Chapter 857: Chapter 856: New Insights
"Another pot of chicken soup?"
The old man was taken aback.
Pointing at the half chicken on the cutting board, Xia Qing lowered his voice, "Are you sure you’ve learned something?"
Xia Yu blinked, "I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered it, but at least I have some new insights into ’knife skills’."
"Really?" The old man eyed him suspiciously.
Xia Yu shrugged.
"I never mince words, old man. Just wait and see!" He donned his apron again but didn’t immediately take a kitchen knife from the rack; instead, he stood with arms crossed, quietly communicating with the system.
"Hey—"
He called to the system, "Show me the ’Divine Hand’ panel!"
Ding.
"’Divine Hand’ (5/10): A magical culinary skill with extremely high growth potential. Simply touching an ingredient provides detailed appraisal data, though the skill itself has unexplored versatility. More applications await the host’s exploration."
The skill information was displayed in a green, eye-friendly color.
This indicated that the skill’s current rank was the lowest green tier!
The 5/10 upgrade progress was the result of Xia Yu’s diligent practice in recent days, as the system had daily training projects.
Why think of the ’Divine Hand’ now?
Ahem, it’s not for anything other than a major health benefit.
Speaking of which, Xia Yu’s first impression of ’Divine Hand’ was of a major health benefit, and it hasn’t changed much. He recalled how Huang He used this magical culinary skill to battle the old man; the food painting ’Ten Thousand Cranes Departing the Nest’ was quite astonishing.
Of course.
Thinking of ’Divine Hand’ also involves the old man’s benevolent knife techniques.
The image of that kindly old monk wielding a knife toward the chicken, with the chicken crowing proudly and comfortably, was vividly unforgettable.
Why was the chicken still happy even when cut?
Spare those philosophical complexities—Xia Yu’s mind was entirely in the culinary world.
Exactly.
Imagining further, the benevolent knife technique—letting the chicken feel no pain—was due to his quick, precise cuts, minimizing physical damage to the chicken.
So, switching perspectives, could allowing the chicken to feel joy before or during the slaughter create some unspeakable transformation?
One must admit, Xia Yu had quite the imagination.
But his imagination was built on experience; not to mention the old man’s astonishing benevolent knife skill, in ’Chinese Master Chef’, Rein placed Spirit Talismans on live cattle and fish to ease them before the slaughter. Then there was Yuchuan Meisha, a chef with super hearing talent, who at the IGO chef star-level assessment listened to ingredients and communicated with them...
All these repeatedly proved—
Using extra methods on ingredients was very necessary!
In other words, to bring ingredients to their best state, chefs go to any lengths.
"So then..."
Xia Yu bit his lip, came to a decision.
"System, allocate all my Talent Points to ’Divine Hand’!"
"Ding, request accepted."
Thus, the 20 Talent Points saved from the previous three-strike mission were all transferred to the new skill.
The system chimed twice.
Ultimately, the ’Divine Hand’ information updated to this:
"’Divine Hand’ (10/10)..."
Though the upgrade numbers seemed unchanged, in reality, the text color shifted from green to blue, and the blue tier was maxed out.
The system returned 5 unused Talent Points, and prompted, "This culinary skill currently cannot advance to the purple frame."
Maxed in blue, not yet reached purple?
Xia Yu stroked his chin, muttering, "Hope there’s a big surprise..."
Even his own tone was a bit uncertain, signaling a lack of confidence.
Hearing this.
The old man shook his head beside him, "After all, young people are unsteady, impetuous as could be expected."
He turned away from the kitchen counter, choosing not to watch, a move that clearly signified Xia Qing had little hope for his grandson’s second culinary attempt.
Reasonably so, the last "failed work" concluded just half an hour prior. In such a short time, even a martial arts master performing a knowledge transfer would require longer digestion time.
Returning to the dining table, Xia Qing found Lan Fengxian and Lan Chuhai softly discussing their chicken soup.
"Senior Xia’s chicken soup follows the orthodox style, focusing on freshness. The garlic flavor revitalizes the body; drinking a bowl is like consuming concentrated medicinal cuisine, akin to a month’s medicinal regimen."
Lanh Chuhai commented.
Lan Fengxian, meanwhile, praised Xia Yu’s soup, "The Demon King Xia’s soup is overall inferior to Brother Xia’s but excels in novelty and creativity, full of youthful exuberance... I seem to see a magical painting of the abyss, where I’m running, moving, surviving within it!"
A sheen of sweat on his forehead proved Lan Fengxian’s words true.
He seemed to engage in a vigorous aerobic exercise.
"Novelty and creativity ultimately can’t match perfection!" Lanh Chuhai said, deeply moved by Xia Qing’s flawless culinary balance, and she, too, had witnessed the benevolent knife technique. Her tone unconsciously alluded to reverence.
"This is a perfect soup!"
She added, her cheeks glowing with reverence. Undoubtedly, the notion of "perfection" struck a chord with Lan Chuhai, leaving her emotional, quite different from her usual calm demeanor.
Zhu Qing scoffed, "Yu’s soup isn’t bad at all!"
"At least, we sequentially tasted two bowls of the same chicken soup, no matter which we had first or last; both soups showcased their charms on our tongues one hundred percent. There was no sense of passive invisibility."
As she said this, Zhu Qing confidently thrust her chest out.
"Humph, being able to strongly and positively showcase oneself amidst the pressure of a true dragon-level dish, and a perfect creation at that, not crumbled by a higher-dimensional dish, doesn’t that prove Yu and his dish’s excellence?"
"Hehe."
Lan Chuhai chuckled lightly, "If this was a culinary competition, and we three were the judges, Zhu Qing, who would you vote for?"
"Uh..."
Zhu Qing’s stance immediately weakened, but she stubbornly replied, "I, I’d definitely vote for Yu!"
"After all, the old man doesn’t really need my vote, right?"
The implication being that, two votes to one, her vote was sentiment-driven, not influencing the outcome.
"Ahem!"
A soft cough from behind interrupted the trio’s conversation.
Xia Qing glared at Zhu Qing, only for Zhu Qing to glare back, cheekily saying, "What, feeling ashamed for not crushing your grandson 3-0?"
Having his pride and competitiveness hit, Xia Qing seemed taken aback.
Zhu Qing couldn’t help but chuckle.
This Xia family duo, based on their personalities, really never admits defeat. Not just the young, the old is like this too. Zhu Qing sensed that, in the coming days, this grandfather-grandson pair would likely have more intriguing clashes.
"Bang bang bang bang bang..."
Suddenly, a flurry of rapid knife sounds came from the kitchen counter not far from the dining table.
"Eh."
Everyone turned their heads in surprise.
"What, what is he doing?"
Zhu Qing’s tongue was tied.