The Ironbone Sect's inner courtyard was alive with the thud of practice weapons and the crack of exploding qi. Disciples whirled through sword forms beneath fluttering banners as the morning sun struck the peaks above, making the stone halls glow like molten bronze.
In the midst of it all, Lin Tian found himself surrounded—not by swordsmen, but by eager voices.
"Senior Lin!" a disciple cried, nearly tripping over his robes. "Can you show me that lotus custard again?"
Another piped up, "How did you make that stir-fry so spicy yet not burn my tongue?"
A third leaned forward urgently. "Will eating that broth help me break through my bottleneck?"
Lin Tian held up both hands. "One at a time!"
Bai Yue stood at his side, puffing up with pride. "Senior Lin is the Ironbone Sect's new Heavenly Chef! He's very busy!"
The crowd parted as Elder Han approached, arms tucked behind his back. His sharp eyes swept the assembly.
"Enough gawking," Han barked. "This isn't a teahouse performance. Go train or scrub the latrines!"
The outer disciples scattered like startled birds. Han turned his attention to Lin Tian.
"You've caused quite the uproar," he said dryly. "Elders from neighboring sects sent messages this morning. They want to 'discuss culinary exchanges.'"
Lin Tian blinked. "Already?"
Han smirked. "Word travels fast. Especially when spirit ginseng is involved. But enough politics for now." His face grew grave. "I want you to meet me at Blackthorn Hall. There's something you need to see."
Blackthorn Hall lay deep within the sect grounds, its roof edged with wicked, thorn-like tiles. Red lanterns burned low within, casting jagged shadows on lacquered screens.
Lin Tian followed Elder Han inside. The doors shut behind them with a dull boom.
Three elders sat waiting, robes crisp and severe. On the table before them lay a large iron tray, covered by a cloth.
Han gestured. "Show him."
An elder lifted the cloth. A pungent, sharp smell filled the hall—a mix of scorched metal, wet soil, and something darker.
On the tray lay a hunk of flesh the size of a fist. Purple veins pulsed across its surface, and patches of blackened scales glistened under the lantern light.
Bai Yue gagged behind Lin Tian. "Wh-what is that?"
Han's voice was low. "A piece of flesh from a demonic spirit beast. Killed near Blackthorn Ravine two nights ago."
Lin Tian leaned closer, studying the texture. The flesh twitched faintly, as if still alive.
"It's infused with demonic qi," Han continued. "Most cultivators can't even touch it without risking corruption. But… It's also brimming with power."
One elder spoke, his voice rough as gravel. "Our alchemists can't refine it into pills. But maybe… cooking is another path."
Lin Tian went very still. "You want me to cook that?"
Han nodded grimly. "If you can cleanse it, extract its essence safely… it could become an elixir in edible form. But if you fail, it'll poison whoever eats it."
Bai Yue stammered, "Senior Lin… that's too dangerous!"
Lin Tian stared at the pulsing flesh. His mind raced through possibilities. High heat to purge qi corruption… acidic ingredients to neutralize toxins… carefully layered flavors to mask bitterness…
He exhaled slowly. "I'll need time. And more information about its properties."
Han inclined his head. "You have three days. We can't risk this rotting or becoming unstable."
Lin Tian nodded. "I'll try."
As they left Blackthorn Hall, Bai Yue clung to Lin Tian's sleeve, pale-faced. "Senior Lin… are you sure?"
Lin Tian gave him a thin smile. "Every ingredient has a secret. It's just a matter of finding it."
By late afternoon, Lin Tian was back in the kitchen, rummaging through jars for ingredients that might counteract demonic corruption. He hardly noticed the footsteps until a familiar voice drawled:
"Well, well. If it isn't the kitchen rat pretending to be a genius."
Lin Tian froze, turning slowly. Shan Long stood in the doorway, arms folded across his chest. His dark eyes glittered with cold amusement.
Bai Yue shrank behind a basket of radishes. "Shan Long…"
Shan Long strode forward, his presence filling the small hut like a thundercloud. "So. You're a great chef now. Making the elders swoon with your soups."
Lin Tian held his ground. "What do you want, Shan Long?"
Shan Long flicked invisible dust from his sleeve. "I heard you're cooking for the inner sect. And now the elders want you to handle demonic flesh?" He gave a sharp laugh. "Do you realize how absurd that is? You're an outer-sect dog, Lin Tian. You have no business handling power like that."
