Chapter 1072: The Cooking Encyclopedia is Profound and Immeasurable

Song Tianjing took a bite of dried scorpion. The five poisons he used for making soup were not yet used up. Normally, dried scorpion would cause his lips to turn purple, make him dizzy, and in severe cases, even lead to unconsciousness. However, now, he ate an entire dried scorpion without any ill effects.

"The Poison Immunity Physique! This is truly the Poison Immunity Physique!" Song Tianjing was ecstatic. This legendary physique had actually manifested in him.

Although his Poison Immunity Physique was still in its nascent stage, it was a promising start.

Song Tianjing was thrilled. A single dish had not only allowed him to make a breakthrough but also granted him immunity to all poisons!

After his excitement subsided, Song Tianjing calmly pondered why the dish described in the recipe had given him poison immunity.

"Of course," he thought. "In ancient times, humanity didn't know which foods were edible and which were poisonous; toxic substances were rampant. The Ancestor of Spirit Chefs, aiming for the prosperity of humankind, designated the first dish in the recipe as an antidote, specifically to grant humans immunity to fatal poisons."

"The Ancestor of Spirit Chefs truly put a lot of thought into this."

With the first fish soup proving so potent, Song Tianjing was eager to study the second dish. He had already briefly looked through the recipe while making the soup, but now he intended to examine it in detail.

"The second dish is called 'Eight Treasure Chicken, Duck, and Fish'."

"Do not discard the fish bones from the first dish. They have absorbed the essence of the first dish. Take them out, roast them dry, and grind them into a powder to use as the 'dish primer' for 'Eight Treasure Chicken, Duck, and Fish'."

"'Dish primer'?" Song Tianjing was baffled. He had only heard of "medicine primers," never a "dish primer."

"Never mind," he decided. "I'll just follow the instructions in the book."

"Feed the fish bone powder to a chicken and a duck. They will fall into an unconscious state, then slaughter them while they are unaware."

"The internal organs of the chicken and duck contain the profound principles of the Five Elements and must not be discarded. Slit open the duck's belly, insert the chicken, then add eight precious ingredients and steam for two hours..."

The ingredients listed in the recipe were too outlandish, either ancient exotic species, divine herbs, and immortal flowers, or long extinct and impossible to find. Song Tianjing could only search for substitutes as best he could.

Two hours later, Song Tianjing looked at the chicken and duck on the plate, their eyes still wide open in death, and wondered if his substitutions had been too extreme.

"Oh well," he thought. "Time to eat."

Song Tianjing braced himself and took a bite. It was indeed a delicacy. The chicken had a hint of duck, the duck had a hint of chicken, and a subtle fish flavor emerged upon closer tasting. The three flavors danced on his tongue, leaving an unforgettable aftertaste.

Song Tianjing devoured the dish, then patted his stomach with a contented smile.

He felt a sticky sensation on his body. Looking down, he saw a black, foul-smelling substance secreting from his skin.

"Marrow cleansing and meridian tempering?" Song Tianjing's voice trembled. He had taken Marrow Cleansing Pills before, but their grade was too low, and they became ineffective after a few uses. He couldn't afford higher-grade ones.

Had eating the second dish actually cleansed his marrow and tempered his meridians?!

Song Tianjing took a shower and felt his body lighten. Immediately afterward, he couldn't wait to make the third dish.

The third dish was called "Past Worldly Affairs."

As usual, Song Tianjing used low-grade substitutes. After eating, he fell into a coma again.

When he woke up, he found that his body had not undergone any changes like before.

"That's odd," he mused. "How long was I unconscious?"

Song Tianjing groggily went outside to inquire and discovered he had been comatose for seven days. Today was the day of the Spirit Chef examination!

He rushed to the Spirit Chef Competition, signed up for the Foundation Establishment group's Spirit Chef exam, and coincidentally befriended the Saintess of the Jade Rabbit Clan. This, however, earned him the enmity of the Saint Son of the Five Poisons Clan.

