Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 358: The Start of Buddhism’s Dharma Banquet
Upon hearing that Chen Nuo had important matters, the Three Demons speculated that Chen Nuo might be researching new dishes again and quickly stood up along with Tian Peng, simply reiterating a few phrases of loyalty before leaving.
With those people gone, Chen Nuo felt his ears were a lot clearer, and he started to think about the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
The Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was an extremely high-grade dish. Initially, he just thought about laying a foundation for them, but Chen Nuo didn’t expect the Awakening chance of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to be so high, with four out of four people Awakening after eating it.
He didn’t dare to speak recklessly before, only thinking that Tian Peng had the best comprehension and cultivation among them, and it would be good enough if he alone had an Awakening. He never expected all of them to actually awaken their Divine Skills.
Chen Nuo knocked on the system, "System, can you check the probability of Awakening Divine Skills from eating Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?"
"Please wait, checking now," the system’s cold mechanical voice responded.
After a ’ding’ sound, the system said, "Answering the host, the probability of Awakening Divine Skills from Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is eighty-five percent, with the eaters’ own spiritual power cultivation and comprehension providing up to an additional fifteen percent."
"So high?"
Chen Nuo was a bit surprised; eighty-five percent was already very high. That implied that if the eater had high cultivation, the probability of success could be a hundred percent!
Indeed, you get what you pay for.
It seems that Buddha Jumps Over the Wall might very likely become the premiere dish recommended by the Master of Chaos Residence in the future, and as for the price...
Chen Nuo’s mental calculations were clacking away. With such a high probability of Awakening Divine Skills, he feared that even if the price were higher, the sales volume wouldn’t drop.
However, the important thing right now wasn’t this.
On the Mountain of Mind and Heart, Sun Wukong was arranging the dishes.
Although he was only in charge of the dishes in the main hall, it was no easy task, especially since Buddhism and the Immortal Sect required a separation of meat and vegetarian dishes, making it a tough problem to tackle. Fortunately, Haotian had assigned him several assistants, otherwise, if it weren’t for the specific request from the other side, he wouldn’t even want to cook, just supervise.
As he poured the caramelized sugar over the stir-frying pork belly, the neatly cut meat tumbled in the brown sauce, and even as a half-finished product, the aroma was already wafting out.
The assistant who was chopping vegetables swallowed hard.
The Dharma feast wasn’t a usual banquet, with many great Gods and Buddhas present; who wouldn’t want to showcase themselves in front of everyone? It was unfair that he was assigned to the Imperial Kitchen, but once he started stir-frying, he had no regrets. Sun Wukong’s cooking was truly irresistible; merely smelling it was enough to devour three bowls of white rice, and if he could have just a bite, that would be too much...
"You blockhead, I told you to chop the greens and here you are dozing off."
Sun Wukong slapped the person on the head, "Chop faster, chop faster. Or would you rather replace me, old Sun, in cooking?"
"Chef Wukong, I wouldn’t dare," the man quickly offered a flattering smile. "Even the Food God and Stove God can’t compare to your cooking skills. If you let me do it, my position would surely be at risk."
"If you know that, then hurry up and get on with it!" Sun Wukong took the chopped greens away."Speed it up!"
"Yes, yes."
Ever since Sun Wukong had arrived at the Imperial Kitchen, there hadn’t been a day when it wasn’t bustling, especially today. It wasn’t just the servants assigned to help who had gathered, but also Immortals attracted by the scent of the dishes. The already spacious Imperial Kitchen was now even busier than grateful.
As the appetizers started to be served, all the Little Immortals surrounding the Imperial Kitchen vanished, rushing to the dining tables to grab a bite, fearing they would miss out if they were too late.
As the Imperial Chef, each time Sun Wukong presented a dish to the main hall, he would introduce it along with the dish. Every time, the tables were left spotless; without the menus, it was hard to remember what the previous course had looked like.
