Food Wars, my food not only glows!

　"This...could this really be a phoenix?!"

　As the contestants' works were placed in the exhibition area, the audience gathered around and began to comment on the various pieces.

　As Bai Yuan pushed his work into the display area, everyone's eyes were drawn to his ice sculpture as if by some kind of force, and then they couldn't look away!

　"I never understood why the phoenix was the king of birds before, but now I understand. With such splendor, how could it not be the king of birds?!"

　A tall, elegant woman, exuding a noble and graceful air, murmured softly as she looked at the ice phoenix before her, her body trembling slightly.

　So elegant! So noble!

　This is the phoenix in her heart!

　"This... is so delicate that the texture of every single feather is depicted. I really want to touch it and feel it, but I'm also worried about damaging this work of art!"

　"Aren't they all using kitchen knives? Can a kitchen knife handle such details?! This is a bit much."

　"That's incredible! What kind of knife skills does one need to achieve this?!"

　Some people stared in disbelief at all this; the cleaver was so rough, how could it handle such details! The only explanation was that the chef possessed amazing knife skills!

　"Impossible! A kitchen knife could never be made to this extent. It even has the texture of feathers carved into it. That's just too exaggerated!"

　This guy definitely used other carving tools! This is cheating! It must be thoroughly investigated!

　Besides the audience, the master chefs who completed the ice sculptures were also admiring each other's works. Bai Yuan's work was as conspicuous as throwing a college student into a group of elementary school students.

　The emergence of such works naturally drew some criticism, since it doesn't look like something that could be carved with a kitchen knife.

　"If you're bad at it, practice more; if you can't handle it, don't play."

　Upon hearing the doubts, Bai Yuan couldn't help but sneer and then began to mock.

　"You dare say you didn't use any other tools? This exquisite texture is something that a rough kitchen knife could never have created!"

　"Are you saying that the audience watching me are all blind, letting me take out other tools and start hammering and banging on the ice sculpture?"

　Bai Yuan did not fall into the trap of self-justification. Instead, he looked at the surrounding audience and, with a flirtatious tone, shifted the blame onto them.

　Sure enough, as soon as Bai Yuan finished speaking, the atmosphere at the scene immediately became awkward.

　The viewers who were just watching the drama unfold now looked at the questioner with hostility, as if they would tear him apart if he didn't give a reasonable explanation.

　Indeed, the best way to resolve a conflict is to escalate it.

　"I..."

　Feeling the many unfriendly gazes, the skeptic immediately turned red in the face and became so angry that he couldn't speak! If he nodded, he would lose all his public favor; if he shook his head, it would be tantamount to admitting that he had framed Bai Yuan.

　This guy is completely caught in the middle!

　At this moment, he regretted it, regretting why he had questioned Bai Yuan, even though he knew that cheating was basically impossible under everyone's supervision.

　But how could an ice sculpture of this quality be carved with just a kitchen knife? That's just too unbelievable!

　"What exquisite knife skills! To carve an ice sculpture to this extent with just a kitchen knife, you are the first person I have ever seen in my life!"

　Just then, Master Baiyao's voice came from not far away, rescuing the doubter, which made him look at the master with gratitude.

　He then stepped aside, lowered his head, and minimized his presence.

　"Master Baiyao actually gave such a high evaluation! This young man must really be something! This final is going to be exciting!"

　Upon hearing Master Baiyao's evaluation, many people re-examined Bai Yuan, and seeing his composed demeanor, they couldn't help but express their admiration.

　"An ice sculpture of this caliber would undoubtedly be number one in any competition! Was it really necessary to choose it?"

　Some people shook their heads and smiled bitterly, the gap in front of them was just too big, so big that even a kindergarten child could easily make a choice!

　"It's amazing. After seeing this ice sculpture, there was only one option left in my mind. No matter how good other works are, they can't compare."

　Hearing Master Baiyao's evaluation and looking at Bingfeng, whose style was clearly a level above the surroundings, the audience looked at each other, speechless for some reason.

　Is it really necessary to compare them?

　Chapter 78 - Number One in Rating! Bai Yuan Goes All Out

　"In this selection process, each person will be given four cards in four colors: red, yellow, blue, and green. Red will be worth four points, yellow will be worth three points, and so on."

　Please select your four favorite ice sculptures and put the red, yellow, blue, and green cards into the box in front of your favorite ice sculptures.

　Each person can only submit one card for one ice sculpture. Afterwards, a special person will tally the results and record the final score.

　Please line up to receive your cards.

