CHAPTER 798: CHAPTER 797: LOULIN SHIP (PART 2)

"A woman?"

As the black-robed figure with incredible knife skills spoke, the side hall suddenly became chaotic.

Not some old monster?

Xia Yu was startled, but his eyes suddenly emitted a strange glow.

Judging by the voice quality, he dared to conclude with his extensive experience that the woman must be quite young. After all, on the Loulin Ship, all passengers wore black robes, akin to a masked ball. Such an unrestrained display of gender and age by a female chef must indicate she is that proud Golden Peacock, right?

"Aunt Qing." He gently patted Zhu Qing’s shoulder, who also withdrew her gaze in astonishment, clearly amazed by the woman’s knife skills.

"Is there really such a young female genius with knife skills reaching such a level in the Chinese Realm?" Xia Yu asked with concern.

Zhu Qing’s eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"Hmm."

She pondered, trying hard to think, with many faces of young female chefs flashing in her mind.

"You’ve competed against Tang Family’s daughter. Although she possesses the ’Tang’s Double-edged Saber,’ speaking purely about knife skills, Tang Yuqiong isn’t as good as you overall."

"Do you remember Wu Yingying? However, her expertise is in tea arts, not knife skills."

"Hmm, only that Yang Man is left, the infant nutritionist appearing alongside you in the first round of today’s sea selection, descendant of Green-faced Beast. Yang Clan ranks seventeenth in the Dark World, also known as ’Dark Star.’ It’s said Yang Man has gained Yang Clan ancestors’ recognition, thus her knife skills must be seen as superior among the younger generation of the Chinese Realm..."

Yang Man?

Xia Yu only had a blurry face in his mind.

He only remembered Yang Man’s ’Butterfly Fun Porridge,’ but other details like waist size, whether her chest was big or her legs were long, facial features, and if there was a mole on her face, he didn’t pay much attention to on the stage.

"No one else?"

At this moment, the black-robed female chef spoke again, her voice tinged with regret.

The whispers inside the room quieted down a bit.

Seeing the packed state here, it was obvious that the ’Heavenly Craft Pavilion’ was very popular on the Loulin Ship.

Xia Yu stared at the back of the female chef, quietly asking Zhu Qing for the reason, only to hear Zhu Qing chuckle slightly, "It’s simple, ever since the Dark World was defeated a hundred years ago, and Kaiyou perished, Yan Xian, who succeeded him as the Dark World leader, established a rule that is followed to this day—Whenever the Loulin Ship is open, the nine halls onboard, the Pin Xuan Pavilion, Ge Gu Pavilion, Book Storage Hall, Five Elements Platform, Fire Pavilion, Heavenly Craft Hall, and the top floor’s Qilin Pavilion, the Soaring Dragon Hall open only at midnight, and the Cloud Mist Room personally overseen by Mr. Yan, all offer a benefit to external chefs."

"A benefit?"

Seeing Xia Yu confused, Zhu Qing pointed to this ’Heavenly Craft Pavilion,’ "Just talking about this place, securing this unique benefit is simple, demonstrate knife skills and succeed in guarding the platform; if no one dares to challenge you, the benefit falls into your lap."

A faintly mysterious smile appeared on her lips.

"Moreover, the Heavenly Craft Pavilion’s benefit is within reach—"

Xia Yu paused, his gaze followed Zhu Qing’s alabaster finger, and he looked intently, his focus was on the sharp slaughter knife quietly resting on the cutting board next to a piece of bloody pigskin.

Ping!

Without any warning, a row of system text popped up:

"Discovered an unknown artifact."

"Preliminary identification of the knife as Purple Quality, more detailed artifact information requires a touch for authentication."

Artifact!

The female chef’s knife skills were so remarkable that Xia Yu had forgotten about the existence of the knife.

Knife skills and knives complement each other.

To illustrate this, it’s just like how worldly society people madly pursue the Yitian Sword and Dragon Slayer Sword; a superb slaughter knife is equally significant to a chef, and it’s not an exaggeration to say it can directly improve skills (culinary skills).

The quiet in the side hall lasted for about a minute.

"No one anymore!"

The female chef confirmed once more, then immediately turned her head to look at the middle-aged man lifting strands of meat into the sky.

