When invited by Jiang Ke’er to eat, Yuan Zheng shook his head and disdainfully said:
“No thanks. The mundane food outside the Tribulation Immortal Hall is too contaminated with turbid energy. It’s harmful to cultivation and sickeningly difficult to swallow… You should keep it for yourselves.”
He looked every bit a high-born immortal, showing twelve parts of disdain for the ordinary sea fish in front of Jiang Ke’er.
Jiang Ke’er pouted, “Are all you immortals like this? Constantly looking down on everything and everyone.”
Yuan Zheng smiled proudly, “A summer insect cannot discuss ice. Different statuses, different worlds encountered, lead to different perspectives… The mundane food you eat is like dung balls rolled by a dung beetle to me. To a dung beetle, it’s a delicacy, but if you were asked to eat dung, would you?”
This analogy…
While vivid, it was truly asking for a punch.
It seemed there was no way for her to have a normal conversation with these heavenly immortals.
Jiang Ke’er sighed softly and drew her sword.
The bright sword light suddenly illuminated the boat’s edge.
Seeing Jiang Ke’er holding her sword, Yuan Zheng immediately became vigilant and took a fighting stance… but then saw that Jiang Ke’er’s sword wasn’t pointed at him at all.
Instead, it lightly picked up a few fish from the fishing basket.
Several forearm-length sea fish flew into the air.
The sword light swiftly swept across them, disappearing in an instant, and the sea fish gently fell back into the fishing basket.
Yuan Zheng’s eyes widened.
He saw clearly that although the fish looked the same as before, they were entirely different when they landed!
The fish fell back into the basket, but another pile of things separated from the fish, falling into a small basket for garbage.
—That was a collection of complete fish bones and thorns, as well as scales and internal organs!
In just a brief second, these things had completely separated from the fish body, leaving only the most tender, delicious, and perfectly presented fish meat!
What kind of divine sword technique was this? What kind of powerful force control skill?
Too strong!
Jiang Ke’er herself was a bit stunned…
She found that when she looked at the sea fish, the types of fish, their meat quality, and body structure immediately appeared in her mind.
Relying on a hundred percent understanding of ingredients, and the “Way of Skill” passed down to her by Qiao Xiaoxian, she even displayed more perfect ingredient processing techniques than what was inherited from the “Book of Food” in her mind!
This Book of Food… had something special about it.
“I admit, your knife work is indeed good,” Yuan Zheng suddenly said.
“However, for a dish, processing ingredients is only the first step. Subsequent processing is the most crucial part. Your knife work, benefiting from your swordplay, is indeed amazing, but you’re not proficient in the subsequent steps…”
Why does this person talk so much?
Jiang Ke’er was a little annoyed.
But Yuan Zheng didn’t care about Jiang Ke’er’s displeasure and continued,
“The Food Immortals of my Tribulation Immortal Hall have studied the complementary relationships of ingredients for over a thousand years, and changes in heat for another thousand years, not to mention other things… This is the difference between heavenly delicacies and your mundane food. Envious? Even if you are, you can’t eat it.”
Jiang Ke’er was speechless and could only silently thread the fish onto an iron skewer and place it on the charcoal for simple, unadorned grilling.
The charcoal crackled, and the sizzling protein gradually gave off an appetizing meaty aroma.
Fish oil mixed with water droplets occasionally dripped down, landing on the charcoal with a “sizzle~,” instantly making the aroma even richer and spreading throughout the entire boat.
Jiang Ke’er’s slender white fingers pinched some seasoning and sprinkled it lightly.
The aroma immediately became like dotting the eyes on a dragon, injecting soul, and completely diffused!
And as Jiang Ke’er flipped the fish, the aroma even became richer and more mellow!
Yuan Zheng was horrified to discover that at some point, dense, sky-obscuring seabirds were circling in the sky! Their density was even like storm clouds!
Stretching for dozens of miles, with no end in sight!
And the sea wasn’t quiet either.
