Ye Jun watched, and slowly came to understand why Spirit Chefs were considered a path of cultivation in their own right.

Old Lan moved like someone who had done his work ten thousand times, and yet not a single motion felt routine. Every chop, every pour, every twist of the wrist was measured, as if he was performing a ritual rather than cooking a meal.

’For Spirit Chefs, it might as well be a ritual,’ Ye Jun thought in amusement.

Old Lan’s Qi flowed in and out of his palms in steady streams, sometimes coating the knife, sometimes sinking into the cauldron, sometimes wrapping around an ingredient before it even touched the heat.

’He’s using Qi for everything.’

It wasn’t the wasteful, showy kind either. Each application had a purpose. When he sliced the Ember Fox’s meat further into thin medallions, his blade was wrapped in a faint layer of cold Qi, which Ye Jun realised was meant to keep the meat’s spiritual essence from leaking out at the cut.

When he tossed the medallions into the cauldron, his other hand was already moving, his palm hovering above the rim, releasing a thin thread of Qi that wove itself into the rising steam like a net.

’He’s catching it.’

That was the word for it. The Qi from the fox’s body was trying to escape, naturally rising with the heat the way it always did during cooking, the way it always did when a beast died. But Old Lan’s net caught it, held it, and pressed it back down into the broth.

Ye Jun had never seen anything like it.

In the past, whenever he had eaten meat from Spiritual Beasts, he’d had to refine the Qi himself, sitting cross-legged afterwards and forcing it through his meridians like any other intake, or letting it go completely.

Most cultivators were in the same boat as him.

The Qi within a beast’s body dissipated the moment it died, and what little remained scattered further during cooking. By the time it reached one’s stomach, it was little more than a flavoured energy soup that needed proper refinement to actually be useful.

But this—

This was something else.

Old Lan was preserving everything. The Qi, the very nature of the beast itself, all sealed inside the broth as it bubbled.

Ye Jun could see it happening with his own eyes. The cauldron’s surface was no longer just liquid; it shimmered with faint amber light, and threads of red and gold curled within it like living things.

Then it happened.

A small, translucent bubble drifted up from the cauldron’s side, no bigger than a thumbnail, glowing a soft amber. It hovered for a moment in the air above the rim before slowly dispersing into the air. Then, more bubbles formed around the Hall Master.

’Attribute bubble.’

Ye Jun’s eyes locked onto it instantly. He wanted to run and catch them all. These were Attributes from a famous Spirit Chef, which meant they contained a lot of important information about his arts. Their value was immense.

But he didn’t move.

He couldn’t.

Old Lan was right there, three steps away from the attribute bubbles, and Ye Jun was fairly certain that walking up to a Spirit Chef’s working cauldron and snatching at the air around it was the kind of thing that ended with one’s hands missing.

’Damn it.’

Another bubble drifted up. Then another. Then three more in quick succession, all of them in different shades, amber, faint red, one the colour of pale jade. They floated lazily into the air, drifted toward the ceiling, and slowly began to fade.

Ye Jun watched them disappear with the expression of a man watching gold coins fall down a well.

’All of them. Just gone.’

He glanced at Mountain, but the giant didn’t seem to notice anything. Of course he didn’t. The bubbles were a System thing, visible only to him.

He turned back to Old Lan just in time to see another bubble pop into existence, hover, and drift away to nothing.

’It’s fine. It’s fine. The food is the reward. Forget the bubbles.’

It was a hard sell to himself, but the fragrance helped. By now, the smell coming from the cauldron had layered into something he didn’t have words for.

There was the deep, smoky base of the Ember Fox’s meat, and over it, sharp notes from herbs he didn’t recognise, and somewhere underneath all of it, something that made his insides stir faintly inside him, a quiet pulse of recognition that he hadn’t felt before.

’That’s not just Qi.’

He couldn’t tell what it was. But he could feel it.

Old Lan worked for what must have been close to an hour, though Ye Jun lost track somewhere in the middle.

The old man added things at intervals that seemed to have no pattern but clearly did, a single dried petal here, a pinch of black powder there, a slow drizzle of something golden that he poured from a height of three feet without spilling a drop.

He stirred the cauldron exactly twice in that entire time, both times with a wooden ladle that hummed faintly with its own Qi.

Then, finally, he stopped.

Old Lan stepped back from the cauldron, wiped his hands on the front of his robe like a butcher rather than a master chef, and grunted, "Done."

He waved a hand, and two ceramic bowls floated off a nearby shelf, drifting through the air to settle on the counter. Another wave, and the ladle moved on its own, scooping out portions with the kind of precision that suggested the ladle had opinions about exactly how much to pour.

"Sit down, brats. Eat before it cools."

Ye Jun and Mountain didn’t need to be told twice.

The moment Ye Jun lifted the bowl to his lips, his mind stirred again, stronger this time, almost reaching toward the food before he had even tasted it. He took a slow sip.

And forgot how to think for a second.

The broth slid down his throat and bloomed outward, warm and rich and impossibly layered, and behind the taste came the Qi. Not raw, not unrefined, already smoothed, already tempered, flowing into his meridians like it had been waiting its whole life to belong to him. It didn’t need refinement. It didn’t need anything. It just settled into him.

’What.’

He took a piece of the meat next. The texture nearly made him close his eyes.

But that wasn’t what stopped him.

Beneath the Qi, threaded through the broth and the meat and everything in it, was something else. Something quieter. Something that didn’t go to his meridians but reached deeper, brushing against a place he couldn’t identify, but he could guess.

’Soul Essence.’

His eyes shot open, as realisation dawned on him.

’He mixed Soul Essence into the food.’

That shouldn’t have been possible. Soul Essence wasn’t something that could be cooked, or stored, or transferred through a medium like broth.

It was tied to the cultivator who refined it, anchored to their being. To extract it, preserve it, and weave it into a meal, Ye Jun didn’t even know where to begin understanding that.

He looked up at Old Lan.

The old man wasn’t looking at him. He was already washing the giant knife with the air of someone who had done his job and now just wanted everyone gone.

Beside him, Mountain had paused mid-bite, his eyes wide, and Ye Jun had never seen that expression on his face before.

"Master," Mountain said slowly. "This is..."

"Eat," Old Lan grunted without turning. "Talk later."

Ye Jun lowered his head and obeyed.

Then, he ignored the old man and simply enjoyed the food. Although he was grateful to him for making such a meal for completely free, the food took priority.

Both he and Mountain finished around the same time and even burped together. Unfortunately, that was heard by the Hall Master.

"What are you? A monster? If you’re done here, then get out of here." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Neither said anything in return. They simply stood up, bowed in respect, thanked him for everything, and left the kitchen. They didn’t talk much on the way either, still immersed in the delicious taste and after-effects of the Spirit Food.

Finally, when they almost reached the main Spirit Food Hall, Ye Jun asked, "When will you reach such a level, brother?"

"Will take time," Mountain replied, rubbing his belly. "This was Tier 4 Spirit Food, and I’m still on Tier 2."

"Well, I’ll wait for that day then," Ye Jun said, patting the tall man’s back. "Because nothing beats what I’ve eaten today."

"Not surprising." Mountain smiled. "Master creates miracles. And this will help you in ascension."

"About that..."

Mountain nodded, "You now know what Soul Essence is. It will help. I got it for free because of you, so I will repay it one day."

Ye Jun chuckled, "Just continue feeding me amazing food, and I’ll consider it repaid. Alright, I’m leaving then."

"Good luck."