"So this is the legendary Jade Dragon Pot(Gyokuryu-nabe), huh? It really does look exactly like the rumors say. They claim that anyone who can use these two pots can use all kitchenware. I wonder if that's actually true."
Staring at the Jade Dragon Pot Kael had brought back, Ensei examined it from left to right.
He even reached out to touch it himself, but unfortunately, aside from the Voracious Wolf Pot, none of the other Legendary Kitchenware acknowledged him.
"If you've already earned the recognition of these two pots, getting the rest shouldn't be too difficult," Kael said.
"Still, from ancient times until now, there have been very few chefs who could fully use all eight pieces of Legendary Kitchenware."
"That's true," Ensei nodded. "But this thing doesn't really have much to do with me anyway. By the way, you've got five pieces now, right? The remaining three are probably already being targeted by the Dark Cooking Society."
"Yeah," Kael replied. "But they won't move that fast. I'll wait a bit before heading to their headquarters. Before that… since I've got time, I plan to visit someone."
"Visit someone?" Ensei asked curiously.
Not just him—Arkan and Riko were also intrigued. Kael's cooking was terrifyingly strong. Anyone worthy of a personal visit from him couldn't possibly be ordinary.
"You've probably heard of him," Kael said calmly. "One of the Big Four of the Light Culinary World—Master Suikyou."
"Master Suikyou?" Ensei understood immediately. "No wonder you'd want to visit him. Still, meeting him isn't easy.
Among the Big Four, he's the easiest to find, but if he doesn't acknowledge you, you won't even get to see him."
Master Suikyou's residence was well-known. Anyone could go and pay a visit. But actually getting him to come out was another matter entirely.
No one dared to force their way in either—the consequences were something no one could afford.
So while he seemed the most approachable, that wasn't necessarily true.
"That won't be a problem," Kael said with a smile. "I still have something Master Yuxian gave me, and he'll also speak to the other members of the Big Four.
As long as that's done, meeting him won't be difficult."
Kael wasn't worried in the slightest. Even without Master Yuxian's help, Master Suikyou would still meet him.
After all, Kael was special—there was no way someone like Suikyou wouldn't sense it. Before Kael went to Mt. Qingzhao, his aura might not have stood out as much. But now it was different.
His aura carried multiple attributes, including rare ones like longevity and auspiciousness.
With the perception of the Big Four, it was impossible not to notice something like that. Of course, compared to Master Yuxian's place, Master Suikyou's environment was a bit rougher.
At least the people around Master Yuxian were decent—no mocking or sarcasm. But in the original story, when Genjo Sanzo brought the Tenryu-ko to visit Master Suikyou, he was harshly ridiculed by the competitive Kan Hou.
"That makes sense," Ensei said. "You went to Mt. Qingzhao and met Master Yuxian. With his help, meeting the other Big Four wouldn't be hard. Speaking of which… did you actually learn anything from him? Wouldn't that make you his disciple?"
Ensei was genuinely curious. Figures like the Big Four were almost impossible for people like them to encounter.
Even if they paid a visit, they'd likely be ignored. And more importantly, no one dared provoke beings like the Big Four. Compared to them, even the Phoenix Eight Immortals were weaker.
If someone from the Dark Cooking Society showed up at their doorstep, the outcome would be unpredictable.
Normally, no matter how chaotic things got, the Big Four wouldn't personally intervene. They wouldn't lower themselves for that. But if someone went looking for trouble on their own… that was another story.
That was why the Dark Cooking Society never dared approach the Big Four.
"I'm not Master Yuxian's disciple," Kael shook his head. "He helped me because I can help him. That's something for the future."
Everything Master Yuxian taught him was ultimately because Kael was strong enough. Finding Malyu would also require Kael's involvement.
This world had something called Heaven's Will. The Big Four understood very well that Heaven's Will was not something to be defied lightly. No matter how strong they were, they couldn't call themselves invincible.
But Kael was different.
He was so strong that he didn't care about this world's Heaven's Will at all. Even if Heaven's Will were powerful enough to destroy the entire world just to erase him, Kael could simply return to the World of Food Wars.
To Kael, Heaven's Will in this world meant nothing.
"I see… sounds like you have some kind of deal going on," Ensei said with a chuckle. "Interesting."
He didn't ask further. He knew very well that some things were better left unknown. Knowing too much could bring unnecessary trouble.
Kael began having the various pieces of Legendary Kitchenware absorb lifespan as they traveled toward Master Suikyou's territory.
This period was effectively preparation time for the Dark Cooking Society.
Right now, Liu Maoxing wasn't even a Special Grade Chef, so he couldn't interfere yet. Even if Heaven's Will went berserk, it could only accelerate Liu Maoxing's growth.
But forcing Liu Maoxing, in such a short time, to rush across different regions and stop the Dark Cooking Society from acquiring the Legendary Kitchenware was nearly impossible.
In the end, the kitchenware would inevitably fall into the Dark Cooking Society's hands.
From the moment Kael arrived in this world and obtained the first piece of Legendary Kitchenware, Heaven's Will had already been thrown into chaos.
To put it bluntly, Heaven's Will was like a program. Unlike the The Great Flow of some worlds, it didn't have independent consciousness and couldn't freely intervene in the lives of all beings.
This world's Heaven's Will lacked self-awareness. Once Kael interfered, it started malfunctioning—like a system infected by a virus.
Calling Kael a virus wasn't wrong at all.
Now, the parts of Heaven's Will that had been disrupted were in complete disorder, while the untouched parts continued to function normally.
