Once everything had finally been dealt with, Ramon and the others returned to the Taiji Cuisine Realm. The rest of the Phoenix Eight Immortals were already back as well.
They had received the report from Jinghua earlier, but the contents were so unbelievable that it was hard to accept at face value.
Still, none of them outright denied it.
The reason was simple: as fellow members of the Phoenix Eight Immortals, they knew exactly what kind of people their companions were. This incident had been experienced personally by Ramon, Song Wan, and Pei.
These three were absolutely not the type to lie through their teeth—especially Pei and Ramon. Those two would never fabricate something like this. That was why everyone had gathered here in the first place: to hear it directly from them.
"Song Wan… it's been decades."
Seeing him again, the others greeted him one after another. Their enthusiasm wasn't just politeness—it was guilt.
No matter what Song Wan had done back then, among their generation, he had helped them countless times. Hundreds of favors weren't something you could just forget.
More importantly, the so-called Immortality Cuisine he consumed had all been prepared by them. In a sense, Song Wan had been their test subject.
Back then, they'd all talked big, saying that if Song Wan didn't dare eat it, they would. But when it was actually their turn, none of them dared to take the risk.
Song Wan did.
And the result was this half-human, half-monster state he was in now.
There was no way they felt zero guilt about that.
Faced with his old companions, Song Wan didn't say much. Even though he had ended up like this because of them, he had agreed to taste the dish of his own free will. No one had forced him.
Besides, the recipe for the Immortality Cuisine had originally been provided by him. The Phoenix Eight Immortals had merely refined it. And the truth was, that refinement wasn't wrong at all.
The life energy within the dish had indeed been greatly enhanced. His problem was simply that his body couldn't withstand such an overwhelming surge of vitality. Strictly speaking, the blame wasn't on them.
Still, he didn't really want to face these people anymore. That was why he'd chosen to hole up in the Eight-Spirit Tower for decades.
"Alright, I won't waste words. Just tell us everything. The report already explained things, but text can't fully convey it. And honestly, I still find it hard to believe."
As the leader of the Taiji Cuisine Realm, Jing hua stepped forward to take control of the discussion.
"It's exactly as the report says. Kael's power… we saw it with our own eyes," Song Wan said, shaking his head. "Of course, you can choose to believe we're lying."
He knew how absurd this sounded. Hardly anyone would believe it. All he could rely on was the credibility of himself, Ramon, and Pei.
"…Fine. Since all three of you are saying the same thing, we'll accept it for now." Jing Hua rubbed his temples. "Then what do we do next?"
That was the real headache.
If what they said was true, then Kael was an existence far beyond their reach. Someone like that wasn't something they could even think about provoking. If Kael decided to target them, it would be effortless.
"What we're facing now is simple," Wu said with a bitter smile. "Since Song Wan and the others are telling the truth, the Realm only has two paths left."
"Two?" Erniang, the Mother Yaksha, frowned. "What are they?"
"First, we fight to the bitter end. We lay low and endure, gambling that Kael won't come after us."
Wu paused, his tone grim.
"But that option depends entirely on luck. We'd have to erase ourselves from the public eye and pray he never sees us as a threat. The moment he does, we're finished."
"Honestly, I don't want to choose this path. It means living in constant fear, never knowing when the reckoning will come. That man already wields power far beyond the Dragon Chef level."
The room fell silent. Everyone understood—this path was a gamble with their very existence.
"Then what's the second option?" Ramon asked.
"The second is much simpler." Wu looked around the room. "If we can't beat him… we join him."
The moment he said it, the other seven immediately rejected the idea. Pride flared in their eyes. Every one of them was a giant in the culinary world—how could they submit under a single person?
"Don't jump to conclusions," Wu said calmly. "Hear me out."
"You all know our foundation. The Taiji Cuisine Realm has endured for thousands of years. We don't need to truly become his subordinates."
"In fact, we can use him."
"Our organization is already complete in every aspect. If he wants to build a new faction from scratch to replace us, the difficulty would be astronomical."
"Look at history. When Bodhidharma founded Julin Temple, didn't Tai Lin Temple eventually split off?"
"We can do the same."
"Once we join him, anyone he wants to cultivate will inevitably pass through our hands. At that point, we simply replace them from within. On the surface, they're Kael's people—but in reality, they belong to the Taiji Cuisine Realm."
"On top of that, joining him gives us access to the Legendary Kitchenware. The Eight Extremes Codex is already in his hands. For us, there are only benefits."
"And when Kael eventually dies of old age, our descendants can reclaim everything in one stroke."
As Wu finished speaking, the others' eyes lit up.
This plan… actually worked.
