Chapter 153.5: Mengfei's Cooking

Mengfei looked around her, her face expressionless but confusion evident within her eyes. She was standing inside the kitchen of Jade Peak Palace, but as she longer ate anything, the kitchen was little more than an accessory. Aside from Tianyi and Daoyi, no one else lived in Jade Peak Palace, and neither used it either. It would not be wrong to say this was the first time Mengfei stepped into Jade Peak Palace's kitchen.

To deepen the relationship between her and Tianyi, Mengfei decided to strike while the iron was hot and cook a feast in celebration of Tianyi moving back into Jade Peak Palace. Her idea was beautiful, but reality was a cruel mistress.

Upon walking to the kitchen, Mengfei realized the first issue. She had never cooked in her life. Even as an unfavored princess of the Xi Dynasty, Mengfei never had to do any manual labor.

The next day, Mengfei returned after memorizing several recipes.

Mengfei condensed a crystalline sword and prepared to slice the ingredients, and paused. She realized she hadn't prepared any ingredients. Dispersing the sword in her hand, Mengfei walked out of the kitchen and flew to the sub hall responsible for agriculture.

The head elder of the Sub Hall of Agriculture was an ordinary immortal who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, but even someone as experienced as he was stunned silly by Mengfei's request.

Just what did she mean by "I want all the ingredients necessary for a feast."

Did she think that he was a dealer in meats and vegetables? Yes, he was the head elder of the Sub Hall of Agriculture, but that didn't mean he dealt in livestock. Rather than food, he was more responsible for the farming of valuable herbs and materials used in pills and forging artifacts, and rearing monsters to become spiritual beasts.

"Grand Elder, I am not in charge of such matters. Perhaps you can visit the Head Elder of the Rites Hall. As the hall responsible for receiving guests, they are the ones who deal with immortal chefs."

Hearing this, Mengfei nodded and flew towards Rites Hall, allowing the head elder of the Sub Hall of Agriculture to sigh in relief. He had long given up on entering the Seamless Immortal Realm and just wanted to pass his days and watch over his descendants.

Over at the Rites Hall, the head elder was furrowing his brows upon hearing Mengfei's request. He had thought something huge had happened for the reclusive Grand Elder Xi to visit him, but it turned out it was just a minor matter. In the end, the head elder of the Rites Hall summoned a subordinate to help Mengfei gather the ingredients she wanted.

After numerous twists and turns that tired out the immortal aiding her, Mengfei finally returned to Jade Peak Palace. It was already the fourth day since Mengfei decided to cook for Tianyi that she was able to start cooking, but her troubles weren't over.

First, her condensed sword was too sharp, so she literally sliced through the cutting board and into the table. Second, she literally evaporated all the oil and water in the wok. Third, she absolutely had no talent in art. When Mengfei was finally done after hours of attempts, the table was filled with plates full of black objects shaped like food. 

Mengfei visibly frowned. The last time she had eaten was due to her brother during her stay at the Xi Dynasty, but she vividly recalled that food was not something to look black. Did she do something wrong? 

She recalled following the instructions to a t, so why did it look so different? She only altered the recipes slightly, such as replacing the salt with ground spirit stone dust or replacing the cooking fire with Nether True Fire to intensify the density of spiritual qi in the food. Mengfei decided that the looks didn't matter, taste was king.

Although...

Mengfei waved her sleeve, and the food instantly became something out of a painting. The roasted bird had crispy brown skin and was oozing fat, the porridge was a milky white and full of a variety of diced ingredients, the stirfried vegetables looked verdant and fresh while glimmering under the light, and much much more. The food finally looked worthy of the beautiful blue and white porcelain Mengfei used to plate them. 

Finally satisfied, Mengfei waved her hand and summoned all the dishes to the dining room of her yard. Afterward, Mengfei used her immortal sense to summon Tianyi for dinner.

"Mother," Tianyi started out, his voice exasperated. He wasn't exasperated by the sheer amount of food Mengfei had presented since cultivators could eat their weight several times over. No, Tianyi was exasperated by the time Mengfei summoned him.

It was about five o'clock in the morning. 

