Chapter 650 - Unconventional Battlefield
The source of trouble, the master of Heavenly Book Building, Supreme Ting Feng, was cut out by the Sword of Judgment of the Knight King in the Immortal Seven Area. His crimes were clear to the whole world and very soon quickly spread to the entire City of Immortals.
For those speculators who had completely lost their bottom line, people naturally spurned them. Wang Lu also took this opportunity to further strengthen the control of public opinion. The successive defeats in the first month of the competition were attributed to the master of Heavenly Book Building and the others.
Without these people secretly manipulating behind the scene, this month’s policy of ‘hide your strength, bide your time’ of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals would not have completely failed.
During this period, many crimes of Supreme Ting Feng and his gang were exposed continuously, including their scheme to deceive those loose immortals, even publicly skewing their winning chance so that they would ultimately die in the battlefield… A month of consecutive defeats was mostly caused by these people.
This set of propaganda ideas would naturally not stand up to careful scrutiny. All the discerning people could see in a glance how powerful those loose cultivators were. Let alone dragging the others back, even if all the resources of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals were gathered to make a careful preparation for them, it would still inevitable that they would die in the end—it was only when they died that they could retain one or two points of dignity.
However, when the overall situation was absolutely unfavorable, one could only rely on this propaganda strategy to stabilize the people’s hearts as soon as possible.
When people’s hearts were shaky, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, a large and sophisticated organization, could hardly exert its full strength, especially for a large number of low-rank cultivators who were most easily shaken but had an irreplaceable role.
Just as Wang Lu used a lot of ordinary human power to collect basic resources when he developed the Wisdom Sect. Under the rule of Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, tens of millions of Foundation Establishment and Xudan Stage cultivators could also play a huge role. Among other things, the female cultivators who gathered in B9 Area these days had greatly alleviated the entertainment problems of the cultivators who struggled on the front line.
If these low-level cultivators confidence in the Grand Competition, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortal’s situation would be worse. Thus, even if through deceptive means, Wang Lu must insist on carrying the propaganda strategy to the end.
Of course, no one would stay blind for a long time if he just relied on the propaganda alone, so several inspiring victories were imminent.
—
“Aya… although I’ve been bothering you to make your move, I’m really sorry, but I have no more suitable candidates besides you right now.”
Upon hearing this, Aya chuckled. “With our friendship, why would you say such polite words? As long as you need me, I can always be your sword.”
“Oh, you’re indeed the righteous Knight King,” Wang Lu said before sighing with a heartfelt emotion. “Then I have to trouble you this time. The fight would be difficult, so you have to be sure that you are not forced to do it.”
However, Aya slightly raised her eyebrows. “If it’s not difficult, there would be no sense for me to make my move. Rest assured, although the ancient Earth Immortals are fierce, I’m not without a chance to win. If I go all out, at least against Earth Immortals the likes of Xuan Mo, I’m fifty percent sure that I could win.”
Wang Lu was amazed by Aya. Xuan Mo was indeed not the most powerful among the ancient Earth Immortals, but even Supreme He Tu, the number one person in Nine Regions, didn’t dare to say that he had a fifty percent chance of winning—the previous victory was just a concession from the opponent. This Aya really had such a great tone of voice!
However, considering her stubborn refusal to concede defeat and revolutionary optimism, Wang Lu could understand from where her confidence came from. But to really accept it as true and send her to fight a group of murderous ancient Earth Immortals… this kind of deflowering thing was something that Wang Lu really couldn’t do.
However, directly refusing her kindness could be easily misunderstood as looking down on her, which would then cause more trouble instead. Thus, Wang Lu just patted her on the shoulder.
“At the appointed time, I have to rely on you!”
Aya stood up confidently and said, “Rest assured!”
—
In view of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals’ desperate desire for a victory in adversity, Wang Lu didn’t let Aya wait too long.
A day later, the battle for victory finally came. Wang Lu brought Aya all the way from Immortal Five Area to the main arena in the Human Three Area.
According to the arrangement of Immortal-Earth-Human… the Human rank was not high. Moreover, the specification of the arena was far inferior to that of the center of Immortal One Area. Let alone a space that could expand for thousands of miles… it was simply just a spacious restaurant. In the restaurant, she and Wang Lu stood in the lobby. There were only two round tables in the large hall, surrounded by rows of active kitchens. The aroma of the fragrant dishes hit their nostrils.
Aya was perplexed and said, “Wang Lu, are you sure we’re in the right place? Why do I feel this is not… a fighting arena?”
Aya said as she swept her gaze at the kitchens that surrounded the hall. There were more than two hundred cooks and several times of that of helpers. The kitchens were crowded. Some were frying, some were boiling… The cooked dishes vary, but they were equally attentive and conscientious. However, these chefs were only ordinary humans. In the context of the Grand Competition, they were as fragile as ants.
“… Could it be that this fight’s difficulty lies in how to defeat the opponent without accidentally injuring people? Thus needs a very precise force control?” Aya showed a slight discomfort. “But I… very well, I’ll try my best!”
Wang Lu patted her on the shoulder. “You misunderstood. This is not like a fighting arena because it’s not a place for fighting. This is a restaurant, and there is only one purpose to come here.”
Wang Lu said and clapped his hands. Very quickly, from the kitchen on the left, several chefs dressed in white brought out a variety of delicious dishes, which quickly filled the whole table.
