Chapter 385

"You just pretend, I'll lay it all out now—actually, our purpose in coming here isn't just to eat this dish, is it? Though we haven't truly eaten it yet, I can see you all are already barely able to hold back, right?"

"No, what's wrong with you? Is it that Sun Wukong really put some spell in this dish, turning you into this, isn't it, Junior Brother?"

"What am I like? I was just speaking the truth, honestly."

That disciple picked up a small cup from in front of his senior brother, scooped up a fungus, and brought it to his lips.

"Look, this fungus—whether in shape or color—must have been carefully selected; they grew so well, wasn't it just to be made into a dish for us to eat?"

"No, what are you doing?"

That senior brother tried to turn his face, but the disciple restrained his jaw.

"Stop struggling, Senior Brother, it's fine—just take a bite, and besides, this doesn't count as breaking the precept, right?"

The disciple brought the spoon to his senior brother's lips again; the broth on the fungus had already stained his lips.

The disciple spoke again, his voice seeming different from usual, tinged with confusion: "This is just a fungus, after all—we have fungi in our vegetarian dishes too, just eating one fungus, it doesn't count as breaking the precept."

The eyes of the other disciples present had already shifted from shock to something else, and they slowly raised their own spoons.

Each disciple's spoon held one fungus.

As it turned out, it wasn't just that little disciple—actually, every one of them was torn between eating and not eating, and what eased their inner burden the most was this dish's sole vegetarian item: a single fungus.

The little disciple looked at his senior brother and burst out laughing loudly: "Haha, I said it—our purpose in coming here isn't just to eat the food, is it? Since we've come all this way, why waste the trip?"

Then he said in that tempting voice: "It's fine, senior brothers—eat up, it's just one fungus; we're only eating one vegetarian dish, which shouldn't count as breaking the precept for us."

Some disciples were still hesitating, while others had already brought their spoons to their mouths.

The disciple who had been hesitating saw others eating, couldn't resist the temptation, and slowly brought his spoon to his mouth too.

The plump, full fungus was coated in rich golden broth; upon entering the mouth, the flavors of mountain delicacies and sea treasures burst forth together.

The fungus wasn't just coated in golden broth on the outside—when bitten open, its own special, delicious juices flowed out, making one unable to stop chewing, leaving only the cheeks twitching.

Originally, the senior brother beside the disciple had been the one most eager to eat, but because his little junior brother's nature had changed so drastically, the impact on him was simply too great.

After being released by the little disciple, he turned out to be the clearest-headed of them all.

He was about to dissuade the other disciples when he turned his head and saw the little disciple already eating other dishes; he hurriedly said: "Junior Brother, you can't eat this—you're breaking the precept! It must be that Sun Wukong put a spell in this dish—wait here, I'll go find the Buddha and have him quickly take care of Sun Wukong."

As he spoke, he didn't even notice that just moments ago his junior brother had already brought the spoon to his lips; the moment he finished speaking, he suddenly tasted an extraordinary freshness—this umami shot straight to his heavenly crown, striking his subsequent actions so hard he didn't know what to do.

At that moment, the disciple who had been on good terms with him said: "Senior Brother, no spell was cast—quickly taste this dish, taste this fungus—it's truly delicious. I've never eaten anything this good; if I could eat this every day, even if the Buddha didn't act, it would still be worth it."

"Is it really that delicious?"

The disciple hesitated.

That disciple stopped his steps to leave, slowly walked back to his original position, picked up the spoon, and hesitated in his heart.

But the motion of his hand didn't stop—ultimately, that fungus successfully entered his mouth.

The praise from his fellow brothers had already made him drool, and he hadn't expected that only after truly eating it would he realize.

Such a delicacy could not be described by even the most splendid words, for truly delicious food cannot be spoken of while eating.

From the moment he began eating this dish, he couldn't stop, simply chewing away at the food before him.

How could there be such a delicious dish!

Even when eating vegetarian fare before, it had already been delicious enough—this dish truly lives up to what Sun Wukong said, no wonder it's a precious-grade dish.

One bite and you can't stop, as if nothing in this world matters more than this dish—if something did, it would be two dishes!

This Imperial Kitchen was rebuilt after the Jade Emperor appointed Sun Wukong as Head Chef; originally, the immortals of the Heavenly Court didn't need to eat, only using it during banquets.

After Sun Wukong took over as Head Chef of the Imperial Kitchen, to give him a better cooking experience, the kitchen was expanded to twice its size.

Since Sun Wukong took over, the Imperial Kitchen has never had a day without fire—of course, except for the few days he wasn't there.

Now this vast Imperial Kitchen has eight Buddhist Sect disciples, each with a small cup, eating that Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

After finishing the fungus, they should have stopped—after all, this dish contains only that one vegetarian item—but no one stopped their hands; since they'd already started, the rest of the dishes would be easier to explain.

After the fungus came the dried scallop; the disciple thought, this thing is much like the fungus—even if eaten, if asked later, he'd say he didn't notice, and still thought it was another kind of fungus.

Then came the sea cucumber; he found another excuse: this thing looks ugly, utterly unlike a living creature; if asked later, he'd say he thought it was a tree fungus, like wood ear.

Each ingredient, they had already prepared their own excuse for eating it; later, they wouldn't care anymore.

Anyway, they've already been spiritually liberated by it—so what if they ate it? They'll understand themselves, and hope that in the next life they won't have to deal with this ingredient again.

They were feasting happily here, unaware that someone had already arrived outside.

This barrier only surrounds the entire Imperial Kitchen—inside, nothing from outside is heard; outside, nothing of what's inside is known.

Since these disciples entered the Imperial Kitchen and began eating, their attention has been entirely on the food—no one noticed this small matter.

Since Sun Wukong only feared the sound and smell of cooking would leak outside, why would there be a barrier inside? This way, whether someone comes from outside or not, outsiders don't know there are people inside, and insiders don't know outsiders will come—they're both guilty and greedy, so no one thought about this.

Thus, the Buddhist Sect disciples feasting happily ran straight into Sun Wukong and a host of celestial officials.

Sun Wukong naturally already knew this—he had originally only wanted to lure them over.

I didn't expect they'd actually start eating Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but this is good—it saves me the trouble of persuading them to eat it.

The celestial officials behind Sun Wukong were completely unaware; they saw the people inside frozen in place.

When the Buddhist Sect disciples arrived, they had already changed their clothes to resemble those of the Heavenly Court Immortal Attendants, so the celestial officials didn't react at first.