Lin Tian said nothing. He simply returned to slicing ginger, blade moving in quick, precise strokes.
Shan Long sneered. "Ignoring me won't save you. When you fail—and you will fail—I'll be the one the elders turn to. I've already spoken with Elder Lu. He says you're reckless. Dangerous."
Lin Tian kept his voice cool. "Then pray I don't succeed. Because if I do, I'll be cooking for the entire sect… including you."
Shan Long's eyes narrowed. For a moment, a flicker of real unease crossed his face.
"I look forward to your humiliation," he spat, then stormed out.
Bai Yue peeked over the radishes. "He… he looked scared."
Lin Tian exhaled and set down his knife. "He should be."
Lin Tian stood motionless for several heartbeats after Shan Long left, the tip of his cleaver glinting under the lamplight. The echoes of the man's mocking laughter still hung in the rafters.
Bai Yue tugged at Lin Tian's sleeve. "Senior Lin… maybe you shouldn't do it. Cooking that… that demonic thing. What if Shan Long's right?"
Lin Tian didn't answer right away. He stared at his reflection in the polished steel blade.
"If I run away now," he said finally, "I might as well go back to scrubbing floors. Or die like the Ironbone Sect's reputation is dying."
Bai Yue's mouth opened and closed. He seemed on the verge of crying. "But—"
Lin Tian turned, a small, determined smile lifting the corners of his lips.
"I've cooked poisonous pufferfish. I've cooked live octopus. I've cooked ingredients so expensive that a single mistake would have ruined me."
He set the cleaver aside with a soft clink.
"This is no different. It's just… higher stakes."
He rolled out a battered parchment scroll on the counter, tracing lines of elegant brush script. Bai Yue peered over his shoulder, eyes crossing at the tiny characters.
"Spirit Beast Compendium?" the boy read. "Why does it mention how to slice… tentacles?"
Lin Tian's brow furrowed. "It's about neutralizing toxins in demonic beasts. Some parts are edible. Some will kill you on contact."
He tapped a line written in archaic characters: Demonic spirit flesh may be purged by combining fire affinity herbs with cleansing salts and acids.
"So…" Bai Yue squinted. "We burn it?"
Lin Tian's lips curved. "Sort of. But carefully."
He swept aside baskets of turnips and fetched the piece of demonic flesh from a sealed jar. Even through the thick glass, dark energy radiated in tiny pulses, like an irregular heartbeat.
Bai Yue backed away. "It's moving!"
Lin Tian squinted closer. "It's alive. But barely."
Very carefully, he drew his cleaver and pressed the flat side against the flesh. A thin ripple of black qi slithered along the blade's edge. Tiny sparks fizzed where metal touched corrupted tissue.
Lin Tian hissed. "This is powerful stuff…"
He wiped the blade, then reached for the Black Salt. He poured a tiny mound onto the meat. Instantly, the flesh spasmed, shrinking away as the salt hissed and sizzled. Black steam rose, carrying a harsh, metallic stench.
Bai Yue gagged. "It smells like burning hair and… rotten spirit stones."
Lin Tian's eyes glinted. "But look."
The black steam faded. The patch of flesh beneath the salt had lost its dark sheen. It looked pale and almost… normal.
Bai Yue gasped. "You purified it?"
Lin Tian's grin flashed sharp as a knife. "We're halfway there."
Lin Tian cut a sliver from the cleaned portion. He stared at it for a long moment, then placed it on his tongue.
Bai Yue shrieked. "Senior Lin, are you insane?!"
Lin Tian closed his eyes, focusing on taste alone. At first, bitterness struck like a blade. But slowly, other notes bloomed—iron-rich, deeply savory, with a faint tingling chill that spread across his palate.
He swallowed, heart hammering. A wave of prickling cold rolled through his veins, followed by a flash of inner heat that left him sweating. But after a few moments, the sensation faded, leaving his qi circulation subtly faster than before.
Bai Yue was pale. "Senior… are you okay?"
Lin Tian exhaled. "It's safe. But raw, it's too aggressive. It needs cooking to balance the heat and cold."
Bai Yue asked. "It's cold… and hot?"
Lin Tian nodded. "This beast must have been born of both fire and frost qi. It's a rare dual-element creature. If I can stabilize those energies… this might become the most powerful food medicine in the sect's history."
