Reborn in Japan as a Chef God

"Please have some—"

Xia Yu served soup to each of the five judges.

Holding steaming bowls of soup, the judges exchanged glances, excluding the leader.

"What's it like to hold a bowl of tasteless soup?"

Wei Qinglian roughly felt like she'd come up with a title for a Bihu article.

The leader boldly moved his spoon, dipping the white spoon into the dark-colored soup. As he scooped a large spoonful and brought it to his mouth, he paused suddenly, slightly moved, staring at the ripples swaying on the spoon.

A shadow of a fish flickered and disappeared from his sight.

"Has it appeared again?"

As he spoke, resolve surfaced in the leader's eyes. He decisively turned around, tilting the spoon towards the sink, and the hot soup splashed down.

Sizzle.

The splashed soup scattered into countless droplets.

An overwhelming scene unfolded!

As if a fish basket had been knocked over, the droplets suddenly transformed into tiny fish, struggling desperately at the bottom of the sink, each resembling a miniature whale, entirely black, delicate like works of art.

The audience rubbed their eyes vigorously.

An illusion?

Indeed, after a few blinks, there were no little fish at the bottom of the sink, just some steaming medicinal droplets.

Unlike the audience, the chefs near the workbench all stared at Xia Yu.

"Did you hear it?"

"Ah..." Xia Yu couldn't very well say that he too heard a cry for help and felt a moment of panic, even though this was a dish he had crafted himself.

The leader looked at him, shook his head, scooped another spoonful of hot soup, and brought it to his mouth.

Save me!

Save me!!

The moment it entered his mouth, the leader's expression changed.

The vaguely heard tender cries suddenly pierced through his defenses, the leader exclaimed, "…Is this the materialization of food integrity's sound? No, it's so delicate, it's not intangible, detectable by the mouth, yes, it's something real within the mouth, called the taste of cuisine, a scream emitted by the fusion of ingredients!"

Only the leader dared to assert that the sound was indeed flavor, his imagination had no bounds.

Wait, is there any connection between sound and taste?

"It's the heart's voice given by the ingredients!"

The leader silently spoke, the medicinal flavor in his mouth formed a mysterious airflow, first traveling from the esophagus to the stomach, then nurturing back a gentle stream that drenched all the body's organs with soothing dew, incredibly comfortable.

Starting with fermented black beans, to burdock seeds, gardenia…

Hm.

A green stream drifted past his eyes, and the leader smiled with refreshment, "Also, bamboo leaves!"

They, a total of nine cold and warm attribute herbs, after a period of simmering by Bursting Flame, mixed to exhibit a medicinal flavor akin to the cries for help by a delicate maiden at the bottom of a cold pool.

"Is she there?"

Instinctively raising his palm, intending to touch the elegant hand emerging from the depths of the cold pool.

A sensation of warm and soft cold flowed from his palm, like a soaked maiden embracing half of his body, the leader froze, his face showing faint embarrassment, blushing.

"Wrong, wrong!"

Beside him, Lan Fengxian appeared hysterical, spooning hot soup into his mouth one after another.

"Something's still missing…"

Wise Man Karl frowned, mumbled for a while, then lifted his head to stare at Xia Yu.

Xia Yu chuckled, "This is indeed medicinal fish soup, but don't just focus on drinking the soup, here, here, this is fish meat, just a small piece for each person, there's no extra, please savor slowly!"

There's a bowl of soup left in the pot, which he purposely emptied and placed in a bowl aside. The remaining ingredient, only the whole "Shiny Silk-footed Fish" had edible value.

Dividing the palm-sized fish into 6 portions, this time, the golden shiny fish meat soaked in the soup, the fresh flavor formed a storm, wanting to blow one to the corners of Java.

Completely different culinary quality!

The leader's gaze changed, and the other four judges were even more shocked.

Everyone tasted once more.

"Such tender fish meat, is this meat? It has a gelatinous texture, melts in the mouth!"

"Definitely the authentic flavor of 'Shiny Silk-footed Fish'!"

