“小 girl, you may be young, but you sure have a big mouth!” The Master Chef of the restaurant came out. Upon seeing where the voice had come from, he immediately burst into laughter.
“Where did this brat come from, making trouble in my shop? Hurry along, hurry along.”
Naturally, no one took Jiang Ke’er’s declaration of challenging the restaurant seriously. After all, she didn’t look anything like a proper chef.
Not to mention, she looked far too young…
Master Chefs who had spent years in kitchens always carried the scent of smoke and fire that others could spot at a glance.
Jiang Ke’er’s skin was fair and tender, her hands showed not the slightest trace of calluses from years of wielding a wok… In fact, forget calluses—just looking at her slender arms and legs, one would think she’d have trouble even slicing a piece of meat.
“You can still sell me a fish right now.” Jiang Ke’er said earnestly.
“Off you go, little brat. Go play somewhere else.” The Master Chef clearly had no intention of accepting her challenge.
No one in their right mind would take Jiang Ke’er’s challenge seriously. It was like a little kid boasting about challenging Jordan to a one-on-one basketball match—anyone who believed it would be a fool.
Once again, Jiang Ke’er was chased out.
“If you want to challenge a restaurant, there’s a small competition at the Gourmet Festival in the east of the city later. All of Firewood City’s Master Chefs will be there to have some fun,” the Master Chef said with a laugh, seeing Jiang Ke’er’s round cheeks puff up in anger. “If you do well, I’ll give you a few fish. What’s the harm?”
“It’s a deal!”
Jiang Ke’er dragged the helpless and amused Si Lian along, storming off toward the eastern side of the city.
Perhaps because it was the New Year and no one wanted to ruin the mood, or perhaps because the Culinary Arts world in Shenzhou wasn’t as full of hostility as the cultivator world, the few Master Chefs she’d met—though fierce in appearance—hadn’t spoken any vicious words, nor made an issue of her Demon Race identity.
Jiang Ke’er didn’t want to be unreasonable, either, and so decided to obediently follow the rules.
“There’s no need for all this, just let it go,” Si Lian kept persuading her from behind. “It’s just a meal, is it really worth all this trouble? Can’t you eat anywhere? What’s the difference?”
“No! There’s a big difference!”
Jiang Ke’er stubbornly pulled Si Lian along, running straight to the competition site to register.
The big sister at the registration desk thought Si Lian was the one signing up, and mistook Jiang Ke’er for Si Lian’s daughter.
When she found out that Jiang Ke’er was the contestant, she smiled knowingly at Si Lian. “Oh, so you’re bringing your child to play. No problem! Our Gourmet Festival welcomes all participants—hope you both have fun~”
With that, she pinched Jiang Ke’er’s cheek. “Be careful when playing with fire, and listen to your mom, okay?”
Jiang Ke’er’s face turned red with anger, but she couldn’t argue back. She could only snatch her contestant badge in frustration and stomp off to the waiting area.
Seeing Jiang Ke’er’s aggrieved look, Si Lian bent over in laughter.
Contestants had to bring their own ingredients. Fortunately, Jiang Ke’er still had some scraps left over, which were just enough for a small competition.
She stood by her table, waiting for the contest to begin, while Si Lian stood by as her guardian—there was no helping it. Jiang Ke’er really didn’t look like someone who could stand on her own, so the organizers insisted Si Lian stay nearby to supervise.
Jiang Ke’er closed her eyes and began to adjust her state of mind.
Gradually, amid bursts of cheers, the Master Chefs from all the major restaurants took their places at the front row of contestants.
Their seats were highly prominent. Unlike Jiang Ke’er’s, which were in some forgotten corner clearly marked “for participation only,” the Master Chefs were the real focus of the contest.
They exchanged some polite greetings, their eyes flickering with fighting spirit.
As for Jiang Ke’er… this little one had already been forgotten by almost everyone, except for the chef who’d pointed her to the competition earlier. He waved at her from a distance.
But Jiang Ke’er had her eyes closed and didn’t respond, so Si Lian smiled and waved back on her behalf.
From the stage came the sound of drums and gongs. After a simple but festive performance filled with holiday spirit, the competition was declared open.
Si Lian watched Jiang Ke’er with curiosity.
Whether a chef was truly skilled could often be judged by a few simple steps.
Si Lian didn’t understand much about the rest, but she could tell whether someone’s knife skills were steady.
But Jiang Ke’er didn’t follow the usual script.
Instead of using a knife, she drew Frost Shadow, and in a few swift strokes, sliced a Tomato into neat petals.
She sheathed her sword, plated the dish, and was done.
“……”
Si Lian held her forehead. “Let’s not even talk about how dirty your sword must be… Are you really just going to use a single Tomato for the contest?”
“This dish is called Tomato Sashimi.”
Jiang Ke’er said with complete seriousness.
Si Lian’s lips twitched. “Fine… but aren’t you going to at least sprinkle some sugar or something? At least make it into sugared Tomato?”
“No,” Jiang Ke’er shook her head. “The Culinary Arts sect I learned from has a rule: you’re not allowed to cook seriously in minor contests like this. At most, you can use a single technique—otherwise, things get troublesome… I’m already being kind by not just serving up a bowl of salt.”
As she spoke, Jiang Ke’er raised her hand and shouted, “I’m finished!”
What’s going on?
Finished already? The host had barely announced the start—it hadn’t even been ten seconds. Was she cooking air?
Everyone turned to look. When they saw Jiang Ke’er’s Tomato Sashimi, laughter erupted.
“What an adorable little one.”
No one spoke harshly to Jiang Ke’er; they just treated it as the innocent words of a child.
This Gourmet Festival competition was meant to be fun, with participation as the main goal.
“To see such a young chef taking part—surely the future of Shenzhou’s Culinary Arts is bright!” The host laughed as he walked over to Jiang Ke’er, took the Tomato Sashimi, and solemnly brought it to the judges’ table.
The judges didn’t want to spoil the mood, so they put on serious faces. With a sweep of his sleeve, one judge gently picked up a slice of Tomato with his chopsticks.
But the moment his chopsticks touched the Tomato, he sensed something was off.
A Tomato… with a crisp texture?
He lifted the Tomato up and examined it carefully.
Others watched his performance and praised his acting skills—treating an ordinary sliced Tomato as if it were a banquet delicacy.
“Crack~”
With a slight effort, the judge revealed a thin, crispy layer of ice at the cross-section of the Tomato.
At that moment, a ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and happened to fall upon the surface of the Tomato.
Then, a scene unfolded that made the jaws of every Master Chef in the venue hit the floor!
“Roar—”
The beam of golden sunlight on the Tomato suddenly seemed magnified ten thousandfold, transforming into a shocking pillar of light shooting into the sky!
Golden radiance burst forth! Vaguely, every cultivator at the Five Elements Realm and above felt their souls tremble, as if hearing the thunderous roar of a dragon!
Looking closer, within the pillar of light it truly seemed as if a Golden Dragon was rising skyward, soaring into the sea of clouds, twisting and turning in the heavens!
The judge’s entire worldview was on the verge of collapse.