The Dragon King’s Weakness
The feeling of your bones regenerating was very strange. Nian Bing"s heart was also rejuvenated. The greater fire dragon Salamandhys before him was not all that scary. At the very least, the current situation favored him. Nian Bing still harbored some suspicion. This was obviously a fire-attributed dragon, so how could it use light magic? No matter his current doubts however, nothing could compare to the happiness of his serious wound fully recovering. Now, anything was possible.
His previously sour and negative feelings disappeared as the golden light enshrouded him. Testing his right arm, it felt like it did before. He could freely control his right arm. After he tore off his bandages, he saw that the frightening-looking wound had completely disappeared, not a single mark remaining.
Suddenly, the golden light turned light blue. It was the feeling of water carefully cooling his swollen arm. As each wave of water pulsed through his arm, he could feel the sensation in his right arm getting stronger. He wiggled his fingers, still as nimble as before. It was like he had never been injured in the first place.
The light dimmed, then disappeared. The gigantic cave was completely silent; everyone was shocked by the strange magic the greater fire dragon Salamandhys had used. Both light and water magic had actually been used by a fire-attributed being. Such a strange situation surpa.s.sed everyone"s scope of understanding.
"Okay, the light has healed you and the water re-hydrated you. Your arm should not be a problem, so you may begin now." Salamandhys acted as if he had just done this carelessly as he lazily ordered Nian Bing. He smacked his lips, his eyes filled with desire.
Nian Bing smiled and said, "Of course. Please, wait a moment." While saying that, he took out all of his cooking tools and some ingredients from Li De"s and Feng Yun"s spatial storage items. Under Salamandhys" watchful gaze, he suddenly frowned. He cast a gaze at the greater dragon, seemingly bashful. "Mighty Salamandhys, I am truly sorry. Could you lend me some things to use? Otherwise how could I cook?"
Salamandhys looked at him impatiently. "Lend you some things? Why are you so troublesome. What relation does lending you things have with cooking? Boy, if you are lying to me, you know what will happen."
Nian Bing chuckled sheepishly. "I would never dare offend you. However, as a chef, cooking the best foods requires all sorts of tools. However, you took some of my things, so how can I prepare food for you? Of course, they are already yours, so I wanted you to just lend them to me so I can make you a meal." If you dare extort me, you think I won"t hit back? Salamandhys, let"s play. Let"s see just who will have the last laugh.
Salamandhys" claw was as dexterous as a human hand. He extended one finger, pointing at Nian Bing"s treasures. "You"re saying these are your kitchen knives?"
Nian Bing smiled. "That is it. Please lend them to me first, and I will definitely be able to satisfy you."
Salamandhys said dissatisfied, "Humans are really a wasteful race. You brat, are actually more extravagant than me. I"ll lend them to you." He waved his claw, and a red light ferried the three divine knives and the holy light stone back to Nian BIng. A wave of emotion overcame Nian Bing. He stooped as he caught the Ice and Snow G.o.ddess" Sigh and the Flame G.o.d"s Roar. The feeling of being united once again made him tremble. Old friends, you have returned. No worries, no matter what, I will never let you leave me again. He hurried to put these things into his s.p.a.ce ring.
Not giving Salamandhys the chance to be dissatisfied, Nian Bing told two mercenaries to hold up his pot. After a brief moment of consideration, he took out a giant pork chop. "Because the things here are simple and crude, I will make you a pork chop. I believe you will enjoy it." Salamandhys was a very large, so Nian Bing didn"t cut up the pork chop, directly tossing it into the pot. Then he condensed ice magic into ice cubes and put them into the pot and used a flame spell to melt the ice into water to soak the pork chop.
Salamandhys seemed to forget about the other people. He sat right next to Nian Bing, curiously watching his movements. "Boy, you can use both ice and fire magic?"
Nian Bing nodded. "I can"t compare to you though. You can use at least three fire magics whereas I can only use two."
"Nononono, it"s not the same. The light magic and water magic I use are just imitations. Both the ice and fire magics are in you. En, this is a very rare const.i.tution! However, your magic level is too modest. The magic power in your body is chaotic, turning and turning. This is very interesting."
Nian Bing completely missed the tail end of his words. When he heard the word "imitation" his mind suddenly exploded. It seemed like light had pierced through the dense cloud in his head; as if he had just opened a new door to magic. He stopped, continuously muttering "An imitation!" to himself. He had thought of something, but had no way of truly grasping it.
Salamandhys raised a claw and lightly rapped it against Nian Bing"s head, making him come to. "Hey, hurry up and cook. Don"t dilly-dally; I"m very hungry."
Nian BIng awoke from his stupor with excitement surging in his heart. He knew that now was not the time for questions. Even if he asked, Salamandhys wouldn"t tell him anything. He rubbed his aching head. "Mighty Salamandhys, did you know that once this pork chop have been soaked, the meat will become more tender. Hasty men don"t get to eat hot tofu. Wait a moment."
Salamandhys snorted, bringing his head near the pot, desire in his eyes. "I could eat tofu in one mouthful. But what is tofu?"
Nian Bing explained patiently, "Tofu is a kind of food made out of soybeans. It has an extremely high nutritional value and is also delicious. If you want to eat it, I can make it for you later if I have the chance."
"Good, good. There will be many chances for you from now on. Now I"m starting to believe that you really are a chef." Salamandhys" tone was more cheerful now, like a small child.