Bai Yue's eyes shone. "So… how do you cook it?"
Lin Tian cracked his knuckles. "Experimentation."
All night, the kitchen glowed with flickering firelight. Lin Tian worked like a man possessed.
First, he tried searing a piece of the demonic flesh in blistering oil, adding ginger and spirit wine. The flesh crisped beautifully, releasing a smoky, caramelized aroma. But when he tasted it, his throat burned as if he'd swallowed liquid fire.
"Too much heat," he rasped, coughing.
Next, he poached thin slices in a gentle broth laced with Chen Pi and sweet grass. The bitterness faded, but the flesh remained strangely rubbery and left a frigid chill in his chest.
"Not enough balance," Lin Tian muttered.
Bai Yue fetched icefruit essence and poured a drop into the broth. Instantly, frost crystals crawled across the surface. Lin Tian stared, fascinated.
"…That's it," he whispered. "Heat and cold. Together."
Lin Tian prepared a wok over a high flame. In went slivers of ginger, mountain peppercorns, and black bean paste. The scent roared forth—fiery, numbing, deeply savory.
Next, he added demonic flesh, stir-frying it quickly so the outside browned while the center stayed cool.
While the meat cooked, he fetched a shallow bowl and filled it with icefruit essence, swirling it into a pale blue pool.
Then—swift as a sword strike—he lifted the hot meat from the wok and plunged it into the icefruit bath. Steam hissed upward in a fragrant cloud.
Bai Yue clapped a hand over his mouth. "You're freezing cooked meat!"
Lin Tian grinned. "I'm locking in the juices while taming the fire qi. The ice calms the flesh's demonic energy."
He lifted a piece to his lips. The meat was tender, carrying a complex dance of heat and frost. It tingled across his tongue, leaving a refreshing chill even as spicy warmth radiated through his chest.
Bai Yue stared. "Is it… safe?"
Lin Tian offered him a sliver. "Taste it."
Bai Yue's eyes watered as he chewed. Then he broke into a wide grin. "It's spicy… and cold! It tastes like… like fire and snow at the same time!"
Lin Tian chuckled. "And I think it's stabilizing my qi flow. This might work."
As dawn's first glow crept across the mountain ridges, Lin Tian slumped against the counter, exhausted but triumphant.
Bai Yue curled up nearby, chin on his knees. "Senior Lin… do you think the elders will accept it?"
Lin Tian stared into the dying coals. "They'll have no choice. Once they taste it, they'll understand."
He lifted the icefruit bath, watching the pale blue liquid glisten.
"For the Ironbone Sect to survive… We'll have to do things no other sect dares."
Bai Yue whispered, "Then we'll be the first chef sect in the world."
Lin Tian gave a weary laugh. "Maybe we will."
Outside, the distant clash of training swords rang through the crisp morning air. But in the kitchen, there was only the soft hiss of cooling broth and the scent of possibility.
.....
By the next sunrise, word of Lin Tian's demonic flesh experiment had already spread through the Ironbone Sect like wildfire.
Bai Yue trotted at Lin Tian's heels as they made their way toward the main hall, balancing a steaming bronze platter covered by a domed lid. A hush fell over disciples training in the courtyards as they passed.
"Senior Lin," one disciple called, eyes wide, "are you going to make us eat demonic beast meat?"
Another whispered, "Shan Long said it'll melt your organs if you taste it…"
Lin Tian raised an eyebrow. "Shan Long can try it first if he's so sure."
Bai Yue stifled a giggle. "He'd faint!"
They arrived at the grand doors of the main hall. Elder Han stood waiting, arms crossed. He gave Lin Tian a sharp look.
"Are you certain about this, boy?" Han asked. "One mistake and we'll be scraping disciples off the floor."
Lin Tian inclined his head. "I'm certain. And I'll taste it first."
Han grunted. "Brave or foolish. Possibly both."
Inside, the main hall buzzed with tension. Elder Lu, Shan Long's distant relative and political ally, sat glowering in a place of honor. Several other elders whispered among themselves.
Shan Long himself lounged against a pillar, arms folded, wearing a smirk.
"So the kitchen rat thinks he can cook corruption away," Shan Long drawled. "Perhaps the next dish will be seared soul fragments."
A few nervous titters ran through the hall. Elder Han shot him a glare. "Silence, Shan Long. Let the boy speak."
Lin Tian stepped forward, the bronze platter held steady in his hands.
