Chapter 697: line with translation of chapter title

The young man's eyes were full of fighting spirit, but before Ye Zhangqing could speak, one of the alliance leaders beside him shouted angrily.

"Unfilial son, who told you to come over? Get lost back."

This young man was named Li Chengyue, and he was precisely the sole son of that alliance leader.

Seeing his own foolish son dare to provoke Ye Zhangqing, the alliance leader immediately flew into a rage.

However, Li Chengyue was also straightforward, not the least bit timid, and he stuck out his neck and replied.

"No, I want to compete with him."

"You......"

Seeing his foolish son start to act foolish again, the alliance leader, in his urgency, didn't care about anything else and kicked out directly, immediately seeing Li Chengyue's whole body fly into the air.

"Get lost."

Turning into a parabola, it headed straight for the backyard.

After kicking Li Chengyue away, the alliance leader then turned his head to look at Ye Zhangqing and said with a smile.

"Young friend Ye Zhangqing, my son doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth; don't take him seriously."

"Pretty interesting."

Ye Zhangqing naturally didn't care about that.

Seeing this, the three alliance leaders finally breathed a sigh of relief and then immediately took Ye Zhangqing to meet the members of the Spirit Chef Alliance.

In the entire Spirit Chef Alliance, the total number of registered spirit chefs of seventh rank and above was only about three hundred.

The number is not large, at least it cannot compare with the Pill Master Alliance.

After all, nowadays few people are willing to learn spirit cooking; those with talent have long gone to study pill refining and weapon forging.

Thus, the number of spirit chefs, compared to Pill Masters, Weapon Refiners, and Talisman Seal Masters, is truly pitifully few, which is also the most embarrassing aspect of the Spirit Chef Alliance—lack of successors.

If this continues, perhaps not long from now, spirit cooking will truly become history.

This is also why the three alliance leaders value Ye Zhangqing so highly, for in their view he is the only one who could possibly change the current situation.

Perhaps they had been greeted in advance; anyway, none of the spirit chefs present took the initiative to provoke Ye Zhangqing.

However, during the conversation, Ye Zhangqing could still sense the suspicion in everyone's hearts.

They obviously still don't believe in themselves, but that's normal; after all, Ye Zhangqing has just joined, and if they readily believed you, that would be strange.

There will be plenty of time later, so there's no need to rush now.

No one deliberately made things difficult; after a round of talk, they got along quite well, at least on the surface.

Afterward, the three alliance leaders arranged accommodations for the members of the Dao Yi Sect.

The Spirit Chef Alliance is huge; settling the Dao Yi Sect group was utterly simple.

Even to take care of the Dao Yi Sect members, the mess hall was arranged in place.

"Junior Brother Ye Zhangqing, it's almost mealtime."

Seeing that mealtime was approaching, Xu Jie and the others could not help but urge.

"Alright, I'll do it now."

Hearing that, Ye Zhangqing replied with a smile.

While Ye Zhangqing was preparing the ingredients, on the other side, Li Chengyue, who had been kicked away by his own father, was now whispering with a man and a woman, two other people, about something.

"I must challenge him."

"But your father already said you can't even keep up with his nose hair."

"Hmph, how would you know without a match?"

"Then what do you want?"

"If he won't compete, I'll force him to; anyway, I must have a match with him."

Besides Li Chengyue, the other two are the offspring of the remaining two alliance leaders; the three can be said to be like the princes of the Spirit Chef Alliance, and they are also the strongest among the younger generation of spirit chefs in the alliance.

Despite their youth, they have all reached eighth-rank spirit chef, stronger than many of the older generation.

Li Chengyue's sole desire is to compete with Ye Zhangqing once; even if he loses, it doesn't matter, but if he doesn't compete, he will never be willing for the rest of his life.

Under his persuasion, the other two also eventually nodded and agreed; although they are not as obstinate as Li Chengyue, they too want to see for themselves whether Ye Zhangqing is as uncanny as their fathers said.

In order to get him to join the Spirit Chef Alliance, they were even willing to offer up the Chiyang Tianyan with both hands.

Having made up their minds, the three headed straight for the Dao Yi Sect's lodgings, determined to force Ye Zhangqing to agree to act, even if they had to compel him.

At this moment, Ye Zhangqing still didn't know that Li Chengyue hadn't given up.

He was busy preparing dinner, and as each dish came out of the pot, the aroma spread throughout the small courtyard.

This is absolutely the most agonizing moment of the day for the Dao Yi Sect; smelling the food aroma in the air, everyone couldn't help but drool.

"Not ready yet?"

"Wait a moment, why are you so hasty? Don't you know good food doesn't fear being late?"

"Can you wipe your drool before saying that?"

Zhao Zhengping, Xu Jie, and the others gathered outside the mess hall, stretching their heads and staring wide-eyed.

Waiting for mealtime is always hard to bear; at this moment, every minute and second feels especially long.

Amid everyone's eager anticipation, the sound of Shan Hu announcing mealtime finally came from the mess hall; this guy has basically become a kitchen helper now.

With the call to eat, the disciples' gazes instantly changed.

Although there's no need to rush for food now, given the small number of people, some things ingrained in the bones are hard to change.

Besides, going early is definitely better than going late.

Without a doubt, the fastest are Yu Mo and the like; next are Qi Xiong and Hong Zun and their group; after that come Moyun, Capture Dragon, and other peak masters who have not yet broken through to Great Saint; finally come Zhao Zhengping, Xu Jie, and the other disciples.

Li Chengyue and his two companions hurried all the way to the Dao Yi Sect's lodgings, only to find that there was no one on guard at the gate, and they frowned in puzzlement.

"Is it really so casual? No one is assigned to stand guard?"

Who cares, let's go in.

Li Chengyue couldn't care less about those things; right now he only wants to have a match with Ye Zhangqing, and even if he loses, he wants to lose clearly.

No sooner had they entered the courtyard than Li Chengyue and his two companions smelled a strong fragrance.

How fragrant!

I smelled it too.

Is this the smell of the Dao Yi Sect's meals?

You say, is it that Ye Zhangqing who made it? If so, then he really has some skill.

Being from a family of chefs, Li Chengyue and his two companions have eaten every mountain and sea delicacy since childhood; ordinary gourmet food holds no allure for them anymore.

But now, merely smelling this fragrance makes the three feel an urge to eat.

Even Li Chengyue couldn't help but take a deep breath, yet he forced himself to speak.

Regardless, we'll know only after we compete.

Hearing that, the other two helplessly shook their heads; this guy's temperament is just like that—he won't turn back until he hits the south wall, and even if he does, he acts as if he'd rather perish with the wall.

Just as the three finished speaking, a sudden burst of footsteps came from behind, somewhat disordered and sounding urgent.

Turning their heads in doubt, they saw from afar dust and smoke rising, as if something were rushing madly toward them, and faintly they could hear angry roars.

Who the hell used the Demon-Binding Rope? Cheating, cheating!

What happened to righteousness? Don't all rush—there's plenty to eat.

Watching the ever-approaching sky-full of dust, Li Chengyue and his two were stunned.

What the hell is coming over?