Published at 1st of May 2019 5:56 pm

Chapter 53 (Part 1) - Magic Chef of Ice and Fire VS Camel Chef God

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Taking a step back, Nian Bing gripped the True Sun Knife on the counter top. With the blade facing down and the Flame God’s Stone raised, he chanted softly, “Mighty Fire God! Please allow me to make use of your left hand and let your flame descend onto earth to eradicate the wicked power. Let the blaze illuminate the whole earth and destroy all the barriers obstructing me. – The Fire God’s Left Hand.”

Specks of red light coalesced around the Flame God’s Stone, its light shining brighter and brighter. Nian Bing pointed the knife handle forward, and a gigantic Flame God’s Left Hand appeared. The entire pot was lifted up by the fiery hand, completely enshrouded in flame. He suddenly shouted, and the left hand drew a red hexagram in mid-air. He slapped his hand forward, and the hexagram suddenly poured into the Flame God’s Left Hand. In the next instant, the Flame God’s Left Hand’s scarlet red glow had been transformed into purple flames, forcibly bringing the rank 5 fire spell to rank 6.

Hei Ye said in surprised, “A strengthening magic array! I didn’t think this boy knew this trick.” In these three months that he and Nian Bing probed into the mysteries of dual element magic. This was the first time he had shown his talent for magic arrays. Magic arrays could increase the power of any spell, but they were quite difficult to draw. For someone to draw an array in mid-air and immediately incorporate it into the spell like Nian Bing required a deep understanding of magic arrays as well as familiarity with the fire element. That is to say, only mages who delved in the field of magic arrays could do this.

The pot was flushed red from the heat of the rank 6 purple flames, but its lid did not burst out because of the boiling water inside. This was because the lid had been fused to the body of the pot by the extremely hot flames. However, the pot’s interior continued to get hotter, ready to blow at any time. Nian Bing’s mood remained calm, manipulating the purple-flamed Fire God’s Left Hand to again act as a smelting furnace for the pot. With a wave of his hand, ice balls transformed into ice needles. They hovered above the pot, and in the next moment, three holes appeared in the pot lid. When the ice needles entered the pot they naturally turned into water. The steam released from the three holes eliminated the danger of the pot exploding. Nian Bing did not pay any more attention to the pot and instead turned to the winter melon on the table.

At the moment, Zi Xiu had already finished kneading the dough. In his large hands, the dough had formed a round lump. He had scrutinized all of Nian Bing’s actions and couldn’t help but sigh. Infusing magic into cooking was such an advantage. He opened up his own pot and mixed around the ingredients a bit.

He extracted the two items he had placed into the pot and put them on the table. With a shout, he slapped one of them onto the hard surface. Slap! red liquid splattered everywhere. Zi Xiu’s hands pressed down in succession, immediately sticking the red item onto the counter. His right hand formed a claw and descended upon the other red object. The red item melded onto the table. Then his two hands transformed into a series of clawed afterimages. Every time they struck, his fingers would accurately bore into the flattened red object. His ten fingers were mighty hammers, chiseling away at the red items into a fleshy pulp. This was exactly the ‘heavy’ part of the ‘Heavy Eagle Hand. ’

In just ten breaths of time, the two red items had completely taken on a pasty consistency. However, the countertop had not been harmed by the Heavy Eagle Hand. His control over his strength had reached the apex. He threw the red meat into the pot, and immediately, the duck soup released a strong fragrance.

The aroma wafted to Nian Bing, and his head snapped up to look at Zi Xiu with surprise. “What good technique! Goose liver and duck do complement one another and bring out each other’s flavor. Senior’s Zi Xiu’s skills are absolutely exquisite.” Producing such a complementary effect between two different foods, like when Nian Bing used the hen and shiitake mushrooms, naturally brought about the best outcome. Along with the tasty abalone and shark’s fin, cooked in extremely hot temperatures, the flavors were completely melded together.

