Chapter Seven: The Temple's Sacred Treasure

Seven days remained before the one-year deadline when Feng Xue received notice that his task had been completed. Yet he did not depart at once, for he was still pondering the so-called perfect completion of the task.

He certainly did not believe that his current state qualified as perfection, though he also had no idea what "perfect" truly meant in this context.

It was not until today that Master Zhou unexpectedly summoned him to the prep table—

"Eh? Master Zhou, you're not asking me to prepare a puffer whale, are you?" Feng Xue eyed the ingredients laid out before him, his expression twisted in bewilderment.

"Yes, that's right. I believe your current progress allows you to handle such high-level ingredients." Master Zhou still wore that fox-like smile. "Your culinary spirit has reached a bottleneck. If you pass this stage, you may challenge the temple's treasure."

"The temple's treasure? You mean the Soap Bubble Fruit?" Feng Xue was momentarily stunned, then a look of wild joy bloomed on his face. Even so, Shilin Temple showed him no hostility.

In just a few months, Feng Xue had learned to maintain a thread of reverence towards all things, whether in joy, anger, sorrow, or delight.

Or rather, the power of gourmet cuisine was immense. In this brief span, Feng Xue had become a bona fide foodie—a true connoisseur.

Frankly, Feng Xue had never prepared a puffer whale, nor even a simple puffer fish. Yet at this moment, an inexplicable intuition seemed to guide his actions. With remarkable composure, he wielded his chef's knife, and in moments, the black-purple poison sac was deftly extracted from the puffer whale's body.

"Perfect!" Master Zhou applauded with that sly, fox-like smile.

...

So hungry, so hungry, so hungry...

An intense hunger overwhelmed Feng Xue's body; he had not eaten for five days.

Generally, those who had mastered the Body Tempering Technique—crossers who could refine their bodies through conceptual means—could last ten days or more without food or water so long as they weren't of a special origin tied to consumption. Even at an uncommon level, they could maintain their condition. But Feng Xue, after only five days, was already at his limit.

He felt as though he was about to starve to death; every cell in his body struggled and yearned for sustenance. Though Feng Xue did not know the cause of this hunger, he could surmise it was a method employed by the Academy.

"Thankful for everything..." Feng Xue sat cross-legged upon a road covered in white foam, focusing all his attention on gratitude. Three days prior, he had ceased advancing, instead adopting this posture to minimize his physical expenditure, but progress eluded him.

Culinary spirit is inherently subjective. Zhenzhen's culinary spirit was never forgetting gratitude; Aru's was thanking all beings for merging with him; Granny Chiyo, when darkened, could achieve similar effects through intimidation. Even the Gray Broth Beast, the Giant Troll, possessed techniques akin to culinary spirit. It seemed gratitude was not strictly necessary.

But Feng Xue no longer had the energy to ponder such matters. He had been in the Shilin Temple instance for three hundred sixty-three days, and the Central Crosser Academy had set a one-year time limit. Now, he was nearly certain: the so-called perfect completion meant tasting the Soap Bubble Fruit.

Yet he could not be sure he would survive the remaining two days.

As his mind and body approached their limits, Feng Xue found his senses unusually acute.

He could hear his heartbeat as if drums were pounding; the touch of the breeze upon his skin was perceptible in minute detail. His body, pressed to the extreme, operated at peak efficiency. At this moment, every cell cooperated as never before. The Body Tempering Technique transformed conceptual strength into immense vitality, pouring it into his blood to sustain his life. Had his metabolism not been optimized by culinary spirit, he would have lost mobility three days ago.

"Not enough, still not enough!" Feng Xue's mind gradually calmed. He entered an imaginary state, and all intangible things around him became part of his perception.

He felt his mind and body separate—his physical being fully understood by his thoughts, yet somehow disconnected, as though he were a spectator observing his own body wasting away from a short distance.

Another day passed. Feng Xue's blood was near boiling; his organs strained to extract energy from the scant nutrients left in his bloodstream. The little fat he had was long gone, and now even the muscles in his limbs were breaking down, forced to nourish his heart, brain, and other vital organs.

"I see now. What I should be most deeply grateful for is this very life!" A new idea appeared in Feng Xue's mind, quickly dominating his thoughts. "Yes, simply being alive is what I should thank the most! Thank you, fate, for letting me arrive in this era I have longed for!"

With this realization, an invisible aura seemed to spread. Colorful soap bubbles drifted from the white foam, settling around Feng Xue.

"Is this... an acknowledgment?" Feng Xue struggled to extend his withered, skeletal hand, grasping a Soap Bubble Fruit. Like an old man about to expire, he trembled as he brought the melon-sized fruit to his lips, using his last bit of strength to draw it into his mouth...

Pop! A refreshing, sweet sensation burst in his mouth, spreading rapidly through his body.

