Chapter 46

In the cooking area, there were several extremely prominent spots. A mud platform housed a giant boiler standing three zhang tall, with fierce flames burning intensely within the mud. Steam billowed from the top of the boiler, creating a misty, ethereal scene, as if it were a fairyland in the kitchen.

The structure of the main kitchen was a testament to the wisdom of the workers. Just the ingenious details alone were too numerous for the ghosts to count. After a large amount of steam rose to the dome, it was dispersed into thin threads and vanished.

There was also a stone platform, on which a large iron pot was placed, large enough to serve as a bathtub. The black bottom of the pot was filled with a light blue liquid. Despite the fierce flames burning under the iron pot, the liquid inside remained calm like a mirror, showing no signs of heating.

There were many more exaggeratedly luxurious cooking stations in the cooking area, used for special dishes.

On the other side of the area was the ingredient zone, where the air was thick with the scent of blood.

Xing was surprised; blood was extremely precious in the Netherworld. Ordinary ghosts did not have blood; only native creatures or natives had flesh and blood. They were mainly found in the northern part of the Netherworld, far from the Divine Land of the Netherworld, and were ferocious, requiring eighty-one trials to capture.

Moreover, ghosts who reached the Ghost General realm had the ability to grow white bones and produce flesh and blood!

However, in the ingredient zone, the air was thick with the scent of blood.

"This is too extravagant!" Xing shook his head repeatedly, feeling heartache. He fantasized about collecting the blood and finding ways to use it reasonably to enhance his cultivation.

"Roar~~~!"

At this moment, the ingredient zone echoed with roars, and a foul wind swept past, making Xing's hair fly backward and his face sting.

A large black bear stood upright, over a zhang tall, covered in black fur. Its powerful limbs beat wildly, and the iron chains as thick as its arms clanged. The scent of blood was overwhelming, and if it were not confined in an iron cage, the ghost servants present would have suffered.

In the cooking area, the most common sight was the cooking stations, while in the ingredient zone, the most common sight was iron cages and chains, used to confine the terrifying and ferocious ingredients.

For example, human bears, black leopards, and dragon lizards.

Xing glanced around and saw that none of the ghost servants in the ingredient zone were below the seventh level of the Ghost Soldier realm!

The ghost servants were all powerful, comparable to the ghost catchers in the outer district's ghost government!

But even so, when handling the ingredients, the ghost servants had to work in groups, with four or five needed to subdue one ingredient, and the process was extremely dangerous, with the slightest mistake leading to...

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a惨叫 sounded, and Xing saw a ghost servant accidentally torn by a black leopard, followed by another being flattened by a powerful human bear.

"Is this the ingredient zone? It's clearly a battlefield!" Xing said, sweat beading on his forehead and his lips twitching.

The ghost servants handling the ingredients, while the ingredients fought back, the word "eat" was truly cruel!

"Surprised, aren't you? Besides the main area, there are several special rooms for handling special ingredients or performing special cooking." The chef glanced at Xing and chuckled.

"The City God's meal includes ingredients at the Ghost Official realm, and even the meals for the Ten Judges of the Underworld, where ingredients at the Ghost General realm are served!" The chef stated a fact, which was astonishing but true, without any exaggeration.

Indeed, if the Ten Judges of the Underworld wanted to have a meal, they could personally capture ingredients at the Ghost General realm and cook them.

"Too terrifying, Ghost Generals are served on the table! That's a realm known as powerful!" Xing's eyes widened in shock, never imagining that a realm he considered high and strong could become an ingredient, enjoyed by powerful ghosts.

"Do you think so many chefs are just cooking? They might just be completing one dish, with some dishes requiring hundreds of steps, extremely complicated."

"Let's go, the area is too large to see everything at once. There's plenty of time for you to see more. I'll take you to meet Chef Li first, don't keep him waiting." The chef said calmly, leading Xing through the cooking area.

Xing passed by one cooking station after another, seeing the flames under the iron pots, the cold light of the knives, and various cooking utensils and ingredients, which were transformed into wonders in the hands of the chefs, leaving him unable to take it all in.

After passing countless cooking stations, he finally reached the end of the area, where three huge red doors stood before him.

These were the special cooking rooms the chef mentioned, one of which housed the ten head chefs at the top of the City God's kitchen!

"Go in, I won't go in!" The chef said calmly, turning to leave, possibly returning to his own cooking station to continue a dish.

Xing took a deep breath, reached out, and pushed open the red door.

"Boom..."

The huge red door slowly opened. The ghost who made Xing open the door alone might have wanted to make it difficult for him. Such a massive door would be hard to open even with ten strong men working together. But Xing pushed it open with one arm!

A crack appeared, and a burst of golden light shot out, blinding Xing.

When the red door was fully open and the light dissipated, the true scene inside was revealed.

