“Master, this goat is good. The meat yield should be close to half, and it hasn’t been overfed with feed or watered, so there won’t be any false weight.”
The Immortal Brain marked out a huge Demon-horned Black Goat.
Mu Yanxi looked at the Demon-horned Black Goat, which was even larger than herself. She estimated it to be at least over two hundred jin, and it had the powerful aura of late Foundation Building.
She could only helplessly ask the Immortal Brain, “How do I kill it?”
“Master, didn’t Lin Haochen give you a talisman treasure? Using it should allow you to cleanly kill this Demon-horned Black Goat in one strike.”
The Immortal Brain suggested.
“No, that’s an item Lin Haochen gave me for self-preservation during the investigation. How could I use it for my own personal matters?”
Mu Yanxi firmly rejected.
“Master, that’s one of the advance payments Lin Haochen gave you. How you use it is your freedom. Besides, this talisman treasure isn’t worth much; Young Master Lin won’t mind. If you use it up, you can even ask him for a few more.”
The Immortal Brain said.
Mu Yanxi recalled that Lin Haochen had indeed said this was advance payment, not a mission-specific tool. Although the purpose was to make her mission smoother, it seemed she could indeed use it freely.
‘Thinking about it, I am indeed a bit rigid. If I don’t kill this Demon-horned Black Goat, then I can’t even start cooking. I shouldn’t get hung up on small matters; a great man doesn’t bother with trivialities.’
So, Mu Yanxi took out the talisman treasure Lin Haochen gave her. The golden talisman with a small cauldron drawing glowed as she infused it with mana. A bronze square tripod appeared in front of Mu Yanxi.
The Demon-horned Black Goat let out an uneasy cry. A black mana orb formed between its two giant horns, then immediately blasted toward Mu Yanxi.
“What? This Demon-horned Black Goat can still attack even when locked in a pen?”
Mu Yanxi was shocked and was about to open a shield and flee, but she saw a layer of smoke like a net envelop the black mana orb, instantly stopping it.
Looking closely, the smoke was coming from the bronze square tripod. The smoke spread out, forming a giant net that blocked the black mana orb and even gradually absorbed it.
Then, one of the smoke streams turned into a sharp sword, swiftly slashing toward the Demon-horned Black Goat. The goat cried out again, and its two giant horns emitted a black light to envelop itself.
However, it was useless. The sword light formed by the smoke instantly pierced through the black screen and stabbed through the goat’s head. The Demon-horned Black Goat let out a mournful cry and died on the spot.
“This strong?”
Mu Yanxi marveled. As expected of a talisman treasure with five or six layers of power, it could actually block a Demon-horned Black Goat of late Foundation Building level.
Not only did it automatically intercept the attack, but it even one-shot this vicious demonic beast with a stream of smoke.
And most importantly, the talisman treasure’s power seemed to have hardly been consumed. The talisman was still glittering gold, as if the black mana orb it absorbed had replenished its mana.
‘If that’s the case, then as long as I absorb enough mana each time I use the talisman treasure, will it never run out and be usable forever?’
Mu Yanxi couldn’t help but ponder. At this moment, the Immortal Brain sent a mental reminder:
“Master, please hurry up. Your opponent is already processing the goat meat. Killing the goat, processing the meat, and cooking three dishes in one hour is quite tight on time.”
Only then did Mu Yanxi pick up the already killed Demon-horned Black Goat and fly toward the stove. On the way, the Immortal Brain had already begun the first stage of simulated learning, which was killing and butchering the goat.
At the judges’ table, the chairman of Zhisheng Fresh Market asked the others,
“Did we provide ingredients that are too fierce? Perhaps we should provide already slaughtered pigs, cows, and sheep instead of live demonic beasts.”
“That’s not necessary. Culinary cultivators still prefer to kill live ones and cook on the spot, especially with goats and such.”
“Besides, culinary cultivators often go on adventures in various secret realms to collect ingredients. If they can’t even kill a demonic beast, what kind of chef are they?”
The Five-star Hotel Chef said lightly.
“But you’ve all seen it. This is a bit harsh for a Qi Refining disciple. And if by any chance this culinary cultivation genius gets hurt because of our competition, we won’t be able to explain it to her sect.”
The chairman said. After all, he was a businessman, and no matter how big he got, he didn’t want to anger a sect.
“Isn’t she just a Spiritual Moon Sect disciple? What background could she have?”
The Glutton-Blooded Demon Cultivator asked.
“Hard to say. Maybe she comes from a big family. Besides, when she registered, the information showed she has high-level Yangxin Hall access.”
The host said.
“Yangxin Hall? No wonder she used medicinal cuisine for the duck earlier. I also thought her weighing spices with a scale seemed like something a medical cultivator would do.”
Mo Lao also said.
“Yangxin Hall is indeed a bit troublesome. How about this: later we’ll announce a temporary rule—if contestants find it difficult to handle the ingredients, they can ask the staff to kill on their behalf. What do you think?”
The Chief Immortal Chef proposed an idea.
“Good. After all, killing pigs and cows can’t be considered part of cooking. But at most we’ll kill for them; processing the ingredients still has to be done by the contestants themselves.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, consenting to this suggestion.
At this moment, Mu Yanxi had already flown back to the stove. She picked up a skinning knife and began to skin the goat, taking out all the offal, cleaning them, and setting them aside.
Next came the crucial “three dishes from one goat.”
Chef Liu didn’t watch Mu Yanxi’s butchering. He had already cut off the tenderest belly meat and the skin-on leg meat, and put the rest of the whole goat on the grill to roast.
This was the first dish, the classic roast whole goat. Since the Demon-horned Black Goat was huge and had plenty of meat, even after cutting off a large portion, there was still enough for a whole roast goat.
Then, he cleaned the offal, blanched them, and then marinated the cut meat.
Only then did Mu Yanxi finish processing the black goat and start putting it on the grill.
Chef Liu had no doubts, because according to the theme, roast whole goat was essential. “Three Rams Bringing Prosperity” itself was an auspicious phrase, implying a thriving atmosphere. Making clear stewed goat wouldn’t fit and wouldn’t match the theme.
He went ahead and put the goat meat into a pot to stew, starting the second dish—dry pot goat. This was a classic method. The rich aroma would surely conquer the judges’ taste buds.
But at this moment, he saw that Mu Yanxi was also blanching the offal and marinating the goat meat.
‘Is this a clash of ideas? That seems normal. After all, starting from roast whole goat, there are only a few ways to make dishes. Picking three out of them, it’s highly likely to have overlapping ideas.’
But next, Mu Yanxi seemed like a mirror image, following the exact same steps as him. She put the goat meat into the pot to stew, and even the spices were similar: bay leaves, ginger, wine, cinnamon, star anise…
At this point, Chef Liu was still comforting himself that stewed goat meat required these spices, so it was normal.
However, when she also stir-fried the offal in the wok, Chef Liu completely lost his composure.
This was the third dish he had prepared—stir-fried sheep offal.