# Chapter 2120: The Hermit Chef God
The old man's mouth twitched, and then he jumped up again: "You little girl, it's only been a few years since we last met, how did you learn to lie!"
"Old man here has been focusing on the culinary path for over a million years. Ah? Does a little girl know what a million years means? Those so-called culinary masters in your divine kingdom aren't even worthy of being considered beginners in my eyes!"
"There are very few people in this world who have lived longer than this old man, and it's impossible for anyone to surpass me in culinary skill—not even someone who could touch my heel!"
As he jumped, his beard almost stood on end... Such a reaction was like touching his reverse scale.
Yun Che was lost in thought.
"But..." Hua Caili showed no sign of being "taught," and said innocently and frankly: "I respect and like Uncle Liuxiao so much, how could I possibly lie to Uncle Liuxiao? The delicious food Brother Yun makes is simply better than Uncle Liuxiao's."
After speaking, before the old man could have another explosive reaction, she lightly sidestepped to stand beside Yun Che, so close that their bodies almost touched: "Right, Brother Yun?"
The old man's gaze slanted toward Yun Che, as if he had only just noticed his existence. But with just one look, his bristling hair instantly flattened back down, and then he burst into loud, toothy laughter:
"You're talking about this kid? Ho ho ho ho ho! A snot-nosed brat like this, whose age and aura aren't even as old as the dirt under my fingernails, dares to claim he surpasses me in culinary skill?"
"Little girl, your cultivation has improved quite a bit, but why has your brain suddenly stopped working? If he can make something more delicious than my 'Liuxiao Feixian Crisp,' I'll write my name backwards from now on!"
"Uncle Liuxiao is playing tricks again!" Hua Caili curved her eyes and brows: "Liuxiao written backwards is still Liuxiao. Since Uncle Liuxiao is so unconvinced, do you dare make another bet with me?"
"Another bet?" The old man's eyes clearly widened a fraction.
"This time we're betting on Uncle Liuxiao's most skilled area—culinary skill." Hua Caili said with a smile. "We'll bet on whether Brother Yun can make something even more delicious than the Liuxiao Feixian Crisp. Of course, if Uncle Liuxiao doesn't dare, then forget it. A junior like me wouldn't dare to trouble Uncle Liuxiao."
"Hehehe..." The old man grinned, letting out a strange laugh, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "Using that to provoke me... Bet! I must bet!"
"If this kid can beat me in culinary skill, I'll call you uncle... Bah! I'll call you grandma even!"
Hua Caili quickly and obediently waved her little hand: "How can that be? Uncle Liuxiao is the senior I respect most, we absolutely can't mess around with that. If... by any chance... Uncle Liuxiao really does lose, then just agree to one small request of mine, hehe."
"I'll lose??"
He let out a strange cry but didn't laugh again. Instead, his gaze swept up and down, re-examining Yun Che anew.
How could he not know that Hua Caili suddenly pulling this stunt was definitely not without reason.
But to say this snot-nosed kid could surpass him in culinary skill...
He would rather believe that this kid could crush him, a divine official, with a single finger in terms of cultivation.
"Kid!" The old man didn't even ask Yun Che's name or background, slanting his old eyes: "When I was your age, I hadn't even figured out playing in the mud yet. If we really compare culinary skill, it would be me bullying you. How about this..."
He pointed behind him: "Old man here may not have much else, but I have all kinds of rare and precious ingredients from across the world! If you can use the things here to make a single dish that can catch my eye, then this little girl wins! Judging by her smiling face, she's definitely plotting some mischief!"
The old man's words were casual and crude, but they fully showed his doting and indulgence toward Hua Caili. He knew in his heart that Hua Caili was definitely finding an excuse to ask him for a favor, so he directly gave her the chance.
After all, whether it caught his eye was up to him to decide.
Yun Che bowed respectfully but didn't respond. He swept his gaze around, then suddenly reached out his hand. A dozen gentle wind whirls flew out, heading straight for those piles of messily stacked ingredients.
In just a few breaths, thirty-seven different kinds and shapes of ingredients lay spread out before Yun Che.
