Translator: OnGoingWhy Editor: Vermillion

  As the dawn of the Spring Festival arrived, smoke rose from the chimneys of many households within the imperial city. The citizens who worked hard for the past year got up early and began preparing a sumptuous Spring Festival breakfast.

  At one of the the imperial city’s gates, the guards on watch yawned and enviously watched as the scenery within the city gradually become livelier. Although it was the Spring Festival, the city guards were still alertly carrying out their duties. Even though the sect rebels were sabotaged by the old emperor, no one knew whether the cunning members of the sects would strike again.

  As guards, protecting their country was their duty.

  However, their minds were currently filled with warm beds, their pretty wives and their adorable children, oh and also the piping hot Spring Festival breakfast prepared by their wives.

  Suddenly, the eyes of a languid guard who was indulging in a beautiful fantasy abruptly became focused and he was immediately alert as he looked into the distance with a grave expression on his face.

  In a distance, two figures—one large and one small—were slowly heading toward the imperial city and the guards could feel an invisible sense of pressure coming from them, which caused the complexions on the guards’ faces to slightly change.

  "Two Battle-King experts?" This city guard was appalled. For them, Battle-Kings were already illustrious figures.

  "Crunch, crunch."

  The sound of teeth crushing bones distinctly sounded out and was even accompanied by the sound of chewing. The combination of the sounds sent chills up the spines of the two guards standing at the gate and caused goosebumps to rise all over their skins. They suddenly felt a sense of eeriness.

  "Big bro, we’ve reached the imperial city," an indistinct voice rang out. After the sentence was finished, the sound of bones being chewed sounded out once more.

  "You damn fatty, could you not speak to me when you’re eating?!" The other voice seemed to be slightly annoyed and his tone was filled with revulsion.

  "Crunch, crunch. Got it…… Oh…… Got it, I won’t do it again. Crunch, crunch." An honest and foolish laughter accompanied by the sound of bones being chewed sounded out and was soon followed by the exasperated and frenzied grumbling of another person.

  Within the field of vision of the two imperial city guards, the figures of the two gradually became clearer.

  As they saw the two people, the pupils of the city guards shrunk at the same time.

  One of them was tall and fat while the other was short and skinny. The tall one was extremely obese and his entire body was covered with chunks of flesh, so much so that his tiny eyes were almost hidden.

  On the other hand, the short one was extremely thin. He had a protruding mouth with a sharp chin and looked rather…… comical.

  The fatty was wearing a large apron with a pocket sewn upon it. He reached his hand into the pocket and pulled out an overwhelmingly fragrant and glistening chicken drumstick before directly shoving the entire drumstick into his mouth. He did not even need to spit the bones out and swallowed the entire thing down after chewing a few times.

  The short one was not normal either. He was not tall but was carrying a large black wok that was almost larger than him on his back and he looked as if he was a turtle carrying its shell.

  "The two of you…… Stop right there!" a guard imposingly said as he stopped them.

  From a single glance, the guards could tell that the two of them were not normal. As city guards, it was their responsibility to stop and question them.

  "Big bro, he’s stopping us…… Crunch, crunch," the fatty said as he pulled out another chicken drumstick from the front pocket of his apron, shoved it into his mouth and started chewed while sulkily looking at the shorty.

  The shorty disdainfully gave the fatty a glance before he turned to the guard and said, "Hey, friend. We’re chefs here to participate in this year’s Hundred Family Banquet. We’re from Qingyangzhen.[1]"

  The guard was startled for a moment. He thought, "So these two strange fellows are chefs…… Do the chefs these days all behave so strangely? He’s even bringing his own wok to participate in the contest?"

  The guard repeated Qingyangzhen a few times in his mind. Immediately after, his pupils shrunk and he seemed to have remembered something. He looked at the two in astonishment and said, "Qingyangzhen? Hmm? Are you talking about the Qingyangzhen that’s also known as the entrance to the Wildlands?"

  The shorty was very pleased with the guard’s expression. He haughtily lifted his sharp chin and said, "Then, are we allowed to enter?"

  The guard swallowed his saliva and moved sideway. This strange duo directly headed into the imperial city.

  As the fatty walked past the guard, he stopped for a moment and broke into a grin. The thick flesh on his face trembled for a moment.

  "Friend, you’re not a bad person. You’re actually letting us go in. Here, I’ll give you half of this chicken drumstick." The fatty pulled out a chicken drumstick from his apron and placed it in his mouth. His large white teeth bit down with a crunch and directly divided the chicken drumstick into two halves.

  As he chewed half of the chicken drumstick in his mouth, he gave the remaining half to the guard.

