"I'll become the best chef of our sect." An immortal wearing a long conical white hat spoke with arrogance.
"Heh, we'll see about that. I've been pouring my heart and soul into this craft for five long decades." Another cultivator smirked in disdain.
"I'll show you my three-dimensional vegetable cutting slash. The taste of all ingredients gets a 20 percent boost in taste." Another cultivator said when he frowned, noticing that his getup wasn't perfect. He then manifested a pair of spectacles and wore them, pressing upon them with his index finger when a flash of light was reflected from the lens.
All sorts of cultivators congregated in the massive arena that had been constructed for sect competitions.
Slowly, the Elders began to line up at the judging seats as Zamura arrived, looking rather excited.
He grinned, goading through Divine Sense. "It's fun, right?"
"Boss, I'll die from overwork at this rate," Krune grumbled. "Why a cooking contest, though?"
"This is just the start. I'll be conducting a pill refining contest, talisman contest, item forging contest, arm wrestling contest, and so on," Zamura grinned as he replied. "It'll keep our Sect lively and also increase the sense of competition among the members. Besides, I can use this excuse to dish out treasures to the cultivators."
"There's too many piling up in our treasure vault. We aren't consuming them fast enough." Zamura sighed soon after.
Honestly, only the Mountain Sect could have such worries. This was all due to the gifts received from the Gods all over the God Realm. They weren't something they could consume, as all such treasures were absorbing the abundant Godly Energy in the Mountain Sect and growing further.
And when Zamura was worrying about what to do, he recalled the scene where the sect members lost control of their minds when Krune cooked seriously previously. He wanted to further cultivate such potent weaponry in their Sect.
It'll prove useful against their enemies. After all, even if it wasn't the Mist Sect, Zamura was planning to wage wars with other sects as well.
This sense of competition would cause the sect members of both sides to grow stronger faster. Eventually, that'll create more powerhouses to fight against the Mong Realm.
The Gods would also be urging various sects to engage in conflict with one another as the God Realm would be filled with wars soon after.
The Mountain Sect was planning to become a leading figure in that. To achieve that, he had to foster talents and growth in every field.
The first of them was the Mountain Sect Top Chef Contest as Zamura flew high up in the air before announcing with his booming voice, "Everyone, welcome our one and only Spiritual Chef whose cooing skills have reached strategic weaponry level, our Founding Elder, Krune!"
"Boss!"
"Boss Krune!"
"Cooking God!"
"Creator of Spices!"
"Harbinger of Tea!"
"Lord of Deserts!"
"User of… salt!"
The cultivators screamed praises at Krune, obviously looking up to him. And all of them wished to individually praise Krune in different fields. Eventually, they ran short of praises as their shouts turned… somewhat strange.
"Alright, enough!" Krune raised his hand, shouting as his eye continued to twitch.
"Second best cook!"
"Who the hell said that?" Krune shouted, perfectly offended as he looked through the crowd, unable to find the culprit that had shouted such profanity at him.
"Rainbow fragrance!"
"Alright, all of you have failed the competition!" Krune shouted. "Now pack up and get lost!"
"Now, now, they look up to you. Don't be so hard on them." Zamura patted his shoulder, speaking in all seriousness.
"Then wipe that stupid grin on your face." Krune snorted, noticing that Zamura's face was twisted from holding in his laughter. It seemed he had planted some seeds among the crowd to target Krune, obviously taking pleasure from Krune's pissed face.
"Haha, that was a good one..." Zamura coughed, almost blurting out his true thoughts as he addressed the crowd. "Now, as the supreme judge of this contest, Elder Krune would lay out the ground rules of the cooking contest."
"Heh, so I'm the one setting up the rules." Krune grinned, staring at the crowd below, blatantly expressing his desire for petty revenge, almost cackling out loud as he contacted Feifei, watching thousands of Monster Geckos arrive before the participants.
"This is a cooking contest, not a fighting contest." Zamura frowned, wondering if Krune would forgo all rules and make it a free-for-all battle.
"Heh, I'm not that petty. It's still a cooking contest." Krune smirked as he waved his hand, suddenly causing thousands of floating islands to appear in the arena, with each bringing up a contestant to the air.
Each floating island spanned a radius of thirty meters, shaped like a spoon. The head of the spoon spanned a radius of 30 meters, while the handle portion spanned a length of 100 meters.
At the end of the spoon stood 10 Monster Geckos, five Alfa, and five Azra. Alfa was what all female Monster Geckos were called, while Azra was their male counterpart.
Among the five Monster Geckos of each gender, they stood in a line, with the normal Monster Gecko standing at the front, followed by the Mutant Monster Gecko, King, Emperor, and finally, Supreme.
So, 10 Monster Geckos were present on each floating island.
In the head-shaped structure appeared a cutting board with the basic necessities. There was even a flame that was silently burning with a mysterious essence.
In a rack nearby were enough ingredients to cook a feast for thirty people. Immediately after, a barrier formed around each floating island, preventing the aroma from the respective place from flowing towards other floating islands.
As all the arrangements were completed, the floating islands moved farther from each other.
Krune gazed at the faces of the contestants, grinning as he said, "You have three attempts in total. Make a dish fit for ten people per attempt. Standing before each are trained professionals that had been instructed to behave strictly."
"Your goal here is to make them lose their mind with your food. The greater they lose their mind, the closer they'll reach your preparation area. It's the easiest to lure the regular Monster Gecko and the most difficult to lure in the Supreme Monster Geckos."
"You can make a dish of your choice. You have a day until the contest ends. The winner will be decided on how many Monster Geckos you can lure from their starting point." Krune sported a smile of interest, gazing at the contestants that gulped in response, saying, "Let the first-ever Mountain Sect Cooking Contest begin!"