"This person is..." Zhu Qing was about to introduce him to Xia Yu when the female chef’s next words caused her pupils to shrink slightly, halting her speech.

"This knife, I don’t want it!"

The room fell silent.

"Don’t want it?"

The middle-aged man, still wearing sleeveless tight cloth shirts even in the cold winter, showed a trace of confusion, grabbed the slaughter knife from the cutting board, the blade suspending opposite to the sky, coincidentally, a strand of meat blew down from above, gently and silently sliding over the knife edge.

"Bang!"

Just like a strand of hair snapping, this tiny piece of meat strand was blown high by a whistle, broke neatly.

Everything happened naturally, unaffected by external forces.

Light as a feather of meat strands breaking on the knife edge; it’s practically a real-life version of "hair-blade breakage"!

"Good knife!"

The sound of breathing could be heard indoors.

The middle-aged man looked leisurely at the female chef, "Are you sure?"

"This knife is my most satisfying creation in the past three years, comparable to ancient masterpieces. If you take it away, it will become a treasure for your descendants to guard your family line."

He spoke with a strong voice.

Everyone was watching the female chef, including Xia Yu and Zhu Qing.

But the female chef shook her head without hesitation, "I don’t want it!"

"Master Meng, I have a damaged dagger here, please help me repair it!" The female chef spoke directly, removing a sheath from her broad black robe, and respectfully handed it to the middle-aged man she called Master Meng. The man took the knife, holding the silk-wrapped handle, and his face slightly changed.

"This knife..."

"It’s a masterpiece passed down from my ancestors, generation after generation. I couldn’t preserve it well."

The female chef’s words were filled with evident self-blame and guilt.

"Come with me,"

Then, the middle-aged man and the female chef entered the secret room and closed the door.

Zhu Qing returned to her senses, listening to the surrounding whispers, and was equally curious about the female chef’s identity, "That knife making Master Meng so serious must be extraordinary!"

As she spoke, she turned her head and suddenly realized that Xia Yu was staring intently at the already closed secret room door.

"Yu?"

Zhu Qing shook her hand.

Slap!

Xia Yu slapped her hand away, "I’m still here!"

"What, did you discover something, or were you overwhelmed by the knife skills?" Zhu Qing teased.

"It’s a bit familiar."

Vaguely separated by a layer of easily punctured sandpaper, Xia Yu was certain that if Lecturer Meng had drawn out even a small portion of the knife earlier, he could have identified the origin of the knife.

But unfortunately, this was someone else’s private matter.

The Heavenly Craft Hall dispersed.

No matter what, the benefit already belonged to the female chef, everyone had no more hopes, and within half a minute, the crowd scattered and left.

Xia Yu and Zhu Qing walked through the spacious corridors to the top floor of the six-story ship.

The sixth floor had no partitions, the space was open, the entire floor was a large hall called "Qilin Pavilion."

Zhu Qing never stopped talking, regardless of whether Xia Yu listened, she went on, "That Master Meng is the heir of the Meng Family’s Heavenly Craftsmanship in the Dark World. Although his culinary skills are not exceptionally refined, his forging skills rank among the top few across the Chinese Realm."

"In the past Dark World, from insignificant kitchen items to this Loulin Ship beneath your feet, all bore the Meng Family’s mark. Do you think why the Dark World overshadowed the Light Realm a hundred years ago, until a new batch of geniuses reversed the trend? You know, the previous Rein and Lan Feihong had studied meticulously in the Dark World. Tsk tsk, Rein’s knife skills and several commonly used kitchen knives reflect the influence of the Dark World, don’t they?"

This is indeed true.

The Arhat Crystal Slash, along with the Ice Soul Blade.

Cooking skills are soft power.

The Ice Soul Blade falls under technological-hardware power.

Having both soft and hard capabilities, it’s no wonder the Dark World continued after the major upheaval following Kaiyou’s demise. Although in modern times, the Dark World’s fame is less pronounced, the distinctions between the Dark and Light Worlds aren’t as clear, if closely examined, the Chinese Continent in this space-time is pervaded with the mark of the Dark World, without exaggeration.

In other words, the Dark World has thoroughly integrated into the Chinese blood lineage and cannot be separated.