While Kael devoted himself to studying beast-taming techniques, the outside world had already been turned upside down. The Taiji Cuisine Realm was in full revolt, and the current court stood no chance of stopping its advance.
The imperial forces were crushed all the way to the capital with unstoppable momentum. In truth, not long after the war began, everyone already knew how it would end—the Taiji Cuisine Realm's victory was inevitable.
The court simply had no way to resist. No matter what tactics they tried, it made no difference. Even when they mobilized large armies, the result was the same: one clash, and they were completely routed.
Any troops that surrendered were taken in by the Taiji Cuisine Realm. That said, they had no interest in disobedient soldiers—or problematic ones. So after accepting these forces, the first thing the Taiji Cuisine Realm did was conduct a large-scale purge.
Anyone with issues was eliminated without exception. Many people died as a result, but that was unavoidable. Since when had a change of dynasty ever happened without bloodshed?
After the purge, the remaining soldiers no longer dared to defy orders. They obeyed obediently, and through them, people saw a completely different side of the Taiji Cuisine Realm.
Historically, armies had always been a nightmare for ordinary civilians. The saying "soldiers and bandits are the same" didn't come from nowhere—some armies were no better than thieves, leaving destruction wherever they passed.
But the Taiji Cuisine Realm's army operated under Kael's strict commands. Some soldiers were dissatisfied, but anyone who dared to act out met only one fate: death.
In chaotic times, harsh measures were necessary. Kael was never soft-hearted. Anyone who disobeyed was simply removed. This thunderous, iron-fisted approach ensured that no one dared step out of line.
Once people saw how different the Taiji Cuisine Realm truly was, anyone with half a brain understood that their success was inevitable—and that the new regime would be far better than the current court.
As for those who had once dreamed of rising up on their own, they quickly abandoned the idea. The gap in strength was simply too great. Just look at what had happened to the imperial army—utter devastation. If they rebelled now, no one would dare join them. Better to keep their heads down and survive.
At the capital, inside the imperial palace, only a handful of eunuchs, palace maids, and cooks remained. The royal family and the army had already fled.
They had seen the Taiji Cuisine Realm's terrifying power. Rather than wait for their end, they packed up what they could and ran—not just from the capital, but from the entire land.
They understood perfectly well: if they wanted to maintain their lavish lifestyles, they couldn't live quietly. And living openly would only attract the Taiji Cuisine Realm's attention.
By now, everyone knew their methods. The Taiji Cuisine Realm would never let them live. So the royals chose exile, believing that even without imperial authority, their accumulated wealth would allow them to live comfortably elsewhere.
If Kael had known their thoughts, he would have laughed. They were being absurdly naive.
Fleeing abroad with their identities and treasures was no different from a child carrying gold through a marketplace. Countless people would have their eyes on them. Their escape was nothing but a delayed death sentence.
This era wasn't some peaceful future society. Even in later ages, such things happened frequently—let alone now. Leaving the country simply meant being robbed and killed. From the very beginning, there had only been one road left to the royal family: death.
Running away merely let them live a few extra days.
Of course, the Taiji Cuisine Realm had no intention of letting them escape. Those people had taken vast amounts of wealth with them—wealth that would be crucial to establishing and developing the new dynasty.
Letting them leave was out of the question.
So GT Robots were dispatched.
Their speed was astonishing. No ship—no matter how fast—could escape them. One by one, the vessels were intercepted and seized.
Aside from a few children who were spared, all remaining members of the royal family were thrown into the sea.
As for the defeated soldiers, they were detained to await judgment. Their fates were unlikely to be good. After all, these troops had been cultivated directly by the royal family, much like the death warriors trained by the Taiji Cuisine Realm or the Dark Cooking Society.
Some of them might have had their own thoughts, but everything would be decided after proper trials.
Just like that, the Taiji Cuisine Realm took control of the court.
In the end, the newly crowned emperor was Lan Fei Hong, the son of Pei.
The Phoenix Eight Immortals had always pursued immortality. Power was secondary. None of them particularly cared about sitting on the throne.
Since Pei wanted her son to become emperor, no one objected.
Lan Fei Hong himself was a member of the Imperial Kitchen. He possessed considerable ambition. Anyone who entered the Imperial Kitchen was extraordinary—after all, it represented the pinnacle of the Light Culinary World.
By contrast, Liu Maoxing disliked this kind of political stage. He preferred traveling the world, learning rare cuisines and techniques he had never encountered before.
At first, Lan Fei Hong resisted. He still couldn't fully accept that Pei as his mother.
But once the Taiji Cuisine Realm explained what the new dynasty would accomplish, he was tempted.
He wasn't foolish. He knew very well that if this system was truly implemented, his name would go down in history.
In the end, Lan Fei Hong agreed.
With the Taiji Cuisine Realm acting as intermediaries, he also came to understand that although Pei had initially viewed him as a tool, there had been genuine concern mixed in as well.
His relationship with Pei eased slightly. He no longer outright detested her—but he didn't treat her warmly either.
After all, her original intention had been to use him. He had never felt any real maternal love, so he refused to acknowledge her as his mother.
Pei herself didn't mind. To her, Lan Fei Hong achieving her goal was enough. Whether he acknowledged her or not wasn't that important.
Thus, a new dynasty was born in the Cooking Master Boy world.
