A steady wave of mouth-watering fragrance rose out of the cauldron, a.s.saulting the noses of any who smelled it.
Bei Feng did not know what the ginseng fruit Piggy had eaten in Journey to the West tasted like, but he felt that, based on the fragrance emitted from the cauldron right now, regardless of whether it was comparable to the fabled ginseng fruit or not, the food inside was definitely a rare delicacy which was almost impossible to find on Earth!
Bei Feng looked at the squirming runes on the cauldron with an incredulous expression. This cauldron was truly strange. The carvings could actually move by themselves!
No matter how he looked, he couldn"t figure out how this phenomenon came to be. In the end, he simply stopped paying attention to it.
"Bang!"
The basic wok lid which Bei Feng had placed on the cauldron was blasted high into the sky by the compressed steam in the cauldron. At the same time, a beam of light no thicker than a thumb shot out of the cauldron.
"Eh? Why is the light beam so small?"
Bei Feng peered into the cauldron with surprise. He still remembered the scene he"d witnessed a mere moment ago. Two huge beams of light had shot out of the cauldron back in the other world. It was so much thicker and brighter than this skinny ray of light now!
"Could it be that the Variant Giant Salamander meat is too low in quality?"
That seemed to be the only logical explanation.
Bei Feng commanded Mystic Two and Mystic Three to extinguish the fire below the cauldron as he placed his hand on the cauldron.
Despite being enveloped in raging flames for over an hour, the cauldron only felt slightly lukewarm to the touch!
"Slurp!"
Bei Feng dipped a ladle into the milky white broth and brought it to his mouth.
It was only a tiny sip, but that one sip caused his eyes to snap open as a myriad of flavors burst forth in his mouth!
Hot, bitter, sweet, sour, salty... all kinds of flavors could be found in the soup, their ratio simply perfect.
Although these flavors were merged together perfectly, one could still clearly tell the various flavors apart and not only as a lumped whole! [1]
The soup also left a fresh herbal aftertaste in the mouth after swallowing.
As the soup entered the stomach, a strong nouris.h.i.+ng energy possessed by medicinal essence spread throughout Bei Feng"s body.
"This is too delicious! I didn"t add any condiments or seasonings but this soup already contains all the different flavors!"
Bei Feng"s eyes lit up in delight.
"The amount of energy in this soup is even more abundant than the Imperial Shrimp"s! It"s actually two times stronger!"
He had not expected much from the lower-graded meat of the Variant Giant Salamander. It would be good if the amount of energy contained within could match the Imperial Shrimp"s. But after a round of cooking in the medicinal cauldron, the energy in the meat had risen by more than an entire grade!
"It appears that the increase in energy is caused by the medicinal essence acc.u.mulated over many years of medicine refinements seeping into the meat. For the medicinal essence in the cauldron to be so bountiful despite it being so old... just how powerful were the pills refined by this cauldron in the past?"
The mere thought of it left Bei Feng clicking his tongue in amazement.
A large piece of meat floated in the soup. Bei Feng took a pair of chopsticks and reached into the cauldron, grabbing at the piece of meat. The bit of meat quivered like a jelly as he brought it before his mouth.
Bai Xiang and the rest craned their necks and swallowed violently as they observed Bei Feng"s actions.
Against his expectations, the Variant Giant Salamander did not taste as outrageous and flavorful as the soup. In return, the freshness and taste of the meat itself were enhanced to the maximum!
Although it was not as flavorful as the soup, that did not mean that it wasn"t delicious! Once the taste of meat was enhanced to its limits, it would bring forth a different kind of attraction.
As he swallowed the piece of meat, Bei Feng realized that he was dropping deeper and deeper down the path of a hopeless foodie. It was almost impossible for him to stop now. When did he become such a glutton?
Perhaps he always had the foodie trait in him, but because he had been so poor in the past, this trait had never surfaced?
Watching the group of people salivating at the side, Bei Feng felt a little uncomfortable enjoying the food by himself. He found a super large bowl and directly lifted the thousand jin heavy cauldron and tipped it over, pouring a portion of the soup and meat into it.
