The Gourmet Showcase dissolves once every hundred-year cycle, and the liquid produced from this dissolution is the Century Soup.
The prosperity of the Ice Continent relies almost entirely on the species that migrated from all over the Inner World, attracted by the Century Soup.
Now that the root source maintaining the stability of the Ice Continent is gone, the Ice Continent has surely fallen into boundless chaos. One must realize that the species capable of withstanding the bitter cold of the Ice Continent are often the most top-tier predators; how could this not make the Great Miko feel fear?
She even harbored the treasonous thought: [Is my great Snow Woman clan going to go extinct?]
"I implore Your Highness Mo Bai to lend a hand! Ask about the safety of the Snow Woman clan." The Great Miko jumped up and immediately performed a 'Tiger Descending the Mountain' style dogeza, prostrating before Mo Bai.
The Great Miko was drained of color by the information Mo Bai revealed, while Mo Bai's heart stopped for several beats due to the Great Miko's sudden 'Tiger Descent'.
"I am duty-bound." Mo Bai, whose heart was pounding wildly, unclenched the fist hidden behind his back. A clear fist imprint was visible on the tatami floor.
To be honest, when the Great Miko leaped high from her kneeling position, Mo Bai thought he had been exposed and was about to face the ending of being torn apart by hand.
===
"...Five hundred years." At the Torii entrance, inside the paper talisman barrier, Dōjima Gin looked up at the sky and sighed deeply, fighting back the tears at the corners of his eyes.
===
Emergency measures.
Under the curious gazes of a crowd of miko sisters, Mo Bai, feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles, tasted an Imperial Feast. Afterward, holding the Yukikawa Shrine's recipe, he rushed to the kitchen.
The Divine Festival was originally the most cumbersome and grand sacrificial activity in ancient times, but now it has been simplified.
Yet, even if simplified, the necessary etiquette and pomp must still be observed.
After the meal, the Great Miko took the other mikos to bathe and change clothes, then proceeded to the purification room in the back mountain reserved for entertaining the gods.
Cleansing is essential, as is the ceremonial dance.
Before sunset, they had to complete all the pre- and post-festival activities for the Divine Festival.
Mo Bai's time was also slightly tight; he had to complete three dishes for the Yukikawa Shrine based on the recipes before sunset.
"Yukikawa Shrine is indeed wealthy," Mo Bai exclaimed, looking at the kitchen as large as the Tōtsuki Detached Palace assessment venue. What caught his eye more were the three ingredients frozen in ice next to the cooking station.
The first was a colossus nearly three meters high and ten meters long, resembling a shark. The reason it was said to resemble a shark was that under its belly, there were actually four legs similar to those of a reptile.
The second was a Platinum King Crab the size of a human, its entire body shining with the luster of platinum. No one would doubt the sharpness of the spikes on its hard shell.
The third was a fish species resembling a sea bass, but its body was a full three meters long. Its metallic scales, two dorsal fins the size of sailfish fins, and ferocious fangs all revealed its savage nature.
"Dream Ingredients from the Inner World!" Mo Bai, knowing that Yukikawa Shrine had connections to the Inner World, still couldn't help but be surprised.
"Yes, these three are the Supreme Walking Shark, the Platinum King Crab, and the Hell Ice Bass, which inhabit the waters near the Ice Continent." The one following Mo Bai was the Yukikawa Shrine's poster girl, Yukikawa Shiratori. "Do you need me to demonstrate how to use these three Dream Ingredients for you?"
"Please."
"First is the Supreme Walking Shark. Unlike ordinary sharks that urinate through their skin, rendering the meat unusable, the Fantasy Ingredient Supreme Walking Shark can move and hunt on the ice fields. Its morphology is closer to reptiles, and it has an independent excretory system."
"Therefore, its meat is edible. Not only that, because it lives in a freezing marine environment, the prey it hunts mostly has thick fat, resulting in the Supreme Walking Shark's meat being extremely tender and juicy."
As Yukikawa Shiratori spoke, her fair hand passed through the layer of ice as if it were nothing, turning her palm into a knife to cut off a piece of fish meat and retrieve it.