As for Kael, he returned to the Food Wars world several times—there were people there waiting for him, after all.
He traveled frequently between the two worlds. As for exploring new ones, he wasn't in any hurry. The value of the Cooking Master Boy world hadn't been fully exhausted yet.
Three years passed after the change of dynasty.
Kael's Gourmet Cells had reached level 25.
During those three years, with the power of the entire court behind him, Kael finally found a living sacred beast.
A living one.
A Vermilion Bird.
It was discovered within a volcano. Kael was thrilled when he first found it.
After seeing the corpse of the Black Tortoise, he had suspected that living sacred beasts might still exist in this world. Reality proved him right.
However, once the excitement faded, Kael quickly calmed down.
Although it was called a sacred beast, the upper limit of this world was simply too low. This Vermilion Bird was closer to an extremely powerful creature that merely resembled one.
Its intelligence wasn't particularly high, making communication impossible. Still, as a super-rare anomaly born of the world itself, it possessed many unique traits.
From the Vermilion Bird, Kael obtained an incredibly valuable attribute: immortality.
In myth, the Vermilion Bird symbolized eternity and undying existence. While rebirth was more commonly associated with phoenixes, the Vermilion Bird also possessed a form of nirvana.
To Kael, this ability was nothing short of god-tier.
Combined with the World Tree's vitality, it didn't dramatically increase his raw power—but it pushed his survivability to an absurd level.
He couldn't regenerate from a single drop of blood yet, but all of his former fatal weaknesses were gone. With these two traits stacked together, even having his head or heart destroyed would only result in rapid regeneration.
Losing limbs was even less of an issue.
In the Toriko world, regenerating limbs was extremely difficult. When Toriko lost his arm, even with treatment in the Healing Country, it was said to take twenty years to fully regenerate. Even with protagonist-level plot armor, it still took him a long time.
The same was true later during his battle with Starjun—without the Gourmet Demon taking over, self-healing wasn't easy at all.
Kael, however, was completely different.
Even with his Gourmet Cells only at level 25, his vitality was terrifying.
He was much like Orochimaru from the ninja world—not the strongest in direct combat, but absurdly hard to kill, with countless ways to come back.
Over the years, aside from raising his cell level, Kael had also tried to learn Food Honor.
Lacking Chowlin Temple's teaching tools didn't mean he couldn't access Food Honor at all.
But once he truly began studying it, Kael realized that Chowlin Temple's style didn't suit him.
Their Food Honor required heartfelt gratitude as its catalyst. That path was perfect for people like Komatsu and Toriko—it matched their personalities perfectly.
Kael, on the other hand, couldn't do it.
He had inherited Toriko's legacy, not his personality. He simply couldn't resonate with ingredients on that emotional level.
Only then did Kael truly understand why, when Toriko and Komatsu went to Chowlin Temple, even masters like Chiru and the temple's vice-heads failed to gain Chin Chinchin's recognition.
Those vice-heads had stayed at the temple for decades. Some had grown old there, yet their Food Honor was still inferior to Toriko and Komatsu, who had trained for only a few months.
This wasn't just about talent. The key difference was gratitude.
The gratitude-based Food Honor that Chin Chinchin developed was the most accessible and beginner-friendly style. But the higher one tried to climb, the harder it became.
That was why only Toriko and Komatsu went to Chowlin Temple, while the other Four Heavenly Kings trained elsewhere.
Ichiryu understood his disciples extremely well.
Now Kael faced the same problem. Toriko's method allowed him to get started easily, but progressing further became exponentially harder.
Still, Kael wasn't worried.
He had another inheritance waiting for him—the Gourmet Corp.
Although he was currently only in the Second Area, higher regions that involved Food Honor would eventually open.
After all, members of the Gourmet Corp also mastered Food Honor—but theirs was a completely different path. None of them could ever walk the gratitude route.
All Kael needed to do was continue developing his faction inheritance and unlock those regions. That would allow him to master Food Honor rapidly in a way that suited him.
To be honest, Kael genuinely admired Toriko and Komatsu.
When they first touched Food Honor, they made plenty of mistakes—but that was due to a lack of systematic training. Once they adapted, it became second nature.
Their personalities were very similar to Liu Maoxing's. If Liu Maoxing learned the gratitude-based Food Honor, his achievements would likely be extraordinary.
It was simply a path made for saints.
Kael wasn't evil—but he definitely wasn't a good person either.
He knew himself well. Once he realized that Food Honor couldn't be pushed further in that direction, he shifted his focus elsewhere.
The techniques he chose to study weren't Enbu(Monkey Martial Arts).
Enbu was terrifying, its control over power even surpassing Food Honor. But Kael simply wasn't qualified yet.
Enbu required complete unification of every cell in the body. Kael couldn't even sense all of his cells, let alone control them.
So he abandoned that idea.
Instead, he learned another technique—one taught by the Gourmet Knights' leader, Aimaru, to Toriko: Ultimate Routine.
It was an incredibly mysterious ability, almost like a prototype of "I just think it works" power.
Knowing he would face Starjun at the Cooking Festival, Toriko had learned this move to secure victory. Now Kael benefited from that knowledge as well.
Unfortunately, the technique consumed enormous calories. Kael had only grasped its surface so far—but even that was more than enough for now.