Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain

“This overwhelming-with-sadness food…”
In the restaurant hall, the huge Food Immortal sat on a thick stone block. His slender hand could
reach any corner of the table and when eating, his arm could sweep across like a long whip. But
now, his two stout arms were carefully holding a porcelain bowl, motionless.
The Food Immortal’s expression was serious, staring at the bowl in his hands while his mouth
muttering strange syllables and his throat swallowing down his own saliva…
After a moment, he slowly spoke.
“The chef of this overwhelming-with-sadness food is really depressed and his mentality was
tortured. Moreover, they stack one upon the other, continuously without end, making it endless
lingering memories. But, there’s a ray of hope in the despair… this should be the highest realm
of overwhelming-with-sadness food. Even if an immortal goes to the kitchen, it would still be
difficult to reach this realm. But, after I tasted it for a long time, within the ray of hope, there’s a
trace of deeper madness, which made the artistic conception of this bowl of food completely
surpassed the overwhelming-with-sadness. If there’s a flaw in this food, then that is it—you
should not constrain such a great work in an ordinary framework.”
Wang Lu was silent for a moment and then nodded seriously. “Senior Food Immortal is indeed
amazing, such a difficult situation has been solved by you, I now want to give you two points.”
The Food Immortal put down his bowl but was not in a hurry to taste the next dish.
At this time, his score was already close to two hundred, twenty points ahead of Aya. And by
this time, the food tasting had become increasingly difficult. The time to solve the problem had
also prolonged. Thus, there was no need to be in a hurry.
The level of the dishes was elevated.
The so-called flaw would only exist after there was a perfect standard beforehand. For simple
dishes, the standard might be high, but not so complicated. For example, a simple home
cooking should not require deep and complex feelings. Perhaps a brilliant chef could pour
emotions into it, but that was just the icing on the cake, not the necessary process.
However, if it was the overwhelming-with-sadness food, if the overwhelming-with-sadness could
not be experienced in the food, then the food could not be regarded as being qualified. As for
the deep-as-ocean feeling soup, nine revolutions worries and so on, the same was true. Tasting
such dishes required more delicate effort. In addition to the taste, one should also taste the
infused feelings. The flaws of the dishes were not so obvious, but instead, they were hidden and
tricky.
In order to increase the difficulty of the competition, Wang Lu had set up the order of the serving
very meticulously. Some dishes were almost perfect, but the dishes next to them were full of
flaws! Even to the point of reaching two hundred flaws, which was enough to make such dishes
difficult to swallow… But according to the rules, the Food Immortal had to endure it all and point
out all the flaws one by one.
Constantly switching the taste buds between this kind of different style of dishes and accurately
grasping the essence of each dish… It was indeed very heavy for the Food Immortal. Although
he had gotten nearly two hundred points, there were already three answers where he missed
the flaws. However, it was almost impossible for him to find any flaw in the just now
overwhelming-with-sadness food.
“I’m curious, how on earth did the chef do that? Although the infused feelings did not meet the
meaning of overwhelming-with-sadness food, it’s also a rare delicacy.”
It was a great skill to be able to taste the flaws, but the chef who could make such complicated
flaws was also quite remarkable. At least, the Food Immortal knew that he would never be able
to pour such deep and complex feelings into a dish without relying on his immortal technique
and cultivation base. However, the chef who cooked that dish was just an ordinary human
being.
Upon hearing this, Wang Lu’s face lit up as if he had been looking forward to this smile for a
long time. “The unique emotion is of course based on his unique experience. Let me make the
long story short. When he was young, he suffered great misfortunes which led to his family
being wrenched apart, making his heart turned to ashes. When he reached middle-age, his
cooking skill reached the stage of perfection. By chance encounter, he met a young girl with
excellent cooking skills. The two then become a husband and a wife, basically a happy couple.
His heart was revived as a result. However, not long after, he found out that his wife was
actually his daughter who had been lost many years ago.”
“Pfft!”
A sip of tea was sprayed out from the mouth of the Food Immortal!
“No wonder that in his dish, despair and hope are intertwined… but, there’s a hope within
despair in this meal, did he want to conceal the identity of his wife, not letting people discover
the truth?”
Wang Lu said, “I also hope that things would go so smoothly. Unfortunately, when his wife found
out the truth, she left a suicide note and disappeared.”
The Food Immortal asked, “So his only hope was to find his wife?” Inwardly, however, he
thought that this was not a good choice.
Sure enough, Wang Lu sighed. “He did find his wife who lived in seclusion, but his wife chose to
kill herself when they met. They should not have met.”
“Would…wouldn’t this all cause despair for him?”
“No, because his wife left him a daughter, his own flesh and blood. Although it was a twisted
blood, his only hope was to carve out a jade from a raw powder.”
The Food Immortal was silent for a long time, during which Aya gained five points but he didn’t
move even for half an inch.
“Wang Lu, you’re tough. After hearing your story, I couldn’t eat for a quarter of an hour.”