This kind of soup was the best combination of flavors that Nian Bing could make at the present. However, Camel Chef Zi Xiu matched flavors in a way he had never seen before. Still, he could tell from the scent that it must contain ingredients that mutual set off one another. In order to find perfectly complementary ingredients, it would take a lot of time and experience. Nian Bing had studied cooking for eight years and had only discovered the simplest of matches. For Zi Xiu to dare to do such a thing, it was an obvious show of Zi Xiu’s level of immersion in culinary arts.

Zi Xiu met Nian Bing’s gaze. The two were obviously appreciative of each other’s talents. Although their competition had just started, they knew that the other held a great understanding of culinary arts from their actions. Currently, the principal element of Nian Bing’s cooking was surprise and mystery. However, Zi Xiu’s cooking was on the very regular, undeviating side. He brought traditional cooking to its limits. His every movement seemed simple, but even with ten years of constant study and practice, it would be impossible to reach such a realm of perfection and smoothness. Zi Xiu’s movements could not be described as practiced. Every movement looked slow, but a normal chef wouldn’t be able to replicate them even with three times the time

What was Nian Bing doing now? He held the winter melon pointed upwards, the top of which had been hewn into a zigzag shape by Proud Sky. He had already scooped out the pulp and was left with 6. 5 cm of gourd.

Those who had studied cooking for a few years would know that Nian Bing was making a winter melon goblet. A winter melon was formed into a container for holding soup or porridge. However, was this what Nian Bing was doing? Of course not. Just this level of carving from a chef like him would be a detriment to his status. In order to produce the best effects, he had just made preparation while he was preparing and the competition was already underway. He also had a plan, but wasn’t certain of its success. Breathing deeply, Nian Bing looked at Feng Nu off to the side. She wore an encouraging expression, making Nian Bing’s chest surge with hot blood. At this moment, his confidence had reached a peak.

With a wave of his right hand, he put Proud Sky onto the counter top and swapped it out for Morning Dew. Carefully, he placed the winter melon goblet onto the center of a large plate that was 70 cm in diameter. After adjusting its position, he confirmed that that the winter melon was placed dead center. Breathing in deeply, Nian BIng moved. The knife seemed to be covered in a layer of icy mist. Nian Bing swung the knife lightly, and immediately, a hair-like strand of winter melon separated from the main body. The strand lay on the plate, like a sliver of wood. He again showed off his practiced knife technique, again shaving off just a strand of the peel. The blue haze continued to sparkle atop the plate. Every strand of green fell onto the plate evenly, magically. Between each strand of winter melon was only a sliver of space, separating each one in an extremely regular fashion.

At the moment, Zi Qing Meng had gotten to her feet in excitement. “Pulling Silk From the Cocoon. It isn’t one of the Five Distinguished knife techniques, but it could be ranked as sixth. This is definitely Pulling Silk from a Cocoon!” She was very clear on the fact that Nian Bing’s culinary skills weren’t any lower than her uncle’s based on Nian Bing’s display of his knife skills. He displayed no tricks since it wasn’t related to magic; this was the result of hard work and effort.

He rotated the plate gently. Nian Bing’s face was like a ripple-less old well, impervious to emotion. His knives twinkled with the frosty mist surrounding Morning Dew and the winter melon. The reason why he cut the winter melon into slender strands was to retain the roundness of the winter melon goblet. The thinner the skin of the winter melon goblet, the closer he was to his goal.

Zi Xiu saw Nian Bing’s Pulling Silk from Cocoon, and his eyes flashed in surprise. However, his hand movements did not stop. He placed a 30 cm strip of meat onto the table and took out the kneaded dough again. He kneaded the dough again, forming it into the same shape as the loin. He set the two different ingredients upright on the counter in front of him. Next, he started to hit them, his every movement equally intense. Every strike was fierce and banging sounds rang out like the beating of a drum. His left hand hit the dough, and his right the meat, continuously repeating the same movements.

Nian Bing’s winter melon skinning finally ended as Zi Xiu continued to strike his ingredients. The winter melon had shed its dark green skin, revealing the winter melon flesh, sparkling like jade. The shaved off skin formed a perfect disk, making the winter melon goblet appear like jade on top of a lotus leaf. Of course, the winter melon goblet did not sparkle naturally; this was the work of the Morning Dew Knife. This was precisely why Nian Bing chose Morning Dew in place of the much swifter Proud Sky Knife. While he was shaving slivers off the squash, he uniformly channeled ice element into the goblet. RIght now, the winter melon goblet had transformed into a frozen state.

