Chapter 438: 4 Star Recipe—Immersed in the Food Realm
"When is Teacher coming back…?"
Ye Lingqing casually made himself a portion of egg fried rice for dinner, then sat in the dining area, eating while quietly muttering to himself.
By now, even the others had gradually learned how to cook egg fried rice. As Qi Han's disciple, with Qi Han's personal guidance, Ye Lingqing had mastered it long ago.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye. Since Qi Han hadn't taught him anything new before leaving, Ye Lingqing spent his mornings helping his master run the breakfast service. During the rest of the day, with nothing much to do, he could only flip through the ingredient compendium or cultivate for a while to pass the time. Before he knew it, it was already the last day of his teacher's leave, yet his teacher still hadn't returned.
"Could he have been delayed on the way?" After finishing his meal and cleaning up the dishes, Ye Lingqing sat back down, propping his chin on his hand as he thought for a moment. Then he shook his head. "Probably not. He'll most likely be back tonight."
After all, his teacher had always kept his promises.
Huh?
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Ye Lingqing suddenly noticed a figure appear outside Han Shi. Seeing that familiar silhouette, he immediately jumped to his feet in delight.
"Teacher's back!"
He jogged over to open the door for Qi Han, then looked him over.
"Teacher, are you done with your business?"
"Yes." Qi Han entered the shop at a brisk pace, still carrying the dust of travel, yet his face held an unmistakable look of anticipation and eagerness. "I'm going upstairs first to take care of something."
With that, he hugged Pururu and hurried upstairs, leaving Ye Lingqing staring after him in confusion.
"Oh, right." Qi Han paused mid-step, only then remembering to check on his disciple. "How has breakfast business been these past few days?"
"No problems at all." A smile spread across Ye Lingqing's face. After five days of successful operations, he was far more confident than before.
"That's good." Qi Han hesitated briefly, then added, "Lingqing, from now on, I'll leave the breakfast business entirely to you."
After saying that, he rushed upstairs in a hurry.
Ye Lingqing: "???"
…
"Ru Yi, you're really not going to tell me in advance what's so special about a 4 Star recipe?" Qi Han reached toward the Peony Fish Fillet, then hesitated and stopped halfway, turning his head to look at Ru Yi beside him.
"It's not that I don't want to tell you." Ru Yi's expression was somewhat strange. "It's just that the teaching method of 4 Star recipes is completely different from that of 3 Star recipes. If you don't experience it yourself, there's no way you'll understand it just from my explanation."
"So advanced?" Qi Han raised an eyebrow, then reached out and activated the Peony Fish Fillet training. "Alright then, I'll just exper—"
His words cut off abruptly.
The moment the Peony Fish Fillet was activated, a burst of white light instantly filled his entire field of vision, followed by a dizzying sensation as the world spun.
From Ru Yi's perspective, however, the scene looked entirely different.
As Qi Han activated the Peony Fish Fillet, the recipe lit up with a dazzling white glow. That light surged forward, instantly engulfing Qi Han, as if swallowing him into the recipe itself. When the glow faded, Qi Han vanished from the system space as well.
Ru Yi quietly watched the scene. Only after Qi Han disappeared did she softly speak:
"4 Star recipe—immersed in the food realm."
"4 Star recipe: Peony Fish Fillet. Food Realm activated."
The pink-and-blue-haired loli waved her hand, and that same white light transformed into a doorway.
She stepped through it at an unhurried pace, while the system space briefly returned to deathly silence.
…
"What's going on? Did I transmigrate again?"
After the dizzy spell passed, Qi Han felt as though he were lying on an unfamiliar bed.
Compared to the futuristic bed provided by Ru Yi, this one was far inferior.
As for why it was only a feeling, it was because he couldn't open his eyes.
It was very strange. He could clearly feel the sensations from every part of his body—he could feel that he was lying flat, feel that his back was resting against a bed that was fairly soft but only average by his standards. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open his eyes to look around, nor could he sit up from the bed.
What was going on?
He clearly remembered that he had just activated the Peony Fish Fillet. He should have entered the training space to train.
"You didn't transmigrate."
A voice sounded in his mind, instantly putting Qi Han at ease.
He was far too familiar with that voice.
"Ru Yi, what exactly is going on?"
"This is precisely the difference between 4 Star recipes and 3 Star recipes," Ru Yi explained in a relaxed tone. "For 3 Star recipes, the creator's remnant soul personally teaches the dish—the instruction comes from a remnant formed from the creator's painstaking efforts. As for 4 Star recipes, their defining feature is immersing oneself in the food realm."
"Because they're even more precious than 3 Star recipes, 4 Star recipes condense the entirety of the creator's life's work. As such, the complete memory of how the creator made the 4 Star recipe is preserved in the form of an illusion, allowing later learners to trace it back to its source. In other words…"
"I'm inside the creator's memories of the Peony Fish Fillet right now?" Qi Han seemed to grasp it.
"Correct. During the immersion into the food realm, your perception temporarily enters the creator's body. That body will only repeat what once happened, so you can't control it yourself. That's completely normal."
So that was how it worked.
Qi Han suddenly understood what state he was in.
But then again, if he was inside the creator's memories… what if the recipe's creator had done something not suitable for children…
"No lewd thoughts allowed!" Sensing Qi Han's train of thought, Ru Yi snapped irritably. "That kind of irrelevant stuff would obviously be skipped!"
Alright then.
Qi Han shrugged.
All things considered, although being inside the creator's body without being able to control it felt like watching a rather special kind of movie, having Ru Yi around to chat with at least kept things from getting boring.
But then again…
This body…
Why hadn't it opened its eyes yet?
"Ru Yi, is the creator of the Peony Fish Fillet asleep?" Qi Han couldn't help but ask.
"Probably… not?" Ru Yi replied uncertainly. "Even though it's a memory, it still has a sense of priority. Some unimportant parts get skipped directly—something like sleeping should definitely be skipped, right?"
"Then what is thi—" Qi Han was about to continue complaining when he suddenly stopped.
There was movement at last!
Creak—
The sound of a wooden door being pushed open slowly reached his ears, and Qi Han immediately fell silent.
How did that saying go again?
The movie is starting—everyone keep quiet!
As the wooden door opened and then gently closed, the sound of footsteps followed. Those footsteps were quite light, as if their owner were worried about disturbing the person lying on the bed.
Clearly, the owner of the footsteps was a woman—after all, the difference between a man's and a woman's footsteps was still rather obvious.
And as the footsteps drew closer, a faint floral fragrance drifted into the body's nose, which Qi Han could sense, further confirming his guess.
Amazing. This was truly the ultimate five-senses immersive viewing experience.
IMAX screens and Dolby sound? Completely inferior!
Qi Han marveled inwardly, then couldn't help but grow curious about the relationship between this woman and the body's owner.
Were they husband and wife? Or relatives?
Or perhaps… something else?
Like a flower-picking female thief and a handsome young gentleman?
Or a lovestruck maiden secretly meeting her lover?
Eh, wait a second…
Was the owner of this body male or female?
He suddenly realized this slightly—but fatally—important question.
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