"Blegh—"
Accompanied by a wave of extreme dizziness that made her head spin and felt as if her internal organs had been shifted out of place, Lin Xiyue was the first to give in. She leaned against a large tree and started dry heaving.
Xia Lian followed immediately after, her face as pale as paper. She slumped against the tree trunk, feeling as if her three souls and seven spirits were still spinning inside that scrap-metal centrifuge.
Only Lin Qingyue and Su Wan managed to stay on their feet.
The former's physical fitness was simply top-notch, treating the whole ordeal as if she'd just experienced a free ride on a Giant Pendulum.
The latter had forcibly used her Magic Power to stabilize her Core, maintaining the final shred of dignity befitting a Young Mistress of a noble family, although her slightly trembling fingertips still betrayed her.
"I swear, when this is over, I'm definitely filing a complaint about their user experience!"
Lin Qingyue rubbed her throbbing temples, gritting her teeth.
"The user experience is negative! It even comes with a complimentary soul-leaving-the-body service! They must experience the joy of social death before they retire!"
They had been precisely... thrown by that "antique spin-dryer" onto a hillside dozens of kilometers away from the Valley of the Four Winds.
However, at this moment, no one had the leisure to dwell on this discrepancy.
An overwhelming, "olfactory-dimensional-strike" level of complex aroma was sweeping in with the mountain wind, engulfing everything.
It wasn't a single scent, but a symphony of a thousand flavors.
The rich, charred aroma of roasted meat was laced with the spiciness of grilled seasonings.
The sweet, delicate fragrance of baked pastries carried the scent of cream and honey.
The fresh, savory aroma of a slow-simmered, thick soup overflowed with the essence of bone marrow and mushrooms.
This surging torrent of scent dominantly invaded everyone's nostrils, launching a full-scale assault directly on their brains and stomachs.
[Rule Three: Survival Instinct] was passively triggered!
The four of them, whose physical strength was already depleted after a series of battles, felt as if they had starved for three days and nights under the stimulation of this aroma.
"Gurgle... Gurgle-gurgle..."
A series of stomach growls, comparable to a symphony, resonated among the four.
Lin Xiyue covered her stomach, her cheeks flushed, but her eyes were fixed straight on the source of the aroma. Drool was already frantically secreting from the corner of her mouth:
"Sis... I'm so hungry! I feel like I could swallow a whole cow, without even spitting out the bone fragments!"
"Gnaw on some dried rations to tide us over." Lin Qingyue's own stomach also issued a shameful protest.
"...How undignified."
Su Wan frowned, attempting to use reason to fight the primitive desire.
"Analyzing the magic power fluctuations, this compound aroma is invading our limbic system, inducing an amygdala reaction... In simple terms, it's hacking into our Survival Instinct."
"Speak plain language," Lin Qingyue said, her expression deadpan.
"I'm hungry."
"Alright, got it."
Only Xia Lian, the ever-dutiful Ranger, forced herself into scout mode.
She strained to climb a tall tree, scanning the distance.
"I see it! The valley is... packed with people, it's like a festival!"
Xia Lian's voice held a trace of urgency.
"There's a large plaza in the center. It looks like... it looks like some event is about to end!"
"Go!"
The four immediately picked up their pace, sprinting at full speed toward the Valley of the Four Winds.
The closer they got, the more intense the aroma became, and the clearer the roar of the crowd grew.
The entire Valley of the Four Winds had transformed into a joyful sea constructed of "food."
Vendors with colorful banners were everywhere, Pandaren mercenaries laughed heartily as they held huge skewers of bamboo shoot roast pork, and Pandaren cubs couldn't bear to leave the sugar painting stalls.
Every face glowed with happiness and contentment.
This made the four, with their solemn expressions and hurried steps, seem completely out of place, looking exactly like four programmers who had accidentally wandered into a company banquet and had to rush to fix a critical bug.
"Make way! Please, make way!"
Lin Xiyue raised her shield to clear a path in front, while carefully dodging a Pandaren man holding an eight-tier bamboo steamer.
"Sizzle—"
A skewer of roast squid tentacles, sizzling with dripping oil, was suddenly thrust from the side, nearly smearing Su Wan's face.
The one offering the skewer was a chubby-faced Pandaren cub, his expression innocent: "Pretty sister, eat! This is super delicious!"
The words of refusal got stuck in her throat, and Su Wan was choked into sneezing twice by the overpowering savory aroma, her Young Mistress's dignity shattering to pieces.
Xia Lian had the worst of it. She had just nimbly dodged a giant rolling wheel of cheese, only to look up and see a unicycle-riding juggler heading straight for her.
Splat!
Because she didn't dodge in time, the entire three-layer cream fruit cake in the other's hand landed squarely on her.
"..."
Xia Lian froze on the spot, covered from head to toe in colorful frosting, cream, and fruit slices, looking exactly like a freshly baked, piping hot "human birthday cake."
Her gaze went dull, her mind a complete blank.
"F*ck (a type of plant)!"
Lin Qingyue fought back a laugh, cast a "Cleanse Spell" over her, and then dragged the pink-haired Xia Lian, who was still recovering from her social death, forward again.
Just then, a booming voice, amplified countless times by magic, echoed from the center of the valley:
"After a difficult yet blissful deliberation by our seven gourmet judges, the final champion of this year's 'Feast of a Hundred Flavors' has been decided!"
The four of them tightened their hearts, their pace accelerating to the limit.
"He is the genius chef of our Valley of the Four Winds, the 'Flames Spatula' — Master Pan Wenhuo! And this is the ultimate dish he has brought us — [Buddha Jumps Over the Wall: All Creation's Forest]!"
With the announcement, the entire valley erupted in thunderous cheers.
When Lin Qingyue and her three companions finally pushed through the last layer of the crowd and burst into the massive open-air venue, they saw the very sight they had been dreading.
In the center of the arena, on a giant cooking platform, nine bronze tripods steamed with heat.
A slightly chubby Pandaren youth, dressed in a snow-white chef's uniform, was raising a golden spatula high in the air with a mixture of gentleness and excitement, basking in the applause of the entire audience.
At the judges' table before him, seven Pandaren judges so fat their necks had all but disappeared sprawled in their chairs, their faces wearing expressions of pure bliss as if their souls had ascended to heaven.
"So delicious... I feel like I've witnessed the birth and annihilation of the universe..."
"This flavor... I have no regrets in this life... burp!"
Lin Qingyue and her group's footsteps came to a sudden halt.
In the end, they were still one step too late.
Now, everything would proceed according to the traditional ceremony of the "Feast of a Hundred Flavors."
Sure enough, the host, whose face was flushed with excitement, announced loudly in his infectious voice:
"Now, let us welcome Chef Pan Wenhuo with our warmest applause, as he presents this supreme masterpiece, which carries the chef's honor and soul, to the great being who has blessed our Valley of the Four Winds for a thousand years..."
"The God of Food!"
The cheers soared into the sky.
Under the gaze of everyone, Pan Wenhuo carefully lifted a huge porcelain jar, which looked ridiculously heavy, from the bronze tripod.
He walked with steady and devout steps, one step at a time, toward the ancient and solemn stone altar at the deepest part of the venue.
The faces of Lin Qingyue and her three companions completely darkened.