The voice faded.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Ren Kai kept his palm against the ancient tablet. Its surface had gone dark again, but he could still feel something beneath the stone.
A heartbeat.
Slow. Steady. Ancient.
Then the system returned.
[Divine Culinary Archive]
Connection Established.
Archive Integrity: 12%.
Available Records: 3.
Restricted Records: 97.
Primary Bloodline: Ancient Chef — Confirmed.
Access Level: Inheritor.
Ren Kai withdrew his hand.
"Three records?"
Lianhua approached the tablet. "What does that mean?"
"Apparently, only three parts of the archive are accessible."
"Can you open them?"
"I don't know."
Luo Xue inspected the surrounding walls.
"Then find out quickly. Whatever caused that tremor may not have been an ordinary reaction."
She was right.
The chamber had become unnaturally quiet. Even the distant whispers of the forest seemed to have disappeared.
Xiao Liu looked up at the ceiling.
"Is the temple supposed to shake like that?"
"No," Ren Kai answered.
"Good. I was worried."
A faint golden line appeared across the tablet.
[Archive Record One: The Origin of Flavor]
Status: Sealed.
[Archive Record Two: The First Hearth]
Status: Partially Accessible.
[Archive Record Three: The Last Recipe]
Status: Restricted.
Ren Kai studied the names.
The Origin of Flavor.
The First Hearth.
The Last Recipe.
The third title made him uneasy.
"Can you tell us what these records contain?" Lianhua asked.
The system responded before he could.
[Insufficient Archive Integrity.]
Additional Requirement: Restore ancestral records through recovered memories and culinary principles.
Ren Kai sighed.
"Of course."
Xiao Liu leaned closer.
"Does that mean we have to cook more?"
"Probably."
The boy looked disappointed.
"I thought we'd finished the trials."
"We have."
"Then why does everything still need cooking?"
Ren Kai glanced at him.
"Because we're cooks."
Xiao Liu considered that answer.
"Fair enough."
The tablet began to glow.
A narrow compartment opened beneath its base, revealing a small rectangular stone.
It was no larger than Ren Kai's palm. Unlike the tablet, its surface was smooth and pale, with a single golden grain carved into the center.
Ren Kai picked it up.
[Ancient Archive Key Detected]
Name: Grain of Origin.
Classification: Divine Heritage.
Condition: Dormant.
Function: Unknown.
The grain-shaped carving warmed beneath his thumb.
Then a voice emerged.
Not the voice of the archive.
A woman's voice.
"The first ingredient was never the rice."
Ren Kai froze.
The voice continued.
"It was the hunger that brought people to the table."
A flash of light filled the chamber.
He stood in a kitchen.
Not the white-stone kitchen from his earlier memories.
This place was different.
It had no walls, no ceiling, and no visible floor. Only a vast darkness stretching in every direction.
At its centre stood a wooden table.
A single bowl rested upon it.
A woman stood beside the table.
Her face was hidden by the light.
Ren Kai tried to approach.
"Who are you?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she placed a handful of ordinary rice into the bowl.
No spiritual energy.
No rare ingredients.
No elaborate preparation.
Just rice.
Then she added water.
A small flame appeared beneath the bowl.
The rice began to cook.
Ren Kai watched.
Something about the process felt familiar.
The woman stirred once, then placed the spoon aside.
When the food was ready, she carried the bowl to the other side of the table.
A small child sat there.
The child looked thin and exhausted.
The woman placed the meal before him.
"Eat."
The child stared at the bowl.
"Is it special?"
The woman smiled.
"No."
"Will it make me stronger?"
"Perhaps."
"Will it make me important?"
She laughed softly.
"No."
The child frowned.
"Then why did you make it?"
The woman knelt beside him.
"Because you were hungry."
The child took a spoonful.
The darkness trembled.
A golden light spread through the kitchen.
Then the vision shattered.
Ren Kai stumbled backward.
