The sudden, ignominious expulsion of Elder Dark-Bone from the Chaos Diner sent a terrifying tremor through the shadow-laden corridors of the Seven-Sect Unholy Coalition.
Within forty-eight hours of the incident on Imperial Grand Avenue, the patriarchs of the nine major unorthodox factions—ranging from the Blood-Siphon Pavilion to the Bone-Refining Sect—assembled at the peak of Mount Crimson-Gloom. Seated inside the obsidian hall of the Nine-Underworlds Soul Sect, nine ancient powerhouses sat shrouded in thick, swirling mists of toxic Qi.
At the center of the hall sat Grand Ancestor Ghost-Heaven, a monster who had lived for over four centuries and possessed a terrifying Foundation Establishment Stage 9 (Peak) cultivation.
"Absurd! Utterly absurd!" roared Patriarch Blood-Moon, a crimson-bearded man whose eyes burned like twin pits of hellfire. "A mere boy in the Qi Condensation realm forced Dark-Bone to his knees with a single glance?! Dark-Bone is a Stage 7 Foundation powerhouse! Did his brain rot from drinking too many medicinal broth leftovers?!"
"Patriarch Blood-Moon, mind your tongue!" Elder Dark-Bone rasped from his wheelchair at the base of the dais, his face pale and his meridians still twitching with lingering Chaos Qi trauma. "The boy's Qi... it is not human. It does not belong to any known martial lineage or ancient Daoist doctrine. The moment his domain opened, my Stage 7 Dantian felt like a speck of dust standing before a collapsing star! If you go there with simple brute force, you will only become another ingredient in his skillet!"
Silence fell over the obsidian hall. The nine patriarchs exchanged dark, calculating glances.
"If brute force is ineffective within his domain, then we shall strike at his foundation," Grand Ancestor Ghost-Heaven spoke, his voice like grinding gravestones. "The boy relies on high-grade spirit ingredients to fuel his dishes and maintain his reputation. Without rare spirit beast meats, thousand-year medicinal herbs, and pure spring water, his 'Chaos Diner' is nothing more than a empty shell."
Ghost-Heaven’s pale, skeleton-like hand gripped the armrest of his bone throne.
"Issue the Nine-Peaks Isolation Decree," Ghost-Heaven commanded coldly. "Block every merchant route leading into the Imperial Capital. Seize every shipment of spirit livestock, confiscate all herb harvests from the local trading guilds, and execute any merchant caught selling so much as a single clove of spirit garlic to the Xiao Clan. Let us see how long his arrogant diner survives when his pantries are completely bare."
Three days later, the morning sun rose over the Imperial Capital, casting a pale golden hue across the quiet cobblestones of Imperial Grand Avenue.
Inside the rear prep kitchen of the Chaos Diner, the atmosphere was unusually subdued. The six junior apprentices stood in a neat row, their heads bowed nervously, while Ling Yue stood beside the central storage rack holding an empty bamboo clip-board.
Leo walked into the pantry, his charcoal black chef's tunic neatly pressed, holding a wooden spoon in one hand and his trusty notebook in the other. He glanced at the empty cold-storage array where the marbled spirit boar meat and Nine-Color ducks were usually kept.
"Report, Senior Sister," Leo said, his tone light and calm, though his dark eyes held a sharp, analytical glint.
Ling Yue sighed softly, her slender fingers tracing the edge of her sword hilt. "The Seven-Sect Coalition executed a total economic blockade yesterday at midnight. All four major trade gates entering the Capital have been intercepted by their inner disciples. The Grand Merchant Guild of the Sunfall Empire was forced to cancel our standing orders for spirit beef, rare poultry, and high-grade spring water under threat of extermination."
"A supply chain blockade," Leo mused, leaning his hip against the polished ironwood counter. "Classic corporate sabotage. Cut off the raw materials, starve the operational pipeline, and choke out the cash flow. It's almost cute."
"Leo, this is serious," Ling Yue warned, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. "We only have enough basic ingredients left for three tables. The crowd outside is already five hundred deep. If we turn them away today, the news of our supply shortage will spread across the province, and the Coalition will use the opportunity to claim our business has collapsed!"
Apprentice Li stepped forward, trembling slightly. "Head... Head Chef! Should we send a armed squad from the Xiao Clan main branch to escort the supply wagons through the blockade?"
