Capítulo 894: Chapter 893: Xia Yu’s Three Arrows (Part 1)
Talent Points, 15. Still 5 short of reaching 20. Once “Divine Hand” turns to the purple frame, it can immediately be maxed out.
Of course, this is under the plan where “Divine Hand” follows the same upgrade route as other purple culinary skills.
In the deep night kitchen, a golden glow suddenly flickered in the darkness.
Summoning item, Xia Yu held a card, his fingertip rubbing the slightly cool metallic material of the tool, a hint of contemplation in his eyes, “This culinary skill experience card was the most unexpected and greatest gain from yesterday’s program recording…”
“System, why did Wei Zhong drop a card item on stage?” he couldn’t help but ask.
“Ding, hint, whenever the host encounters any character and defeats the target through any means, that target may drop a culinary skill experience card (limited to the skills that the person already possesses), but the drop rate is low.”
Tsk.
Probability again.
Xia Yu wanted to complain the most, “Why hasn’t it dropped before? Jeez, I bet the probability is only a few percentage points!”
Alright!
Reluctantly, he attributed the card drop to an outburst of his European bloodline.
What’s meant by European bloodline, this is the real deal, whatever you want just appears! Game merchants probably hate these bloodline possessors the most, in contrast, they absolutely adore those with bad luck who keep trying, constantly recharging without ever getting what they want.
“Got the card, now just one more purple Evolution Crystal Stone, and ‘Divine Hand’ can be in the purple frame!”
In the darkness, his eyes sparkled brightly.
Culinary duel?
Yes, Xia Yu answered confidently in his heart.
The opponent is Wei Zhong? Without a doubt.
Ever since stepping into Shanghai Airport and returning home, Xia Yu had been vaguely prepared for a series of blood battles and carving out a vast world.
He vaguely knew that the old man struggled in the country and had a rough idea of the Xia Family’s awkward situation domestically.
In the worst-case scenario, Xia Yu had it all planned out.
He just didn’t expect that his first appearance back home would be on the stage of a hunting ground, cutting fruits and veggies, earning himself a huge ‘Demon King’ nickname.
Then, the Xia Family’s situation wasn’t that bad either.
At least, they weren’t enemies with the whole world.
Enemies existed, like Wei Zhong, and Huang He. They couldn’t suppress their urges after the hunt and while the old man was aggressively approaching that White Jade Tower seat…
Xia Yu knew it all; don’t judge him by his content nerdy appearance, always focused on practicing his culinary skills, but that didn’t mean he was a ‘herbivore’ neet.
Herbivore?
No way, I’m craving some meat!
Everyone, get fired up!
In the darkness, his mouth curled slightly, his gaze was extremely dangerous, like a beast lurking in the grass, locking onto its prey, “Damn, it’s already spring, I’ve been back for two months and finally, a culinary duel is in sight. Although the opponent is a bit tricky, with careful preparation, how could an old hand like me crash?”
He licked his slightly dry lips.
“Divine Hand!”
He murmured to himself, “This is the first preparation!”
“And then—”
He locked his gaze on the personal stats panel, arrow-like, pointing to the culinary skill of supreme in dough—the “White Luo Snake Refinement”!
Gold frame, gold frame, gold frame, hurry up and gold frame!
It was as if there was a voice in his head urging him, Xia Yu took a deep breath, his eyes extremely calm, “Target ‘White Luo Snake Refinement’, use gold Evolution Crystal Stone!”
That’s right, the crystal stone is for this.
No need to wait for “Divine Hand,” this culinary skill in the purple frame needs a culinary skill card to gold frame. It’s not that easy to break through two levels in one go.
“Request accepted!”
“To prevent operation errors, please repeat the command!”
“Use gold Evolution Crystal Stone on ‘White Luo Snake Refinement’!” Xia Yu said.
Clang!
In an instant, a golden glow filled his vision.
Vaguely, within the glow, a golden dough rod appeared, as if the Jingu Bang of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, descending from the sky.
Xia Yu’s mind was shaken, barely staying composed amidst the change, opened the culinary skill panel.
“[Ultimate Skill: White Luo Snake Refinement]…”
Completely golden text details.
