Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 649 - 648: Relay

Chapter 649: Chapter 648: Relay

Actually, Xia Yu would say, "sourdough" is the very thing he relies on to fear no "toxic milk."

What, you ask about the "Four Divine Seafood Eight Treasure Soul Suppressing Dumplings" recipe?

You must know that "sourdough" is an indispensable ingredient for crafting this golden recipe. Seriously, a Soul Suppressing Bun without "sourdough" is doomed to be incomplete.

If Xia Yu stubbornly pointed to a few seafood-filled buns and proclaimed them to be the sublime essence of the Bai Luo Family’s secret techniques, Logan, the king of pastries, would probably be so furious he’d kick the lid off his coffin and leap out to curse at him, pointing to his nose.

Which came first, the ingredients or the recipe? This would lead to a philosophical problem akin to the chicken and the egg. At this moment, Xia Yu was busy kneading dough, who had time to ponder such profound philosophical questions?

He used the just-boiled lukewarm water to soak and soften a lump of "sourdough" and stirred it until smooth.

Of course, real-life "sourdough" isn’t as mystical as the one in "Cooking Master Boy," with many small details that require attention.

For example, you can’t use the leaven directly for kneading dough. It is essentially a type of yeast, a fermentation starter. After being softened in warm water, it can be mixed with salt, sugar, and a suitable amount of flour.

That’s exactly what Xia Yu did, resulting in a lunchbox amount of rich sourdough starter.

But after all, it was an ingredient produced by a golden kitchen utensil. As soon as the starter formed, from Xia Yu’s perspective, bubbles began to form and burst on the surface in just tens of seconds, less than a minute. Inside the transparent lunchbox, the surface of the starter looked like volcanic rock or a honeycomb, full of bubble holes—

And this meant that the "sourdough" had fermented!

"The sourdough... has fermented!"

Tiqie Xianzuowen, who was intently watching Xia Yu’s every move, suddenly widened his eyes and leaned forward involuntarily.

"It’s too fast!"

Yan Qi’s heart tightened, "What kind of fermentation starter can work this quickly?!"

The competition venue was thrown into considerable disarray, influenced by the commotion, spectators who hadn’t noticed the changes at Station 1 in the last minute, began to ask those nearby what had just happened.

Li Han, who was scalding ducks in hot water, and Lan Chuhai glanced over.

Tang Shan and Yuqiong, who were busy with a small knife carving at an iceberg on the counter, also slowed down their movements, looking over in astonishment.

"Hoo—"

He exhaled.

With a lunchbox amount of fermented starter at the ready, the next steps were easy to manage. Xia Yu’s eyes serene, he retrieved a black pastry rod.

"Chi!"

Half of the rod plunged into the dough mountain, one twist, one plunge!

Splash!

The peak of the dough mountain collapsed, and Xia Yu caught the lunchbox, flicking it casually, and the still-sticky starter fell into the dent of the dough mountain. He then grabbed some clean water; his left hand poured water, while the black pastry rod in his right hand slowly started to move, beginning the familiar circular and spinning motions that the audience recognized!

"White Luo Snake Refining!"

Witnessing this scene, Yan Qi forcefully clenched the armrests of his chair, even leaving deep fingernail marks, showing how agitated he was.

The leader of the Dark World stared intently at the young man holding the rod.

Clang!

Clang clang!

Clang clang clang!

This time, Xia Yu was performing "Evolution·White Luo Snake Refining," and not only had an inexplicable wind risen around him, but the utensils placed on the kitchen counter, like plates and spatulas, started to emit a faint humming sound.

The sounds would change with the pace of the pastry rod’s movements, imparting different sensations.

An area reminiscent of an earthquake formed around the cooking station.

Xia Yu’s forehead glistened with sweat, a mist faintly rising from his head, and his eyes fiercely sparkling. He stared at the water and dough mixing beneath the rod and suddenly shouted from the bottom of his heart, "Come out—"

Boom!

