"Master Luo, the map is still with you, right?"
Guangzhou, Chefs' Union. Several elders had gathered together. Elder Guan looked at Master Luo and spoke first.
"The map is fine. The moment I heard the news, I checked it myself. What about your side? The Ever-Soul Knife is under your supervision, after all."
Master Luo spoke calmly. Although he was also an elder of the Chefs' Union, he rarely involved himself in its daily decisions. Strictly speaking, he was more of an honorary elder.
"There's nothing to worry about with the Ever-Soul Knife. Daisen Temple's security is extremely tight—no one could possibly steal it. Now that the Garuda Knife has surfaced, and an inheritor has appeared as well, the battle for the legendary kitchenware is about to begin again."
Elder Guan sounded helpless. Once the kitchenware conflict began, the trouble would be immense. And this time, it was even worse than before—because of the Dark Cooking Society.
The Dark Cooking Society had expanded at a terrifying speed, catching the Light Culinary World completely off guard. At first, they hadn't taken it seriously at all.
**After all, organizations like this appeared every now and then, and none of them had ever posed a real threat. But the Dark Cooking Society was different from anything that had come before.
Its growth far exceeded everyone's expectations, spreading across the entire continent in a very short time. And there was no shortage of powerful chefs within it.
There was even a Supreme Dragon Chef.
By the time the Light Culinary World realized what was happening, it was already too late.
And their problems weren't limited to the Dark Cooking Society alone. There was also the mysterious Taiji Cuisine Realm. It rarely made a move, but whenever it did, it brought endless trouble.
With the imperial court growing more corrupt by the day and internal issues piling up within the Light Culinary World, they had been pushed into an extremely awkward position—reduced to passively taking hits.
"The kitchenware conflict is inevitable," Master Luo said. "There's no need for us to interfere. We just wait. Since the Garuda Knife has already appeared, the Ever-Soul Knife shouldn't be far behind. All we need to do is keep an eye on its inheritor."
To be honest, Master Luo badly wanted to throw the map away.
There was no helping it—it was a scorching hot potato.
He was deep within Light Culinary World territory, so as long as he was careful, he didn't need to worry about the Dark Cooking Society stealing it. But as long as the map remained in his hands, the pressure on him was immense.
"What do you think about this man named Kael?" Elder Guan asked. "We've already investigated him, but there's nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's like he just popped out of a rock."
Elder Guan sounded genuinely confused. He had even contacted the Chefs' Union in Chengdu, since Kael had first appeared there—but they still couldn't find any information on him.
"Try to recruit him," Master Luo said after a moment. "He chose to help the Chen siblings reconcile, and he openly took the Garuda Knife in front of everyone. That was clearly done to draw the Dark Cooking Society's attention."
"For him to help the Chen siblings in that way shows that he's a decent person. Talent like that should be brought over to our side."
Judging from the Chen family incident alone, Kael was indeed a good man. They didn't know how he had done it, but he had genuinely helped the siblings.
And he had done so by pushing himself into the spotlight.
If it were them, after obtaining a legendary kitchenware and earning its recognition, they would have hidden it away quietly, avoiding attention at all costs.
But Kael had chosen the exact opposite path.
"Recruiting him isn't the problem," Elder Guan said with a sigh. "But according to our latest intel, he seems to be heading toward Mt. Qingzhao."
That left Elder Guan feeling helpless. Anywhere else, the Chefs' Union could reach Kael easily. But Mt. Qingzhao was different—it wasn't somewhere they could just walk into.
Just getting past the guide, Arman, was already a major hurdle.
"Mt. Qingzhao?" Master Luo raised an eyebrow. "Then he's aiming for Master Yuxian. That's not a bad thing—Master Yuxian is still considered part of our Light Culinary World."
Master Luo nodded. Figures like the Four Great Masters had never explicitly declared allegiance, but their conduct had always leaned toward the Light side.
In the end, the Chefs' Union could only give up on contacting Kael for now. They arranged for people to keep an eye on him—if he left Mt. Qingzhao, they would invite him immediately.
At the Light Culinary World's headquarters, the Imperial Kitchen, Master Longwen and Admiral Li had also learned of Kael. They knew he was heading for Mt. Qingzhao, so they too abandoned the idea of contacting him directly.
Everything would have to wait until after Kael's trip to Mt. Qingzhao.
They didn't doubt whether Kael could earn Arman's approval. After all, Kael had already been acknowledged by the Garuda Knife. If even he couldn't pass, then no one could.
Anyone associated with the title of kitchenware inheritor was, without exception, an authority in the culinary world.
What puzzled Master Longwen and Admiral Li was the same thing—why couldn't they find any concrete information on Kael? Surely he couldn't have come from some remote mountain wilderness.
Yet that was the only explanation that seemed to fit.
Meanwhile, Kael himself had no idea that both the Light and Dark Culinary Worlds had been shaken by his actions. At this very moment, he had already arrived at Mt. Qingzhao.
Anyone who came to Mt. Qingzhao would normally seek out the guide, Arman, first.
And Arman was already waiting for Kael's arrival.
Kael's route was simply too obvious—straight to Mt. Qingzhao. Those who knew had naturally passed the information along to Arman.
Arman was intrigued. A kitchenware inheritor was no small matter, and he was curious to see what kind of dish Kael would present.
But what no one expected was that after arriving at Mt. Qingzhao, Kael didn't go looking for Arman at all.
He simply picked a random spot—and entered the mountain directly.
"He… he went straight into Mt. Qingzhao?"
The Dark Cooking Society members who had been tailing Kael were completely stunned.
They never imagined that Kael would just walk straight in.
Everyone knew that entering Mt. Qingzhao without guidance carried an almost one-hundred-percent mortality rate.
