Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 500 - 499: Food Justice and Food Dominator (Part 2)

Chapter 500: Chapter 499: Food Justice and Food Dominator (Part 2)

"The difference between the King’s Road and the Dominator’s Path!"

Xia Yu was listening intently, and Jintan Shun chuckled as he said, "Since you’re already a top-notch special chef, you must have heard of ’Shiyi’ and ’Shiba,’ right?"

Xia Yu nodded.

"These words shouldn’t be imagined too complicatedly. The most straightforward manifestation of Shiyi is the ability to hear the voice of everything, listen to the sound of ingredients, and communicate with them."

Jintan Shun struck the stance of a master, and said seriously,

"Well, if the ingredients don’t obey, there’s nothing to be done except to use the ’Chef’s Heart’ mark to suppress them. However, this demands a high requirement on ’Chef’s Heart.’ Generally speaking, only Lin Chefs can do this, so in the Lin Chef’s advancement assessment, mastering forbidden ingredients is the basic requirement. If you successfully master a forbidden ingredient, it means you’ve taken a small step towards Lin level."

"Just a small step?" Xia Yu frowned.

"What do you think?"

Jintan Shun laughed.

"Mastering doesn’t mean you can use it, and being able to use it doesn’t mean you can use it well, do you know the difference?"

"To sum up, on the road to becoming a King’s Road Lin Chef, ’Shiyi’ and mastering forbidden ingredients are just two small hurdles. Once you pass them, the road ahead is still long."

"Shiyi..." Xia Yu mused, "The purple-framed [Chef’s Heart] lets me grasp a part of Shiyi, but Shiyi isn’t perfect. It seems I’ll have to accumulate Talent Points again to quickly enhance [Chef’s Heart], right?"

But the transformation from a purple frame to a gold frame for [Chef’s Heart] is like a bottomless pit; it requires as many as a hundred Talent Points!

How long would it take to save up that much?

Xia Yu rubbed the acupoints on his forehead. The reason he was eager to improve the ’Golden Egg Fried Rice’ recipe was precisely to develop a new trump card for the legendary cooking ware championship in Sapporo.

"This is only Shiyi, the King’s Road."

Jintan Shun suddenly said, "Actually, I think the Shiba, the Dominator’s Path, suits you better!"

"Uh?"

Xia Yu’s eyes widened.

Hold on!

"But my Gourmet Cells are in the combat domain, aren’t they?"

Speaking frankly, Xia Yu was eager to grasp the method to master the Taboo Bird Egg. At this moment, he gritted his teeth and just said it.

"Who says that Gourmet Cells leaning towards battle can’t be used for cooking?"

Jintan Shun looked over, asking with a smile that wasn’t a smile, "How do you think Lin Chefs in the ’Gourmet Club’ use Gourmet Cells to influence ingredients outside the body?"

"This..."

Xia Yu pondered. From a biological standpoint, cell diffusion and communication seem to require deep interaction. His expression changed, and after a while, he uncertainly said, "Using blood, or other... bodily fluids?"

Xia Yu’s unexpected answer made Jintan Shun momentarily startled.

"Blood is indeed used by some Dark Qilin Chefs as a means of mastery, but it’s too extreme, the wrong way! And... what other bodily fluids are you talking about?!" Forehead veins bulging, Jintan Shun shook off the extraneous thoughts in his mind and took a deep breath, "The key is ’fighting poison with poison’!"

"Conquer ingredients with other ingredients!"

Boom!

Bells and drums rang in his mind, and Xia Yu’s eyes gradually brightened from confusion.

"Do you know why chefs from the ’Gourmet Club’ or the Dark World are so keen on hunting?" Jintan Shun bluntly revealed, "It’s to find ingredients that resonate with their cells, and then develop recipes from this foundation!"

Jintan Shun fetched paper and pen, sketching diagrams on it.

He first drew a circle.

"Assume this is your ’Gourmet Cells.’"

He then casually drew an ingredient.

"Assume this is the ingredient you’ve just discovered, resonating with your cells—"

Then, lines extended from the ingredient, connecting to other ingredients, collectively forming a recipe.

"That’s what Shiba is about!"

