Chapter 812: Chapter 811: The Bowl That Held a Whale

“It’s not scientific!”

Xia Yu, slightly flustered, inwardly demanded an explanation from the system.

“Please pay attention to controlling the temperature of the wok, host! ‘Morse Oil’ has a low ignition point…”

“How should I control it? I was preparing to oil the wok and then stir-fry the spices. Now I can’t skip this step; without the oil, the spices will burn instantly once they hit the wok. What am I supposed to do?!”

Xia Yu felt a surge of impulsive resignation.

“It was a misstep!”

He involuntarily propped his hands on the kitchen counter, bowing his head, his face showing regret. Xia Yu thought darkly, “I still suffer from a lack of experience. I thought ‘Morse Oil’ was my resonant ingredient and assumed I could manipulate it at will. But it’s still a forbidden quality kitchen seasoning that deserves respect!”

On the other side of the city, in a quiet villa, Ye Feizhou, who had left the Loulin Ship a few days ago, didn’t return to the Northern Capital City but settled in the Shanghai Suburbs, continuing his secluded study of the Qilin-level Killing Recipe.

Beep!

Quiet room.

Ye Feizhou turned off the TV, and the black LCD screen reflected a handsome face with a faint sneer, “Got yourself into trouble, didn’t you…”

“Is my opponent really just a frivolous brat?”

Looking down again at the ancient recipe spread on his knees, Ye Feizhou felt a momentary urge to laugh.

An opponent so beneath him showed signs of extinguishing the competitive spirit within Ye Feizhou.

No matter how strong the culinary skills are, he’s just an unreliable youth who might dig his own grave in a cooking showdown. Thinking of this, Ye Feizhou shook his head and murmured to himself, “Am I being too paranoid, preparing for Qilin-level Killing a month in advance… Is it necessary?”

A hint of hesitation appeared on his face.

“Well then!”

Ye Feizhou refocused on the recipe on his lap, “This is a rare opportunity to delve into the world of ancient culinary arts; I must carefully comprehend it. Who knows, I might just push open that gradually loosening door ahead of time!”

The uncrowned king among the younger generation in the Chinese Realm, the top of the “Five Chinese Talents,” began to imagine the beautiful scenery of his breakthrough into the Broken Qilin Realm.

At the hunting site, the atmosphere was starkly different from the silent study room.

The laughter lasted for a full half hour.

“Chef Xia, thanks for your hard work!” Someone shouted while holding their belly, “If you explode one more wok, the competition backstage won’t have any left!”

Fans were also frantically spinning in circles below the stage, “Hurry up and get to the point; there’s only 30 minutes left before cooking time ends. Anyone who fails to present their dish on time will be disqualified! Zero points and out!”

On the guest seats.

Wei An’s face had long since turned dark, “What does he take the sacred hunting stage for!” He said, slamming the armrest of his chair.

Kong Chun watched steadily shaking his head, showing dense disappointment in his eyes.

“I shouldn’t have come.”

He had been busy recently compiling a new national banquet recipe list with his team. It coincided with the Loulin Ship’s open voyage and a dragon-level cooking showdown, so he appeared to support Yan Qi. Now sitting here watching this inconsequential preliminary selection was merely a chance coincidence.

Li Han, Tang Yuqiong, Wu Yingying, and others were also tongue-tied, seeing the image of Xia Yu sweating on his forehead; they knew this was no act or joke.

Xia Yu indeed encountered a difficulty!

He spent half an hour meticulously analyzing ‘Morse Oil’ in the mysterious space, at least memorizing the details of this forbidden oil completely, only then cutting off contact with the system and returning to reality.

However, no matter the analysis, it was just talk on paper without any practical cooking experience to support it. Inside, Xia Yu felt somewhat uneasy.

“It should be fine!”

This time, Xia Yu’s mind was no longer blank; the cooking process was neatly and clearly organized in his head.

“I can do it!”

Still with a hot wok, the staff had just sent a new one.

Seeing him put the wok back on the stove rack, there was laughter and booing from the crowd below.

At the judges’ table, Mu Xiaoyue had long since clenched her hands tightly, biting her lip, watching Xia Yu repeatedly attempt to use the fiercely strong strange oil, her heart was at its peak of tension, yet she couldn’t help but complain, “Does he even know how many people are paying attention to this preliminary selection, both online and offline?”