"And start a bloody battle right outside the city gates?" Leo chuckled, shaking his head. "Bad PR. Customers don't like blood on their delivery crates. Besides, why spend energy fighting over overpriced, low-grade spirit meat from local merchants when we can just harvest better ingredients ourselves?"
Ling Yue blinked in confusion. "Harvest ourselves? Where? Every spirit beast forest within five hundred miles is controlled by the Coalition!"
Leo didn't answer right away. Instead, he opened his System interface inside his mind.
[CURRENT HOST STATUS]
Host Name: Leo Miller (Xiao Long)
Realm: Qi Condensation Stage 9 (Peak)
System Points (SP): 3,920
Active Quest: Break the Blockade
Quest Objective: Serve a feast to 1,000 patrons using zero traditional merchant supplies.
Reward: +10,000 SP, Unlocks [Golden Core Breakthrough Pill Recipe (Culinary Grade)], Title: [Master of Infinite Harvest]
Leo scrolled down to the System Shop's spatial tab, his grin widening with every second.
"System," Leo commanded. "Purchase the [Spatial Pinhole Fishery & Botanical Incubator] extension for the rear courtyard kitchen!"
[PING!]
[3,000 System Points Deducted! Remaining SP: 920]
[Spatial Kitchen Extension Activated!]
HUMMMMMM!
A soft, golden ripple of spatial energy expanded from the rear wall of the kitchen, melting the solid stone into a glowing, translucent portal six feet wide.
Through the archway lay a breathtaking, hidden pocket realm spanning twenty acres. A pristine, crystal-clear river filled with glowing, silver-scaled Dragon-Scale Trout wound through lush, emerald-green pastures where wild Thunder-Hoof Cattle grazed peacefully under a artificial mini-sun. Along the riverbanks, rows of thousand-year Ginseng, Spirit Garlic, and Golden Fire Peppers grew at ten times their natural speed, radiating dense, concentrated spiritual energy.
The six junior apprentices gasped so hard they nearly choked on their own breath.
"A... A POCKET REALM?!" Apprentice Zhang screamed, his eyes bulging out of his head. "A self-contained herb garden and spirit beast pasture inside the kitchen pantry?!"
Ling Yue stood completely frozen, her jaw slightly unhinged as she stared at the glowing river filled with Tier-5 spirit fish—creatures so rare that even the Imperial Palace only served them once every ten years during national coronation ceremonies.
"You... you had a private pocket realm this entire time?!" Ling Yue stammered, looking back at Leo as if he were a god walking among mortals.
"Senior Sister, a good chef never relies entirely on third-party vendors," Leo winked, grabbing a bamboo fishing net and a large wooden bucket. "Apprentices! Grab your cleavers and baskets! We've got twenty minutes to harvest three hundred pounds of Dragon-Scale Trout and fifty bunches of Golden Fire Peppers! Today's lunch special is going to make the Coalition's blockade look like a joke!"
"YES, HEAD CHEF!" the apprentices roared in high-pitched excitement, charging into the spatial portal like unleashed beasts.
By noon, the atmosphere outside the Chaos Diner on Imperial Grand Avenue had reached a boiling point.
Over two thousand people crammed the broad street. Sitting at a tea house directly across the avenue was Patriarch Blood-Moon and Elder Dark-Bone, flanked by dozens of disguised Coalition disciples. They watched the front doors of the diner with smug, vicious smiles.
"Look at them waiting," Patriarch Blood-Moon sneered, taking a slow sip of black tea. "The boy hasn't opened his doors. He must be panicking inside, staring at his empty shelves! By nightfall, his customers will abandon him, and his reputation will be ruined forever!"
"Indeed, Patriarch," Elder Dark-Bone cackled maliciously. "Without supplies, even a divine chef is nothing more than a cook without grain!"
Just as Elder Dark-Bone finished his sentence, the heavy mahogany double doors of the Chaos Diner swung open with a grand, resonant CLANG!
Leo stepped out onto the marble porch, holding a large wooden chalk board in his left hand and a brass dinner bell in his right. He rang the bell three times, his clear, pleasant voice carrying across the entire avenue through his Stage 9 Chaos Qi:
"GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYONE!" Leo announced with a bright, winning smile. "Apologies for the brief delay! Due to an ongoing 'unprecedented market blockade' by certain local neighborhood groups..."
Leo cast a brief, hilariously sarcastic glance toward Patriarch Blood-Moon's tea house table.
