Stranger Danger

Chapter 447: Food Is Heaven

“Are you sure you want to spend your energy licking my boots?” Hong Jianglong snorted. “Anyway, it’s going to take between ten to fifteen days to treat your injuries. Moreover, it’s imperative that they are treated as soon as possible, or the sequelae will haunt you for a very, very long time. It’s unfortunate, but I think your journey in the Hidden Dragon Meet ends here.”

“It’s fine. I’m satisfied with just being a quarter finalist.” Ye Qing smiled. He was already planning to throw in the towel after killing Zhao Lan anyway. The fact that Zhao Lan went super saiyan on him just made things easier. He preferred keeping a low profile much more than the opposite.

“Hmph! A young man shouldn’t be this unambitious! You disappoint me!” Hong Jianglong ranted.

“Hehe—cough! Cough!” Ye Qing spat out bloody spittle before saying, “By the way, and I apologize for my rudeness, but can you move as we speak, my lord? I’m seriously gonna die if you keep standing here and doing nothing!”

“Hah! The good die young, and the bad lives forever. Seeing how talkative you are, I’m certain you’ll live for another thousand years!” Hong Jianglong sneered.

Ye Qing: “...” Cursing a patient is bad form, bud.

......

The duel between Ye Qing and Zhao Lan spread like wildfire throughout Tian Yong in just a matter of days, and everyone was talking about the Qing Emperor Junior.

Some people praised that Zhuo Henshui and Ye Qing were once-in-a-century geniuses. Rare even among the geniuses of the Hidden Dragon Meet, they were expected to surpass the likes of Yang Zhao and Jian Wusheng in terms of accomplishments very soon.

Their expectations were well justified. Zhuo Henshui, a late-stage Spirit Purifier, had fought the the late-stage Spirit Master in a one-on-one duel and defeated him resoundingly, whereas Ye Qing, also a late-stage Spirit Purifier, had killed Zhao Lan after he consumed the Hanba’s blood essence and temporarily gained the power of a Half-Step Grandmaster.

Since ancient times, everyone loved a good the-weak-defeat-the-strong story, much less two of them.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing’s injuries were too severe to continue participating in the Hidden Dragon Meet after his battle with Zhao Lan. This disappointed many of his supporters.

Since Ye Qing had forfeited the tournament, Zhuo Henshui automatically became the champion of the winners group. This made her one of, if not the luckiest Hidden Dragon Meet participant to date.

Several days later, the rankings in the losers group were decided as well.

Zhao Bu’er was pit against Wen Xiaonuan. Since Wen Xiaonuan won, Zhao Bu’er was ranked at the eighth place, and Wen Xiaonuan the seventh place.

The fifth and sixth place should’ve been decided by the battle between the loser of the winners group and the winner of the winners group. However, Xu Rulin and Ye Qing both had to forfeit the tournament due to severe injuries, and Zhao Lan was straight up dead. As a result, Yang Zhao and Jian Wusheng advanced to the next round by default.

Based on the participants’ performance and when they were eliminated from the tournament, it was decided that Xu Rulin was the sixth place, Zhao Lan was the fifth, and Ye Qing the fourth.

Although Zhao Lan died, his name wasn’t removed from the ranking list. This was a rule the Hidden Dragon Meet had been practicing since a long time ago.

After that, Jian Wusheng and Yang Zhao fought to decide who was the second and first runner-up. This was a battle between the ninety-ninth and the ninety-second named warriors of the Human Champions Ranking, and both men were quite famous due to their youth, strength, and accomplishments. Naturally, it was a most entertaining fight.

Maybe it was because Jian Wusheng was enlightened after his duel against Ye Qing, or maybe it was because Song Xilai had taught him a thing or two, but Jian Wusheng’s “No Life, No I” was obviously greater than what it was before. His sword heart was clear, his qi was strong, and his intent was like an unending river. Despite the gap between their placement, he was able to give Yang Zhao a serious challenge.

However, Yang Zhao had also grown stronger since his battle against Xu Rulin. There was nothing Jian Wusheng could throw at him to catch him off guard or knock him off his stride. Like an unshakeable mountain, he ultimately outlasted Jian Wusheng with a bigger reservoir of astral qi and spirit and became the champion of the losers group.

And so only one match was left; the match between the champion of the winners group and the champion of the losers group. Everyone was looking forward to it.

The people debated who would become the ultimate champion of the Hidden Dragon meet as a matter of course, and at the beginning, the debates were fairly harmless. But over time, it grew more and more heated until people were literally fighting each other to prove that they were right, never mind that it was completely pointless. The major gambling dens in Tian Yong were having the time of their lives accepting bets from anyone and everyone. When the betting window was finally closed, the final prize pools were staggering to put it mildly.

“Who do you think would win, Joyless? Zhuo Henshui or Yang Zhao?”

Ye Qing, Chu Nianjiu, Lin Yuhuai and Gao Ningan were currently dining in a restaurant called Food Is Heaven. As everyone and their mothers were discussing the battle between Zhuo Henshui and Yang Zhao and predicting the outcome, Chu Nianjiu couldn’t help but look to Ye Qing to obtain his opinion.

Speaking of Ye Qing, he looked much better than the day he stepped off the platform. His face was back to normal, and his arm had regrown as well. It was almost as if he had never been injured in the first place.