  The guard accepted the drumstick in astonishment and stared at the two of them blankly as they entered the imperial city.

  Once the fatty was gone, the guard suddenly recovered from his surprise and threw the chicken drumstick onto the ground with an expression filled with revulsion.

  "Chefs from Qingyangzhen, I remember that the chefs from there are all very scary!" the guard softly muttered to himself as a hint of fear appeared on his face……

  "Crunch, crunch. Big bro, why are we here to participate in this year’s Hundred Family Banquet? If we’re going to attend such a boring event, we might as well use the time to eat a few more chicken drumsticks. What’s the point of competing with these mediocre chefs?" the fatty puzzledly asked in a mumble as he chewed on a chicken drumstick.

  These two brothers were Ah Lu and Ah Wei. The fatty was called Ah Lu, while the skinny one was called Ah Wei. They were chefs from Qingyangzhen and were rather famous in that area. They studied their culinary skills under an elderly chef and often hunted spirit beasts in the Wildlands. Their dishes were bold but also delicious at the same time.

  Even though their reputation was unknown in the Light Wind Empire, there was no one who did not know them within Qingyangzhen.

  "I’ve already said before, don’t talk to me when you’re eating! How many times do I have to tell you?! Hmph…… The old man is the one who told us to participate. He said the prize reward for the Hundred Family Banquet might be pretty good this year and hoped that we would present it to him. If that wasn’t the case, do you really think with my personality that I would choose to participate?" Ah Wei said with a disgusted snort as he lifted his sharp chin.

  "What’s the prize reward? Did the old man tell you?" Ah Lu swallowed the remnants of the chicken drumstick mixed with bones in his mouth and then curiously stared at Ah Wei with his tiny eyes.

  "How would I know?" Ah Wei let out a snort and continued walking forward with the large black wok on his back.

  Ah Lu went into a daze for a moment and then continued to reach into the front pocket of his apron. He pulled a greasy and fragrant chicken drumstick out and shoved it into his mouth. The apron’s pocket seemed to be a bottomless pit and the chicken drumsticks seemed to be inexhaustible.

  Afterward, Ah Lu gleefully ran after Ah Wei’s back figure.

  "Crunch, crunch. Big bro, where are we going now? Are we going to the empire’s designated location prepared for chefs?" Ah Lu asked in a mumble.

  Immediately after, Ah Wei’s exasperated voice rang out once more. "Get lost! I told you not to talk to me when you’re eating!"

  "What are we going there for? What’s the point of gathering with a bunch of trashy chefs? Let’s go and look for something to eat!" Ah Wei said……

  Bu Fang got up from bed on time as usual. After washing up, he slapped his own cheeks to wake himself up.

  Last night’s sleep was exceptionally well and allowed both his body and mind to completely relax. It was the most stable sleep he had ever since he came to this world.

  When he arrived at the kitchen, Bu Fang began to practice his carving and cutting techniques in a skillful manner. There was already a large improvement to his carving technique since he first started. He could even carve out a realistic-looking flower with extremely smooth curvatures using a soft and tender tofu.

  On the other hand, the improvements toward his cutting technique become somewhat slower. After all, the Meteor Cutting Technique had already risen to the second level and its difficulty had grew larger as well.

  When the usual morning practice ended, Bu Fang began cooking some dishes. The first dish he cooked was obviously the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs, which was Blacky’s favorite. Just for that day, Bu Fang even specially increased the amount so that the lazy dog could have its fill.

  After all, it was the Spring Festival……

  A short while later, a rich fragrance wafted out from the kitchen. The fragrance was so aromatic that it was mesmerizing.

  After bringing out a plate filled to the brim with Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs, Bu Fang removed a door board and the cold air outside immediately rushed into the store.

  Despite the festive mood of the Spring Festival, the temperature did not increase even in the slightest. As he exhaled a cloud of white breath, Bu Fang placed the piping hot Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs that was giving off a mesmerizing fragrance in front of Blacky.

  Blacky, who was originally lazily lying on the ground, immediately opened its eyes and excitedly got up with its tongue hanging out.

  "Perhaps, this gluttonous dog would only reveal such an appearance while eating Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs!" Bu Fang thought.

  Just when Bu Fang placed the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs in front of Blacky, he suddenly heard two distinctly different sets of footsteps coming from behind him……

  "Crunch, crunch. Oh…… Big bro, there’s a store over here! Eh? This meaty aroma…… It smells really good!"

  Bu Fang stood up. Before he could even turn around, the sound of bones being chewed and an indistinct voice suddenly shouted in surprise from behind him——

  [1] Qingyangzhen (青阳镇) - It literally means green sun town. There’s an actual town called Qingyangzhen in the province of Jiangsu in China.