Book 8 Chapter 13: Knife-like Snowflakes
On the walls of the cave was a layer of ice, but after turning a little further in, the ice was already gone. In its place was droplets of water covering the green walls instead. It seemed that this area was an intersection between the cold air outside and a strange heat that radiated from within. There was even a pool not too far away. The sounds of people where coming from deeper within the cave.
Chui Zi raised his hand to signal for everyone to stop moving. Xin Zhou Lun spoke softly, “Be careful, someone must’ve entered before us.”
Kuang Fu whispered as well, “Let’s check who they are first, it is impossible for us to leave this place.”
Xin Zhou Lun nodded, “Try your best to not fight, if there’s really no choice, we must be merciless!”
XinFeng already knew what Xin Zhou Lun was trying to convey, this was the only place they could rest for the night, leaving was impossible. If it was impossible to come to a consensus on sharing this place, then they would have to kill the opponent or be killed themselves. Leaving this place was equivalent to seeking death.
Carefully, they made their way further in.
What XinFeng didn’t understand was that the other party did not have any guards.
Hong!
A large sound came from the cave, shocking Xin Zhou Lun, there was actually already a fight going on.
They immediately walked faster. Since there was already a fight, there was no point in being stealthy. Only now did XinFeng understand why there wasn’t a single guard, they were all fighting already. This means that there is two groups already in the cave, and they are the third one.
The cave opened up into a large space with countless stalactites hanging from the ceiling, the middle of the space had a pond releasing warm air, the ground surrounding it uneven.
The two groups were separated by the pond in the middle while two men fought on top of it.
When Xin Zhou Lun entered with the crowd, they immediately attracted the notice of the two present groups, the men fighting on the pond colliding and returning to their groups, they had chosen to stop fighting and instead watch the new group.
XinFeng had followed behind Feng Ying as they entered. The space was not dark at all, something present on all of the walls of the cave was radiating a faint green glow, lighting up the cave.
With their eyesight that had been improved by cultivation, everything going on in the cave could be clearly seen.
There wasn’t a lot of people present, XinFeng counted four on the right and three of the left, their total numbers equal to XinFeng’s group of seven men. In this cave of fourteen men, Xin Zhou Lun had the largest group.
Carefully inspecting, XinFeng noticed that these two groups were all made up of injured men, but their clothing was rather unfamiliar, they were probably not natives, but who knows where they came from. The strangest thing was that both sides each had a native with them who stood very far away, they looked like they were enjoying a show.
Xin Zhou Lun and Chui Zi stood in front, after looking carefully at the people present, he visibly sighed in relief before speaking indifferently, “Continue, we’re just passing by.”
This was XinFeng’s first time seeing Xin Zhou Lun acting so shrewdly.
How would both sides dare to continue fighting, they could tell that the people that came in just now where not pushovers, adding their numbers. If they were to join sides with one group, the other would definitely suffer. They could also tell that that group did not wish to mingle with them, this was no place to make friends.
XinFeng whispered, “Uncle Feng, who are they?”
Feng Ying shook his head, “I’ve never seen them……the powerful people here are definitely not simple, since we have numbers and power on our side, they won’t dare to do much to us, but if there was only two or three of us, hehe, it would be a whole different story.”
XinFeng asked, “Would they fight?”
Feng Ying nodded, “They would! They would even join hands to chase us away.”
XinFeng was a bit skeptical, “If we join one side, wouldn’t that be fine?”
Feng Ying laughed, “It’s a problem of whether you can, look at them, their clothing and appearances are similar, they’re probably from the same place.”
XinFeng looked agian and could not help but admit that Feng Ying was right. Of course, they had the advantage now, the other parties should be fearing them right now.
Both sides spoke for a bit, XinFeng didn’t understand even a bit of it, he merely saw both sides return and sat down to rest.
Xin Zhou Lun nodded, “Alright, let’s find place to rest, be careful.” He didn’t care to bother with the other people, it would be the best to avoid fights, coming here was already a tiring task for them, to fight now would be insane. Since they had already intimidated them, as long as they didn’t threaten them, they wouldn’t become hostile.
The cavern was especially big, enough for hundreds of men to rest, and with only fourteen men here, it was enough space for all of them to rest undisturbed.
Chui Zi and Kuang Fu both rushed for food to be cooked, after travelling for an entire day under this weather, it was very tiring for them, even XinFeng felt extremely hungry. He spoke, “Who’s cooking?”