While his injuries were quite severe, his flesh wounds were just that, flesh wounds. Losing an arm would be a crippling injury for most warriors, not to mention that his internal organs, muscles, meridians, bodily points and more were severely injured as well. However, his vitality was many times stronger than most since he possessed the Chaos Demon Ape Body. He could literally come back to life from a single drop of blood, not to mention that the Nature’s Water was a miraculous elixir that could treat most wounds. It was why it only took him a while to recover physically.

But only physically. The Hanba’s energies were filled with curses of epidemic, disaster, filth and more, and they were deeply entrenched in every corner of his body like maggots. The worst part was that they constantly attacked his mind and spirit, forcing him to mentally shield himself every second of the day. It was mentally exhausting to say the least.

Not even the Nature’s Water or golden dragon-serpent runes could eliminate the energies entirely, leaving him with no choice but to root them out bit by bit. To this day, he had only eliminated about seventy or eighty percent of the energies.

That was why he and his friends were here at Food Is Heaven today. He caught wind that Food Is Heaven was launching a strange dish recently that was, assuming it wasn’t pure advertisement, beneficial to his recovery.

Food Is Heaven was both a restaurant and a massive, enigmatic faction in the jianghu. It had branches in many places, and they cook strange cuisines for a living.

A strange cuisine was, as its name implied, a cuisine that were based on Strangers.

There were Strangers of all shapes, sizes, and abilities out there, so of course a meal made from their body parts contained all sorts of effects as well. Some could heal injuries, improve one’s martial talent, increase one’s realm and more. Not only that, they were almost as potent as a specialized pill or a natural treasure. It was why jianghu warriors greatly enjoyed strange cuisines.

As a matter of course, most Strangers were born from filth or anomalies and so were harmful or outright lethal to eat directly. However, all things in life had an antithesis. Through the proper mixing, blending and processing of various ingredients, one could convert the negative effects into positives.

Obviously, this required a treasure trove of knowledge and great expertise. It wasn’t a job anyone could perform as they pleased.

A person who cooked strange cuisines was called a strange cook. It was a profession like any other, but there were much less strange cooks than there were doctors, pillmakers, talisman masters and more.

All strange cooks were revered in the jianghu. They were considered honored guests even among influential officials and noble clans.

Food Is Heaven was a major business that specifically served strange dishes to customers. They owned a tremendous number of strange cooks, and a small percentage of them were considered gods or demons of cooking in the entire jianghu. They were a powerful faction few dared to offend to put it mildly.

But why would such a massive, popular establishment be considered enigmatic? It was because the identity of the owner was a complete mystery. Some people thought that Food Is Heaven didn’t have an owner at all, and that they were just a loose coalition of strange cooks helping with each other’s needs. Regardless, the truth remained a mystery to this day.

Of course, none of this concerned Ye Qing’s group at all. Today, they were here to feast.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Ye Qing answered while lying lazily against his chair. “I don’t have a stake in this, so why would I care?”

“But I did, so please?” Gao Ningan urged.

Instead of answering his question, Ye Qing looked at Gao Ningan and asked, “Who did you place your bets on?”

“Zhuo Henshui, of course!” Gao Ningan replied.

Ye Qing raised an eyebrow. “Of course, he says. If you’re so sure, then why even ask for my opinion?”

Gao Ningan replied matter-of-factly, “It’s because I’m not entirely confident in my insight, duh! You’re a much better warrior than me, so your insight is more trustworthy than my own. So? Who do you think is gonna win?”

Ye Qing mulled it over seriously before answering, “I think Zhuo Henshui would win as well.”

“And why’s that?” Chu Nianjiu asked.

“It’s just a feeling.” Ye Qing explained, “It’s been several years since Yang Zhao entered the Human Champions Ranking, and everyone has more or less figured out his abilities. On the other hand, Zhuo Henshui was a nobody until she had a meteoric rise to fame. No one knows how strong she is or what her abilities are, but one thing for certain, she’s kicked the ass of a late-stage Spirit Master before. With that in mind, I believe Zhuo Henshui has a better chance of becoming the champion.”

“Yes, I think so too.” Lin Yuhuai also nodded in agreement. “Yang Zhao has been famous for a long time, but I never heard that he was strong enough to take down a late-stage Spirit Master. On the other hand, Zhuo Henshui defeated Lu Youwang fair and square, so I think Zhuo Henshui had a bigger chance of winning as well.”

“I’m glad to hear that!” Gao Ningan patted his chest. “When I get back, I’m gonna bet every coin in my secret stash on Zhuo Henshui. If she wins, I’ll have enough money to marry not one, not two, but three concubines at the very least!”

Ye Qing rolled his eyes at Gao Ningan before shooting him down mercilessly, “Why don’t you start by getting a girlfriend before you dream about getting a concubine, virgin.”

Gao Ningan: “...” You didn’t need to stab me in the heart like that.

“Apologies for the wait, customers, but your food has arrived.”

While they were speaking, a man wearing a fiery red robe came over with a large tray. It was one of the waiters of Food Is Heaven. The word “Food” surrounded by a circle sewn to the center of the robe. It was a design unique to the waiters of Food Is Heaven.

The large tray was square-shaped and absolutely massive. It was filled with several different dishes.

The waiter was moving quite quickly, but his hand was perfectly stable. Not a drop of oil had spilled out of the containers. Clearly, the waiters of Food Is Heaven possessed a certain level of cultivation.

“Bathing Beauty, simmer-fried koi, Blooming Wealth, Everlaughing and Where Goes The Soul. That’s everything you ordered, am I right?” The waiter recited.

Most of the dishes had a wonderful, poetic name, but the appearance of the dishes... Well, they were unique to say the least.