"Where did you get this? It all looks very delicious." Tianyi sighed and sat down. Sometimes, he couldn't understand his mother at all.

The corner of Mengfei's lips twitched upwards as she heard Tianyi's words. "I cooked."

Tianyi's body stilled as he processed his mother's words. He looked at the table of beautiful dishes, then at his mother, then at the table, then at his mother. The disbelief was evident in his actions, but after regaining his calm, he said. "I didn't know you were such a good cook."

Mengfei basked in Tianyi's praise. "Speak less, eat more." Mengfei filled a bowl of white rice for Tianyi before making herself one. 

"Then I'll dig in," Tianyi said as his chopsticks reached for a spare rib. Upon bringing it to his rice bowl, he stilled as he noticed something wrong. Although all the dishes looked delicious, there was no fragrance at all!

Seeing Tianyi freeze, Mengfei asked, "Is something wrong?"

Meeting his mother's expectant eyes, Tianyi forced a smile and bit into the ribs. It was like an explosion had gone off in his mouth. No, it was quite literally an explosion of qi. If he didn't have his cosmos martial body, he didn't doubt that his mouth would have exploded from the released qi.

Furthermore, the ribs dissolved inside his mouth and tasted like ash. Even the bones dissolved!

"Is it not good?" Mengfei asked, her brows slightly furrowed upon seeing Tianyi freeze after taking a single bite.

"It's..." Tianyi originally wanted to that the food was delicious, but there was no way he could speak such a bald-faced lie. "beneficial for my cultivation. The qi within the food is really dense." 

Tianyi finally managed to squeeze out with a strained smile. He directly swallowed the rest of the rib and sent it inside his inner cosmos to be directly absorbed. The amount of qi within the rib was so vast that even he was surprised. If it was an ordinary nascent soul grandmaster, they might've exploded trying to absorb all the qi contained. 

Mengfei delicately picked up some vegetables and placed them into her mouth, and froze. She didn't go as far as to spit out the food, but she couldn't chew anymore and had to force herself to swallow the rest of the food. Then she placed her bowl of rice and chopsticks back onto the table. "It's not very good."

"Ahahaha," Tianyi nervously chuckled. He picked a mouthful of rice with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth. Each grain of rice resembled a white jewel and shimmered under the candlelight. How hard can you screw up rice, anyways?

CRACK CRACK CRACK

It turned out very badly. The rice didn't just resemble white jade. In fact, it was made out of jade. Mengfei had literally used jade pellets instead of actual rice. Tianyi also placed his bowl on the table after this.

An awkward silence descended onto the two. 

"Next time, I'll cook better," Mengfei said.

"No, no, why are you cooking anyways? You don't have to." Tianyi said hurriedly. He didn't want to experience his mother's unique cooking for a second time. 

Although Mengfei's expression didn't change at all, the air around her became sullen. "I just wanted to cook something to share, between mother and son."

"Then how about I cook? You already cooked this meal, how about I cook the next one? Let me be filial to you." Tianyi quickly suggested, fearful of being rejected. The more he said, the more he thought it was a good idea. "I don't have the strength to help you. At least let me cook for you."

"Alright," Mengfei said, her heart moved at the thought of tasting Tianyi's dishes. Even if it was a worse disaster than her dishes, her heart fluttered excitement and anticipation at tasting Tianyi's personally cooked meals. 

Mengfei picked up the bowl of rice once more and forced herself to eat. Although the food turned out to be a disaster, food was still food. Mengfei didn't want to be wasteful. Although she never had to cook for herself at the palace, that didn't mean that she hadn't been starved before. Such was the fate of a neglected princess. Plus, the material she used for the feast would make many immortals green with envy and rebuke her for being so wasteful.

Tianyi saw this and grimaced. He didn't expect Mengfei to continue eating, even with how horrible all this was. Picking up his bowl of rice and chopsticks, he also devoured the food, literally. Once the food entered his mouth, Tianyi directly teleported it into his inner cosmos to be broken down. 

Hidden by her bowl of rice, Mengfei's lips quirked upward into a smile. Although the process wasn't as she imagined or wanted, the outcome turned out delightful.