The group looked at each other and after a while, Xin Zhou Lun raised his hand, “Though I can cook, the taste is horrible……”
Feng Ying and Shi Hu was roughly the same, while Chui Zi and Kuang Fu did not even need to be mentioned. Their staple diet was half cooked meat, it was merely roasted slightly before being eaten, the only reason why the two of them came here was for food.
Jin Daya spoke tiredly, “I can eat……”
XinFeng laughed bitterly, he thought his cooking skills were considered average according to the standards of his previous world, and in this world he did not improve much, but looking at this group of undependable fellows, he could only put his skills to the test. Thankfully, everything he cooked was at least suitable to his taste.
“I’ll cook, whether it is nice……don’t complain as long as its edible, hehe.”
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “I won’t be fussy, it’ll be good to just have food.”
Feng Ying and Shi Hu also raised their hands, “We’re fine with it as well.”
The only request of Chui Zi and Kuang Fu was that the food be saltier, ever since they ate foreign food, they fell in love, and would eat anything non-locals cooked, which was better than raw meat.
XinFeng nodded, “Alright, I’ll do it.”
Taking out a large cooper pot, he set a wood pile and set the pot on top. After lighting it on fire, everyone immediately gathered around it, with the fire burning, their bodies became more comfortable.
The two other groups obviously did not prepare like this, though they also had a fire going, they didn’t cook, but instead they ate dried meat that was warmed by the fire.
XinFeng threw in fresh meat, salted meat, dried meat, mushrooms, bamboo and a few dried fruits. He basically threw in everything that he could think of and took out a salt bowl which was named salt ring in the Wansee continent. It was the size of half a grapefruit. It was said to be dried and collected from rock formations.
As XinFeng preferred a heavy taste, when he cooked he was very generous with the amount of salt used. When the water had boiled, he broke the salt bowl and added a large amounts of chilies, the thick smell of meat permeating the air.
Chui Zi revealed an expression of yearning, the unbearable sight of him drooling, his saliva flowing from his lips uncontrollably.
Xin Zhou Lun grabbed him, “Damn, I said……don’t let this fellow get too close, do you want his drool falling into the pot?”
Chui Zi laughed dumbly, “It smells nice……getting closer, I can smell it better…..”
XinFeng almost flipped the pot, he spoke, “No need to rush, it’ll be done soon.”
Feng Ying took out ten thick slices of bread, each the size of a pot’s lid, about two fingers thick, it was hard like stone and must be ripped apart in soup to be edible.
These types of chowder dishes were very easy to cook, XinFeng could easily made such a dish since all he had to do was throw ingredients inside.
After half an hour of cooking, the impatient Chui Zi and Kuang Fu were already jumping around before they finally heard XinFeng say, “Alright, uncle Feng, come and help.”
Feng Ying held back his laughter, “Alright, let me.”
Every one of them carried a large bowl, eating with sweat covering their foreheads. The sound of their eating so tempting that the two other parties started to reveal killing intent, they wanted to just take away the food the group was eating happily right now, just the smell of it was unsettling already. But they knew that this group was not something they could offend, to fight over a meal was a bit ridiculous.
If they didn’t have food, it would be understandable, but they had some, though it was unappetizing, it was sufficient to fill their stomachs, to fight yet again was not a good choice.
Looking at the two groups and receiving their wolf like gazes, XinFeng spoke, “Be careful, they seem to bear malicious intent.”
Feng Ying spoke, “It’ll be fine, we have numbers on our side, and we’re rather powerful as well, they wouldn’t dare fight.”
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “We should avoid fights, getting injured in such a place would be troublesome.”
Only after cooking two pots worth of food did the seven men finally eat their fill.
Chui Zi patted his stomach satisfactorily, “Delicious, delicious……little brother is rather talented!”
Kuang Fu also praised, “Better than the food we had at Hanya Castle.”
Jin Daya raised his head slightly and spoke stoically, “It’s very delicious……” before going quiet again, this fellow’s presence was so faint he was easily forgotten.
Actually, Hong Jie was not inferior to XinFeng, it was just that she used less salt, while XinFeng who had a heavy taste would use a lot of it while adding in other flavors, while these fellows had similar taste to him, so XinFeng’s cooking would be better in their opinion.
Everyone rested against the walls while XinFeng started to cultivate like usual, this place was good for cultivation, much better than at Hanya castle, he wouldn’t just let this chance go.
The two other groups also cultivated as they rested, the three sides all going quiet with only the crackling of the fire accompanying the night.
Puttty: From today onwards, this story will be re-branded as God of Cooking, featuring Lei Xin Feng, a bride to be with an intense talent for cooking.