Luo Xue caught his arm.
"What's wrong?"
He took a breath.
"A memory."
"From the tablet?"
He nodded.
Lianhua looked at the stone in his hand.
"Did you recognize the woman?"
"No. I couldn't see her face."
"What did she show you?"
Ren Kai looked down at the Grain of Origin.
"A bowl of ordinary rice."
Xiao Liu frowned.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
The boy looked at the tablet.
"Then why did it need to show you something you already know?"
Ren Kai didn't answer.
He was still thinking about the woman's words.
The first ingredient was never the rice.
It was the hunger that brought people to the table.
He opened the system.
[Memory Fragment Recorded]
Subject: The First Meal.
Classification: Ancient Culinary Memory.
Integrity: 1%.
Insight: The Origin of Flavor.
Archive Progress: 12% → 13%.
New Information: The earliest culinary techniques were developed through the intent to nourish, not the pursuit of cultivation.
Ren Kai stared at the notification.
One percent.
A single memory had restored only one percent of the archive.
He looked at the stone again.
Perhaps the archive wasn't meant to be unlocked through cultivation rank or bloodline alone.
It needed memories.
Experiences.
Proof that he understood the principles behind the recipes.
"Ren Kai," Lianhua said.
He looked up.
"Your hand."
A golden mark had appeared on his palm.
It resembled the carved grain.
The mark pulsed once before sinking beneath his skin.
[New Passive Trait Acquired]
Name: Origin Recognition.
Effect: Allows the host to sense the original purpose of certain ancient recipes and culinary relics.
Limitation: Recognition does not guarantee understanding or successful execution.
Ren Kai flexed his fingers.
"Another ability."
Luo Xue folded her arms.
"Useful?"
"Potentially."
"That's not reassuring."
"Most of the things this system gives me come with conditions."
Xiao Liu nodded solemnly.
"Like free food that makes you explode."
Ren Kai looked at him.
"That's not happened yet."
"Yet?"
Lianhua laughed.
For a brief moment, the tension eased.
Then the tablet flashed red.
[WARNING]
External Presence Detected.
Origin: Unknown.
Resonance: Alchemical.
Archive Security: Compromised.
Ren Kai's smile disappeared.
Luo Xue immediately drew her sword.
"Where?"
The tablet's golden lines began to distort.
A black mark spread across its surface, resembling a stain seeping through paper.
The system produced another warning.
[Foreign Intent Detected]
Classification: Memory Corruption.
Source: External interference.
Threat Level: Unconfirmed.
Lianhua's pendant burned brightly.
"That's the same feeling."
Ren Kai looked at her.
"The Poison Chef?"
"I don't know. But when he used that porridge, the air felt like this."
A low vibration travelled through the chamber.
The black stain widened.
Then a voice emerged from the tablet.
"So the archive still remembers."
Luo Xue moved in front of Lianhua and Xiao Liu.
"Show yourself."
A faint silhouette appeared within the black stain.
It was only an outline.
A tall figure wearing a crown.
The same figure Ren Kai had seen in the vision.
"The First Kitchen. The Origin of Flavor. How long it has been..."
Ren Kai stepped forward.
"Are you the Alchemy Emperor?"
The silhouette laughed.
"Names are useful things. They allow lesser beings to believe they understand what stands before them."
"That's not an answer."
"And you are impatient."
The black stain spread toward the edges of the tablet.
Ren Kai felt a cold pressure against his chest.
The Elder Yun jade token grew warm.
Then the pressure weakened.
[Bloodline Concealment Activated]
Foreign Detection: Partially Blocked.
Warning: Concealment effectiveness declining.
Luo Xue tightened her grip on her sword.
"Ren Kai, step away from the tablet."
He didn't move.
"Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head.
"A man who has spent centuries correcting the mistakes of his predecessors."
"By hunting Ancient Chefs?"
"By preventing another catastrophe."
Lianhua stepped forward.
