How could a mere miko raise objections at such an incomparably supreme Divine Festival?
"Have you Far East miko forgotten even the most basic etiquette?"
Sure enough, the First Emperor's peerlessly imposing gaze fell upon the Great Miko.
"How can We tolerate outsiders interrupting Our conversation with the Priest?"
"Withdraw!"
The First Emperor's sword-like brows furrowed as he swept his long sleeve. A wild gale howled, and all the candlelight was extinguished.
Accompanied by a series of collisions and muffled groans, the door to the Pure Room opened and then slammed shut again.
Outside the Pure Room, the miko, who had tumbled out like rolling gourds, endured the pain and supported each other to stand up.
"Great Miko/Grandma, are you alright?" Yukikawa Shiratori and Yukikawa Yukie hurriedly went to support the Great Miko, who sat dazed on the ground, staring at the sky for a long time without moving.
After failing to pull up the Great Miko, whose hands and feet were ice-cold, several times, the two finally realized something was wrong. They followed the Great Miko's line of sight, only to see that the formerly beautiful scene of blue skies, white clouds, and snowy peaks had vanished.
Dark clouds. Boundless dark clouds obscured the sky; everywhere the eye could see was a solemn, pure blackness.
Amidst the black clouds, under the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, the indistinct yet majestic colossal body of a black divine dragon and a pair of furiously wide-open golden giant eyes were visible.
"Just what kind of existence did His Highness Mo Bai invite!?" The three of them looked ashen.
"Hey! Are there any miko around?" Dōjima Gin, still trapped within the barrier, looked at the dark clouds surging down from the snowy mountain peak and pounded hard on the barrier, attempting to attract the attention of even a single miko.
As a favored son of heaven, when had he ever suffered such a grievance?
He hadn't eaten breakfast, hadn't eaten lunch, dinner seemed to be nowhere in sight, and now he was going to get rained on?
But when under another's eaves, one must bow their head. Dōjima Gin sighed mournfully and continued to shout.
"It's raining! Bring in the laundry!"
===
Inside the room, the dark environment was just like Mo Bai's sinking heart.
The First Emperor shook his sleeves again, and brightness was restored within the Pure Room.
The extinguished candlelight flickered and miraculously reignited.
The light dispelled the darkness, yet Mo Bai showed not a hint of relief.
His glowing cuisine had glowed in various new patterns, but in the end, he still hadn't been able to make the First Emperor move his chopsticks.
"At his wits' end" was the adjective that best fitted Mo Bai's current state.
"When We said 'not bad' and 'very good,' We were merely evaluating your culinary skills and creativity." After sweeping all the miko out with one sleeve, the First Emperor continued to critique Mo Bai's dishes as if nothing had happened.
To him, the miko were merely ants. If ants crawled onto one's shoes, one simply kicked them away.
There was no need to waste energy bending down to crush them with one's fingers.
This is the magnanimity a hegemon ought to possess.
"But if We were to reveal a desire to eat shark fin, the entire Hua nation culinary world would start a war just for the chance to present a portion of shark fin before Us."
"Even the culinary world's top Dragon-level Chefs would tear at each other's faces and initiate shokugeki against one another."
"Just like that bowl of Dragon Fin We ate over a decade ago." With a look of reminiscence, the First Emperor pointed at the Supreme Fin Soup and the Platinum Jade Qilin Ship in the white porcelain bowls, the soup surface still flickering with points of light. "These two dishes."
"What you can think of, the Dragon Chefs have already thought of long ago."
"What the Dragon Chefs can achieve, you, however, cannot yet achieve."
"Compared to the Dragon Chefs—in terms of plating, it is barely passable."
"In terms of aroma, it is unremarkable."
"In terms of ingredients, they are even more commonplace." The First Emperor shook his head lightly, the jade beads of his ceremonial headdress swaying with the motion. "Being rare in the Surface World does not mean it is rare in the Inner World. Similarly, being rare in the market does not mean it is rare among Dragon Chefs."
"This kind of cuisine, found everywhere in the Hua nation, cannot arouse Our interest." As the First Emperor spoke, his gaze fell upon Mo Bai.
"Cannot arouse an appetite? But these are already the bottom-of-the-box Dream Ingredients of Yukikawa Shrine, aren't they?" Mo Bai's appearance of furrowed brows and racking his brains to find a solution caused a flash of surprise in the Emperor's eyes.
