Chapter 33: Everything Lines Up! Huan Caiyi Has Another Epiphany!

“Honored guests, please, this way.”

The two waiters stood before them bare-chested, muscles bulging as they posed, faces full of meaty ferocity.

The posture was a bit too much—like two enraged demonic bears.

Their sudden move nearly made Xu Gu draw his sword on the spot.

If he couldn’t see the forced smile on their faces, he really might have wondered if Baique House was actually a bandits’ den and whether he’d just walked into an armed robbery.

“Please, guests~!”

Seeing that Xu Gu and Huan Caiyi weren’t moving, and that their muscle show didn’t seem imposing enough, the two waiters gritted their teeth and tried even harder to flex, straining to make their muscles stand out more.

“That’s just how body cultivators are.”

Huan Caiyi shook her head helplessly and sent a sound transmission to Xu Gu:

“They think everyone envies having their coffin-shaped physique.

“Showing off like this is their way of hinting that if you eat at Baique House, you’ll grow strong and healthy.”

“…”

Xu Gu finally understood why body cultivators weren’t popular.

Their brain circuits really were… a bit unusual.

Luckily, this was Zhao Family Ravine, where a large proportion of cultivators were body cultivators with questionable mental agility.

If someone opened a restaurant like this anywhere else, it would be strange not to go bankrupt.

Xu Gu walked into Baique House and said directly,

“Call out all your master chefs.”

No hesitation. Straight to the point.

“Whoa!”

The place immediately erupted into commotion.

If not for Xu Gu’s dignified bearing, extraordinary temperament, and Huan Caiyi’s peerless beauty and ethereal air—if the two of them didn’t look so unusual—everyone would have assumed they’d come to make trouble.

Even so, the other guests still lowered their gazes to watch, full of gossiping curiosity.

The waiter’s face changed slightly.

He hesitated between two options: strike and take them down, or actually go to the back kitchen and report to the head chef, bringing the master chefs out to meet them.

Huan Caiyi pulled out a token from her sleeve and flicked it in front of the waiter’s eyes.

The waiter blinked, his expression relaxing.

He hurriedly forced a full smile onto his face.

“Honored guests, this way please.

“Have a seat in a private room first.

“Our master chefs will be along shortly to pay their respects.”

Huan Caiyi put the token away and explained to Xu Gu,

“This is a Gold Token Zhao Jingang gave me, issued by the Vajra Sect.

“They come in three tiers: Gold, Steel, and Sect tokens.

“Generally only people who’ve made great contributions to Vajra Sect will receive one.

“Among them, the Gold Token is the easiest to get.

“The Zhao family here in the ravine has close relations with Vajra Sect, so this token carries some privileges in this area—but nothing too big, so we don’t have to worry about exposing my identity.”

She’d specifically asked Zhao Jingang for it before starting this mission.

Of course, when she said the privileges “weren’t big,” that was relative to her identity.

In Baique House, which mainly served low-level cultivators, the token was still quite intimidating.

To this, Xu Gu wasn’t surprised.

This was precisely why he wanted to travel with Huan Caiyi—to make things easier.

Even if she slacked off and didn’t like thinking when she was around him, acting all “average,” to everyone else she was a genuine peerless prodigy.

Things that ought to be considered, she’d definitely thought of already.

Inside the private room…

The table before them was covered with exquisite dishes, but the two of them didn’t pick up their chopsticks.

First, cultivators generally chose to live on fasting pills.

Even if Qi Refining cultivators couldn’t yet rely purely on spiritual energy and still needed Fasting Pills, they didn’t crave normal food much.

That was why most restaurants’ clientele were low-level cultivators—even for some famous establishments, it was the same.

Higher-level cultivators simply had no desire to eat.

Second, they were here to invite these master chefs to the Demonic Abyss to refine pills.

They had to at least show some sincerity.

No helping it—the Demonic Abyss’s status was just too low.

They had no choice but to lower their posture.

Originally, their backs were straight.

But as soon as you added the identity of “inner disciple of the Demonic Abyss,” their spines immediately buckled.

Before long—

“They’re here!”

“Paying respects to our honored guests!”

Seventeen or eighteen master chefs rushed in from the back kitchen, faces curious and smiling.

“We don’t know what matter caused the two honored guests to summon us all?”

The head chef, Master Zhao, stood at the center of the group.