Dozens of dolphins, following the scent, anxiously poked their heads out, extending their mouths towards the boat’s edge.
Beside them were another dozens of sharks…
These large creatures were surprisingly harmonious at this moment, each stretching out their heads, actually showing expressions of pitiful begging for food!
A few more minutes passed, and the sea surface within dozens of miles was completely covered, as if boiling.
Countless fish churned and jumped on the water, their eager eyes fixed on the grilled fish in Jiang Ke’er’s hands.
Less than a minute later, several thick fountains erupted from the sea—a pod of humpback whales.
They swam cautiously, utterly refraining from stirring up waves, seemingly afraid that Jiang Ke’er’s hand might tremble and ruin the presentation of the grilled fish.
“Hmph! Child’s play!” Yuan Zheng sneered.
“Grumble~~~”
A sudden sound from his stomach made Yuan Zheng’s expression change.
Even though he was trying his best to control himself with willpower, his body couldn’t be fooled…
The aroma of the grilled fish completely ignited his hunger! His mouth watered uncontrollably!
Why was it so fragrant?!
It was just ordinary fish, grilled in an ordinary way, so why was it impossibly fragrant?!
This wasn’t how cultivation worked at all!
Even the Dao of Heaven couldn’t explain it, could it?!
Jiang Ke’er hadn’t expected such a spectacle.
She took out the finished grilled fish, placed it on a plate, and blew on it.
“Want some?” she asked, smiling at Yuan Zheng.
“Hmph!” Yuan Zheng scoffed, struggling to turn his head away.
“Mundane food is mundane food after all. Perhaps you can make it taste good, but consuming it will still leave turbid energy in the body, bringing no benefit to cultivation. On the contrary, it might even contaminate the foundation of one’s Dao…”
Harmful to cultivation and without benefit—this was Yuan Zheng’s last line of defense.
Although his mind was already rife with demonic thoughts, wanting to forcefully snatch all the grilled fish from Jiang Ke’er, as long as these things remained in the category of “ordinary mundane items,” he would absolutely not eat them!
“Is that so? What a pity then.”
Jiang Ke’er sighed and picked up the grilled fish, intending to take a bite… but the miserable screams reaching her ears forced her to stop.
She looked at the sea fish and seabirds, especially feeling the pitiful, watery eyes of the dolphins, and simply couldn’t bring herself to eat.
“There’s not much grilled fish. Eat a little, just taste it…”
Jiang Ke’er sighed helplessly and had no choice but to wave her sword, cutting all the grilled fish meat into extremely fine, almost powdery particles, and sprinkling them into the air and the sea.
The ocean instantly boiled, and amidst joyous cries, these small lives living in the sea finally got to enjoy the delicious food.
However, to Jiang Ke’er’s surprise, they didn’t scramble for it.
Every little creature, after tasting a single piece of fish, floated on the water, stunned and motionless.
…What was going on? Was it really bad?
“Hahahaha, so it’s just trash with a pleasing aroma!” A weight finally lifted from Yuan Zheng’s heart, and he burst into boisterous laughter.
Just then, a strange voice suddenly came from beside the boat.
“Thank you, Senior, for your enlightenment!”
“…Hahaha-hiccup.” Yuan Zheng almost choked.
He stared blankly at the dolphin beside the boat.
The human speech just now came from this very dolphin, and just a second ago, there had been no spiritual energy fluctuations within its body.
Now, not only had it produced spiritual energy, but it had even directly enlightened itself with considerable wisdom!
Looking around at the small fish and shrimp, sharks and seabirds, and even the enormous humpback whales… they all began to spontaneously generate spiritual energy vortices within their bodies! They all displayed extremely human-like postures, bowing towards Jiang Ke’er!
“Oh my goodness,” Jiang Ke’er scratched her ear in a daze, smiling innocently at Yuan Zheng, “As expected of ‘mundane food with no benefit to cultivation,’ isn’t it~”
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