Xing was immediately stunned speechless. The light he saw earlier came from the flames under the iron pots, but this time, the light came from the dish with the lid lifted, emitting a thousand rays of light!

"So there really are dishes that glow!"

After a while, Xing gradually regained his composure, his eyes wide with amazement, and he expressed his thoughts.

In the human world, he had scoffed at the idea that "glowing dishes are truly good dishes," but he never thought he would have the chance to see a glowing dish in the Netherworld!

The moment the red door was pushed open, the head chefs inside turned their gaze to Xing.

"Are you Xing?" A tall, thin old man asked. Despite his advanced age, his face was rosy and smooth, like a baby's, with a black beard like iron needles, deep-set eyes, and a black chef's hat.

"Indeed!" Xing immediately recognized the old man's extraordinary nature and replied respectfully.

"Very good, very good!" The old man coldly praised, then said, "Work hard, and don't give me a reason to kick you!"

The old man said this simply, then turned back to his cooking station, his sinister gaze falling on a long, thin watermelon knife. He grabbed a piece of tender tofu and threw it into the air.

"Ha!" The old man shouted, his voice powerful. His arm holding the knife moved, and a silver flower of light flashed. Then he extended his palm.

"Clap."

The tofu, thrown into the air, finally landed, resting steadily on the old man's palm, motionless.

Silently, the tender tofu's edges suddenly fell away, forming a lotus flower, its petals swaying. Just looking at it, one could almost smell its fragrant aroma, and the thought of "it can be admired from afar but not touched" arose.

Xing's eyes widened as he looked at the lotus flower made of tofu in the old man's hand. He was not only amazed by the difficulty of carving the tofu but also by the similarity of the lotus shape, and the fact that each petal had a word carved on it!

"Get lost!"

The words on the lotus petals seemed to transform into a thunderous sound, rolling towards Xing. His face turned pale, then flushed red, as he held back a mouthful of blood, swallowing it hard.

This tall, thin old man was terrifying, and the words carved on the tofu lotus had injured Xing's ghostly consciousness.

"What a terrifying old man, he must be the second of the ten head chefs, Gao Lao!" Xing thought, recalling the information about the ten head chefs.

"Your 'Ma Er Feng' is quite good!" A lean scholar walked up, passing by Xing and whispering, his scholarly aura making it hard to imagine he was a chef.

Wen Shitian, the fifth of the ten head chefs!

Xing was startled and immediately turned to look, but Wen Shitian had already disappeared at the end of the red door, probably going to the ingredient zone to fetch ingredients.

"Hey~ You're the new ghost servant who's been making waves, you're really handsome~" A red-lipped, alluring woman with a snake-like waist approached, wearing a red leather jacket and heavy makeup, looking no different from a woman in the human world.

Mei Ling, the eighth of the ten head chefs.

"Is this your apple?" Mei Ling took out an apple, waved it in front of Xing, and then threw it backward, where it followed a perfect parabolic path and landed in a trash can.

"......!" Xing's eyes widened, almost bursting with anger.

The apple Mei Ling held had a vividly carved dragon, which was clearly the one Xing had carved.

"Wait!" Xing frowned, then felt a sense of doubt. The dragon-patterned apple he had carved should have been on the responsible ghost, so how did it end up in Mei Ling's hands and used to humiliate him?!

Xing then looked at Mei Ling in surprise, as if he had thought of something.

"Hehe, handsome young man, you react quickly!" Mei Ling giggled, swaying her snake-like waist as she left.

"Xing, you're late!" At a cooking station not far away, Li Dazui, as tall as a small mountain, was preparing a pufferfish. He suddenly looked up and saw Xing, saying in a deep voice.

As he spoke, he casually sliced open the pufferfish's belly, a shadow flashed, and his hand quickly inserted, extracting a poison sac. He then swiped his hand over the wound, and it miraculously healed.

The process of extracting the poison sac from the pufferfish was done seamlessly by Li Dazui, with the pufferfish remaining lively throughout, unaffected, and even still alive after the poison sac was removed!

Xing was solemn, completely dispelling any thoughts of underestimation. The four head chefs he had seen were all extraordinary!

Take Wen Shitian, the fifth head chef, for example. He was not present during Xing's competition with Zhang Yu yesterday, but he identified the 'Ma Er Feng' from the residual scent on Xing's hand!

And Mei Ling, the eighth head chef, the apple she threw away was just a replica of Xing's, so well-made that even Xing, who had carved the original, could not tell the difference, a true masterpiece of deception!

Even Li Dazui, the last of the ten head chefs, had the skill to extract the poison sac from a live fish, which was incredible!

"It seems each of the ten head chefs is exceptional, with no one being a fraud. I've met four head chefs, but I wonder what the remaining six are like? What kind of monster occupies the first position among the head chefs?"

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