Ever since he succeeded in the War against Heaven and ruled over the Inner World, among the chefs who were personally critiqued by him after passing layer upon layer of assessment, some knelt and begged for mercy, others cried bitterly while rejoicing that they had survived...
But honestly, this was the first time he had seen someone like Mo Bai, looking like a stubborn mule racking his brains trying to figure out how to handle him.
The First Emperor, who was already curious about how Mo Bai, living in the Surface World, could be selected by the Inner World's Gourmet Showcase, inevitably felt his interest piqued.
"No! There is one more Dream Ingredient." Mo Bai remembered the four-star Fantasy Ingredient, Hell Ice Bass, which he had given up on from the start due to the extreme difficulty of cooking it.
Mo Bai, who had not yet shed his "Little Golden Man" state, suddenly raised his head. "I need a little time."
"We grant it!" The interest in the First Emperor's eyes grew more intense. "Of course, We will not make things difficult for you."
"Being with this group of miko who possess alien bloodlines, you summoned Us likely to ask about matters concerning the Ice Continent."
The First Emperor slowly raised his index finger in front of him.
"If you can present a dish that makes We move Our chopsticks before dawn—"
"What harm is there in Us gifting the entire Ice Continent to you?"
===
Maybe... this is what a big shot is.
Leaving the Pure Room and exiting his Little Golden Man state, Mo Bai was left out of sorts, bombed by the heavy news the First Emperor had dropped.
That last sentence was meant literally, right?
Brother Zheng is awesome (fist clench, voice cracking.jpg)
"Senior? Senior!"
"Huh?" Hearing someone calling in his ear, Mo Bai snapped back from his spacing out.
"Your Highness Mo Bai, how is the situation?" The Great Miko, supported by Yukikawa Shiratori, had hope in her eyes.
"That person extended the deadline until dawn." Mo Bai slapped his own cheeks; the stinging sensation forced him to break free from the light-headed joy enveloping his body.
To eat this tempting cake, he first had to create a dish that could move the First Emperor to lift his chopsticks.
"Is the Supreme Walking Shark Supreme Fin Soup already the highest-grade recipe your Yukikawa Shrine has?" Mo Bai asked.
"Apart from Steamed Hell Ice Bass, yes," the Great Miko said helplessly.
"Prepare the Hell Ice Bass for me. Also, I need more ingredients."
"And help me prepare two sets of Hanfu. I need to take a bath and calm down first."
"It seems I can't rely on the Yukikawa Shrine's recipes. While Steamed Hell Ice Bass is certainly difficult, it doesn't necessarily mean it can move the First Emperor." Inside the bathhouse, Mo Bai rubbed his temples and stared blankly at the night sky covered by dark clouds.
"For the First Emperor, taste is actually not the most important thing. The primary condition for a dish to move him is that he hasn't eaten it before, and secondly, it must feel fresh and new to him."
"Of course, the taste absolutely can't be too poor either." Feeling like he would rub himself bald before thinking of a good idea, Mo Bai turned to Little Bai. "Little Bai, do you have any ideas?"
"I don't have ideas for dishes, but I do have some thoughts on the First Emperor's thoughts."
"What thoughts?" Mo Bai looked at Little Bai helplessly. Why was she playing word games now?
"I reckon that the First Emperor's interest in you exceeds his interest in your cooking."
"Hah? Interest in me? What... interest... could he have in me..." After a shiver of chill, Mo Bai suddenly seemed to grasp some inspiration. He performed a carp kip-up out of the hot spring, rushed out of the inner room to the outer room, grabbed a yukata to wrap around himself, and dashed straight for the shrine kitchen.
Yukikawa Shiratori, who was waiting to serve Mo Bai into his Hanfu, watched in stunned silence, only recovering after a good while. "Wait, Your Highness Mo Bai, where are you going?"
"I've figured it out. Isn't what the First Emperor is most interested in exactly why I was able to gain the recognition of the Gourmet Showcase?"
Why did he receive the Gourmet Showcase's recognition?
And why did Ryougi Shiki set out to retrieve the Century Soup?
There is only one answer. It was that day at the Summit Battle finals, the first completely glowing dish he made in an extraordinary state, the one Colson evaluated as having the taste of the ocean encapsulated within it: [Shattered Mountains and Rivers! Raging Tempest].
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