Chapter 25: The Reborn Ace Writer 17

"Did you bring your own chef this time?" The man who had just arrived was also strikingly handsome, though he carried a slight air of refined casualness.

"Mhm. This is Li Mumu, and this is Zhou Shaoyan, the owner of this restaurant," Qi Rao introduced them. "Shaoyan, we'd like to borrow your kitchen."

"Of course. Is Miss Li going to use it? You are welcome to use our designated private kitchen." Zhou Shaoyan and Qi Rao had practically grown up together, so he was well aware of his friend's hidden foodie tendencies. This certainly wasn't the first time they had borrowed his kitchen.

In fact, for various reasons, quite a few patrons enjoyed preparing their own meals, which was why they had specifically set aside private kitchens for such guests. The one they were being led to now was just such a space.

"Let's go take a look at the ingredients first," Mu Yin said. The kitchen itself didn't much matter; she had brought her own culinary cultivator-specific utensils.

"Alright, please follow me." Without pressing further, Zhou Shaoyan led Mu Yin to their ingredient storage room. It was equipped with specialized preservation units—not freezing cold, yet capable of keeping the ingredients at peak freshness.

Mu Yin walked inside and surveyed the shelves, then selected some meats, vegetables, and a few condiments. Loading the items onto a cart, she left the storage room and headed toward the private kitchen. Ignoring the high-end cooking counters that looked rather luxurious, she instead produced the low-grade magical artifacts for culinary cultivation that she had brought with herself.

This set of artifacts consisted of numerous components: a terrestrial-fire stove, a magical pot, a chef's knife, and a spatula. Seeing Mu Yin suddenly pull these items out, Zhou Shaoyan was startled. Espers were exceedingly rare these days; while they did exist, each one was considered precious—to say nothing of spatial ability users.

He wanted to say something, but Qi Rao stopped him. They simply watched as Mu Yin began her work. First, she used the knife artifact to process the ingredients. Aside from its superior quality, the greatest advantage of such an artifact was its ability to channel spiritual energy.

For instance, using a knife artifact to cut ingredients preserved their nutrients and energy to the absolute maximum, and could even enhance those nutritional and energetic components—not to mention the flavor. Next came the cooking process. The unique capability of a culinary cultivator was the ability to fully stimulate the nutrients and energy within the food, allowing those who ate it to easily absorb them,

rather than consuming ordinary food where only a tiny fraction could be absorbed while the vast majority went to waste. Furthermore, awakening the inherent energy was secondary; the most remarkable feat was multiplying the efficacy of that energy within the body several times over, depending on the chef's proficiency. This enhancement applied not only to nutrition and energy, but to flavor and aroma as well.

This was precisely why food prepared by culinary cultivators was exceptionally delicious. Although Mu Yin was not a formal culinary cultivator herself, she had studied specifically under one, figuring that skill would come in handy one day.

Aside from cutting the vegetables, she had also prepared several seasonings, all of which had undergone special treatment. After all, apart from the items she had taken from the storage room, everything else was entirely ordinary. Without processing, the flavor would be subpar. In truth, this so-called processing was simply spiritual infusion.

Once the food went into the pot, she formed a hand seal with one hand while stirring with the spatula artifact. As she stirred, spiritual energy infused into the utensil, and even her movements seemed to follow a unique, rhythmic pattern. After just a few quick motions, a rich, intoxicating aroma dispersed into the air, causing the two onlookers to involuntarily draw in deep breaths. "It smells so good! I've never smelled anything so amazing in my life."

Qi Rao remained silent, but his eyes lit up considerably. He kept his gaze fixed unblinkingly on the sizzling pan, watching as Mu Yin added the final seasonings before plating the dish. The moment the food was lifted from the pan, she executed another hand seal, and the ingredients transferred onto the plate instantly arranged themselves into a polished presentation.

"Try this first while I make the rest," Mu Yin placed the plate on the kitchen table and told the two men.

"Alright, then I won't be polite." Unable to suppress his eagerness any longer, Zhou Shaoyan picked up a pair of chopsticks, arranged them, and immediately took a bite. Mu Yin had made sweet and sour spare ribs. As his teeth sank into the meat, his eyes narrowed into happy crescents.

The sweet and sour flavor was perfectly balanced, and the meat was tender and juicy—better than any meat he had ever tasted before. The rich flavor of the pork was completely free of any gamey odor, and rather than masking the natural taste of the meat, the sweet and sour notes only served to accentuate it.

The more he chewed, the more fragrant it became. Once swallowed, a warm current spread throughout his body, and a dull, lingering ache from an old injury seemed to lessen in that exact instant.

Mu Yin cooked at a remarkable speed. The temperature of the terrestrial fire was exceptionally high; as a type of spiritual fire rather than ordinary flame, it was capable of smelting even hard-textured ores, so heating food was naturally a swift affair.

However, by the time Mu Yin finished the fourth dish, the first one was already nearly finished. It was only because Qi Rao maintained his composure and held Zhou Shaoyan back that some was left for her. The remaining four dishes were equally exquisite and delicious, so wonderful they made one want to cry. Well, they were ordinary people, so such a reaction was hardly surprising.

Mu Yin, by contrast, remained rather indifferent. To her, the food wasn't particularly impressive—she could only rate it as average. After all, the ingredients were simply too poor; otherwise, the flavor and energy could have been enhanced by another two or three folds.

"After you finish eating, you should practice a set of body-refinement techniques to accelerate the absorption of the energy; otherwise, it might just pass out of your bodies through metabolism," Mu Yin instructed the two men after finishing. She then cast a cleansing spell to tidy up the kitchen and her cooking utensils, packing them away.

"Um... does this set of cookware of yours have some kind of special ability? Do you happen to have an extra set you'd be willing to sell me?" Realizing that the incredible taste of the food was likely due in part to the utensils, Zhou Shaoyan asked shamelessly.

"You wouldn't be able to use these. However, you can learn the methods of artifact forging. The chapters on forging culinary cultivator artifact sets are covered in *Ask Heaven Animation*. You can learn from a fire-attribute esper," Mu Yin shook her head. "Additionally, regarding array patterns, there are certain areas that need modification. I'll look into them once I have time, or you can study divine patterns yourselves and create arrays belonging to your world's technological system."

Mu Yin had only displayed a few divine patterns in the manga, but due to their unique nature, very few were actually depicted, and those were the relatively simpler ones.

"Divine patterns?" Qi Rao looked at Mu Yin, looking deeply interested. After a moment of thought, Mu Yin retrieved her book on divine patterns. "I can lend this to you, but only as a loan. You'll need to return it." In truth, she had a few more copies stored away just in case of unexpected needs, along with plenty of blank books. If it were truly lost, she could easily print another copy. Aside from the special material of the pages, the divine pattern book itself wasn't irreplaceable.

Still, possessing them was one thing, and choosing whether or not to hand them over was another. Fortunately, she had deleted this particular sequence by the end of the animation, stopping the narrative after the male protagonist's ascension and her own departure from the world following her death fifty years later. What transpired during those fifty years had been deliberately omitted.