He had a square, honest-looking face and some wrinkles on his forehead.

He wore a tied apron at the waist, but his arms were thick and powerful.

His tone toward Xu Gu and Huan Caiyi was warm and polite.

Xu Gu’s expression remained calm as he swept his gaze over them.

“Is it to prepare a banquet?”

Master Zhao asked carefully.

His voice quivered with excitement.

He was the very “Cooking Divine Master” Baique House bragged about.

It looked glamorous, but this industry was viciously competitive—restaurants everywhere, master chefs everywhere, Cooking Divine Masters everywhere.

His greatest wish in life was to cook a dish, just once, for a high-level cultivator.

Not just him.

All the master chefs of Baique House shared that desire.

Now with Xu Gu and Huan Caiyi’s arrival, he finally saw hope.

To be that young and hold a Vajra Sect Gold Token?

Their family would at least have a Nascent Soul patriarch at home, right?

Coming to Baique House and calling out all the master chefs clearly meant their family’s old ancestor was planning a longevity banquet and wanted them to helm the stoves.

Being able to cook for a high-level cultivator—that was something you could boast about for generations!

With just one glance at the master chefs’ faces, Xu Gu knew roughly what they were thinking.

He shook his head and smiled.

“You’ve guessed half right.

“Yes, we’re here to ask you to helm the fire.

“But not to cook dishes—

“To refine pills.”

“Refine… pills?”

All the master chefs’ faces changed in unison, utterly baffled, wondering if they’d misheard.

Did this pair mis-speak, or had they heard wrong?

Refine pills?

What the hell did they know about alchemy?

If they knew how to refine pills, who’d still be running a kitchen?!

“If you’re wondering, you didn’t mishear.”

Xu Gu smiled.

“Yes, alchemy.

“We’re disciples of the hidden sect Great Love Immortal Sect.

“Because of the omen of destiny that ‘the demonic path will rise,’ all righteous sects need to prepare a vast quantity of pills in advance to face future war against the demonic path.

“But there aren’t enough alchemists in the sects.

“So our sect began to explore the possibility of master chefs refining pills.

“Right now, our elders have already verified the feasibility of ‘chef alchemy’ in principle and developed suitable methods to help chefs refine pills.”

He continued sincerely, eyes bright and earnest:

“However, we need to invite a group of master chefs with a high sense of duty to hide their names and work in one of our sect’s strongholds for a time, as part of an experimental phase.

“After all, this research will be used as a trump card against the demonic path in the future—we can’t let the demonic path learn anything about it.

“We must not let the word spread.

“So, may I ask if any of you are willing to sacrifice a period of your time in the name of the righteous path?

“If not, that’s fine too—but we will have to erase your memory of today, and we beg your pardon for that.”

When Xu Gu finished speaking, the room fell silent.

Every master chef was deep in thought.

Then, their hearts began to beat wildly with excitement.

For them, this wasn’t a problem at all—this was a heaven-sent opportunity!

Not only could they earn great merit, they might even become true alchemists one day!

Everyone knew there was no profession with higher status in the cultivation world than an alchemist.

Not one.

Chefs weren’t even worthy to carry an alchemist’s shoes.

“I see…”

Hearing Xu Gu’s explanation, Huan Caiyi’s expression cleared.

Her eyes lit up, and she even felt a flash of sudden enlightenment.

It all lined up!

Everything lined up perfectly!

So Xu Gu was from a hidden sect, and his sect had already developed a “chef alchemy” technique—but the technique wasn’t polished yet.

So they needed chefs to refine pills inside the Demonic Abyss, using all those damned demonic cultivators as lab rats.

The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

Her gaze toward Xu Gu grew even more admiring.

It was a plan within a plan!

The Demonic Abyss urgently needed alchemists.

So Senior Brother Xu convinced the upper ranks of the Abyss to use chefs, who secretly had alchemy techniques, as substitutes.

On one hand, they used the demonic cultivators as guinea pigs to refine and perfect the technique;

On the other, they quietly filled those demonic cultivators’ bodies with pill toxins that would explode after the war.

Win–win!

No, triple win!

After completing this mission, Senior Brother Xu’s status in the Demonic Abyss would definitely soar.

His voice in the sect would only grow heavier!

Xu Gu had no idea what was going on inside her head.

He simply smiled at Master Zhao and asked,

“What do you all think?”

(End of this chapter)