Sun Wukong had some contempt for these Immortals, thinking to himself that his cooking wasn’t even half as good as his master’s. He wondered what these people would do if they tasted his master’s cooking; they would probably nibble the plates clean.
But upon further thought, it wasn’t unreasonable that they so enjoyed the dishes he made, after all, his cooking skills were all imparted by his master.
With this in mind, Sun Wukong felt a new sense of pride well up within him, his master was truly formidable.
"This dish is braised pork knuckle."
The main course had now been served, and the guests in the great hall hadn’t slowed down after the previous dishes, they’d actually speeded up instead, for such delicious food needed to be savored extensively now, who knew when the next opportunity would come.
"Sun Wukong inherited his skills from Shopkeeper Chen of Chaos Residence, you’ve tasted Shopkeeper Chen’s cooking much earlier than I have, how do you think Wukong’s cooking compares with Shopkeeper Chen’s?"
Although Master Zhenyuan asked Yang Jian, he didn’t stop eating himself; he too felt something different about the dishes,
but how often could one freely enjoy the cooking of Chaos Residence? Even if the disciple’s cooking was inferior, it couldn’t be bad by any means.
"The pork knuckle’s skin is soft and sticky, melting immediately upon entry, and the meat inside is tender and distinct in its threads, it might not be better than Shopkeeper Chen’s, but this flavor is something others can’t replicate," said Yang Jian, picking up a piece of the pork knuckle and putting it into his mouth.
"That makes sense, what you said is reasonable," Master Zhenyuan agreed with Yang Jian’s assessment.
On the Buddhism side, there were only green vegetables and other vegetarian dishes, and although Chen Nuo intended to use the dish ’Buddha Jumps Over the Wall’ to embarrass the Buddhists, he wasn’t going to skimp on efforts to save their face entirely.
Wheat gluten kneaded from flour and wrapped around chopsticks, then roasted, and sprinkled with seasonings like chili and cumin, rendered the roasted gluten uniquely flavorful.
But as tasty as the roasted gluten was, it couldn’t beat the allure of meat. This side had soy-based products and tofu, that side had all varieties of genuine meat dishes, especially the fragrance exuding from them even before serving had the Buddhists drooling uncontrollably.
Compared with meat dishes, vegetable ones are a bit easier to make. The soy products were also prepared in advance as semi-finished products, so this side was serving dishes quite a bit faster than the other.
Even so, as the dishes were served one after another and they were delicious, the aroma of meat from the other side made them feel even hungrier as they ate.
Especially the braised big pork knuckles that had just been served, one could see from far away how they jiggled along with the servers’ movements, almost causing the Buddhists’ eyeballs to pop out.
But the dish was promptly placed on the immortals’ table instead.
The Buddhists chewed on their soy products, imagining what those braised pork knuckles might taste like...
Would the tender skin of the knuckles tear apart like tofu, or would it be like dried tofu skin?
The vivid strands of meat were similar to the soy patties they just ate, yet observing the immortals eating with greasy lips, one would know the pork knuckle was way more delectable than soy patties and dried tofu skin.
Alas, most of them had never eaten meat, even their imaginations only made them crave it more.
It was too fragrant, simply too fragrant.
Unable to resist any longer, some of the young Buddhists stood up. They didn’t dare to be too conspicuous, just feigned being full and needing to walk off the meal, wandering about close by. In their hearts, they knew they couldn’t break their precepts, but it was enough to take a closer look.
Sun Wukong found the dejected state of the Buddhist disciples rather amusing. Just a braised pork knuckle had them salivating to this extent. Once ’Buddha Jumps Over the Wall’ would be served, perhaps, just like the dish’s name, they would actually leap out and scramble for it.
"Chef, what’s stewing in the pot?"
Having finished the pork knuckle, the God of Cookery came over, lured by the aroma.
"That one is not ready yet, it needs to stew for a few more hours."