Wang Lu said with a smile, “Senior you must not misunderstand. That is not my story, but that of
a poor man. I just dig it up and present it to you.”
The Food Immortal inwardly sneered, thinking, why didn’t you tell such a disgusting story on the
opposite table? However, on second thought, Aya was solely devoted to the food tasting, never
asking the origin of the dishes—she judged them by relying on her against-the-heaven instinct.
At this time, her heart was filled with wins and loses, so she was not very concerned about the
story behind the food.
“But, don’t think that you could win in this way. This is just an insignificant skill, nothing more!”
Wang Lu revealed a faint smile. “Insignificant skill? Senior, you misunderstood. Insignificant
skills are already behind us. What lay in front of us is the open and aboveboard test, but
unfortunately, it seems that you couldn’t win.”
The Food Immortal let out a cold humph, open and aboveboard? Are you kidding me? Sure
enough, you’re just like what Xuan Mo and the others said, someone with an extraordinary
lower limit of integrity!
As for the insignificant skill, if you have that then bring it out. In the food tasting competition, how
could I lose? Whatever means you use, you would still end up bowing before me!
With this in mind, he carefully tasted dozens of dishes and accumulated a total of two hundred
and fifty points. At this time, it was already half the total points needed to win the competition,
and the difference between Aya and the Food Immortal had reached thirty points.
Aya’s intuition, though keen, was not omnipotent after all.
At this point, a considerable audience had gathered outside. They came not only for the
competition itself but more importantly, this was the first public appearance of Wang Lu since
the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals’ nearly one hundred consecutive defeats. The
significance of this match was undoubtedly like the horn of the counterattack!
It was just that, the contestant of the match was not Wang Lu himself, but a Western Continent
woman who seemed strange to many people. Regarding the story of Aya, many people in the
Nine Regions were still unfamiliar about it, but after watching half of the match, many people
were very impressed by her.
Although her score was still lagging behind, the fact that she was able to closely follow the Food
Immortal was already a great achievement. Previously, when the Union of Ten Thousand
Immortals lost a hundred times in a row, in almost every match they were completely crushed,
regardless of whether it was a martial competition or cultural competition, the Earth Immortals
were relentless.
Moreover, according to Wang Lu’s words, did he mean that in the second half of the match, the
situation would be more favorable? In other words, he intended to win this match?
“But… I think that the woman, though formidable, there’s still a gap between her and the Food
Immortal.”
“Although the gap is not big, the total points required is five hundred and I couldn’t see how she
could turn her situation around. Even the so-called tricky set of dishes have been dealt with by
the Food Immortal one by one. I couldn’t imagine what difficulties could trap him.”
When the crowd was talking, a new dish was added to the Food Immortal’s table
This time, it was a bit different from the previous one. The container was extraordinarily
exquisite and the plate was much more delicate. Inwardly, the Food Immortal knew that the
level of food had been improved again, above the level of overwhelming-with-sadness food. It
had begun to pursue the comprehensive unification of color and scent, which was also the
highest realm of common delicacy.
So far, the standard of delicacy could be said to close to infinitely high, any slight deviation
could be regarded as a flaw, thus he should take this very seriously.
The next moment, he wiped his hands on the hem of his clothes, took out a pair of bamboo
chopsticks from his sleeve, held them in his right hand, and then gently picked up a piece of fish
in front of him.
This was the first time he used the tableware and his solemn gesture could be clearly seen. In
order to appreciate the best dishes, he also assumed the most high-level stance.
However, a moment later, he frowned.
Because there was no flaw. No matter how he tasted it, the fish in his mouth was perfect, the
plate was also impeccable.
Could it be that this dish had no flaw? But, this did not coincide with Wang Lu’s initial
introduction of the match… Or, in a table that was filled with imperfect dishes, a dish that was
too perfect was the flaw itself?
Food Immortal began to hesitate, not due to his judgment as a foodie, but as a necessary
wisdom of a contestant.
However, at the same time, Aya did not hesitate to catch up to him. The difference between
them got increasingly smaller, from thirty to twenty, and then from twenty to ten. Eventually, she
would go hand in hand with him!
The Food Immortal finally could not bear it. He chose to believe his own judgment as a foodie.
“This dish is flawless.”
The next moment, he saw Wang Lu’s face smile.
“Sorry, your answer is incorrect. One point deduction.”
This was the first mistake of the Food Immortal since the competition began… Unsurprisingly,
the Food Immortal closed his eyes and opened his mouth to ask, “Where’s the flaw?”
Wang Lu said, “There’s a slight defect in the decoration of this brocade dragon fish… look at the
poem on the plate.”
The Food Immortal then took a look. On the delicate plate, there was indeed a well-known
seven words quatrain, which was a famous poem that he had read in ancient times.
“What’s wrong with this poem?”
Wang Lu said with a smile, “Look at the third word on the second line… that is a typo.”