"...we have been forced to upgrade our entire menu today! Welcome to the Grand Feast of the Nine-Peaked Alliance! Today's exclusive dish: Pan-Seared Tier-5 Dragon-Scale Trout in Golden Garlic Butter, paired with Thousand-Year Ginseng Rice!"
The entire crowd went deathly silent for two full seconds.
"T-TIER-5 DRAGON-SCALE TROUT?!" an old cultivator from a neutral sect shrieked from the front row. "THAT FISH HAS BEEN EXTINCT IN THE SUNFALL EMPIRE FOR TWO HUNDRED YEARS!"
"THOUSAND-YEAR GINSENG RICE?! ARE YOU CRAZY?! A SINGLE ROOT OF THOUSAND-YEAR GINSENG COSTS TEN THOUSAND HIGH-GRADE SPIRIT STONES AT THE AUCTION HOUSE!"
"IS HE SERIOUS?!"
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Before the crowd could even process the shock, a massive wave of golden, intoxicating aromatic steam billowed out from the open kitchen windows. The scent was unlike anything the Imperial Capital had ever experienced—a rich, buttery, intensely savory fragrance infused with the clean, electrifying energy of Tier-5 spirit water and pure, unrefined garlic heat.
The steam hit the two thousand waiting people like a physical shockwave.
SNIFF... SNIFF...
Old cultivators who had been stuck at their cultivation bottlenecks for decades suddenly felt their meridians swell with pure, surging energy. Young disciples who had suffered from chronic pill-toxin fatigue felt their vision clear instantly.
"MY MERIDIANS! MY MERIDIANS ARE MELTING FROM THE SMELL ALONE!"
"I WILL PAY ONE HUNDRED HIGH-GRADE SPIRIT STONES FOR A SINGLE BOWL!"
"GET OUT OF MY WAY! I WAS FIRST IN LINE!"
The two thousand patrons transformed into a roaring, unstoppable tide of human hunger, trampling over each other to fling their pouches of spirit stones onto Ling Yue's reception desk!
Across the street, Patriarch Blood-Moon’s tea cup shattered in his grip, scalding tea spilling over his silk robes. His face turned a terrifying shade of purple as he stared at the glowing, golden plates of Tier-5 spirit fish being carried out to the packed tables.
"I-IMPOSSIBLE!" Blood-Moon shrieked, his voice cracking like a broken reed. "TIER-5 DRAGON-SCALE TROUT?! WHERE DID HE GET TIER-5 SPIRIT FISH?! OUR BLOCKADE COVERED EVERY ROAD IN THE PROVINCE!"
Elder Dark-Bone slumped back into his wheelchair, his eyes completely hollow with despair. "I... I told you, Patriarch... the boy is not human... he is a demon..."
Inside the diner, the atmosphere was euphoric.
[PING!]
[QUEST COMPLETED: Break the Blockade!]
[Rewards Granted:]
+10,000 System Points (SP)
Recipe Unlocked: [Golden Core Breakthrough Pill Recipe (Culinary Grade)]
Title Acquired: [Master of Infinite Harvest]
Current System Points: 10,920 SP
Leo stood behind his central stove, tossing a massive slab of silver-scaled trout into his roaring cast-iron skillet. The fish sizzled in a pool of golden garlic butter, sending up a pillar of fragrant light that illuminated the entire hall.
Ling Yue walked over to his side, her cheeks slightly flushed from the fast-paced work, a soft, rare smile gracing her beautiful face. "Leo, we’ve already processed thirty thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones in less than two hours. The Coalition's blockade has actually tripled our daily revenue!"
"That's the beauty of market manipulation, Senior Sister," Leo chuckled, expertly flipping the trout in mid-air and plating it onto a fresh porcelain dish. "When competitors try to squeeze your supply chain, you don't fight their prices—you upgrade your product until their entire business model becomes obsolete."
Leo picked up his spatula, leaning against the counter as he watched the roaring, happy crowd devouring their food.
"And now that we have ten thousand SP back in the bank..." Leo’s dark eyes flashed with a sharp, ruthlessly ambitious light. "...it's time we cook up something special for the Coalition's Grand Ancestors."
[CURRENT HOST STATUS]
Host Name: Leo Miller (Xiao Long)
Realm: Qi Condensation Stage 9 (Peak)
System Points (SP): 10,920 SP
Current Net Worth: ~120,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones
Next Objective: Prepare the Golden Core Breakthrough Feast and face the Nine-Sect Coalition's full military assault!
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