On the surface, it looked like submission. But if Kael truly became an existence like Xu Ling or Bodhidattva, then submitting wasn't shameful—it was survival.
After all, this would only apply to their generation. A few generations later, once Kael was gone, the Taiji Cuisine Realm would simply swallow everything whole.
If Kael were present, he'd probably applaud. This was practically Hydra all over again—seemingly destroyed, yet secretly turning S.H.I.E.L.D. into Hydra itself.
"Let's vote," Jing Hua said. "What do we do? I support the second option."
There was no choice. Kael was too terrifying. Against him, there was no chance of a comeback.
"I agree with the second path," Pei added. "The first is too risky. I don't want to die without knowing why."
One by one, the others voiced the same decision.
Even without witnessing Kael's power firsthand, Ramon's description was enough. The Eight-Spirit Tower had truly fallen, and the Eight Extremes Codex was now in Kael's possession.
"…We all agree," Ramon said suddenly. "But there's one problem."
Everyone fell silent.
"Will he even accept us?"
Up until now, everything had been wishful thinking on their part.
"…Ramon, you'll handle it," Jing Hua said. "You'll go talk to him."
There was no better choice. Ramon had the best temperament among them. If anyone could build rapport with Kael, it was him.
"…Why is it always me?" Ramon groaned. "Anything that involves going outside gets dumped on me, huh?"
First he went to capture people. Then he went to release them. Now he had to negotiate.
But the other seven didn't care. The decision was made.
With a sigh, Ramon accepted it and set out.
Fortunately, Kael was still staying at Julin Temple because of the Black Tortoise's corpse, so finding him wasn't difficult.
At this moment, Kael had already finished eating every last bit of the Black Tortoise's flesh.
He had to admit—meat from a sacred beast was on an entirely different level from ordinary ingredients.
More importantly, he discovered that his Gourmet Cells had become activated.
Activation was huge.
Normally, leveling up Gourmet Cells only improved overall abilities. But once they activated, every aspect surged dramatically.
It was like those games from his past life—where leveling up only let you pick one upgrade, but watching an ad let you take all three.
Gourmet Cell activation was that "take all three" option.
Naturally, Kael wanted this state as often as possible.
Unfortunately, activation wasn't easy. Even in the Toriko world, it required rare opportunities. Not everyone had the strength and connections of the Four Heavenly Kings.
This time, Kael had simply gotten lucky.
After devouring the Black Tortoise, he also collected its bones. They were still fresh and incredibly valuable—far more useful than the qilin remains or dragon bones he'd obtained before.
With his strength increased, Kael began refining his control over qi while using it to research various bizarre creatures.
He hadn't forgotten what faction inheritance required. Cultivating a force wasn't just about people—new ingredients could also further strengthen his Gourmet Cells.
Researching them served both purposes.
Deep within the cave, massive hybrid monsters soon took shape.
What Kael was doing inside, the outside world had no idea.
Outside, people were growing increasingly uneasy.
The abbot of Julin Temple had thought the Eight-Spirit Tower incident marked the end of their troubles with the Taiji Cuisine Realm.
Instead, Ramon showed up again.
If Ramon hadn't immediately stated he wasn't there to cause trouble—and if he hadn't released a faint aura of lightning as a warning—Julin Temple and the Taiji Cuisine Realm would already be at war.
The abbot didn't dare let that happen. If the Taiji Cuisine Realm truly went all out, Julin Temple wouldn't survive his generation.
All he could do was have people keep an eye on Ramon and the others.
Ramon, for his part, was helpless—not because of Julin Temple's attitude, but because he couldn't meet Kael.
They'd already learned that Kael was inside the cave.
But no one dared enter.
At first, Ramon didn't believe it. That changed when several subordinates entered and never came back.
Panicked, he tried again—this time tying a rope to someone before lowering them in.
When they pulled the man back up, his testimony made it clear.
The illusions below forced people to relive their most painful memories.
After that, no one dared to force their way in.
In the end, Ramon and the others could only wait at the cave entrance, hoping Kael would come out on his own.
The situation stalled once more.
Across the culinary world, rumors of people "vanishing" spread again. If not for the fact that so many chefs had already been captured—and many had died—people would've thought they were hallucinating.
No one could imagine that the Taiji Cuisine Realm had lost all interest in stirring up trouble.
With the Legendary Kitchenware in Kael's hands, causing chaos served no purpose.
All they could do was wait for Ramon to meet Kael and hear his decision.
Time passed quickly.
Meanwhile, Liu Maoxing, Lan Feihong, and others rose to prominence. Just like in the original story, people began saying:
"In the heavens, Lan Feihong. On the earth, Liu Maoxing."
That alone showed just how widely recognized their status had become throughout the culinary world.