"I present my dish: Dual Spirit Stir-Fry with Icefruit Essence."
He set the platter on the table and lifted the lid. Steam billowed forth, fragrant and oddly cool, carrying a scent that was at once spicy and clean as snowmelt.
Shan Long's mocking grin faltered. "It… smells good?"
Elder Han motioned for silence. "Explain, Lin Tian."
Lin Tian inclined his head. "The demonic flesh held both fire and frost qi. Eaten raw or improperly cooked, it would either burn your meridians or freeze your veins. But if quickly seared and plunged into icefruit essence, the dual energies stabilize, creating a balance. I've added mountain peppercorns, black bean paste, and spirit vinegar to enhance flavor and support qi circulation."
He sliced a sliver with his cleaver. "I will taste it first."
Bai Yue gasped, clutching his robes. Elder Lu sneered, "By all means, poison yourself."
Lin Tian placed the slice in his mouth. He closed his eyes as warmth and chill swirled over his tongue, fusing into a deep, savory complexity. His qi pulsed more steadily than before, the inner heat and frost harmonizing.
He swallowed and opened his eyes. "Safe. And potent."
An awed hush fell. Han gestured sharply. "Bring it here."
Lin Tian plated small servings for the elders. Bai Yue stood by, trembling, as Elder Han lifted his chopsticks.
Han tasted a piece and blinked rapidly. He took another bite, then another, as if unable to stop.
"It's… balanced," he said at last. "A gentle heat followed by coolness, like wind over snow. My qi feels… clearer."
Another elder leaned forward eagerly. "Let me try!"
Soon, elders were passing plates between them, eyes widening as they tasted. The tension in the room shifted palpably.
"This… could sustain injured disciples," murmured one elder. "It nourishes qi without overwhelming the channels."
Elder Lu scowled but took a cautious bite. His eyes went wide. "By the heavens… It's delicious."
Shan Long stared, mouth working soundlessly.
Finally, Elder Han looked toward Shan Long. "Well? Will you taste it, or admit defeat?"
Shan Long hesitated. Pride warred with suspicion across his face. Then he stepped forward, snatched a piece from the platter, and popped it into his mouth.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then Shan Long's eyes widened. He staggered backward, clutching his chest.
"Fire… cold… I… ah—!"
Gasps erupted around the hall. Bai Yue squeaked in terror. Elder Lu surged to his feet.
But Shan Long abruptly stopped shouting. His breathing steadied, and he straightened, blinking in surprise.
"…My dantian feels… clearer?" he said hoarsely.
Elder Han's grin was wolfish. "Looks like the kitchen rat saved your meridians."
Shan Long turned beet red. "This proves nothing!"
Lin Tian stepped closer, voice calm. "Try my food again, or stay silent."
Shan Long glared at him, then spun on his heel and stalked from the hall, robes flaring.
As silence fell, Elder Han clapped Lin Tian's shoulder hard enough to make him wince.
"From today forward," Han declared, "Lin Tian shall serve as the Ironbone Sect's official Medicinal Chef. You will have access to our stores, resources, and protection. Your work will be considered as vital as forging weapons or refining pills."
A ripple of shocked whispers swept the elders. Elder Lu opened his mouth, then shut it again.
Han continued, "Furthermore, you are granted permission to teach disciples your methods. The Ironbone Sect shall not be mocked for bland porridge ever again!"
Lin Tian felt Bai Yue's small fingers squeeze his sleeve.
"Senior Lin… we did it," Bai Yue whispered.
Lin Tian exhaled, a tremor running through him. The words were simple, but they carried more weight than any title he'd ever earned in his old world.
After the elders dispersed, Elder Han lingered, peering at Lin Tian with a speculative look.
"Boy," Han said, "what else can you do with that demonic flesh?"
Lin Tian tilted his head. "I'm thinking… dumplings next time."
Han barked a laugh that echoed off the beams. "Then let's pray the demonic sects attack us with ingredients. We'd be unstoppable."
Bai Yue giggled.
As the three of them stepped out into the golden afternoon light, Lin Tian glanced toward the distant peaks. Dark clouds gathered beyond the horizon, hinting at conflict yet to come.
But for the moment, he smiled.
"Come on, Bai Yue," he said. "Let's go invent something new."
And together, chef and apprentice walked back to the kitchen, the scent of possibilities swirling around them like steam rising from a wok.