Wise Man Karl was moved, "Such handling should be mastered by Food Dominator Lin Chef, why was such a premium ingredient merged into a scene of food integrity without seeming wasteful, nor extravagant and exaggerated?"

Harmony is truly rare!

Imagine a whole pot of ordinary ingredients suddenly getting a gemstone, even the most careless diner would notice and spit it out, wouldn't they?

It's a challenge commonly faced by chefs to master this.

How to pair ordinary ingredients with the "gemstone"? Xia Yu perfectly provided Karl with the answer today.

Nothing but, in two words—

Balance!

But not the literal meaning, instead extending into the realms of pharmacology and the profound knowledge of fish Tai Chi Diagram. Karl didn't understand these ancient knowledge passed down from the Chinese Realm, he could only understand through eating, eating, eating to discern the structure hidden in the dish.

It is a never-failing circle.

The nucleus of the circle is fermented black beans, the remaining eight herbs on the peripheral, interconnecting, forming the circumference of the circle.

A fish shadow faintly appears within his vision, graceful, using its slightly curved body lines to divide the circle in two, forming the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams.

"This is his cuisine, the Demon King's culinary art? Why so delicate, gentle…" Wei Qinglian's breath became chaotic, alluring blushes appeared on her cheeks. She swallowed the fish meat and soup down, her fair neck moved slightly, as the food passed through the throat to the esophagus, she trembled suddenly.

"Save me!"

She heard it again, only this time more distinct.

"Where are you?"

"I'm right below you…"

Below?

Wei Qinglian murmured absently, lowering her head, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

On the ground, no longer was it the cold stage, but clear water.

"Save me!" a finger-width black fish rolled within the ripples of the bamboo raft water, awaiting a response from Wei Qinglian onboard.

Wei Qinglian squatted down, her finger probing into the pristine water, the small fish immediately came, pecking at her finger gently, as if giving a kiss.

"Why do you need saving?" Wei Qinglian grew curious.

"Because, I once saved you."

The fish replied.

Amused by the adorable and innocent voice, Wei Qinglian nodded, "Then I'll take you back."

She found something to hold water and took the fish, the bamboo raft was rowed back to the fishing village.

The little fish grew quickly, its body changed larger day by day, when it reached palm-sized, the fishing village girl incarnated by Wei Qinglian pointed at the fish tank and laughed asking, "…Tell me, were you once a whale?"

"No, I am a Kun, from 'Beiming has a fish named Kun', remember!"

Eventually, the fish grew into a massive creature that couldn't fit into the house, just like the day they first met, the morning sea surface scattered with white mist, the fishing village girl went out to sea, standing on the raft, saw off the creature that called itself a Kun, slowly ascending and vanishing away.

The sun rose, sunlight reflected tears at the corner of the girl's eyes, "Goodbye."

"Some fish can never be kept."

"Because, they belong to the sky."

Reality.

Wei Qinglian stood dazed for a while, suddenly a sentence popped into her mind.

She glanced a few steps away at Ye Feizhou who looked baffled, secretly sighed.

In the realm of superlative chefs, a pair of hands and heart can endow dishes with meaning, allowing diners to enjoy a journey through life.

At a higher level, this ability naturally grows stronger.

However, Wei Qinglian had never tasted a story, neither from Lin-level dishes nor dragon-level titbits. She became the heroine of the story, where she first met the fish, everything so surreal, yet pure and beautiful.

She had to admit, a bowl of soup, possessing a power to move one to tears, is itself incredibly powerful and formidable.

Isn't it?

Tears continued to well from her eyes, her cheeks cold.

Suddenly, a soft sensation startled Wei Qinglian, in her view emerged the familiar fish shadow, yet this palm-sized fish bathed in golden light, she watched for a while and suddenly spoke, "…Have you come back?"

A nearby voice replied for her, "It's always been here."

Wei Qinglian looked at Xia Yu in surprise.

Xia Yu shrugged, pointing at her mouth, "You ate it, it's etched in the memory on your tongue, beautifully isn't it?"