　Because he had anticipated this might happen, Master Baiyao made arrangements in advance, slightly adjusting the competition's scoring criteria.

　However... at the time, he believed the person who would win the championship was not Bai Yuan, but...

　Looking at the imposing Teng Snake not far away, the man in blue smiled bitterly at him. The appearance of this ice phoenix in the ice sculpture duel was a complete dimensional reduction attack; he had absolutely no chance of winning.

　Although his ice serpent carving was very lifelike and was his best performance, some gaps cannot be made up for by simply improving his skills.

　How can this kid be so strong?!

　Looking at Bai Yuan, who had a relaxed expression and his hands in his pockets, the uncle in blue couldn't help but scratch his head.

　Although the ice sculpting assessment only demonstrates the strength of one's knife skills, one can see a lot from a small detail, just by looking at the knife skills alone.

　Just like he thought, this kid is anything but simple!

　"I underestimated you, kid! I didn't expect you to come from that hometown too. Are those legendary kitchen utensils really that attractive?"

　As the man in blue thought this, he turned his gaze to two other outstanding works: a Xuanwu statue and an ice tree.

　The carving of Xuanwu is conventional and unremarkable, with nothing particularly novel about it, but the details are depicted very well, demonstrating the artist's solid foundation.

　The ice tree possesses a chaotic beauty, highlighting the sculptor's skill.

　Unrestrained and flamboyant, even though the ice leaves were extremely thin, there was no sign of them falling.

　Making a cut is like being a person; sometimes being decisive is much better than hesitating.

　The person he was mainly watching was Lei Tianci, who was using a cane. Perhaps because he was staring at him for so long, the other man became aware of him.

　The gifted master suddenly turned to him and grinned.

　"Is it finally time to vote? There's no suspense about first place, but choosing second, third, and fourth is really tough! Everyone's work is amazing!"

　"Indeed, I feel they're all pretty much the same, but I prefer the ice tree. Its chaotic look is amazing!"

　"Really? I think that Teng Snake is pretty good. I voted for him for second place."

　"Heroes think alike!"

　As the audience received their tickets and lined up to vote, they began to discuss the matter. What was surprising was that no matter which audience member it was, after strolling around the exhibition area, they would all cast their red cards for Bai Yuan without hesitation, and then hesitate among the other ice sculptures.

　This round of voting alone took half an hour, yet the ice sculpture showed no signs of melting, and it should last until the evening without any problems.

　However, the staff naturally wouldn't let them melt. After the voting ended, they put Bai Yuan and the others' ice sculptures into the ice chamber for storage, hoping to use them when a related event is held.

　Especially Bai Yuan's Ice Phoenix, it will definitely ignite the atmosphere at the scene!

　"Alright, it's almost time. Let's start counting the votes now."

　Seeing that the vast majority of the audience had finished voting, Master Baiyao had his staff bring over the ballot box in front of the ice sculpture and began counting the votes.

　Because more than a dozen staff members were working simultaneously, the vote count was completed very quickly.

　Fifteen minutes later, under the watchful eyes of everyone, a freshly released list was hung on the wall, and Bai Yuan was the one with the most votes!

　A total of 2142 votes were cast, with over 99% being red. Aside from a few inherently rebellious individuals who voted for other colors, the overall impact was minimal.

　The second place went to the man in blue, who received over 80% of the yellow votes from the contestants, thus securing his second place with 1344 votes.

　The third place was somewhat unexpected, going to the young chef named Li Xiao with 702 votes. The older man was very close, receiving 700 votes, a difference of only 2 votes.

　As for the next group, the one who received the most votes was Brother Niu, who carved the giant bull, but only accumulated a little over a hundred votes, which was not even a fraction of Bai Yuan's votes.

　Such a contestant is undoubtedly going to be eliminated.

　With that, the four finalists for the Shinsengumi knife skills competition were determined. The next step was to begin the formal competition, a true clash between culinary arts!

　As the rankings were announced, the master chefs looked at each other in disbelief, clearly unwilling to believe that they had only scored so little, but upon closer inspection, it seemed quite reasonable.

　This is a ranking based on merit. If you vote for the better person, you can't vote for them anymore. So, it seems only natural that in the end, the audience has no votes left, resulting in them having fewer votes.

　but...

　As a top-tier chef, the fact that their ice sculptures couldn't even get 100 votes was a fact that made them twitch at the corners of their mouths.

　"The rankings have been announced. I hereby declare that the four who carved the Ice Phoenix, the Teng Snake, the Ice Tree, and the Black Tortoise have advanced. The Divine Carving Skills Duel has officially begun!"