Everyone next to them stared dumbfoundedly. Nian Bing and the greater fire dragon Salamandhys were conversing, but there was no sense of hostility between them; they were just like friends chatting. The greater dragon"s current appearance was quite laughable. His fat b.u.t.t was protruding in the back, while his tail wagged softly. One of his front claws was propping up his head as he stared at the porkchop in the pot, and the other was slowly rapping on the ground. This position and appearance was completely like a human; a hungry diner on the hunt for delicious food.
Feng Nu walked over to the cave wall. "Come, let"s rest first and prepare to go out."
Ka Luo walked over to Feng Nu and asked quietly, "Miss Feng Nu, will this greater dragon really release us?"
Feng Nu smiled. "Could it be you don"t believe in Nian Bing"s cooking skills? With his abilities, it won"t be difficult for him to sate that dragon"s hunger."
Ka Luo said with worry, "Even if that dragon keeps his promise to let us go, what about Nian Bing? He"s here because of me. If he stays here by himself, how can my heart be at ease? If we leave, and Nian Bing dies at Salamandhys hands, I…"
Feng Nu couldn"t help but have a better impression of Ka Luo because of his sincerity. She smiled, "You don"t need to worry about that. At the very least, Nian Bing"s life won"t be in danger. I believe that after that dragon tastes his food, he will protect him like one of his treasures. He definitely won"t be able to hurt him. As for how he will leave here, you"ve seen Nian Bing"s intelligence. I"ve heard that greater dragons were gluttons, but I never thought they were gluttons to this extent. Nian Bing will have nothing to worry about once we leave. President Ka Luo, is the person who nabbed the black bottle your employer?"
Ka Luo was stunned, then lowered his head. "Probably. His voice and aura is different, but his figure is still the same. So dark mages actually existed. It looks like our mercenary group"s future prospects are not optimistic."
Feng Nu shook her head. "That"s not for certain. Since that person was a dark mage and took what is supposedly called Modas" sealed bottle, he definitely doesn"t intend on telling others. You"re just one mercenary group; exterminating you has no advantage for him. I think that the black figure definitely won"t do anything harmful to himself. Either way, have everyone rest first."
While they were over there talking, Nian Bing started to move. He took out the pork chop that had been soaked in ice water and placed it onto the board next to him. Using a flame spell, he began to heat the ice water.. At the same time, he added Sichuan pepper, star anise, chopped scallions, and ginger slices, as well as a dozen more seasonings. The water was brought to a boil, and the scent of the seasonings began to dissipate into the air with the water vapor. Salamandhys sniffed deeply. At the delightful scent, he began to wriggle excitedly. Where was the greater dragon that had lived tens of thousands of years?
"Boy, when will your pork chop be ready for eating? I"m already somewhat impatient. Hurry up, hurry up." Salamandhys urged.
He was anxious, but Nian Bing wasn"t in a hurry at all. He responded calmly, "The more delicious something is, the more difficult the cooking process. It"s especially difficult to bring out the entirety of a porkchop"s flavor. . If you want it to be delicious,three conditions have to be met. First, the fire control must be extremely consistent. Second, the the flavor must be spread evenly. Third, delectable flavoring should be mixed in. If you want to eat a plain stewed pork chop, then I can give it to you right away. If you want to eat top-of-line pork chop, then you must wait. Which one do you want to eat?"
Salamandhys gulped, then said dejectedly. "I"ll wait, that"s fine. But it"s still taking so long! I"m hungry."
Nian Bing replied calmly, "It won"t be too much longer. Don"t talk to me; if you disrupt my focus, the flavor will change. Could it be you want to eat substandard goods?"
"No, no, no, I don"t want to disturb you. Go ahead, go ahead." At the prospect of eating delicious foods, Salamandhys had lost all of his usual arrogance. He blinked his large eyes and waited.
Nian Bing hid a smile. Salamandhys, oh Salamandhys, as long as I tame your stomach, I don"t think you can hurt me. As for who orders who in the future, well, that"s not set in stone.
With prompting of his magic, the Holy Light Stone leaped into his palm. Nian Bing used the light from the Holy Light Stone to illuminate the entire pork chop. After several breaths, he put them away. He grabbed a bottle of wine and evenly rubbed it into the pork chop. After he finished rubbing it all in, he immediately took out the Ice and Snow G.o.ddess" Sigh. Prompting the ice element, Morning Dew made 256 slashes at the pork chop, leaving 256 scratches. Then he flipped it over, making another 256 scratches on the other side. Then he rubbed in more wine.
While rubbing, he explained to Salamandhys, "The ice and fire elements are blended together with wine into the pork chop. Because I used ice and fire in different amounts, nine different subtle flavors will appear. The wine also can remove the pork chop"s stench and also set off the fragrance of the meat. I"m adding ice and fire element again so that the pork chop will cook easier and so the flavor will be better. Mighty Salamandhys, please make a fire over here. A small fire is fine."
In his haste to have a taste of the delicious pork chop sooner, Salamanders didn"t think over why Nian Bing didn"t make the fire himself. He pointed his finger and a small flame sprouted slightly above the ground. Nian Bing tossed the pork chop over. While it was falling, Nian Bing used Morning Dew Knife and True Sun to catch it, then spun it again. The scent of alcohol and meat disseminated to the heat. It mixed with the scent of the well seasoned soup. Salamandhys was drooling, his eyes glinting with evident gluttony.
When the pork chop was half-cooked, Nian Bing used Morning Dew to stop the roasting process. He went over to the pot, and used a strainer to scoop out the ingredients, leaving behind the seasoned soup. He put the pork chop into the pot, then covered it. Muttering a chant, a purple flame appeared in either of his hands. He put each on either side of the pot to continue heating it. At the same time, he turned to Salamandhys and said, "Help me cover up the pot, if you let a single drop of soup escape, it will lose flavor."