Dao of Cooking

Zhu Luli had never thought she would see something this bizarre. Even at the Luminous Sun School, her teachers — renowned apothecaries and herbalists — couldn’t produce the sight she was witnessing right now.

The spiritual energy stirred within the wok, threads of it curling around and seeping into the juicy meats, poking invisible holes through mushrooms. The air around her grew light as the spiritual energy gravitated toward the mixture, even as Chef Lei stood with a scowl on his face, staring down the wok.

“Is this…” she muttered. “Really happening?”

Brother Lou raised an eyebrow at him, looking greatly proud of himself. Zhu Luli couldn’t understand why, but she was too busy to pay him attention.

Bending the natural Qi of the world was a feat that should only be possible within the boundaries of the Qi Condensation stage. Yet Chef Lei was doing exactly that, in a way that made Zhu Luli question her eyes. For a second, she thought it was something about that ladle he used to stir the mix. Perhaps it was a special tool that could make the dish… more potent? Effective?

But that didn’t make any sense either, as tools beyond the Mortal stage demanded a certain cultivation base to be utilized.

“How are you doing this?” Zhu Luli had to ask when it became too much for her to comprehend. Even Little Yao seemed at a loss, staring questioningly up at the wok, barely blinking her eyes.

You’re just hungry, aren’t you? You don’t actually care about the way Chef Lei controls this spiritual energy.

Zhu Luli shook her head when the man stayed silent. If her father had been here, he could’ve provided her with a good explanation about this strange gift of Chef Lei. They called him the Heavenly Scholar for a good reason.

Think. That bun and the beans, even the needles… Dozens of circles under an hour, in a place as mortal as Jiangzhen. Am I witnessing a culinary master here? A talent so rare even the spiritual energy of the world bows its head against him?

The sizzling of the meat pulled her focus away from the endless pit that was her mind and turned it back to the wok, where the mushrooms had already sucked all the delicious juice from the mixture. Then a splash of something white cuddled them like a mother’s touch, the note of Rootremedy tingling Zhu Luli’s nose.

Seconds crawled past as she watched in nervous expectation. A rare gift here in Jiangzhen. Something about fate, perhaps? Could it be that this was the fortuitous encounter she’d been searching for the last two years?

Luck is a skill. Without it, there wouldn’t be any geniuses.

Emperor Xia had been a strong believer in luck. Didn’t the Second Young Master of the Zhou Clan from the capital find a Heaven-Grade Blazing Pearl from below the creek that ran the length of the Blazing Mountains? There was no way he could’ve stepped into the Qi Condensation Stage in a mere six months by relying on his natural talent alone.

Fortune was a strange concept. That was why her father kept saying that pampering the new generation with endless amounts of resources would only serve to weaken their foundation. One must search and find one’s fortune. Relying on gifts from others to tread the Immortal Path was a good way to become a stepping stone to a real genius.

He only says this to the others, though, not me…

“It’s ready,” Chef Lei said, pulling the wok from over the burning logs and placing it gently on a stone. “One of my best efforts. I hope this will be enough to clear the little misunderstanding between us.”

Zhu Luli gulped, staring at the dish. Smoke curled playfully over the wok, the meats still sizzling. She could barely see the mushrooms in the mix, yet that earthy tone was strong in her nose. They were there, scattered across the brownish mixture, little treasures hiding from greedy eyes.

She was about to ask another question when Little Yao swiped a claw inside the wok, took out a large piece, and chomped it down hard. Her beady eyes widened. Then she was back over the wok, staring down in the manner of a hunter troubled by the number of choices presented to them, juice slurping inside her tiny mouth.

Looks… delicious.

“Go on, try it,” Brother Lou said, a smug smile playing wide on his lips. He then crossed his arms and stepped back, as if getting ready to watch a glorious show. “The Heavens knows it’ll be the first time I saw a cultivator getting a kick out of one of these. It’s been rather uncomfortable between the two of us, eh, Brother Lei?”

“Still haunts my dreams,” Chef Lei said, shaking his head. “We’ll be watching over you in case something goes south. After the last time, I’m sure it’d be for the best if we waited this one out.”

“You mean you’re not going to eat it?” Zhu Luli asked with a hint of doubt in her voice.

Chef Lei waved a hand toward his chopping board. “We’ll eat, but not this one. Trust me, I’m doing us a favor keeping my brother here away from that food.”

