Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 371 - 370: Five Odd Judges

Chapter 371: Chapter 370: Five Odd Judges

The culinary duel was set for the evening.

In the daytime, Xia Yu got on Yuchuan Meisha’s motorcycle, and they went to play around Kamakura City, relaxing until evening before returning.

An IGO food truck was parked on the highway outside the Yuchuan Temple.

When the two of them came back, they happened to encounter a group of staff in black, who had just transported the sealed food ingredients into the temple.

Unlike in Tokyo, the IGO staff in Kanagawa Prefecture were in a hurry, as if fearful of staying an extra second in the eerie place of Yuchuan Temple, leaving immediately after finishing their work, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Xia Yu was thinking of striking a conversation with one of the staff, but instead, he got a mouthful of exhaust.

Beside him, Yuchuan Meisha burst into laughter.

"I told you, they don’t want to come to Yuchuan Temple," Yuchuan Meisha laughed, "What kind of chef is your grandfather, to let you take a retreat at our Yuchuan Temple..."

"Who knows!"

Xia Yu waved his hand and entered the temple.

The Yuchuan Abbot appeared out of nowhere, blocking the path lined with lush plants, and coldly said to him, "The culinary battle starts at eight o’clock tonight and ends at midnight, the ingredients are also ready!"

"What about the judges?" Xia Yu was astonished, "Is it just the Abbot, you?"

"Judges? There will be some, are five enough?"

The Yuchuan Abbot turned around, leaving Xia Yu with his back.

"Hey, Yuchuan Abbot, the theme, you haven’t announced the theme!" Xia Yu could only shout out loud, filled with helplessness in his heart, it really was a private duel—the judges, the theme—all so casual.

"Theme? Free-form, just satisfy the five judges!"

"Since you have the experience of running your own restaurant, you should have the ability to meet the needs of various customers!"

The footsteps paused briefly, and the old nun didn’t turn her head, rigidly said, "Whoever gets more votes wins!"

A free-form challenge?

A simulation of restaurant management?

Xia Yu was stunned for a moment, turning his head to look at Yuchuan Meisha who walked along with him.

In this case, wasn’t Yuchuan Meisha at a disadvantage? Xia Yu, after all, had been managing a restaurant for a while and had rich experience as a frontline head chef. But what about Yuchuan Meisha? She had always been staying in the countryside of Kamakura, hardly ever leaving the temple—how could she have experience in entertaining guests?

From the standpoint of experience, Xia Yu was brimming with confidence!

"Don’t underestimate me!"

At this moment, Yuchuan Meisha stuck her tongue out and said, "The experience you have in serving ordinary customers might not be applicable in Yuchuan Temple; they are a very hard-to-please group of customers!"

Uh?

A chill ran through Xia Yu’s heart.

No matter what, this culinary battle was not only a competition and learning experience between him and Yuchuan Meisha, but also a continuation of the "struggle" passed down from the older generation!

He could not lose even for those 10 Talent Points!

"With these 10 Talent Points from here, going back to the Tokyo culinary battle, defeating Yuchuan Ayaka, and getting another 10, I’ll have collected 20 Talent Points. Then I can fully level up ’Evolution·Blast Flame’ in one go!" Xia Yu thought to himself.

...

Night fell.

At eight o’clock, Xia Yu arrived at the temple’s courtyard on time.

The culinary battle ground was set up in front of the main hall of the temple. Tall trees surrounded the yard, and although lanterns were hung all around, the place still seemed dark and daunting. A gust of wind howled, casting flickering shadows on the mottled ground.

The setup was ready, with two cooking stations and a judges’ table.

The Yuchuan Abbot, still in blue monastic robes, stood next to the great bell of the main hall, his gaze cold and serene.

The temple had its preternatural ambiance.

For instance, setting up the site should have required quite a few people, and logically Xia Yu should have encountered all sorts of monks. But the atmosphere in this vast courtyard was quiet and secluded, aside from the Yuchuan Abbot, and Yuchuan Meisha across the way, who waved at him from behind the opposite cooking station.

"Ahem..."

Suddenly, a bout of aged coughing came from behind Xia Yu.