The group immediately hurried over, s.n.a.t.c.hing at the food with their chopsticks aggressively. The meal quickly devolved into one smelling of gunpowder where the men and the children fought fairly over the food.
Though the eyes were big, the bellies were small. This saying still held a lot of meaning.
In this period of time, the three Mystics had just started their cultivation and did not have the support of something like the Blood Origin Fruit to rely on. Thus, they could only turn to eating high energy food to replenish their blood and Qi.
Normally, the three Mystics could easily stomach 3 jin of Variant Giant Salamander meat. But now, the three were rubbing their tummies with a conflicted expression on their faces.
After eating barely 1 jin, they found that they were unable to swallow even one bite more. It wasn"t that their stomachs were too bloated. Rather, their bodies could not absorb energy anymore.
"Beasts!"
The three scolded inwardly as they watched Bei Feng and Bai Xiang continue stuffing food into their mouths as though their stomachs were bottomless pits.
"This animal!"
Even Bai Xiang could not help but stare in shock as Bei Feng continued shoving mouthfuls of meat into his mouth even after Bai Xiang reached his limit.
He still remembered that when he first came here, both his appet.i.te and strength were superior to Bei Feng.
But after such a short period of time, Bei Feng was still improving rapidly!
"If that bunch of old fogies knew about this, there are only two things that could happen. They would cut Boss into little pieces to nip him in the bud, or they"d all fight with each other to take him in as a disciple instead!" Bai Xiang shook his head as he thought. From what he knew about those old fellows, it was more likely that they"d choose the second option.
"Whew, I"m full!"
Bei Feng swallowed the last mouthful of meat and sighed in satisfaction.
"Huh? What are you all looking at me like that for?"
Bei Feng looked up and saw the four people staring at him with incredulous expressions.
"Boss, you actually finished everything... wow! That"s so impressive!"
Mystic One was the first to react, screaming cutely as she put her small palms on Bei Feng"s stomach curiously.
She couldn"t understand how Bei Feng"s stomach looked the same as before the meal despite having eaten almost 20 jin of high-energy meat!
The corner of Bei Feng"s mouth twitched slightly. He finally understood why these people were looking at him so strangely.
"Bai Xiang, it"s better to move your limbs a bit after a big meal. It"ll help with your digestion. Take these guys for a... light practice," Bei Feng said calmly as he turned around and brought the large cauldron in.
In life, there were only three paths to choose from. Abusing oneself, bullying others, or being bullied by others. Bei Feng chose the second option.
Soon, the sweet melody of groaning and yelping floated over to Bei Feng"s ears from the yard.
Bei Feng completely ignored the cries. They weren"t going to die from some light beating anyway. Instead, he was carefully examining the cauldron.
"It"s best to stow this cauldron away for now. It"s really a bit too wasteful to use it to cook ordinary stuff. I"ll take it out when I get a higher level Demonic Beast. That"ll get the most worth out of it!"
Bei Feng felt that the cauldron was not a simple equipment to use. He wasn"t able to bring out its medicinal essence properly just now.
Perhaps the fire was too weak, or maybe the Giant Salamander was too low in quality, and could not absorb the medicinal essence properly.
The best way to use this cauldron was to use it to refine medicine. But Bei Feng did not even know how to knead a pill, let alone refine one.
After putting away the large cauldron, Bei Feng went back to his room and retrieved a thick book before going back to the yard and sitting down on his recliner under the Banyan tree to read.
"The knowledge of the people from ancient times is truly boundless! The more I study it, the more wisdom it reveals!"
Bei Feng put down the book with a sigh. Mankind had come such a long way with numerous breakthroughs in science and technology, but there were still many things about the ancient era which were yet to be understood. It was truly difficult to imagine how the people in that era managed to understand such profundities regarding all kinds of subjects without the aid of science.
"Hey, Xiao Feng, do you have any new dishes for me to try?"
w.a.n.g Jian who had not appeared for a long time suddenly called.
[1] TL/N: Maybe it"s just me, but I think that will taste pretty gross...