

Having practiced this step thousands of times, Qi Han was already very familiar with the timing and temperature of the meat. He could judge the doneness of the breast meat just by smelling it.

Set aside the perfectly cooked breast meat. Qi Han quickly slicing ginger and garlic with his knife, then diced cucumber. He then sautéed the ginger and garlic in the pan until fragrant, added fermented bean paste, turned up the heat to medium, and added diced chicken and peanuts to stir-fry.

Well... it's worth mentioning that this fermented bean paste is also specially made and supplied by the system. We don't know what the specific ingredients are, and we dare not ask.

As the chicken pieces were stir-fried until they were evenly colored and turned a light yellowish-brown, Qi Han poured the chopped cucumber into the pot, added seasonings, stir-fried briefly, and it was ready to serve.

Qi Han finally breathed a sigh of relief when the food was successfully cooked without any system notification sound.

"System, is it finished?"

[Congratulations, host, for completing the perfect level two-star recipe: Kung Pao Chicken.]

"How much does this dish cost?"

[Two-star recipe: Kung Pao Chicken, priced at 18 Gold Coins/serving]

Yes, the price is quite reasonable. Apart from pork tripe and chicken, this dish is probably the cheapest among the two-star recipes.

Having just released a new dish costing 1,000 gold soul coins, releasing a cheaper new dish to compensate diners who can't afford the fish belly stuffed with mutton seems like a good decision.

This time, the time spent practicing Kung Pao Chicken was not long. It took about five days in the training space, which is only two hours in the real world. Two hours to master a two-star recipe, and Qi Han could even arrange a new dish in the remaining time.

At this moment, Qi Han can still master the following new recipes: four two-star selectable recipe fragments for the hot pot series, which can be temporarily set aside and exchanged for later. There are also two one-star selectable recipe fragments, which are the rewards for the limited-time task temporarily released by the system, where 1,000 copies of each of the three new dishes are sold within five days.

Two one-star selectable recipe fragments mean that Qi Han can exchange for two more one-star recipes, but Qi Han is not in a hurry to launch new dishes for the time being.

They just launched "Fish Belly Stuffed with Lamb" at noon, and now they're going to launch Kung Pao Chicken tonight. If they launch two more one-star recipes, the pace is a bit too fast.

Therefore, Qi Han planned to leave the training space empty for a few days. Now that the dishes at the small shop had reached a certain scale, it was time to practice other things.

For example... carving skills?

"System, will the training space be open when I practice 'Ghost Condor'?"

[During the "Ghost Carving" training, a dedicated knife skills training space will be opened. The environment is different from the recipe training space, but the time flow is the same.]

Well... the environment doesn't matter, as long as the flow of time is the same.

Are we after the training environment? No, we're after that sixty times faster time flow!

[Does this system no longer provide carving practice materials?]

Never mind what I said.

Qi Han felt that he had been unable to stand up for himself lately, and was always being controlled by the system.

Seeing that there was still some time before leaving the store, Qi Han simply took out "The Ghost Carving" and started reading.

As Qi Han opened the book, the scenery around him subtly changed. He seemed to have entered a quiet room surrounded by lush bamboo forests that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Looking around at the scenery, Qi Han clicked his tongue in amazement, "System, this knife skills training space is much more advanced than the recipe training space."

Both are generated by the system space; there's no inherent superiority or inferiority between them. The best choice is the one that suits your needs.

"So, the material I used for carving is bamboo?"

No, given that the host has never done carving before, we are providing the most basic carving materials for the host to practice with.

As they were talking, a solid piece of cork appeared before Qi Han's eyes.

Reaching out to pick up the cork, Qi Han carefully touched it, a hint of doubt appearing on his face. "System, these are trees from Blue Star? Why don't they look quite like them to me?"

The piece of cork in my hand looks like the trunk of a tree, but it has no growth rings, which is quite strange.

[This is the Longevity Tree, a unique plant from the Douluo Continent. It gets its name from the fact that its trunk doesn't produce growth rings, making its exact age impossible to determine. While the Longevity Tree doesn't grant immortality, its uniform, soft trunk, lacking growth rings, is suitable for beginners to practice carving. Therefore, it was selected by this system as the host's practice material.]

Tree of Immortality?

The name sounds rather imposing.

Qi Han tossed the wooden block in his hand and weighed it.

"System, you haven't given me the carving knife yet, have you?"

How can you practice carving without carving tools?

[Please use your Martial Soul to carve.]

Qi Han fell silent.

You expect me to use a palm-sized kitchen knife for carving?

If it were just a relief carving, that would be one thing, but after a quick glance, Qi Han realized that "Ghost Carving" clearly involved learning various advanced carving techniques, such as openwork carving. These techniques could not possibly be accomplished with such a large kitchen knife.

The system also fell silent, seemingly realizing that it was indeed asking too much of a question.

After a long while, the system finally spoke.

[To address the limitations of the host's martial soul being a kitchen knife, the following solution is provided: Grant the host's martial soul a new characteristic: it can adjust its form according to the host's needs, but this is limited to kitchen knives.]

Qi Han fell silent again.

It's a good thing that martial souls have new characteristics, but...

Why add one that is limited to kitchen knives?

So what, am I only fit to be a chef in this lifetime?

System, I'm not satisfied! Give me a Dragon-Slaying Sword!

I want the kind that deals 999999 damage in one hit!

(Quick access to today's recommended tickets)

Chapter 73: Does the art of carving begin with carving a ball?

Although Qi Han had a heart that yearned to become a strong person, the system clearly did not intend to pay attention to him. The cleaver martial soul appeared in Qi Han's hand, and a white light flew from an unknown place, merged into the cleaver, and disappeared in a flash. The next moment, Qi Han felt that his martial soul had become somewhat different.

With a thought, the shape of the kitchen knife visibly changed, rapidly shrinking while the blade became longer and narrower, thus transforming into a carving knife.

This change was entirely at Qi Han's discretion; it could revert to its original cleaver form at any time if Qi Han wanted to.

With the carving knife in hand, Qi Han picked up the trunk of the Longevity Tree with his left hand, looked it over from left to right, but didn't know where to start for a long time.

"System, what should I carve since I've just started practicing sculpting?"

After pondering for a moment with furrowed brows, Qi Han's eyes suddenly lit up. "How about I carve an egg?"

Da Qihan Vinci is now online!