Chapter 578: Chapter 577: The Gap in Realms

“Desolate and solitary…”

These four words seemed to be branded in his mind, spoken in a solemn and deep voice at all times.

For almost a quarter of an hour, the five judges remained immersed in the historical scenes, unable to extricate themselves.

“Eat!”

There was still a lot of stir-fry left on the large plate.

Having come to their senses, the judges disregarded everything else and started eating.

After a while.

With a clang, chopsticks dropped onto the squeaky-clean plate, and Andrea leaned back, nearly collapsing into her chair in exhaustion, murmuring, “Why is this…”

“Why!”

Sta, too, stared at Xia Yu, as if talking to himself.

The judges did not dwell on the manipulation they felt in the world, they were more concerned about why that culinary world felt so real, eating the stir-fry was like taking a time-travel journey to witness history.

In the backdrop of dense historical and cultural atmosphere, the taste and texture of the dish seemed very secondary, almost inconspicuous.

Crucially, in tasting it, they truly felt the emperor’s desolate and solitary majesty, his loneliness!

“The aura of a king!”

Kogawa Shinyiro thus concisely evaluated.

“The king, huh…”

Luther and Adelaide exchanged looks, their eyes still filled with shock.

“Yes!”

Remembering the dragon shadow in the fire during cooking and the illusion of the door of Dragon Nest opening when the lid was lifted, Adelaide deeply sighed, “A true dragon, a king… It doesn’t need perfect ‘color,’ ‘aroma,’ ‘taste.’ Its spirit and vigor are enough to shatter all of those! This is the real Xia’s Seven Kingdoms United Fried Noodles!”

Andrea’s enticing red lips trembled.

She was fascinated and said, “It’s like I saw a very real Ancestor Emperor. When he was assassinated, there was panic, there was anger, but when he sat down, his aura was suffocating… This sense of fluctuation, just like when chewing the noodles, one bite, the scattered noodles took me high up, yet the bursting juice brought me crashing down, combined with the unmatched elasticity of the beef noodles themselves, my mouth was constantly in a passive state of tension…”

Elasticity!

Andrea touched on a key point.

Luther, with a flickering gaze, said, “I finally understand why Chef Xia was repeatedly beating the beef into a mush with a stick before.”

Xia Yu grinned and spoke into the microphone, “It looks like everyone understands now.”

“The repetitive beating with the stick breaks down the beef tendons completely, enhancing its elasticity, and when it mixes with the flour to make noodles, it also adds strength and elasticity.”

Pausing for a moment, Xia Yu continued, “Actually, it’s like ‘beef balls’; it’s no problem to simply view Xia’s Seven Kingdoms United Fried Noodles as elongated beef balls!”

“Beef balls?”

All five judges were taken aback simultaneously.

Many Chinese viewers watching the live broadcast thought of beef balls and the hot juice spurting out when biting into them, instantly swallowing saliva while having a revelation—

So this was the essence of Xia’s Seven Kingdoms United Fried Noodles.

“The noodles are also a portrayal of a historical emperor. I believe in terms of ‘elasticity’ at this step, any amount of crafting isn’t excessive; the Ancestor Emperor deserves to be portrayed with countless brushes…”

Xia Yu earnestly said, “If time permitted, I might have hammered the beef paste over twenty-six thousand eight hundred times.”

“Hiss…”

“Twenty-six thousand eight hundred times?”

Even the judges’ faces twitched, surprised that Xia Yu had blurted out a number that, from his tone, seemed to have some significant origin.

“To what extent should beef elasticity reach? If you can form it into a ball and play ping pong with it, it’s just about satisfactory,” Xia Yu continued his serious nonsense.

Hearing this, Qilin Judges’ expressions slightly collapsed.

“I mean, can it really achieve the elasticity of a ping pong ball?” Andrea’s mouth dropped open.

The other four judges also waited for his answer.

“Theoretically, it’s possible…”

Huh.

So it was theoretically possible.

The Qilin Judges breathed a sigh of relief, and for some reason, after eating Xia Yu’s noodles, their minds seemed not yet recovered, a bit dim.

Not far away, Li Han’s heartstrings had also sharply relaxed.

“I knew it!”

A little figure in his head was patting its chest, exhaling in relief.

He pursed his lips.

Li Han stepped forward to interrupt.

“Why did you say earlier that my ‘hyper taste’ was a disservice to the Seven Countries United Fried Noodles?” He emphasized the word “disservice,” showing he cared deeply about it.

“Too perfect,” Xia Yu shook his head.

The judges chimed in, “Yes, too perfect!”

Stop speaking in riddles, hey!

Veins bulged on Li Han’s forehead, and the audience, discontented, started making a racket.

“Too perfect, it becomes unreal.”

Andrea had a complex look, and she who had previously praised Li Han highly, now turned on him, sighing, “An emperor, no matter how exalted, is still a person. Does a person without any flaws exist at all?”

Hearing the rhetorical question, Li Han paused, “An emperor?”

Seeing that he still didn’t understand, Andrea pointed at the empty jade plate: “What do you think is the true essence of ‘Seven Countries United Fried Noodles’?”

“Of course, it’s an expression of the ‘continental hero’s’ spirit and vigor!”

Li Han responded without hesitation.

“Too broad, too vague!”

Andrea shook her head, “There are so many heroes of the continent, with your realm, do you intend to depict every hero in your cuisine?”

Ding!

In his mind, gongs and drums buzzed.

Li Han was momentarily dumbstruck.

“Your ancestor, Ya Kan, didn’t he freely interpret the ‘continental hero’ theme? Although I’m not sure how your ancestor solved it, I think, with your ancestor’s realm, he probably alluded to King Qin’s sweeping of the six states, metaphorically predicting that he and the Dark Cuisine World would eventually start a culinary revolution across the Chinese land…” Xia Yu interjected.

Applause.

The sound came from the sidelines, and the camera switched over, surprisingly from the White Jade Tower Team.

Li Quan had risen from his chair, applauding and agreeing, “Right, according to the family records, the ancestor Ya Kan indeed used the power of the ‘Seven Countries United Fried Noodles’ to express his inner spirit and vigor. He was telling Liu Maoxing that he could definitely lead the chefs of Liangshanpo to sweep over the Chinese cuisine world! In the cuisine, the sweeping King Qin embodied Ya Kan’s own persona!”

Hearing this, Li Han hung his head.

By then, even the regular audience had understood.

After all, ‘Seven Countries United Fried Noodles’ was created around the ‘continental hero’ theme, and the descendants who tried to restore the recipe misunderstood its true meaning, thus going astray.

Moreover.

Li Han had merely projected his ideal self into his cuisine.

Chief Judge Kogawa Shinyiro said to him mercilessly, “On the surface, you solved the problem incorrectly, but essentially it’s a matter of a difference in culinary realm.”

“Right!”

A young man from the United Kingdom, Adelaide, said, “How should I put it, your culinary realms, you’re probably missing roughly a whole tier, aren’t you?”

He himself wasn’t quite sure.

Missing a whole tier?

The competition venue once again erupted in turmoil due to the commentary.

That noise, when it reached Li Han’s ears, felt like spikes stabbing mercilessly into his heart.

Losing was acceptable.

But Li Han refused to admit that he was far inferior.

“I don’t believe it!!”

Clenching his teeth, Li Han looked up at the five judges’ expressionless faces.

“Then, taste this—”

Xia Yu returned from the cooking station, holding a large plate in his hands, on which was the second serving of Xia’s Seven Kingdoms United Fried Noodles.

“Let me taste it too!”

Li Quan climbed onto the stage.