"You destroyed our lineage."
The figure turned toward her.
For a moment, the silhouette became clearer.
"Ah. The daughter of the Last Chef."
Lianhua's hand closed around her pendant.
"Your mother was a sentimental woman. She believed the world could be saved by feeding it."
"Don't speak about her."
"She made the same mistake as all the others. She believed that sharing power would make people better."
The voice became colder.
"Power does not make people better. It reveals what they already are."
Ren Kai felt anger rise within him.
"Then why are you afraid of people sharing it?"
Silence.
For the first time, the figure didn't answer immediately.
Then it laughed.
"You mistake caution for fear, little cook."
The tablet shuddered.
"You have opened a door that should have remained closed."
The black stain surged.
A wave of corruption rushed across the stone.
Ren Kai's system screamed.
[Emergency Archive Protection]
Foreign Intent Attempting to Overwrite Memory.
Recommended Action: Sever the connection.
Ren Kai pulled his hand away.
The corruption continued spreading.
"How do we stop it?" Lianhua shouted.
Ren Kai looked at the tablet.
The Grain of Origin pulsed in his palm.
He understood.
The corruption wasn't attacking the stone.
It was trying to rewrite the memory stored inside it.
He activated Origin Recognition.
The system displayed fragments of the ancient record.
Original Purpose: Preserve culinary memory.
Corrupted Intent: Possess and consume culinary memory.
Conflict Detected.
He remembered the first kitchen.
The ordinary rice.
The hungry child.
The woman who had cooked without expecting power, recognition, or reward.
He placed the Grain of Origin against the tablet.
"You're not taking this."
The silhouette turned toward him.
"You cannot protect what you do not understand."
"Maybe not."
Golden light began to spread beneath Ren Kai's palm.
"But I know what this memory means."
He closed his eyes.
He thought of the first bowl he had cooked.
The one that had changed his life.
He remembered how frightened he had been when the system awakened.
How he had wanted to become strong enough that nobody could hurt him again.
Then he remembered the first child who came to his stall.
Three copper.
A hungry stomach.
A bowl of rice.
He remembered Xiao Liu.
Lianhua.
Luo Xue.
All the people who had sat across from him.
He remembered that he had never cooked alone.
The Grain of Origin burned.
[Intent Cooking Lv.2 Activated]
Target: Divine Culinary Archive.
Resonance: 13%.
Foreign Intent: Repelled.
The golden lines spread across the tablet.
The black stain recoiled.
The silhouette flickered.
"Interesting."
Ren Kai pushed more intent into the stone.
He didn't force the archive to obey him.
He offered it the memory.
The memory of a meal freely given.
A meal that had asked for nothing in return.
The black stain cracked.
Then shattered.
A violent pulse swept through the chamber.
Luo Xue shielded Xiao Liu.
Lianhua's pendant flashed.
The silhouette vanished.
But its final words remained.
"I will see you at the summit, little cook."
Silence returned.
Ren Kai's hand slipped from the tablet.
He staggered.
Luo Xue caught his shoulder.
"Are you injured?"
"No."
"Don't lie."
He took a breath.
"My Qi is almost gone. But I'm alright."
Lianhua examined the tablet.
The black corruption had disappeared.
The golden lines were dim, but stable.
"The archive survived."
Ren Kai nodded.
"Just barely."
Xiao Liu peered around Luo Xue.
"Was that really the Alchemy Emperor?"
Ren Kai looked at the place where the silhouette had appeared.
"I think so."
"Does that mean he knows where we are?"
"Probably."
Xiao Liu swallowed.
"Then perhaps we should leave."
For once, Ren Kai agreed immediately.
"Yes. We should."
The system chimed.
[Archive Defense Successful]
Foreign Intent: Repelled.
Memory Integrity: Preserved.
Archive Integrity: 13%.
New Record Unlocked: The First Meal.
Reward: Origin Recognition — Passive Trait.
