Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Chapter 537 - 375: Renowned Chef

At dusk, an exhausted Oil Peach smelled the aroma of food.

Oil Peach looked towards Xiao Feng.

Xiao Feng took two fruits out of her pocket. "Are you hungry? Eat this!"

What Oil Peach smelled was not the aroma of the fruits. She seemed to smell the masterpiece of a famous chef, an alluring aroma that made saliva unwittingly drip from the corners of her mouth.

"Xue Tao, what’s happened to you?" Xiao Feng tried to wipe Oil Peach’s mouth, but her own mouth seemed to be filled with a reservoir of water, making her speech somewhat garbled.

It was an irresistible aroma.

Meng Yuchun said to Li Banfeng in secret, "Culinary Cultivation Technique: Scent."

Initially, Li Banfeng thought the chef was a Food Cultivator, but he didn’t expect there to actually be a Culinary Cultivation path within the Taoist Sect.

Oil Peach couldn’t hear Meng Yuchun’s voice, but she saw a man dressed as a chef, carrying a food box, approaching the edge of the plot.

She knew a formidable opponent had arrived and that her chances of winning were slim.

But this was wilderness taming, and Oil Peach resolved not to give up easily as long as she could hold on.

The chef raised the food box higher and said to Oil Peach and Xiao Feng, "Don’t be frightened, ladies. I saw how arduous your situation was and specially came to bring you something to eat."

Oil Peach unconsciously licked her lips. The smell drifting from the food box was so tantalizing that she could hardly hold onto her knife.

The chef opened the food box, and a golden-red roasted chicken appeared before their eyes.

Oil Peach and Xiao Feng’s eyes were transfixed, as if the soft, tender chicken skin, glistening with sauce and fat, had already entered their mouths.

Meng Yuchun continued, "Culinary Cultivation Technique: Appearance."

The chef, holding the food box, stepped over the boundary of the plot.

Oil Peach swung her knife at him.

The chef skillfully dodged. Using the edge of Oil Peach’s knife, he sliced off a chicken leg and brought it to her mouth.

Oil Peach hesitated for less than a second before she bit down on the chicken leg.

She knew she was in a battle.

She knew that eating the food provided by her opponent meant she was bound to lose the fight and might even lose her life.

But she could not resist.

After taking a bite of the chicken leg, Oil Peach dropped her knife and sank to the ground. She gnawed on the chicken meat, her will to fight completely gone.

"Culinary Cultivation Technique: Taste." Meng Yuchun took out a handkerchief, wiped the drool from her own lips, and then helped Li Banfeng wipe his.

The aroma had largely dispelled Li Banfeng’s fatigue, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, "This Culinary Cultivator is really powerful!"

Meng Yuchun nodded. "I once heard him talk about his past. He had infiltrated an enemy’s household, acted as a chef for a day, prepared a table full of dishes, and slaughtered the entire family. I didn’t believe it at the time, but after tasting his cooking, I believed him.

"He said that as the enemy ate, he watched his own family members succumb to poison one by one, yet he couldn’t stop eating until he ate himself to death. Although the enemy’s cultivation level wasn’t high, it’s enough to demonstrate the prowess of this Culinary Cultivator’s methods."

As Oil Peach desperately ate the chicken leg, Xiao Feng tried to stop her. "Tao’er, you can’t eat anymore! This must be poisoned. We have to leave quickly. You can’t eat it, you can’t..."

In the midst of her words, the chef cut off another chicken leg and offered it to Xiao Feng.

Xiao Feng resisted longer than Oil Peach. She pushed away the chef’s chicken leg, trying to fight back.

Meng Yuchun said to Li Banfeng, "You’re not wrong. This girl’s cultivation level is indeed not low. To be able to withstand that, she must have at least a Third Layer cultivation level."

Li Banfeng didn’t say a word, continuing to wipe away his drool with the handkerchief.

The chef was quite agile. The chicken leg in his hand reappeared by Xiao Feng’s mouth as if by sleight of hand.

Once again, Xiao Feng pushed it away and pulled Oil Peach, trying to leave.

Oil Peach refused to go. She had finished the chicken leg, and now, somehow, a chicken wing had appeared in her hand.

The chef pressed the chicken leg towards Xiao Feng’s mouth again. Xiao Feng held her breath and swiftly dodged.

"Benevolent and Righteous!" Meng Yuchun exclaimed. She had recognized the signs of the technique; under normal circumstances, even if one held their breath, they couldn’t block out the fragrance of the roasted chicken. Xiao Feng was using the Benevolent and Righteous Technique to forcibly isolate the scent from her body.

If she was capable of the Benevolent and Righteous Technique, it proved Xiao Feng’s cultivation level was at least at the Sixth Layer.

Li Banfeng nodded. Looks like I’m not the only one with an edge, he thought.

The chef was also taken aback. He was a Seventh Layer Wandering Monster, while Xiao Feng was at least Sixth Layer. If her cultivation level were slightly higher, the outcome of life and death would still be uncertain.

He split the roasted chicken open, revealing a roasted squab inside.

The aroma of the squab was even more intoxicating. Xiao Feng rapidly backed away, trying to maintain distance from the chef.

The chef relentlessly pursued, but Xiao Feng had no means of counterattacking.

This was the weakness of Home Cultivation. Away from their home, their combat strength was significantly diminished. Techniques like Golden House Concealing Beauties and the Deep Mansion Courtyard Technique were mostly unusable, and against an equally matched opponent, it was difficult to hold one’s ground.

The chicken leg hovered by her mouth, grease even drifting onto her lips. This seemingly playful scene was actually a killing move the chef had spent decades tempering.

Having no choice, Xiao Feng used the Arrow Homing Skill.

She knew her home wasn’t here, nor could she run back there. She was purely using the skill to increase her speed and shake off the chef’s pursuit.

After running for a moment, she succeeded.

The chef stopped chasing.

He returned to his original spot and handed Oil Peach the chicken leg, along with the whole chicken.

Oil Peach hugged the roasted chicken, tearing and biting into it without restraint.

The chef said with a smile, "Eat slowly. There’s also a pigeon inside; be careful of the bones."

Xiao Feng stood stunned, only then realizing something.

Oil Peach was still within the plot, but she herself had stepped outside the boundary.

She was desperate to get back to the plot, but the chef warned her, "According to the rules of wilderness taming, you’ve already left the plot. You can’t come back before the taming is over."