As Feng Xue swallowed the jelly-like fruit, the rich aroma, the springy texture, the incomparable sweetness, the lingering fragrance, and the unique fizz of soda—all began at his tongue, then flowed down his throat... his esophagus... spreading...

Until every cell in his body, shriveled like a mummy, was suffused with vitality.

Though Feng Xue lacked gourmet cells, at this moment every organ in his body revived with remarkable speed, as if forcibly nourished.

This otherworldly sensation was unlike anything Feng Xue had ever experienced—not the tender, exquisite puffer whale sashimi, nor the delightfully chewy egg rice—none compared, not even by a fraction.

If he had to describe it, it felt as if, while enjoying authentic Chongqing hotpot, he poured down a bottle of chilled Sprite—unparalleled stimulation and a coolness that instantly calmed the body.

This texture, this flavor, was exactly what his nearly desiccated body craved... needed...

The feeling was so wondrous that Feng Xue nearly forgot the precarious state of his body, which had become skeletal—like a mummy.

As he continued to consume Soap Bubble Fruits, his body filled out at a visible rate. If he had entered this world with the sub-health status of a sedentary youth (having spent sixteen years as a recluse, with abstract body tempering), now he was a robust, radiant young man with a perfect physique.

"This flavor... truly supreme!" Feng Xue's mind contained only this thought. Then, darkness claimed him, and when he awoke, he found himself lying on a strange bed...

...

"The trial grounds of Shilin Temple are saturated with the laws of consumption. Under these laws, any food is perfectly absorbed, but in exchange, hunger accelerates dozens or hundreds of times. When you returned, your body was full of cells activated by the nutrients of the Soap Bubble Fruit. It was the ideal time to transplant gourmet cells, so the Academy went ahead with the procedure." Xiao He sat by Feng Xue's bed, explaining the situation while peeling an apple. Her eyes, however, remained glued to a small notebook on her lap. Feng Xue glanced at it and realized she was reading her lines verbatim.

"So, the gourmet cell transplant was successful? I haven't turned into a monster, have I?" Feng Xue's face darkened; he recalled the grotesque figures from the original story, all transformed by foreign gourmet cell injections.

"Don't worry. The gourmet cells from Central Crosser Academy are pure samples directly sourced from Gourmet World's Continent Zero. Not even gourmet spirits are present. The abilities you develop depend entirely on the host, with no risk of spirit backlash. Instead, a new gourmet spirit will be generated, matching the host's origin. However, the newborn spirit won't be powerful; its growth depends on how the host cultivates it. Even if awakened, it won't grant a sudden surge of power like in the original, but it will let you access some of your origin's abilities early," Xiao He recited from the manual, her monotone delivery oddly comical.

Feng Xue felt relief.

After all, even without counting Gourmet World, "Toriko" is an epic-level plane; counting Gourmet World, it reaches legendary status—slightly higher than Dragon Ball Z's universe! Even Frieza needed to charge up to destroy a planet, but later, characters who awakened gourmet spirits after eating planet menus could casually destroy earths inflated hundreds of times over. In the setting, gourmet spirits themselves are former universe-dominating lifeforms. If these cells contained spirits, Feng Xue feared he might be possessed outright!

Still, the Academy's methods were questionable. Not only had they sent a mere uncommon-level student to a legendary world for training, they'd performed the cell transplant without his consent, which irked him.

But Xiao He—or rather, the school—seemed prepared. She handed him an agreement, none other than the life-and-death contract he had signed before crossing over. Feng Xue now noticed a clause: rewards for task completion would be administered by the Academy. So that's what "administered" meant...

To this, Feng Xue could only concede: "You win, you call the shots!"

...

The next day, Feng Xue attended school as usual, only to find that of the twenty students in his class, seventeen were absent.

"Eh, didn't you two get the notice?" Xia Mi, ever the old hand, lounged atop the teacher's desk, eyeing Feng Xue and his companion as if they were monkeys.

The other was Mu Qianrou, another special recruit.

"What notice?" Feng Xue scratched his head, but Mu Qianrou suddenly understood and pulled out her student ID to check.

"You got the notice—so why did you come?" Feng Xue didn't rush to check, but instead asked Xia Mi.

"I'm here to see if any fools forgot to read the notice. Sure enough, caught two idiots!" Xia Mi showed no restraint, calling them idiots outright.

"(#`皿')凸!" Feng Xue and Mu Qianrou erupted, joining forces to give Xia Mi a beating.

In terms of wit and potential, Feng Xue couldn't match Xia Mi. But since Xia Mi practiced Dormant Dragon Arts—and before the dragon breaks its shell—a hundred Xia Mi wouldn't be enough to beat Feng Xue!

Afterward, they learned the reason from Xia Mi—

The day off was simple: everyone was home, acclimating to their new enhancements!