Chapter 353: A New Dish Idea
Although only a day had passed in the outside world, for Qi Han, it had already been more than a hundred days. And those hundred days were spent racking his brain continuously, thinking about innovative new dishes. While the system space could infinitely restore his physical strength, mental exhaustion wasn't something that could be so easily resolved.
'Maybe a bit of relaxation would bring some new inspiration?'
With that thought in mind, Qi Han stepped out of the system space and returned to the spot where he had hunted down the last Shadowless Drake.
He looked around the still-quiet jungle, lost in thought.
Come to think of it, every time he went to a spirit beast gathering area, his goals were always very clear, which meant he missed a lot of the scenery along the way.
Right now, he was in the Star Dou Forest, the largest spirit beast habitat in all of Douluo Continent. If one were to describe it in the terms of Earth, it would definitely qualify as a natural reserve.
It was undoubtedly dangerous, but in truth, this ancient forest was lush and beautiful, home to all sorts of mystical creatures—truly a wonderful place for sightseeing.
And since he didn't have any particular ideas at the moment, why not… take a stroll around and broaden his horizons?
Qi Han naturally wouldn't venture deeper into the forest, but wandering around this area where hundred- and thousand-year-old spirit beasts resided didn't pose too much of a risk for him.
Surely he wouldn't run into another insane evil spirit master again, right?
Sightseeing didn't require much of a plan.
After choosing a direction, Qi Han set off, gradually disappearing into the depths of the jungle.
…
"Sss~"
A strange sound came from nearby. Perched on a tree branch resting, Qi Han turned his head in the direction of the noise, his eyes immediately narrowing.
It was a creature entirely translucent, dull gray in color, jelly-like in appearance, and capable of changing shape at will.
A special spirit beast: Slime.
In the ecosystem of the Star Dou Forest, slimes acted as decomposers, capable of absorbing various organic materials and converting them into inorganic matter. Because they didn't possess any powerful spirit skills, spirit masters rarely sought out their spirit rings.
At that moment, the slime was slowly devouring a large bone lying on the ground.
It was a bone Qi Han had left behind after roasting meat at this very spot half an hour ago. Now, it was being absorbed by the slime.
The slime's digestion was surprisingly fast. Once the bone was fully enveloped, its breakdown was visible to the naked eye.
Roughly ten minutes later, a bone thicker than an arm had completely vanished inside the semi-transparent body of the slime. The slime slowly slithered away, leaving behind a patch of grayish-white inorganic matter on the ground.
After natural sedimentation, this material would soon be absorbed as nutrients by the trees. Through the food chain involving herbivorous and carnivorous spirit beasts, the energy would be fully recycled.
After witnessing the entire process, Qi Han leapt down from the tree branch and set off once more.
By now, he had been aimlessly wandering around the area inhabited by hundred- and thousand-year-old spirit beasts for several hours. With a completely different mindset from before, Qi Han paid closer attention to everything around him—and discovered many fascinating creatures.
For instance, the Bag-Finch, a bird-type spirit beast whose beak could instantly expand to a diameter of two meters and swallow prey like stuffing it into a cloth sack; or the Ancient Sword Tree, a plant-type spirit beast whose leaves were shaped like sharp blades and could be launched all at once, looking like a storm of swords; or the Mirror-Shadow Beast, a strange spirit beast that could transform into the appearance of its enemy and even mimic their spirit skills...
Most of these spirit beasts had already been mentioned in the Douluo Continent Ingredient Encyclopedia, but seeing them with his own eyes was an entirely different experience.
While observing these spirit beasts, Qi Han wasn't without gain—he vaguely felt that he was beginning to get some ideas for creating a new 2 Star recipe. The inspiration hadn't fully taken shape yet, but the seeds were there.
'Let's keep exploring a bit longer.'
Qi Han had only taken a few steps when he suddenly halted.
A strange scene ahead caught him off guard.
Roughly a hundred meters in front of him lay the corpse of a Shadowless Drake, lying silently on the ground. Beside it was another corpse—that of a Sharp-Eyed Dragon.
These two kinds of earth dragons were almost mortal enemies. The Sharp-Eyed Dragon had exceptionally keen vision that could pierce the Shadowless Drake's camouflage, making it its natural predator.
Judging from the blood splattered around and the scattered body parts, an incredibly brutal battle had taken place here. The Shadowless Drake had lost nearly half its body, and the Sharp-Eyed Dragon's head had been torn clean off—both looked utterly tragic.
Such battles were not uncommon in the Star Dou Forest; mutual destruction between beasts happened all the time. What surprised Qi Han wasn't the sight of their corpses—it was the black substance slowly oozing over the bodies, subtly shifting their positions, as if drawing the shattered body of the Shadowless Drake and the headless corpse of the Sharp-Eyed Dragon closer together.
'What is this…?'
Qi Han's curiosity was piqued. He quickly stepped closer to take a better look.
Seemingly aware of his presence, the flowing black mass abruptly stopped. Only when Qi Han remained still did it resume its work.
As he got closer, Qi Han finally saw the truth behind the black, liquid-like flow—it was made up of countless tiny black insects.
These black bugs were painstakingly aligning the torn leg of the Shadowless Drake with the neck stump of the Sharp-Eyed Dragon. Under Qi Han's bewildered gaze, they began to stitch the two together.
"…What the hell—" Qi Han's face twitched hard.
This absurd form of stitching had created a grotesque and eerie hybrid creature. The black bugs had already burrowed into the corpses before the stitching was complete. Before long, the bizarrely shaped creature slowly stood up. It stumbled forward a few steps, lost its balance, and crashed to the ground—then awkwardly crawled back up and continued moving.
Qi Han instantly realized what these strange black bugs were.
Insect-type Spirit Beast: Corpse-Stitching Ants.
This weak and rare spirit beast had minimal strength on its own, but possessed a unique ability—it could stitch wounds on corpses and control the reanimated bodies to compensate for its own weakness.
The stronger the corpse, the more Corpse-Stitching Ants were required for control.
According to the Douluo Continent Ingredient Encyclopedia, there was once a documented case of a million Corpse-Stitching Ants animating the corpse of a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast.
However, the corpses they controlled could never utilize their original strength. All they retained was the raw physical durability of their bodies. Their movements were clumsy, and their fighting power was less than a tenth of what it had been in life—barely a threat.
Qi Han shook his head as he watched the awkward creature shamble away.
It's absolutely horrifying to look at.
Probably because the corpses were too damaged, the Corpse-Stitching Ants had stitched them together into one patchwork body for easier control.
But seriously, stitching a neck to a thigh stump? That was just insane.
'If you're going to stitch two dragons together, at least put a head where a head should go, right?'
'Wait…'
'Stitch together…?'
Qi Han suddenly froze in place.
At that very moment, an idea sparked in his mind—a dish he had seen in the movie The God of Cookery.
In the next instant, he rushed back into the system space, elation lighting up his face.
He had found the idea for his new dish!
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The God of Cookery:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_of_Cookery
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