Upon his shout, all the contestants began their preparations immediately.
The contestant with a conical white hat closed his eyes as he seriously processed the items placed on the nearby shelf, thinking of what dish he would create that would make the Monster Geckos lose their minds.
He slowly took out some onions and began to grate them, turning them into a paste before adding in mustard, lots of them, in fact.
He mixed the paste in a large bowl and placed it on fire, watching it bubble soon after as a rather pungent odor appeared.
He silently gazed at the expressions of the Monster Geckos, noticing that they didn't even bat an eye. 'Trained indeed.'
They were within the range of his Divine Sense. So, he was able to obtain a clear perspective of what they felt.
'Let's add some garlic and potato oil.' He did that, feeling that the smell of mustard was too strong, causing difficulties for him. He then thought of something, adding in a scoop of butter and lentils, stirring the heated mixture until everything turned into a paste.
He constantly kept stirring it while adding in a pinch of sugar from time to time, noticing the smell of the mustard slowly reduce over time. Soon after, he added in grated carrots, able to actually inhale a bit of a sweet scent, frowning in response. 'It's too sweet.'
"This shouldn't be happening…?" He was confused before noticing that the flame had actually changed its properties, turning into a flame with sweetened properties, shocking him.
'I see, so this flame itself has different flavors that constantly keep changing.' Nodding as such, he added in sliced watermelon skin, noticing the color of the flame change.
He was confused but continued to add in ingredients, soon observing what was happening. "I see, so the flame takes flavor properties that are the exact opposite of the added ingredient. This is tricky indeed."
"You're a devil," Zamura muttered, gazing at Krune. "The goal you stipulated would be hard even if they were to cook normally. Adding onto this flavor-changing fire, it's pretty much impossible."
"Not really," Krune said, smiling. "The fire itself is an ingredient. Only when they understand this can they truly become eligible to contest for the title of second-best cook in the Mountain Sect."
"I was thinking of the ways to elevate my cooking," Krune said. "Ever since I saw our sect members losing their minds due to my cooking, a certain thought hit me. How far could I take this skill?"
"Until now, I didn't break away from conventional cooking. I've been using food ingredients to cook, no matter how potent their effects turned out to be. At the end of the day, they don't harm your body but rather boost your cultivation," he said, shaking his head. "But, what about the peak of this realm?"
"And that's where I arrived at an epiphany," Krune said solemnly. "Law Cooking!"
"Law Cooking?" Zamura's eyes widened as he asked, slowly breaking out of the solemn atmosphere. "What the hell's that?"
"I use the Laws of my Spiritual Incarnation as cooking ingredients and create a dish with exact effects that I deem necessary. Plus, it'll cause my targets to drool over and fight to eat it." Krune said, watching Zamura's face pale in response as he continued further. "Cultivators, no matter how strong of an attack you unleash, can be guarded against. But since time immemorial, in the mortal world, poison has been used a lot."
"The Spark used by the Abolition Tower can also be said to be the poison equivalent of the cultivator world," he continued. "Mine would be a poison that would invoke the primal hunger in a cultivator, something only mortals would feel."
"Zela's power is able to cause cultivators to feel pain just like mortals. Faunkill is directly able to turn a cultivator into a mortal. And I…" Krune said in all seriousness, "I'll make them experience a mortal's hunger, one that could never be satiated after they've eaten the food I make using Law Cooking."
"No matter what, they'll never be able to satiate their hunger and would continue to eat anything and everything in their path," Krune said. "That's the core ability that I've been creating for our upcoming fight against the Mong Realm, the ability I'll be known for in the future."
"Zombie Food, Hunger Wave!"
"Can't you just call it Hunger Wave?" Zamura immediately lost the solemnness of the ability upon hearing its ridiculous name.
"No, it should be Zombie Food, Hunger Wave," Krune said in complete seriousness. "This is the ability that I'm going to fully focus on in the future. Every single ability I possess until now will be used to further this ability."
"I think it would be for the best to address me as Food Immortal by those beyond the Mountain Sect," Krune concluded.
"How far have you developed this ability?" Zamura asked.
"At present, anyone below the God Trial Realm has zero hope of resisting its effects. After all, I've fused the abilities of tribulation lightning, Mental Energy Law, Divine Sense Law, Godly Inhibition, the energy conversion of my Deific Meridians, and fused the essence of Body Cultivation into it. Due to that, their bodies would be affected by this ability."
"The only way to survive is to remain in the form of a Land Incarnation. The moment they take on a human form, the ability would resume its effect," Krune replied.
"My condolences to the Mong Realm." Zamura prayed for the eventual fate those from the Mong Realm would be subjected to.
It was apparent that Krune was incredibly pissed after the Abolition Tower had targeted Solare. It was obvious due to such a vicious ability he had created.
On top of that, Zamura stole a glance at Krune, watching the other party silently observing the actions of all the contestants, 'This guy…'
'He's treating this competition as a source of inspiration to further his Hunger Wave. Thankfully, there's Feifei to rein him.'
For a moment, his heart thumped as, for the first time in his life, Zamura experienced this emotion, something that he hadn't felt even while encountering Zualin while mortal, something he now felt from someone weaker than him.