“Bah!” Brother Lou snorted, but Zhu Luli saw a brief look of regret flash behind his eyes.

Why do these two act like this? Feels like I’m about to drink a wicked concoction of a poison master.

But Little Yao’s lack of reaction gave her some semblance of trust, so Zhu Luli wasn’t all that bothered by the discretion and caution the pair of them displayed.

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed one of the spoons Chef Lei laid near the stone and took her first bite.

There were still questions in Zhu Luli’s mind. A lot of them, boiling in the pot that was her mind, that made her doubt the very scene she’d witnessed. The Qi and its dance, how it trailed every motion of Chef Lei like an obedient child, swirling round the wok and seeping inside the meats, the mushrooms, cuddling them with a big, spiritual hug… was something of a miracle.

But everything melted into a confusion-filled mess once she took her first bite. It exploded in her mouth — a wave of flavors making her gawk in shock. And she took another bite — this time a bit more. That same airy feeling hit her hard.

She blinked and felt the wind whistling into her ears as the world spun around her, yet she couldn’t keep her eyes away from her hands. She couldn’t help but smile stupidly at them when her fingers started twisting.

A curious sight. Hard to believe the fingers would do that, but then again, the sights around her did seem like they’d become a touch different as well. The branches and the trees howled with delight, sharp leaves poking her from left and right, ears ringing with a voice beckoning her from beyond the canopy.

It was only when Little Yao pulled at her robe that it struck her she was about to touch the sky. Down below, Chef Lei and Brother Lou were shaking their heads, and she seemed to hear a helpless sigh escape from Chef Lei’s lips.

Her mouth was full of the taste of mushrooms, and the juicy meat, so tender that it broke down into a dozen waves once she bit down, sailing down her throat before finding their home inside her stomach. It was warm there, and she could feel her spiritual roots sucking greedily the boisterous waves of the spiritual energy coursing through her veins.

A minor circle started as Zhu Luli let out a blissful moan. Right beside her leg, Little Yao was swaying left and right, her beady eyes glinting red as she kept blinking them. What was happening? And why, in the name of the High Heavens, did she feel as if her head was about to explode?

She breathed in deep, biting her lower lip to gather her focus. She couldn’t let the spiritual energy roam freely inside her body. It could cripple her! And more importantly, her spiritual roots alone couldn’t absorb those great waves without her guidance. She must will the start of another minor circle. She must--

A crunch from below her feet. Nothing too big, but it made her look. Little Yao wasn’t there, gone after tearing the great part of the branch she’d been standing on. Zhu Luli peered down the tree they were on and saw a little shadow dash across the forest.

“Little Yao!” she screamed, but scowled at her own voice, coming off as if she’d burped it out. Something about her throat, and how the creamy Rootremedy juice got stuck there, giving off that airy feeling.

Every breath felt as if it’d be her last. Bliss and desperation, the line between the two became bleak. She could’ve gone for more than thirty minor circles if she could sit down on solid ground and focus, but anytime she tried to do those, that voice kept poking her from high above.

And what was that voice, anyway? The little crack in the canopy allowed her to witness the clear skies. Hundreds of stars glinted on the Eastern Heavens, but one of them seemed brighter than most.

She didn’t know how, or why, but at that moment she felt a certain connection between that glint and her spiritual roots, which made her remember yet again that good-for-nothing son of the Zhou Clan, the so-called Second Young Master from one of the illustrious clans of the capital.

Luck is a skill. Fortune… Something about fortune… Emperor Xia said…

Zhu Luli shook her head. Without that Blazing Pearl, there was no way that useless man could’ve established a bond with a star swimming inside one of the Skyriver’s branches, allowing him to become a Qi Condensation Stage expert.

Are you mine? Are you… the star I’ve been searching for the past two years?

Her Father tried more than a few times to stop this adventure and told her that there were other ways to find one’s fortune. But he’d also said that a cultivator should forge their own fortune, wrench off what was theirs from the hands of fate. For the last two years, Zhu Luli studied every plant she could find and dirtied her hands to pursue her path, hoping it would serve as a great foundation for her future. But inside, there’d been always a little part of her that expected to find that fortune.

And now that part was trembling with excitement. She didn’t dare to believe it, but the prickling on her skin, the pounding of her heart, and the call from above the heavens… everything was too real. She wasn’t dreaming.

This was the legendary state of enlightenment. A state many cultivators dreamed of, but never had a chance to experience in their lifetimes.