The exam's theme was "fish," but no actual fish should be visible in the final dish.

The Saint Son of the Five Poisons Clan secretly poisoned Song Tianjing's fish. However, Song Tianjing's Pearl Fish Soup inherently required the five poisons, which paradoxically enhanced the dish's quality.

Next, Song Tianjing used fish bones to create a second dish, which received widespread praise from the judges.

Sitting in the audience, the Saintess of the Jade Rabbit Clan gazed at him, her beautiful eyes sparkling, secretly giving him her heart.

Song Tianjing then used a third dish to claim victory in the Spirit Chef Grand Competition, achieving unparalleled glory.

However, members of the Spirit Chef Alliance recognized that Song Tianjing's dishes were from the "Complete Compendium of Culinary Arts," which touched upon a forbidden secret. They secretly dispatched spirit chefs to pursue and kill him.

During the pursuit, Song Tianjing continuously broke through, acquired new recipes, and successfully counter-attacked his pursuers.

Ultimately, Song Tianjing obtained the entire "Complete Compendium of Culinary Arts" and challenged the Spirit Chef Alliance Leader to a culinary duel in the Great Xia Imperial Palace. Winning two out of three rounds, he debunked the Alliance Leader's claims of culinary supremacy.

He also became widely recognized as the indirect successor to the Ancestor of Spirit Chefs.

With Emperor Xia as witness, Song Tianjing held the hand of the Jade Rabbit Clan's Saintess and gazed at her with deep affection. "Yu'er, I love you. Let's get married."

The two closed their eyes and kissed. When Song Tianjing woke up again, he found himself lying on the ground, his head aching as if he had hit it.

He struggled to get up and touched the bowl of Pearl Fish Soup on the table. The soup was still warm, and his eyes were filled with confusion.

"What is real and what is false..."

Lu Yang and Yun Mengmeng walked side-by-side through the bustling square, holding freshly baked meat pies. A single bite filled their mouths with savory juice.

The air was filled with the aroma of various foods, making their mouths water.

"There's really a lot of good food here," Lu Yang remarked. Although he wasn't particularly picky about food, after wandering around and trying various dishes, he felt that accepting the Spirit Chef Alliance's invitation had been the right decision.

"Right, right? I told you this was a good place," Yun Mengmeng said, beaming.

As cultivators, both of them had virtually bottomless stomachs; they could eat as much as they wanted.

Furthermore, they didn't have to worry about eating too much and losing their appetite.

"Where's the seventh-generation successor of the Yangyuan Pavilion? I haven't seen him," Lu Yang wondered. It was already the second day. Didn't that guy say he was going to rent a stall to earn money? How come he was nowhere to be seen after walking around? He seemed like an honest person; he wouldn't have run off with the money, would he?

"Perhaps he's studying my recipe," the Immortal Fairy said with great confidence. "After all, my recipes aren't something one can understand at a glance."

"What are they selling over there? Dirt clods?" Yun Mengmeng noticed a quiet, sparsely-patronized snack stall where two spirit chefs were stir-frying dirt clods in iron woks.

"Is that a local specialty?" Yun Mengmeng asked, intrigued, and pulled Lu Yang over.

"Excuse me, two servings, please."

"Coming right up!"

One of the spirit chefs scooped out two bowls of dirt clods. Yun Mengmeng took a bite and let out a disgusted "Eww."

"Isn't this just ordinary dirt?"

Lu Yang was also puzzled. Everyone else was selling food, so what was the deal with them selling dirt clods?

Could it be that these dirt clods contained some profound mystery?

Lu Yang activated his spiritual power, employing the 'Heaven-Devouring Earth-Swallowing' technique, and took a bite as well.

"It's not just ordinary dirt. Is there some 'Breath Soil' mixed in?"

Seeing this, the two spirit chefs exchanged glances, then stepped forward and quietly said, "Fellow Daoist, you're quite late. You might be the very last one. The meeting is about to begin. Please, this way."

Lu Yang: "..."

"What are you two talking about?"