The rod vibrated violently, and with a sharp crack, as if a whip had exploded in midair, the noise was piercing.

A White Dragon formed from the stretched dough was about to climb up along the pastry rod when it was actively shaken off by the pastry chef, and as it broke apart, it fell back onto the cooking station in several pieces, making dull thudding sounds.

[White Luo Snake Refining] had just begun to take form when the familiar "White Dragon Dance" was about to be performed once more; who could have predicted that the rhythm would suddenly break and the dough would shatter to pieces?

This scene left the arena in utter silence.

After a while, the audience, looking at the panting youth by the cooking station, finally erupted.

"Failed!"

"How could this also fail?!" they exclaimed with bulging eyes.

"Chef Xia fails at kneading! Bows out early from the competition for the ’Jade Dragon Pot’!" An excited media editor typed out this live update, ready to send it out.

"Quiet!"

A commanding voice came from the VIP seats.

Tiqie Xianzuowen had risen to his feet, with Yan Qi standing beside him.

Xia Yu cast a cool glance towards the noisy audience, aware of the pairs of eyes in the VIP seats, but what of it? His mind, undistracted, he said in a low voice to the approaching Zhu Qing, "It’s all yours now!"

"Don’t worry!"

Slap!

Their hands struck together once again.

Xia Yu stepped back willingly, leaving his spot to Zhu Qing, whose lips curled slightly as she took his place. A flash of silver followed, and two thin, long silver chopsticks pierced into the severed strands of dough. By the time the female chef started dancing with the small white dragons in her hands, the stadium fell so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Spinach juice!"

Zhu Qing called out.

Xia Yu grabbed a cup and splashed it. The strand of dough, currently being twirled and flipped with a silver chopstick, immediately took on a lush green hue, and as it spun rapidly, its color deepened, changing to azure!

"The White Dragon has turned into an Azure Dragon!"

On the mountainside platform of the Red Leaf Hunting Festival, Tanaka Hikari covered her mouth, her beautiful large eyes fixated on a little azure dragon full of vitality that was playful coiling around Zhu Qing’s right arm.

"Carrot juice!"

Another splash.

The dough twirling around her left arm turned a vermilion red.

Suddenly, Zhu Qing stopped her chopsticks, and a ball of azure dough and a ball of vermillion dough appeared out of nowhere on the cooking station.

She didn’t stop, her chopsticks delving into another two balls of dough.

Black sesame paste turned the third ball of dough pitch black.

And the fourth ball of dough remained a pure, white color—at first glance appearing unremarkable, yet the female host standing nearby unmistakably detected a faint, easily overlooked spiciness.

"The dough is ready!"

Zhu Qing said, turning her head slightly out of breath.

"Beautiful!"

Xia Yu gave a thumbs up, admiring her ability to carry on the task of kneading even though she couldn’t perform the [White Luo Snake Refining]. It was enough proof of her profound culinary foundation as a Lin Chef.

This step was crucial, incredibly crucial. It involved the ’Yin Yang Harmony’ mystery of making Soul Suppressing Buns!

Seeing Zhu Qing beautifully complete her part, Xia Yu silently sweated for himself.

The audience’s earlier clamor wasn’t wrong.

They almost crashed!

Now, Xia Yu felt a residual fear. As for the cause of the near-crash, it was due to his "energy" being weak. If it weren’t for biting the bullet over the past few days and dumping 20 Talent Points into [White Luo Snake Refining], thereby raising this culinary skill to a near-golden level, the disaster would have truly unfolded right there, turning the finals into a joke.

It was painful to use up the hard-earned Talent Points at once, but it was necessary.

Practice more, find problems, solve problems.

That was the simple rhythm Xia Yu and Zhu Qing stuck to as partners over the past week.

It was also a good thing he had the habit of not squandering his Talent Points. Otherwise, faced with the thorny situation of his "energy" not matching up with his culinary skills, he really would have been helpless, with no choice but to await his end.