Upon seeing this, Xia Yu clenched his fist, as if flames shot from his eyes, “This is the second preparation! Achieved ahead of time!”
“As for the third preparation…”
Switching from the culinary skill panel to the inventory, and then to the recipe section.
New ingredient, golden wheat.
And, new recipes utilizing and integrating with golden wheat!
“There are still 3 days until the Lantern Festival. If I follow Little Ying’s approach to mastering golden wheat, modifying an ancient dough recipe in 3 days shouldn’t be a problem, but here comes the question, which ancient recipe should I target for improvement?”
Xia Yu rested his chin, deep in thought.
Ding.
A task appeared: a dual task of mastering the new ingredient “golden wheat” and improving recipes!
“Task requirement: Within 3 days, the host must modify any ancient dough recipe of purple grade or above with the new ingredient, achieving a ‘golden wheat’ mastery and culinary completion of 60%.”
“Task reward: Purple Evolution Crystal Stone *1 (Higher completion can trigger additional talent point rewards).”
…
In the deep alley, the crow of a rooster announcing the arrival of morning became more and more distant.
Zhu Qing tossed and turned last night, her mind filled with Xia Yu’s strange words at the cemetery, unable to fall asleep no matter how she tried.
She barely made it to the morning, hearing the rooster crow, it was barely light outside. Zhu Qing, without changing out of her nightgown, hurriedly exited the building.
Knock, knock!
She knocked on the door, surprised to find Xia Yu’s bedroom door ajar. Gently pushing it open, she poked her head in, finding no one inside. She put her hands on her hips and grumbled, “Jeez, that brat didn’t even sleep in his room again!”
She went straight to the estate’s big kitchen.
Sure enough, from afar, she could hear a commotion of voices, and the fragrance of food spread even more widely in the morning air. Zhu Qing’s stomach rumbled, saliva pooling in her mouth, she caught a whiff of dough and a silver thread started to drip from the corner of her mouth, “Food really is a woman’s mortal enemy!”
Zhu Qing entered, seeing Xia Yu in deep thought in front of a dining table laid with all sorts of dough dishes.
In the steaming baskets, there were likely dumplings or perhaps xiaolongbao.
A few bowls of noodles here and there.
Even a few dishes Zhu Qing had never seen Xia Yu exhibit before, like the ‘Three-Egg Shumai’ mixing crab and egg aromas, or the ‘Golden Ratio Shumai’ strictly following the golden ratio for the filling.
“Sss—”
The steam vented.
Lost in thought, Xia Yu abruptly lifted a steamer basket’s lid. Zhu Qing was startled, inside was neither dumplings nor xiaolongbao, but a giant shumai resembling a volcano, occupying an entire compartment.
“This, is this… Big Universe Shumai?” Zhu Qing said, as the “white volcano” shrouded in steam loomed, the thread of silver at her mouth became more prominent. She wiped and drooled, drooled and wiped, becoming utterly captivated.
Upon hearing her, Xia Yan glanced over, surprised, “Awake?”
“It’s definitely the Big Universe Shumai!”
He then rubbed his temples.
“Though this is a smaller version of the Big Universe Shumai. The original is said to be able to feed 50 gourmand guests—Aunt Qing, imagine how big the original shumai would be?” Xia Yu extended his arms, seemingly illustrating the size of the dining table before him, “It wouldn’t fit this table, at least.”
Swoosh.
A flash of cold light swept by.
It was Zhu Qing heading to the kitchen counter to retrieve a knife.
Xia Yu’s scalp tingled, taking two steps back, he swallowed, “Wha-what are you doing? We can talk about it…”
Zhu Qing, with a silver thread still at the corner of her mouth, eyes sleepy, hair disheveled, adding to her pale face and slight dark circles, looked almost sinister.
Sweeping her gaze subtly over Xia Yu’s entire body, Zhu Qing’s mouth curled in an inexplicable smile, she swung the knife down with a whoosh.
The big shumai in the steaming basket sizzled and leaked.
With one cut, the cross-section exposed a pattern of twisting stripes!
At the same time, a faint gold shimmer appeared and disappeared.
Clank!