Additional Information: External presence has identified the archive's awakening.
Threat Advisory: Grand Alchemy Summit — Three months remaining.
Ren Kai read the final line twice.
Three months.
The Poison Chef had already promised to meet him there.
Now the Alchemy Emperor had made the same promise.
The summit was no longer simply a political gathering or a competition.
It was becoming the place where the hidden history of the Ancient Chefs would collide with the people determined to erase it.
The tablet began to open again.
A narrow drawer slid out from its base.
Inside rested a small bundle wrapped in faded cloth.
Ren Kai approached cautiously.
The system scanned it.
[Ancient Record Retrieved]
Item: The First Kitchen's Ledger.
Classification: Ancient Chef Archive.
Condition: Fragmentary.
Contents: Recipes, ingredient records, and references to the earliest culinary cultivation methods.
Restriction: Several entries remain sealed.
Ren Kai unwrapped the bundle.
Inside was a thin book.
Its pages were yellowed, but the writing remained clear.
The first page contained a simple recipe.
Plain Rice Porridge.
No grade.
No cultivation requirement.
No rare ingredients.
Just rice, water, and a little salt.
Beneath it was a note.
"The first dish is not the one that makes you powerful. It is the one that reminds you why you began."
Ren Kai traced the writing.
His mother's words returned to him.
Hands that remember.
He closed the ledger carefully.
Lianhua watched him.
"Do you know what it means?"
"I think I'm beginning to."
He placed the ledger inside his storage pouch.
Then the system displayed one final notification.
[New Quest: THE FIRST KITCHEN]
Objective: Discover the location of the original Ancient Chef kitchen.
Clue: Find the one who remembers the first flame.
Reward: Access to the next Divine Recipe record.
Time Limit: None.
Ren Kai looked at the others.
"Find the one who remembers the first flame."
Luo Xue frowned.
"Another guardian?"
"Maybe."
Lianhua touched her pendant.
"My mother's memory mentioned someone who remembers the first kitchen."
Ren Kai nodded.
"Then the two clues may be connected."
Xiao Liu looked toward the doorway.
"Can we find that person somewhere that isn't underground?"
Ren Kai smiled.
"I'll see what I can do."
They left the tablet chamber through a narrow passage.
The golden light behind them dimmed as the archive returned to its dormant state.
At the entrance, Ren Kai looked back.
He had come to the Chef Temple seeking the first Divine Recipe fragment.
Instead, he had discovered a history that was far more complicated than he expected.
The Ancient Chefs hadn't simply been powerful cooks.
They had built something.
A civilization.
A way of cultivating that connected people rather than separating them.
And someone had decided that such a world could not be allowed to exist.
Ren Kai tightened the strap of his storage pouch.
He carried a fragment of the archive, a ledger, a dormant ember, and memories that were not entirely his.
But he still had much to learn.
"Let's go."
They stepped into the passage.
Behind them, the tablet pulsed once.
A final line appeared on its surface.
"The first kitchen remembers every hand that has ever cooked within it."
Far away, inside a palace surrounded by towering furnaces, a man stood before a wall of suspended jade tablets.
One of them had just cracked.
The man wore a dark imperial robe embroidered with golden flames. His hair was silver, and his face appeared neither young nor old.
He lifted one hand.
A servant approached and knelt.
"Your Majesty."
The man examined the broken tablet.
"An archive has awakened."
The servant lowered his head.
"Shall we dispatch the Guild?"
"No."
The Emperor's fingers closed around the broken jade.
"Send word to the Poison Chef."
"At once, Your Majesty."
The servant hesitated.
"Should we retrieve the inheritor?"
The Emperor looked toward the distant horizon.
"No."
His expression remained calm.
"Let him find the first kitchen."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"When he discovers what the Ancient Chefs buried there, he will understand why they had to disappear."
The broken tablet turned to dust in his hand.
"And then we shall see whether he still wishes to cook."