Chapter 268 Preparations
The legendary kitchen utensil, the Eternal Spirit Knife, has an incredibly magical ability to restore ingredients that have lost their flavor to their most delicious state.

In addition to this magical ability, it also has the ability to independently select its successor. Although it is just a kitchen knife, it magically possesses a kind of spiritual energy that allows it to perceive the world around it from another unique perspective.

Only those who are recognized by the Eternal Spirit Sword can display its incredibly magical abilities.

Otherwise, the Yongling Knife is just an ordinary kitchen knife, no different from any other kitchen knife.

Perhaps, just like when Roger made that kitchen knife, the birth of the Yongling Knife was just borrowing the hands of the legendary chef back then, allowing itself to come into the world.

Over a long period of time, many people have gained recognition from the Eternal Spirit Sword and have used it to leave a great name in history.

And now, just like in the past, it is quietly watching and waiting for the final winner.

In addition to being tasted by the four elders, every dish prepared during the knife skills showdown before the gods will also be presented in front of the Eternal Spirit Sword.

This is a respect for the Eternal Spirit Sword, treating it as an equal to human beings.

Although the final result is still decided by the judges, the recognition of the Eternal Spirit Sword is not only related to the winner.

Through its unique perspective, it sees not only the appearance, but also the human heart hidden beneath the appearance.

The heart shown in the cooking showdown, the heart hidden in the dishes.

These things that seem illusory to ordinary people are real and credible to the Yongling Sword.

After the second cooking duel ended, the two monks walked forward, saluted the Yongling Sword, and then respectfully took away the dishes placed in front of it.

"what?"

At this moment, a monk exclaimed in a somewhat strange voice.

"what happened?"

another asked.

“It feels like this dish is a little different.”

"What's the difference?"

"I can't explain it, I just feel like something is missing."

"Maybe it's your illusion. It doesn't make any difference to me."

"That's right."

The monk immediately put aside his doubts and stopped thinking about it.

In fact, he felt right. There was indeed something missing in the dish. That was Yongling Dao's unique way of tasting.

Only dishes that arouse its interest will be lucky enough to be tasted by it.

It’s just that this wonderful way of tasting has never been noticed.

The competing dishes slightly aroused its interest, thus awakening the Eternal Sword from its long slumber.

But they are not interesting enough.

Therefore, the Eternal Blade just waited quietly, waiting for something that could truly arouse its interest.

……

After Xiang En came back from Roger's foundry, he had been trying hard to communicate with Cai Dao.

Since he wanted to preserve the energy for the cooking showdown, Xiang En stopped cooking and just stroked the kitchen knife.

It’s easy to communicate with people, but how do you communicate with a kitchen knife?
Talk to it, it doesn't understand.

Xiang En thought about it for a long time and even consulted with the elders, but still couldn't find a solution.

And now, it's time to decide the topic of the cooking competition.

Elder Huang had no choice but to leave Xiang En, who was in distress, and take a group of elders to discuss the final issue with the Guangchu Association.

As Master Luo Tian said, there are not many ingredients to choose from. The ingredients for the first duel are crabs, and the ingredients for the second duel are squids.

The third showdown was also about seafood, and the final choice was crucian carp.

Crucian carp is widely loved because of its high nutritional value and delicate meat.

This time, the one we chose was not the ordinary crucian carp, but the smallest native crucian carp.

Only in the details can the exquisiteness of knife skills be reflected.

After deciding on the ingredients, the next step is to prepare them.

The dark cuisine world proposes cold platter, which is a platter of cold dishes.

Cold dish arrangement is an art of cold dish arrangement in which processed cold dish ingredients are arranged into patterns of landscapes, flowers, birds, animals, etc. in a certain order, level and position using different knife techniques and arrangement techniques, and provided for diners to appreciate and eat.

It can be said to be the best way to show knife skills.

This is extremely beneficial for Xiang En, who has superb knife skills.

The Guangdong Chefs Association has no objection to this.

After both parties reached an agreement, they left and made their own preparations.

An elder breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I thought they would play tricks again this time."

"It's not the end yet, we can't take it lightly."

said another.

"Yeah, the first two times they cheated only at the very end. It was really hard to guard against!"

Listening to the elders' discussion, Elder Li looked at Luo Tian who was about to leave and asked, "Luo Tian, ​​how do you think we should deal with this? The methods of the dark cuisine world are ever-changing and it is really difficult to deal with them."

"Just follow what the elders discussed before. In fact, I think they won't play tricks this time."

"why is that?"

"Because they have used tricks twice before, this has made us very vigilant. If they use tricks again this time, the probability of being exposed is very high. And once exposed, they will immediately lose their qualifications and be declared the loser. The risk is high, but the effect is low. People in the dark cuisine world are very smart, and they will not do such thankless things."

"You mean, they're going to fight head-on?"

Master Luo Tian said, "That's right. And this is what I'm most worried about. Did you notice? The elders of the dark cuisine world didn't look panicked at all, as if they were confident. They should know that Xu Qing has the special skill of Mind, and Mind has always been invincible against chefs of the dark cuisine world who don't have Mind. But they didn't panic, which means they already have a way to deal with Mind."

Elder Li recalled the scene just now, "You are right. They did appear to be very calm. What is the way to deal with the mind?"

"I don't know the methods of the dark culinary world, but as for the light culinary world, of course, it is to fight the mind with the mind."

Elder Li smiled and said, "If that's the case, then don't worry. Because chefs in the dark cuisine world don't have minds."

Luo Tian shook his head and said, "It's best not to think so absolutely. The dark cuisine world is really mysterious. Maybe they can find other ways."

Elder Li said: "Luo Tian, ​​you should know very well. Intentions are born from a passionate and sincere heart. If the chefs in the dark cuisine world had a passionate and sincere heart, they would not join the dark cuisine world. Maybe they just pretended to be calm on purpose to make us guess and lose our composure."

"It would be nice if that were the case."

Master Luo Tian said nothing more. It is impossible to get to the bottom of this kind of thing just by discussing it.

After returning to Yangquan Restaurant, Luo Tian told Xu Qing what happened at the Guangdong Chefs Association meeting.

Xu Qing pondered for a while and said, "Master, I think your worries may be correct. Maybe they really have a way to deal with the mind."

"What to do?"

Xu Qing smiled and said, "Of course we use the old method, using our minds to fight against our minds. Master, you said before that if an enemy comes, we can stop him with our generals, and if a flood comes, we can block it with earth. If they can really use their minds, they will fall into the rhythm we are familiar with. After all, when it comes to understanding the mind, no one understands it better than us who have our own minds."

Xu Qing gently moved his wrist and said, "Master, I am looking forward to this duel. I really want to see how the dark cuisine world uses the mind."

(End of this chapter)