What were they supposed to do now?
There was no way they dared to follow Kael inside.
"Send the news back immediately," one of them said grimly. "If he dies in there, that's one thing—but he's carrying the Garuda Knife!"
They couldn't care less about Kael's life. Even without orders from headquarters, they knew exactly how the Dark Cooking Society operated—action was inevitable.
But without explicit instructions, they couldn't act on their own, so they had done nothing but follow him.
Others had been watching Kael as well. Seeing him enter Mt. Qingzhao so recklessly left everyone dumbfounded.
The news quickly reached Arman.
"You're telling me… he went straight into Mt. Qingzhao?" Arman stared at the messenger in disbelief.
"Yes, Lord Arman. The moment he arrived, he went in."
Even the messenger found it hard to believe—but they had seen it with their own eyes.
"This is bad," Arman said, his expression turning grave. "Mt. Qingzhao isn't a place just anyone can enter. Even I wouldn't dare wander around inside casually."
He knew better than anyone how dangerous the mountain was.
His ability to move freely there was due to two reasons. First, he had mastered qi himself, possessing both strong culinary skill and combat power.
Second, the paths had been opened by Master Yuxian. The qi Master Yuxian left behind protected those routes, preventing the ferocious beasts from attacking people on the path directly.
Step off those paths, however, and the beasts became truly hostile.
If Kael had already entered the mountain, then even Arman had no way to pull him back out.
With no other choice, Arman rose and headed deeper into Mt. Qingzhao. He needed to report this to Master Yuxian.
If it had just been an anyone else entering the mountain, Arman wouldn't have bothered. Every year, there were fools who courted death—and dying after ignoring warnings was on them.
But this time was different.
Kael had entered carrying the Garuda Knife.
If Kael died, the Garuda Knife would be lost somewhere within Mt. Qingzhao.
That alone made this something that required Master Yuxian's decision.
Watching Arman leave, the others waiting nearby could only exchange looks of disbelief. None of them could understand why someone would deliberately seek death like this.
It wasn't possible that Kael didn't know how dangerous Mt. Qingzhao was. His destination had been crystal clear from the start.
Which left only one explanation.
Kael was supremely arrogant—he believed he could meet Master Yuxian without a guide.
Once again, the entire culinary world was thrown into chaos by Kael's actions.
As for Kael himself?
He was strolling through Mt. Qingzhao as if he were taking a walk through his own backyard.
"No wonder this is Mt. Qingzhao. The number—and strength—of these ferocious beasts is absurd."
Not long after entering, Kael encountered numerous beasts. Their numbers were staggering.
If he hadn't been certain this was the world of Cooking Master Boy, he would have suspected he'd crossed into the Toriko world instead.
In less than half an hour, Kael had already been attacked dozens of times.
He didn't even bother releasing his intimidation to suppress them. His goal was to harvest ingredients—having the beasts come to him was exactly what he wanted.
After collecting some of the local ingredients, Kael realized that the quality here far surpassed anything from the Food Wars world.
Perhaps this was Mt. Qingzhao's true marvel.
That said, he hadn't yet encountered anything truly special—nothing like a colossal eel, for example.
Another thing he noticed was a powerful qi presence deeper within the mountain.
He had sensed it shortly after entering.
His own qi wasn't weak, but compared to that presence, the gap was enormous.
There was no doubt—the owner of that qi was Master Yuxian.
If Kael wanted to catch up to him purely in terms of qi, it would take quite some time.
"Found one. A three-headed python—and at this size, it's definitely a special ingredient."
Several hours later, Kael finally encountered something truly unusual.
A python with three heads.
Two-headed snakes existed, though they were extremely rare. But three-headed ones? He'd never even heard of such a thing.
And it was huge—like something straight out of Anaconda.
An ordinary person encountering a beast like this would have no choice but to lie down and wait for death.
Kael, however, was anything but ordinary.
A wave of intimidation(An ability from Toriko) slammed down on the three-headed python. The beast froze instantly, its previously ferocious aura vanishing.
A few seconds later, unable to withstand the pressure, it collapsed and turned to flee.
Kael wasn't about to let it escape.
Finding a special ingredient like this wasn't easy—and it was prime nourishment for his gourmet cells.
In an instant, Kael appeared in front of the python.
"Knife."
One of Toriko's signature techniques.
Kael swung a hand-blade. Empowered by gourmet cells, his strike was more effective than any weapon.
In the Toriko world, powerful Gourmet Hunters rarely relied on weapons. Even Master Jiro only used the Wolf King's Fang when unleashing the Guinness Punch—otherwise, it stayed unused.
With gourmet cells enhancing their bodies, their own flesh was the ultimate weapon.
Kael was only level seven. He didn't have many techniques at his disposal yet—Knife and Fork were essentially all he had.
The hand-blade struck.
In an instant, the three-headed python was split cleanly in two.
The upper body, with its three heads, writhed wildly on the ground. The lower half twisted separately nearby.
"Fork."
After testing Knife and finding it effective, Kael immediately followed up.
Three piercing strikes.
All three heads were skewered straight through.
The python was dead—though its muscles still twitched reflexively.
"Hm? Someone's coming?"
Kael lifted his gaze toward the sky. A powerful qi was approaching.
It wasn't physical strength—it was the purity and depth of the qi itself.
In terms of raw physique, no one in this world could compare to him.
The identity of the newcomer was already obvious.
Moments later, a figure descended from the sky, protected by an oval-shaped barrier of light.
An elderly man with an otherworldly, immortal bearing.
Without question, this was Master Yuxian.
At a certain level, qi truly allowed for unbelievable feats.
Like now—Master Yuxian could fly freely, and even the Egg Child at his side could disguise itself as an ordinary egg.