The task Nian Bing decided to undertake was difficult for him, but he had to prepare for his next move. The winter melon flesh was softer now. If this were an ordinary carving, he probably would have been done by now, but in order to prevail over the Camel Chef Zi Xiu, he had no choice but to try to enter a domain he never had before. Thus, he could not be impatient at all. A blue light flashed, and Morning Dew returned to the countertop. Nian Bing did not continue with his movements, but rather stared at the winter melon gourd without moving. The grain of the winter melon was very fine. Right now, the only thing in his mind was this jade-like ingredient.

With a flash of light, Nian Bing pulled out the cloth bag containing Demonic Engraving. Demonic Engraving God Knives did not refer to a single knife, but a suite of knives. When Zha Ji had passed down the set of Demonic Engravings to him, he had said that the Nine Demonic Engraving Knives were forged from dee-see silver and were tempered with all sorts of medicinal herbs. Not only was it extremely rigid, it also had its own spirit. It’s spirit could only be shown in its entirety by using the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragon—the extreme limits of knife arts. Only once spirit and knife had fused into one could its spirit be brought out. Demonig Engraving Knife and the person using Demonic Engraving were equally important.

The biggest of the Demonic Engraving jumped into Nian Bing’s hand. He did not hurry to use it, but rather scooped a small bowl of rice into a clean basin and soaked it in clean water.

Zi Xiu saw what Nian Bing was doing and cried out in his heart with doubt, Demonic Engraving! Could it be that this lad truly trained in the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons?

Nian Bing lifted up the 70 cm platter. SImilar to when he had made the Nine Mysterious Dragons Concealed in Clouds of Ice, a block of ice condensed under the platter. He set the platter on top of it lightly and spun it equally as light. Immediately, it began to pick up in speed. Nian Bing adjusted the angle of the platter till it was dead center on its stand. Right now, the rice grains soaking in the water were making soft crackling sounds. This was the sound of water entering the grains. This was a trick to cooking rice. First, soak the rice in water for a bit and then cook it, so the rice would be easier to cook and heated evenly, making the flavor much better. As Nian Bing was doing this, his gaze never left the winter melon goblet. He held his right hand in front of him, the 15 cm Demonic Engraving flickering with a gold light.

“The work of the gods are hidden within the blue flame. Engrave a dragon, carve a phoenix with a wave of the knife.” Each word flew from his mouth, sonorous and powerful. On the last word, Demonic Engraving started to move. It stuck upwards from his palm. Nian Bing flipped his palm and fingers and Demonic Engraving headed for the winter melon goblet. Called the first divine knife of the culinary world, the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons returned to the human realm.

Ghostly blue light danced on his fingertips, making nine cuts with each flicker of his hand. The winter melon gourd did not fall down in fragments, but rather like a shimmering green frost. Demonic Engraving continued flashing as the ghostly blue light flickered in and out like it was exploding. At this moment, Nian Bing’s spirit had fused completely with the knife. He forgot about the competition, about everything. His eyes, heart, and hands held only the knife, only that blue haze. His fingers and wrists were strangely soft as they were wrapped in that blue light. It was impossible to distinguish where knife ended and hand began. Only a green mist continued to float away, gently landing on top of the winter melon peel shavings.

Zi Xiu was still pounding away at the dough and meat on the counter, but his gaze never left Nian Bing’s hands. To see the top technique in the culinary world after twenty years, how could he not be excited? Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons, it truly was Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons. From Nian Bing’s mental state to the intermittent flashes of the knife, he seemed to recall the one who had suppressed him in his generation—the Demon Chef. The Demon Chef’s elegant bearing had once again appeared. The corner of his eyes were moist. Zha Ji, oh Zha Ji. It seems that not only could I not compare to you in culinary arts. I also am far from you in teaching disciples.

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