Emerging from the deep tree shadows was a small, hunched-over old man. His stature was extremely short, probably just a little over five feet, with a sedge hat hung on his back and dressed in odd, ancient garments.

Bang!

Placing a clay sake jar on the table, the small old man sat down on the head chair of the judges’ seats, casting Xia Yu a look filled with intrigue, "You’re that youngest top chef in the history of Neon territory? Hahaha..."

His voice carried a lightness, tinged with a sleazy undertone.

Having said that, he leaned over to the ceramic pot, took a sip of alcohol, and burst into laughter.

"Lord Li!"

Yuchuan Meisha complained, "You are the judge, pay attention, won’t you?"

"Alright, alright! Today I shall feast, hahaha!" chuckled the little old man. "Meisha, you’ve got to satisfy me!"

"Certainly!" Yuchuan Meisha replied.

"...And what about me?"

With a gust of wind and the swaying tree shadows, a bewitching red-clothed woman suddenly appeared on the second chair.

"Mizuki!"

Yuchuan Meisha smiled, "Rest assured!"

With a slight nod, the woman in red placed her hands on the table, crossed her legs and sat down. Her dress resembled a cheongsam, revealing a portion of her thigh, while the white and slender legs were decorated with complex and beautiful tattoos.

"Are you the youngest special-grade chef in the history of Neon?"

Following that, the woman in red turned her gaze to Xia Yu.

"Um, can we not start with that line?" Xia Yu massaged his temples, striving to keep his emotions steady. Whether it was a person or a ghost, a god or a Buddha, he had to treat them as guests. As a chef, it was his duty to satisfy any guests’ craving for food.

The red-clothed woman, referred to by Yuchuan Meisha as Mizuki, paused slightly.

"I hope you can satisfy me!"

She said, her eyes glancing over the Hua Mao at Xia Yu’s feet and then sweeping over the rustic wooden box he held, her pupils flashing with a hint of wariness.

"Amitabha!"

Accompanied by a Buddhist chant, the third judge appeared.

Unexpectedly, this judge was a monk with distinctive features, likely in his early twenties, bare-chested, his skin even whiter and more delicate than a woman’s.

"Benefactor, you have an extraordinary bone structure and wisdom hidden in your brow... Would you like to renounce the world and join me in monastic life?"

The young monk stood in front of Xia Yu with hands clasped together.

Xia Yu was exasperated, "Let’s talk about the culinary competition first!"

The monk didn’t persist, but bowed slightly and took his seat in the third chair at the judges’ table.

To Xia Yu’s surprise, when the monk turned around, his pale back bore a lifelike tattoo of a fire serpent.

The fourth and fifth judges appeared in succession.

One was an old woman with sparse hair, nearly bald. She sat in the fourth chair, her belly as big as if she was ten months pregnant, and in her cloudy eyes, there was only a color known as hunger.

The fifth was a tall figure holding a gold smoking pipe, their presence somewhere between masculine and feminine.

"Let’s begin!"

As the fifth judge took their seat, the Yuchuan Abbot placed five ancient coins on the judges’ table, one for each judge.

The old woman with the large belly couldn’t wait, her voice tinged with suppressed greed, "Eat! I need to eat! Endless food! Whoever can fill my stomach, I will vote for them!"

Saliva rained down, soaking a large patch of the floor.

"I want to eat fish!"

The first to arrive, the old man whom Yuchuan Meisha addressed as Lord Li, raised his hand requesting a fish dish.

"As for me, I would like some offal, the bloodier the better," said the red-clothed woman, her tongue tracing her red lips.

"Then you three go ahead and order first," the young monk said calmly.

The fifth judge with the smoking pipe nodded, speaking in an androgynous voice with a smile, "I’ll just trail behind the priest. I hope you two can satisfy us all before midnight."

Fish!

Offal!

And one who only cares about filling her belly!

Xia Yu immediately finalized the menu, looking up at the Yuchuan Abbot, "Where are the ingredients?"

"Get them yourself, from the storeroom!" said the Yuchuan Abbot.

"Yu, come with me!"

Yuchuan Meisha beckoned to him.