"Senior, the 'Liuxiao Feixian Crisp' you just made should have used these thirty-seven ingredients. Would I be mistaken in my judgment?"
"...?!"
The gray-clothed old man... Liuxiao Divine Official, one of the four great divine officials of the Pure Land, did not answer immediately. His old eyes slowly widened, and widened further, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
Hua Caili's lips also parted slightly, and her beautiful eyes trembled with deep astonishment... Judging by Liuxiao Divine Official's extremely exaggerated reaction, Yun Che's judgment was clearly correct. All thirty-seven ingredients, not a single mistake!
She only knew that anything Yun Che made tasted ethereal and divine, surpassing even Liuxiao Divine Official. But she never imagined he could be so terrifyingly skilled.
Liuxiao Divine Official suddenly turned his head and shouted: "Yuanying, get in here!"
Yuanying Divine Attendant, having just cleaned the dust from his body, "whooshed" in: "Master, you called me..."
"Did you tell this kid the recipe for the Liuxiao Feixian Crisp?!"
"Ah?" Yuanying looked innocent: "I'm wronged, Master. Even if Yuanying had the guts, I wouldn't dare leak your recipe. Wait, that's not right. You only just finished making the Liuxiao Feixian Crisp, and even the name was just decided. Where would there be a recipe?"
"...Get out."
"Coming right up!"
Yuanying "whooshed" back out.
Liuxiao Divine Official's gaze locked back onto Yun Che, occasionally sweeping across the thirty-seven ingredients, muttering to himself: "There's some skill here. No wonder this little girl dares to be so cocky."
Yun Che quickly said modestly: "Senior flatters me. I only happen to be particularly sensitive to smells and managed to identify them by luck. Then I'll use the same ingredients to attempt Senior's Liuxiao Feixian Crisp."
After speaking, he took a step back. Wind whirls rolled up, and the thirty-seven ingredients passed through his hands in sequence, being crushed, refined, and purified one by one...
When Cang Shuhe had taught Yun Che cooking back then, she had praised that his advantage in this path was unparalleled in the world, unreachable by anyone.
This was absolutely not flattery, but an indisputable fact.
Because the most extreme power of refinement and purification in this world resided in the Heavenly Poison Pearl in his hands. Thus, any ingredient could be easily and perfectly processed by him.
And another important factor in culinary skill—control over flame—with his Evil God's Mysterious Vein, he was also unmatched in the world. Others could never achieve this even with ten lifetimes of cultivation.
Given the level of the Heavenly Poison Pearl, its aura of refinement and purification could not be detected even by someone as strong as a divine official. In Liuxiao Divine Official's sight, the ingredients were being peeled, cut, and scattered by strands of profound energy emitted by Yun Che, with all essence retained and all excess removed.
The entire process was so precise and exquisite that it was astounding, and incredibly fast.
It left Liuxiao Divine Official gasping for breath for a long while.
Red light blazed, and flames ignited in Yun Che's palm. As his hand turned and fingers danced, the flames scattered into dozens of fire snakes of varying sizes and even different degrees of heat, dancing and twisting over different ingredients, sometimes touching, sometimes separating, sometimes burning, sometimes extinguishing.
Finally, all the flames fell back into Yun Che's palm, and after a few breaths, they all went out.
Yun Che's hand slowly opened at that moment. In his palm lay two crispy cakes of the same color but different shapes.
A faint fragrance also spread at this time. The scent touched the nose, causing Liuxiao Divine Official's throat to involuntarily "gulp."
"It's done."
Yun Che raised his hand and handed one of the cakes to Hua Caili: "Caili, you try it first."
Compared to Liuxiao Divine Official's dirty, messy lump, the one Yun Che gave to Hua Caili was exceptionally exquisite. Its shape was a maiden holding the moon, with the moon half-hidden among the clouds, its meaning and artistic conception evoking reverie.
"Wow! So beautiful." Hua Caili held it in her hands, her beautiful eyes shining with strange light, her movements especially careful: "It's so beautiful I can't bear to eat it."