Heaven's Will had no way to eliminate Kael.
Previously, the Dark Cooking Society constantly targeted Kael. Aside from Kaiyu's orders, it was also because Heaven's Will was subtly pushing things in that direction.
But even with Heaven's Will intervening, it still couldn't do anything to Kael.
Even if the Light Culinary World, the Dark Cooking Society, and the Taiji Cuisine Realm joined forces, they still wouldn't be a match for him.
Heaven's Will couldn't deal with this "virus," so it could only let Kael run rampant within the world.
If Heaven's Will had emotions, it would probably be furious by now.
But it didn't.
So after being disrupted, it simply fell into a state of chaos.
Although the plot of this world was now unrecognizable, its overall direction hadn't changed much.
Liu Maoxing was still growing steadily. The Dark Cooking Society had indeed taken hits. The Legendary Kitchenware continued to surface one after another.
The general trajectory of the story was merely accelerated, not completely altered.
The only difference was that the protagonist had shifted—from Liu Maoxing to Kael.
What was once a gradual journey of leveling up had turned into Kael steamrolling everything in his path.
When they reached the area where Master Suikyou lived, Kael didn't have anyone notify him in advance.
He knew the Big Four's perception was more than enough. Once he arrived, Master Suikyou would definitely sense him—and the several pieces of Legendary Kitchenware he carried.
In a place like this, the Legendary Kitchenware stood out far too much to go unnoticed.
Sure enough, not long after their boat entered the lake, they encountered Master Suikyou.
Just like in the original story, Master Suikyou was sitting atop a lotus leaf, with no boats around him.
If it were anyone else, they would've been baffled by how he appeared there.
But Kael found nothing strange about it.
Those who mastered Qi could fly or move freely through the air. Kael himself could already walk across the surface of the lake using the Qi within his body.
It was somewhat similar to chakra from the ninja world, though its destructive power was weaker. In terms of mystery and finesse, however, Qi was far superior.
"A distinguished guest has arrived. My apologies for not welcoming you sooner," Master Suikyou said with a smile.
It was obvious he had already sensed Kael's arrival. As for the others with him, he paid them little mind.
After Kael left Mt. Qingzhao, Master Yuxian had informed the other members of the Big Four about him, mentioning that Kael would likely pay them a visit.
So Master Suikyou had made preparations in advance.
Once he confirmed that Kael was arriving with five pieces of Legendary Kitchenware, he came out personally to greet him.
Like Master Yuxian, he had sensed Kael's terrifying strength.
Being able to disrupt Heaven's Will single-handedly—and survive even Heaven's Will's interference—was proof enough of how frightening Kael truly was.
Such a being deserved his personal welcome.
"Nice to meet you, Master Suikyou," Kael said. "I also brought a small gift."
As he spoke, Kael presented a piece of rare mutant ingredient.
Since he was paying a visit, bringing a gift was only proper.
Among the many mutant ingredients Kael had captured, this one was particularly special—far more effective than most others.
"Amazing… truly rare, and extraordinary," Master Suikyou exclaimed.
He could immediately tell how precious this ingredient was.
Mutant ingredients weren't something one could simply capture at will. And the one Kael brought was far beyond what Master Suikyou himself could ever obtain.
Naturally, he was more than willing to show respect.
At this moment, he fully believed Master Yuxian's words. Before this, he had still harbored some doubts.
"Since a guest has come, you must rest at my humble abode," Master Suikyou said. "Please, follow me."
With that, he stood up from the lotus leaf and began walking toward his residence.
Despite walking on the lake's surface, he didn't sink at all.
"Let's go. Follow Master Suikyou," Kael said.
He could do the same thing, but there was no need. Taking the boat was more than enough.
Arkan was the one rowing. Hearing Kael's words, he immediately sped up to follow.
"He's really walking on water… there's nothing underneath, right?" Ensei muttered, unable to resist reaching into the lake.
There was nothing there.
Yet Master Suikyou continued walking across the surface as if it were solid ground.
"It's the application of Qi," Kael explained. "Once Qi reaches a certain level, this becomes possible. Master Suikyou's Qi is extremely strong."
"So that's Qi…" Ensei said. "I've already started to feel it, but it still feels like it'll take a long time to reach that level."
"Based on your progress," Kael said after a brief calculation, "you'll need about twenty-three years."
"Tw… twenty-three years?!" Ensei's face twitched.
"That's right. As for Arkan, around nineteen years," Kael added, nodding.
Mastering and improving Qi wasn't easy.
If Kael didn't have Gourmet Cells, even he wouldn't have progressed this fast.
For others, there were no shortcuts—only time and accumulation.
And even then, the level Kael mentioned was merely enough to do something like this.
Reaching the level of the Big Four was practically impossible.
When the Big Four were their age, they had already mastered Qi and reached a high realm.
Catching up to them was almost impossible.
Of course, with Kael's intervention, it might be achievable—but it would still take an extremely long time.
Don't be fooled by Master Suikyou's youthful appearance.
His actual age was far beyond theirs.
Thanks to the properties of his Qi, his appearance had been frozen at his prime.
Among the Big Four, not a single one was under a hundred years old.
"You're actually quite lucky," Master Suikyou said calmly. "Meeting someone like Mr. Kael has allowed you to step through this door. Otherwise, with your talent alone, it would take you a very long time to even approach it."
With his keen eye, he could already tell that Ensei and Arkan had begun to grasp Qi at a basic level.
That alone was proof of just how extraordinary Kael's influence truly was.