Her hand knife flipped up and down, and a plate of sashimi, crystal clear like jade, was placed in front of Mo Bai.
Mo Bai: (Φ皿Φ)
Mo Bai stared blankly at Yukikawa Shiratori's slender, fair hand, then at her calm expression.
W-What the hell!? Cutting ingredients with a hand knife?!
WTF! This miko's talent points are skewed, aren't they!?
Mo Bai couldn't close his dislocated jaw for a long time: Yukikawa Shrine is truly a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers! Terrifying!
Can some big shot tell me, if the Snow Woman clan really goes extinct... and the matter is exposed, can I escape the pursuit? Waiting online, it's urgent.
"Aren't you going to taste it?" Yukikawa Shiratori cast a cool gaze over. Mo Bai, having a guilty conscience, stiffly picked up a slice and put it in his mouth.
The cold fish slice entered his mouth, and Mo Bai shivered. He chewed subconsciously; the pliable fish slice, springy to the point of not resembling fish meat, slowly melted into delicious gelatin with the warmth of his mouth.
The texture of livestock meat, the heavy gelatin of a soft-shelled turtle, and a fish freshness he had never tasted before—he had never imagined there was an ingredient that could combine these three. A Dream Ingredient truly worthy of the name.
"Truly magical," Mo Bai praised.
Besides these three aspects, he also sensed a faint fragrance that did not belong to the ingredient.
His gaze fell on Yukikawa Shiratori, who was walking gracefully toward the Platinum King Crab.
Could this be... the so-called... standard issue for beauties.....
Hand cream!?
"Psycho." Little Bai offered an evaluation of Mo Bai at the appropriate time.
Leaving aside Mo Bai's wild imagination for the moment, Yukikawa Shiratori arrived next to the Platinum King Crab. Once again disregarding the hard ice, she snapped off one of the Platinum King Crab's legs.
"The Platinum King Crab hasn't mutated much compared to ordinary King Crabs, only the sharp spikes on its shell carry a toxin that paralyzes prey. When cleaning, you need to use alternating hot and cold methods to strip it clean."
While speaking, Yukikawa Shiratori scorched the Platinum King Crab over the fire, then immediately slashed down with a hand emitting cold air, causing the spikes to shatter and fall to the ground.
Using her hand knife to break open the crab leg's shell, Yukikawa Shiratori then placed it on the wire mesh to roast.
"Please."
Mo Bai once again felt the shock brought by the Dream Ingredients. The marvelous texture of the elastic crab leg shattering upon chewing and the overwhelming sweetness left an endless aftertaste.
"Finally, the Hell Ice Bass." Yukikawa Shiratori's expression showed a rare fluctuation, becoming full of solemnity.
She carefully extended her hand into the cold ice, her tone no longer as relaxed as before, resembling someone psyching themselves up.
"The formation of the Ice Continent depends entirely on a marine creature called the Ice Worm. They devour the corpses and waste of other marine creatures in the Inner World, converting them into cold air as a self-defense mechanism to prevent being eaten by other marine creatures."
"However, there is one specific group that particularly loves to devour Ice Worms. This is the Hell Ice Bass."
"The origin of the Hell Ice Bass's name is not the Ice Continent, which is also known as the Ice Hell, but rather—having devoured Ice Worms and hidden the cold air within its body, its temperature is as low as a freezing hell."
Yukikawa Shiratori's hand suddenly thrust forward and retracted, and a piece of snow-white fish meat landed on the cooking station's cutting board.
Instantly, a large block of hard ice condensed on the cooking station.
Yukikawa Shiratori opened her mouth slightly and exhaled a puff of white breath.
"The Hell Ice Bass is not only a Dream Ingredient but also a special cooking ingredient that requires special handling."
"The best solution is to use a special pot to force out the cold air inside the Hell Ice Bass through continuous steaming."
"Once completed, its meat is as fine and tender as fine snow melting on the tip of the tongue."
"But if the time is off by even a second, the entire Hell Ice Bass will turn into a puddle of tasteless liquid."
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