The old man did not get out of his meditative state even after noticing Lith and Fei.
Fei had her cultivation covered for obvious reasons, and Lith didn't intend to hide himself, so let his aura run freely.
The boy was gone from the area after bringing Lith to the old man.
Instead of conversing with the old man, Lith felt it was better to have his cooking do the talking.
Lith stomped on the ground, and three rectangular tables arranged in a U-shape were formed.
"Sit there for a while and watch."
Lith stomped on the ground again and a square pillar half the height of Fei rose up. It was an impromptu stool to sit upon.
Fei sat there quietly and watched whatever her Master was doing.
Lith had all the necessary ingredients within his ring.
His ring was so big that there were sections within it. One section contained books, one had weapons, one had cooking ingredients, and so on and so forth.
Lith took out King grade beast meat and placed it on the stone table. He then brought vegetables, mushrooms, and spices respectively and arranged them properly on the table.
Once the ingredients were ready, Lith began chopping the veggies.
Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak!
The rhythmic chopping sounds made the old man open one of his eyes and see what the young man was upto.
What met his gaze were vegetables flying in arc above the young man's head and falling into a bowl of water, then slipping from the bowl to smaller bowls.
It was such a majestic sight that the old man was at a loss for words.
Still, chopping doesn't mean jackshit if the food was crap.
The old man shut his eyes again and began meditating. This wasn't fascinating.
With the ingredients ready, Lith stomped on the ground again and a hollow rectangular pillar reaching his waist emerged from it.
Lith added a few pieces of firewood inside the cavity along with saromatic barks. He then lit them up and placed a wok on top of it.
With the wok getting heated, Lith cut off fat from the King Grade beast meat and tossed it in the wok, having it immediately melt away and grease the wok.
A gamey aroma hit Fei and the old man's nostrils, which was later replaced with the smell of freshly cut shallots and green onions.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtNext, hot chili was added in the sizzling wok, the smell of which sent a burning sensation down the old man's nose and throat, making him cough.
Fei felt it too, but being a SuprRank, she did not cough.
After chili was salt, then sugar, then finally, the King Grade beast meat, which was finished after a pinch of secret powder was added by Lith.
The main dish was ready. Lith went to prepare the dessert and appetizer for the pre and post main course.
Eggs from a King Grade bird were mixed with sugar obtained from an underground sugarcane stem, and white-colored vanilla beans that grew on clouds.
Fantasy world did not follow normal logic. If it did, it wouldn't be called fantasy in the first place.
Lith kneaded black-colored buckwheat flour into a tender yet firm dough, which was eventually cut into fine noodle strands.
The noodles were sent to a boiling pot of water and in the meantime, Lith did the plating of two big bowls.
Chili oil, garlic oil, sesoil at the base of the bowl. Steaming hot bone broth of the King Grade beast mixed with dashi and light miso flavor on top of the oil. Followed by tare to adjust the flavor profile.
Finally, the boiled buckwheat noodles were added to the ramen broth, and for the final toppings, leaks, wok tossed meat, bamboo shoots, enoki mushrooms, and fish cake!
The ramen bowl looked so appetizing that even Lith was drooling while looking at it.
He covered the two bowls with a lid and placed them on a big tray. A small bowl of desert and a small bowl of appetizers was placed on the left and right side of the main dish.
Lith held the two trays in his hands and walked towards Fei.
He stomped the ground and a table emerged in front of her."Enjoy." Lith said and placed one of the two trays in front of her.
Walking towards the old man, Lith did the sstomping action and placed the tray on it.
"Old man, I've cto fulfill my promise. There's your ramen. It's much better than whatever you can cook. Have a taste."
Lith's tone was calm but filled with confidence.
The old man opened his eyes and harrumphed, refusing to believe that there could be someone who could cook better than him.
However, he did not say anything to Lith and focused on the food in front.
The old man saw three bowls, two small ones, and one big one.
The way they were placed, he knew exactly which bowl was to be uncovered first.
The old man took the lid off the appetizer's bowl.
There were golden cubes swimming in a transparent jelly like concoction in the bowl. These cubes looked fried but were wet due to the jelly mixture. They were bound to be soggy, thought the old man.
He sneered, but didn't call Lith out for it. He would first taste and see how it is. If the taste is good, he would forget about the cubes being soggy.
The old man took hold of a pair of chopsticks and was about to grab a golden cube when…
"Mmffhhh~…."
A soft moan disturbed him.
The old man's eyes twitched and he, along with Lith, turned to look at the source of the sound.
It was Fei.
This blonde haired petite lady had her eyes closed and chopsticks still in her mouth. She wasn't even chewing, but savoring the taste to the fullest and gasping in amazement.
Lith could see a look of bliss on her flushed face.
'If men were to know that there was a technique that could make a lady moan without touching them, they would fight to death to obtain it. Heh, suckers, it's right in front of you yet you can't see it.'
Lith was getting a bit cocky, but it was justified cockiness in this case. He had worked hard to be where he was at.
Lith still vividly remembered the day when the first batch of people who had his food puked and almost died from poisoning.
It was a disaster, but at least he was better than his peers. People died after eating Ralph, Dennis, and Miwa's food.
Ralph's food was sweet to the point of killing people from excess sugar.
Dennis didn't cook meat properly of an octopus-like creature. When that thing was consumed, it didn't get digested, instead, the acid from people's stomach awakened it and fueled it to thrash around, making people's guts explode.
Miwa tried to make a stew, but ended up cooking the most lethal poison of Saint Grade. This thing was cheap to make and circulated around the world quickly after Miguel and Juan pulled sstrings.
To this day, Miwa was still getting royalties for her poison concoction.
'Oh how far I've come…'
Lith almost had a tear in his eyes.
"Mhm-hmm~…"
"…"
Fei's moans were becoming concerning and snapped Lith out of his daze.
He watched her with a dumbfounded look on his face as she sucked on her chopsticks, forgetting that there's still food present in the bowl.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe old man turned to look at her too and was staring with knitted brows.
He refused to believe that someone could have such a reaction just by eating food! This woman was definitely paid by Lith to do this!
'Brat! Scammer brat! Just wait. I'll taste this and tell you how shit it is!' The old man turned his attention back to the three bowls in front of him.
"Ahh… so tasty…"
Fei finally took out the chopsticks from her mouth and went for another serving.
Lith's eyes twitched and he thought, 'If she does it another tthen…'
"Ohhhh!"
Fei moaned out loud after having another mouthful of the golden cubes.
'That's it! Fuck the food and that old man!'
Lith's patience broke loose as something within his pants was starting to be unleashed.
It would be a concerning matter if that something did not react in the way it did after hearing the moans of a beautiful maiden.
Although petite and short, Fei was actually a beauty. If she didn't exist, Lith would've never known that washboard-like chests were attractive too!
"Let's go, we have work to finish."
Lith held Fei's hand and the tray full of food with his other one.
Fei blinked in confusion, but before she knew it, she was dragged away from the place by Lith.
While leaving, Lith turned his face to the side and said, "Old man, I know you're going to enjoy that food. With this, I've completed the challenge. If I get tin future, I'll have you taste it again. Until then…"
"…farewell."
Lith vanished from the place with Fei, leaving the old man flabbergasted.
The old man blinked his old foggy eyes and mumbled, "That brat… didn't waste words on idle chatter, instead…"
"…he cooked, he served, he left."
"Good. Very good. Letsee if the food lives up to the cockiness you've just portrayed."
The old man turned his gaze down at the bowl and grabbed one of the golden cubes. The moment he placed it in his mouth and bit onto it…
Crunch—!
"WHAAAATTT!?!"