Chapter 26: The Arrogance of Lin Yu

  Transtor: Krukist

  Lin Yu’s words detonated like a thundercp, sending the crowd into an uproar. Even Nan Ziyan, who cared little for the duel’s intricacies and only craved Lin Yu’s cooking, gaped in shock. Her luminous eyes sparkled with disbelief as she murmured, “This guy’s too brazen, isn’t he?”

  Elder Situ g had already been audacious, daring to swagger before Nan Zha who could’ve foreseen an eveer storm ance brewing elsewhere?

  Nan Ziyan stared at Lin Yu, stunned. His frame was tall and banced, his face bearing a touch of refined crity—hardly handsome, but exuding a gentle, schorly air. Ahis unassuming figure had just procimed he’d use pork—a peasant’s meat—to defeat a Spirit Chef?

  Her eyes widened. Beside her, Qin Caiyun gasped, “Master Lin… this is… Pork’s oen by the poorest of the poor, isn’t it?”

  In this world, pork wasn’t sed for its texture—its quality was det enough—but without refined breeding, its gamey stench g stubbornly. A o circuted: only the mad or destitute would touch it. Thus, pork was dirt cheap, shunned by all. Not even ordinary cooks bothered with it, let alone a Spirit Chef.

  Yet here Lin Yu stood, boldly wielding such words!

  Elder Situ g shot to his feet, his tiger-like eyes b into Lin Yu. A terrifying, indescribable pressure flooded the arena as he snarled, “What insolence! Cooking with pork—are y to disgust us all?”

  He swept his gaze across the crowd. “Who here, besides you and your sister, could stomach that filth?”

  Nan Zhan’s brow furrowed. Though he despised Situ g’s temperament, the elder wasn’t wrong. They were nobles of the Heavenly Cloud Kingdom—pork was beh them. Lin Yu’s choice wasn’t just a sp to Situ Deng; it was a stench wafting in their faces…

  Situ Deng’s face drained of color, his body trembling, words failing him.

  “With pork alone, I’ll crush you.” Those words were the gravest insult he’d endured in his years as a chef—a sledgehammer to his spirit. For a moment, he stood frozen, lost for a retort. Then, lifting his head, his eyes bzed like twin infernos. “You dare humiliate me so! You’re unfit to call yourself a chef—a true chef would ouch pork!”

  Before he could finish, Lin Yu cut him off, his voice calm as a breeze. “Yesterday, you said no one cooks a chi split apart.”

  “A I did. Ask the Marquis—how did those Fried Chi Legs taste?”

  Elder Situ g’s brows twitched as he g Nan Zhan. The marquis’s face betrayed him—his throat bobbed, swallowing hard, clearly recallierday’s dish. Even with his iron will, the memory of those Fried Chi Legs stirred him.

  Situ g loathed this marquis, but he knew Nan Zhan’s iy. Only a dish of true power could crack that stoic mask.

  A realization struck him, his brows rising. “Nan Zhan’s tasted tless delicacies over the years. Even when a third-grade Spirit Chef from a neighb kingdom cooked for the royal ba a few years back, he was there. Mountains of treasures, seas of fvors—a a youth, not even a Spirit Chef, quered him?”

  In that moment, Situ g uood. Lin Yu wasn’t all bluster—he had real skill. How else could he er Situ Deng so fiercely, f the elders to send him as backup? A cold glint fshed in his eyes. No matter what twist of fate es, I won’t let you best my Deng’er!

  Lin Yu, smiling faintly, turo the four onlookers with serene fidence. “Marquis, please procure me some prime pork. Once my dish is dohen decide if you’ll eat it or not.”

  “Such boldness!” Nan Ziyan excimed, her radiant eyes shimmering as she studied Lin Yu. “The lowliest of ingredients—even the manor’s servants rarely touch it—yet he’s certain he sway us?”

  Situ g snorted. “I say it’s all a bluff!”

  “We’ll know soon enough,” Nan Zhan replied coolly. Turning to Lin Yu, he said, “If you choose pork, so be it. I’ll grant your request. Huofeng, fetch it for him. But uand this: no matter how well you cook, it’s still pork.”

  “We might not even touch it. Even if your fvor triumphs, we could still deem you the loser.”

  At that, Nan Zhan and Situ g subtly g Nan Ziyan. This ary csh’s final arbiter wasn’t them—it was her. The three men were mere preliminary judges; Nan Ziyahe ultimate verdict.

  It was Situ Deng’s own dition. He’d decred his ary path existed solely to make Nan Ziya again.

  Lin Yu, however, cared little for the judgihod. In the Southwestern Marquis’s domain, with his reputation for fairness, not eveu ’s might could skew the oute. How victory was decided? Irrelevant. He trusted oruth: Braised Pork was invincible!

  Huofeng soourned, hefting a sb of prime pork belly. Her delicate face creased, brows knitting in distaste. Even her gaze at Lin Yu shifted—wary, as if he were some oddity.

  To them, who’d ever use pork in a ary duel? Especially against a first-grade Spirit Chef?

  “With ingredients, tools, and bdes now prepared,” Nan Zhan announced, “the test begins. One hour—by then, it’ll be time for lunch. We three are the initial judges; Ziyan holds the final say.”

  “Any objes to this ruling?”

  Situ g, despite his rivalry with Nan Zhan, khe marquis wouldn’t rig the game. If Situ Deng’s skill was enough, they wouldn’t unjustly deny him. fident in his nephew, he nodded. “No objes.”

  Lin Yu echoed, “None here either.”