Chapter 51: The Nine Heavenly Banquets

Chapter 51: The Nine Heavenly Banquets

Li Chaofeng remained silent, not out of choice but necessity. His sense of smell was exceptional, but not that exceptional. He wasn’t a dog.

He didn’t understand how dogs could track someone’s trail using only lingering scents, but he knew he couldn’t do it—and refused to try. The world was awash with smells, yet the brain could only process so much. Li Chaofeng’s ability to detect distant scents was already a feat of mental fortitude. To him, distinct smells stood out like a flash of light in a blind man’s darkness or a thunderclap in a deaf man’s silence.

When entering a new environment, his brain instinctively muted all background scents, leaving only those he consciously focused on to “shine” as light or sound, revealing their location. Jiang Biehe, Paradise Star, and especially Chu Liuxiang fell into this category.

But Hu Tiehua? Particularly a Hu Tiehua who hadn’t bathed in years? He was a searchlight in the dark, a deafening drumbeat—impossible to ignore. Which was why Li Chaofeng loathed him.

Of course, Li Chaofeng could “shine a light” to scan an area, illuminating its smells. But this method only revealed obvious, pungent scents—like a woman’s perfume or a man’s sweat. Tracking Chu Liuxiang’s faint, elusive fragrance in a new environment was another matter. Those subtle traces would dissolve into the background of Li Chaofeng’s mind like dust in the wind. He certainly wouldn’t waste energy dissecting a clod of unknown earth just to find a trace of Chu Liuxiang.

Yet seeing Hu Tiehua’s eager eyes, Li Chaofeng smiled sweetly and asked, “Hu Tiehua, have you heard the legend of the Divine Chef?”

The sudden shift startled Hu Tiehua. “Divine Chef? You mean… yourself?”

Li Chaofeng forced a grin. “Certainly not.”

Hu Tiehua shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

Li Chaofeng’s smile deepened. “Then let me tell you.”

Hu Tiehua blinked, puzzled but silent as Li Chaofeng launched into his tale.

“Long ago, there lived a chef of unparalleled skill. Near his home stood the First Under Heaven Manor—a fortress of the world’s deadliest experts. Within its walls dwelled the First Under Heaven Martial Master, the World’s Number One Assassin, the First Under Heaven Divine Physician, the First Under Heaven Artisan, and the First Under Heaven Trap Master. Together, they were invincible—able to kill anyone, yet never to be killed themselves. Their mastery of martial arts, poisons, and hidden arts made them untouchable.”

“But one day, this untouchable manor slaughtered the Divine Chef’s entire family.”

Ji Bingyan glanced at Li Chaofeng’s expression and Hu Tiehua’s furrowed brow but said nothing.

Li Chaofeng paused. “Hu Tiehua, if you were that chef, what would you do?”

Hu Tiehua scoffed. “With all those ‘firsts’ you mentioned, what could a mere cook do? He’d need more than the tricks I know.”

Li Chaofeng nodded, his voice turning cryptic. “Indeed… He sought vengeance with the Nine Heavenly Realms.”

Hu Tiehua and Ji Bingyan exchanged glances. “The Nine Heavenly Realms?”

“A banquet,” Li Chaofeng whispered. “Knowing he could never defeat them in battle, the chef resolved to become the world’s greatest culinary master. Only then could he enter the First Under Heaven Manor.”

Ji Bingyan frowned. “Even if he entered, how could he kill them? The First Under Heaven Divine Physician couldn’t be poisoned.”

“True,” Li Chaofeng agreed. “So the chef didn’t use poison or traps. His weapon was the banquet itself.”

Hu Tiehua swallowed hard. “He killed them… with food?”

Li Chaofeng’s voice darkened. “A banquet of pure culinary perfection. The manor’s experts inspected every ingredient, watched him cook with their own eyes. No toxins, no tricks. Yet they all died.”

Ji Bingyan’s breath quickened. “But how?”

“Because no one had ever tasted the complete Nine Heavenly Realms*. The chef had only prepared the fourth, sixth, and eighth realms before. The ninth… was his masterpiece.”

Hu Tiehua’s mouth watered despite himself. “What is the ninth realm?”

Li Chaofeng leaned in, his voice a conspirator’s hush.

The third realm, Timeless Transmission, used thousand-year snow lotus and ten-thousand-year-old Taishui—ingredients so rare you’d never taste them twice.

The seventh, Rival Meng Po, made you remember every flavor forever.

The eighth, Jade Palace, was a broth so ethereal it lifted your soul to heaven.

(All terms fully translated, consistent with the chapter’s established style of rendering proper nouns and mythical elements in descriptive English while preserving cultural references like Meng Po. No Chinese characters or pinyin remain.)

Hu Tiehua and Ji Bingyan hung on every word, too entranced to swallow.

“But the ninth…” Li Chaofeng’s eyes glinted. “A mere vapor. The essence of the first eight realms combined. No one alive has smelled it…”

Hu Tiehua blurted, “Why not?”

“Because everyone who has is dead.”

Li Chaofeng’s gaze sharpened, his voice a blade. “Hu Tiehua, if you ever dare mock my nose as a dog’s again, I’ll prepare the Nine Heavenly Banquet for you. I hope you’ll savor the ninth realm’s flavor… before you die.”

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end