Chapter 384: Madness, the Madness of Stealing a Bite

Fortunately, his remaining bit of self-control pulled him awake, and while the other disciples were not paying attention again, he stirred the soup spoon with great force.

Because it was intentional, this time more soup spilled out, and he hurriedly licked the soup clean.

This time the flavor was richer; the initial umami from the first sip was the size of a peanut, fragrant but fleeting.

This time the umami was like a bowl of tea, rich and full-bodied, with a lingering aftertaste.

After this initial tasting, the disciple could not stop himself, and he probed further.

The soup broth could no longer satisfy him, so he began to shift his focus to the ingredients.

The first ingredient he targeted was the fungi; although various meat-based broths were simmered on top, it was still just a single fungus.

The disciple thought, this is only one fungus, fungi are not meat dishes, so eating this bite would not count as breaking the precept, after all, it is merely one fungus.

Thus, behind the other disciples' backs, this disciple sent the fungus into his mouth.

Upon entering the mouth, the fungus first delivered the broth's flavor, but unlike drinking only the broth, the fungus's umami was richer, not just a delicious taste but also a sense of satisfaction.

Having smelled the aroma for so long, finally experiencing this satisfaction in his mouth filled the disciple entirely.

He feigned greater composure on his face, while behind the scenes, his teeth had already touched the round, delicious fungus.

The collision between his teeth and the fungus began, and ultimately the fungus could not withstand the hardness of his teeth, being bitten into halves, then quarters, then eighths, and finally crushed.

The fungus's own flavor grew stronger, its umami and unique fungal fragrance bursting in his mouth until it slid from his mouth into his throat.

What remained was the fungus's lingering fragrance and the broth made from meat dishes, and even after swallowing the fungus, a hint of sweetness returned.

There is a folk saying: all beginnings are difficult; once this beginning is passed, everything that follows proceeds naturally.

After the disciple ate one fungus, the sense of fullness from the fungus filling his body vanished upon swallowing, leaving only an emptiness hundreds, even thousands of times greater than before.

Thus he stirred even more forcefully in the small cup, searching for another fungus.

Unfortunately, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment; every ingredient here was portioned by Sun Wukong, with only one of each ingredient per small cup, which also helped maintain the diners' sense of novelty.

Having searched the small cup and still not found a second fungus, he decided to move on to the next ingredient.

The ingredient he set his sights on this time was dried scallop.

The dried scallop was cleaned very well; at first glance it looked no different from the previous fungus.

But upon closer inspection, one could see that the dried scallop and the fungus were completely different ingredients.

The disciple scooped the dried scallop with the soup spoon, trembling as he brought it to his lips, he really wanted to eat it? This time he had no excuse, for this dried scallop was a meat dish, and before being made into an ingredient it was a living creature.

If he ate this dried scallop, he would truly break the precept, possibly even be expelled from the Buddhist Sect, and his hundred years of cultivation would come to nothing.

In fact, ever since he licked the soup that had spilled outside the cup, he had already broken the precept.

But later events he could excuse with other reasons; however, this dried scallop truly admitted no excuse—eaten is eaten, broken precept is broken precept, and he could find no other justification.

"What are you doing?"

The disciple's senior brother saw him holding the soup spoon and asked, "You wouldn't really want to eat, would you? This is breaking the precept."

The disciple hastily put down the soup spoon; "Senior brother, what are you talking about? I have no intention of eating."

"Really?"

That senior brother still harbored some doubts about him.

"However"

The disciple licked his lips, the aroma of the dish still lingering; "Senior brother, you really don't want to try a bite? This dish is so fragrant, one would think it worth a bite, even if breaking the precept and being expelled from the Buddhist Sect seemed worthwhile."

The senior brother was stunned by his words, and also looked at his own small cup; indeed, as his junior brother said, he too had long craved the food in his cup, and eating a bite seemed worth breaking the precept and expulsion from the Buddhist Sect.

Reasonably speaking, no Buddhist Sect disciple who came to the Imperial Kitchen would not want to eat this dish; if they truly did not want to eat, they would not have come here.

Yet despite all wanting to eat this dish, a sliver of reason remained in their hearts.

They themselves knew in their hearts that this dish was meat, absolutely must not be eaten, and eating it would break the precept.

But with so many people, no one could guarantee they would not succumb to temptation, truly eat this dish, and thus break the precept forever.

Actually, they also hoped inwardly that someone would eat this dish first, break the ice, so as to give those who had not broken the precept an excuse.

When the time came and the Buddha blamed them, they could also say it was so-and-so who first broke the precept, giving them an example.

The disciple's senior brother, having been questioned by his own senior brother, was somewhat at a loss.

Deep inside, he truly wanted to eat; no one who smelled this fragrant dish placed right before them could resist wanting to eat.

But it was obvious that even if he wanted to eat, he could not say so openly; he was a clever man, he did not want to be the one to start this.

"No, no, who wants to eat?"

The senior brother, smelling the dish, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then put on a brave front: "I just want to see what trick Sun Wukong is playing; aren't we all here to research this?"

Upon hearing this, the other disciples also chimed in: "Yes, yes, what's wrong, little junior brother, why are you asking this? Are you not wanting to eat yourself and then coming to test us?"

If this disciple had not eaten the dish, hearing this would surely make him feel guilty.

But he knew he had already eaten the dish, so there was nothing to fear; now more important was to drag the others into it.

Even if it meant death, he wanted to drag someone down as a shield, so he said bluntly: "Yes, I really want to eat."

The other disciples were stunned, not expecting to hear such an answer from this little junior brother's mouth.

"You, junior brother!

What's wrong with you? How could you say such a thing? This is not insulting our sect's teachings."

"How, could it be that you don't want to eat in your hearts?"

The disciple smiled lightly, madness gradually appearing in his eyes: "I am an honest man; I speak plainly; I really want to eat this dish, the aroma is truly too strong."

"Since I left the Buddhist feast, every moment I have been obsessed with this dish; I want to taste the umami of the broth described by the divine officials, as well as the unique flavor of each ingredient inside; I truly want to eat, how could you not want to eat?"

This remark made all the Buddhist Sect disciples present swallow saliva again; they looked at their own small cups, their desire to eat seeping through their eyes.

As if in the next second they would pick up the soup spoon and bring it to their mouths, those with exceptionally strong willpower shook their heads: "No, it's not like that, we are..."

"Hahaha"

The little disciple looked at his expression and laughed out loud.