Yun Che smiled and said: "Delicious food should excel in color, aroma, and taste, because its shape and color greatly influence one's mood when enjoying it. That's why I made it a little more elaborate."
"Although the ingredients are the same, I improvised it on the spot. I imagine the method and combination are quite different from Senior's, so naturally I dare not call it 'Liuxiao Feixian Crisp.' Let's call it... 'Moon Tilt Reflecting Cloud Crisp.'"
By the time Yun Che finished speaking, Hua Caili had already taken a small bite.
Immediately, she raised her head, her eyes as bright as stars: "Delicious! Really, really delicious! Not only is its shape beautiful, its aroma wonderful, and its name nice-sounding, but even the taste is a little... many little bits better than Uncle Liuxiao's Feixian Crisp!"
Liuxiao Divine Official's eyes, which had been bulging noticeably, seemed to finally retract at this moment.
As someone who had immersed himself in the culinary path for over a million years, he understood far more clearly than Hua Caili just how astonishing Yun Che's series of operations had been.
Before Yun Che could even speak, his hand reached out and snatched the other cake from Yun Che's palm, pinching it between his fingers... The exotic scent hit his nose, and his movements paused slightly before he tossed it into his mouth.
One bite... In an instant, his old eyes bulged out again.
More than a dozen different exotic fragrances exploded in his mouth, instantly radiating across his taste buds. He clearly felt his soul tremble with numbness.
As the number one culinary god in this world—a title he valued far more than his divine official status—he could precisely distinguish which flavor came from which ingredient. And the "tuning" of these flavors had reached a level that could only be called perfect. Under their mutual fusion, they intertwined into an ultimate delicacy that intoxicated the soul and numbed the body.
It was a sensation of "ascending to immortality" that even his "Liuxiao Feixian Crisp" had never truly achieved.
He was stunned, absolutely stunned. He stared at Yun Che, and his voice trembled as he spoke: "This... this was really improvised by you on the spot?"
He had spent a thousand years of painstaking effort and tens of thousands of attempts to create his perfect "Liuxiao Feixian Crisp"!
Yun Che seemed to have misunderstood his meaning, and quickly said: "Most of my life has been wandering, so I've rarely been able to come into contact with such... and such a variety of rare ingredients. I could only barely attempt it. I'm afraid I've made a fool of myself in front of Senior."
Made a fool of himself?
Liuxiao Divine Official would have liked to laugh at him.
This kid, on his first try, with such a short, casual effort, had produced a cake that crushed his thousand years of painstaking effort and even a million years of experience... Laugh? Laugh at what?
Before Liuxiao Divine Official could speak, Hua Caili said sweetly: "Brother Yun, make a Four-Colored Cloud Soup for Uncle Liuxiao. He'll be absolutely shocked."
"Okay."
Yun Che smiled, reached out, and four dark-colored leaves flew into his hand.
Liuxiao Divine Official stared intently... They were four bitter leaves commonly seen everywhere in the Abyss!
On lands outside the Pure Land and the divine kingdoms, lush trees and flowers could not grow. The vegetation that could survive there must be able to withstand Abyssal Dust to some extent, and naturally possessed extremely strong vitality. Their taste was mostly extremely bitter, usable for seasoning but almost impossible to eat as food.
"Just... these four bitter leaves?" Liuxiao Divine Official asked in a somewhat trembling voice, like an old schoolboy just beginning his culinary path.
"That's enough."
Yun Che moved his hands back and forth over the four bitter leaves, refining and purifying them invisibly and silently. After several dozen strands of profound energy flowed, only four juice clusters of different colors and sizes remained from the four bitter leaves.
Yun Che gathered cold energy in his palm, condensing a small ice bowl. With another grab, the bowl was half-filled with clear water. The juice clusters from the four different bitter leaves then fell into the ice bowl one after another, naturally dispersing and blending to form a bowl of four-colored, glass-like cold soup.
He held the ice bowl up to Liuxiao Divine Official: "The Four-Colored Cloud Soup is ready. Please, Senior Liuxiao, taste it."