Tossing the pen aside, Jintan Shun shrugged, "For Dark Qilin Chefs, ’Gourmet Cells’ are the first hurdle, and like Bright Qilin Chefs, mastering is the second hurdle!"

"Bright Qilin Chefs use Shiyi to master."

"Dark Qilin Chefs use Gourmet Cells to master."

Xia Yu was silent.

After Jintan Shun’s explanation, he finally had a general understanding of the Lin level in his mind.

Undoubtedly, comprehending the King’s Road of ’Shiyi’ was tougher, but once broken through, one could control endless forbidden ingredients with ’Shiyi,’ with promising prospects and vistas.

In contrast, Dark Qilin Chefs needed to use ’Gourmet Cells’ as a springboard. Their lives were in perpetual hunting, exploring, discovering more ingredients resonating with their Gourmet Cells, which they could easily control without ’Shiyi.’

They then used ingredients as tools to create recipes, overcoming other forbidden ingredients and integrating them into the recipes.

In comparison, the path of a Dark Qilin Chef appeared narrower.

Seeing Xia Yu deep in thought, Jintan Shun smiled slightly and left with his hands behind his back.

But as he opened the door, Xia Yu, who suddenly awakened, called out to him.

"...Then how should I defeat the forbidden dishes of a Dark Chef?"

Jintan Shun paused.

"Build a defense line."

"Or, counterattack!"

Watching Jintan Shun leave, Xia Yu immediately closed the doors and windows tightly, his heart pounding. Standing at the stove, he communicated with the Chef God System,

"Purchase 100 grams of ’Gem Meat’!"

"Purchase successful!"

"You lost 10,000 Fame Points!"

Soon, staring at a small piece of Gem Meat on a white ceramic plate, Xia Yu breathed heavily, his eyes filled with excitement. "This thing... Could it resonate with the ’Demon Cells’ within me?"

...

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.

Xia Yu and Jintan Shun boarded a helicopter and left the shrine together.

Of course, Xia Yu hadn’t forgotten the jeep hidden in the mountains. Jintan Shun, the mercenary, guaranteed with a pat on his chest to transport it to the Sapporo Okura Mountain Villa for him.

Today marked the end of the rest period and the first day of the quarter-finals elimination match.

Among the two competing teams, one was clearly the ’Research Faction’!

The members of the Far Moon Team sat solemnly in the guest seats.

"Another crush!"

Dojima Yin remarked.

In the first match, the Research Faction won, unanimously supported by the five judges.

In the second match, the Research Faction won again, another sweeping victory with a score of five to zero.

The third match revolving around the ’main dish’ theme was ongoing.

In this match, the main contestant for the ’Research Faction’ was the Dark Series Ghost Father, Tiqie Ji!

"Pay attention to the ingredients he’s using!"

Saito Chiyokuro reminded Zhu Qing and Dojima Yin, who both turned their eyes to see a bloody piece of raw meat on Tiqie Ji’s stove, their brows furrowing.

The camera zoomed in for a close-up.

The base of the raw meat had a black skin layer and scales.

"Snake meat?"

Tiqie Eriina covered her mouth.

The issue wasn’t the snake meat. Tiqie Ji had already removed his gloves, and his fair right hand caressed the bloody meat gently, much like one might caress a lover, wearing an expression of enjoyment mixed with an eerie pleasure.

"His opponent is in trouble!" Dojima Yin’s voice sank, with a hint of apprehension in his eyes, "I didn’t expect Nakamura Ayame to use a resonating ingredient now in the quarter-finals... This means his dish’s level is definitely a ’Killer Move’!"

"There’s another possibility!"

Saito Chiyokuro shook his head, locking eyes with Tiqie Ji across the room.

"He might be using forbidden ingredients, revealing his trump card in advance... as a warning to me!"

"Ha!"

Shura chuckled.

At this moment, a commotion erupted in Arena A.

A young man pushed open the door from the guest passage, walking straight toward the Far Moon Team.

A cameraman on the sidelines, sharp-eyed, recognized the boy and excitedly focused on him. Thus, the scene of Xia Yu’s return was broadcasted on the live screen until he sat down.

"He’s out!"

Whispering voices.

"...Will he go on stage?"