……

Lei blinked when he saw a little shadow dash just below the canopy, with a speed his eyes barely registered. Then a high-pitched squeak echoed across the forest. He shared a glance with Fatty Lou as the ground beneath their feet started shaking.

“What have you done?” Fatty Lou said, inching closer to the wok. Those two had devoured the food in a couple of seconds, but there was still a bite or two left there — enough to get his brother-in-arms as high as the clouds.

“Don’t you dare take another step,” Lei said, raising the ladle high and glaring into Fatty Lou’s face. He then pointed up at the high tree, on which Zhu Luli sat cross-legged as if in meditation. “It literally made her fly. I don’t want to get your ass out of a tree.”

“Very kind of you.” Fatty Lou rolled his eyes at him before squinting up at the tree. “That’s even stranger than the cud—“ he cleared his throat, “the brotherly hug we shared the last time. And you don’t seem to feel any pain either.”

Lei nodded. He hadn’t had the time to think about it between all the chaos, but now that he’d seen the effects of the spiritual food on those two, it suddenly became clear that there weren’t any side effects of feeding a cultivator and her pet spiritual beast.

Something about the energy, perhaps?

He glanced down at the ladle. It was because of the energy seeping out of his pores that this ladle became somewhat spiritual. He was basically like a leaking roof, which made him think about all the pain he’d felt before when he served food to the customers. Could it be that because they couldn’t absorb this energy, Lei experienced the side effects?

But it’s not just the spiritual energy. There’s another one, a different one that just… lingers inside, unlike how the spiritual energy rounds into minor circles.

Though he didn’t have all the answers, he wasn’t about to complain just because it didn’t hurt. Quite the contrary, it felt refreshing to not have to constantly worry about getting poked all around by invisible forces.

A sudden crunch pulled him out of his thoughts, and he scowled back at the forest. A screech cleaved the silence of the night, rebounding off the trees and making his ears ring.

“What was that?” Fatty Lou asked, reaching for the meat cleaver when a giant shadow flashed from above the bushes that stood to their right.

“Careful!” Lei stepped back, clenching the ladle tight in his hand as he prepared to strike.

They were alone now, deep in the night, surrounded by elements foreign and dangerous. Yet instead of assaulting them, that giant shadow hurtled about and crashed down just before their feet, giving a wheezing breath before its red eyes closed shut.

Lei’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the corpse. It was a big, nasty beast with a tongue lolling out of its mouth, sharp claws still glinting even as the creature lay dead on the ground, giving off a rotten stench. When Lei mustered his courage to check if it was really dead, he saw that the beast’s side had been nearly ripped off by what looked like a set of sharp claws.

“Back off,” Fatty Lou said, giving him a hard glance. “This thing looks dangerous, and there’s another one around us that’s capable of butchering this one. We need to be careful.”

Lei nodded, peering around the forest as his heart pounded in his chest.

Just to prove a point. Damnit. What was I thinking?

He shook his head as shivers crawled down his spine. Everywhere and everything looked equally suspicious, and there was no way for them to be sure where that other beast would come from.

Up high in the tree, Zhu Luli seemed to have been deeply engrossed in her meditation, unaware of the dangers they were facing. Lei tried to scream, to alert the woman awake, but she wouldn’t hear him.

“Shit,” Lei muttered, took another step back, and waited.

The corpse stirred. Below the chunk that had been ripped off from its side, something was squirming. Lei pointed with his head toward that spot as they backed off with Fatty Lou. Perhaps a small beast that had gotten crushed under it, some unlucky thing trying to lift a corpse the size of a small hill.

Then a furry head popped out from below the bloody carcass, two beady eyes squinted in pride. It gave an irritated squeak as it hauled the carcass with two tiny paws before stepping out and letting go of the beast.

“This can’t be real,” Fatty Lou said, eyes wide open and mouth hanging loose. He snapped back at Lei, pointing with a trembling finger. “Are you seeing this?”

Lei gulped down the spit piling into his mouth as a wave of relief washed over him. “Hey little buddy,” he said, kneeling beside Little Yao and petting her head. "Thanks for your help... I guess."

Little Yao nodded with strength, blood dripping down her claws. She then swept Fatty Lou with a glare and squinted up at the tree before jumping off toward the thick canopy.

“Who knew?” Lei muttered, smiling in disbelief. “My dishes can make people fly.”

“And the beasts,” Fatty Lou said.

“And the beasts.” Lei nodded.