Chapter 1843: Crushed and Overwhelmed

His eyes stared wide, Zhao Qinglin wore a horrified expression, fixedly staring at Ye Zhangqing by the stove.

Only then did one see that Ye Zhangqing, who had been dazed like a wooden chicken before, now his hand movements were flying fast.

Clearly he had fallen far behind me, but now he had actually caught up to him.

Faced with this scene, Zhao Qinglin could not accept it no matter what—impossible, it shouldn't be.

This guy can't cook, right? He doesn't know how to handle honeycomb spirit lotus root—how did he suddenly know how?

While Zhao Qinglin was stunned, Ye Zhangqing had already finished processing the second section of honeycomb spirit lotus root and casually picked up the third.

Meanwhile, on his side, he hadn't even properly processed the second section.

Seeing that Ye Zhangqing had already overtaken him, Zhao Qinglin forcibly suppressed his shock and bowed his head to process his own honeycomb spirit lotus root.

Now is not the time to think about these things; the competition is most important.

Although Zhao Qinglin desperately suppressed his shock, he still couldn't help wanting to glance toward Ye Zhangqing.

To see how far Ye Zhangqing had gotten.

The more he looked, the more nervous Zhao Qinglin felt, and the more nervous he was, the more frantic his hand movements became.

The more frantic he became, the more he wanted to speed up, the easier it was to make mistakes.

So Zhao Qinglin's speed at this point was much slower than at the start, and mistakes occurred frequently during the process.

For a moment, Zhao Qinglin almost cried—why? Why can this guy handle honeycomb spirit lotus root? On what basis?

He cursed wildly in his heart, but Ye Zhangqing wouldn't stop his hand movements just because of Zhao Qinglin's cursing.

He basically ignored Zhao Qinglin, Ye Zhangqing kept processing his own honeycomb spirit lotus root on his own.

Moreover, as time passed, Ye Zhangqing's movements became increasingly proficient; even the initial unfamiliar feeling almost disappeared with increasing experience.

His speed was much faster than at the start, a visibly noticeable improvement.

At this moment, everyone present no longer paid attention to Zhao Qinglin; nobody cared whether this guy lived or died.

At this moment, all the formal disciples had their eyes locked on Ye Zhangqing, their faces filled with strong shock, as someone whispered.

"Is his speed gotten faster again?"

"Yeah, compared to the start, it's indeed much faster."

"What the heck is this kid's trick? It's really sinister."

"I always feel he seems to have learned it on the spot."

"How is that possible? Just watching once and being able to learn how to handle honeycomb spirit lotus root?"

The formal disciples all started speculating; there was no way around it, Ye Zhangqing's performance was just too strange.

From the beginning, when he stood there dazed, to now his technique becoming increasingly proficient, his speed has already surpassed more than half of the formal disciples.

Even those formal disciples ranked at the top, upon seeing Ye Zhangqing's speed in handling honeycomb spirit lotus root now, all felt shocked to the core.

Most importantly, all these changes occurred in such a short time, and everyone witnessed Ye Zhangqing's transformation from start to finish with their own eyes.

This is what makes everyone find it utterly unbelievable, simply outrageous.

The honeycomb spirit lotus root cut into equal sections was, in Ye Zhangqing's hands, processed completely section by section.

In less than half a Shíchén, Ye Zhangqing had finished processing the entire honeycomb spirit lotus root.

As Ye Zhangqing set down the last cleaned section of honeycomb spirit lotus root, Ma Qiankun, whose expression had already turned complex, finally spoke.

"Stop."

Upon hearing that, the flustered Zhao Qinglin, although he hadn't finished processing his own honeycomb spirit lotus root, could only reluctantly stop his hand movements, not daring to defy Ma Qiankun's words.

He glared angrily at Ye Zhangqing, but Ye Zhangqing paid no attention at all, completely ignoring him.

This made Zhao Qinglin grind his teeth in anger; he silently prayed that, when the inspection came, Ye Zhangqing's honeycomb spirit lotus root would not be cleaned properly.

Being fast doesn't matter; if it's not up to standard, it still doesn't count.

But Zhao Qinglin's prayer was obviously going to go unanswered; under Ma Qiankun's direction, a formal disciple came before the two.

Begin inspecting the honeycomb spirit lotus root processed by the two.

First, Zhao Qinglin—he hadn't even finished at all, only cleaning three sections cleanly.

However, those three sections he cleaned were barely passable; the first was done best, while the second and third likely suffered due to his panic, lowering their quality.

But they all met the passing standard; at least the toxins inside were removed cleanly.

After finishing with Zhao Qinglin, the formal disciple came to Ye Zhangqing's stove.

First, he curiously glanced at Ye Zhangqing, then looked at the honeycomb spirit lotus root, and casually picked up one section.

But after inspecting it, the formal disciple's eyes gradually showed a hint of shock.

This honeycomb spirit lotus root processed... is simply perfect; at least he couldn't find any flaw.

Compared to the three sections Zhao Qinglin handled, the difference is immediately obvious.

However, the formal disciple didn't directly give a verdict, but instead continued to inspect several other sections.

Yet as each section was inspected, the formal disciple found that every section was perfect to the extreme, with no flaw to be found.

As the last section was inspected, the formal disciple's gaze toward Ye Zhangqing had become utterly strange.

Could this kid have been pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger? Even he couldn't match this honeycomb spirit lotus root processing.

After placing the last section on the stove, the formal disciple then bowed to Ma Qiankun.

"Master, the inspection is complete; regardless of speed or quality, Ye Zhangqing is superior."

The formal disciple wasn't speaking nonsense, after all, with so many eyes watching, it would be impossible to fake.

Moreover, given Zhao Qinglin's status, he wasn't worthy of having the formal disciple, under everyone's eyes, help him invert right and wrong and speak nonsense.

Upon hearing that, Ma Qiankun nodded slightly, gave Ye Zhangqing a look with deep meaning, then spoke.

"Continue."

As for the outcome of this match, Ma Qiankun had no intention of stopping; perhaps he wanted to observe Ye Zhangqing's true caliber more.

As for that, Ye Zhangqing didn't mind it; from the start he knew this wasn't a fair match to begin with.

Put bluntly, in that match just now, if I had lost and couldn't even handle the Honeycomb Spirit Lotus Root, Ma Qiankun would probably have declared the outcome right away.

Naturally, my result would be obvious; although Ye Zhangqing wouldn't just surrender.

However, in Cooking King Immortal City, that external incarnation token cannot be used, so forcefully breaking in isn't realistic.

Ye Zhangqing didn't object, while Zhao Qinglin gritted his teeth and remained silent; he never expected to lose this first match so badly, suffering a crushing defeat.