　Master Baiyao's deep voice rang out a minute after the rankings were announced, which was also to give everyone some time to react.

　If the previous assessments were all part of the selection process, then this is the real show.

　"It's finally about to begin! The real showdown of knife skills before the gods! We'll be witnessing a clash of luminous dishes—it's so exciting!"

　"Although that kid's knife skills are impressive, it's a pity that the knife skills competition in front of the gods is not just a test of knife skills; culinary skills are also crucial!"

　"Losing isn't shameful! How old is that kid anyway?!"

　In a few decades, he might become a five-star chef, and perhaps even one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Cantonese Culinary Alliance!

　"I wonder what the final challenge will be. I'm starting to look forward to the ultimate showdown between the four top-tier chefs!!"

　Sure enough, a huge discussion broke out at the scene when the official start of the sword duel was announced.

　Among them were those who wanted to see the glowing dishes, those who felt sorry for Bai Yuan, and those who were looking forward to the final competition; everyone had different thoughts.

　"Teacher Bai Yuan has made it to the finals! Although I don't know what legendary kitchenware is, I feel like nothing will be a problem as long as it's Teacher Bai Yuan!"

　"I think so too. If there really are legendary kitchen utensils in the world that can recognize their owners, then their owner can only be Teacher Bai Yuan!"

　Seeing Bai Yuan advance to the finals, the girls immediately started chattering excitedly, their faces filled with excitement and absolute confidence in him!

　The others neither agreed nor disagreed with their statements.

　It's normal for everyone to have their own supporters. Once it's over and they see their supporters lose, they'll realize it.

　"The four of you are very talented and have made it through the preliminary rounds of this Divine Swordsmanship Showdown."

　Next, we'll move on to the final round. The three of us will serve as judges, evaluating and scoring the four dishes to determine the top three.

　Because everyone had different opinions, after much deliberation, Master Baiyao decided to adopt a scoring system with a maximum score of ten. The three of them would score the patients, and the final ranking would be determined by the combined scores.

　This is a common occurrence in multi-player competitions.

　The audience didn't seem to care, and the contestants on stage nodded, their eyes fixed intently on Master Baiyao, waiting for him to continue.

　"There are actually many dishes that test knife skills, such as Wensi Tofu and Suoyi Cucumber."

　However, limiting the contestants to only one dish can restrict their performance and is detrimental to culinary competitions.

　Therefore, this assessment will not restrict the dishes selected; contestants are free to choose dishes that showcase their knife skills, with knife skills and taste serving as the scoring criteria.

　Master Baiyao's voice rang out on the scene, saying that such a test would not limit the contestants' abilities and would allow them to choose the dish they were best at to perform.

　While such themes are less common in master chef competitions, they do appear.

　"A self-selected topic? As long as you demonstrate your knife skills and ensure the taste is good! That's not a huge advantage for a top-tier five-star chef! After all, having lived this long, they must have some signature dishes!"

　The older a person gets, the more they accumulate knowledge. The open-ended questions are very unfriendly to young master chefs because of the gap in their knowledge.

　"It sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult. It would be better to set a specific theme."

　In this situation, if you attempt a very difficult dish, a single mistake could result in a lower final evaluation than a relatively simple dish.

　Some people have analyzed the situation rationally, saying that although the test questions seem simple, they actually test not only the chef's cooking skills, but also his decision-making ability. It is a highly comprehensive assessment!

　"You're overthinking it. These are all top-level chefs. Do you know what a top-level chef is? Only one in hundreds or thousands of chefs can achieve that! How could they possibly make the same mistakes as a junior chef!"

　For them, there's nothing they can't do, only things you can't imagine! Even dishes they're unfamiliar with can be mastered with just a little learning!

　Those around him listened to his analysis and saw his confident and well-reasoned demeanor, and immediately looked speechless.

　Dude, look closely! This is a master chef! One of the very top chefs in China, how could he possibly make such a mistake that even a novice chef might not make!

　"Look, they've started selecting materials!"

　As a dozen or so monks carried various vegetables, meats, seafood, and mushrooms onto the competition field, Bai Yuan and the others immediately went forward to search for them. Someone shouted something, and the audience below the stage also turned their attention to that direction.

　"Why did that boy take several live ducks, as well as pigeons and quails? What is he planning to do? Is it Peking duck? After roasting, you have to slice the skin with a knife, which really tests the chef's knife skills."

　Some people noticed Bai Yuan's actions and immediately began to speculate, their faces filled with curiosity.

　"How could it be Peking duck? Peking duck doesn't use pigeons or quails."