Mu Xiaoyue couldn’t imagine the barrage of comments flying on those live streaming platforms.

Things like “most incompetent Sapporo chef,” “Five Talents will hang him up and beat him,” “reverse cooking gourmet 66666,” and so on, seemed to drift past her eyes. Mu Xiaoyue felt a strong sense of shame, wanting to cover her eyes and not daring to look.

“You better stand up for yourself!”

Stand up?

If Xia Yu could hear familiar voices behind him, he’d surely nod and respond to her, that’s for sure.

Wasn’t the reason for the current predicament merely because of this ‘standing up’?

The urge to stand up involved doing something significant, losing his usual composure and almost digging a pit to bury himself in. Thinking of how he felt chilled, Xia Yu, now assured, secretly chuckled, “Next time, take it easy!”

After all, he’s just an ordinary person, and there are times when he’s on stage and his blood rushes to his head.

But the feeling of achieving a breakthrough on stage is really awesome!

Xia Yu clenches his fist, “Let’s begin!”

In front of him is an iron pot heated to the right temperature. Why “right”? The super sensory ability to perceive flame tells Xia Yu the temperature of the outer wall and inner wall of the pot. His previous failed attempts have taught him well. Listening to the boos from the audience, Xia Yu’s eyes sharpen. Do they really think I’m here just to perform tricks?

“Beep!”

He grabs the oil bottle again, inverts it towards the pot.

One drop, two drops, three drops…

Unlike the earlier situation where one drop caused the pot to burst, this time a significant amount of oil is poured in, and the pot neither bursts nor burns. This shows how precisely Xia Yu has grasped the ignition point of the “Morse Oil” after his failures.

Quickly grabbing a piece of kitchen paper, a white blur flashes.

The clustered grease is evenly smeared onto the inner wall of the pot with the kitchen paper, instantly giving the pot a slippery feel like senior sister’s skin.

Then, Xia Yu steps back half a step with a calm smile on his lips.

“Whoosh!”

A wisp of flame shoots straight up from the bottom of the pot and quickly expands to cover the pot’s opening.

The unfolding blaze and Xia Yu’s smiling face are captured by cameras, and whether watching on-site or those glued to their screens for the live broadcast, people might find two words popping into their minds—

Magic!

Controlled flames!

Most directly, it captivates the young talent Li Han from the contemporary Li Family, who stares at the flame slowly rising from the pot, his eyes wide.

His perspective is completely different from others.

Within the orange-red, there is a beautiful transparent shadow, faintly visible.

It’s a strange fish, sparkling and glowing.

“Did you, did you see that?!” Li Han asks hoarsely.

Zhao Zhen, Tang Yuqiong, and Wu Yingying are all staring intently, and Tang Yuqiong casually replies, “See what? Quiet now!”

“Fish…”

Li Han just manages the word.

Splash!

The hall resonates with the sound of something breaking through the surface of water.

In the scene, Xia Yu lifts softened instant noodles from the pot, naturally using his left hand to hold a large glass bowl to catch this mass of instant noodles, while his right hand immediately sets down the colander to grab the spice bottle placed in front of him earlier.

With his teeth, he bites open the cork, and the opened bottle tilts slightly towards the pot’s flame, where unblocked spice powder immediately scatters out, engulfed by the flames.

The golden sparkling stardust suddenly gathers in the flames.

Bit by bit, as if a painter uses a brush dipped in golden paint, gradually drawing the outline of a giant whale on the canvas of flames.

This vivid “painting skill” stirs Wei An and Kong Chun’s spirits intensely.

“It’s done!”

“It has formed, formed!”

Yan Qi on the Loulin Ship on the Yangtze River sees the golden lines forming the whale, head and tail connected, ultimately creating a complete image, and lets out a trembling cheer.

Xia Qing is stunned.

On site.

“Whoosh—”

The wind rises, carrying a hint of ocean’s cool scent.

A giant whale breaks through the flames.

Roar!

The dull whale sound echoes the stage, astounding all the young talents on stage, as if the platform under their feet is about to collapse.

“Is it an illusion?”

“What is this…”

Before the entire audience can go into chaotic uproar, Xia Yu smiles, lifts the bowl prepared in advance with his left hand, and flips the bowl. The peculiar whale seems to actively collide into the bowl and is absorbed inside.

This image freezes.

People stare in amazement at Xia Yu’s glass bowl in his left hand—it’s a bowl containing a whale!