“Oh, these are…” Aya’s eyes involuntarily shone. “Green-jade Star Fish, Spotted Rock Bamboo Wine, and Crystal Rice? These are almost as good delicacies as the Immortal Chicken and Emperor Jar! Are these for me?”
Aya was stunned for a while and then forcefully shook her head. “N-N-No, now it’s not the time to indulge in food. Although I appreciate your hospitality very much, before the fight, we need to concentrate on the strong enemy. We couldn’t be distracted by these enjoyments, therefore, therefore…”
Aya swallowed hard, and then unconsciously reached out to the table and whispered, “If it’s just a snack, it’s shouldn’t be a hinder… no, I am a knight who is about to go on a battle, I must… but, some people say that proper nutrition before the fight is more conducive to winning…”
Watching Aya’s inner battle that almost turned her schizophrenic, Wang Lu, with a forceful laugh, reached out and grabbed a jug of immortal wine from the table and then stuffed it directly to Aya’s mouth, and then said toward Aya’s somewhat ashamed eyes.
“Rest assured, you can eat the food. This time, I invited you to come is exactly to ask for your help to eat heartily.”
At the same time, in the lobby of the restaurant, a figure appeared in front of another round table.
It was a very fat and burly man. With eight feet tall height and almost the same width… The man’s figure was so peculiar, and his legs were almost completely covered by the fat falling from his upper body. However, his arms were slender and strong and the muscles were knotted. His shoulders were wide and when his arms hung naturally, the hands would almost touch the ground… he was more like an orangutan than a human.
His face was also impressive. With a pair of big mung-beans-like eyes, a red (due to wine) nose, and a big mouth that stretched the whole face from left to right, looking ten percent human and ninety percent ghost.
And when he saw this man, Wang Lu immediately bowed his head slightly, cupped his fists, and said, “Welcome Food Immortal.”
The man named Food Immortal smiled and said, “You are very polite. This time, your Union of Ten Thousand Immortals have collected hundreds of top chefs from the Nine Regions to let this old man eat well, I should give you my thank first. But, is this the opponent that you have found for me? She’s actually a Western Continent girl? Hehe, the Western Continent has all sorts of magical and mysterious places, not the least bit inferior to Nine Regions, but when it comes to dietary culture, it’s not even worth to carry our shoes. Bringing here a Western Continent person, do you intend to concede defeat?”
Wang Lu shook his head. “If we want to concede defeat, there’s no need for me to come forward personally. I came here to win.”
“Hehehe, what a great tone that you have there, but I wonder about the skill…” With that, the Food Immortal narrowed his small eyes and carefully looked at Aya. “Well, she seems very tough. If it’s a fighting competition, perhaps this old man would be beaten badly. However, this is an eating competition, and this old man has never lost.”
Hearing to this, no matter how slow Aya was, she also found out the problem.
“… Wait a minute, Wang Lu, do you want me to compete with him in eating?”
Wang Lu spread out his arms. “Didn’t I give you a set of competition schedule before? In the cultural events, there is an eating competition.”
Aya was suddenly annoyed. “It’s ridiculous! I…”
Before Aya could finish her words, Wang Lu had pressed her arms firmly. “Aya, I’m not going to make fun of you. When it comes to the Grand Competition, nobody could make fun of you. I believe in your ability, that’s why I brought you here.”
“But, I’m a knight who wields sword, I should risk my life in the battlefield…”
Wang Lu firmly said, “This is also a battlefield, no one would regard it as a child’s play! And your opponent is a strong enemy worthy of your all-out efforts! The Food Immortal walks in the Dao of fine food and his Great Dao is almost perfect. Except for you, I couldn’t think of anyone who could compete with him on food! Please, I need you here!”
Aya was silent for a moment and then nodded. “Very well, since you say so… then I will compete in this. But, if the opponent is really that strong, I’m afraid…”
In a strange competition outside a fighting arena, Aya appeared uncomfortable.
Thus, Wang Lu reached out and hugged her, and then patted her delicate back, saying, “I have absolute confidence in you!”
Aya’s face turned red as she pushed Wang Lu away. Then, in an instant, her look turned serious. She then sat in front of the round table in the position where the Food Immortal sat directly across her on another round table.
The girl had entered the competition state.
“Oh, what a good momentum.” The Food Immortal indifferently smiled and then asked Wang Lu, “Can the game begin?”
Wang Lu nodded. “Let me introduce the rules of the game first… this competition is a great challenge for foodies as it is about the quality of your foody-ness. In a moment, the chefs around you would bring food from all over the world. These chefs are the most famous chefs in all parts of Nine Regions. There’s no doubt about their cooking skills. But, according to the requirement of the competition, there would be some flaws in every dish that they cook. Your task is to find out these flaws. For every dish defect that could be found accurately, you get one point. If no defect that could be found then there’s no point. Wrongly pointing the defect and your point would be reduced by one. The first to accumulate five hundred points win.”
With that, Wang Lu looked at the Food Immortal. “Of course, due to the particularity of the competition, you could confirm the chefs first…”
The Food Immortal Shook his head. “I have already confirmed it. They are all worked independently and have no connection with you all. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come here. Alright, since there’s nothing else to talk about, I want to eat now!”
With that, he reached out and grabbed a piece of fat meat and directly put it into his mouth.
“Hahaha, it’s delicious. Unfortunately, the heat control is lacking a point, did the chef intentionally cook a bit longer than it’s supposed to?”
Wang Lu showed a faint smile. “One point for Food Immortal!”